Untamed (Vampire Awakenings, Book 3) (38 page)

Two of them fell back when he drove his fist
into the chest of another one and tore out his heart. The woman
that had knelt by Emma's side and then turned her attention to Jill
fled from the room and down the hallway. "Mine!" Brian declared and
disappeared from the doorway in pursuit of the woman.

Ethan leapt forward as Tristan spun away; he
grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and jerked him back before
swinging an uppercut at another man that lunged at him. The man's
head shot back, blood spilled down his chin as his fangs were
driven into his lower lip. Claws raked over his side, slashing his
skin open to the ribs as Tristan spun on him. Ethan barely felt it
though as he pulled Tristan toward him and buried his fangs into
his neck. He didn't taste the blood that spilled into his mouth,
didn't swallow it as he tore a chunk of flesh from Tristan's throat
and spit it out. Grabbing Tristan's head with both hands, he jerked
it brutally to the side. He was rewarded with a resounding crack
that echoed through the room and scared another vampire into
fleeing down the hall.

Emma tried once more to get to her feet but
even though she was willing her feet to move, they had stopped
listening to her. In fact, it was getting to the point that she
could barely feel them anymore. She thought she should be
terrified, instead she found herself oddly detached from her body
and the weakness that was creeping through it. She was trying
desperately to help Ethan, to fight with him, but there was nothing
that she could do as her body refused the commands of her mind.

She was pretty sure she was dying, it
certainly felt that way as her heart did that strange stuttering
thing again. Before her, Ethan moved to the side and grabbed
Tristan. She'd never seen anything like the bloodbath that was
going on within the room but she still felt no fear of Ethan as he
crushed another heart in his hand. A cry of alarm lodged in her
throat when Tristan sliced Ethan's side open, tearing his clothing
and skin apart.

"No," she managed to croak out when she
spotted Ethan's ribs beneath the blood oozing from the lethal
looking wounds.

She'd never seen such ruthlessness before,
had never expected to see it in her life, and yet the sight of the
blood and body parts splattered around the room, and covering
Ethan, didn't make her stomach turn. She was too concerned about
the number of vampires still coming at him and the blood that was
seeping out to cover his shirt and jeans.

Emma tried to lift her fingers but they had
gone as numb as the rest of her. Ethan shoved Tristan away from him
and grabbed the arm of another vampire. Blood and bone erupted from
the man's elbow as Ethan snapped it in half. Emma winced as the man
let out a howl loud enough to rival an ambulance siren. Ethan
shoved the man away and grabbed hold of another one. Her eyes were
feeling heavier, she could barely keep them open but she had to,
she had to know that Ethan was at least going to survive this.

Tristan held his hand against his mutilated
throat as he stumbled back and turned to try and make an escape.
Ethan grabbed hold of the man's arm that he had just broken, lifted
him up, and threw him at Tristan. He flew into Tristan's back,
driving him to his knees as he hit him with the force of a
battering ram. She'd known Ethan was powerful but she doubted he
even realized that he'd had this much power within him.
Please come back after this,
she
pleaded silently.

Ethan leapt forward onto the man he had
thrown and placed his foot on the back of his head. He drove it
into the floor and twisted his toe into it, caving in the front of
the man's skull. Grabbing hold of Tristan, he seized his head with
both hands. Tristan howled, his hands flailed at him as skin and
bone gave way. Ethan didn't stop as he continued to turn Tristan's
head completely around before ripping it from his body.

His shoulders heaved, bloodlust continued to
pulse through him, he tossed the head away as if it were no more
than a bowling ball. He lifted his head to take in the remaining
three vampires in the room. They stared at him in disbelief and
horror before turning and fleeing down the hall. Though all he
wanted was to tear into something else, to feel more life slipping
away in his bare hands, he didn't bother to follow them; they
wouldn't get past the others and especially not Brian.

