The sounds of scuffling near her came in and out of her mind, and she began to fade away once more, this time unaffected by the zap of Jonny's lightning.
Someone wrenched her off the ground, and her eyes flew open. Ashley stared into the dark sky above and managed to regain her balance but not fight off the vamp that had her. Her body was wooden and heavy.
So I'm not dead yet. The relief fluttering through her didn't last long once she realized she was too weak to fight.
Valon was bleeding and furious, his tight grip around her neck enough to send spirals of pain through her. Ash tested herself and was beyond disappointed with her body's sluggish response.
Valon ceased speaking words she couldn't quite make out and shook her hard enough to jar her to her toes and the rest of the way into the world once more. She reached into her pocket to grab the knife Jonny had given her and gathered what strength she had to shove him away when brilliant, burning pain ripped through her.
His fangs tore into her neck, shredding her skin and muscle tissue.
She screamed and stabbed the knife into him blindly. Ashley slammed her knee upward into his groin and then managed to drive an elbow into his temple.
"You stupid bitch!" Valon threw her to the ground, and she hit hard. Her vision blurred, and the darkness started to close in around her. She was starting to bleed out after Valon's puncturing of her jugular and made an effort to press her hand to her neck. Someone knelt beside her. Ashley didn't even try to make out who. She wasn't able to escape, and it didn't matter what someone did to her.
"Stay down," Jonny's whisper was accompanied by his touch at her bloodied neck. His power seared the wound closed, and she flinched. "No matter what. Stay down, Ash." His attention was riveted to his enemy, and charged energy made her flinch. He rose and stepped between her and Valon.
Don't leave me. She wanted to cry, to scream out of frustration from her paralyzed body.