Hey guys. This is it. This is the last chapter of The Sickness. I hope you guys have enjoyed it and I hope you stick around for the sequel called "Endlessly". :)

Early Sunday morning, 5:16 AM

Joshua's words wrapped themselves around me like an ice cold blanket, numbing the burn of the bullet ripping through my chest and into the back of the chair I sat in. I gasped, the force of the shot pushing me back into my seat, dulling my senses long before the sound waves could reach my ears. The only thing I could hear was my heartbeat, and I wasn't even really hearing it. I was feeling it in my entire body; in my head, in my chest, my arms and legs; pretty much anywhere with a pulse point.

The redheaded vampire left my side, gliding across the concrete floor to where Adam was still kneeling and dying in front of me. He bent down, resting his hand on Adam's shoulder before whispering something into his ear. I could only see his lips moving for a few brief seconds before he pulled away, patting Adam's shoulder. He wandered down the length of the warehouse to a door on the northern wall, stepping through it before disappearing.

Adam lifted his gaze over to me, his body still as stone and soaked with blood. His skin was pale, ashy even. Dark circles under his eyes, a nasty gash in his lip from where Joshua had kicked him in the face. I choked softly, moaning in pain as he stared at me. His eyes were dark and heavy with regret, sorrow painting itself across his face. 'I'm sorry…' He whispered into my head, exhaustion written clean as day in his expression. 'I'm so sorry, Tommy.'

Gasping softly, I blinked, trying to move and only successfully managing to make myself gasp again. My chest ached and the surrounding parts of my body were on fire. My shirt was slowly stained with crimson, and I could feel the blood running down my chest and stomach, warm from the wound, growing cold as it went. My hands were still bound behind my back, and I pulled at them, breathing hard. My heart pounded in my chest, working to get the blood moving through my system. But with each beat, I could feel another gush soaking my shirt.

"Oh, God…" I whispered when I heard a soft thump, and I turned my attention over to Adam. He'd fallen onto his back, his chest gleaming with claw marks and blood that smelled sickeningly sweet. I moaned, biting my bottom lip as I fought against the restraints again. They were still tight, burning against my wrists and chafing them raw. I tugged and tugged at them, desperately hoping that my hands would just slip through them and I'd be able to help Adam. "God…damnit!" I hissed.

Over my own panting and struggles, I could hear Adam wheezing softly, his hair tossed around his face as blood oozed slowly from his cuts. I bit my lip again, tears stinging my eyes as I choked on a scream mixed of pain and grief. I didn't want to die. I didn't want Adam to die, but both looked like very real possibilities at this point. Adam was bleeding out in front of me, and I in front of him. But with Adam, no doubt, it was much more painful. If he lost too much blood, the venom would start to burn away his body from the inside out. With me.. It was just a matter of time before my body lost too much blood to keep my brain and my heart functioning. I would pass into sleep, and sleep into death.

Adam would go out in screams.

Gritting my teeth, I tugged at the rope again. I flattened my palms, trying to slip them from the rope, but nothing was working. It was tight and strong around my wrists and I was weak with exhaustion and a bullet wound running between my lungs. I wasn't sure if Joshua was being cruel or merciful when he shot me clean through. No lungs damage, heart damage. He didn't even hit any bones, that I could tell. Perhaps it was both. Merciful in that I wouldn't feel my organs failing me. Cruel in that Adam had to watch with the scent of my blood clouding his senses.

"Baby…" I moaned, kicking my legs forward, scooting my chair a little bit. I heard a soft click followed by a buzzer over head, sounds I had not heard in my dream. But then again, not everything could be the same. The future was subject to change, right? Oh, God, what am I even saying? The future is subject to change, but I was foolish and walked right into the nightmare of what I had seen. Another buzzer sounded and there was a creak of metal gears turning, followed by the shift of the large warehouse door. A band of sunlight spread across the floor, stretching thicker and thicker as the door rose.