There was something far more important than
blood and death right now. He spun away and fled back to Emma's
side. Her eyes were mere slits as she watched him approach, her
heart had slowed to an alarming rate and he knew there was almost
no time left for her. He ran into the kitchen and grabbed a towel
and knife from it. Wetting the towel, he wiped away the blood
covering his forearm as he returned to her side. His knees hit the
ground beside her, her body felt almost lifeless, her head flopped
against his chest as he gathered her in his arms.

The minute his arms wrapped around her, he
felt more of his murderous impulses fading away as his body began
to reel back in the power and brutality it had just unleashed. It
was impossible to feel the urge to kill when her life was on the
line, when all he cared about now was saving her.

"Emma?" Jill croaked from behind him. He
didn't look back at the girl but he could feel her steady approach.
The mind control she'd been under had broken when whoever had taken
possession of her mind was killed, just as the barrier preventing
the others from entering the house had fallen. "What happened?"

"Stay back," Isabelle commanded.

"But what happened?" Jill whimpered.

"We'll explain later," Isabelle promised.
"But you have to stay back."

Emma's eyes were only slits and dull as they
came up to his. "I love you," she whispered.

"You're going to be fine," he told her even
if he wasn't so sure. Panic tore through him as he tilted her head
back and drew the knife deftly across his wrist. He didn't feel the
pain of the blade as his blood poured forth. It was far more blood
than his own bite would have provided, blood she desperately
needed. Her eyes fell to his wrist as he held it up to her.

"Do it," she breathed before her eyes drifted
closed.

"Drink Emma," he pleaded as he pressed his
wrist to her mouth. "Please." He could feel his blood seeping into
her body but there was no response from her. His lips dropped to
her head, he cradled her closer as terror tore through him. "Drink
baby."

She remained unmoving in his arms, her head
against his shoulder. The strange red that had filled his body
began to fade away as his blood slipped into her. He hated that he
had to touch her covered in the blood of the massacre he had just
unleashed, but he couldn't let her go. Tears burned his eyes as he
kissed her forehead and pressed her closer against his chest.

"I can't lose you," he moaned.

A footstep on his right drew his attention to
Isabelle as she knelt by his side. Her eyes were troubled as she
stared at Emma. "Ethan..."

"She's going to be fine," he growled.

Stefan rested his hands on Isabelle's
shoulders and pulled her away. "Don't," she started to protest.

"Stay away," Stefan warned in a low voice. He
pushed her behind him and placed his body in between them.

Ethan turned his attention away from them as
he focused everything he had on Emma and on willing her to live,
willing her to stay with him. Emma's closed eyes suddenly flickered
up to him, her body stiffened, her fingers jerked on the floor
before going completely still as her heart stopped. He felt like a
mirror that had been dropped on the ground as everything within him
fractured and fell apart. All that was left of him was a black hole
that sucked out everything he was, there was no soul, no humanity,
as he stared into her unseeing eyes.

And then her heart kicked violently against
her ribs, she gasped in a breath as suffering twisted her face and
a harsh cry escaped her. Her fingers clenched, her teeth clamped
involuntarily down on his arm as her body jerked in his embrace.
Though he hated her suffering and would have done anything to take
it from her, he was also filled with ecstasy as her heart pounded
out a far steadier beat than it had before. Alive, she was
alive
, and she was going to stay
that way.

He rocked her as more spasms racked her body
and her fingernails tore into his skin. Her teeth finally unclamped
from his wrist and he pulled it away from her as the transformation
continued within her body. Small mewls escaped her, tears spilled
down her cheeks as her feet kicked spastically against the
floor.

"I'm sorry but it will be ok," he whispered
against her ear. "This is the worst part."

Emma felt as if she were drowning in agony.
Her skin was as raw as it had when she'd gotten second-degree
sunburn while visiting Florida when she was thirteen. She'd been
blistered everywhere that her bathing suit hadn't covered, but
she'd give anything for that sunburn now. Then there had been aloe
to help relieve the pain and she'd known that her discomfort would
eventually ease. Right now it felt as if this would never stop.

