I slumped to the floor, weak and empty of hope. My insides churned in agony from the hunger. I tore off mine and Elyssa's bandanas and rested her head gently on my knees. I pressed two fingers to her neck and checked her pulse.

"Justin," Elyssa said weakly.

I choked back tears at the pain in her voice. "How are you, babe?"

She reached her hand to my face and caressed a cheek. She made choking noises which caused me to pull her toward me in alarm. I realized she was crying.

"I don't think we're going to make it," she said.

"Sure we will." I took a deep breath to drive away the choking anguish.

"I still love you," she said between sobs. "I never stopped loving you."

"I love you too," I said, happiness trickling into my heart. "You don't know how I've ached to hear you say that."

She pulled my face down to hers and kissed me. "Forgive me."

"For what?"

"For wasting all the precious time we could have had together."

"It's not over yet," I said, some hope creeping into my voice. "We can make it out of this."

She shook her head. "The venom in the bite is paralyzing my muscles. I'm too weak to fight it off. By the time it wears off, it'll be too late."

I held out my wrist to her. "Take my blood."

She looked at me with tremulous eyes. Her nostrils flared as they took in the odor of my blood. She pushed my hand away weakly.

"I can't," she whimpered. "I can't."

"You're a better fighter than I am, and I'm at the end of my strength. Take my blood and recharge yourself."

She sniffled and pushed my arm away again. "I'm too weak. I might kill you."

"I don't care. If it means you might be able to rescue my dad and get out of here, I don't care." I caressed her cheek. "My only regret would be never seeing you again."

Tears flooded from the corners of her eyes. "I won't do it. I can't. We're forbidden from drinking directly from humans."

"This is not the time to worry about rules, Elyssa!"

"It's not just about rules. It's about my Templar oath. Besides, the vampling venom has weakened my human side. Even blood won't completely counter it. You're the only one with a chance, Justin." Her grip on my arm loosened. "I can't feel my arms anymore." She drew in a shuddering breath. "Feed off of me. Survive."

"No, I can't."

"It's your only chance to save you and your dad."

"I'll figure out another way. I'll search in the lake. Maybe there's another passage."

"It's too late," she said.

I could hear the vamplings shambling closer, herded by the vampires.

She reached for my shoulder with a trembling hand. "If you love me, you will do it, Justin. Do it for me. Survive for me. Please."

Then I sensed her. I felt the hot pulsing of her essence hovering right before me, unshielded and vulnerable like a precious flame in the dark. But it felt so much different than what I'd felt with other women. They were like light bulbs against the burning sun that was Elyssa. I tried to resist but the hunger clawed at my barriers. I fought the madness and the pain as the need to drink her essence hammered at my defenses. I gritted my teeth against the pain. Squeezed my eyes shut. I would not do it.

"Stop, Elyssa. Stop it! I won't kill you to save myself."

"I love you," she whispered.

My walls crumbled. The hunger howled in victory and greedily pulled her essence into me. Love cascaded into my heart in a golden torrent of sunshine. I tried to stop the hunger, tried to cut myself off, but my depleted reserves drew her essence in like a dry sponge draws in water.

Tears flooded my eyes, blinding me as I drank in the essence of the girl I loved. She smiled at me one last time. Then her arms went limp and light in her violet eyes flickered out.

Chapter 34

I lowered Elyssa's body gently to the ground, sobbing and rocking back and forth from the agony ripping through my heart.

"No, Elyssa, no." The pain was unbearable. I doubled over as grief wracked me and ripped my heart to shreds.

The sound of putrid flesh on stone echoed nearby. I clenched my teeth and glared at the vamplings. Felicia, that evil vampiric bitch, stood behind them, goading them on.

"He's almost done for," she said. "Get him."

The agony in my heart blazed into searing rage, a volcanic eruption charring the heavy weight of grief to ash. I stood and faced the remaining vamplings and vampires. I roared in mad fury. Blue flames cascaded before my eyes. Pain erupted in my head. I staggered backwards. A nuclear explosion seemed to go off in my brain, pressing against the insides of my skull like an over-inflated balloon. An agonized roar filled the chamber. It sounded like the roar a monster would make. Some part of my mind realized the alien roar was my own. My blue-tinted night vision went red.

Bones popped and cracked and my clothes went tight as a drum skin. After a short eternity of pain in every molecule of my body, the red in my vision receded and I looked to see the vamplings mindlessly charging. My body felt strange and elongated. I looked at my too-large hands and saw blue-tinged flesh and blackened claws. My head felt off kilter. I reached up and touched the horns protruding from my forehead.

