Their ghostly residency inside him rippled his skin in unnatural waves. Dalton’s head shook side to side rapidly, as though he was trying to shake out whatever was taking over inside him. His nose stretched into a grotesque muzzle, his ears turned up into points, his fingers lengthened with sharp claws. All naked areas of skin filled in with rough fur. Yellow never returned to his eyes, they remained blood red and as evil as ever.
His entire body moved, rolled, ripped and stretched. A demon was manifesting before my very eyes. There was something more to this transformation than the last time. Although Xander was a nightmarish creature himself, he cowered in the corner like a scared little boy…er…wolf.
“Xander, please let me go,” I whispered, while wiggling my body to get his attention before Dalton’s metamorphosis fully completed itself.
“He’s a beast too, Adelay. Ouch.” Sully’s eyes closed for a minute. “Don’t forget that.” Purple veins had branched out all over his pale face, and his beautiful blue eyes were slowly clouding over. He was dying.
“Oh, Sully!” Sorrow in my voice brought a smile to his lips. He was still trying to mask what was really happening to him. “Sully, we need to get you help!”
“No Adelay, we need to get you out of here alive. I have lived my life. All that matters now is yours. I…I love you, Adelay. Whether or not you love me in return, I am still happy to give my long-lived life so that yours can be spared. Davin is a lucky man, and better cherish what he has found with you.”
I blinked back a tear. He was dying because of me yet was at complete peace with it! This couldn’t be right; he was a vampire he wasn’t supposed to die!
“Sully? Sully!”
He didn’t answer, but I could see his eyelids flickering faintly, indicating he hadn’t left me yet. A wave of exhaustion unexpectedly washed over me, making my own eyelids heavy, but I fought the urge to close them because if I did, I feared I wouldn’t be opening them again. I was awake, but not aware; functioning, but not feeling.
Before Davin decided to go on his overnight journey to play Sherlock Holmes, I thought I had everything in the world. A gorgeous vampire that loved me and vowed to protect me from any harm that came into our lives, a high-strung friend that understood what my new life had become, two amazing friends back home, and a family that knew nothing of the undead but easily welcomed Davin into our home.
What was left now? He had let me down; no, I take that back. He let Sully and I both down. Maybe I had chosen the wrong brother because, when all was said and done, he was the one here by my side.
CHAPTER FOUR
“I’ll kill you, and the one who created you! Move the hell away from her!” An angry voice yelled out.
Dalton looked towards the doorway where I knew Davin was standing. My entire head was in a fog, so that I couldn’t see his entire person from a distance, but his unmistakable voice reassured me he was there.
Nothing extra was left inside my body, that was already doing its best to hang on for the time being, to even allow for the excitement I wanted so bad to feel; but just hearing his voice soothed me. Xander was right; my savior had come, but something inside was telling me it was still too late for me. I couldn’t heal myself like a creature of the undead. If I didn’t make it, at least Dalton would pay for what he had done.
Davin’s body whizzed past me at full speed, heading directly for Dalton. It took nothing more than a single outstretched hand to stop Davin in his tracks as though he slammed into a solid brick wall, flying backwards, but not before raking his hand down Dalton’s face, leaving four deep, bleeding scratches behind. Davin plummeted backwards, but wasn’t down for long, in fact he never actually hit the ground; more like he caught himself midair and was back up and fighting again.
His fangs had descended and his violet eyes were as black as the night sky. Although he had turned into the creature he didn’t want me to see, he was still such a beautiful sight to look at. He swung his arms wildly, but in controlled movements, breaking Dalton’s skin each time. Dalton grabbed hold of one of his wrists, twisting it behind his back and pushing him up against the wall.
“It’s too late, Davin. She’s almost gone, and the power is already beginning to work inside my body. A few more short moments and it will be completely mine. You cannot stop it. Your father couldn’t have prepared you for this.”
Just as Dalton started to bring his mouth to rip the flesh from Davin’s neck, he flung his head backwards into his snout, and pushed himself off of the wall with his muscular legs. Dalton still had hold of his wrist but lost his grip when they tumbled backwards into the table I was on. Their weight turned the table onto its side with me still chained to its corners, digging the shackles into my wrists which hurt like hell, but not half as bad as my stab wounds did now that I was being jolted all over this damned table. They wrestled around on the floor, each one seeming like they were going to overtake the other one, until roles would reverse, and the other one would have the upper hand for a few short moments before being overpowered once again.
The room had turned into a gory movie from the bloodshed out of every single one of us. One of the candles that had fallen to the ground from Sully and Dalton’s earlier altercation was
