[ BOOK TWO ]
Erin Gilbert's life had become one supernatural catastrophe after another, not that she should've expected any different when her sister's boyfriend and his brother turned out to be vampires.
The years of chaos that followed should have...
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HUMIDITY WITHIN THE bayou didn't lessen upon nightfall. Much like the southern heat, it pressed down across the landscape and lingered in an unrelenting fashion. And with the rising sun, the full force of the late summer air regained its ferocity. It made their situation increasingly uncomfortable. Borderline unbearable.
Klaus's hybrid bite began to wreak havoc on Elijah's mind and body. He had devolved into a fever, sweating profusely as the toxic venom tore through his veins.
Erin had seen what happened when a vampire succumbed to the lethal bite of a werewolf. How they became sicker and sicker, writhing in pain as the infection took hold and destroyed them from the inside out. It was horrible and painful, and she never wanted to watch someone go through something so terrible again.
But there Erin stood in a tiny lakeside cabin, forced to watch as Elijah suffered at the hands of his brother.
Erin grabbed a bottle of water from the dusty surface of a table. With little to no option, they were forced to travel out to the closest convenience store for supplies. The cabin held nothing useful, especially food for herself and Hayley, and they had already been trapped out in the bayou for more than a day. And with Elijah unable to leave as his body deteriorated from Klaus's bite, they were forced to stay for at least another.
Once she unscrewed the lid, Erin turned away from the small table along the wall and to where Elijah laid across a bed. The only one within the cabin. "Here. Drink this," she voiced, crouching at his side to hand him the bottle.
Elijah weakly turned to the side and took it. He lifted the rim to his lips to drink the water, before he began to cough harshly and retched onto the floor. With a shuddered breath, he laid into his back and raised his hands up to his head. "Forgive me. Please."
Erin stood, setting the bottle back onto the table. "Hey, it's okay. I've dealt with worse," she replied and moved to claim a wooden chair positioned near the bed. Her stare fell to him, watching as his chest rose and fell quickly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Elijah answered, lowering his arms to rest on the sheets. "Please, just - go join Hayley."
Erin rested back in the chair, resisting the urge to run her eyes. Her contacts had been in for too long, and her eyes began to sting. She wanted to remove them, but her glasses were left at her apartment. She would just have to endure the irritation for now.
"Hayley's fine," Erin told him. "She's out on the porch, going through that Bible."
Soon after Klaus fled the bayou, Erin, Hayley, and Elijah entered the cabin and searched its contents for anything that pertained to the wolves. With no choice but to stay out in the bayou until Klaus's hybrid venom passed from Elijah's system, they decided to kill two birds with one stone; wait out the Original's horrendous torture, and learn more about Hayley's mysterious family.
