Once Bitten, Twice Burned

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Ryder’s hands were like steel bands around Sabine’s stomach. Her neck ached and fury clawed at her gut.

And Malcolm was dead?

“You’re like Richard Wyatt.” Ryder’s voice came out, low and deadly, from behind her.

Cassie gave them a sad smile, even as her gaze dipped back to Malcolm’s still figure. “No, Richard’s blood contained a diluted poison. Mine is much more potent, as you can see.”

Poison? In the woman’s blood? What the hell was going on there?

Sabine tried to pull free. Ryder just held her tighter.

“I made sure that Malcolm never got my blood while we were in Genesis.” Now Cassie’s voice sounded sad. “Because I thought I could help him. I knew if he tasted so much as a sip . . .”

“He’d be dead,” Ryder finished.

She nodded slowly and said, “I wanted to save him. Genesis had already hurt so many, killed them.” Her chin lifted. “I’m truly trying to make amends.”

Yeah, well, good luck with that. Sabine stilled in Ryder’s arms. “Some things can never be fixed.”

Cassie’s stare turned to Sabine. The woman’s eyes were green. A familiar green. The same shade as Richard Wyatt’s eyes. “No,” Cassie sighed out the word. “They can’t.”

Ryder slowly eased his hold on Sabine.

“I was created as a weapon,” Cassie told them, turning her back on Malcolm. “A way to stop the vamps. With the right serums, human blood can become toxic to vampires. Just one sip, and it’s a real killer drink.”

Sabine put her hand on Ryder’s chest and shoved him back. She didn’t want the guy anywhere near Cassie’s blood.

Wait, come to think of it . . . I don’t want to be near her blood, either. So Sabine backed up a few steps, too.

She just wanted to get the hell away from Cassie. Only, if the woman was a walking vampire death kit, could they just let Cassie leave that place?

“My . . . boy . . .” The broken sob had Sabine glancing over at Keith. He was on his feet and looking about ten years older. Malcolm’s hold on the guy was gone, and now Keith was blinking and staring at Vaughn’s snarling figure in horror. “We can’t . . . fix him?”

“Not without phoenix blood,” Cassie said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

There was another phoenix in town. Sabine compressed her lips, knowing that if she mentioned Dante, he’d be hunted. But if she didn’t tell Cassie and Keith about Dante, then Vaughn’s life would be over.

What loyalty did she owe to Dante? He’d tried to kill her before. Multiple times.

So she could easily offer him up here. Right?

The scent of smoke teased her nose.

“Why the hell not?” Ryder muttered as his body tensed. “Everyone else is here. Figures he’d join the party, too.”

Then the door burst in. Sabine realized that she wouldn’t have to reveal Dante’s presence in the city. The phoenix had just stalked inside. Fire burned in his eyes. He stared at them all with fury. And flames burned above his hand.

He lifted his hand and aimed the flames right at Cassie. “You.”

The flames tore from his fingers and flew toward her.

Cassie screamed and lifted her hands.

Sabine moved before she realized what she was doing. She jumped in front of Cassie and the flames hit her in the chest.

“No!” Ryder yelled.

Sabine fell to the floor and rolled. Her clothes were smoking, but—but the fire hadn’t injured her.

Cassie was there, trying to slap at the flames on Sabine’s body. She gasped and glanced up at Sabine. “No burns.” A shocked whisper.

So the fire hadn’t burned her. Big deal. “You’re welcome,” Sabine mumbled as she jerked her head to the right to find Dante and Ryder fighting it out. Flames and claws and fury.

“He wasn’t aiming at either of you,” the low voice whispered from behind Sabine and Cassie. “I think that fire was meant for me.”

Even as fear pulsed through her veins, Sabine spun around.

And she felt a sharp, hard thrust in her chest.

Sabine looked into Malcolm’s eyes. Eyes that were very much aware, and then her gaze fell to the chunk of wood that had been shoved into her chest.

Blood pumped out of her.

“No!” Cassie yelled.

Malcolm swiped out with his claws and sliced right across Cassie’s throat. Her yell choked off. Blood sprayed. In the next instant, Cassie was tossed across the room.

“Told you all,” Malcolm growled, “it takes more to kill me.”

