To Kill an Angel (Blood Like Poison 3)

Cade moved to come around the couch and sit down, but Bo stopped him.

“There’s no reason for you to get too comfortable. This won’t take long. She only needs information, not feeding,”

Bo smirked. “She can get that from you standing right where you’re at.”

I resisted the urge to rol my eyes, although I couldn’t deny that it thril ed me just a little for Bo to act so blatantly jealous.

Instead, I schooled my features to be careful y blank and unaffected as I approached Cade.

He gave me a lop-sided grin and held out his arms. I knew he did it just to needle Bo and it worked. I heard another growl sound from behind me, low and threatening.

I stopped just out of reach of Cade’s arms and I breathed in. I did it before I even realized what I was doing, but that one smal lapse was al that it took.

My eyes found the tick at the side of his neck and I felt the rise of my thirst in response. My throat began to burn in that painful y familiar way, prickling like it was squeezing tight around a bal of thumb tacks. I felt the tingling in my gums and knew that my fangs were making their way out for chow time. I also knew that if I looked at myself in the mirror, I’d see pale skin and light, milky green eyes, eyes that spoke of a thirst that would never be completely quenched.

Al I heard above the heavy, rapid thud of Cade’s heartbeat was his sharp inhalation when I stepped into his arms and stretched up onto my tiptoes to reach his neck.

The last thing I felt before my teeth broke his skin was his arms fold around me and pul me in close. And then there was nothing but the taste of him and the soothing feel of his warm, sweet blood coating my throat.

After I took several gulps and the initial thral wore off, I reduced my suckling and, slowly, I became more aware of my surroundings. I could feel Cade’s fingers rhythmical y tensing against my back. I could feel his warm chest brushing against mine as he panted. I could also feel something rigid pressing against my bel y.

I knew al too wel the pleasure of a vampire bite. I knew, too, that Cade was attracted to me. I could smel it in his blood, feel it in the way he held me. I could only imagine how hard it was for Bo to watch, but I was determined to feed until I got more information. Cade and I were probably the best chance we had of beating Sebastian. Bo was the ultimate weapon, but he needed ammunition that only I could provide, and that through Cade.

Final y, the visions in Cade’s blood swept me away, much as they had the time before, and I let them. At first I had trouble making sense of them, but there was nothing I could do to control where they went. I had to hope that what I was seeing would be somehow end up being translated to something written on my skin, something that Bo could understand and use.

But then, familiar faces began to slowly drift through my mind. I nearly lost my bite-hold on Cade when I gasped against his throat. One beautiful face frozen in terror burned onto the backs of my eyes. It was Savannah.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I focused al my attention on Savannah’s horrified face, but nothing else came. No clues as to what she was so afraid of, where she might be, or when it was to take place, only that she was afraid.

The next picture almost completely eclipsed my fear for Savannah’s safety. The image was of Bo and Sebastian.

They were standing across the room from one another, although I couldn’t tel exactly where they were. They were both shirtless and Bo’s mouth was open as if he was screaming. They each held long, sharply-pointed, odd-looking stakes. Bo’s was white, Sebastian’s black. It was easy to see by the looks on their faces that they were both out for total annihilation.

I watched the scene unfold, as real as if it were happening al around me at that very moment. My heart, my mouth, the entire world went completely stil as I watched Bo and Sebastian run toward one another, their bodies col iding with a loud crack as each placed his weapon through the other’s heart with perfect aim. They stood locked in a deadly embrace for what seemed like an eternity before one fel , before one began to disintegrate right before my eyes. But it was the wrong one.

It was Bo.

My throat ceased to work. I was physical y unable to swal ow even the tiniest drop from Cade’s artery. Nothing could get past the lump of terror and heartbreak that was lodged in my throat.

I watched in horror until Bo was nothing more than a smoky film in the air. I held on tight to Cade’s neck, waiting for more from the vision, waiting for Bo to rise and take the day. But he didn’t.

It was just before my legs gave out that I saw the scene begin to replay from the point where the two men faced off against one another. This time, however, there was one difference.

As if I was seeing it in slow motion, I watched the men move toward each other. But then my vantage point changed. I was suddenly moving, moving across the room to slide my body in between the two men as they struck out at each other.

Though I felt the stakes ram through my chest, one on either side, I felt no pain. I felt only relief that I was facing Bo and that he wasn’t dissolving into thin air as he had previously.

He backed away from me, a look of complete shock on his face. I could see a bloody spot on his chest where Sebastian’s stake had barely pierced him as it made its way through my body. I wanted to step toward him, but something held me.

From behind, I felt hands at my shoulders. They pushed me away and then I was fal ing into Bo’s arms. He caught me and cradled me against his chest, lowering me gently to the ground. Though he said nothing, his eyes never stopped screaming at me. They were begging me to tel him this was some kind of mistake, begging me to tel him he was only dreaming. But they were also tel ing me of his undying love, his wild desperation, his indestructible devotion.

Movement to my left caught my eye and I glanced over in time to see the bloody hole in Sebastian’s chest. Bo’s stake had gone through me as wel , penetrating Sebastian as his had penetrated Bo. But there was a difference in this scenario. This time, it was Sebastian who was dying. I could see his golden skin turning black with decay and drying up like crumpled paper. And then, just as Bo had, Sebastian began to disintegrate, to simply dissolve into the air around him in a hazy cloud of dark smoke.

As I turned my attention back to Bo and saw the panic and heartbreak in his eyes, I realized what had made the difference in this version. The difference was me. The whole point of this vision suddenly became clear to me.

In order for Bo to live, I had to die.

As I was digesting this new revelation, something suddenly and without warning jerked me out of the vision. It was like being sucked out of a moving car. I was instantly gone from the vision and back in Sebastian’s living room, tucked securely in Cade’s arms. My cheeks were wet with tears and my forehead rested against his chin.