Dark Solace (17 page)

“Ouch!” I said involuntarily.

“Sorry,” he hissed, aligning my hips with
his. Moving my left leg back, he pushed in with a loud hiss.

I let out a soft cry, then clasped him to me
as he began to move. His thrusts were hard, his hisses almost
continuous, his face buried in my neck. I could hear his heartbeat
as if it were my own, the beats so fast and irregular they seemed
to almost run together. I felt a slight prick as his fangs slid in,
then the pressure of gentle sucking.

I stroked his back carefully with my hands,
not sure where his wound was, not wanting to hurt him. A few
minutes later, he shuddered once as he came, then relaxed against
me, breathing hard.

I kissed his cheek gently. At once, he pushed
up from me.

“No,” I said, holding him tightly.
“Wait—”

“Sar,” he hissed in a low apologetic tone. “I
can’t again. I wasn’t sure I was strong enough even to be able to
have you once.” He looked down at me, his body still pressed to
mine, and put his hand on my cheek. “I’d love to be able to be with
you like that over and over, until I died. That’s got to be the
best way I could think of to go. But that would be selfish to ask.
Thank you for coming to me one last time. I know what we just did
can’t have been very good for you. I’m too weak.”

I put my hand over his. “No. It doesn’t have
to be like that—”

He kissed me very gently. “You know why I
came here. It won’t be much longer. You feel the coolness of my
skin?”

No. It wasn’t too late. It couldn’t
be!
“Yes, but—”

The emotion in Lash’s words silenced me. “You
came to me when you knew, so you must care for me a little,” he
hissed softly. “Will you stay with me until it’s done? You don’t
have to kiss me or anything like that. Just hold me in your arms,
until I’m gone?”

I wiped at my eyes, which were too blurry to
see. “I’ll do better than that. You have another choice. You don’t
have to die—”

“Sar, I’m hurting bad, even with having taken
your blood. It’s time.”

“No! Keep drinking my blood,” I said, my
hands slipping up from his shoulders to touch his face. “It can
save you, renew your body, if you take enough.”

Lash went still, then drew himself out of me,
and sat on the edge of the mattress. I sat up as well, pulling the
bed blanket around me.

“How do you know this?” he hissed, uncertain.
“Titus said nothing.”

“He didn’t want to tell you! He didn’t want
me to come to you. But I had to try—”

“Why?” Lash hissed, putting his hand on my
arm. “You got what you needed from me, and I liked giving it to
you. Our deal is done, nothing owed. There is no love between us,
Sar. I know what you did for Danial those years ago, but—”

“Because Dev’s going to be devastated if you
die, and so will I. You’re my friend. I may not love you, but you
did what I needed you to do, even when you had to risk your life to
do it. I’m here to do what you need now.”

“You don’t owe me, Sar,” Lash hissed, his
flat eyes staring into mine. “I didn’t do what I did for you, I did
it for Devlin—”

“For a creature who loves quiet, you sure
can’t seem to shut the hell up!” I hissed back at him. “Take it,
before you are so far gone it won’t work!”

“It’ll kill you to take that much all at
once,” Lash said softly, rubbing his eyes. “I’m not going to kill
the woman my best friend loves so I can go on living.”

“I brought blood replenishment packets,” I
said, showing him the box. “Take it slowly, and give them to me,
but don’t stop for long—”

“No,” Lash said sadly. “Those will only work
for a while until I take about half your blood. Then they won’t
work anymore. You’ll still die.”

“Titus knows I’m with you,” I said, thinking
quickly. “He knows what I came to do. Call him, when I don’t
respond, and he’ll come. He said he could heal me.”

“You are lying, Sar,” Lash hissed gently,
giving me a faint smile. “I know him, and he said no such thing. If
he knew you were coming to save me, risking yourself for me, he
would have stopped you. There is no love lost between he and I, no
matter that we’ve worked together for many years.”

I wanted to cry, because I’d done so much to
come to him in time. I let out a breath I’d been holding.

“You can’t save me,” Lash hissed, pulling me
into his arms. “Let me go.”