Sabine’s fingers were fumbling with the stake. Attempting to wrench it out of her. But . . . her fingers felt numb. Uncoordinated. She couldn’t seem to grab hold of the wood. And she was falling, slumping, hitting the hard floor.

She tried to keep her eyes open. They wanted to sag. She wanted to sleep.

No, not sleep.

Die.

“Sabine?”

Ryder was there. Crouching over her. Ignoring the threat right behind him. Didn’t he see Malcolm? He couldn’t turn his back on that bastard. Malcolm was evil. Twisted.

Unstoppable?

“You’re going to be all right,” Ryder said.

She hadn’t realized he was such a liar.

He pulled out the stake. The fast removal hurt, and she moaned.

And more blood gushed from her.

Ryder put his bleeding wrist over her mouth. Tried to give her his blood.

But she couldn’t take it. She was too cold. Her body . . . She couldn’t even drink.

It was just like before. Her body had shut down, and she was trapped, screaming on the inside but making no sound for anyone else to hear.

Just like before . . . the first time she’d met Ryder. She’d lost her blood and been so cold, just like this.

Malcolm drove his claws into Ryder’s back. Ryder didn’t let her go. He had to let her go. He had to fight his brother.

Ryder’s blood rained down on her.

No.

He wasn’t fighting back. Malcolm was slicing Ryder’s back, ripping into his flesh, but Ryder was just holding her tight. Whispering, over and over, “Don’t leave me, Sabine, don’t ever leave me.”

But she was already leaving. She knew what death felt like. Knew its cold touch so very, very well. Almost as well as she knew her lover’s touch.

Her breath had stilled in her lungs. Her heart had stopped beating. Maybe it had stopped the instant the stake plunged into her . . . or the instant it was pulled out.

She couldn’t move her body. Couldn’t speak and say the one thing that she needed to say. I love you.

But perhaps she didn’t need to say the words. Perhaps Ryder already knew. Because in that last glimpse she had of him, Sabine saw his eyes. His gaze was filled with fear, yes, but also filled with love.

He loved her.

She hoped, hoped, that he knew . . . I love you, too.

Then the cold deepened. Such terrible cold.

She was leaving him.

Leaving . . .

Why did the cold burn?

Sabine was gone.

Ryder held her tight, ignoring the pain as Malcolm sliced the flesh from his back.

“Fight me!” Malcolm roared.

Ryder held on to Sabine. Her blood soaked him. She’d been gone, even before he’d pulled the stake from her chest. Her eyes had already been empty. The fierce passion that was Sabine . . . gone.

Another slash over his back, then Malcolm’s claws drove straight into Ryder’s spine. “Fight me.”

Ryder didn’t feel the pain from the attack. He was already in enough agony. Lost her. The only thing, the only person that I needed . . . Lost. Her.

His heart was gone. He’d tried to hold on to his humanity. Fought for it.

But . . .

Gone.

There wasn’t anything left within him. Just a roar of rage that was building. Hollow. Cold.

Sabine had never been cold. She’d been fire. She’d been life.

Carefully, gently, he released Sabine. He pressed a kiss to her lips.

Malcolm was laughing.

“Did you love her so desperately, brother? Is that why you made her into a vampire? Did you think she’d be with you forever?”

She will be. He’d never love anyone but her. In his heart, Sabine would always be there.

His gaze lifted. The human, Keith, was near the cage. His eyes were anguished as he looked back at Sabine’s body. In shock, he stood frozen.

And the other phoenix was on the ground. Ryder had broken his neck. The flames were flickering around him, and Ryder knew Dante would rise soon.

But until then . . .

I have plenty of time.

His hands trembled as he closed Sabine’s eyes. He didn’t want her to see what he’d do.

She’s not there to see . . . The whisper slid through him, but he ignored it. He could feel his mind splintering.

Without her . . .

Why?

His spine should have been severed by his brother’s claws, but Ryder rose to his feet. He’d found that he healed faster and faster these days.

Because of Sabine? Because of her blood? Her tears?

She’d done nothing but make him stronger.

He’d be nothing without her.

“I love her.” Love, not loved. Because his feelings weren’t just going to magically stop.

Malcolm’s lips parted in surprise. “You—”

Ryder drove his fist into his brother’s jaw. Sent him sprawling back to the floor. “Have you ever loved?” Ryder demanded.

