Breathless (30 page)

The scream was the result of both the shock of seeing her there and the unbearable pain I felt as she thrust a thick, glass shank through my right hand, completely incapacitating me. As I lay there, staring up at her profoundly beautiful face, I could almost imagine Chaseyn standing there in her place—their resemblance startling now that I had made the connection.

“
Chaseyn,” I mouthed, the sound so faint, even I could barely hear. My mouth was dry, like the saliva that naturally flowed had been replaced by wads of fluffy cotton.

“
It’s just the two of us now, Cordelia,” she mocked. “You have no idea how long I have waited for this. Father will be so very pleased with me.”

My eyes were heavy, and I struggled to keep them open. Sleep was not an option, I reminded myself. There would be no hope if I lost consciousness. Was there hope now, I wondered? As if in response to my silent question—or maybe I
had
said it aloud—Frost opened her mouth wide, revealing a pair of glistening fangs and the most startling difference between her and Chaseyn.

This was it. The moment my grandma had warned me about. The one Chaseyn had vowed he would prevent. My brain swirled; I couldn’t think straight. The room was hazy and unfocused. Objects blended together, obscuring my vision. It was too much to absorb all at once.

I closed my eyes and waited.

Chapter 27 - Heroes

“
Lia? Where are you,” a masculine voice called frenetically, begging for a response. “Lia? Answer me, Lia. Come on.”

The voice grew louder and louder, until it stopped entirely. Was I dead, I wondered? A loud din—a crunching, like the sound of feet trekking across hard-packed snow—filled the air around me. Again, the sound stopped, giving leverage to my panicked thoughts. Frost had taken my life and betrayed her father’s trust. She would get a greater rise out of cheating Chaseyn. Of this, I was certain.

Suddenly, a calming warmth surrounded me, and I could feel myself floating above the ground. Is this how my soul would feel if it were leaving my human form? My entire body remained limp, motionless, and any effort to open my eyes was futile. This must be death.

“
Help,” a voice called. “Somebody, help. Please.”

My body was jostling about, as if it were moving at a high speed, and I knew
he
had made it in time.

“
Chaseyn,” I murmured quietly, almost inaudible. He would hear. “I knew you would come. You promised.”

He did not respond. The only explanation was that I was, in fact, dead. I tried again. Louder, but barely.

“
Lia, don’t move,” the voice replied. I didn’t notice at first that he didn’t use my given name. “Oh, please, be okay. Please.”

Chaos was the only word to describe what happened next. Shrieks of terror and sobs of fear penetrated the buzz inside my head. As my body was lowered to the ground, I felt hands pounding at various wounds on my body. I moaned softly, hoping they would stop, but they persisted relentlessly. Soon, I realized—despite the haze clouding my thoughts—that they were trying to stop the bleeding. When I finally managed to open my eyes—albeit for a short time—I could see that the boys had removed their shirts to make compresses. Bits of cloth were tied strategically around several locations on my badly beaten body. I felt no pain, but I didn’t fight the feeling to close my eyes again. Before falling into a sleepless state, I called for
him
one last time.

“
No, Lia. He’s not here. I’m sure he’ll come when he hears what happened,” Eli whispered, patting the sticky hair back from my bloodied forehead. At some point, I must have fallen face first into the glass. He tried to sound soothing and calm, but I could hear the anxiety boiling beneath. “It’s okay. Help is on its way.”

Sirens sounded, and I heard voices telling the crowd that had gathered around me to disperse. Pushing through the hoards, the paramedics kneeled at my side, urging me to stay awake.

“
What happened here,” one of them asked feverishly. “Is there anyone else inside?”

Before anyone could answer, a loud engine roared in the distance. Within seconds, I could feel
him
, his cool aura cut through the air, bringing with it a sense of calm and relief.

“
She was alone,” Chaseyn said to the paramedic. “I was on the phone with her when the attraction started to crumble. She was terrified. I tried to talk her through, but it was too late.”

Everything would be all right. Chaseyn would see to it.

“
I can handle it from here, Eli. Thank you for getting her out of there,” he said sincerely.

I fell into a deep slumber.

When I woke, I felt surprisingly well. My grandma, who had clearly held a vigil at my side, was jumping up and down with excitement.

“
She’s opening her eyes,” she shouted. “Quick.”

“
Hold still,” I begged. “You’re making my head hurt.”

“
I’m guessing it’s the sixteen stitches above your left temple that are actually making your head hurt,” Chaseyn said wryly as he bent down to kiss my forehead. “It’s about time you came round. We’ve been hanging around this place forever.”

“
Ouch,” I said, feeling the gauze wrapped around my head with my free hand—the one that wasn’t bound to an intravenous cable. “Harumph.”

“
Most of the wounds are superficial. They look a lot worse than they actually are. There’s just the one,” Chaseyn’s voice trailed off, and he looked at Eli and Hank sitting in the corner. I felt the bandage fastened securely to my neck and instantly understood his discretion.

“
But you had a terrible fever. It gave us an awful fright,” my grandma added, and I realized she knew the meaning of the two small marks on my neck.

“
Oh,” I said enthusiastically, genuinely happy that I hadn’t received any life-threatening injuries but wary of her remarks. “What happened? I can barely remember anything.”

For the most part, it was a lie. I had a pretty good idea, right up to the end, but I figured I should know the alibi. People would be asking about my injuries, and I better know what to say.

“
I’ll explain it all to you later,” grandma said, winking at both me and Chaseyn. “Thank goodness Eli was there to pull you out. He’s a real hero.”

