Reclaimed(66)
Author: Diane Alberts

“W-What should I do? Can I move you? Bring you to the hospital?”

“No…too late. Don’t move me. Please, is she dead?”

It seemed important to her to hear the words, to know he was safe. With blurred vision, he nodded and lied. “Yes, she’s dead. Sabrina,” he whispered. Tears rolled down his cheeks unheeded, and he tightened his grip on her shoulders. “I can’t…I can’t just let you die. I love you.”

Her lips moved as she tried to smile.

“I…love you, too. Just…stay with me.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Running footsteps approached behind them, and Isaac spun, presumably ready to defend Sabrina at all costs. When he saw it was Elijah and not Louisa, he turned back to his love. His brother knelt by their side and checked for a pulse as Isaac stared at Sabrina like a man lost.

“She’s alive, but barely,” Elijah murmured. “Louisa’s dead. I watched her die.”

Isaac gave a quick nod and focused on his brother for a moment. “She can’t live. She’s been through too much. She wants me to let her—let her die.”

Elijah hesitated. “We should carry her to a hospital. We can at least try.”

Isaac nodded and wiped the tears off his face. He pulled her into his arms, but stopped when she cried out in pain.

“No…it…hurts.”

Isaac put her back down, looking at Elijah with panic on his face. They stared at each other wordlessly. Isaac turned to Sabrina. “I’m s-s-so sorry, love,” he whispered brokenly. Returning his gaze to Elijah’s, he spoke in hushed tones. “We can’t move her. I don’t know what to do.”

“You’ve got to let her go. She’s not going to make it, Isaac.” Pain was evident in Elijah’s voice, but his eyes did not waver from Isaac’s even as he blinked back the tears. He couldn’t break down when his brother needed him most. He’d been a horrible brother over the years, but now he’d be strong.

No matter how much it hurt.

Isaac yelled with raw anger and thunder boomed around them. Even Elijah cringed at the sheer volume of the bang.

“I have to do something,” he swore.

As he spoke, Elijah saw his face light up. He instantly tensed. He knew the look in Isaac’s eyes. As children, he’d always seen it appear right before Isaac told him a plan sure to get their small butts paddled.

“Isaac, what?”

“I’ll bite her, Elijah. It’ll change her, and we can run away.”

“No, absolutely not,” he objected. “She wouldn’t want you to risk yourself to save her. She wouldn’t allow it.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, she’s not in the condition to allow anything.” Isaac gestured angrily to her motionless body.

Elijah glared and shook his head. “No,” he repeated. Isaac growled at him, and Elijah smiled bitterly. “I won’t allow you to do this.”

“I’d like to see you try to stop me, brother.”

Isaac knelt by Sabrina’s side. He looked over his shoulder to ensure Elijah hadn’t stepped closer. Elijah remained still, studying Isaac from under hooded eyes. He could continue to gawk all he bloody wanted, as long as he didn’t interfere.

Once he was confident Elijah meant no harm to him, or Sabrina, he stroked Sabrina’s face. Her eyes opened, and she stared at him vacantly. She was barely even here—he needed to move fast. Or he’d lose her.

“Sabrina, honey. I’m going to have to bite you. It’ll hurt. A lot. I’m sorry, but this is the only way,” Isaac said, as soothingly as he knew how.

Her eyes widened in horror as she licked her parched lips, attempting to speak. He leaned closer to hear her words, which were barely a whisper.

“Not…you. Elijah…please.” She stared over his head at his brother, and Isaac fought the anger and pain that swelled up inside him. He knew why she said it. She was trying to protect him, to save him even now. But still, it hurt. And she must have seen it in his eyes, the doubts plaguing him even now.

“I…love…you. But no…please.” Once again she looked over his head at Elijah, and he heard his brother curse. Isaac watched as she turned her eyes back to him. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head in confusion, wondering why she apologized.

“I’m sorry, too,” he heard Elijah murmur from behind him.

As soon as he heard Elijah speak, he knew. She hadn’t been asking Elijah to change her. She had been asking Elijah to help her stop Isaac from doing so at all. She was going to let herself die.

But he was too late in his discovery, and the last thing he saw was Sabrina’s stricken face, and the tears running down her cheek.

The pain exploded in his head, and he collapsed to the ground.

Sabrina focused on Isaac as the tears ran down her face. She was dying. She knew it. But at least she’d taken Louisa down as well. Okay, well she hadn’t, but the bitch was dead. That was all that mattered to her. Not whether she herself had killed her, but that she’d gotten the bitch down, one way or another.

Still, she hated betraying Isaac in her last moments, but she couldn’t—wouldn’t—allow him to ruin his life for her. Thankfully, Elijah had understood what she had wanted, even if Isaac himself had been oblivious.

“Take him…away. Leave me here.” She breathed, closing her eyes, and waited for death to take her. She was growing weaker by the moment and knew her time was coming. Every breath was a struggle; every movement was harder than the last. When she heard Elijah move beside her, she opened her eyes for one last look at Isaac before Elijah removed him from her side.

Instead of picking up Isaac, Elijah bent over her. She looked at him in confusion, and her eyes widened in realization of what he was going to do.

“No, h-h-h-he’ll kill you.”

Elijah looked at her in sorrow. “I don’t think so.”

Sabrina felt fury and fear overcome her, but was left wallowing in helplessness as he leaned over her motionless body. Oh, how she longed to fight him off, to punch his nose and kick him, all while she screamed.

But she couldn’t. The last of her strength had left her, and she could not even utter more than a paltry whimper of protest.

Desperately searching for a way to stop him, she whispered one final word.

“Amelia….”

Elijah tensed. “I’d have done this for her, if I had the power. Now I have the means to save you, and by God I will use it. I won’t watch you die again.”