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“Hold on, Rebekah. I need you to stay with me,” Jackson said and then blinding white hot pain erupted in my stomach. Screams ripped from my throat, and the world resolved into stunning color. Steam billowed from my wound, and it felt like molten lava was pouring through my chest cavity. The source pulled away, and I saw Monty holding a circular black talisman in his hand, the edges burning bright red.
“What the hell was that?” I gasped, grabbing Jackson’s arm. I noticed absently that I still had on one of my gloves.
“I’m a leprechaun, girl,” Monty said, brandishing his talisman. “I smelt gold to pay my tithes to Queen Mab. I had to cauterize your wound and my iron was the closest thing we could find.”
“The bleeding stopped, but we need to get you to Shado. Do you think you can stand?” Jackson asked, shifting his arms under my shoulders to help me sit up.
“I don’t know.” I rolled my hips to the side using my hands as leverage. Fresh pain burned through my lungs. If I wasn’t careful, I’d pass out again.
“Let me help you,” he offered, but his hand touched my skin and I flinched away from another vision. I noticed he had his pants on, but his shirt and jacket were balled up on the floor where my head had been moments before.
“Put your clothes back on,” I grumbled.
“Shit, sorry.” He pulled the shirt on over his head and found the gloves he’d thrown to the side. He caught me halfway to my feet and put a hand on my hips to steady me. “Slow down, dammit.”
“You need Shado’s magic too,” I coughed. “I saw the demon scratch you. I felt the venom. If we don’t get there soon—”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine,” he said, cutting me off. “My wolf will burn it from my system, I'm stronger than I look. Just focus on staying in one piece, and I’ll get us to Shado.”
“Wha-what can I do?” Monty stammered.
“Open the doors for us. Help me get her down the stairs,” Jackson said, hauling me along with him. He braced my weight against his hip, practically lifting my feet from the ground.
“I can walk,” I said. My throat and chest felt raw, like I’d swallowed a bucket full of hot coals, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. Hobbling forward, I stood as straight as I could manage and moved back into the hall.
“You’re so damn stubborn,” Jackson grumbled, following me step by step.
I opened my mouth to say something snippy and my foot slipped on the edge of the next step. The charred skin around my wound pulled taunt. Pain shot from my hip to my toes, and tears welled in my eyes, but I didn’t scream. Instead, I clutched the banister harder with both hands, inching my way down to the first floor. Monty rushed past me to open the door to the building, but the moment I stepped out onto the sidewalk my knees finally gave out.
“Bex!” Jackson gasped, swooping down to catch me. His arms hooked beneath my legs and around my back before I could hit the ground. I felt sparks of pain and magic ricocheting around my ribs. My head spun, and I clung to his neck.
“Jack,” I groaned.
“It’s okay, I’ve got you,” he said, lifting me into his arms.
Monty fumbled with Jackson’s keys and opened the passenger door to his truck. They deposited me inside, Jackson got into the driver’s seat, and then in a matter of seconds the world became a blur. The chaos in my energies was a product of using the blood magic, but the pain had left me too weak to cope with it.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” I muttered, closing my eyes.
“Then hang your head out the window.”
I smiled at him. “You’re the dog in this relationship, remember?”
His eyes took in my face and he paled. “Rebekah, how are you feeling?”
“Just drive, I’m gonna be okay,” I lied. I could feel the venom crawling through my veins, sapping my strength. A thin film of sweat covered my skin, and a tremor rocked my hands in my lap.
He reached across the space between us and grabbed my fingers. I flinched, but the leather of his glove was refreshingly cool against my skin. Closing my eyes, I drifted into a humid darkness, and the pit of my stomach hollowed out like something had scraped the walls clean from the inside.
My body sank through quicksand, mocking me with a false kind of sleep, and then suddenly an icy cool sensation tingled through my toes. It slid along the arches of my feet and ballooned up into my ankles. A few inches at a time, it filled every pour of my body. Sensation came back, and I felt every ripped muscle and torn sinew in my gut. I felt a broken rib poking me in the lungs. I tried to cry out, but it hurt to breathe. I started to move, but something pushed down my knees, pinning me flat.
I wasn’t in the car or Nadia’s apartment anymore. The room smelled like ammonia, and something else; something floral. I didn’t fully realize I was awake until I heard a sharp clang of metal on metal that made me jump.
A sharp pain shot through my shoulders, and I groaned. “Ouuuuuch.”
“Rebekah?” Jackson gasped from somewhere off to my right.
“I told you she’d wake up,” said Shado.