Malcolm scrambled back.

“I hadn’t . . . not until her.” He grabbed Malcolm. Yanked him to his feet. This time, Ryder drove his fist into his brother’s stomach. “She made me stronger.”

Malcolm was spitting up blood.

“Do you think I’ve never wanted to close my eyes? To end this nightmare?” Ryder snarled at him.

The roar within him built.

Splinter . . .

“I’ve tried . . . my body heals . . . heals so fast, even faster now . . .” He slammed his head into Malcolm’s, breaking his brother’s nose. “You think you’re the only one who has ever felt insects crawling on you? Eating you? I went to ground in the fourteen hundreds, so tired of the slaughters committed by men and vampires alike. You were gone. And I hated what I’d become.” He’d ordered his own entombment. He’d finally clawed his way out of that imprisonment after a year. “But we can’t change what we are.”

Malcolm watched him with wide eyes.

We can’t change.

Ryder glanced over at Sabine. “I wanted to change for her.”

Sabine . . . his Sabine . . . she was . . .

Burning?

The scent of ash and fire hadn’t come from Dante. Dante was still lying on the floor, not moving. But Sabine was burning.

We can’t change.

Her eyes had still flickered with flames when she made love with him. When she’d touched the vamp’s chest back at Bran’s Castle, he’d seen smoke drift in the air.

He’d tried to convert Sabine, but the phoenix part of her hadn’t died, not completely. Maybe it could truly never die.

And the phoenix was rising again.

“What the hell . . . ?” Malcolm’s shocked voice cried out.

“Not hell,” Ryder muttered. Sabine was his angel, and she was coming back to him. Yes.

The fire spread over her body. Burning slowly at first, then blazing hotter, higher, until he couldn’t see her at all. Just the flames. Red and gold and beautiful.

“She’s burning.” Malcolm grabbed Ryder and spun him around. He put a gun to Ryder’s chest. Ryder didn’t even bother wondering where the guy had gotten his weapon. “You’ll never have her again!” Malcolm swore.

He’d have her in minutes. Ryder smiled at him. “Wooden bullets?” Because, of course, what else would you use against a vampire?

“They’ll knock you out,” Malcolm said, snapping his teeth. “Then I’ll take your head. I won’t leave it hanging with some tendons and flesh, the way you did with me.”

The smell of smoke filled the room. The crackle of the flames grew louder. Sweet, wonderful fire. “Was that my mistake?” Ryder asked him, holding his body still. He didn’t want Malcolm focusing on Sabine now. He’d heard that the moment of change was the weakest moment for a phoenix. They were vulnerable at that time. According to old whispers he’d heard centuries ago, the only time they could be truly killed was when they burned.

Sabine was vulnerable then. And—

And Dante had wanted to kill Sabine. The phoenixes . . . they kill their own kind.

The cold suspicion iced through him. Dante had come to New Orleans in order to find Sabine. He’d been tracking her. Trying to find the perfect moment to kill her? A moment like . . . now?

But he’d snapped Dante’s neck. Hadn’t he?

“Yes,” Malcolm hissed. “That was your fucking mistake, that was—”

Ryder yanked the gun from him. Fired the wooden bullet straight into Malcolm’s heart. “Good-bye, brother.” He wouldn’t feel the grief or the rage. Not then.

And he would finish the job, but first . . .

Ryder spun around. Dante was on his feet—tricky SOB—and advancing toward the flames that enclosed Sabine. Ryder ran for him and tackled the guy. “Stay away from her!”

Dante shoved him back.

That was when he noticed Cassie was in the corner. She watched them with pain-filled eyes as blood pulsed from her neck. “S-stop,” she whispered.

Dante and Ryder rose to their feet.

“Is this what you wanted?” Ryder demanded. “To attack my woman? To kill her when she was weak?”

Dante craned his neck, popping it as he turned his head to the left and the right. “Had to see . . . wasn’t even sure if she could burn anymore . . .”

She could burn just fine.

“You’re staying away from her,” Ryder said because he wasn’t about to let anyone get close to her when she was weak.

