Dying Forever (Waking Forever Book 3) (36 page)

Alison lifted her head
, and a hard, wooden object ground into her forehead. Reaching to rub the offended spot, Alison found she couldn’t move her arms. To her horror, her body was pressed between the bottom and lid of a narrow wooden box.

I’ve been
buried.
A wave of nausea swept through her, and she swallowed hard. Her heart began racing in her chest as she took deep gulps of air. To her horror, in spite of the rapid breathing, she wasn’t getting enough air. The oxygen in the enclosed space was being depleted rapidly.

Slow it down, slow it down.
Alison repeated the mantra in her head in an effort to bring her breathing under control. Sweat was gathering on her forehead, and the humidity in the small space was stifling.

Tears began to stream from Alison’s eyes as sobs of fear and panic tore through her. Thrashing about from side to side
in a fruitless effort to free her hands, she only managed to scrape and cut herself.

“Help!” Alison choked on the thick air as she screamed. Her ears rang, and sharp stabs of pain shot through her head. “Help me!”

The only response was the hammering of her pulse in her ears, and the gasping sound of her labored breathing in the otherwise silent coffin.

I’m going to die.
The realization that her life was going to end, and that she knew the when, the how and the what of it, brought Alison’s breathing to a full stop. As if a cooling spike had been plunged into her burning chest, the woman felt the stillness of the air around her, and the fear and panic being suffocated by it.

She wanted Bryce. She wanted her
strength and comfort, the coolness of her touch. A muffled sob escaped Alison as her mind raced to her mother, and her family’s anguish as they would more than likely never know what became of her.

The stillness of the coffin began to seep into Alison. She felt a
calmness blanket her as her heart began to slow and the space between her labored breaths became wider. Her muscles relaxed and she felt as if she were sinking into the porous wood of the box, unaware of the scratching sound coming from the earth above her.

“Alison!” Bryce ripped the coffin’s wood lid free of its
metal hinges and threw it across the deserted field. Her hands and nails caked with dirt, she scooped the unconscious woman into her arms, and in a single leap, landed nearly ten feet from where Alison had been buried.

Gently laying the blonde
to the ground, Bryce tilted her head back and began to carefully administer CPR. Tempering the chest compressions for fear she would crush Alison, Bryce listened for the woman’s heartbeat. The silence was deafening.

“
Please breathe.” Forcing three breaths into Alison’s lungs, Bryce paused. A faint thumping sound was coming from Alison’s chest. “That’s it.” A moment later, a dry, wheezing cough broke the silence.

Bryce turned her on her side, and began rubbing her back. “It’s okay. Breathe slow.”

Alison’s entire body ached as she rolled onto her back. Her eyes burned and her lungs felt stiff and hot. Managing to focus, she saw the piercing green of Bryce’s eyes inches from her. Trying to speak, her throat felt like sandpaper. “Bryce.” The single syllable sent a stab of pain down her throat.

Bryce pulled Alison to her,
blood-stained tears of relief streaming from her eyes. She had dispensed with the lycans, and had doubled back to witness the disposal of Rayven’s body and Alison being buried. Annabel had become enraged when the fifth lycan returned without Bryce. A second later the animal crumpled to the ground in a bloody heap of flesh and bone, another victim of the witch’s rage.

Leaning back, Bryce looked around the empty field cautiously
, and then back at Alison, her face and neck covered in scratches and mud. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t get to you sooner, but I had to wait for them to leave.” Bryce gently stroked Alison’s cheek with her thumb. “Can you walk?”

Alison’s legs felt
useless as she clung to Bryce. “You’ll have to carry me.”

Bryce nodded, and without a word picked Alison up
. Cradling her gently in her arms, she began a brisk run across the uneven terrain of the field. Once beyond the tree line, the vampire stopped, and carefully put Alison down. “Better?” She watched Alison closely to make sure she was able to stand on her own.