There was only one more thing to dangle in
front of him for temptation. Lash had only shown me one weakness,
save his devotion and love for Devlin, in all the time I’d known
him. I preyed on that weakness now. “Take the blood and then bite
me. If you make me weresnake like you, I won’t die. You’ll be
strong enough to save me, if it works—”

Lash started, then looked down at me in
shock. “You don’t want to be what I am.”

“I’m asking you to try with me to save
yourself. I’m not pregnant now, and Devlin can still have me the
same if I’m were. He would probably enjoy it if my tongue was
forked.”

“It will change your blood,” Lash hissed.
“You’ll be weresnake. There’s no going back, Sar. You won’t taste
of summer ever again. Dev would never forgive me.”

“Don’t you think it’s a small price to pay
for your life? If you told Dev you were dying, had given him the
choice, don’t you think he would have tied you down and made you
try with me? You know how he feels about you, what he’s done to
keep you alive this long.” I paused. “Will you do it? Or were you
lying to me when you said you wanted to make me like you, that
given half a chance, you would?”

Lash stared back at me, unblinking.

I faced him. “You will never get another
chance, Lash. And the clock is ticking.”

“I wasn’t lying,” Lash hissed softly, hugging
me. “I do want that, for you to be weresnake like me. I’ve wanted
it since the second time we were together, when you raised The Lust
on purpose because you saw how badly I needed you. I never expected
that kindness, not from you. Not for me.”

I felt a rush of feeling for him, hearing his
raw disbelief mixed with affection.

He drew back and studied me. “But are you
sure this is what you want? I’ll have to bite you in the throat,
Sar, as snake. I’ve turned other women, so I know what I’m doing,
but you’ll feel yourself dying before it’s done. And when it’s
done, you’ll have more to face. My snake form is frightening to
most everyone. Yours will be, too. You’ve seen how I’m loathed for
what I am. It can be very lonely, being outcast by most other
weres, not to mention humans. I’ll be with you, but you’re going to
lose a lot by doing this.”

I drew back from him, settling myself on the
bed. His face shifted, almost certain I’d reconsidered.

“I’m afraid,” I said, touching his hand
gently. “But I’m sure.”

Lash squeezed my hand, then got out his cell
phone and checked the battery. Like mine, his was charged with a
strong signal. He put it within reach, and then opened all eight of
the packets, placing them upwards in their plastic container.

I lay back down on the bed. Lash lay down
beside me. Then he leaned over me, his upper body on mine, moving
very carefully. In the dim light, there was something glistening on
his left side.
Blood?

“Don’t touch my left side, if you can help
it,” Lash whispered. “I have a wound there, Sar.”

“I won’t.” I turned my head away from him,
bracing myself.

Lash settled back beside me, then took my
hand in his. “You squeeze my hand,” he said. “Keep a constant
pressure, okay?”

I nodded. Lash kissed my throat, then
gingerly sank his fangs back into the partially scabbed holes and
began to drink.

His fangs might have been long, but they were
small compared to a vampire’s; I barely felt him drawing out my
blood. While there was no sudden shock of blood loss, getting a
substantial amount required Lash’s continuous exertion. At first,
it didn’t hurt. But as time went on, my neck began to feel sore and
then to throb in pain.

After about fifteen minutes, I felt
lightheaded, my grip on his hand slackening. Lash stopped drinking
and gave me one of the packets. Once I swallowed it down, he
resumed drinking. We continued this way until we had gone through
six packets and an hour and a half had passed. Lash improved
steadily as he took my blood, warmth returning to his body when we
reached the hour point, and with it, his strength.

I didn’t feel like Lash had taken too much of
my blood. The packets were doing their job, keeping me conscious
and my heart beating. I just hoped they weren’t diluting my blood
or anything, because then he might need to take more. I cursed
myself then for never asking Dr. Camlyn exactly how they worked, or
how many I could take in a few hours without poisoning myself. But
neither had seemed important then...

“Are you doing okay?” he hissed softly in my
ear. “I’m being as gentle as I can, but I have to be hurting you. I
can’t give you anything for the pain, I have no magic—”

I tried to be brave. “I’m okay,” I croaked
out.

