Read Geminae: The Blood of the Serpent | Book One :: Cove | Thirteen

Cove's POV

I never wanted to turn her in. But it was over the moment they walked in room and clocked her pretty-mismatched-eyes.

Spinning the situation over and over, could I have been the hero? The one who saves the day? The one damsels-in-distress fall all over themselves to be with?

No. I'm not that guy, and I wish she'd quit looking at me like she thought I was.

She's glaring at me like I'm the worst.

I probably am.

I was going to help her; one solitary good deed to make up for the rest of my disaster life. Even if rest of me leans towards the easy way out. Even if that side wins most of the time.

But she was about to blow his brains out.

And regrettably, I need Dias Vasquez alive.

She's standing now and Dias is waxing lyrical about testing loyalty and the path to vindication. He likes to talk while he walks. Stalking around the desk while she's clutching her com, dialling her boyfriend to come and save her – the real hero.

I don't know if I should warn her, or let her find out too late, she's already done for. There's no escape. Not now. Dias will never let her leave here, not alive anyway. She's too valuable. Her blood, like mine, is gold in their hands. I can see the hunger behind their smug faces. They want her.

One EVe to bleed bone dry is a small fortune, but two... well that's ticket all the way to the top.

She's edging for the door. I should tell her now that's not going to work. You can't outrun a hybrid, not in his own club.

Out the corner of my eye Dias motions to Ely.

Just as she thinks she can make it, two steps to the door, Ely moves with an inhuman speed and yanks her back by her hair. He wraps his mouth around her slender neck; a rabid wolf tearing at its prey. She screams as he latches on. The sound of jagged teeth on flesh goes through me, making me sick to the bone.

I stare at the floor. And count the seconds as Ely drains her.

"Don't despair Cove, we'll save some for you." Dias laughs, my distress amusing to him. Gilded eyes and golden hair bestowing virtues he doesn't deserve.

They won't kill her. They'll take enough to incapacitate her, make her pliant. Then they'll take her to the upper rooms for some other torture, the kind they think is fun; days taking turns breaking her, until there's nothing left of who she was, until she belongs to them.

I don't want to watch but I do, in time to see him caress her shoulder, almost tenderly. She doesn't stir, remaining pale and small, lifeless in his arms. Well on her way to the same hell I've been living in alone.

A double explosion jolts me out of my stupor.

In the space of a millisecond the door has two gaping holes puncturing the inside of it, and a big guy, hurtling like a stream train, comes barraging through. He slams the part of door into Ely who topples over, ponytail flying, taking Ai with him. Crushing her with the bulk of his body. Smoke rises out of his back from two neat burn holes. Dead as dead before he hits the ground.

The big guy – an enforcer all in black, strapped to the nines with arsenal – crouches next to Ai checking she's alive, asking if she can hear him.

He doesn't get an answer. Dias hisses and lunges at lightning speed. The gun goes sideways as blond hybrid kicks his hand with enough force to break it. Unfazed the enforcer ducks, his next blow aiming for the hybrid's gut, ramming Dias into the wall behind them. Plaster cracks in the crash, and flecks of it flurry everywhere. A minuscule snowstorm clouding over both brawlers in silent fury.

"Cove, help me out here..." Even pinned beneath a dead vamp she manages to shoot me a look. And not a nice one. "Please! He's heavy!"

Blood, darker than red, slowly seeps out of her neck where Ely bit her, the wound now ragged and raw edged. It pools around her, the blood, softly disappearing into the expensive, black carpet.

Hybrids aren't the neatest drinkers, not with meaty fangs shaped like razors and human teeth on either side. It hurts like hell.

I take a step then stop, unsure what to do.

Dias, encircled inside one of the bison-sized arms of the enforcer, is held in some kind of choke. The big guy should have the advantage, but hybrids are fast and I've seen Dias fight. In a heartbeat, the hybrid flips forward, heaving the enforcer overhead until he's airborne – a feat no human could ever have the strength to do – and throws him out the broken door.

Then she's calling my name, again.

