Deny Me If You Can (10 page)

He would not lose her. He was nothing without her now.

Jaromir opened the door to the attic and ran up the short stairs. Shane was just behind him. What Jaromir saw take place in front of him almost made his heart stop beating.

Megan was lying on the ground only a few steps away f
rom him. Her clothes were torn in several places. A black eye covered one of her beautiful eyes. She held her hands protectively over her face, but that didn't matter much. Nasty cuts covered her arms and legs, none were fatal, but most certainly very painful. Megan's blonde hair was a mess. It looked like she had been pulled by it. Blood was smeared all over on her face, arms and clothes. Jaromir noticed Megan's hazy gaze and understood why her fear had subsided. She was losing consciousness.

Next to Megan stood Jillian
and it was obvious that Megan had put up a fight. Jillian was in a mess with her makeup smeared out and her hair all over the place. She even had scratch marks over her cheek and apparently a broken nose. Jillian could have snapped Megan's neck without any effort, but Jillian hadn't, and he knew why. Jillian wanted Megan to suffer first. Megan's non lethal wounds were proof of that. Jillian held a knife in her hands, a knife covered in Megan's blood. The sight made Jaromir see red. He would never forgive Jillian for this. She had just decided her own fate.

Jillian turned when he and Shane entered the attic. Megan on the other hand exhaled and her head fell to the floor. Without a second thought
, Jaromir lunged for Jillian. He grabbed her by the arm and squeezed hard. He heard bone break and Jillian screamed out her pain, but Jaromir didn't care how painful this was to her. He wanted to break every little bone in her whole body. He wanted to make her suffer like no one had ever suffered before. She would pay for hurting Megan, and he would make sure of it, but right now Megan was more important.

Jaromir forced Jillian to drop the knife before he pushed her toward Shane.

“Hold her,” he hissed. “If she tries to get away, hit her hard.”

Shane grabbed Jillian by the throat and with one swift move he
had her lying on her back on the floor. Jillian flashed her fangs at him and tried to scratch Shane with her hand that was still well, but Shane didn't let her. He made another swift move and more bone cracked. Jillian screamed again.

If Shane was mad or not was hard to tell, but there was no mistaking the determination that was written all over his face. The way he handled Jillian told Jaromir exactly what Shane thought of the whole situation. For a split second
, Jaromir registered regret in the vampire's eyes. Maybe he was sorry for not keeping a better eye on Megan, but the emotion quickly left him and he focused on keeping Jillian immobilized. She hissed and cursed him for all she was worth, but Shane never responded to anything she said.

Jaromir knelt down next to Megan. She was lying still on the floor. She looked tired and Jaromir could barely imagine the pain she was going through. She had cuts all over her body, some were deep and caused her to lose a lot of blood. Her breathing was rapid
and her face was covered in dust, blood and perspiration. Her hair slicked to her forehead.

Lazily,
she opened her eyes and looked at him. Jaromir's heart was bleeding. For the first time in forever tears ran down his cheeks. He was shaking and the fear of losing her drove him almost mad. If he didn't act soon, she would bleed to death right in front of his eyes.

He pulled up his sleeve, transformed one of his nails into a claw and cut his arm. His blood could save her, if he was in time. If she had lost too much blood, then not even his healing blood could help her. There were limits to how much he could do.

“Please, don't leave me,” he pleaded desperately and placed his hand against her lips, unable to stop his tears.

He saw Megan smile, but she didn't open her mouth to take his blood. A cold chill went right through him. She was fading
.

It f
elt like being in a dream, but Megan knew that she wasn't dreaming. Her body felt oddly numb. The awful pain was slowly going away. She could still feel it, but now it was more like the pain was far away, not really a part of her anymore.

Everything had happened so fast. Jillian had suddenly lunged for her, but instead of killing her Jillian had played with h
er, like a cat playing with its prey. Megan had never expected that. She had thought Jillian would end her within seconds, but when realization had struck, fear had followed. Her death would be slow and painful, very painful. Each cut Jillian delivered with her sharp claws felt like being torn apart. The thought that Jillian's claws were imbedded in some kind of toxic substance crossed Megan's mind several times. It couldn't possibly hurt this much to be clawed, but then she had looked down at her own legs and arms and seen the damage Jillian had done. Blood ran from many wounds. It looked like she had been attacked by a crazy cat who had gone berserk. Some wounds were shallow, others were deep, but they all burned like hell. Then Jillian had picked up a knife and continued with it instead.

It felt like it went on forever. Jillian never seemed interested
in stopping. A few times she took a short break, why Megan couldn't tell, but Jillian had went silent and had watched Megan for a short time before she had gone crazy again. Megan couldn't remember exactly how many times Jillian did that. The only thing she could remember was that the pain increased after every break. Her body was already in a lot of pain and when Jillian struck again it became worse.

Megan knew she couldn't defend herself, but she refused to go down without a fight. Jillian was so into hurting Megan that she forgot to protect herself. Megan used that. She pressed h
er hands against Jillian's face and pressed her short nails right into Jillian's injured nose. Jillian screamed, but her maddened state didn't make her retreat. Instead, Jillian only became infuriated and Megan could only fight back for a short moment of time. The pain became too much and the dream state came like a salvation.

Where Jaromir appeared from, she didn't know, but suddenly he was by her side and Jillian was gone. S
omewhere from a distance, she heard Jillian scream painfully, but she wasn't able to tell why, neither did she care. Her own pain was still present even if she felt numb all over. She was so tired. She wanted to close her eyes and just sleep, to run away. Her head was spinning, she actually felt like she was drunk and that couldn't be good since she hadn't drunk a single drop. Her body felt heavy and she was getting cold. She also lay on something wet, and somehow she knew it was her own blood. Her wounds were too severe. She was dying.

