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“Shhh,” he said, forcing his eyes open only to shut them again as the move made his head spin. He’d lost too much blood over the course of the day to have any hopes of fighting this. “Everything is fine,” he said, his voice sounding hollow and far away as he pressed an unsteady kiss to the top of Cloe’s head.
“Christofer-” Cloe started to speak, but he didn’t have the luxury of comforting her right now.
“Take her,” he said, dropping his hands to her shoulders and using the last of his energy to gently shove her towards the elevator doors just as they opened with a chime.
“What the hell is going on?” Cloe demanded as he forced his eyes open just as his legs gave out and he dropped to the ground.
“Get her the hell out of here,” he tried to shout, but his words came out as a slurred whisper.
“Let me go!” Cloe screamed as he was forced to sit there while Chris shoved past his father who stood in front of him, stopping Cloe from going to him. Without a word, he grabbed Cloe and threw her over his shoulder and dragged her off the elevator with Caine right behind him.
Ephraim stared down at him for a moment longer before he nodded, turned around and walked off the elevator, pressing the “Close Doors” button on his way out.
Before the doors closed tightly shut behind Ephraim, everything went black as he felt himself falling, the sounds of Cloe’s screams rushing him towards oblivion.
Chapter 40
“Get your hands off me!”
“Hold her back!” Ephraim shouted as he withdrew his weapon and took aim at the closed elevator doors.
“Let me go!” she snapped, pulling against Danni’s hold as another roar shook the lobby.
“You’re giving off the scent of fear,” Danni explained calmly as she yanked Cloe back behind the men lined up with their weapons aimed at the quaking double doors of the elevator where Christofer was going crazy from the sounds of it. “It’s making him nuts.”
“Then let go of me,” she snapped, struggling to get free and to…..to……
Oh hell, she didn’t know what she was going to do if she managed to get free. She just felt like she needed to do something to fix this. It was her fault that poor Christofer had lost control.
She still didn’t know how it happened. One minute she’d been trying to ignore the overwhelming sweet scent of Chris’ blood, seriously pissed off to discover that she’d been kept in the dark about something that affected her, and the next she’d felt like she was drowning. She couldn’t seem to think straight. Everything had been fuzzy and muddled. She’d been aware of what was going on, to a point, but helpless to do anything about it.
It was similar to the moment just before you pass out. Everything starts to get hazy, you feel your self-control start to slip and no matter how hard you try to fight it, you can’t. It takes you over, knocks you on your ass and leaves you helpless. It was something that she never wanted to experience again. She also knew that if it weren’t for Christofer, she would still be trapped in that hazy mess, helpless to stop herself from doing something that she’d regret.
“Get her out of here,” Chris yelled over his shoulder.
“They’re not really going to shoot him, are they?” she asked numbly, swallowing nervously as she watched the men and women forming a line.
“It won’t kill him,” Danni explained, pausing to watch as Caine moved over to the elevator doors and placed his hand over the small key that would unlock the elevator doors and allow them to open.
“Why can’t they leave him in there until he passes out or the bloodlust passes?” she asked, desperate to find another way to handle this. She didn’t want him shot or hurt in any way.
“Because there’s no guarantee that he won’t find a way out of there and if he does…….,” Danni started to explain as she was once again pulling her towards a set of double doors only to let her words trail off meaningfully.
Not that Cloe needed her to explain. She didn’t. She’d been on the receiving end of the last time Christofer went into bloodlust and really didn’t need a refresher course on the subject. She wouldn’t wish that on anyone, but it still didn’t make her feel right about this.
“Isn’t there anything that we can do?” she asked, running what little information she knew about their kind through her head, trying to figure out a way to knock Christofer out of this without having to shoot him or risk anyone else getting hurt.
“Blood and time,” Danni answered absently as she suddenly shoved Cloe behind her and pulled out her gun.
“Okay, so why don’t we try that?” she suggested, sighing in relief. “We could drop a cooler full of bagged blood through the opening in the elevator and-”
“Not going to work,” Danni said, using her body to push Cloe back against the wall.
“Why not?” she asked as the first tendrils of panic shot through her as her body registered the fact that someone had her cornered. Apparently she still had a problem with space, she thought numbly as her heart pounded against her chest and her breaths came out choppy.
She didn’t have a problem when Christofer invaded her space, but for everyone else? Yeah, it was definitely a problem, she thought as her vision went red.
“Oh…….shit,” Danni groaned, sniffing the air and shooting her a look over her shoulder before her attention shot back to the elevator.
“What?” she demanded, hyperventilating just a tad bit as she tried desperately to step away, but her trembling legs wouldn’t work for her.
“You’re giving off a shit load of fear,” Danni said in an accusing tone.
“If that’s a problem for you then get the hell out of my space!” she snapped defensively, barely noticing when Danni stepped away from her.
“Yeah,” Danni said, cocking her gun. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”
“What are you……..oh, shit…….”
“You could say that again,” Danni said, just as the elevator doors exploded.
“No,” Cloe said, shaking her head as she moved away from the other woman, “I think I’ll just run instead.”
“That’s probably for the best,” Danni agreed as reached behind her, pressed her thumb to a scanner, opened one of the double doors, grabbed Cloe by the arm and shoved her into what turned out to be a very long hallway.