"Cove help me. I can't move him by myself. Please!"

There's an apology forming in my throat as I take another step towards her. I shouldn't help her. Not when everything rests on me not screwing up this time. I can't be seen helping her. Dias will use it as a weakness and give him the excuse he needs to royally mess me up for good.

Ironically, he is my only chance to escape all this.

"Cove, please. I can't stop it... the blood...." And her voice becomes lost in the sound of chaos.

I close my eyes, clearing unwanted thoughts.

If I don't help her, what kind of person does that make me?

I move then, without thinking, and pull the dead body off of the girl. Dias and the enforcer are still grappling, taking their own sweet time.

I take her arms and haul her up, so her weight is resting on me as she gets to her feet. She's wobbly like a new born fawn. Blood trails down her throat, her front slick and rich with blood. I drag her over to the couch. She slides off me and lays herself down. Glassy eyed, observing me over the barest of smiles. Around the room, there's nothing to put on the wound so I take off a layer; hauling my buttoned shirt over my head, leaving me in only a vest. I sit beside her and lever her up, wrapping my shirt around her neck gently, to stem the flow. She mutters something about me stripping off for her and flops onto my lap.

"Easy." I grab her. She's ethereal in my arms. "It should stop soon. Hybrid bites carry a coagulant." I hear myself say.

But it should have stopped already by now.

She nods and leans against me for a second, closing her eyes. I move her over to the side of the sofa, cushions propping her up. She sits compliantly, saying nothing and staring blankly, hand holding my shirt to her neck. The scent of death, the sharp metallic tang of it, is sobering, dredging up sorry images from the dark recesses of my psyche. Memories I'd like to forget.

But there's blood everywhere. I'm covered in it.

"How touching." Dias says.

He's upright, standing over the motionless body of the enforcer, dusting his powdered jacket. Wood and plaster everywhere. I'm not sure if the other guy is dead or just knocked out. I guess it doesn't matter.

Dias was going to win no matter what.

"I didn't think you wanted her bleed out." I say.

I can't help but look at her again, ignoring my tormentor or would-be savior, whichever title he prefers today. Her breath is shallow and non-existent. And my shirt is soaked all the way through.

Something's wrong. It's not stopping.

Luckily, Ely didn't go for her jugular. Dying from venous blood loss takes just a little longer. But she won't last at this rate. If the drugs from the Ely's saliva don't start working soon, she'll have nothing left to lose.

Dias snarls at me. Clearly pissed.

Cautiously, I get up, extracting myself from Ai, putting distance between us, and if I must admit, myself in the way of her and him. Dias moves too, up close and right in front of me, with an unnatural speed I didn't see or sense. I tense, waiting. I don't drop my eyes. I don't say a word.

He won't kill me – that, at least, I know for sure.

"If you cross me I won't hesitate. Keep that in mind." He whispers, almost reading my thoughts. But not quite.

"I've not forgotten." I say, quietly. I'm unable to resist snatching a glance her way. She's all but stopped moving. Lips forget-me-not blue. Deep within, where my heart used to be, there's a dull, pounding ache. You can hear a pin drop. The stench of Dias so close it fills my throat.

I did that. To her.

"Can you help her? The coagulant isn't working as it should. The bleeding isn't stopping." I don't know how the words are coming out but they are. It's my fault she's dying. I can deal with a lot of bad things I've done, but not this. Hell, never this.

Dias is silent for what feels like forever. Mocking me.

You know what he wants.

"I tell you what," he smirks. "I'll save her life-" his golden eyes flick to her and then back to me, "-if you do for me the one thing I asked."

Now I close my eyes. "You know what will happen if I do."

"I care less about that. You'll get me the Blood of the Serpent, or your little lupa bleeds to death. It's your choice, Cove."

And there. He has me.

***

Author's Note -

[image credit to the smoking hot Mal Ericson as the dangerous Dias Vasquez]

And there we have it, a sneak peek behind the scenes as 'Cove'!

So what did you think? 🙈🙈

How are you feeling about Cove now that you've been inside his head?