The atmosphere flickered, glowing and darkening, then glowing twice as bright. My bones felt cold, but my skin was on fire. I couldn’t stop shivering.
I was dying.
I closed my eyes, the voices around me whirling into a jumble of background noise and screams.
Please, baby, hold on!
Find Luther. His blood is the strongest. Go! Now!
What if it doesn’t work?
It’s better than nothing!
We’ll have to pull it out before we do it.
My eyes flew open at the last statement. Pull what out? Oh, no, they weren’t going to?—
“Olivia, honey, this is going to hurt,” Liz said.
Joseph ordered, “Turn her on her side. Careful!”
I fumbled for the post, a feeble attempt to stop them. I was no match for the vampires.
“We’re all going to have to start biting the instant it’s out, understand?” Liz yelled. “Then we’ll take turns getting her to drink from us!”
I gazed around the room. It seemed as if every vampire from the party was packed into the space. Who was she talking to?There were so many of them. How could they think they could make me vampire? Couldn’t they see I was beyond saving?
Suddenly, hands were all over me, pinning my body. Another hand curled over the post. I wanted to scream for them to stop, to tell them to let me sleep. I wanted them to go away and let me die in peace.
But it wasn’t just about me anymore. I had a son and a husband. Without me, there would be no one to look after them. Nobody could ever love them as much as I did. I had to be strong.
I squeezed my eyes shut and gave Robert a nod.Do it!
“Hold on, my love,” he whispered.
Even though I knew what was coming next, I was nonetheless horrified when my ribcage emitted a crunching sound as the post was ripped from my chest. I struggled to breathe like a fish out of water as I convulsed on the floor. The shouting started up again as I began to fade.
She’s going!
We’re losing her!
Bite! Now!
My eyes flew open as countless mouths latched onto my body. Seemed they’d given up on taking turns and were instead engaging in a biting free-for-all. A vampire even sucked at the veins of my feet. It hit me all at once: the stinging, burning, freezing sensation of their fangs sinking into my flesh as they nearly sucked me dry. It hurt so damn much, I began to wish for death, for the agony to finally end.
All at once, the biting stopped. Cold fingers jabbed into my mouth, prying my teeth apart to hold my jaw open. I tried not to cough when coppery liquid gushed down my throat. It was like being waterboarded with vampire blood.
Robert’s blood, I realized. “Drink it down, my love,” he said. I felt no change as I sucked at his oozing wound.
Then, Liz was above me. “Let me try.” She eased her spurting wrist over my lips. “I can’t tell if it’s working! Do you think it is?” she asked Robert.
It wasn’t.
I continued drinking—from my best friend, then Marlena, Joseph, and endless vamps whose names I didn’t know. We were running out of options.
We tried, I thought sleepily.We tried.
Voices faded into the background, words tangling into swirls of incomprehensible chatter. Liz and Robert’s sobs dwindled. Blood was still being forced down my throat, though I lacked the conviction to continue swallowing.
