Bite Shift

67

I tried several times to speak but my lungs wouldn't fill with air. I struggled with the sensation of not being able to breath, thankful that I didn't have to deal with a racing heart, too. When my respirations started to slow and become even, I tried again.

"Rhys?" It sounded like a squeak and I knew it was too quiet for anything natural to hear. I held out hope that he was alive. For minutes, the silence weighed on me. He is dead.

Maybe he isn't even here. Maybe Will brought his car. Maybe he's asleep or unconscious.

"Katie." It was so faint. I thought it might be my imagination or a trick of the wind. "Katie."

Tears that I was holding back rolled out of my eyes and ran down my cheeks. "Rhys. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Please be okay."

"Why are you sorry?" He was slurring his words slightly. I knew he was hurt. I wanted so badly to jump out of the crate and go to him, to hug him, know he was okay.

"I thought it was you." I winced when I heard myself say it and realized how wrong I was. The words started to pour out of me in a jumble of thoughts. "Will, he....he told me about this argument you had with Sorin and I looked at your computer and saw my file and I didn't think you could have saved me but not seen who did it and you told me that story and Sorin looked scared. I should have been with you. We should have been protecting each other but instead I was about to turn you over for trial. Oh God, Rhys, I'm so sorry." By the end, I was shaking. It was the kind of shaking that happens when you've been outside too long, only I don't get cold anymore. How could I have been so stupid?

Silence hung between us. I knew that we would not forgive me. I imagined the pain he must be feeling, knowing the one that he had saved, thought he was a killer. I never could have expected what he did say.

"That bastard!" His accent was thick. He was angry.

The shaking died down as I processed what he had said. "What?"

"I'll fucking kill him."

I don't know what shocked me more: that he wasn't mad at me or that he was cursing! "Rhys?"

I heard him slam against the side of his crate and then groan in pain. "Will came to me a few nights ago. He told me that he was worried about you. He told me that he thought Sorin may be the one killing the women and that he would go after you again. He said he had overhead a telephone call where Sorin had said he needed to 'deal with the mess and take care of the new girl'. He said he found a file on you and knew he had to come to me. He said he would be punished if anyone knew he had come to me. God damn it! I believed him!"

It was my turn to stay silent. I was letting it all sink in and I had a feeling he had more to say.

"Last night, he came to me at the hospital. He told me that Sorin had you locked in a barn and had ordered one of his guards to kill you. He told me we had time to save you but had to move fast. I followed him here. When I stepped out of my car, I blacked out and woke up in this fucking box just in time to pass out from the sun. I still hadn't figured it all out. He was here not long after I woke up. He said he was bringing someone to 'join the party'. He told me that if I made a sound, he would cut off your head and leave me to starve. I didn't know it was you he brought until I heard your voice, I swear. Shit, Katie. I am so sorry. I should have screamed and told you to run. I heard what he said he will do to you. You have to get out of here."

I rolled to my back and tested the lid above me. It was solid and I couldn't get enough leverage to kick at it. Vampire strength I useless if you can't move. "I can't. Even if I could, the sun is coming up and I have no way out. I'd be barbeque before I made it to the road. I don't even know where we are. And, what about Alex?"