She tried to keep her eyes on Ethan, tried to
remind herself why she was doing this but everything around her was
blurry. She swore there was someone using a jackhammer against the
inside of her skull as her head felt like it was going to explode.
Her now beating heart felt like it was twisting and changing within
her ribcage, as if it were actually tearing free of her arteries
and becoming something else. A scream built within her but she was
unable to unclench her teeth in order to release it.

Her body jerked with so much force that a
bone in her foot broke with a loud crack when it slammed against
the floor. Ethan had never felt so helpless in his life but he had
no idea what to do to make it any better. "It won't last much
longer, and she will get through it," Stefan assured him as he
knelt by Ethan's side.

Brian, Ian and Aiden appeared in the doorway
of the house. Blood streaked their faces and was splattered over
their clothes but they appeared unharmed as they stepped over two
of the bodies lying on the floor. Jill had retreated to the couch,
tears streamed down her face as she took in the carnage around her.
He wanted to hate the girl but he knew none of this was her fault
and she looked completely heartbroken as she gazed helplessly at
Emma.

Brian bent down, seized Tristan's hair, and
lifted his head from the floor. His eyebrow lifted as he stared at
the bulging eyes and twisted mouth. "We have to get this cleaned
up."

Aiden looked around the house. "I don't think
there is
any
way to clean this
up."

Ethan glanced at the red stained walls,
furniture, and carpet; there was little of the original color to be
found beneath the blood splattered everywhere. It looked like some
kind of macabre funhouse. "Burn it," he said flatly and turned away
when Emma whimpered and dug into his arm with her nails again.

"That will make this job a lot easier," Brian
said and dropped Tristan's head dismissively back on the floor. It
landed with a dull thud but Brian was already walking away from
it.

Emma's back arched off of the ground, her
teeth clenched together as the muscles in her throat and jaw stood
out. Sweat beaded across her forehead and ran down her face; her
face became florid as a scream tore from her throat. Ethan held her
in a way that ensured she wouldn't injure herself when her body
collapsed again. She went completely still but her heart continued
to beat a solid rhythm in her chest.

"The worst is over," Stefan said. "We have to
get her out of here, now."

Ethan was careful with Emma's broken foot, a
foot that would most likely be healed by the time she woke again as
he gathered her in his arms and lifted her up. Her head fell
against his shoulder, her glazed eyes fluttered open to meet his
before drifting closed again. He had to get her somewhere safe,
somewhere that wasn't covered in blood and remains. Moving as
swiftly as possible, he fled the house and left the others behind
to deal with the cleanup.

Emma didn't move as she stared around the
room, a room that was far brighter and clearer than she recalled it
ever being. A room that held scents she never would have noticed
before. The sweet smell of hibiscus was almost overwhelming as it
drifted in through the open doors. There was a faint coppery scent
that she eventually identified as blood and the enticing aroma of
sex was just beneath it all.

It was all so amazing and overwhelming that
she could barely breathe. There was so much to this world that
she'd never realized before but she could see, hear, and smell it
all now. It was the strangest gift she'd ever been given and it was
a gift that was hers, forever. Her gaze was riveted upon the
colorful lamp by the bedside, she never could have imagined that
there were so many different shades of red, blue, and green in the
world and she marveled at all of them.

"You're awake."

"I'm awake," she murmured in response to
Ethan's words from behind her.

"How do you feel?"

She frowned as she thought over that answer.
"Different.
Alive
," she breathed.
"If that makes any sense, considering I died."

His hand on her arm pulled her attention away
from the lamp. She rolled over and smiled at him. He was sitting in
the chair beside the bed, leaning toward her with his elbows on his
knees. That awful reddish black color had vanished from him; the
blood that had covered him after the massacre had been washed from
his body. His face was strained; there were lines around his eyes
and mouth that hadn't been there yesterday. Stubble lined his jaw,
his bloodshot eyes made it seem like he hadn't slept in a week but
they were back to their normal green hue. She realized now that
though his eyes were mostly emerald in color there were also flecks
of forest green with a little bit of a lime color blended in.