She made no attempt to answer, she only lay motionless, staring at the wall through teary eyes, trembling. Was she trying to beat her husband to the grave?
Gently settling on the bed, Annalise pulled Abilene’s head onto her lap against her swollen stomach. “You can’t go on like this.” She bit into her wrist and held it to her mother-in-law’s lips. “Drink, Mother.”
Abilene’s fangs reflexively shot out at the scent of warm blood, but she turned away. “The baby—”
“The baby needs a grandmother. Now, drink.”
Slowly, Abilene’s mouth closed over Annalise’s wrist and she gently suckled. Annalise smoothed back Abilene’s hair with tender strokes from her fingers as her color slowly returned.
“No more of this, Abilene. You have to take care of yourself. We need you here, with us.”
Abilene shut her eyes, licked Anna’s wrist to close the wound, and nodded. “I’m sorry.”
She helped her sit up. “Let’s talk.” Pulling her legs under her skirt, she waited for Abilene to explain.
Her head hung low in defeat. “I couldn’t bring myself to drink any more distilled blood.”
Anna nodded with understanding. “You could have come to us—”
“No, Anna. It’s forbidden. This can’t happen again. It’s against our laws. Your blood is for your mate and your children.”
Annalise waved away her words. “I don’t care about those silly laws. And Adam would have done the same thing.”
Tears welled in her eyes. She reached for Anna’s hand and squeezed affectionately. “You are a blessing to this family, Annalise.”
“Thank—ahhh—” Searing pain blazed across Anna’s torso, and she grabbed her stomach protectively.
“Anna, what’s wrong?” Abilene sprung to her feet, eyes wide with panic.
Annalise screamed as another lash of bursting, burning heat scored down her body. Her back bowed and she collapsed onto the bed, angling away from the invisible enemy and crying for help. “Get Adam!”
Heat coated her hand and she lifted her palm, her body shaking in horror at the sight of thick, fresh blood.
“What’s happening?” Abilene screamed.
Another blow of searing pain knocked Anna’s head back and she tasted blood. Her spine arched and she gasped, cradling her belly, desperate to protect her unborn child. Her saliva thickened as she fought the urge to vomit from the unending sting.
She curled to her side with an agonizing moan and wheezed, “Get Adam. Run.”
Cain sprung at the little she-witch, claws bared, fangs snapping, and flayed her flesh wide. She hissed and rolled across the ground, escaping what would have been a deathblow. He lunged and they stumbled through the dry leaves, sharp rocks bruising his spine. She plowed her fists into his side and bit a hunk of flesh off his shoulder.
“Ah!” He shoved her hard, throwing her several feet, but she was fast and wild, coming back at him with doubled determination and going for his eyes.
Cain flinched and struggled as her dirty thumbs pressed into his sockets. Fetid breath snarled in his face as she latched onto his body. He clawed at her hair, trying to rip her off of him, but she bit him. He backhanded her and she took a chunk of his flesh with her when her head snapped back.
Scrabbling to his feet, he hissed and put his back to a tree. The female stayed low, crawling like a crab along the ground, eyes wild, claws clicking as they needled over the ground. She was not a natural creation of God’s. It became clear, perhaps more than he initially grasped, that she needed to be destroyed.
She snapped her jaw and charged. He dodged, wanting information before he ended this once and for all. “Who is your sire? And do not repeat me!”
Blood dripped down his chest and torso, burning with the infectious filth she embedded in her claws.
She laughed, her dry cackle echoing off the trees. “You no strong ‘nough fer ‘im.”
He paused. It was the first time she hadn’t repeated his words. “Who?”
His skin burned where she bit him as if she carried some sort of venom. The wound needed to heal and fast.
Another cackle as her hips undulated in a gross display. “He bigger than yooooou,” she sang in that horrible voice.
“Hate to inform you, but size isn’t everything.” Reaching into the back of his belt, he wrapped his finders around cold steel. As soon as he got the information he needed from her, she was dead.
“There too many of us. Hun’reds.”
Cain froze. “There are more?”
Her black-toothed smile mocked him. “We his mates.”
“You’re all women?”
A hiss came from the shadows like locusts screaming from the trees. “Maaaaatessss.”
His eyes widened.
Dropping her head between her shoulders, she swayed toward him, thrusting her hips and emitting a call that echoed from the wood. He had the sense he was outnumbered and needed to move fast.
“What’s his name?”
“What’s his name?”
Back to this again? “Answer me!”
Her jaw unhinged like a python and he braced. Whatever came next was going to hurt.