I'd always thought that werewolves were the only things harmed by the effects of silver, but tonight proved me wrong when Sully groaned loudly as the silver further poisoned his body. Dalton braced his foot on Sully’s chest, steadying his slender body before yanking the dagger from his wound. Sully instantly fell onto his side, breathing in huge gasps of air.
“Now, you bloodsucking maggot, I will finish my ritual. Take care of him,” he ordered Xander with the snap of his fingers. I panicked when Xander headed towards him.
“If you do anything to hurt him Xander you will pay! It will be the death of you! The Ashford’s will never rest until they have their revenge!” The acid in my tone was strong. He looked regretfully at me as he hurried by. I lowered my voice to Dalton. “When we’re dead, Davin will be back to avenge our deaths.”
“I’m counting on it.” He waved his fingers at me, brushing off my threat.
Sully’s eyes wandered around the room, desperately searching for a release from the pain the silver was sending throughout his body, weakening him minute by painful minute, and unable to fight back while Xander tied his hands and feet together with thick rope that seemed to have appeared out of thin air.
“Sully, look at me!” His eyes squinted, giving me a halfcocked smile, trying to mask his increasing agony as though I didn’t know that he was suffering. “Davin will be here soon, I can feel it! Use your mind to alert your father!”
“It’s too late; he’s blocked me somehow,” he whispered.
He was losing consciousness lying there with his arms tied behind him. I couldn’t let him leave me yet. Davin had to show up soon. He had promised me he would be back, and once he was, he would realize something was amiss in Hanover.
Dalton grazed my cheek with the back of his hand, making my skin crawl. “No rest for the wicked, my beautiful Adelay. I am already behind schedule.”
“NO!” Sully shouted as Dalton raised the dagger to his chest, uttering cryptic words under his breath before he drove it into my stomach with gruesome ease.
I gasped in shock, not yet feeling the pain I expected to feel until he decided to shove his hand harder into its handle to deepen the sharp blade. The sting shot through me like a volt of electricity had just struck my every nerve from the inside out. He pulled the blade out and thrust it into me again, sticking it a little higher into my stomach this time.
Xander let out a sorrowful howl. Perhaps he still held onto a few human feelings, but his soul was Dalton’s now, therefore taking away his ability to do anything to help me. Blood seeped through the slices in my dress, making the wet fabric stick to my clammy skin. A sudden cold chill touched my skin, sending tremors coursing through my expiring body.
Everything went dim, sounds lost their clarity, and focusing on objects around me was next to impossible. Time had drastically slowed within just a few short moments. The fresh wounds in my stomach burned something fierce, and Sully’s low suffering moan was just a quiet echo in my ear. We were both running out of time.
Dalton picked up the gold goblet that was collecting my blood, drop by drop, and lifted it to the roof in a toast to his invisible master, whose company infringed the air as a thick cloud of asphyxiating evil. The putrid stench of iron made it hard to breathe. He sloppily took a swig from the cup, letting some dribble down his chin. I gagged, trying to hold down whatever was trying to make its way back up.
The leftover liquid dripped down the side of the chalice, leaving an outline of where the blood quickly coagulated against the cool metal. I coughed harshly, pushing the thick warmth I was fighting so hard to swallow up into my throat, and gurgled out bubbly traces of blood from my mouth.
Dalton swiped his thumb across my mouth licking the smear of blood left on it. “I am not particularly as much of a blood drinker as I am a life taker, but I must say your vampire has to have incredible control to not have torn into you yet. Your blood is remarkably appetizing.”
I opened my mouth to say something –anything- but nothing would come out from the wet puddle that remained in my throat. I coughed again spurting out another bit of blood.
“Just hold on Adelay, your savior is coming. I’m sorry I can’t be.” Xander’s voice was inside my head again.
Sully looked to me, then back at Xander: Visibly still in pain, but fully aware of the voice that was speaking to me.
The walls suddenly rumbled like an earthquake, shaking the wooden table, and making my wounds throb worse from the unexpected jolt. I shuddered at the shrill scream that followed from a presence I couldn’t see. The scream quickly merged into a chorus of demonic groans wailing through the tiny room.
“They’re here.”
“Wha…?” I choked.
Wispy black shadows materialized from within the walls, spreading across them and turning the pieces of blank concrete into a swirling sea of black smoke.
“Marque me que je suis à devenir. Make me what I am to become.” He winked at me before outstretching his arms wide and pushing his chest towards the ceiling to offer his body to our new-found guests.
One by one, the blob of wailing darkness separated into single entities, detaching themselves from the wall to circle above me while continuing their haunted moans before vanishing into his bare, waiting chest without a trace of their presence left
