All of this unfolded in a matter of seconds.
Heartbeats.
Then the girl touched Aiden’s body and screamed again.
“Brimstone,” Jacinda said suddenly, then gasped, the sound of it finally shattering the shock-induced trance.
Awareness slammed into Gabriel at once.
“Are you certain?” he asked.
“Viansa was here,” she said, her voice tight with panic. “It wasn’t a nightmare, Gabriel. She washere. She warned me she was going to take him. She said we killed her vampire, so she—”
“Jacinda, listen to me.” Gabriel grabbed her shoulders, needing to steady himself with the touch as badly as he needed to steady her. “Go back inside and run two warm baths—not too hot. Put on the kettle as well. We’ll need to warm them up slowly. And call Isabelle. Tell her what’s happened.”
“But Aiden—”
“Can you do that for me? Please?”
Jacinda blinked up at him, the last of the confusion and panic finally clearing from her eyes.
“Two warm baths,” she said firmly. “Kettle. Isabelle. I’m on it.”
Jacinda dashed back into the manor, and the three vampires blurred to the pool and jumped in. The water itself was heated, but the air was not, quickly sucking the warmth from their upper bodies. All of them gasped and shivered, the curse doing its damndest to drain the last of their remaining energy.
“Sasha,” Charlotte said, her teeth chattering as she reached for her sister’s arm. “You need to get out of the water, baby. Come on. Come with me.”
“Don’t touch me!” Sasha recoiled from Charlotte’s touch as if it’d scorched her. “Don’t you fucking touch me!”
“It’s okay.” Charlotte raised her hands in surrender and lowered her voice. “I just want to help. Will you let me help you?”
“Help?” Sasha gaped at her as if she’d never seen the woman before.
Dorian shot Gabriel a worried glance.
“It’s dangerous out here in the cold,” Charlotte explained, slowly trying to shift the girl’s attention away from Aiden. “Our bodies are losing heat too quickly. We should go inside and sit by the fire. Have some hot chocolate. Doesn’t that sound nice?”
With Sasha’s gaze temporarily locked on Charlotte, Dorian and Gabriel moved to Aiden, slowly turning him over. He was stiff and cold to the touch, eyes wide open and glassy. Unblinking. Unmoving.
Everything about him was deadly still.
“He’s dead,” Sasha whispered, pushing past Charlotte in the water. She placed her hand on Aiden’s chest, her mouth parted in a silent cry of agony that tore right through Gabriel’s heart.
“He’s not dead,” Dorian said softly, though he didn’t sound all that convinced. “Can you tell us what happened?”
“I… I…” Sasha blinked, looking up at Dorian with wide, terrified eyes.
“It’s all right, love,” he said. “Tell me what happened.”
“We were supposed to have coffee in the hot tub and watch the sunrise,” Sasha said. “But how can he watch the sunrise if he’s dead? Dead people can’t see. Right?”
Fuck. She was going into shock. If they didn’t get her out of there soon, she’d be hypothermic.
They’dallbe hypothermic.
“I took a cab from my apartment,” she said. “I wanted to beat traffic—I was worried I’d be late and miss it.”
“The date?” Dorian asked.