"Adam.." I hissed, staring at the stretching light, watching it roll across the floor. It seemed like time moved too slow, but the light was coming rapidly towards us. I looked away from the light and back to Adam, weak on the floor but staring at the light with wide, fearful eyes. He'd told me before that he'd never had sun exposure long, and whenever it happened he was well fed. He'd only known of the agonizing horrors from other vampires. I could see in his eyes the fear that he would know these horrors. And that he might not live past them..

"Adam! Baby, come, you gotta get out of the light…" I told him, but the only other room in the warehouse was the one Joshua and Alex had disappeared into, and the entrance to that room was already bathing in the sunlight of the dawn. Whimpering quietly, I tugged at the ropes again, working all the muscles I could to rip the rope free. My chest ached and my shoulders burned from being pulled back like this. Gasping for breath, I tried again.

I watched as the sunlight washes over Adam. And, just like in my dream, it started at his legs before hitting his wounded chest and face. His expression crumpled from discomfort to raging pain and he curled in on himself a little, whimpering and moaning in pain. I gasped softly, tears pooling and falling from my eyes as he screamed in blood-curdling pain. Cracks that look black as charred flesh would start to rip open in his hands, arms and along his neck. The claw marks in his chest bubble with venomous blood, turning black as well.

The light stretched on, tickling my bare feet before crawling up my legs, my chest and hitting my face, blinding me. Squinting, I turned away, feeling a prickling and burning sensation in my chest. Hissing softly, my mind flashed back to all the times Adam had bit me, and that his tongue had sealed the wounds. Sealed with venom. Crying out, I pulled at the rope again as Adam thrashed on the ground before me.

"Adam!" I called, "Adam, please!" But it was no use. He couldn't hear me. In his rage, Adam flopped over in pain, trying to curl himself away from the garish light of the morning, covering his head with his cracked and charred hands. His skin was turning black and ashy, crumbling away like chipped marble and stone. The layers beneath looked like ash.

"Adam!" I shouted, tugging so hard at the ropes that my chair fell forward, and I collapsed onto my shoulder. Groaning softly, I kicked at it, thankful that Joshua had been kind enough not to tie my wrists to the chair itself. I found it to be difficult to crawl across the floor with my hands tied behind my back. The concrete rubbed against the bullet wound and I grimaced, fighting the urge to just curl up and let Death take me. I needed to get to Adam.

"Aaahhh!" Adam screamed, trembling and shaking. The smell of blood and venom was thick in the room, growing more and more putrid as I neared him. He rolled back onto his back, beating his fists into the concrete, clawing at it even before rolling over again. Groaning, I pushed myself closer, trying not to watch as the cracks stretched and burned their way up over his face.

Gasping for breath, I managed to pull myself up to my knees, hurrying over to Adam as fast as I could. Sweat gathered in my hairline as I knelt close to Adam, turning away from him a little. He was thrashing with his arms extended and hands curled into clawing-ready position. I bit my lip, hearing him rolling back to me before I felt those claws swiping over my lower back, gripping into the rope around my wrists. I hissed in pain, the rope loosening around my wrists as Adam tugged, ripping it free and sending me sprawling over him.

Groaning, I rolled him back towards me so that he rested flat, facing the ceiling. I straddled his hips, turning his face away from the sun. I lowered myself over him, tucking my face against his neck, hiding his head with mine. Taking his hands, I slid them under my stomach, covering them and his arms as I curled myself over him. He stopped thrashing, but he was still in pain, trembling and twitching.

Whimpering, I held tight to Adam, squeezing my eyes shut. His skin was cold, colder than ever before. But the cracks were hot. They sizzled, even, when I listened hard enough. Clenching my jaw, I pressed a kiss to Adam's neck, wrapping my arms around him, shaking with tears as the sunlight pooled over us. We were going to die, that I knew. We were going to die and there was nothing we could do. If I uncovered Adam, the sun would kill him. If I didn't move, I would die and the venom in his body would rot him away. No matter what I tried to think of, it always ended in one conclusion: death.

