Page 21 of Trapped By the Blood Ruby

I stumbled, pushing off the nearest tree, forcing my legs to pump harder.

The road was there—just a few more feet.

A weight slammed into me from behind. I gasped, flying through the air before hitting the ground. Pain lit up my body as I rolled over, knocking the air from my lungs.

There was a blur of movement right as a heavy body fell upon me.

I struggled to push it off without success.

White hot pain exploded in my neck followed by a feminine groan. I went utterly numb, my shocked eyes fixed upon the leafy canopy above. Then a scream tore from my throat.

Time rushed into whirls of action and sensation. Blurred bodies. Agony, as teeth were ripped free of my throat. My own strangled cry, foreign to my ears. The feeling of my sticky blood coating my skin. The smell of iron in the air. A loud, furious growl that made me shiver with terror.

The scene materialized, dreamlike in its quality. My hand went to my neck, pressing against the liquid spilling out. I felt the torn flesh beneath my fingers, but refused to process the damage.

Laurent stood nearby, his expression frigid. He held an unfamiliar vampire at arm’s length, hand wrapped around her throat. Her feet dangled, fingers clawing at his wrist. “That was very stupid, Henrietta.”

Henrietta’s eyes were completely black, her skin marbled. Her face was a mess of blood. My blood. My stomach roiled.

“Fortunately, I’m still stronger than you, even with her amplifier blood coursing through your veins.”

I barely had time to swallow against my nausea before Laurent’s other hand shot out, fingers plunging through Henrietta’s ribcage. She gasped, a single choked word falling from her lips. “Sire!”

Next came a squelching sound as he ripped her heart free, holding it in front of her before dropping it to the forest floor with a nauseating thud. Almost instantly, her body began to desiccate. There were others here—Laurent’s vampires—standing in a loose circle around us. Silent sentinels watching motionlessly.

Laurent shot me a single glance. This is what happens, it said. The accusatory depths of his eyes made me shiver. I wanted to protest that this wasn’t my fault, but the words wouldn’t form in my throat.

He released her and she crumbled to the ground. Her body continued to wither until she looked as if she’d been dead for decades. I rolled to my side and vomited, one hand still pressed to my neck. This was…the lowest of low for me.

When I finally caught my breath and tried to scuttle backwards, everything was spinning. The trees moved all on their own. I lurched, trying to steady myself.

“Perhaps I was not clear,” Laurent said to the others. “Anyone who touches her, dies. Get back to your posts.”

He whirled toward me and I flinched. Our eyes connected. There was nothing in his empty gaze, a window into a soulless vampire. Except his jaw twitched, betraying his anger. “Marco,” he snapped, nostrils flaring.

My breaths came faster. I couldn’t pull my eyes from his hand. His bloody hand, still dripping with what was left of the heart he’d stolen. I swallowed down more bile. He’d warned me not to run.

Marco materialized beside him.

“Get a doctor—now,” Laurent barked.

I blinked in confusion.

“Yes, Sire.” Marco disappeared.

Suddenly, we were alone.

Laurent grabbed the neck of his charcoal colored T-shirt and slipped it over his head, balling the fabric in his hands. I caught a flash of his torso, rock solid muscles perfectly shaped. They shifted as he crouched before me.

A tiny whimper left my mouth, betraying my pain, my fear, my helplessness. I couldn’t move. Even if I’d wanted to, I’d lost too much blood. Already, darkness was seeping into my vision.

“You’re all right,” he said, his voice softening in a way I hadn’t heard. He wrapped his fingers around my wrist, gently pulling it away to replace it with the fabric of his shirt. “Press there.”

“I…” My eyes darted over to Henrietta’s desiccated body.

“Yes, an unfortunate casualty.” His voice chilled again. “I ought to kill you here and now. Already, you have cost me. This will not happen again. Your pain will be lesson enough, I think.”

A small, mournful noise came from the back of my throat. He flinched, eyes darting between mine. Then his hard features softened again.