“She’s not even going to know you.” Dante smiled at him. A hard, evil grin. “When the fire dies away, I’d say you’ve got about a five percent shot of her even remembering who you are. Do you know that? The fire can take away our memories. Leave us with nothing but ashes. She’ll see you, see your monster and just want to run from you. That is, if she doesn’t go for your throat first.”

“That’s a chance I’ll take.” Maybe she wouldn’t remember him, then, fine, he’d just make her fall for him again. This time, things would be different. She wouldn’t have to know the pain of their first meeting. She wouldn’t remember the bite or the blood or—

No.

He didn’t want any memories taken from Sabine. She deserved to have every instance in her mind, good and bad and everything in between.

Dante’s eyes narrowed as he studied Ryder. “I don’t understand you.”

Ryder shrugged. “What’s to understand?” Sabine, hurry, come back to me.

“I’ve seen you, over the centuries . . .”

Dante’s words shocked Ryder into silence. As far as he knew, only vampires lived for that long a period of time. Every other being he’d encountered had seemed to have an expiration date.

“You’ve killed,” Dante said, voice expressionless. “You’ve fought. You’ve left a trail of death in your path.”

Ryder lifted his chin. “Looking to throw some stones? What have you been doing for your centuries? Protecting the innocent?” Doubtful, given the way this guy enjoyed tossing around his flames.

Dante waved that away. “I know what you are, on the inside. Because I’m the same. The darkness. The need to kill, to fight, to destroy. It’s in us both.”

“I don’t want to destroy Sabine.”

His brother’s blood was on the ground. How long would he have before Malcolm rose? How long before Sabine came back to him? Hurry, love. Don’t keep me waiting.

He had to stand guard over her burning form. He couldn’t leave, not even to finish his battle with Malcolm. Or rather, not even to finish him.

“Why not?” Dante asked. “What makes her different?”

Cassie started to choke. No, she’d been choking all along, slowly dying as she tried to beg them for help. Ryder saw that now as his gaze flew to her. She couldn’t speak. Her eyes screamed for her. Keith had finally shaken from his stupor and run to her, but there was nothing he could do to help.

“Will you save the human?” Dante asked as he cocked his head. “Will you rush to aid her, trying to even that bloody scorecard that you carry around with you? Saving human lives, to make up for all the ones you slaughtered?”

Cassie was dying in front of him.

“Or will you keep standing guard,” Dante murmured. “Over the phoenix who burns so brightly? A phoenix who may soon come for your heart.”

“She already has my heart.” Sabine could do with it whatever the hell she wanted.

Cassie had tears streaming down her cheeks. Her eyes were desperate, but she shook her head when she gazed at Ryder. Her lips moved, just the faintest bit . . . Stay with her.

Sorrow had his own lips tightening. Cassie wasn’t like the others from Genesis. Perhaps she really had wanted to help.

For that kindness, she was receiving a slow and brutal death.

Then Ryder saw her eyes dart to Dante’s form. Her stare changed. Flickered with an emotion that he was becoming too familiar with these days.

Ryder’s breath left him in a rush. “She saved you.”

Dante frowned. “Sabine has done—”

“Not Sabine.” He didn’t want the man even speaking her name. Stay away from her. To keep Dante’s attention away from Sabine, Ryder said, “The human, Cassie, she’s the reason you escaped Genesis.”

Dante shook his head. His gaze darted to Cassie. His frown deepened.

“You don’t remember,” Ryder said as his heart raced. “Because they killed you, again and again.” The same lack of memory that Dante was using to taunt him, well, that same darkness, that nothingness, had erased Dante’s past.

A past that was dying less than three feet from him. And the guy didn’t even realize what he was losing. Not what, who.

A woman with love in her dying gaze.

“How do you think you got out?” Ryder pushed.

Dante’s stare was on Cassie. Her shirt was soaked red from the blood that had poured from her neck.

“Do you remember her? At all?” Ryder knew the emotion he’d seen in Cassie’s eyes. That kind of consuming need and longing was exactly what he felt for Sabine.

Dante turned away from Ryder. He gazed only at the woman before him. A woman who was wheezing as she tried to catch her last breath. “Cas . . . sandra? My . . . Cassandra?”

There was a whoosh of sound. Ryder whirled around. Sabine was on her feet. Surrounded by flames. Standing, with her hands up.

