“Let me go.”
“Never.” Her form changing before his eyes, her auburn hair turned black and elongated, her soft eyes turned hard, and her pink lips turned bright red.
“Ayesha,” he whispered.
His teenage dream specter was back, and the evil sorceress had glamoured herself to look like Sari.
“Missed me?” She leaned down so her face was scant inches away from his. “You belong to me.”
David knew that if she kissed him, it was game over. She would suck the life out of him. He had to fight her off. Thrashing, he tried to avoid her lips.
“Your struggles only excite me more.” She transferred both his wrists to one hand, her fingers elongating into talons to encompass their girth. “Hold still, and it will go easier on you.” She gripped his chin with the hand she’d freed and smashed her mouth over his.
He struggled against her hold, but it was no use. She was sucking the breath of life out of him.
32
Sari
With a sigh, Sari closed her laptop and turned to Steven. “I have to go to the office for a few minutes, but I’ll be right back.”
“No rush. Take your time.”
Right. He and Bridget kept saying that, but Sari chose to ignore them. Except, teleconferencing with a board of directors couldn’t be done from David’s patient room, or even the waiting room next to it.
“I cleaned up your office,” Miranda said as she came in. “It’s ready for broadcast.” She looked Sari up and down. “I’m glad that you showered and changed into something semi-decent, but you need a little makeup.” She opened a drawer and pulled out a small cosmetics bag. “Let me fix you up a bit.”
“There is no time.” Sari kept on walking.
Not giving up, Miranda trotted behind her with the bag in hand. “At least put some lipstick on. You look like a zombie, and you are going to scare the board members.”
After two sleepless nights, Sari didn’t look her best, but she didn’t care. There were more important things than looking good for the board of directors of one of the clan-owned companies.
Except, appearances were important, and her job was to inspire confidence. If she looked all frazzled, they would assume it had something to do with their enterprise and start worrying.
“Fine.” She took the tube from her assistant, smeared a little color over her lips, and handed it back.
Propping her cell phone against a stack of files that was out of the camera’s view, she made sure she could see David throughout the conference call. The nurse was with him in the room, and Sari wondered where Steven and Bridget had gone. Willa was an experienced nurse, but she would have preferred for at least one of the doctors to be with David, especially while she was gone.
They were probably in Steven’s office. Bridget had said that David needed to be watched constantly, so there was no way both of them had gone to have lunch.
“Did you eat anything?” Miranda asked.
“Nothing since breakfast. Can you call Ojidu and tell him to bring me a sandwich to the clinic after the conference call?”
“I’ll do that.” Miranda looked at the phone propped against a stack of files. “You’d better mute it.”
“Can you do that for me?” Sari opened the file for a quick reminder of what was about to be discussed. “But not all the way down. Just enough so the mortals can’t hear it.”
When everything was ready, and everyone was on Sari’s computer screen, she plastered a smile on her face and joined the call. “Good afternoon.”
As usual, the discussion droned on forever, with every board member having to voice his or her opinion and make suggestions. It was damn difficult to keep her eyes on the camera and pretend as if she was interested in what everyone had to say.
The quick glances she’d been stealing at her phone’s screen hadn’t gone unnoticed, and the faces of several of the board members reflected their displeasure. They had all made time to be there, and they wanted her full attention.
“We can save two percent if we shift production…”
The alarm was barely audible, but as Sari’s eyes shot to her phone, she saw Steven and Bridget rushing into David’s room.
Her heart dropped like a rock into the pit of her stomach.
“Excuse me, but I have to go.” She terminated the call and jumped to her feet. “Miranda! Tell them there was an emergency.”
Breaking into a run, she made it to the clinic in less than a minute. “What’s going on?”
Spreading her arms wide, Willa blocked the door to David’s room. “You can’t go in there. David stopped breathing and they are putting him on a ventilator. We are so lucky to have one on hand,” the nurse kept blabbering nervously. “Steven ordered it in case we needed it for one of the humans who work here occasionally. Who would have thought that we would need it for a transitioning Dormant?”
Who indeed?
No one had mentioned anything about the transition causing breathing problems, and according to Steven, David didn’t have asthma or any other underlying lung problems. After the thorough physical Steven had given him, he would have known that, right?
Had Syssi experienced breathing problems? Kian had only said that her transition had been difficult, but he hadn’t elaborated.
Damn, she should have asked more questions and educated herself better before letting David attempt it. How could she have been so irresponsible with the life of her mate?
That was the problem with trusting something as elusive as the Fates. It was fine to have faith, but it was even better to back it up with science.
Pacing like a caged animal, Sari managed to choke down the sobs, but the tears found a way to escape her eyes.
Tilting her head heavenward, she chanted silent prayers to the Fates. Please, sweet merciful Fates, don’t take him away from me. Please…
33
David
David was dying. His lungs were deprived of oxygen, making his struggles to dislodge Ayesha feeble and ineffective, the light was dimming, and his brain was giving out.
It was time to accept the inevitable, take stock of his life, and say his mental goodbyes to his loved ones before the light was snuffed out completely.
His mother and sister would be sad, but since he hadn’t been a big part of their lives, they wouldn’t miss him all that much. They would mourn for a while, and then they would go on living their lives.
David regretted not making a greater effort to spend more time with the only family he had left. If he somehow survived this nightmare and woke up, he vowed to do better.
But his biggest regret was leaving Sari and the life they could have had together. He refused to accept that this was the end and that he would never get to be with her again.
If reincarnation was real, he vowed to return to her.
After all, she was an immortal, and she would still be there for his next round, unchanged and just as beautiful as she was now. If he died today and was reborn tomorrow, in twenty-something years, he could return to her as a man. That was not a long time for an immortal, a blink of an eye in the span of her never-ending life.