"God, Adam.." I wheezed quietly, pain spreading like fire through my body. Adam moaned beneath me as I palmed my hand on his cheek, covering as much of his skin as I could from the light before turning him back, kissing him hard. I could taste blood on his tongue, and I wasn't sure if it was Adam's or mine, but at that moment I didn't care. All I cared about was that this was our last kiss. This was my last chance.

"Adam, baby, listen to me.." I told him, watching his eyes flutter open just a little bit. He looked up at me, his eyes soft and lax with exhaustion and the death that was upon him. My heart clenched in my chest and I kissed him again. "I love you, Adam. I love you so, so much. More than anything. More than life and death. I love you…" I whispered, finding it hard to stay awake. "I will never let you go…"

There was a moment of silence as I relaxed against Adam. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. The sun was hot against my back as I pressed myself closer to him, shivering lightly. Between the sunlight and the iciness of Adam's body, I found myself gradually getting colder as the moments passed. I couldn't find myself to mind, though. I didn't want to die, by any means, but all the same I wouldn't.. mind.

I let out a soft breath, resting my head against Adam's shoulder. Breathing lightly, I felt his hands curling themselves into the fabric of my blood-soaked shirt, pulling me closer to him. I sighed into his neck, my eyes slipping shut. I felt tired. More tired than I'd ever been before. I felt like I could just close my eyes and go to sleep, hibernate like a bear in winter and wake for the spring. Deep down, though, I knew the reason for this exhaustion, and I wanted to be afraid. But I wasn't.

"I love you, too, Tommy.." Adam whispered, his voice hoarse and raspy from screaming. I moaned quietly into his shoulder, my eyes fluttering a little. "Stay with me, baby.. hold on…" He told me, and I groaned. I didn't want to. I wanted to sleep.

"No.." I whispered. "I'm tired.. I'm so…cold.." Adam shifted, groaning softly.

"Hold on, Tommy. Just.. hold on. Hold on, baby, for me.." Adam's voice sounded like he'd been chewing and swallowing glass all day. I groaned quietly, the edges of my vision going fuzzy and black. What was there to hold onto? "Stay with me, baby… Stay— Lynn!" Adam called, but it sounded distant to my ears. "Lynn!"

"Adam.." I moaned, my hands clutching weakly at him. Everything felt cold and tight. I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore, so I let them slide shut.

"Stay with me, Tommy… I'm here, just… baby? Baby?"

~.~.~

When Tommy stopped responding, Adam began to freak.

"Lynn!" Adam shouted again as best as he could, trying to keep himself hidden behind Tommy from the sunlight. It was warm, that was for sure, but the parts of Tommy that he could reach without exposing himself to the light were growing cold. Adam bit down on his bottom lip, feeling the sunlight tickling and burning the side of his neck and part of his face, but he didn't dare budge for fear of rolling Tommy off of him.

There was a rush and small hiss of pain as Lynn came to his side, her skin pearly white and glowing in the light. She had a kill in her stomach that was keeping her healthy, but the sunlight was still burning into her skin, and the discomfort was clear on her face. Another flash and a young vampire with shoulder length brown hair, a rusty-colored strip running through it, came to their sides, helping to pull Adam and Tommy both into the small room, out of the light.

Groaning softly, Adam held tight to Tommy as best as he could until the four of them were out of the burning warmth, the door slammed and locked shut by Lynn. There were no windows in this room, the darkness of it greeting Adam's seared flesh like a cool kiss of spring rain at midnight. Lynn hurried back over to them and helped roll Tommy off of Adam's chest, laying him down on the floor as Vix propped the singer into an upright position against the couch.

