Inject Me Sweetly / Dusk Until Dawn

:Inject Me Sweetly: Chapter Thirty-Six

Ashton waved his free hand, catching his eye. "I do believe he's helping me out, Mr. Rutherford."

Fury flared in Sebastian's eyes. "Joel?" he repeated, this time in a threatening tone.

"Does this mean we're not friends anymore?" Joel questioned, artificial sadness in his tone. "How upsetting."

Sebastian clenched his fists. "You're a true blackguard."

Joel laughed. "Blackguard? I didn't realize just how old you were, Sebby."

"Shut up," he snapped at him. "Let Emily go."

"No can do," Ashton answered for him, still holding his hand against my mouth. "You know what I want, Sebastian."

Sebastian's body tensed. "I won't give you the throne."

"I know you won't," Ashton responded calmly. After a brief second of silence, he removed his hand from my mouth and started walking toward Sebastian. "I've been thinking about this a lot..."

"Sebastian, run away," I ordered, struggling to liberate myself from Joel. "Get Vincent or someone!"

"No, Emily, I won't leave you alone," Sebastian told me, glancing around him. His eyes landed on Luca and he frowned deeper, apparently realizing it would be two on one if anything happened.

Ashton sighed deeply. "How romantic. You know, if it wasn't for Joel, I would've assumed it was you two in love, not Emily and Vincent."

I glowered at him. "Shut up, Ashton."

"Let Emily go," Sebastian demanded coldly. "I won't do any negotiating if you have her like that."

"I'm not here to negotiate," Ashton said, glancing at me. "But I guess it wouldn't matter if we let her go. Just don't try to run, Em. We don't want you accidentally breaking a leg..."

Joel released me at once and I jolted away from him, turning to give him the best glare I could. He grinned at me. "That's the kind of expression I like most."

"You're unbelievable."

"I know."

Ashton clapped his hands, gaining my attention. "Okay, so let's talk. I've been thinking about ways to get you to give me the throne. Every way I thought of had some kind of flaw to it, unfortunately. For example, you could just lie to me, or trick me. That wouldn't work out in my favor."

Sebastian stayed silent. I did too, holding my breath tightly. If he'd realized that, why was he still calling Sebastian out here?

"That's when I realized what I had to do," he continued somberly, a grave expression taking over his face.

The bad feeling in my gut returned. It was hard to breathe again. The tension in the air felt so thick you could almost cut it. My heart was hammering in my ears as I waited for Ashton to continue. Somewhere inside me I knew what conclusion he was about to come down.

"What's the best of way of assuring the throne goes to me?" he questioned out loud, tapping his chin. "Oh, that's right." He grinned maliciously. "Killing the only person in my way. Luca, now."

"Sebastian!" I screamed as Luca lunged at him.

He managed to avoid Luca, twisting around at the last possible second. Luca attacked again, this time using a fist. Once again he managed to avoid the assault, using his fists as defense. It never occurred to me Sebastian would know how to physically fight. However, it was clear who had the upper advantage. While Sebastian seemed stronger, Luca obviously knew how to fight better. The advantage of being a rogue vampire, I assumed.