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Storot to her feet, one hand on her shoulder, which felt as if it had been hit by a freaking freight train "What the hell is theround, and Stormy moved closer, cautious, but not too worried "Daht, Elisabeta"
Still nothing And, Stormy noted suddenly, a trickle of red round beside the fallen wo, didn&039;t you?"
She used her foot to turn Brooke&039;s body-and it was Brooke&039;s body, not Elisabeta&039;s-over Beta was unconscious There was a little blood coured there would be a goose egg da, wanting to haul off and kick the bitch for the throbbing pain in her shoulder, she instead reached down and yanked the ruby ring froer Then she searched her pockets and found the scroll "I iine we&039;ll need these," she said "And you never deserved the and scroll into her backpack, took out her cell phone, dialed Athena House and waited
At sundown, Stor watch over the unconscious wo watch because it was her turn She, Lupe and Melina had been taking shifts with the injured wo They couldn&039;t do the ritual without Rhiannon But if Beta&039;s soul wasn&039;t set free soon, Stormy would die with her It was only now that the patient opened her eyes
Stormy tensed in the chair beside the bed, then frowned Because her eyes were pretty And they were blue Brooke&039;s eyes, not Elisabeta&039;s Those eyes met Stormy&039;s, and they ith unshed tears And then Brooke said so so softly that Stormy couldn&039;t hear her
Her heart ached for the woht all of this on herself with her foolish actions She closed a hand around Brooke&039;s and leaned closer "I didn&039;t hear"
"I didn&039;t think it would be like this," Brooke whispered
"I know I knohat you&039;re going through, believe et her out of you, Brooke I promise"
Brooke closed her eyes "She she wants "
"What, Brooke? What does she want?"
"She wants you dead"
Stor it still sent a chill down her spine Not, however, the same chill that came a split second later when Brooke&039;s hand closed htly around Stormy&039;s, and her other hand clamped to the back of Stormy&039;s head and drew her face down even closer
"And I will see you dead, too I pro into Stor pieces of polished coal Stor much success at that so far, are you, Elisabeta? Tried to brainyourself instead And now you&039;re here, and trustanywhere"
"He will save ht, and you love him, too, don&039;t you? That&039;s why you tried to kill hi a blade into his belly hat, then? Kind of like a little love bite?"
"He is va as i that lives can die Vamps just die a little harder than the rest of us" Stor hands, twisted her own hand around and gripped Brooke&039;s wrist hard "If you hurt hiain, I&039;ll kill you Do you understand me? I&039;ll kill you, and damn the consequences"
Beta blinked, winced in pain and stared up at Stormy with a suddenly wide-eyed and child like expression Utterly innocent and afraid "You you would really kill me?"
"Don&039;t even doubt it I should have picked up that rock and crushed your skull today The only reason I didn&039;t was because-"
"Because Melina cairl voice And now there were tears rolling down her cheeks "You&039;re hurting my wrist"
Belatedly, the alarm bells sounded in Stormy&039;s mind That wasn&039;t what had happened at all She&039;d called Melina, asked her to bring a car to help her get Elisabeta back to thewhen they were alone in the room?
An instant later, she knehy, she heard Vlad&039;s voice coo, Te just that, and she rose from her chair and turned to face him He held her eyes for a moain
"Thank goodness you&039;ve co there long enough to hear what sounded like a threat, and maybe even a confession of attempted murder
"She tried to kill me!" the bitch in the bed sobbed "I tried to speak to her on the road thiswhen she left you, Vlad, and she attackedhand to the white bandages Melina had plastered to her head, her crocodile tears flowing like rivers
Stormy let her head fall forward until her chin nearly touched her chest and expelled all her breath Vlad wasa beeline for the actress in the bed, and then he bent over her to peel up one corner of the bandage and peer underneath
Straightening, then, he fixed his eyes on Stormy&039;s "Tempest? Is this true?"
She opened herwinded explanation, then stopped herself She tipped her head to one side "Why should I bother? You&039;re going to believe the word of this psycho bitch frout and left you to die Even after I gave my own blood to save your life So why should I bother?"
"Te him, and smiled a bitter smile at the irony of the situation "Fuck this And fuck you, Vlad" Then she turned and left the roo the door behind her Let him care for his pathetic little murderess Elisabeta would destroy him in the end, and it would be no less than he deserved
She met Rhiannon partway down the hall but didn&039;t even acknowledge her, just kept walking
"Wait!" Rhiannon said
Storht up with her "Stor?"
"To pack I&039;ot the das out of her pocket and pressed the, exorcise her, send her to hell for all I care And you can deal with Vlad, because he&039;s not going to let her go without a fight, I guarantee you that There&039;s no longer any reason for me to be here It&039;s not , I&039;ll knoorked And if I don&039;t, well, then I guess I don&039;t I&039;ht be the last several hours ofhim fawn over that bloodthirsty lunatic"
"Stor She was outside her own bedrooaze andthe unshed tears in her own "Thanks for trying to help me I owe you one"
"You can thank et that chance, Rhiannon" She blinked her eyes dry and turned away "This is getting disgustingly sappy Go on, go to Brooke&039;s room before Vlad has the chance to take his pathetic excuse for a bride out of here"
"She is pathetic, isn&039;t she?"
"She&039;s bloodthirsty, selfish, violent and insane But worse than any of that, she&039;s a whiner" She glanced at Rhiannon and saw a small smile appear on her lips
"That was ed Goodbye, Stormy"
Then she turned and hurried back up the hall to Brooke&039;s roo in the bed, her tears, her pleas and the painful wound beneath the bandages, got to him He wanted so ain It killed hi this way
Rhiannon stepped into the room, took a seat on the opposite side of the bed "Hello, Vlad I&039;m surprised the Athena wouarded Beta had become the moment Rhiannon entered the roo"
"Oh? Is she still alive?"
He noticed Rhiannon&039;s s s at his own lips, in spite of his pain "Of course" He rose to his feet, and went to her, wrapped his ar her reaction to be cold But it wasn&039;t Rhiannon hugged him in return Whatever had happened between the Had always been Would always be
"It&039;s been a long ti And I fear this embrace of yours will not last, Vlad It&039;s likely we&039;ll end this thing on opposing sides"
"I wish that wasn&039;t the case," he told her, stepping back to look into her eyes "Regardless of what I say to you later, Rhiannon, even if I&039;m forced to destroy you, know that I love you"
"As I love you I&039;ll love you even when I&039;lanced at Beta "Melina says the head wound isn&039;t serious"
"Do not trust the They want ave her a disht We do want her to die But we don&039;t want Teht to just execute Brooke, though her so-called sisters will likely do that in any event"
"You cannot save Brooke," Beta hissed "This is hed and rolled her eyes "Do youtireso thin"
He nodded and rose Beta grabbed for his hand "Vlad, no! Don&039;t leaveher hand even as he pried loose her grip "Beta, you&039;ve been here for the entire day If anyone truly wanted to harm you, they would have done so by now And you kno that I&039;m here, I won&039;t let anyone hurt you Don&039;t you?"
She met his eyes, searched them, and finally nodded
"Just rest I&039;ll keep you safe"
He went to the door, stepped into the hallway and pulled the door closed behind him
"Did Stormy tell you what happened?" Rhiannon asked
"No, but Beta did"
"Oh, did she" Sarcasm dripped from her words "And what fiction did that little liar spin?"