"Help," I yelled.
If I didn't escape in the next minute or so, I would burn alive.
True panic beat inside my veins.
Only one person could help me now.
"Lucian."
I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the darkness. It had always been my companion, and now I desperately prayed to the black.
'Lucian. Please. I need you. Please don't ignore me. Save me.'
The prickle of heat burned the arm closest to the window, but I tried to ignore the sensation.
'Lucian. Please. I'm sorry for whatever it is you think I did.'
Still nothing.
God, I don't want to die. Not like this.
But maybe my suffering would be a just punishment.
Hadn’t I been responsible for Ryan losing his tongue, for Jason's death?
I would've had to be an idiot to think the disaster at the spa was only an accident.
Lucian had restored my sight and then thought I'd betrayed him with Jason and Ryan—not understanding they'd just been my friends, nothing else.
I'm sorry. God, I'm sorry.
The air around my face became the inside of an oven. I tried not to think about what it would feel like to roast alive.
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," yelled a male voice, startling me out of my terror.
Through the shimmering air of the car window, a hand reached through the flames and a face appeared on the other side.
"Hold on, I'm getting you out of there." His eyes met mine. "I promise."
Wings of hope fluttered in my heart.
"I…I prayed…" It was hard to think, hard to breathe.
"Stay awake." His other hand grabbed the straining seat belt and using a small pocketknife, he began sawing at the material.
My attention followed the lines of his face. Crow's feet lined the corners of his eyes. He was somewhere in his forties or fifties if I had to guess, based on my limited experience of sight.
But that wasn't what held my focus.
My oxygen-starved brain couldn't stop staring at the black collar at his neck with the tab of white at the front.
I'd prayed to Lucian, yet a priest had appeared.
I began laughing. My unhinged giggles turned into coughs.
Orange light intensified around me then everything faded to nothing.
Chapter 27