Fury overpowered the rational parts of my mind and the need to destroy obliterated further concerns with my current physical state. I towered over the mindless creatures before me. They would not withstand my might. My clawed hands shredded the closest attackers. I backhanded the next so hard into the cavern wall it exploded like a rotten melon. One came up behind me. I wrapped my tail around its neck and squeezed, popping off its head and batting the remains into the lake behind me.

I roared and clawed and punched and hammered the creatures mindlessly. Within a minute, only quivering bits of flesh and putrid juices remained where before there had been close to twenty vamplings. I bellowed in triumph, the guttural echo bounding off the cave walls.

Meanwhile the rational side of me was asking what the hell was going on with my body and wondering where in the hell my tail came from. But the rational side of me seemed to have no say in the beast's actions.

The vampires backed away into a frightened huddle. I focused my glare on them and loosed a roar that blew their hair back. They screamed and fled, tripping over each other in their haste to get the hell out of Dodge. The creature I had become gloried in the coming chase. They were succulent prey. I would hunt them and drain their essence until only empty vessels remained. My Lord and Master would praise me for the feast of souls.

I launched myself after them.

Elyssa! Said the rational voice in the back of my head. I can't leave her. The creature raced ahead mindlessly, gaining quickly on the fleeing vampires.

I love Elyssa! I love her. Don't leave her!

My body slowed and turned back to the limp form lying at the edge of the lake. It was just an empty vessel. No essence to rip from the body. No possibility of an exhilarating chase as predator tracked prey. Why should this body matter? The real prey was escaping!

She is my love. My reason for existence!

Tears sizzled in my eyes. All thought of the chase vanished and my fury melted into agonizing grief. I rushed back to her and knelt by her side. A reflection in the water caught my eye. I leaned over it. A monster stared back at me. Blood-red flames danced where my eyes had been. Ebony horns spiraled upward from just behind my hairline and my skin looked blue. The gasp that escaped my huge mouth sounded monstrous and threatening.

I turned back to Elyssa and felt for her presence. But there was nothing. Not a spark or a breath of life. More tears sizzled in my eyes, flashed to steam by the dancing hellfire. I reached for her essence with all I was worth. Instead of burning life, I felt the cold absence of death. My huge shoulders shook with grief. I had killed her. The rational part of my mind clawed for supremacy with the big dumb beast I'd become but I couldn't break through. The beast roared and renewed its efforts.

And then I felt it, a tiny whisper of life. I reached for it gently. There was so very little of it I was almost afraid to touch it, a burning match of hope in the howling winds of despair. I feared my overwhelming presence might snuff it out like a bucket of water on a spark. The merge was such a delicate matter, but the bestial side of me seemed to understand on an instinctual level. As its fury abated, so did the barrier separating my rational self from the beast. I merged with the wisp of life. Instead of pulling, I pushed.

I pushed with all the might and love I had in me. I thought of her laughing. I thought of those violet eyes looking into mine as I pulled her to me for a kiss. Of her soft lips against mine. Of her warm body pressed hard against me. Of the happiness in a simple smile on her face. Elyssa, come back to me.

The energy left me at first in a trickle and then in a steady flow. A demonic howl of hunger burned my throat and wracked my insides. I ignored it and pushed harder. As the essence left my body, the agonizing hunger increased. My body rippled, cracked, and popped as bones reset and muscles shrank. My clothes hung loose and torn from my smaller frame. The horns detached from my forehead and clattered to the cave floor. The fire in my eyes poofed out with a whoosh.

"I love you," I said in my own voice. "Please come back to me."

The pulsating energy flow leveled out and no matter how I tried, I couldn't push any more into her. I stopped trying and hugged her to my chest. She felt cool. I put my head to her heart and listened. A faint thumping beat in her chest. Hope blossomed in me, but we still weren't out of the woods. The long dark walk back to the main crypt still lay ahead and I didn't know if the vamps might be waiting with backup.

I rinsed some of the rancid gore off my hands and arms in the lake. My shoes were stretched and misshapen with large holes torn at the toes. One of the horns that had been attached to my head lay nearby. I grabbed and examined it. I touched my forehead where the horns had been, but the skin felt smooth and unblemished. The horn was about two feet long and sharp at the end. I could probably kill a vampire with it. I put it in the sheath where my sword had been and picked up Elyssa. She whimpered but didn't open her eyes.