Malcolm was clawing at his chest, rising again, shouting, but Ryder couldn’t make out his brother’s words over the crackle of flames.

Flames that were snaking out. Racing over the walls. The ceiling.

She doesn’t have control.

Keith yelled as he ran back to the cage and fought to free his son. But if he let the beast out, what would happen then?

Vaughn would attack. Would kill others, infect more humans.

Dante crouched over Cassie. His hands were bathed in her blood. “Help her!” he roared.

But who could help her?

If the phoenix cried, perhaps his tears would heal Cassie.

Or my blood, maybe I can transform her. But no, Ryder couldn’t transform her, not with the poison that had been placed within her body.

And Sabine’s flames were growing. She’d kill all the humans there, if he didn’t stop her.

Ryder straightened his shoulders. Took a step toward the flames. They wouldn’t burn him. They hadn’t before.

But even if the flames did burn, wasn’t she worth the pain? Wasn’t she worth everything?

The flames licked around his feet. Rose over his legs. Burned his clothing.

Didn’t touch his skin.

“Sabine.”

Her head whipped toward him. He saw the fire in her eyes. Fire, but no recognition.

“Pull it back, Sabine, before you hurt the humans.”

She smiled.

The flames grew higher.

She was so fucking beautiful—and the deadliest thing he’d ever seen in his very long life.

“You don’t want to hurt them,” he said, closing in on her. Her flames were orange and gold. Big. Bright. “You don’t want—”

She lifted her hands and held them, palms out, toward him. “Stay back.”

No. “Do you know me?”

Sabine shook her head.

“I know you,” he whispered as he kept advancing. “This isn’t what you want. You don’t want to kill.”

But her smile said otherwise. “I like the fire. I want to burn. Destroy.”

She turned her head. Keith was struggling to open the cage. Fumbling with keys. Sabine frowned and sent fire racing toward the cage. Vaughn screamed when the fire licked over his arm.

“I only know the flames,” she whispered. Her voice was husky. Deeper than before. Flowing with power. Darkness. In her eyes, he saw rage and pain and fear.

And he remembered another time. The first time she’d burned before him. “I thought you’d died then, too,” he said.

Malcolm rose to his feet. A gaping hole filled his chest. He’d dug the bullet out of his heart. Now Malcolm was coming for him again.

“One of us is dying, brother!” Malcolm swore as he charged at Ryder. “One of us is—”

Sabine put her hand on Malcolm’s chest. He howled in pain and . . . he burned.

Quickly, too quickly. He fell to the ground, tried to roll to put out the fire, but the flames wouldn’t die.

Instead, he died. In mere moments.

Then there was only . . . ash left.

There’d be no returning from that.

Sabine lifted her hand and asked Ryder, “Are you ready to die, too?”

He shook his head. “You can’t kill me.” Malcolm was truly dead now. Rest in peace, brother. Finally. Maybe there would finally be some peace for him on the other side.

Or maybe there would only be more fire.

“I can kill anyone.” She had flames at her fingertips. “I can burn you, from the inside out.”

“Pull it back,” he told her, keeping his voice calm with every ounce of his strength.

For an instant, her expression flickered.

Did she remember? Another time, another place, but he’d spoken those exact words to her before.

The fire died above her hand. She touched her temple. Rubbed it. “Destroy. Burn. It’s what the fire whispers to me.”

He had to get Sabine to ignore that insidious whisper. He had to make her remember. So he told her the same thing he’d told her the first time she’d risen for him. Ryder lifted his hand to her and said, “I thought you were dead.”

Her lips moved. She looked scared, lost. “I was.” Then she shook her head. “Who are you?”

“Ryder.” And he closed the last of the space between them.

She raised her hands again, as if to ward him off, but the fire didn’t burn from her palms. Not now. “Stay away from me!” Sabine shouted.

“Never,” he whispered.

Sabine slammed her palms against her head. “Hurts . . . burn . . .” Her eyes locked on his. “What is happening to me?”

She’d asked him that before. When she’d burned in his cell and returned to him. Now he just told her, “You’re coming back to me.”

Flames were on the ceiling. All around them.

He didn’t risk a glance at the humans. But from the corner of his eye, he saw Dante running from the room. With . . . Cassie cradled in his arms?