Jaromir kneeled beside her and the fear she saw in his eyes made her long
back to life, to comfort him and to tell him that everything would be alright, that she wasn't going anywhere, but that would be a lie. He had made a great impact on her life during these few hours. If she would have been given the chance to live, she knew she would never forget him, but that life was short now. It was down to minutes. Megan felt that she was slipping. Her eyes ... so heavy ... so tired ...

Jaromir grabbed her hand. Megan could barely feel his touch anymore.

“Please, don't leave me,” he said with desperation written all over his face. Tears were in his eyes.

Megan smiled. She wanted to reach out and touch his face, to caress his cheek, but there was no strength left in her.

“At least I tried,” she said with barely a whisper.

“Tried what?”

“To save her ...”

Something wet touched her lips and it took a while for her to
register that Jaromir was pressing his wrist against her lips, trying to make her swallow something warm and a little bit sweet. She realized that he had been trying to make her drink it for a while already, but her mind hadn't registered it until now.

“Swallow, Megan. I refuse to let you die.
Stay with me ... please ...”

Instinctively Megan licked her lips when she felt the wet liquid on them.

“That's it,” Jaromir said and she heard hope in his voice, but she no longer had the strength to look at him. She licked her lips again when more of the liquid touched them and without a second thought she swallowed it down. Heat spread inside her body. It felt nice, even cozy, as if she was tucked in a warm and silky blanket.

Megan relaxed and fell
into darkness.

Everything was dark around her, dark and calm. There were no more screams, no more fear or pain, just silence. It was nice, but also confusing. It was as if someone had snapped their fingers and everything had changed. She liked the silence, but she had no idea where she was or what was going on. Megan felt that she was lying on something soft. The hard attic floor was gone. Her hand touched the fabric. She didn't feel blood under her anymore and everything smelled nicely. 

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She stared up at a familiar roof and
saw that she was on her own bed in her own apartment. She looked around and everything felt so surreal. Had it all just been a dream? A very vivid dream if that was the case, but when she thought things through, she knew it hadn't been a dream. The hunt, the bond, Jillian's hostility. But how had she ended up in here? Hadn't she been in Jaromir's arms just a second ago? Hadn't he been crying and begging her desperately to stay with him? Everything felt like a big mess in her head, and it took her a while to sort things out. She had been in Jaromir's arms. He had given her his blood. She remembered that now and she also remembered the heat that had spread through her body when the blood had gone down her throat. It had sent her into a comfy state before everything had gone black. She couldn't remember what had happened next, but somehow she had ended up in her apartment again.

Megan raised her arms and look
ed at them. All the cuts and the blood was gone. It was as if they had never been there. Many of the cuts Jillian had inflicted on her had been deep and would have left scarring, but there was nothing. Nothing but healthy and young skin.

The memory of drinking Jaromir's blood flooded her mind again. He had saved her life. He had healed her.
She was now in his debt, but what could she give him that he didn't already have? He was a lot stronger than her, didn't age, his blood healed and he could literally live forever. There was nothing she could give him in return. She knew he would want something. He had said so himself in his office when they first met. Nothing came for free.

The light in her bedroom was off, only the tiny light from the full moon filled the room. It was enough for her to notice a shadow in the corner of her eye when she sat up. Megan gasped and turned her head toward the shadow.
Her heart went into a frenzy when she realized that she wasn't alone. She flew off the bed and was ready to make a run for it when she saw that the shadow was Jaromir. He stood in the corner with his back against the wall and his hands in his pockets. His face was calm, but in his eyes she saw a mix of sadness and hope. His gaze loomed her up and down as if he made sure that everything was alright with her, and it was. The pain was gone thanks to him. Megan couldn't have been more grateful.

“You're here,” she said.

Jaromir moved away from the wall and came closer.

“I have been here all the time,” he answered. “I haven't been able to leave your side.” Emotional pain crossed his handsome facial features followed by a longing that made Megan's heart
skip a beat.

“Why?” she asked and looked around. “How did I get here?”

Jaromir came even closer. The bond told her that he wanted to touch her, but he didn't. Desire, passion and longing, but also relief and pain was written all over him. Thanks to the bond, she felt that he was sorry for what had happened, but his relief over the fact that things had ended well was greater.

“What is the last thing you remember?” he asked.

“You gave me your blood.” Megan gasped when a thought crossed her mind. “Does that mean I'm a vampire now?”

He smiled, but the smile stayed only for a short while. “No, it takes more than that to make you a vampire.”

“Oh.”

Megan was relieved to hear that, but at the same time a small part of her was sad.
She wouldn't have minded being turned into a vampire by drinking his blood. But then she recalled that she had drunk his blood once before and that hadn't turned her into a vampire either. Maybe a lot more blood was needed, or something else.

Becoming a vampire mea
nt a new life, and she wanted that life. That life meant that she could be with him, to become a part of his life, but everything was over now. The hunt was over. She had lost, and so had her sister. Why Jaromir was still here was beyond her. It had to be because of the bond, but the bond was fading. She could still feel his feelings, but they weren't that clear anymore. It saddened her. She wanted that closeness to him. Without it, she felt empty. He had really changed her life within a matter of a few hours, and she knew that she had changed his. The question was what would happen now?

“You know, Megan. This
need not mean the end.” He reached out his hand and caressed her cheek. “This could be the beginning.”