Chaseyn shifted his weight uncomfortably. I could hardly believe my grandma was still trying to sell me on Eli with Chaseyn standing right there.

“
It was nothing, really,” Eli blushed. He was obviously uncomfortable. “Chaseyn was just a few steps behind. He took care of all the major details.”

It had only been about 26 hours since the fateful event, and there was still so much to consider. Chaseyn had managed to stave off my mother by telling her that he would bring me home safely. He played down my injuries, suggesting there was barely a scratch on my skin. My grandma helped convince her to stay put.

“
Can I talk to Chaseyn alone for a minute,” I asked.

“
Sure, sweetums,” my grandma said, dragging Hank out the door. Eli followed close behind. “We’ll be back in five.”

It was just like her to rush our rendez vous. Just when I thought she might come around to Chaseyn, I could see that it would take more time to get her onside.

“
She knows,” Chaseyn said as soon as they were out the door, and I understood why she was even more reluctant to succumb to his charms in the same way my mother had.

“
How much,” I asked.

“
Everything. It was impossible to keep from her,” Chaseyn said quickly. “She has an incredible gift of insight—unlike any I have seen before in a human.”

“
Perfect. Now what? Where’s Frost?”

“
I was hoping you might remember,” he said. “Mina and I have been trying to uncover her whereabouts, but we can’t place her. Did she say anything to you before...well, you know.”

“
Before she bit me?”

“
Yes.”

“
No. The last thing I remember is the gleam of her sharp eye teeth as they lunged toward my jugular. I was sure she had decided to kill me, but she must have chosen to let me live after all. What does this mean?”

“
It means we have to be very careful,” Chaseyn explained. “Frost likely heard Eli searching for you and feared revealing her dark secret if he had discovered her there unscathed. If she wants to finish what she started, she will have to sink her teeth into you twice more before the next full moon. After that, Frost won’t be able to touch you. Alexei would have to send another member of his biological army to find you and finish the job.”

“
So what do we do now?”

“
We wait,” he said. “Cordelia?”

“
Yes.”

“
I’m sorry I broke my promise.”

As if on cue, my grandma emerged. Hank and Eli were no where to be seen. I knew this meant she wanted to talk. Alone. Chaseyn left the room without so much as a word.

“
Grandma, when did you know…about Chaseyn, I mean,” I asked perfectly candidly.

“
I knew—we
both
knew—instantly,” she said carefully.

“
What do you mean you both knew?”

“
The minute I saw Chaseyn standing there at the airport in Denver when we fist met, a cold rush came over me. I knew instantly what it meant,” she explained. “I could tell immediately that he felt something, too. He may not have known what it was at the time, but I’m sure he figured it out quickly. After he talked to his mother, no doubt.”

With Chaseyn’s ability to foresee and understand events on another level, I knew Mina’s wisdom would only have enhanced any information he had already discerned. In fact, it was possible Chaseyn knew what he was stepping into before he had even left for the airport that day. I knew my grandma had come to discuss other matters though, and I remained silent so that she could proceed.

“
Lia, you can’t stay with him. It’s too dangerous,” she began. “You wouldn’t be here, in this place, if it wasn’t for him.”

“
That’s not true, and you know it,” I protested. “It’s because of him that I stand a chance at coming out of this…alive.”

I pondered that last thought for a moment. Should one of Alexei’s soldiers actually complete his or her mission, I wouldn’t exactly be dead. Rather, I would be undead, and I was only marginally certain that was negative. Part of me had considered the possibility of remaining forever with Chaseyn as a warrior of the underworld, so to speak. Still, if I was to crossover, I would want it to be at his hands, not by the tainted fangs of an immortal soul. Often, I had thought about our future, but I had yet to make a decision. There was plenty of time, and it deserved a thorough assessment before coming to an absolute conclusion. Besides, I had no idea if Chaseyn would be willing to have me join him in eternity.

“
It’s impossible for me to support your relationship,” she persisted. “Chaseyn is one of
them
. How can you be so sure that
he
isn’t part of the plan?”

For the second time since I had met Chaseyn, my grandma caused me to doubt the sincerity of his devotion and commitment. She had a point that I had to consider.

“
I don’t know that for sure, but what other choice do I have,” I posed, knowing that was the truth. Either way, I was fodder for Alexei’s centuries-old game. At this stage, it was better to hope that Chaseyn was free from Alexei’s grasp and prepared to stand off against his father than to believe he would turn against me in the end. “Let’s assume for a moment that Chaseyn is sincere, shall we? He can help me escape this curse.”

“
Or, he could take matters into his own hands…,” she replied.

“
I can’t run from this. There is no place I can hide where Alexei won’t be able to find me. He’s populated an army of his offspring to hunt me down and fulfill this destiny,” I said through a heavy flow of salty tears. “I don’t know what else to do.”

“
Okay,” she conceded. “I see your point, but I don’t have to like it.”

Sitting on the edge of my bed, she wrapped her arms around me and rocked slowly back and forth. To comfort me, she hummed the same lullaby she often sang to get me to sleep as a child.

“
I love you, grandma.”

“
Me, too, Lia. Me, too.”

Chapter 28 - The Plan

Another twelve hours passed before the medical team felt I was in stable physical condition and could be released from the hospital. Looking at the perfectly formed gash on my neck, they contemplated how two identical glass pieces could have made such an impression. Each shard cut equally deep through my flesh, causing mass amounts of blood to spill forth from my veins. It was the only major wound I had sustained during the incident, and the only one that mattered now. They would never know the truth, and I had to work hard to keep it that way.