“Yea
h. Still a little woozy.” Alison looked around. A faint light was coming from the eastern sky, and she knew it must be nearing dawn. Rubbing her sore and swollen cheeks, Alison looked around. “Should we still try to get to my parents’ house?”

Bryce shook her head. “No. I don’t know if they were following us
, or if they knew where we were going and intercepted us.”

“It happened so quickly, I don’t even know -” She looked down at her hands. Her nails were bro
ken and dirt and blood clung to her skin.

Bryce took the shaken woman’s hands in hers. “A pack of lycan rammed the car, and the rest - well you know that part.”

“Poor Rayven.” Alison shuddered remembering the woman’s anguished cries. “I wasn’t a fan, but she didn’t deserve what happened to her.”

“It will be full on war now. Coleen is - was - Rayven’s maker. She won’t stand for such a brutal act against one of her offspring.” Bryce pulled Alison to her, taking comfort in the woman’s warmth. “We need to get back to Coleen’s and tell the group what’s happened. My phone was shattered in the wreck, and I can’t find yours.”

Alison buried her face in the side of Bryce’s neck. Considering her exertions over the past few hours, she was amazed the comforting scent of oranges and vanilla still emanated from the woman. In that moment, Alison found herself somewhere beyond her doubt and denial, at a place where the truth about her feelings for Bryce lay waiting for her.

“
There’s something I need to tell you.” The professor leaned back, and looked intently at Bryce. The vampire’s brow furrowed as a look of concern crossed her face.

“Are you hurt?” Bryce ran her fingers through Alison’s hair, and along her shoulders, worried the woman was in pain.

“I love you.” Alison couldn’t stop from smiling. “I appreciate this is the worst timing ever, but you never know minute to minute what’s around the corner. So - ” Stepping back she looked nervously at the ground, and then back at Bryce. “So I needed you to know. I love you.”

Bryce didn’t know the moment she fell in love with Alison. She had spent so much time thinking about it that she hadn’t recognized it when it arrived. It had crept into her and now
it consumed her. “I love you. You -” Bryce took Alison’s face gently in her hands, wiping an errant tear away with her thumb. “You let me be myself. You’ve never tried twisting me to fit your image of me, though I know I’ve not always been the best company.”

Alison laughed, and turned her lips to Bryce’s palm. Bryce pulled her into her arms. “I probably won’t be any good at
being in love, but you know I’ll try my best.” She kissed the blonde’s cheek as she spoke.

“We’ll figure it out.” Alison clung to the woman in her arms, marveling that in spite of the horrors she had witnessed,
and the violence inflicted on her, right now there was more kindness and love in the world than she could ever have imagined.

“She’s dead?” Coleen stood in the study of her house, her eyes blazing as Bryce conveyed the events of the past five hours to her.

“I’m sorry. It all happened very quickly. By the time I got back -” Bryce could see Coleen struggling to maintain her composure. Her eyes glowed and her incisors were protruding from under her upper lip.

Lewis stepped up first, and placed a reassuring hand on the woman’s shoulder. Coleen shrugged it off, and turned her back to the group.

“How many lycans were there?” Ash asked as she took Emma’s hand in hers
, struggling not to put herself in Coleen’s place if something should happen to Emma.

“Five. I killed four, and Annabel killed the one that returned without me.” Bryce pinched her
lower lip between her teeth, a thought skittering through her mind.

“What?” Ash asked.

“After she killed the lycan, her heartbeat slowed, and her blood wasn’t flowing as quickly through her body.” Bryce looked at Ash. “It was nearly a minute before it returned to normal.”

Emma interrupted. “That would make sense.” She looked at Ash. “It’s similar to what you experience if you shift too quickly or too many times in a short period. Your body burns through a lot of calories, i.e. energy
. You’re weak for a bit until you recuperate.”

Ash released Emma’s hand and walked toward Coleen, whose back was still turned. “Have you heard of this? A Necromancer needing to
- recharge?”

Coleen turned around, a blood
-stained tear trickled down her cheek. “No.” She wiped at her face. “I want her and those other two bitches killed immediately, and as horrifically as possible.”

