His(73)

The noose tightened on my neck, but it didn’t hurt. Nothing hurt. I was weightless now, floating away into the dark fog, leaving my shadow and all shadows behind.



Kat

I broke through the window, stepping carefully inside so I wouldn’t cut myself.

“Gav!” I cried.

I checked the living room, the kitchen. He wasn’t there. I heard a noise from upstairs. The bedroom. I stumbled up the steps and raced down the hallway.

“Gav!”

I banged open the door and saw the rope, the chair, and his body, his beautiful body, hanging limp in the middle of the air. Like he was floating.

Gav

Perfect, this darkness. It was not the shadow at all. The shadow was gone, far away. All of my sins would be suffocated, drowned in the fog. I let myself drift, feeling calm. Peaceful.

Then, from away, far far in the distance, buried in the fog, I heard a scream.

Kat

My fingers fumbled at the knot, but it was too tight. His entire weight had pulled the knot, and I couldn’t undo it. His face was white, and his lips were beginning to turn blue-grey, the same color as his eyes.

“No, no, no,” I mumbled, casting my eyes around. There it was. The knife on the dresser. I grabbed it and swung the blade hard at the bedpost, cutting the rope right through the knot.



Gav

With a hard jolt, I was yanked back ungently into my body. All was dark, still, though my shadow had yet to reappear. There was still peace around me in this darkness. The tension around my neck loosened and gave way, but I clung to the dark fog.

A sharp pressure on my chest made me gasp, and I heard the blood in my body start to pump again. My pulse thudded in my ears.

A heartbeat. Sobbing. The peaceful fog began to recede. I clutched for it, and it slipped away uselessly through my fingers. No! My chance to escape!

From the place I had already left, her voice was calling.

“Don’t go,” she cried. Her words faded in and out like a poorly tuned radio, becoming clearer as the darkness receded. “Don’t die. Oh god, don’t die.”

I wanted to tell her not to pray for me. God, if such a thing existed, wouldn’t intervene to save the life of a killer. Then again, He might have a sense of humor.



Kat

His body crumpled to the ground, lifeless. I slid my fingers under the noose at his neck and pulled it over his head, throwing it to the side.

“No,” I moaned. “No, please, no. Don’t die.”

He wasn’t breathing. I pressed my fingers to his wrist, feeling for a pulse. My own heart was pounding so hard that I couldn’t hear anything.

“Come on, Gav,” I whispered. I bent down and pressed my lips against his. My breath lifted his chest, filled his lungs. My hands pressed down on his chest, hard and fast, desperate to draw the life back into him. Lips to his, I breathed again.

Again.

I couldn’t lose him.

I couldn’t.



Gav

Slowly at first, the fog seeped away, then faster, drawing all of the nothingness away with it. Taking away with it my peace. Her voice was louder, clearer, right in my ear. Her hands beat at my chest, her sobs audible.

“Come back. Don’t leave me. Please, Gavriel. Come back.”

Clinging to the darkness, I felt her hand grasp at my fingers. I knew she was reaching for me. I could have tried to stay gone forever, but the ground was being pulled away from under my feet.

There was no fog anymore, only the darkness without peace, and I knew that this was not a place I could stay in. Somebody was calling.

I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing, but when has that ever stopped me?

She reached for me, and I could not wait forever. Scared, unsure, I took her hand and let her pull me back into the light.





CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Kat

With a gasp, his eyes opened. I fell back, sobbing, as his lungs drew in ragged gasps of air. His skin pinkened, the color coming back to his lips.

“Gav,” I whispered, my hands holding his. The rope had left a mark around his neck, a deep red gouge. He coughed and rolled onto his side.

I waited for him to catch his breath. His fingers were splayed out on the floor, and I pulled back away from him. Now that he was back—

He was dangerous.

No.

He was a killer.

No.

What are you doing? Run. Run!

I shook the thoughts from my head. The muscles in my right arm ached, and I realized that I had strained myself when I swung the knife into the bedpost. I didn’t care. Nothing mattered except that he was alive.

Gav pulled himself up, slouching against the bed. He closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath, then exhaled. I waited, scared, sitting on the floor.

Finally he opened his eyes. His voice was scratchy, hollow. He could barely speak.

“Why did you come back?” he whispered.

My heart beat fast in my chest.