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I twisted from my side onto my back, and in the half second it took for him to readjust, I snapped my hands up, guarding my neck with my forearms and bucking my hips, trying to fling him off.
He lost his balance and fell forward. He was still on top of me, his chest crushing my face, but with a quick scramble and scoot, I turned my head, clutched him close, and wrapped my legs around him, pinning him to me. Not a great position, but at least it gave me some control of his movements. “You’re lisping, Rob. ”
“I don’t need fangs to draw blood. ” He relaxed into me, crushing his body to mine as he grabbed for whatever he could get hold of. He grabbed, and I squirmed, and we grappled, him trying to use his weight to immobilize me, while I wiggled like a wind-up toy, bucking my hips, fighting to free my arms.
“What are you going to do?” I said, pausing and panting. “Hug me to death?”
“Nope. ” He reached down, his hand clawing for my neck. “Strangle. ”
I bit his wrist. As he flinched away, he dug his fingers into my forearms and slammed his elbows onto my biceps, bending my arms and pinning me. Grinding me into the dirt. “You’re going to suffer for what you did. ”
“Oh, Robbie, did the other boys make fun of you?” I couldn’t budge, and I couldn’t budge him, either. My arms began to burn, my muscles quivering—he was just too heavy. I could drink all the blood in the world and I’d never be able to fight a big Trainee boy, especially one who’d also been getting doses of the blood. My words were one of the last weapons left to me, and I let them rip. “Just think how special you are. There can’t be many other vampires who have just one fang. It’s actually quite piratical. ”
“Shut up. ”
“Do you even want to grow it back? You might want to consider—”
“I’ll shut you up. ” He let go with one arm and clawed for my neck. I hunched my chin into my chest, but he just snatched at the collar of my coat instead.
“That all you got?” With my free hand, I punched at him, but I couldn’t hold him back for much longer. “It’s not over yet. ”
His fingertips grasped the fabric, then began inching lower, twisting and tightening it around my throat until it became hard to breathe. “Isn’t it?”
As I struggled to loosen my collar, his other hand wrenched between my forearms. I tried to block, but I must’ve slipped, because suddenly I felt his thumb on my skin. His palm on my throat. He laughed.
Then he squeezed.
Instantly, I flashed back. Instantly, I was in the ring with Emma, her hands on my throat, choking me just enough to make me black out, our plan to fake my death.
It’d worked.
And then she’d been the one who’d died.
Despair swamped me. My legs thrashed and my feet kicked the dirt, just as they had with Emma. My lips opened, mouth gasping for air that wouldn’t come. Just like that day.
And, like that day, the world went dark.
SOMETHING COLD SLAPPED MY FACE, and I gasped. Deep in my muzzy brain, I rejoiced at the rush of sweet air. Greedily, I sucked it in, but was slapped again.
Cold water. I accidentally inhaled it. Choked and coughed. Panicked.
My eyes shot open.
The sky was dark gray. Late afternoon. I could breathe. But I was…tied.
I shifted, assessing. My arms were numb, bound behind and under me. Something sharp dug into my spine. A rock. I was lying down, tied on top of a rock.
I wrenched my arms, adjusting my hands, nestling them into the small of my back. Rope cut into my wrists with every movement. Two lengths of it were stretched over me—one slashed across my hips and the other across my collarbone. I wriggled, but that only cinched the bonds tighter. “What the hell?”
There was rustling and I craned my neck, peering up over my head. Rob had knocked back the last of his water and was zipping his canteen into his pack.
“Hey,” I shouted. “Hey, moron. Is this how you fight? You tie me up so you can—what?—gnaw me to death?”
He approached, his face peering over me like a great moon dawning in my line of sight. “I’m not going to fight you. They’re going to fight you. ”
My heart burst into a gallop. Frantically, I scanned the perimeter. “They who?”
“You’ll see. ” He hitched his backpack onto his shoulders with a cocky little laugh. “Not me, though. I’m leaving. But don’t worry…. I doubt you’ll be alone for long. ”
