Page 36 of Venom Within Her

I swung the bedroom door open to find the windows cracked and sweating, dirty men climbing through them. I immediately recognized the red-faced, blonde-haired man in uniform as Stellan’s father.

His eyes locked with mine, his voice screeching through the air as he struggled to pull his weight inside, “What the hell did you do to her?! Stellan! Stellan, are yo-”

Before he could pull his entire body through the window, Larz’s tail whipped out in front of her, slapping him in the face and knocking him halfway back out the window. At the same time that happened, a familiar bang rang through the air.

Larz stumbled back with her teeth bared. I raced to her side while my gaze darted around the room, where several more men were making their way through the window.

“Larz, are you okay?” I caught her in my arms, red bloomed from her stomach.

“I’m okay, I just need to h- Watch out!” She pushed out of my hold and whipped her tail behind me, knocking out a hunter that was headed right toward us.

Without another word, I snapped into action. The hunters closed in on us from every angle, rifles in hand. I knew Larz needed to heal, so it was up to me to cover her.

“Ilona, stay behind me!”

I ignored her, throwing my tail in a wide arc and taking out three men at once by their ankles. I was surprised at the ease with which I was able to control my new appendage. It felt like it was always there, like it had always been a part of me.

Four more loud bangs echoed around the room. Before I could turn to check on Larz, I felt her weight flop down onto my back. I twisted fast and wrapped my arms around her, breaking her fall the best I could.

Everything was moving in slow motion. Her once onyx eyes faded back to their human form. Her claws and tail slowly retreated back into her body as she shrank back to her normal height. The feeling of her seeped from my bones. She was slipping away.

“Larz!” The sound ripped from my chest as blood flowed from her wounds and onto the floor.

She strained her gaze over to me and right before she collapsed unconscious in my arms, she used the last of her strength to pull me down onto her chest. A loud bang sounded again, the hiss of a bullet flying overhead. She saved me while she was dying.

My mind went blank, my gaze tinted black. I didn’t remember much other than me pushing to my feet one second and every single hunter lying dead and lifeless on the treehouse floor the next.

When the treehouse was still again, I dropped to my knees next to Larz, pressing my ear into her chest. She was breathing, her heart beating, faintly.

Panic overtook my whole body. I couldn’t lose her, not when I had just finally gotten all of her. Not when I had given myself to her fully. Not when I had finally found a place that I belonged in this world. We were supposed to have forever.

I collapsed onto her chest, beating my fists on the solid muscles, screaming at her to wake up.

“Don’t leave me, Larz! Please, please don’t leave me! I need you.”

As the feeling of her in my cells faded, I thought of the only thing I’d be able to do to try to save her and I didn’t even know how to do it. But I would hate myself if I didn’t try.

I jumped up and ran to the kitchen, filling a pitcher of cold water. I straddled her waist, praying to whatever God or Goddess that was listening to not take her away from me.

I dumped the entire pitcher of water over her face and she woke with a lazy jolt. She was awake, but barely. I hoped it would be enough for what I needed.

Holding her eyelids open between my fingers, I stared into her eyes. I didn’t know how to initiate the mind connection, but I just imagined my own eyes flashing gold and connecting to the back of her skull.

As I stared, I felt her weak fingers grasp onto my hips. Her lips were moving, but I couldn’t hear anything. I leaned down, positioning her mouth right next to my ear.

“You…can…do…it. Feel…it…” She rasped, choking out the words. I was listening, but it was hard to hear her over the sound of my heart breaking.

But I did exactly what she said, feeling and remembering what it felt like when Larz had connected to my mind. The flash, the liquid, the flowing, and the locking.

“Please, please please,” I whispered to myself as my hands, covered in everyone’s blood but my own, trembled around her cooling face.

Seconds later, I felt it. The pain, the agony. Every place where Larz had a wound, I felt the stabbing, sticking, throbbing pain in my own body. Larz reached up, caressing my face with icy fingers.

“Feel…it…heal,” she croaked. Her voice was wet and fading.

I closed my blurry, wet eyes, focusing on all of the damaged parts I felt in my body. I gritted my teeth, fighting through the pain and willing it to heal. Slowly and painfully, I felt the fibers of skin knitting back together. The ache dulled, the blood stopped flowing, and Larz opened her eyes.

26