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Redemption (The Captive #5) Page 68
Author: Erica Stevens

***

"William." He felt hands pressing against him as Aria rolled him onto his back. He blinked against the influx of light on his eyes and it took him a moment to get her blurred face to come into focus. Tears were streaming down her face as she dropped at his side. "Hold on William."

Her hands were frantic as they pressed against his stomach in a useless attempt to staunch the flow of blood oozing from him. It was too late though and even if she was too stubborn to admit it yet, he was well aware of the fact that his life was coming to an end. There was no stopping the blood escaping his body right now, no stopping the weakening he felt in his extremities.

"Aria," he croaked. His throat was still sore from inhaling so much smoke and with his wounds he'd lost the strength to speak strongly. It felt as if his hands had been split in half by the sword but he couldn't feel his arms enough to lift them.

"Don't you dare leave me!" she yelled at him. "You just hold on. I'll get you out of here."

She grabbed hold of his arm and draped it around her shoulder. "Aria don't."

"I can lift you up!" she cried.

A groan escaped him, his hand clenched on her shoulder. It felt as if a hundred swords were piercing his gut as she began to lift him to his feet. "I know you can," he whispered. "But please don't."

She lowered him carefully back to the ground. The sound that escaped her broke his heart more than the realization of his imminent death did. She had Braith now, a life that was so different than any they had ever dreamed of, but he knew that his death would destroy her more than their father's had. Just as her death would have done the same to him. They were a part of each other, together since conception, and even when they were apart he always felt her with him. If she had died, a piece of him would have died with her.

Their father, he wondered if he'd see him again now. Wondered if there truly was something after this life or if he was going to fade away into nothing. He hoped there was something after death, hoped he'd once again see the man that had meant so much to him. It was the only bright thing he could find in the growing darkness surrounding the end of his too short life.

It suddenly didn't feel as if he had enough air in his lungs, he tried to inhale but there was a crushing pressure growing in his chest that made it almost impossible to breathe. Unconcerned about his blood, Aria pressed his hand to her face as she leaned over him. Tears dripped onto his cheeks as her fingers curled into his.

"I can get you help," she choked between the sobs shaking her.

"It won't do..." a racking wave of coughing broke his words off as more blood burst from his mouth and trickled down his chin. She leaned forward and wiped it quickly away. "Any good," he finished when the coughing thankfully eased.

"I can fix this," she insisted.

He would have laughed but he couldn't find any humor right now. "Always so stubborn, you can't fix death."

The ring of red that flickered through her eyes momentarily startled him. He knew what she was now, but she'd remained so similar after her death that there were times when he forgot she had become what he'd once considered his greatest enemy. "I can," she grated and he finally understood what she was proposing.

Dread trickled through him. He'd hated vampires his entire life and though one of his best friends was one, his twin now was, and his brother-in-law was the king of them all, he'd never once considered becoming one himself. It wasn't something he'd ever wanted, but then neither was death, not this way and not this soon. He'd been running away from his grief for over a year, hiding in a way that wouldn't have made his father proud, but he'd always known that one day he would come to terms with everything that had happened. That one day he would return to the home he had fled, and he would find his purpose there. He'd planned to do so much more with his life eventually, not to have it end before his nineteenth birthday.

"There's no guarantee you'll survive," Aria gushed out. "But if you'll let me, I can give you a chance. There..." her voice broke and she pressed his hand more firmly against her cheek. "There isn't one now."

He hated the tears that continued to spill from her eyes as she pleaded with him to let her do this. She was offering him a chance, but was it a chance he was willing to take?

His eyes rolled to the side as Daniel burst free of the smoke and chaos surrounding them. Daniel skidded to a halt behind Aria, his mouth dropped open, his eyes brimmed with tears as he met William's gaze. "No," he groaned as he fell to his knees beside Aria and resumed the useless attempt to staunch the blood flow.

He was losing sensation in his arms and legs, there wasn't much time left now. His gaze went to the sky, but he couldn't see the blue through all the black smoke filling the air around them. He could feel the sluggish pulse of his blood as it oozed from him; feel the stuttering beat of his heart as it struggled to pump what little remained of his blood through his extremities. He was dying and he couldn't even get a glimpse of the sky he had spent most of his life sleeping beneath.

His fingers twitched at the thought. He wasn't ready to die, not yet, and though the alternative was almost as unappealing as death, it was one that he could actually live with. Or at least he would be a different kind of alive after. "Do it."

His voice was so weak that even he barely heard it but Aria bit deeply into her wrist and tilted his head back to press it against his mouth. His body recoiled from the coppery tang of her blood, but as it flowed into the back of his throat, he found himself instinctively swallowing it.

Aria bent close to his ear as his heart slowed to an alarming rate. "Try proving that you are just as strong as me for a change and make it through this," she whispered.

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