But Vaughn and Keith would still be trapped. Sabine’s fire was raging out of control. If he didn’t stop it, how many would die? How many humans were in the building? Would the fire spread to the rest of the block?

To the whole city?

Her power was limitless, he saw that now. Everyone else needed to fear her.

But he . . . he just loved her. Ryder reached for her hands. “Sabine.”

She blinked at him. “I’ve heard your voice . . . calling to me . . . through the fire.”

Yes.

He swallowed. Kept his hands light and gentle on her feverish skin. “Stop the fire,” he told her softly.

“I-I don’t know how!” Tears leaked down her cheeks.

His heart ached. They’d been through all of this before. But this time, he knew what to do.

She knew fury and fear and pain.

He would remind her of something else. Love.

“Help me,” she whispered to him. “Please.”

“I will,” he promised. Then Ryder put his lips to hers. He kissed her, pushing all of the love and need he felt into that kiss.

But she jerked her head away from him. Her eyes were even more afraid. “Why don’t you burn?”

“Because you’d never hurt me.” She was shaking. Hurting so much. He had to stop her pain. “And I won’t let you hurt.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you, Sabine.” He kissed her again. Soft, gentle, even as the fire crackled and raged. She stood tense and scared at first, but then her lips parted just a little. Her breath eased out. He took that breath, as he’d take anything that she’d offer to him.

His lips were careful on hers. He held back his frantic need. Held tight to his control. He just wanted her to return, his Sabine, with her memory. Her fire. Her wit. Her beautiful spirit.

Her hands pushed lightly at his chest. He lifted his head.

She stared at him, and the flames seemed to have dimmed in her eyes. “Y-you . . . you have fangs.”

His heart squeezed at the familiar words. That was what she’d said to him before, too, when they’d been trapped in his cell, and that time, he’d told her, “And you’re burning the room around us.” His voice was husky.

From the corner of his eye, Ryder saw a dark form dart through the doorway. Another man. He ran toward the cage. It looked like the man was trying to help Keith. Trying to save Vaughn.

Ryder focused on Sabine once more. If he didn’t stop Sabine, there would be no saving anyone. “Pull it back, love,” he told her, deliberately using the words he’d said in his cell in order to jar her memory. “Pull it back.” Then he kissed her again. “Focus on me.” Just like they’d done before. “Breathe,” he told her. “Slow. Deep.” His hand moved to rest over her heart. “Too fast,” Ryder told her. “Breathe. You’re safe with me.”

Her breath whispered out. Her hands weren’t pushing against him now. They were digging into his chest.

“I . . . remember you.”

He wanted to yank her against him and hold tight. “Good because I love you.” He’d tell her forever. Every day for the rest of their lives.

The flames were gone from her eyes. Around them, the fire was dying. “Vampire,” she whispered.

He nodded.

“You . . . bit me.”

He had, several times.

“You . . . love me.”

He would, always.

Another tear leaked from her eye. “I remember you . . .”

The good? The bad?

She smiled then, and it wasn’t the deadly, dangerous smile from moments before. It wasn’t the phoenix smiling. It was the woman, and her smile was beautiful. She was beautiful. “My vampire,” Sabine said.

Hell, yes, he was hers. Always.

Then her body trembled. He caught her in his arms, lifting her up when she would have fallen. Holding her so tightly against his chest. His heart.

Then he saw the others. Keith and—Rhett? Hell, that crazy bastard who’d run into the flames had been Sabine’s brother? If Ryder hadn’t been so busy trying to stop the inferno, he would have recognized the man instantly. But he’d been a bit . . . distracted.

Rhett and Keith had just opened the door of the cage. Vaughn was rushing out at them.

They were going to get bitten. Become primal. He yelled out a warning.

Even as a shot fired out. The blast hit Vaughn in the chest, and he fell to the floor, unconscious.

“It’s safe now,” Cassie’s voice called. “You can carry him out.” She stood in the broken remains of the doorway, a gun in her hands. “I gave him a tranq.”

The wounds on her neck were all but gone.

She’d been at death’s door, but now she was back. Moving. Barking out orders. That sure as hell wasn’t a normal recovery. Not even normal for a vampire, much less a human.

The tears of a phoenix. Had she really made that SOB Dante shed a tear? It sure looked as if she had.

