*** This story contains some mild language, suspense, romance, and some frightening images and situations—13 and older, please.
In the Grip of Twilight
By:
Olivia Tannis Moore
Chapter Seventy Six:
Reforming Adel: Part Two
Zeke stared at me in horror. "It's got to work, if it doesn't…" He cut his words off, knowing I understood the implication, the direness of his situation.
I looked down at Adel, saw her eyelids flutter. She was still in that dazed stage between full consciousness and the dreamlike slumber my bite had induced. Zeke bent down and was about to take her hand again.
"Don't," I said sharply. He instantly looked up at me. "Don't wake her. I'll go back in and try again." I inhaled deeply; I felt like rubber, my insides all quivery and weak from being expelled from Adel's body. I just needed a moment to recover. My teeth were trying to contract back to normal size; I could feel their pointed tips resting gently against my bottom lip. Perversely, I wished for a mirror to see what I looked like in that state—did I look like a demon or one of those sultry television vamps?
"She's getting agitated. I think she's trying to wake herself up," he told me.
With tremendous effort, I got to my knees and went back over to the sofa. Adel looked so childlike, as if she was trying to escape from a bad dream. My heart broke for her; she had trusted me, believed in me. I couldn't let her down like this. I may not have owed her this effort to reform her, but I desperately wanted to help her. In this vulnerable state she was in, I saw the real Adel and was convinced I was doing the right thing. The thought of letting her down, letting Zeke down, was nauseating to me.
"Shhhh. Sleep Adel," I whispered. I was going to rest for a minute longer, but I was drawn to the curve in Adel's neck like a magnetic pull. It wasn't bloodlust—Adel had no human blood to speak of—but the impulse was there, and strong. My canine teeth ached to pierce her skin…
Zeke's voice broke the hypnotic trance, "Bella?"
My head swiveled toward Zeke too rapidly, as if I'd been caught relishing the act too much, and a wave of guilt flooded over me.
Yet Zeke didn't seem to notice, which seemed to make me feel a little worse. "Release some of my venom and see if that helps…" he suggested. "I'm not quite as old as Aro, but I'm no lackey either."
I nodded, intrigued by the idea of Lycan and vampire venom battling it out within Adel's body. I wondered if it was dangerous for her; she was after all in a very vulnerable position. But if I couldn't drive Aro's venom from her body, then Zeke would have to make good on his promise and end her life, so there was really nothing to lose.
My teeth sank into Adel's neck and I almost sighed. For a split second it occurred to me that I was experiencing the vampire side of me, the overwhelming desire to possess, to enter and take what I wanted to take… It was like sinking into a euphoric dream, all softness and pleasure.
But it didn't last for long, as Aro's venom was waiting on me this time. It ambushed even as I was reveling in my vampiric sensations.
It tried to knock me loose, as it had before, but surprisingly it was my elongated canines that kept me locked to Adel's neck. I had no more than thought of releasing Zeke's venom when it spurted from my canines and over my tongue, thick and honeyed.
I ached from the attack of Aro's venom, my limbs weak and my mind numb; I only hoped that Zeke's venom would buy me time to recuperate. But it did more than that. It seemed to hold a fury and a will of its own. It countered Aro's venom with vengeance and drove it back. And that's when my own skill took over as my canines began to draw Aro's venom in.
I tried to release more of Zeke's venom to compensate for the loss of Aro's venom, but it didn't flow out; it seemed as if it were frozen deep within my teeth. I tried again…no luck. I was lost in confusion. This wasn't supposed to happen. We'd beaten Aro's venom; it should be easy now. I tried to force Zeke's venom out, but it was if there was some sort of blockage.
I felt Adel's body tense and twist as if every muscle in her body was in pain and gasping for air. She was in agony and I could do nothing for her. My heart raced. I demanded that Zeke's venom flow, but still it wouldn't, couldn't, do as I demanded. And that's when I realized the flaw in our plan. We couldn't have known, but still, it had been almost too easy to expel Aro's venom. And now we were left with this. The void that Aro's venom had left refused to be occupied by Zeke's venom. Time after time, it repelled any attempt to fill it. I wasn't sure how to proceed from here and I started to withdraw from Adel. I felt utterly defeated.
Suddenly, from what seemed like a long distance away, I heard Zeke's voice cry out, "We're losing her!"
***
(Thanks for reading. See you all next week. OTM)