Chapter 35 · Blood Price

"Take it!" Rook slammed her bleeding wrist against my teeth so hard my jaw clicked. "Take it, you stupid, noble idiot! Feed!"

I jerked back. Her blood smeared hot across my lip and chin. It tasted like copper and ozone and her.

"No!" I grabbed her arm, shoved it away. My hands were shaking so bad I could barely hold her. "No, I'm not doing that!"

The floor under us was cold as hell. Her back was on the concrete where she'd flatlined. The monitor Old Smokes rigged was screaming. One long flat tone.

[CRITICAL: HOST INSTABILITY 89% - ORGAN FAILURE IMMINENT] [STABILIZER SOURCE DETECTED: ROOK VANE - PROXIMITY 0.3M] [RECOMMENDED ACTION: DRAIN. ABSORB. SURVIVE.]

My left eye was burning chrome-red. The chip was lighting up every vein in her wrist like a damn menu.

"Kade, look at me!" Rook gasped and grabbed my shirt with her other hand. Her fingers were freezing. "You ate the cannon. You're glitching out. You need my blood or you die. That's how it works!"

"And if I take it you die!" I shouted in her face. "You flatlined ten seconds ago!