Once Bitten, Twice Burned(111)

“I . . . remember you.”

He wanted to yank her against him and hold tight. “Good because I love you.” He’d tell her forever. Every day for the rest of their lives.

The flames were gone from her eyes. Around them, the fire was dying. “Vampire,” she whispered.

He nodded.

“You . . . bit me.”

He had, several times.

“You . . . love me.”

He would, always.

Another tear leaked from her eye. “I remember you . . .”

The good? The bad?

She smiled then, and it wasn’t the deadly, dangerous smile from moments before. It wasn’t the phoenix smiling. It was the woman, and her smile was beautiful. She was beautiful. “My vampire,” Sabine said.

Hell, yes, he was hers. Always.

Then her body trembled. He caught her in his arms, lifting her up when she would have fallen. Holding her so tightly against his chest. His heart.

Then he saw the others. Keith and—Rhett? Hell, that crazy bastard who’d run into the flames had been Sabine’s brother? If Ryder hadn’t been so busy trying to stop the inferno, he would have recognized the man instantly. But he’d been a bit . . . distracted.

Rhett and Keith had just opened the door of the cage. Vaughn was rushing out at them.

They were going to get bitten. Become primal. He yelled out a warning.

Even as a shot fired out. The blast hit Vaughn in the chest, and he fell to the floor, unconscious.

“It’s safe now,” Cassie’s voice called. “You can carry him out.” She stood in the broken remains of the doorway, a gun in her hands. “I gave him a tranq.”

The wounds on her neck were all but gone.

She’d been at death’s door, but now she was back. Moving. Barking out orders. That sure as hell wasn’t a normal recovery. Not even normal for a vampire, much less a human.

The tears of a phoenix. Had she really made that SOB Dante shed a tear? It sure looked as if she had.

“Rhett?” Sabine’s stunned voice. “I almost killed my brother!”

Ryder kissed her. “You didn’t,” he said fiercely against her mouth. “You didn’t.”

Her lips trembled. “I did . . . kill . . . your brother.”

Ashes to ashes.

“You gave him peace.” The peace he’d sure never found on earth.

The last of his family was gone now.

“I’m sorry,” Sabine said as she hugged him.

He realized then that, no, his family wasn’t gone. His family was right in front of him. In his arms. Sabine was his family. The life he’d wanted for so long.

Keith was sobbing as he hauled out his limp son. The human . . . a human Sabine had known for most of her life.

Ryder glanced back at her lovely face. He could still see the tears on her cheeks.

“Cassie,” Ryder snapped out the other woman’s name.

She rushed to him. One look, and she understood just what he wanted from her. She ran away for a moment, then came back with a small vial clutched in her hand. She reached for Sabine.

Sabine flinched away. “What—”

“Your tears may be able to heal him.” Ryder wouldn’t promise her that Vaughn would survive. Not yet. He didn’t know what Cassie could do with the primal infection, what she could do for any of those who’d been hurt by Genesis. Malcolm had faked his recovery, so they had no proof that the tears would have any effect on the primal.

But perhaps Cassie could do something for them.

Sabine stared into Ryder’s eyes, and another tear slid down her cheek. “I could have lost you. Rhett. Everything.”

Cassie took that tear and hurriedly stepped back.

“You remember,” Ryder whispered.

Her lips rose into a faint smile. “You’re pretty unforgettable.”

The ceiling was groaning. Cracking. The building couldn’t withstand the punishment from the fire. Ryder carried Sabine out of the room. He took the lab coat that Cassie gave to them and covered Sabine’s golden skin. The fire had burned away her clothes.

It had burned away everything.

“Start again with me,” he said. I can do this right. “You have the memories, but this time, I swear, I can make things better.”

Her smile widened as she shook her head.

“Please,” he whispered, when he’d never begged anyone or anything.

“I don’t want to start over.”

They left the ash and blood and smoldering fire behind. Rhett and Keith and Cassie came after them, pulling out Vaughn’s body.

There was no sign of Dante.

Ryder took Sabine outside, where she could breathe the fresh air. Hear the sights and smell the scents of the city she loved so much.

He didn’t know if she was back to being a full phoenix or if part of her remained a vampire. And, really, he didn’t care what she was. He loved her. That was all that mattered.