38. Blaise

Toby let go of me and whirled around. Ezekial was striding towards us, looking exactly the way I remembered him: tall, lean, flame-red hair, and an expression sour enough to curdle milk.

"Blaise." His eyes lit up in recognition. "Don't tell me you managed to piss off yet another person with a cursed weapon?"

Toby stiffened. "Blaise didn't ‘piss off' anyone. He was stabbed defending humans from Lucifer."

"Settle down, pipsqueak," Ez drawled, rolling his eyes. "I was only teasing. Anyway, as I've previously explained to Blaise, he doesn't need to worry about curses."

My own temper flickered at the insult Ezekial flung at Toby, but I tamped it down, knowing he was the only one who could help us.

Standing beside Toby, I faced the angel. "I'm not the one who's in need, Toby is. I couldn't reincarnate with the sword through me, so he pulled it free."

Ez scrutinised Toby with renewed interest. "You touched it knowing it was cursed?"

"Yes," Toby said through gritted teeth. I definitely wasn't the only one who'd been rubbed the wrong way by this angel.

"Why didn't you wait for a demon to do it for you? You hang around with enough of them." The edge of disgust had my hackles rising higher.

"Because I didn't know that those with fire powers aren't affected by curses."

Ez was definitely interested now, his gaze flicking between the two of us. "You aren't mated."

Toby looked about ten seconds away from introducing his stake to the angel's throat. "No."

"So why'd you do it?" The angel sounded genuinely curious. The others were also listening. Rami at least had the decency to be pretending to read, but the twins had no such subtlety, both sat with their chins on their hands as they watched with rapt attention.

Toby stepped closer, slipping his hand into mine. "Because I love him."

To my surprise, the angel snorted. "Stupid reason if you ask me, but whatever."

Toby smiled up at me. "Guess you've never been in love then."

I kissed his lips but didn't miss the way Ez rolled his eyes.

"Nope, and I can safely say it's not for me. Love makes you do foolish things, like losing your immortality because of a curse. Or leaving a unit you've been part of for centuries for a human and a demon, of all things."

"Dimitri misses you," I said quietly. "All of you."

"We miss him," Rami said, putting his book to one side. The twins nodded in agreement, their eyes damp. "It's not the same without him here."

"He made his choice," Ezekial said flatly. "We're the ones facing the consequences."

Toby frowned. "What consequences?"

"Enough." Everyone in the room jolted as Benji spoke. I hadn't heard him say a word, despite being left with him while the others went to alert Ezekial.

The tiny angel hadn't moved from his seat, his attention still on the window, but nonetheless he commanded the attention of the entire room. "Dimitri had as much say in the matter as we did. When fate speaks, we must answer. Now, help the vampire and mage so they can be on their way."

He got up from his seat without so much as glancing at the rest of us, disappearing through a door.

"He's not very talkative," Nate said.

"Probably because you two can talk enough for the rest of us," Rami grumbled.

Ezekial was staring off in the direction Benji had gone, a confused expression on his face. He shook himself after a moment, turning back to us. "Benji's right, as usual. But if the two of you are in love, this is simple enough to solve."

Toby's hand slipped from mine.

"You just need to?—"

We never got to hear what we needed to do.

There was a soft gasp, and just like before, Toby crumpled like a house of cards.

"Tobes!" Fear gripped me as I caught him in my arms. "No, no, no."

"Put him on the floor," Ez said, kicking the coffee table out of the way. "Rami, we need you."

We all dropped to our knees. Rami stretched his hands out over Toby's body, his power humming from him.

"This is why I didn't want him following me," I said frantically. "I knew something like this would happen."

"It's okay," one of the twins said. Each of them had a hand on my shoulder. "There's little that Rami can't heal."

But as the giant angel met my eyes, I knew hope was lost.

"I'm sorry," he croaked. "The curse is too advanced. It's beyond my skills. If I'd known the day it'd happened, I might've been able to help."

"Will he wake up?" I blinked rapidly, trying to keep my sight clear. "Please tell me he will."

Rami exchanged a helpless look with the twin to my left. "I…"

"Enough of this," Ez barked from his spot by Toby's head. "There's a way to save him, but there's a risk."

Hope leapt in my chest. "Whatever it is, I'll do it."

Ez's lips thinned. "You don't understand. You'll be the one at risk. We'll be able to save Toby, but you might pay with your own immortality in the process."

