Bloodlust

Gone

— VENICE —

Liam and I remained leaning against the tree while the lycans pored over the forest, attacking the vampires and their burly steeds.

Everything was happening so quickly. I could hardly breathe and watch.

Sensing my fresh angst, Liam pressed me closer to the base of the tree. He wound one arm around my back.

My body warmed at his embrace. Despite my escalating fear and panic, his presence calmed me.

I had never trusted someone so much. I knew he would always protect me as well as he could.

We sat in silence, the air around us pierced with yelping, hissing, cries of pain, and snarls. I could hardly make anything out of the dim moonlight.

After a few minutes, Liam stiffened.

I followed the direction of his gaze to see a vampire leaping from tree to tree.

Not toward Rob, though, who was a hundred yards away in the opposite direction.

It was running toward us.

My stomach dropped. I felt a bit nauseous as the creature's ruby eyes locked on us.

Liam squished me against the trunk of our tree as he knelt in front of me. A deadly snarl rolled off of him.

I held onto his shirt with a death grip and squeezed my eyes shut. My fear of getting attacked and my fear of falling from tall heights suffocated me.

Liam growled again. He reached behind himself to remove my hands.

I whimpered at the loss, knowing he was about to leave me.

He squeezed my fingers before launching himself at our attacker. I stared in paralyzed horror.

He and the vampire assailed each other in a fit of razor-sharp fangs and punches. Strange hissing and growling charged the air between their blurring movements.

Liam landed a blow to the vampire's jaw and sunk his teeth into his arm.

Searing pain lanced through both of my calves as I felt myself suddenly yanked off the limb from below. I belted out a surprised and terrified scream that distracted Liam.

Crying in pain and screaming in panic, I vaguely noticed the agony of other parts of my body hitting limbs as I was roughly carried through the trees.

A strange gurgling noise erupted in my throat. It sounded like a waterfall was gushing in my ears.

Everything was a noisy, black blur.

One moment I was being roughly jostled and the next I felt like I was nearly freefalling. This happened several times before I was able to see what was actually going on.

As it processed in my mind that we were fucking jumping from tree to tree, the bottom fell out below and I tumbled through the air in absolute free fall.

If I was screaming, I probably wouldn't have known. I wished I'd blacked out before I hit the ground.

Then I slammed into something hard and excruciating pain rattled through all my bones and tissues.

I opened my eyes and found myself staring up into a pair of bright crimson eyes. My gaze was drawn to the dark coloring around his pale lips.

Blood coated his mouth and chin. I swallowed in disgust, paralyzed with fear.

That's when I noticed my tongue tasted something metallic. My stomach roiled.

The vampire's face remained stoic as he continued to stare at me.