And it was my love for him—the annoying, blinding, obsessive love I felt for him that had proved to be my ruin time and time again—that made me do what I did next.
I was barely aware of my movements, too unhinged to even understand my new speed and strength as I threw the desk chair against the floor. As it exploded into splintery shards, I caught one of the wooden legs in midair and threw the sharp point straight at Gabriel.
It was over in a matter of seconds, but I saw it all in painful clarity. I had tried to throw it at his heart, but some invisible force inside my body hadn’t allowed me to throw it at that vulnerable spot. Instead, it went for his collarbone.
Gabriel tried to move out of the way, but the sharp wood still embedded itself into his upper left arm.
Inola’s cry grated against my eardrums. Thomas moved away from the door, his calm mask slipping.
Gabriel’s blood glittered like rubies as it flew through the air, but his gaze remained steady on me, almost smug, as if he had expected no less.
Horror washed through me as he tore the wood from his arm. My hand covered my mouth, but a strange sound still escaped.
What had I just done? Had I seriously just tried to kill Gabriel?
The burning in my throat paled in comparison to the pain ripping its way through my heart. I couldn’t compete with the storm of emotions.
I turned and ran.
I felt a cool gush of air behind me, as if someone had made a grab for me, but a few strands of my hair were all they were able to catch. I felt them rip from my skull as I ran from the room faster than I thought possible.
I threw myself against the front door and turned the doorknob.
“NO!” Gabriel shouted.
Gabriel collided into me and tore my hand away from the doorknob. He backed me up against the wall between the door and the window, pinning me there with his body.
“Leave me alone!” I screamed. “Let me go!”
I tried to shove him off of me, but he was still stronger than me.
Just like that, I hated him again. I tried pushing him off of me once more, but to no avail.
And then it finally hit me. His blood.
His wound was closed, but the sweet liquid still stained his arm. It was like a siren call, and it promised release from the pain of not only my thirst, but from the pain of losing my dogs and from the pain of Gabriel’s betrayal.
Release from hurting him and loving him.
Frustrated, I raked my fingers against the draped window. My only longing was to escape from the blood on his arm.
“Kara, stop! The sun—”
His words were too late. My hand yanked the drapes away from the window like they were as fragile as butterfly wings. Sunlight poured through the glass.
Pain. Fire.
My hand and forearm burned, and I screamed as the sunlight blistered my arm.
Gabriel whirled me away, pinned me to the ground, and concealed me with his body.
The sunlight was like poison. Even out of its range, I felt weak and sick. My arm burned like my throat. I whimpered and moaned underneath Gabriel.
“It’s ok, heart. Ssh, it’s healing. Look, it is healing,” Gabriel said.
My eyes found my arm. The angry, burned skin was black in some places. It healed in a matter of seconds.
I began to shake. I wondered if my entire body would have caught fire had Gabriel not moved me away.
The line between love and hatred blurred.
Thomas and Inola were now in the room. They watched us carefully before moving to put the drapes back into place, dodging the sunlight expertly.
“Is she ok?” Inola asked.
I wanted to shout that I wasn’t, but I refrained. Gabriel got off of me, pulling me off the floor to gently cradle me in his lap. I allowed him to hold me, stunned by my rash actions.
“She’s fine,” Gabriel said.
Thomas snorted in response.
I quivered in Gabriel’s arms. “I tried to kill you,” I said in disbelief. My fingers dug into my curls, clutching at my skull.
He ran his hand along my back in soothing patterns. “It wouldn’t have hit my heart. You cannot kill me; I am your sire.”
I understood that, but Gabriel being my sire had not crossed my mind in my anger. Had his blood not changed me, he would be dead.
The blood on his arm beckoned to me. “Let me go,” I said.
“No,” he answered quickly.
I squirmed. “Let me go now!”
“You nearly just roasted yourself alive.”
I turned my face away from him in desperation, and that desperation leaked into my voice. “I don’t want to be around you!”
He sighed, his arms releasing me. “You need blood.”
I stood up. “I will roast alive before I take any part of you inside of me.”
Finally, my words pierced him. Pain lanced across his face before smoothing into the apathetic mask he used to wear.
“I will get you a blood bag,” Gabriel said.
“I can do that myself. Now leave me alone,” I said.
I went into the kitchen and sat down at the table. My entire body quaked with unstable emotion. Tears pooled and fell from my eyes in torrents. Painful memories raced across my mind.
My dogs. My sweet, poor babies I loved so much.
Elias’s cold, bloody hands on my body.
The knife slicing across my abdomen. I shuddered, still feeling the blade against my skin.
Gabriel pinned to the wall, dripping with so much blood he was unrecognizable. His black, demonic eyes fixated on the blood pouring from me.
Inola took my shaking hands and held them, snapping me out of my dark thoughts.
I looked down, confused. I had been digging my nails into my skin unknowingly, and red half-moons covered my wrists. The small wounds healed quickly.
Tears never stopped falling from my eyes. I looked to her. “Help me,” I begged, my voice an aching whisper.
“Child, I am so sorry. Please forgive me. Please forgive him. None of you
