“Andrei?”
He moaned. “Guess it didn’t matter in the end,” he gasped. He took in the scene over my shoulder. “Was that for me?”
For some reason, my cheeks were damp. It was probably the adrenaline wearing off. “Don’t die.”
His breathing had become pained gulps of air. I thought I spotted Victoria hobbling down the aisle, but my vision was blurry. I slammed my fists into the mat. Behind me, I could hear the Nephilim’s urgent voices as they cared for Chanelle.
A level voice called out over the hushed tones of the crowd. “Your allotted time for ministrations is over,” Ivan said. “Remove her so we can continue.”
There was no give in his command. I would have been gratified by the complete lack of shits he showed for Chanelle, but in the circumstances, it just grated on me.
“What about Andrei?” I screamed.
This time, the contempt in his voice was evident. “He’s a vampire. He either deals with it, or he dies.”
I almost choked on rage. And then the meaning of his words sank in. A light amulet couldn’t save Andrei now. But drinking blood would. He was this weak because he’d gone for so long without it.
I didn’t give myself time to consider the consequences. Sliding my palm along Morning Star’s sharp edge, I cut it open. The pain made me shudder.
Even through the blur of his dying breaths, Andrei squirmed at the scent of my blood. “Drink!” I snapped.
He turned his head away. His eyes widened at something. I followed his line of sight to find Kai watching us. An intense darkness throbbed in his aura. Until now, I hadn’t noticed I was still half in the Ley dimension. Throwing it off, I refocused on the idiot in front of me. One idiot at a time had become my motto.
“If you don’t drink, you’re going to die!” The warning siren sounded. The Nephilim had taken Chanelle away and the mat was being magically cleaned.
Andrei clamped his mouth shut. I admired his conviction. We would be nothing without our principals. I would rather die than break some of mine. My only issue was that he was completely off-base.
“Please,” I whispered. “You don’t know what happened to them. You’ve proven that you don’t need blood to be crazy!”
I grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “I trust you not to give in. Screw everybody else!”
His eyes grew wide and he searched my face. “No, you don’t. Nobody trusts me.”
I snorted. “I spent almost six years of my life living on the streets,” I told him. “Do you understand what it costs me to sleep in the same room as a vampire?”
I hadn’t realised it was true until I spoke the words aloud. Sophie had been one thing, but allowing myself to be vulnerable in my sleep wasn’t something I did lightly. Hence the doubling up of circles every night.
I hovered my bleeding hand over his lips. C’mon, c’mon!
I needed him if I was going to somehow win this thing. The prick of his fangs was a complete surprise. The pain of the bite made me gasp. But it only lasted for the briefest second before my mind was flooded with euphoria.
All of the negative sludge from the past few days dripped off me. Every bit of resentment I felt at being rejected by the supernatural world died away.
The change in Andrei was no less shocking. His skin smoothed out. The harsh lines of his gaunt face filled in. Colour began to bloom on his cheeks. He brought his hands up to clasp around my wrist, keeping me in place. His muscles rippled as though they were liquefied. The raspy breath became a pleasured rumble.
The sound hit the edge of the seal. My magic tried to hit back. That was when I knew this feeling in my head was unnatural. I slugged him in the side of the head. “That’s enough.”
Red eyes met mine. The intent in them was clear. I grabbed Morning Star.
“You wanna see if I have any problems cutting out your heart?”
He unlatched. I hadn’t been all that concerned.
What stole my breath was when he stood up. The light amulet dropped to the mat. He didn’t even bother trying to catch it. Sunlight bounced off his now-tanned skin that rippled with good health.
He had filled out to the point where his broad chest actually fit with his big frame. My jaw just about dropped. He wasn’t attractive in the conventional sense but there was something entirely striking about him. A confidence that had me wondering what he would have been like if his family hadn’t been hit by tragedy.
“Does blood always do that?” I asked. I had never seen that kind of transformation before.
Andrei shook his head. “Then again, no one’s ever drunk Lucifer’s blood before.”
The siren sounded. I had a fraction of a second to comprehend what I had done before a flash of green whipped past my right shoulder and slammed Andrei into the barrier.
56
There wasn’t a single person in the arena or the supernatural community who doubted Kai’s intent in that moment. The crowd cheered when his fist cracked against Andrei’s skull before Andrei even hit the barrier. A scream tore from my throat. I didn’t just give up my blood to have Andrei’s brain splattered on the walls.
By some miracle, Andrei was only marginally affected. This seemed to set Kai off even more. The mirror’s angle switched to display their profiles. Andrei was still slightly dazed. Kai’s top lip was curled in a withering smirk. He was enjoying this. Beating Andrei when he was weakened would have been skirting the line of honourable.
Kicking his ass after he’d just drunk was a challenge. Kicking his ass after he drank from me was a mission. It took Andrei a second to register that he wasn’t unconscious. A light switch seemed to turn on in his brain. He shoved his arms between them to block Kai’s next
