Ash's mind went blank with panic and he started to shake the fairy that was all but dead sprawled across his thighs as he kneeled on the ground.
"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.
