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It’d be easier to clean him with magic, but I’ll need more blood than he has on hand before I’m able to do spells. My skin is still too pale, and I feel my sunken in eyes.
But his color is really good, and his breathing is so easy and consistent. Slowly, I start washing away the blood, trying not to get any arousal from it, since that would be creepy, given his current state.
I take my time anyway, since it’s unlikely he’s had anyone care for him in a long time. For whatever reason, I pretend not to be in denial for a minute, and imagine a world where I could fix him.
A world where the end isn’t always around the corner.
A world where someone hasn’t tormented his soul for centuries.
A world where we could have had an entirely different existence without feeling forced to hate each other for what we mean to the other.
A world where we didn’t both have to be monsters.
Chapter 11
SLADE
Something warm and wet trickles down my side, as something gentle smooths up my chest, gliding in slow, methodical circles. It’s possibly the softest touch I’ve ever felt.
The warmth of the body next to mine and the scent in the air has me freezing as my hand darts out and grabs onto a wrist, stilling the circular motions as water continues to drip down my sides.
My eyes pop open and collide with Ella’s wide, dim ones. My gaze rakes over her face as I try to snap out of my confusion. Why the hell is she so pale? Why the hell are her eyes sunken in? Why does her neck look so frail?
Taking a quick glance around, I realize we’
re on my cabin’s floor, and there’s a shirt over my lap. All my wounds are healed, the blood is being washed from my body, and the sun is up.
My eyes flick back to Ella’s pale face, and a hiss of a breath escapes me as I blur into motion, scooping her up and carrying her toward the bed.
“Did you really drain yourself?” I snap. “I would have been just fucking fine with a few drops.”
“Didn’t seem that way to me,” she grumbles, her head falling to my chest. “Me? I just need about ten more packs of blood and five minutes, and I’ll be good.”
“Trust me, I know exactly how much my body can take and what it takes to come back from it,” I growl, and she stiffens. “I’ll get you some blood.”
It’s like I can feel her all around me, more so than usual. Damn it, why did she give me her blood? And I don’t even know what it tastes like, other than the lingering sweet taste in my mouth.
It’s torture of a new kind, because taste was never an issue in the visions.
“Why the hell were you cleaning me?” I ask as I gingerly place her on the bed, worried she’s even more delicate than bloody usual.
Fucking draining herself into me…
I’m going to go mad. It’s official. I’ve fought the madness for this long to finally lose the battle when I need to win it the most.
Daft fool I am.
I never should have gone into that forest until she was gone. And some sick part of me wanted to know what’d she do. If she’s just as fucking tethered to me as I am to her.
“I was cleaning you because you were caked in blood. You’re welcome. Your hair was a mess.”
Now that I have my answer, it just pisses me off more. Gripping the side of the counter, I try not to rip it out of the wall.
She tended to me. Sat vigil at my side, and drained herself to care for me.
She wasn’t supposed to do that.
She was supposed to be the disappointment I need her to be.
