"Don't say that!"
"Ask Tohr and Wellsie to take you in."
"No."
"Promise me."
"I will not," she said fiercely. "You're not going anywhere."
She was so wrong about that, he thought. He could feel himself slipping away.
"I love you, leelan."
Beth started to sob. Her strangled cries were the last sound he heard as he fought against the tide and lost.
Beth didn't look up when the cell phone started ringing.
"Wrath?" she said again. "Wrath…"
She put her ear to his chest. His heart was still working, but the beats were faint, and he was breathing, though slowly. She was desperate to help him, except she couldn't do CPR. Not until his vitals crashed.
"Oh, God…"
The phone kept ringing.
She grabbed it off the dirt floor, trying to ignore the spreading pool of blood around Wrath's body. "What!"
"Beth! It's Butch. I'm with V. He and I are going to be there soon, but he needs to talk to you."
There was a whirring noise in the background, as if a car engine was screaming.
Vishous's voice was intense. "Beth, here's what you need to do. Do you have a knife?"
She eyed the remaining dagger on Wrath's chest. "Yes."
"Get it. I want you to cut your wrist. Do it vertically down the forearm, not horizontally, otherwise you'll just hit bone. Then put it to his mouth. It's his best chance of surviving until we can get him help." There was a pause. "Put the phone down, honey, and get the knife. I'll talk you through it."
Beth reached over and extracted the blade from Wrath's holster. She didn't hesitate to slice her left wrist open. The pain made her gasp, but she didn't dwell on the burning as she put the wound to Wrath's mouth. She picked up the phone with her free hand.
"He's not drinking."
"You've already cut yourself? Good girl."
"He's not… he's not swallowing."
"Hopefully some's getting down the back of his throat."
"He's bleeding from there, too."
"Jesus… I'm driving as fast as I can."
Butch spotted the Hummer. "Over there!"
Vishous drove right across the lawn, and they leaped from the car, punch running for the barn.
Butch couldn't believe the scene inside. A couple of slaughtered dogs. Blood everywhere. One really dead body-Jesus, that was Billy Riddle.
And then he saw Beth.
She was wearing a long T-shirt that was covered with blood and dirt, her eyes gone mad as she knelt by Wrath's body with one wrist to his lips. When she noticed them, she hissed and brought up her knife, prepared to fight.
Vishous went forward, but Butch grabbed his arm. "Let me go first."
Slowly, Butch stepped over to her. "Beth? Beth, you know who we are."
But the closer he got to Wrath, the crazier her eyes became.
She pulled her wrist away from the man's mouth, ready to defend him.
"Easy, girl. We're not going to hurt him. Beth, it's me."
She blinked. "Butch?"
"Yeah, baby. It's me and Vishous."
She dropped the knife and started to cry.
"Okay, it's okay." He tried to get her into his arms, but she dropped back down to Wrath. "No, baby. Let V look at him, okay? Come on, it'll just take a minute."
She allowed herself to be pulled back. As Butch tore off his shirt and wrapped it around her waist, he nodded to V.
Vishous dropped to Wrath's side. When he looked up from the other vampire's stomach, his lips were tight.
Beth sank down, putting her wrist back in place. "He'll be all right, won't he? We'll just move him to a doctor. To a hospital. Right? Vishous, right?" Desperation made her shrill.
And then suddenly, they weren't alone.
Marissa and a distinguished, frantic-looking man appeared out of nowhere.
The guy went to Wrath's body and lifted the wad of blood-soaked satin. "We've got to get him to my OR."
"My car's on the front lawn," V said. "I'll come back and finish things when he's safe."
The man cursed as he examined the neck wound. He looked at Beth. "Your blood's not strong enough. Marissa, get over here."
Beth was fighting back tears as she lifted her wrist from Wrath's mouth and looked up at the blond woman.
Marissa hesitated. "Are you okay with my feeding him?"
Beth offered Wrath's dagger handle first. "I don't care who he drinks from if it will save him."
Marissa cut herself easily, as if she'd done it many times before. Then she lifted Wrath's head up and pressed the wound to his mouth.
His body jolted like it had been hooked up to a car battery.
"All right, let's move him," said the man who'd taken charge. "Marissa, you keep that wrist right where it is."
Beth took Wrath's hand as the men got him up off the barn floor. They carried him as gently as they could over to