The Illusion (Book Two in The Illusion of Certainty Series)

You Can't Keep Me

I dreamed. My mind slipping easily into Michael’s.

Georgiana’s hand slipped off his face and slapped to the floor. Michael looked at her desperately. She hadn’t opened her eyes and the blood was pooling around her.

“Georgiana?” No response, not even an eye flicker. “Fuck.”

He’d forgotten to eat earlier and he had been suppressing the feeling. But now her smell had become overwhelming and was invading his senses. He knew his eyes had gone completely black because he was now able to see the wound clearly even though it was hidden from him. He was able to hear her faint heart beat and her breathing become slower.

“I can’t fix this!” he yelled.

Bite her. Turn her. A voice that wasn’t Georgiana’s said in his head.

He shook his head. “No.” Realization hit him like a truck. That’s what they wanted all a long. They wanted to know if they could change fate by having him turn her. Your human destiny changes if you are turned into a Vampire. Since her fate had been partially told as a Slayer, things would change if she became a Vampire. “No.”

You want to save her don’t you? This is the only way. Turn her, make her yours…forever.

They wanted to know how far he would go to save her.

“I’m not going to do it!” he yelled. “She wouldn’t want me to.”

It’s not about what she wants. It’s about what you want. Save her, Michelangelo, you know you want to.

He looked down at Georgiana; her breaths could barely be noticed by the human eye. There was only one thing to do. He took off the top of his gear, even though it was leathery spandex he could use the buckles and the snaps to cut off the blood flow. He wrapped it around her arm, tightening the straps. He looked at her face one more time, thinking it over in his head one last time. He looked over at the wall he knew they were all looking through, watching to see what he was going to do next.

He felt his incisors extend to a deadly point. Many other people had died from his bite. Now he was trying to save someone with them. He gathered her in his arms, turning his back to the wall, knowing his next action would bind them together forever. If that was even more possible. The bond that already existed had dulled. There was nothing there but a monotonous pain that her body was sending out.

He lifted her arm to his mouth and drank. God her blood tasted better than he remembered. He closed his eyes and forced himself to remember he couldn’t take too much. She’s already bled out over half of her blood capacity. He put her arm back down against her chest and lifted his own wrist to his mouth. He bit down ignoring the pain that came from it.

“I’m sorry, Αγάπη. This is the only way.”

He pressed his wrist to her mouth, the only thought on his mind was if he was damning them both forever.

I was snapped back into my body as the bond flared. It was like molten lava was being poured down my throat, but in a good way. It was like an ice cream sundae on a hot July day, it was the best thing I had ever tasted in my life.

My hands came up and pressed his wrist closer. I sucked harder and he moaned, cradling me closer to him.

Αγάπη, don’t take too much. Michael’s voice in my head was like soft velvet.

Then Michael was ripped away from me, the cold seeping in. I reached out for him, in the direction the bond stretched.

I opened my eyes and found a light in the darkness.

It started small then got bigger so that it was so blinding I had to cover my eyes to block it out. A shadow started and I was able to open my eyes again. It too started small but then grew into a human shape, a man. The features were darkened by the light behind it.

As it grew closer and the light began to dim, the features turned into the face of Max. He smiled at me as he read the recognition in my eyes.

“Hello Georgie.”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Your fate is being sealed and not in the way it’s meant to.”

“What do you mean?”

“There are other…things in the works for you. You’re meant for bigger things than this. My boss sent me down here to prevent this from happening. And I will. I am. I just hope you’re ready for what comes next.”

“And what is that?”

“I told you it would be heartbreaking. And it will be. You should’ve listened to me.”

“What are you talking about?”

He cupped my face with his hands. “You’ll see. Close your eyes Georgie.” He kissed my forehead and the light went out.

~ * ~

I followed the bond to Michael, watching as he replayed what had happened in his head.

She’d sucked so hard, causing the desire in him to unfurl. She’d clawed at his arm making him want to give her everything he could. Then he’d felt the hum, deep down and through the floor. He growled, allowing the monster he’d long let sleep arise. He sought out the incoming intruder.

Angel. A child of the Fallen. The monster retreated, not wanting to face one of the Light. He went through that once before and in the end, he got burned. Literally.

The room began to shake and the red light popped and went out.

Max.

He was planning an entrance, one that Michael wouldn’t survive if he didn’t leave the room now. He didn’t want to leave Georgiana, he wouldn’t. He hadn’t completed what the Coven had wanted. He was almost happy that Max was coming. He would save Georgiana and Michael would be gone, never being able to hurt her again. It was what he wanted.

He looked down at her. Her face the most exquisite thing he’d ever seen. Her eyes were closed and she looked peaceful as she drank from him. With his free hand he brushed the hair back from her face, intertwining the soft waves through his fingers. If he was going to die, and he was positive he would, he was going to do it while looking at the woman he loved.   

Then a door banged open and someone grabbed his arms with a brute force he had only felt a few times before. An Immortal was dragging him out of the room. He watched as he was torn away from Georgiana and she rolled face down, stretching out towards him.

Then the door slammed closed and the hunger washed over him like a tide. He was starving and his wrist was throbbing.