Beautiful Monster (Beautiful Monster #1)(50)
Author: Bella Forrest

“Liam, such a pretty face, but you aren’t very smart, are you? But then, I guess that’s always been the case, failing to do your research. That’s what you were famous for, wasn’t it? Showing up on set having no idea what the movie was even about?”

“Selene…” Liam’s grip on my arm tightened. “Let. Her. Go.”

“Why?” she asked. “It’s not going to make a difference.”

She twisted, and Porsche doubled over. She gagged twice and then threw up, her legs trembling. My heart went out for her and I closed my eyes, leaning against Liam.

“Liam, make her better,” I whispered. “Let it end for her, please.”

Selene threw her head back and laughed, seemingly unaffected by Porsche’s pain.

“I can grant that wish. Let me be exceptionally clear for you, Liam, because you and your little performer friends have always been stupid. This lovely beautiful ballerina here is a shield, as you know. A shield blocks all supernatural powers. All of them. And she is a very powerful shield indeed, probably one of the most powerful I’ve ever seen. It’s a shame, really.” She jerked Porsche upwards, an arm around her neck tightly. Liam tensed, ready to pounce.

“Yes,” He said, confirming every face. “But Porsche’s existence is not to end.”

“And how do you propose that, exactly?” Selene asked. “You can bind a shield to you so that she will serve you, and your powers won’t be as affected. In return, you can give her protection for her family, money, happiness in the bedroom, whatever it was she sought. But you cannot change the fact that her blood is supernaturally resistant. You cannot transform a Shield, Liam. They are doomed to be mortal, forever.”

CHAPTER 24: LIAM

I felt the world rumble at Selene’s statement. Porsche’s glazed eyes looked up to meet mine in horror, her jaw unclenching to scream. It must have happened fast, but it felt like slow motion. I was already trying to calculate what to do when Selene’s arm muscles tensed around Porsche’s neck, and in less than a second, my beautiful ballerina was lying limp on the floor.

“NOOOO!” I howled, and was struck by a bolt of pain, as I felt my transformation rush into me. It nearly crippled me and I half fell, half stumbled towards her body, grabbing for her neck. Her head bobbed around like a ragdoll, her eyes lifeless and looking skyward.

I sunk my fast growing fangs into her trachea, the spot of transformation. If you wanted to drink blood, you drank from the side of the neck and could leave the body half drained without fear. But if you wanted to sire someone, you bit the front, on either side of the trachea.

Porsche’s blood was rancid and I nearly gagged. My transformation was rushing through my body, trying to make up for lost time. It was disorientating and painful as my heart suddenly stopped and I found I couldn’t breathe.

But what was the most painful of all was that her body remained limp, despite the fact that my venom should have been seeping into her veins. She had been dead less than a minute, which was still well in the clear to transform. As long as the body was still warm, you had time.

But Porsche, my savior, my best friend, stayed dead.

I bit her again and again, nearly gouging out her broken throat.

“C’mon, baby,” I said, giving her a little shake. “C’mon. Wake up. Wake up. You’re stronger than this. There’s no more pain on this side, no more disease. I promised you immortality, Porsche, and it’s yours to have, you just have to take it. COME ON!”

Her body flopped around, her red hair flying across her face. She was so thin, and so clearly so sick, it must have been torture for her to last as long as she did. She had waited it out, given me that, and now, I had nothing to give her.

“Porsche,” my voice came out broken, and I felt Amy kneel down next to me, taking my hand.

“Liam. Liam,” she tried to pull me back. “She’s gone, Liam.”

“No!” I ripped away from Amy, biting into the ravaged throat once again. But it was no use, as I knew it wouldn’t be. Her body was lifeless and she wasn’t coming back.

I sank back onto my heels, my sobs coming in gasps. I didn’t realize I could feel this way, fully transformed. I had never cried as a vampire, and it was worse than being human. Everything felt more intense, more unmanageable. I felt like that pain would never stop, never let up. It was only Amy’s arms around me, warm and beating with life, that let me even think straight.

Amy was crying too, her face buried in my neck, but she was silent about it – the cry of one who had accepted fate.

And I guess she had to; this beautiful girl whom I loved more than anything. Amy had lost her mother and long since accepted that her own death would come sooner than others. She was in touch with both life and death; something I, in my three years as a vampire, had never been able to accept. There was a wisdom about her that was far superior to her years. Her eyes were full of understanding that I could never hope to gain.

“There’s another life, you know,” Amy said, through her tears. “It’s not just…human or vampire. There’s a whole other existence out there, a whole other place where there’s happiness and no pain. And that’s where she is now, Liam.”

“This is my fault,” I managed, unable to look at the body that lay just beyond us.

“It’s not,” Amy said, sitting up to meet my eyes. Her eyes were clear, despite the tears. “This is not your fault. You did not make the choice to do this, Liam. Your choice was to save her, and hers was to save you. It was Selene who interfered with all that, and the death is on her hands.” She was inches from my face, and this time, there was no recoiling or flinching at my appearance. I knew I must be in full vampire mode, but Amy didn’t seem to care. She was gazing upon me as if I was fully human.

“Selene,” I looked up, suddenly, remembering.

“She ran,” Amy said. “Transformed as well. As soon as Porsche…” She reached up to wipe tears from her face.

“She’ll be back,” I said, shakily. “She always is. And she’ll pay, for what she did. For taking more than one life that was not hers to take. “

I wanted to get up, run, anywhere, do something. But I knew it was no use. Selene would be long gone by now. She was centuries old, and I had no hope of finding her if she did not want to be found. The smartest thing to do was wait, wait until she came back, which I knew she would.