"Liar," he said. "But you should. I told you I'd destroy you."
"And I told you I didn't care what you are or what happened to me. I still don't."
"I don't want to lose you again."
"You never really did lose me," she pointed out. This is killing me. If she were going to die, she wanted to die quickly. "I can't take this anymore. Just do it, Jonny." She released her breath. "Drain me. Defeat Valon. Protect everyone else." She was sliding into the seizure, and her body began to convulse.
The wild expression on his features terrified her. She squeezed her eyes closed. Lightning stung her, but she didn't feel anything beyond Jonny's warm breath on her neck. His teeth sank into her without even a touch of pain. He stopped her seizure instantly.
For the first time, she felt him sucking the life out of her. She soon experienced a sense of dizziness, followed by general weakness spreading throughout her. Tears pricked her eyes and spilled down her cheeks to leave hot trails of moisture, and she fought the primal urge to survive. She gripped Jonny's t-shirt hard and stilled her resistance, surrendering to him even knowing he was going to kill her. Aside from the occasional lightning, it was a generally painless process. Darkness closed in around her thoughts, and her body began to relax of its own accord.
Jonny lifted his head, his eyes blazing with need and his form rippling with power.
"Finish," she whispered.
"No." The word was quiet, fierce. "I am not an animal." He rested his cheek against hers.
"You are. It's totally sexy." She smiled.
"Can you walk?"
No. But for his sake, she nodded. "Just give me a minute."
"So you are a monster like the rest of us."
Vaguely, she recognized Valon's voice.
"Stay here, Ash." Jonny settled her gently on the ground. She heard them talking tersely without being able to make out their words. She was floating in her mind, too weak to move, aware of the cool breeze but not much else. Her tremors and quaking had ceased from Jonny's patch, but she didn't think it was going to be enough to keep her from sinking into the darkness at the edges of her mind.
Ashley started to drift away, when the shock of a lightning bolt brought her back to her consciousness. She wasn't able to move away from it but neither did it leave her in peace. Every time she began to pass out, it returned to prod her back to her body.
She struggled to either slide into the void or wake herself up fully without success. She was stuck in between. Visions of Jonny and Brandon raced through her head and the anger she often experienced with her life faded into sorrow. Was this what death felt like? Sleep she never awoke from? Or was she more fatigued than she could ever recall being in her life?