Read Crave 02 - Sacrifice for Free Online Page A

hide,” he said, forcing the words out as they walked toward their rooms.
    “She did,” Richard replied. Even though there was no anger in his voice—how could there be, through the exhaustion?—the words stung Gabriel. Of course, the others could
feel
Tamara. They could tell from her emotions that she was safe.
    “I wanted to talk to Ernst.” Millie’s voice, beside him, was weak. “Why is he still in the caves?”
    “He’s safe there. We would feel it if he was in trouble,” Richard murmured before closing his thick metal door. Only Millie and Gabriel were left in the hallway.
    “I didn’t tie her hands,” Millie slurred. “She called someone.”
    A sharp pang of worry stabbed through the tiredness. “Shay did?” Gabriel asked.
    “I took the phone. She said she didn’t tell anyone where we were, but I don’t trust her. Do you trust her?” Millie was swaying on her feet, clinging to Gabriel’s arm. Her eyes held fear, but he could see that she was losing her battle with the death sleep.
    “I trust her,” he whispered. He caught his sister as she stumbled and helped her into her room. Millie fell like a rock onto the hard cot, dead to the world.
    Gabriel pulled her door closed and leaned against the wall, watching the hallway swim around him. Blackness crowded his vision.
    I’ve got to get to Shay.
    The sun felt like a fire in Gabriel’s mind. He hadn’t seen it in almost four hundred years, but he could feel it now as if he were lying on the beach in Greece, baking in the Mediterranean heat. The orange light glowing through the lids of his closed eyes, the strong beams of light pulling the strength from his arms . . . his lungs . . . his heart. It was difficult just to take a breath. Difficult to move. So much easier to lie down, pinned by the heat of the sun.
    Gabriel forced his eyes open. The fluorescent lights of the hall danced through the darkness of his vision. He had to sleep.
    I’ve got to get to Shay.
    It was their only chance. Now, while his family slumbered. If he got her out, she could handle the rest. Shay wasn’t in thrall to the death sleep. She could be awake enough for them both.
    Gabriel took a step—and fell.
    The sun is too strong. I’m not meant to conquer it.
Gabriel’s thoughts swam, confusion crossing an eternity of time.
    With all his strength, Gabriel got to his hands and knees and crawled forward. He had never fought the death sleep before, but it could be done. Ernst had done it the night of the massacre and had even managed to wake him and Sam. Sam had done it once as well, to be with Gabriel on his final day as a human.
    The day on the beach. Sam in the cave above, Gabriel lying in the sun, its warmth wrapping around him like a blanket.
    His arms collapsed beneath him, his head slamming onto the rough carpet of the hallway. Gabriel groaned, desperation swirling beneath the exhaustion. How could he fight the death sleep? It meant fighting the sun itself. It burned him now, pulling at him, heating his blood just like it had that day on the beach.
    Sam in the cave.
    “You should sleep,” Gabriel had told Sam. His brother looked so tired.
    “I’ve wakened for this long; I can make it through the day.” Sam had smiled weakly. “I will wait.”
    He knew I would need him,
Gabriel thought.
I needed my brother to comfort me as I bid farewell to the sun.
    Love. That’s how Sam fought the death sleep. He loved Gabriel, and it gave him strength.
    I love Shay,
Gabriel thought.
I love her, and she needs me.
    He drew in a long, labored breath. He loved her. But would it be enough?
    “Wonky lock,” Shay said under her breath. “Yeah, maybe if you’re superstrong.” She’d been twisting and pulling at the doorknob for what seemed like an hour, and it hadn’t budged at all. The lock was adead bolt. How could there be anything wonky about that?
    Shay sighed in frustration and forced herself to back away from the door. She needed a breather. Her body was weakening, and