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Elise didn&039;t have time to turn around before the doors blew off the van, and Mencheres was sucked out into the sunshine She dropped Blake, careful tooutside the chamber, and ran out of the van

"Mencheres!" she screa was around but miles of empty, ominous white salt Where was Mencheres? Her sire was the most powerful vampire she&039;d eversla a face full of salt Then she was propelled up and flung into the side of the van, hard enough to rowled near her ear

Elise whirled, but there was no one there Another blow knocked her into the van again Then another and another, all made by someone she couldn&039;t even see

Elise tasted blood where her lip had split The bright afternoon sunlight, naked of any cloud cover, felt like needles on her skin Soged piece ofhiain, and she was shoved into the van

Blake was still slumped over the chamber, motionless Elise pulled hi him on the van&039;s floor He was as white as the salt outside, all the color gone froh to feel like he&039;d been carved out of ice

The van gave a violent rock that had equip into the corner

"Stop it!" Elise snapped "If you break everything in here, I can&039;t save him"

"Do it now," that horrible, disembodied voice ordered

Her hands tre on the machine that would pus We must reheat his core slowly, Mencheres had said Too ases fill Blake&039;s bloodstream

Therefore, Elise didn&039;t use the hot packs with Blake yet She covered him with blankets and set up the IV to fill an artery with heated blood Another IV was inserted for a war Blake&039;s stationary heart to pump

An invisible hand slapped her across the mouth "Faster," Xaphan said

The demon&039;s voice seee with an elongated needle, punching that needle through Blake&039;s breastbone to inject epinephrine directly into his heart

Then she began co hiround a foot and s the s

Elise paused to take a long, poignant look at Blake&039;s face That deret what it did to me, he&039;d told her Don&039;t try to take that away fro away his choice because it hurt her too h Elise&039;s heart I can&039;t do it I love you too much to betray you like that

She kissed Blake&039;s cold lips, then sat back "It&039;s over," she told the de her until her head banged on the ceiling

"You will obey me," Xaphan said Waves of sulfur curled around her, the odor so thick, it felt like it was slithering inside her

Elise could barely talk with the pressure on her throat, but she ed to force out her reply

"Gotohell"

The van shook,back from the fraround Elise used all of her strength to tear away fro hi hi into her flesh and gouging the equipht shaken and ripped apart

A piercing shriek scalded her ears, causing Elise to lift her head and look in its direction In the open doorway of the ruined van, a cloud of black fla, s fro sulfur shot straight toward Elise and Blake

Elise braced herself but didn&039;t try to escape She wouldn&039;t leave Blake, even if it meant her death

Mencheres suddenly appeared in front of her, his power crackling the air around hi into s enough anymore, Xaphan," Mencheres stated "Your time is up" Xaphan screamed, but even as that awful noise reverberated, the ss, dissolving them out from under hi face, until there was nothing left of Xaphan but the faint scent of sulfur in the wind