75 Ruby? Are You Still In There? (1/2)
”Ruby? Ruby you have to wake up! You have to!”
Her head lolled from side to side and a lock of pebble-gray hair flopped over her eye but she didn't respond. He checked for a heartbeat again and found nothing. Not a single beat to reassure him that she was still here.
No. She couldn't leave him too. Not when she was all he had left. Not when she gave him something worth living for.
”Ruby…please…” Ash begged in a broken voice. ”You have to stay with me. I need you. I need you so much so come back, okay? Come back!”
Vampires couldn't cry but he felt a deep-rooted howl of anguish building up in his chest. He was too late to save the only thing that mattered to him. She was alive less than fifteen minutes ago and he hadn't made it in time.
Cradling Ruby against him, that howl made its way out of his throat. It didn���t break any glass this time but every werewolf in the room cringed since none were able to cover their ears as they fought.
There were already a dozen dead on the ground but the fight with the stronger ones was ongoing. The werewolves that had finished off their prey either helped their brethren with other vampires in the throne room or went somewhere else in the castle.
Dorian began to laugh even as he continued to fight against his three opponents. ”So you truly did love her? Look how far you have fallen. If you weren't so abominably weak you might have been able to save at least one of the things you cared about but you were always destined to lose to me.
”Even if you manage to completely destroy the Cromwell coven tonight I still won because you lost everything. You have always been pathetic and this is the final proof. You are not worthy of being a vampire, Ash Mayhew.”
”SHUT UP!” Ash roared.
He couldn't handle taunting on top of everything else. Because each word that miserable excuse for a fae spoke was the truth. This was his fault.
Ruby was a bright, beautiful girl whose only sin was being born with dangerously desirable powers. She got on this monster's radar entirely by chance and it ended up costing her life.
Of all the fae in the world to make him feel something again, why did it have to be one that Dorian Cromwell was after? Ash hadn't been able to prevent him from stealing what he found most precious either time they had gone up against each other.
Vampires continued dropping around him but nothing registered aside from the fact that Ruby was dead while Dorian was alive. That could not be allowed.