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Julian stalked forward and growled, a sound so low and menacing, the smile fell from Mordock’s face. The white-haired monster looked at me, then back at Julian.

“Well, fuck me. I don’t suppose it matters, though, since you won’t be able to do anything about that when you’re dead.” Mordock shrugged and then lunged at Julian.

The two met in the air with a horrible boom. The fight was so fast and fierce all I saw were colors swirling in the wind.

I couldn’t speak like I’d planned. Couldn’t even call out to Julian. But I wasn’t completely helpless, because Mordock hadn’t thought to take my second power from me, and the egotistical fool knew I had it too.

I used every ounce of anger and fear in my mind and ordered my belt to unbuckle, releasing my hands, which I rubbed together quickly to restore feeling. Then I dove for the nightstand.

But I couldn’t use the ring. Not with Julian at risk. I refused. I dropped it into my bra for safekeeping.

That was when the tornado at the foot of the bed stopped. Both men had blood coating their mouths, clothes all but torn to shreds. I froze, gaze flicking to Julian. Our eyes met, and all the pain and fear in his gaze almost broke me. In that fraction of a moment, Mordock struck, pulling a syringe from his pocket and jamming it into Julian’s shoulder.

Noooooo.

I screamed without a voice, not consciously realizing I’d simultaneously summoned a large shard of wood from the broken door. I simply had it in my hand as I sunk it into Mordock’s back, aiming for his heart.

Julian dropped to his knees, eyes wide as he began to quake. Mordock arched backward with an inhuman howl, hands scrabbling at his back, trying to reach the makeshift stake I’d used, but I brushed past him and dropped in front of Julian, yanking the now empty syringe from his skin. Tears fell freely, and I shook my head, trying to take it back, but Julian took my face in his trembling hands, stroking away my tears.

“It’s okay.” The words seemed to cost him as he cringed, skin turning sallow and appearing to melt slowly onto the bones of his face as the drug ate away at the disease that had kept him alive all these centuries.

But nothing about this was okay. I wasn’t going to let another person I cared about die because of me or my work. He’d been stabbed with the new, slow-acting serum, and as torturous as it was, it allowed me the gift of a few extra minutes.

My hand shot out to the side, and an earring coated in my own blood flew into my waiting palm. I crushed the charm, and time slowed around me. I needed as much as I could get. I hurried back to the bed for my belt and opened the secret compartment, rummaging until I pulled out my own readied syringe.

It wasn’t for Julian—not directly, anyway. And I’d hoped it wouldn’t be necessary to test it this way. But we were out of options.

I shoved it into the area between my neck and shoulder without preamble and hissed as it burned its way into my system. When I finished, I called my other earring to me and sped time back up again, catching Julian as he fell forward with a grunt of pain.

Still unable to talk as Mordock lay wounded but still alive on the floor beside the bed, I held Julian’s face over the pulse point on my neck where he’d bitten me once before. When he didn’t respond, I shook his head, pushing harder.

“I won’t…hurt…you,” he mumbled.

Damned, stubborn ass vampire.

I leaned him against the mattress and crawled over to where Mordock lay on the ground. I had one last syringe in the belt I’d been saving for Lydia. But she was nowhere to be seen, and I couldn’t risk Julian’s life. I’d get more for her later.

I pulled it out and stabbed it into Mordock’s back. He screamed like the drama queen he was, and to be fair, I knew it probably hurt as he writhed on the ground, actual steam coming from his skin as it darkened. He’d recently fed, so he would make it through the change if my research was correct.

Without waiting for the final throws of the drug to take effect, I crawled back to Julian and shook him until he stirred. He looked worse now, more like a monster from a movie, skin molded to his skull. I didn’t have much time.

“Ddddrr,” I tried. Then I took a breath and focused. Mordock’s magic was dying along with the vampire virus, so I forced the last bit away with my own power. “Drink.” I said and pressed his face to my neck again.

His fangs pierced my skin, and I squeezed him tighter as he pulled at my blood, now laced with what I prayed was the cure to GoDKiller. A desperate moan escaped him as he sucked at my life force more fervently than before. A wave of dizziness overtook me, but still he continued, his strength returning as he began to support me instead of vice versa.

“St…st…op,” I whispered, realizing I’d ordered him to drink, and he couldn’t control it.

He released me, blood running down the sides of his mouth in rivulets as he howled toward the ceiling. His handsome face had returned to normal, so I smiled, relieved. Thick crimson liquid dripped from his fangs and down my neck, between my breasts. Everything felt fuzzy as I drifted backward, almost in slow motion.

“Charlotte!” Julian caught me before I hit the floor, cradling me like a broken treasure. He licked the wound on my neck and tore open his wrist above me.

“No,” I managed to get out. “I don’t want to be like you.”

Julian cringed as though I’d slapped him, but he hesitated, blood dripping from his self-inflicted wound. He adjusted me so I was in a sitting position in his arms and leaned into my neck.

I thought he was nuzzling me until I felt his fangs sink in again. But he pulled away immediately and pressed his wrist to my neck. I was too weak to protest, and tears spilled from my eyes.

“It won’t turn you if you don’t ingest it,” he explained in his lilting voice. “But if it mingles with your blood, it will heal you.”