Chapter Nine: Fading Heartbeats
He saw her. She was in Hunters forceful embrace, her eyes flickering as his fangs sunk into her creamy skin...The image would be stuck in his mind forever. Her hair coated in blood, bodies surrounding them, the moonlight dancing off their skin.
The image must have roused an anger so deep and ancient inside of him that it burned him into blindness until he couldn't see anything but Hunter. His body worked mechanically, running into the room, pulling Hunter off Rashel and throwing him into a wall. He was about to go and kill Hunter for everything he had ever done to hurt the girl he loved when she gasped.
Her body crumbled under her and he hurried to her side, catching her just before she hit the ground. She was losing too much blood, but he thought about that later. His first thought was how it felt to hold her again. Quinn wanted to kiss her right there, but Hunter was getting up again. Carefully he put Rashel down, but instead of attacking Hunter like he should have, he stayed by her side.
"She was too late to save the orphans. Your too late to save her," Hunter looked amused, leaning against the wall he had just been thrown against.
"Shut up," Quinn hissed, ripping pieces of his shirt off to bandage some of her gashing wounds.
"I could never teach you enough manners," Hunter sighed, but that was all he heard, his body and mind focused on trying to stop her bleeding. Rashel would die if there was any more blood, "So useless fighting death. She's going to die Quinn, there's not enough blood left for you to salvage."
Quinn ignored him, getting the blood to stop on one of her wounds. He focused entirely on stopping more of them but when one cut closed another gushed even more.
"Unless of course you give her yours...then she'd have enough blood to make the change..." He froze, hand hovering over her. Give her his blood? But that would make her a...
Hunter laughed smugly, but he ignored him looking at Rashel. Would that be what she wanted? Eternal hell? Would she mind if it was with him?
There was a glimmer on her hand as she slowly moved, still breathing hard. It was her ring, the one he had given her when they were together. The day before she left. There had to be some meaning to it if she still had it on.
"John..."she murmured, choking on the next words. He slowly held her head up, rubbing her back. There was blood everywhere but it was hers that was the most important. "I love..."
Her breathing slowed, and he could hear her heart pound quicker and quicker until it stopped. He held his breath waiting for it to start again. It did after a couple seconds, a soft thumping barely audible.
Quinn's hands felt the ground until they closed around a sharp shard of glass. He used it to cut his wrist, making sure to listen for any sudden changes in her breathing.
He placed his bloody wrist against her lips, tilting her head back so it would trickle down her throat. After an agonizing minute she responded, her lips closing around the cut and swallowing the blood. Rashel's eyes fluttered open long enough for her to see him and then she pulled away from his wrist.
"No...can't...sor...sorry," She looked up at him with heavily lidded eyes, putting her energy into a few last words before they would be parted. "love...you...please...wait."
"I'll wait forever Rashel," he cried, holding her close while they both listened to her fading heartbeats. "I'll wait forever."
He held her in his lap, tears trickling down his cheek as he watched her, counting the last of her heartbeats.
If she wanted to go, he wouldn't fight her. She wouldn't be happy as a vampire, she would hate it, maybe even hate him for changing her. As long as she was happy he would bare it.
"I love you," He whispered over and over, rocking them back and fourth in the darkness.