“Sar, you’re not. Let me do what I can to
ease it for you.” He gently wiped my tears away, then moved onto
his back, carefully pulling me atop him. With a shift of his hips,
he pushed smoothly into me, then lowered my upper body down onto
his. With one arm he steadied me, then his head nuzzled my throat,
his fangs again finding their mark. He began thrusting very gently,
almost imperceptibly, his free hand caressing and sliding over my
bare skin, rubbing my breasts gently, stroking my hair and face.
His other hand was in mine, still clasped securely.

I almost stopped him. But he was right in one
thing: we might both die attempting this. And what did it matter,
anyway? My tubes were tied, I couldn’t get pregnant. And if this
was the end, I wanted to go out being loved, not just bitten.

By the time we reached the eighth and last
packet, I was clinging to consciousness and him with both hands.
We’d come several times, both of our pleasures expressed in soft
groans. Most important, it was working. From his increasing vigor
and body heat, Lash was getting stronger. What I didn’t know was if
I had enough blood and will to finish the job. Lash had taken far
more than Devlin or Danial had ever taken, even when they’d bitten
me together the first time those years ago. I had never felt so
weakened and depleted.

What would happen if I didn’t give him
enough? He’d still die. I had to keep going, to finish it, or none
of what we’d done would mean anything.

I took the eighth packet from him with
shaking fingers, swallowed it, and went limp against him. Lash took
the empty package, set it with the rest, and slipped his fangs in,
sucking gently, his hand holding mine firmly.

Ten minutes passed, then I felt myself
starting to drift. I tried to hold on, but I didn’t want to. I
wanted to let go. All of my nerve endings were screaming in fear,
Lash’s efforts to distract me drowned out in pain.

But I didn’t stop him. It was he who stopped
himself.

“I can’t take anymore,” he said, moving back
off of me. “You’re getting cold, Sar. I’ve never had this much
before from a woman and not had her die.”

I squeezed his hand, unsure if he could
actually feel any pressure.

Lash let go of my hand, and hugged me. “It
doesn’t matter to me if you gave me enough to save me. It’s enough
you took away my pain, and you’re with me here at the end—”

I looked at him in shock, ignoring his words.
Even in the weak candlelight, he’d changed. I reached up my hand
weakly towards him.

Lash took my hand in his. “What is it?”

“Your scar...is gone...”

“You brought me back,” he whispered, his
words drawling, sounding faintly Southern. The hiss that had always
been present in his words was gone. Yet his voice was somehow still
him. “My fangs are gone.”

He ran his hands up over his face, letting
out an intake of breath when he felt that his scar was gone. His
wound looked healed, too. It was no longer glistening. The blood
had dried, falling off in places to reveal new skin underneath.

I had done it. I had saved him.

“I told you...it would work,” I whispered,
then let my eyes close. Now I could relax completely, knowing that
whatever else happened, I’d done what I came here to do. And I
wanted to drift more than anything.

“No! You stay here with me, you hear me Sar?”
Lash said urgently, pulling me close with one hand, and speed
dialing his cell with the other. “You are not dying now, not
now!”

Everything began to grey around the
edges.

“Titus? It worked, yes. Come to the
Everglades, Campsite 89. Hurry!” Lash hung up, and hugged me.

“Stay with me,” he whispered gently. “Titus
is coming, Sar. If he can’t heal you, I’ll turn you. You aren’t
going to die, no matter what we need to do to save you. I swear
it.”

Wondering if he was trying to convince me or
himself, I passed out in his arms.

Chapter
Six

I awoke to find Titus on his knees next to
me, supporting my back as he tried to pour some bitter liquid down
my throat. I coughed, and he drew back the container from my
lips.

“What is this stuff? It’s awful!” I said,
moving my mouth, trying to get the taste out. “Worse than drinking
those blood-fixing packets!”

“Sar, you’re insane,” he said angrily, yet
with an odd note that resembled pride. “You’re insane, but you did
it. And you are lucky as hell I came down here with Lash back in
’74, so I knew where to teleport to.”

I saw the dawn sky through the open tent
door. The sun was just rising. “When did the night end?” I said in
wonder.

“A few minutes ago,” Titus said, worried.
“Drink a little more. Your life depends on it, Sar. This should be
enough to heal you, if you can get it down.”