"I don't care." And I truly didn't. For the first time though, it wasn't because of my mental health, but because I had to save Toby. I had to. If he left this world then everything good would go along with him. He'd risked himself to save me, and I was going to do the same for him. I loved him. It was as simple as that. "If he gets to live, that's all I care about. Tell me what to do."

Ez shook his head slowly. "Love makes you do foolish things. Can't get more foolish than this."

Toby groaned between us, his eyelids fluttering. To my horror, I realised there were black lines crossing his hands and face like spiderwebs. They were growing with every second that ticked past, following the path of his veins. Even with his tattoos, you could see them heading up his arms.

It was like they were converging on his chest.

My heart skipped a beat. That was what Rami hadn't wanted to tell me.

Toby wasn't going to wake up.

He was dying.

"Tell me what to do." I didn't look away from the darkness that was erasing my love's immortality before my eyes. "Now."

"He needs your blood," Ez said. "He needs to drink from you."

"But he's unconscious."

"Doesn't matter," Ez said impatiently, pulling a dagger from his belt and dragging the blade across his own finger. "The scent of blood will force his fangs to descend."

He waved his finger under Toby's nose and sure enough, the long white canines punched through his gums. "Once he's got enough of your blood in his system, he'll start feeding automatically. The fire in your blood should be enough to erase the curse."

"But that'll kill Blaise," Rami said, stiffening opposite me. "Mage and vampire blood aren't compatible. The only options are mating or death. If Toby doesn't wake up before Blaise's heart stops, he won't be able to mate him."

"Let's do it," I said quickly. The black lines were creeping across Toby's collarbone now. "We don't have time for this."

Rami grabbed my wrist. "Wait. Do you realise what this means? You'll either die or be mated to Toby for eternity. Are you sure this is what you want?"

My temper finally broke free. Fire wreathed Rami's hand, making him drop me with a hiss. "I'm sure that I don't want the man I love to die. I'm sure I'll do fucking anything to save him. I don't care what the price is."

I glared at the other angels, making sure they understood. "And if I happen to survive? Then I'll be grateful every damned day that this vampire is my mate. He's been my guiding light since the day I met him. There's nothing I won't do to stop that light going out."

"Fool," Ez sighed, "but a good-hearted one at least. Here, your wrist."

The twins scrambled away, giving me room. I extended my wrist, letting Ez guide it to Toby's mouth.

"This will hurt," he warned me. "Toby isn't awake to stop his venom."

"I don't care," I repeated. "Just fucking do it."

Ez didn't delay further, tipping Toby's chin up and slamming my wrist against his fangs.

Hurt didn't cover the agonising pain that tore through me as Toby's fangs pierced my skin. This was nothing like the teasing scratches he'd once left on my body. It was like my arm had been plunged into a pool of acid, Ezekial's firm grip forcing it to stay there.

I was grateful for it. Grateful that he was helping me fight my body's natural instinct to pull away.

I stared at Toby's lifeless face, silently pleading with him. Please, Tobes. Drink. Don't leave me.

You have to try.

Try to drink.

Try to hear me.

Try to fight.

Try to come back to me.

There was a small sucking noise, and suddenly Toby's lips were clamped around my wrist. Relief flooded me alongside another wave of pain. He was still unconscious, but he was drinking.

With my spare hand, I tore at the collar of Toby's shirt. The black lines were retreating, leaving nothing but pale skin behind.

"It's working," I murmured in amazement. "It's working."

The room tilted. Strong hands caught me as I tilted with it.

"Easy," a voice said, but it sounded like they were speaking from a great distance away. "Shit, Ez. He's going under."

"Hasn't Toby had enough? Can't we stop this?"

"No." Even from afar, I could hear the grim determination. "Not until the curse has been fully burned away."

"It's okay," I said drowsily, darkness nipping at the edges of my vision. I didn't look away from Toby. If these were my last moments, I wanted him to be the last thing I saw. His beautiful raven hair. His full lips, the bottom one punctuated with a shining silver ring.

The vampire who loved me.

Who'd refused to give up on me, even when I'd wanted to give up on myself.

Who'd given me a reason to live.

To hope.

To dream.

To love.

He'd given me everything, and now I could repay the favour.

The voices faded away to nothing. The darkness at the edges of my vision started to close in.

"I love you," I whispered as he began disappearing. "Please come back, Tobes. Please try."