“Rhett?” Sabine’s stunned voice. “I almost killed my brother!”

Ryder kissed her. “You didn’t,” he said fiercely against her mouth. “You didn’t.”

Her lips trembled. “I did . . . kill . . . your brother.”

Ashes to ashes.

“You gave him peace.” The peace he’d sure never found on earth.

The last of his family was gone now.

“I’m sorry,” Sabine said as she hugged him.

He realized then that, no, his family wasn’t gone. His family was right in front of him. In his arms. Sabine was his family. The life he’d wanted for so long.

Keith was sobbing as he hauled out his limp son. The human . . . a human Sabine had known for most of her life.

Ryder glanced back at her lovely face. He could still see the tears on her cheeks.

“Cassie,” Ryder snapped out the other woman’s name.

She rushed to him. One look, and she understood just what he wanted from her. She ran away for a moment, then came back with a small vial clutched in her hand. She reached for Sabine.

Sabine flinched away. “What—”

“Your tears may be able to heal him.” Ryder wouldn’t promise her that Vaughn would survive. Not yet. He didn’t know what Cassie could do with the primal infection, what she could do for any of those who’d been hurt by Genesis. Malcolm had faked his recovery, so they had no proof that the tears would have any effect on the primal.

But perhaps Cassie could do something for them.

Sabine stared into Ryder’s eyes, and another tear slid down her cheek. “I could have lost you. Rhett. Everything.”

Cassie took that tear and hurriedly stepped back.

“You remember,” Ryder whispered.

Her lips rose into a faint smile. “You’re pretty unforgettable.”

The ceiling was groaning. Cracking. The building couldn’t withstand the punishment from the fire. Ryder carried Sabine out of the room. He took the lab coat that Cassie gave to them and covered Sabine’s golden skin. The fire had burned away her clothes.

It had burned away everything.

“Start again with me,” he said. I can do this right. “You have the memories, but this time, I swear, I can make things better.”

Her smile widened as she shook her head.

“Please,” he whispered, when he’d never begged anyone or anything.

“I don’t want to start over.”

They left the ash and blood and smoldering fire behind. Rhett and Keith and Cassie came after them, pulling out Vaughn’s body.

There was no sign of Dante.

Ryder took Sabine outside, where she could breathe the fresh air. Hear the sights and smell the scents of the city she loved so much.

He didn’t know if she was back to being a full phoenix or if part of her remained a vampire. And, really, he didn’t care what she was. He loved her. That was all that mattered.

“What do you want?” he asked her.

Her lips stretched into a smile. “I want to be with you.”

She probably deserved better. No, she damn well deserved better, but he’d kill any man or supernatural who ever tried to take her from him.

So Sabine was pretty much stuck with him.

If she wanted to leave me, could I let her go?

It was a dark thought, and one he didn’t want to examine too deeply. He needed her so much. Too much? Maybe he wasn’t what she—

Sabine’s soft laughter stopped him. “You just faced me and my fire, so why worry now? Don’t you realize, vampire, you’re all that I want? The only man who can get through the flames and get to me?” She pulled his head down toward her. “I want to go where you go. I want to be with you.”

And the only place he wanted to go? Wherever the hell she was.

If she wanted to stay in New Orleans, he’d make the city safe for her. If she wanted to fucking fly to Paris, he’d buy her a jet. He’d do anything for her. Risk anything.

Give anything.

His forehead pressed against hers. “Don’t ever die on me again.” Because he’d wanted to cut out his own heart when her eyes had gone blank.

“If I do,” she whispered, “I’ll come back. I swear, I’ll never leave you.”

He believed her. After all, his Sabine had never lied. She’d also never said . . .

“I love you, Ryder.”

He kissed her.

Then heard the disgruntled, “Hell,” that came from Rhett. “Looks like I’ll have a vamp brother-in-law.”

Yes, he would.

Ryder ignored the human. Rhett had managed to shake off his compulsion, just as Ryder suspected he might do. He’d come back to the city, ready to face any enemies.

Ryder could respect him. But even though he had that respect, he wasn’t about to stop kissing Sabine. Because she was all that mattered.

Fire. Blood. Fury.

Life. Death.

Lust.

Love.

She’d given him the world, and he’d spend the rest of his days laying the whole damn world at her feet.