“I can’t. I can’t. I can’t,” she whisperedfrantically. “I have to. I have to. I have to.”
He frowned as he settled his hands on herthighs; she must be having another nightmare. Her hair tumbledaround her bare shoulders to shield her breasts; her eyes wereopen, but the glassiness in them made it clear she wasn’tregistering anything.
Could people sleep with their eyes open? Hehad no idea, but she must be doing something like that as shestared unseeingly at him.
“Aida—”
“Why did you forsake me?”
“What?”
What kind of a question was that, and why wasshe using such an old-fashioned word?
“I have to. I have to,” she muttered.
“Aida, listen to me. You don’t have to doanything you don’t want to do.”
“I have to,” she moaned.
The forlorn tone of her voice broke hisheart, and the sadness behind those two words rattled him more thanher strange conversation and deadened eyes.
“It’s okay,” he soothed as he rubbed herthighs. “You’re okay. You’re here, with me. You can wake up,love.”
He was afraid to grab her and shake herawake; he’d heard somewhere you shouldn’t wake a person who wassleepwalking, and maybe this was some strange form of sleepwalking.Whatever it was, he couldn’t take the chance of harming her bydoing the wrong thing.
“I have to. I have to. But I can’t,” shewhimpered. “Do it!”
The voice that snarled out of her with thoselast two words was more like the voice of a demon than a human. Achill ran up his spine as she continued speaking in that distorted,animalistic tone.
“You must be punished for what you did.”
“What?” he demanded as those words caught himoff guard.
He put his hands under him to sit up… andthat was when he saw the stake in her hand as she lifted her armsover her head and grasped the weapon in both hands. Thrown off bythe sudden emergence of a stake, he reacted slower than he shouldhave as he fell back and twisted to the side to avoid the blowaimed at his heart.
But it was already too late.
“No!” Aida screamed as she plunged thestake into his shoulder.
Julian forgot all about the pain that camewith having the stake plunged through his flesh before digging intohis bone as her screams resonated through the room. She releasedthe stake to slap at the sides of her head while she whipped itback and forth. He had no idea what was wrong, but she was fallingapart.
“Aida!” he yelled as he used his good arm tograsp one of her hands and pull it away from her head. His otherarm remained useless as whatever she’d struck in his shoulder hadparalyzed something inside it. “Aida, listen to me!”
The door flew open, and light flooded theroom. Julian hissed when Aida’s naked body was illuminated. Beforethe intruder could see too much of her, he spun her to the side andthrew the blanket over her as she continued to scream and batterherself.
“What the fuck is going on?” Kyle shouted ashe ran into the room behind Cassidy, who had taken two stepsthrough the doorway before stopping.
Julian struggled to restrain Aida with hisone hand, but she was like a wildcat beneath him as she thrashedand screamed. When she tore a handful of hair from her head, a moanescaped him as blood trickled from her scalp.
Unable to grab her other arm, he shifted toput more weight on her. If he put much more on her, he might hurther, but she was already doing that to herself. Releasing her hand,he grasped the stake and tore it free as she raked her nails downher face. Blood streaked down her face as she peeled her skinaway.
“Oh, Aida, no,” he whispered.
He caught her wrists with his hand and pinnedthem to the mattress. Being restrained only made her kick harder asshe bared her teeth before shaking her head back and forth likesomething possessed her.
“Help me with her,” he commanded.
Kyle covered the five feet of distance inless than a second and grabbed her ankles to pin them to themattress.