Lewis cleared his throat. “I know this is a loss, but we need to regroup here. It’s not just Annabel. Clearly the one named Christine is a threat.” He looked at Alison, who had been sitting on the sofa listening intently to the exchange, and wishing there were more she could do. “She was able to restrain Rayven?”

“Yes, but she made a comment that she wouldn’t be able to for very long.”

“Her power is like a muscle. It’s only so strong, and evidently we’re stronger.” Emma speculated.

The doorbell chimed, and Lewis excused himself. “That will be Rachel and Sara.”

“I think we should all stay here tonight. There is clearly safety in numbers.” Ash suggested.

“It doesn’t matter.” Coleen’s voice was layered with hate and rage. “They’ll be dead anyway.”

“
That’s the end, Coleen, not the means.” Ash’s voice was stern. “You want to skip to the end with no clear idea how we’re to get there.”

Coleen turned and lunged at
Ash, in a single second her hands were wrapped around the woman’s throat, her teeth bared. “Should I practice the
means
on you, shifter?”

Ash’s skin reddened as the tendons and muscles in her hands and arms began to expand and bulge. She clutched Coleen’s wrists
, but her jaw stayed tightly locked as she refused to indulge Coleen in a physical or verbal battle.

Seeing
Emma and Bryce move toward Coleen, Ash held her hand up. “Don’t.”

Emma spoke softly
to the enraged vampire. “I know you loved her. I really do understand, but please try to feel the hurt and not the anger right now.” She reached up, and gently stroked the woman’s cheek. “I need your head clear if we’re going to get out of this alive.”

Ash felt the vise like grip around her neck loosen as Coleen leaned away from her. Just then, Lewis, Rachel and Sara entered the room.

“What’s this?” Lewis ask, clearly confused by the turn of events.

Emma looked over at the man, and managed a faint smile. “We were just problem solving.” She looked closely at Coleen, whose eyes had filled with blood tinged tears. “Right?”

Coleen released her grip on
Ash, and stepped away, wrapping her arms around Emma, pulling her into a tight embrace. “I’m sorry.”

Emma had known Coleen her entire vampire life, and could count on one hand, with fingers to spare, the number of times the woman had apologized for anything. Knowing the significance of the moment, Emma held the woman to her. “It’s fine.”

Emma looked over Coleen’s shoulder toward Ash. “Are you okay?”

Rubbing her still red throat, Ash nodded. “Peachy.” Tilting her head back and forth, a series of pops sounded from the shifter’s neck before she spoke.
“Well, now that that’s out of everyone’s system, we can talk about those means.”

“What’s happening
?” Sara asked as she and Rachel sat down on the sofa.

Coleen stepped away from Emma. “Rayven’s been killed by Annabel and her coven.”

“Oh god. How?” Sara took Rachel’s hand in hers.

Bryce cleared her throat. “We were ambushed by lycan, and then Annabel turned Rayven into a human.” Looking at Alison, whose face was fraught with worry, the redhead continued. “Then a lycan turned on Ray, and it was - it was over very quickly.”

“This is getting out of hand.” Rachel stated the obvious. “How do we find these women and kill them?” The resolve in the woman’s voice was solid. Looking at Sara, her brow furrowed, she squeezed the woman’s hand. “I know you aren’t in love with the idea, but I - I just found you, and I’m not ready to lose you.”

Leaning in, Sara kissed Rachel softly on the lips. “I feel the same.”
Addressing the group, the attorney spoke confidently. “Are they coming after us, regardless of our affiliation with Bryce?”

Bryce responded. “Yes. It’s bigger than any vendetta Annabel may have with me.”

Sara nodded. “It’s a question of self-defense then. So, what’s the plan?”

Coleen, who remained standing next to Emma with her arm wrapped around the woman’s waist, spoke, her voice calm and matter-of-fact. “It will be easier if we can isolate them. Address them one at a time instead of as a group.”