I jerked away, my frantic gaze going to Edden. Tension crept along my spine as I backed up. There had been another? I didn’t remember it, but I had to believe him. What have I done to myself? Why?
“Or maybe…you’re too dangerous to be allowed free range, anymore. Time to break you to the bit, perhaps.”
Disoriented, I did nothing when Piscary put a golden-skinned hand around my throat. “No!” I shouted, but it was too late. My word escaped with a gurgle. Adrenaline flamed through me, and I struggled as Piscary backhanded Jenks with a slow nonchalance. The pixy shot across the room, hitting the wall and falling to the floor.
God help me. Jenks… “I gave you the focus!” I rasped, toes brushing the tile when he lifted me. “You said you’d leave me alone!”
Piscary pulled me closer. “You put me in jail,” he said, his breath smelling of blood and burnt amber. “I said I’d keep you alive, but I owe you some serious pain. You’ll only wish you were dead.” He put up a warning hand when Quen moved, and the elf stopped.
Horror trickled through me. This isn’t possible! “I saved your life!” I rasped when his fingers let up so he could hear me beg. “I could have let Al kill you.”
“Your mistake.” He smiled at me with sin-black eyes. “Say good-bye, Rachel. Time to start your new life.”
“No!” I screamed, then tapped a line. I pushed at him, willing the energy to flow, but it was too late. Crushing me to his chest, Piscary savagely sank his teeth into me.
My shriek of terror filled my ears. My heart hammered as if trying to find a way out of my chest, but my muscles had gone slack. Pain flowed, and I couldn’t move. It was agony. I heard my breath come in gasps, pushing my blood into Piscary all the faster.
A dark shadow approached like fast water, and Piscary backhanded Quen without breaking from me. I heard a thump and a pained grunt.
Just kill us, I thought, wanting Quen to blast us both to hell with a ball of ever-after. How could it end like this? It wasn’t supposed to end like this. It couldn’t end like this!
“Piscary!” Ivy pleaded, and my heart leapt at the emotion in her voice. “Let her go!” she cried, and I saw her slim hand take his shoulder, gripping with fierce intensity. “You promised. You promised if I came to you that you’d leave her alone!”
I groaned as he pulled from me, his teeth ripping tears in my neck. I couldn’t…I couldn’t move!
“It’s too late,” Piscary said, and I hung in his grip, unresisting. “This has to be done.”
“You said you wouldn’t hurt her.” Ivy’s voice was heavy, as gray as morning fog.
Piscary held me upright, one arm crushing me to him. “You’ve been careless,” he said flatly. “This is the last time I’m going to pick up after you. You should have bound her to you when I told you to. By rights I have to kill her. An unpredictable animal needs to be culled.”
“Rachel would never hurt me,” Ivy whispered, and I tried to speak, feeling my heart break. I took a breath, seeing my sight graying at the edges. I was slipping. I couldn’t stop.
“No, Ivy girl.” Piscary’s face was gentled in concern as he leaned over me and touched her face with false love, leaving my blood on her jawline. I could hear Skimmer crying in the corner, adding to the travesty. “That’s both their lure and their downfall. I’m going to kill her for you. If I don’t, I’ll only use her to torture you, and I’ve tortured you enough. It’s my gift to you, Ivy. She won’t feel a thing. I promise.”
Ivy stared at him, her face lost in terror as Piscary bent to me again, making a small sound of pleasure when he licked the blood leaking from my neck, wallowing in it. She stood beside him, struggling to overcome a lifetime of conditioning. Her eyes filled, spilling over. My vision blurred, and she touched Piscary’s shoulder lightly.
“Stop,” she said before his teeth could find me again, but it was a whisper. “Stop!” she said louder, and hope struck through me. Piscary hesitated, his grip tightening.
“I said no!” Ivy shouted. “I won’t let you kill her!”
Backing up a step, she swung her foot in a roundhouse to hit Piscary’s head.
It never landed. Piscary hissed, dropping me to collapse between their feet. I took a raspy breath, and my fingers searched my neck. I was dizzy, weak. He’d bitten me. How bad? How bad was it?
“Ivy girl?” the undead vampire questioned from somewhere above me.
“No,” Ivy said. Her shaking voice was determined, but even I could hear her fear.