Genesis let out a moan. Heat shot through my body, slicing me nearly in half. She was transitioning into the final phase.
Alex had the good sense to look like he felt sorry for her before nodding his head again and shutting the door.
"Please!" Genesis begged, gripping my shirt with both of her hands. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head. "Make it stop, please! It's so hot."
It was about to get worse.
The final stage always was.
Like taking knives from a fire and slicing up your body. I'd always been told that during this stage, humans dreamt of Death.
And because of that fact, Death visited them, beckoned them, and many, took his outstretched hand and never woke up.
"Listen…" I cupped her face with my hands. "…focus on me… not the pain. It's almost over."
"And you'll be here?" Her body started to convulse as my blood merged with hers. The same blood I'd shared with her when I'd marked her. "P-promise?"
"Yes."
Her eyes flashed green, mimicking mine.
"I won't leave your side."
"My mouth…" She shook her head violently, her lips swollen from the heat. "…hurts."
I pressed my mouth to hers gently and then pierced the skin of her upper lip, relieving the pressure of the blood in her system — my blood fighting hers as it should, her blood refusing to give up as it should.
Humans always tasted the same — like life — like earth mixed with sugar. It was addicting. I'd always thought it was too sweet.
But she tasted perfect.
"More…" She tugged at my shirt again.
I kissed her again, this time slanting my mouth over where my fangs had dug into her tender skin.
I was old.
Able to control myself.
At least that was what I said when I kissed her a third time, this time more passionately. And when she clung to me like I was her only chance at survival, I wanted to roar with excitement. It was the bond.
Nothing more.
I kissed her harder.
Her nails dug into my skin.
"Fight it, Genesis." I was speaking to myself as much as I was to her. I needed to fight it too… because I knew firsthand there was nothing worse than mating with someone, wanting someone so badly, and thinking it was love.
And realizing it was nothing but a very pretty lie.
Her head dropped back, exposing her full neck.
Sweat dripped from her face down her neck as another stab of pain hit me and her in the chest.
She was fighting it.
But she was also fighting me.
She had spirit.
I only hoped that when death visited her in her dreams, she wouldn't take his cold lifeless hand.
Because maybe I could never love her. Maybe she could never love me. But I respected her strength.
And in all my years — I was beginning to think maybe it was time to have a friend I could at least share the loneliness with.
A real mate.
She screamed.
And blacked out.
I pulled her into my lap and kissed her forehead. She moved against me and then stopped.
Her body went ice cold.
Death was visiting.
All I could do was wait.
Genesis
I felt Ethan next to me. I wanted to ask him what was happening next, why my body was suddenly cold — why everything felt numb — but I couldn't open my eyes.
I was trapped in darkness.
"So," a low whispery voice spoke into the darkness, "will you stay or will you go?"
"What?" I spoke into the darkness, unable to see anything around me. White smoke suddenly appeared in front of me, and then a hand reached out through the smoke.
"Will you come with me? Allow me to ease all your pain? Or will you stay?"
The hand looked so welcoming.
The closer it came to my body the more I wanted to take it.
But I could still feel Ethan, and leaving him… felt so wrong. My body shuddered at the thought.
"Choose," the voice commanded.
I didn't want to choose. I just wanted to go back to my normal existence, where I went to Starbucks in the mornings and did homework in the afternoons.
Those days were long gone.
"Choose," it said, louder this time.
I swayed toward the hand.
But something held me back.
The pain flared again — unbearable — as if someone had stabbed me in the heart.
"I can take it all away," the voice soothed. "Just take my hand."
Was I crazy? To choose the pain over this man's hand? Over what I was sure would be complete and total peace?
Ethan meant pain.
And as much as I hated him in that instant — I needed him… even if it meant pain.
It was his eyes.
They reflected what I felt in my own body — in my soul.
He was suffering, just like me, only it was a different kind of suffering, one that I'm sure had to do with the vision I'd seen of him and the woman.
"Choose!" the voice boomed.
I stepped backward and wrapped my hands around my body. "Him. I choose him."
The cloud disappeared, revealing a man who looked a lot like Cassius. I wasn't sure if he was a Dark One, but the air around him seemed to freeze in place. I shivered.
His eyes flashed white.
So he was a Dark One.
His teeth were shaped like tiny knives.
"It won't be easy," he spoke softly, "choosing life."
"It shouldn't be easy…" I found my voice. "…to choose death."
He smiled, bowed his head, and disappeared.
The pain in my chest spread to my back. I arched, and then everything stopped. The pain, the heat, my heart slowed.
And I blinked my eyes open.
Ethan hovered over me in a shielding stance, almost like he was protecting me from someone coming into the room and knifing me in my sleep. His eyes were black.
"I…" My voice sounded groggy, foreign to my ears. "I think it's done."
His eyes slowly faded to gray and then green. "You chose me." His voice cracked.
"Well…" I licked my lips, just looking at his mouth at my body, yearning for his touch. "It was either you or the guy with the creepy voice."
Ethan's delicious mouth broke out into a smile. "Does that mean you don't find me creepy?"
I examined the fangs protruding over his plump lips. "You're a different kind of creepy."
He leaned back on his knees and pulled me up so I was in a sitting position. "Didn't think you'd wake up spouting compliments and poetry." He sighed. "It's almost complete."
"Almost?" I croaked. "I have to go through more pain?"
"No…" His eyes flashed. "…just pleasure."
"Wha—"
His mouth was on my neck before I had a chance to utter any more words. His tongue twisted and pushed against the base of my throat.
I bucked off the bed as a sweet sensation of euphoria washed over me.
When he pulled back, his eyes were so bright green it hurt to stare directly at him. "Now that… was me biting you."
"Yeah…" I managed to push the word past my stunned lips. "It was."