MacMillan knelt beside him, though Tobias was barely aware of anything outside of the woman in his arms. For once the detective had nothing frivolous to say. Tobias spared him a glance and saw the devastated expression on MacMillan’s face. He truly cared about Nix. Tobias actually felt a bit comforted that the other man joined him in his misery.
“It’s not your fault.” Nix’s voice rasped from her ravaged throat. “You couldn’t have known he’d go after me.”
He shook his head. “I should have known.”
“Where is he?”
Tobias shoved aside the guilt for the moment. Nothing would be achieved by letting his culpability distract him from the situation at hand. Nix needed him. Now more than ever. He nodded in answer to her question. “Don’t worry about him, sweetheart.” He spared a quick look at their surroundings. The other vamps were all dead and of no further threat. “You’re safe now.”
“We’re safe.” Her unfocused glance traveled to MacMillan. “You okay?” Her attention focused on his wrist. Her fine brows knit in a frown. “You’re bleeding.”
“Don’t worry about me, darlin’.” When her gaze went to the blood on his shoulder, he gave a lopsided grin. “My first, and second, vampire bite.”
Tobias felt her tense in his arms. “He’ll be all right, sweetheart.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “He would have had to have been drained in order for the vampire essence released in the bite to have any effect.”
“Well, that’s good to know,” MacMillan muttered. “But you need to do something about this,” he added, motioning toward Nix. “Now.”
Tobias stared down at Nix. Her skin was as pale and thin as paper. She labored to breathe, the air rasping in her throat. She was cool to the touch, and he knew she didn’t have long to live. A few minutes at best.
Pain clawed at his insides, churning his gut with regret. To save her life he’d have to take her humanity away from her. Take away the one thing she valued the most. He couldn’t do that to her. He briefly closed his eyes. He could turn her, or let her die.
God in heaven. The only choices he had were bad. One day, and one day very soon if Tobias had anything to do with it, Natchook would die for what he’d done here today. He had to ignore, for now, his own culpability in this fiasco.
Her breath rattled in her throat and she gasped, her mouth open as she tried to drag in air.
“Damn it, Caine. Do something.” MacMillan’s anguished voice came at him through a fog of sorrow.
“I…can’t.” Tobias looked at MacMillan. “Don’t you understand? If I take away her humanity, the one thing that’s kept her centered, allowed her to keep control over her demon, she could…”
“I could go insane,” Nix whispered, finishing his sentence when he trailed off. He looked back down at her to see her gaze darken. The demon was now nowhere to be seen, and the knowledge of her upcoming death was clear in her brown eyes. “It was only a matter of time anyway, right?” Her lips trembled in a smile.
She could be just fine…or not. He stared down at her. “You’re sure about this? It’s not like I can undo it.”
“Yeah, well, you can’t undo it if I die either.” She swallowed and then winced at the pain. “I don’t want to die.” Emotion sparkled her gaze with tears. “Please, Tobias. Please don’t let me die.”
Chapter Seventeen
Nix stared up at Tobias through eyes rapidly losing the battle to stay open. She was so tired. And her body hurt all over. Damn. Even her eyelashes hurt. And she was pretty sure she had cacti needles in her behind.
All she wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep. But she knew it would be the Big Sleep and she wasn’t ready for that. She wasn’t sure she was ready to live forever, either, but between the two she’d take life every time.
“Please,” she whispered again. She hated that she’d put Tobias in this position. If he turned her and she went insane, he’d feel it was his duty to end her. She knew him well enough to know he’d never forgive himself.
He’d also never forgive himself if he let her die.
While she still had the strength to form words, she said, “I’m sorry I screwed things up. If I hadn’t tried to jump him, maybe you would have been able to fend him off and finally finish him.”
He shook his head. “Don’t. None of this is your fault.” His throat moved with his hard swallow. The self-recriminating look in his eyes clearly proclaimed who he thought was responsible.