There was no time and no choice. Only instinct.
Shouldering Max out of the way with a violent shove—he stumbled to the side, caught by surprise—she dove between him and the zombie and lashed out with the cleaver, pouring all her remaining strength into the strike.
The creature’s momentum drove them both into the ground, the impact bone-crushing, and she had no breath to yell. It hurt. Everything hurt. She was taking agonizing claw swipes to her sides and arms and a dozen other places, but she couldn’t pinpoint precisely where, not when she was busy slashing and swinging and trying to remove that fucker’s head from its motherfucking neck, becauseshit, this needed to beover.
Bone cracked with her final blow. Blood sprayed. And at long last—thankfuck—the head detached, the zombie’s bloodstained teeth still snapping at her.
With a vicious kick, Max launched that head deep into the woods before dropping to her side, his eyes black as coal and hot as a furnace.
“What thefuckwere youthinking?” It was a terrified, enragedbellow, the harshness of his words belying the gentleness of his hands coasting over her limbs, checking her wounds. “My gods, Edie, you’re bleeding fuckingeverywhere. If you’d just told me—”
“No time. I was…still armed. You…weren’t.” Cautiously, she shifted the slightest bit and had to pant for a minute before she could speak again. “Nothing…broken, I…don’t think. But some…of the…claws did damage.”
Each breathburned. Gods, she needed painkillers. The good stuff.
“I know. When I tried to yank the zombie off you, its claws were so deep, they”—he gulped air—“tore…things.” Raising his head, he shouted for Sabrina, then a first aid kit. “We’re going to stabilize you here, then get you to an ER. Hold on, my Edie.”
Elbowing Max out of her way, the witch thumped down onto her knees beside Edie. “How bad is it, vamp?”
“Bad.” The word was curt. Ice-cold, even as his fingertips tenderly swept Edie’s hair back from her forehead. “Do you have enough power for healing? Whatever you want for payment, you can have. Just fuckingfix this.”
“Since I didn’t need to repair the wall or collapse an enormous building…” Sabrina smiled at Edie. “Time for us to hold hands, hon. Squeeze as tight as you can.”
Edie did. It was hard to tell how hard she was squeezing, though, since her fingers were kind of numb. No, her hands. No, her arms.
“This is…” She looked up at Sabrina and tried her best to smile. The expression must have looked pretty unconvincing, because the witch actually jerked back a little, her face creased with horror. “Very…romantic.”
“Try not to fall in love, okay?” The other woman winked asshe moved closer again, but her eyes didn’t hold even a smidgen of levity. “I know I’m a better bet than that asshole vampire you’ve been banging, but I’m spoken for.”
“Alas,” Edie rasped.
Max made a choked sound. “I can see the wounds closing a bit, witch. Thank you.”
Now that he mentioned it, nothing seemed to hurt much anymore. Or at least the pain was drifting farther and farther away every second. That was some first-class witchy healing, all right.
Sabrina’s hand patted hers before pulling away.
“Max.” It was the first time Sabrina had ever used his actual name. “Look here.”
With her eyes closed, Edie couldn’t quite tell where the other woman was pointing.
“I see the blood. What are you—” Max’s voice cut off. “No.”
“She’s been bitten,” Sabrina said softly. Kindly. “There’s been a saliva-blood fluid exchange. We have less than ten minutes.”
“Tell me how to save her.” When the witch didn’t answer, his volume rose, and the order rolled through the forest like thunder. “Tell me how to save her.”
With her thoughts so fuzzy, it took Edie a few seconds to put things together. Especially since his slow, gentle strokes through her hair felt so nice.
She was dying.
No, that wasn’t quite right.
She might die, but if she didn’t, they’d have to kill her. Very, very soon.
If she weren’t so addled, she’d probably feel worse about that. At the moment, though, she was more worried about Max.
With an effort, she opened her eyes and made eye contactwith Sabrina. “Don’t…have him do…it. Don’t let…him see. Maybe…Belinda? Very…pragmatic.”
