Blood, there's so much blood. Dark and red, pouring down Carolina's face like a river. I grab a napkin and with shaky hands dab at the flow. My gut instinct was not to come here. I tried to say no, but Carolina overruled me, and Marcus insisted it was safe. You can't trust someone as deranged as Lexy to behave purely because they're in a public place.

My gut is rarely wrong, and I should have trusted it and overruled them both.

This is on me. The woman that I love is bleeding because of me.

I almost want to laugh. I was sick of taking lives and wanted to start saving them. But once an angel of death, always an angel of death.

This is all I am, a bringer of destruction.

And now, I've brought it upon the woman I was supposed to be saving.

Christ, I don't deserve love. What made me think that I did?

All those lives I took. All those people I snuffed out like nothing. As if they were candles and I was the god of their flame. What made me think I had the right to do that and then expect a happy ever after for myself?

I'm dimly aware of a siren somewhere outside. I'm still dabbing at the blood, but more keeps coming. I part her hair, trying to see, and a hand grabs mine, stilling me.

“Don't. The paramedics will be here in a moment, and you might make it worse.” Marcus is standing by me.

Where is Lexy? I'm puzzled when I see she's being handcuffed by two policemen. How the hell did they get here so quickly? Oh, yeah, they were outside in the parking lot. It’s totally safe, Marcus said. I want to break his teeth.

I can’t leave Carolina, though. I watch her as her eyes flutter closed, and my heart trips over itself in panic.

“Reaperman, the paramedics are here; let them do their work.” Marcus pulls on my arm, but I don't move.

I need to clean this blood from Carolina’s face. Her eyes are closed now, not fluttering, I think she's resting.

“Samuel, come on, man. Let them get to her.”

“How did they get here so quickly?” I ask.

“It's been over ten minutes. Come with me.” He forcefully pulls me back, and I drop the napkin as a man and a woman take my place by Carolina.

They are placing those sticky heart monitor things on her and assessing her head, listening to her chest. Why are they listening to her chest? Christ, I feel so fuzzy headed.

“Man, come on; you need to snap out of this. I know she means something to you, but she needs you to be with it right now. You can't go into shock on me.”