"Good God, Adam.." She whispered, staring at his chest. Adam swallowed a lump of pain, grimacing a little bit as he looked down. The claw marks looked better, but they were ashy and dark from the light, the trickle of Tommy's blood only having done so much for him. He turned his head away as Vix grabbed a large duffle bag from its place beside the desk. He could smell blood within the denim material and looked to her as she pulled out a thick bag, about the size of his hand with his fingers spread wide, filled with equally thick blood.

"Here," she said, holding a corner to his mouth. Adam bit into his, sucking greedily on the contents as Vix held it close. Some dribbled down his chin and stained his shirt, but he couldn't find it within himself to care. This shirt was trashed beyond all reason anyway, what good was it to care for a little more blood on it?

The young brunette helped Adam drink another four bags worth, tossing the empty baggies to the side. The wounds began to heal and close, but it was slow and painful. Adam groaned softly as Vix licked at the burns and cracks in his neck and arms, reaching all the exposed skin that she could. "There, that should be able to help. How are you feeling, Adam?" She asked, palming his face gently. Part of him felt bad, really. She had been changed when she was only twelve or thirteen, and thus would retain her youth for all eternity. In truth, though, she was older as a vampire than he was as a human-turned-vampire. And yet she played the younger sister perfectly.

"Better," Adam groaned softly. It was true, he was feeling better, considering he'd felt that he was going to die for the past ten minutes. But his concern wasn't on himself. He turned his head, looking over to Tommy. "..H-how is he?" He asked, almost fearful.

"He's slipping. He doesn't have much time." Lynn said quietly, ripping his shirt open to clean the blood away. "The bullet went right through, didn't hit anything; no bones, no organs. Just a lot of muscle and blood…" Adam bit down on his lip, groaning loudly at the burns and cracks still healing in his skin.

"How much time?" He whispered, pulling himself closer. Lynn went silent, throwing up walls in her mind to keep Adam out. Growling, Adam raised his voice.

"How. Much. Time?"

"Less than a few minutes. Two at most." Adam hissed, glancing down at Tommy. The blond looked so peaceful, like he was sleeping. Reaching out, Adam touched Tommy's face generally, whimpering quietly at how cold he felt.

"God…" Adam whispered, withdrawing his hand. He couldn't lose Tommy, he just couldn't… He would never forgive himself..

"Adam… You can save him, you know." Lynn said gently, looking over at him with hard eyes. Adam glanced up at her, inhaling deeply. There was a phantom memory of a pulse racing in his chest and he shook his head, feeling it disappear as he looked away from her.

"No, I will not subject him to this, Lynn. This isn't a life worth having." He said harshly, watching her frown from the corner of his eye.

"Adam… There isn't any other way. If you want him to live, you have to do this!"

"No! I won't change him! I won't take away his humanity!" Adam shouted as loud as he could, his voice cracking and giving out a little with pain.

"Then you will watch him die. He's barely holding on, Adam. He's fighting, but he doesn't have much time. And if you let him, that guilt that's floating around up there in your head is gonna spread like a wildfire and there will be nothing you can do to stop it. You can change him and save him while he's still alive. Or you can wither away knowing you let him die out here, because you know as well as I do that you can't reanimate the dead…"

Biting his lip, Adam stared hard down at Tommy. Dark circles lined the undersides of his eyes and his skin was pale, his lips faded in their rose color to that of a dead flower petal, bleak and exhausted. Reaching out, Adam caressed the side of Tommy's cheek, feeling the cold skin beneath his touch. Lynn was right. If he let Tommy die, he would never forgive himself. He would never love anyone else, either. But if he changed Tommy, he would take away a world of opportunities. Opportunities that he would never have, either.

Lifting the blond into his arms, Adam sat back against the edge of the couch, caressing his cheek tenderly. He didn't want to do this. But all the same he couldn't lose Tommy. He couldn't.. Clenching his jaw, Adam bent his head and pressed a hard kiss to Tommy's lips, wishing for them to mold against his, but they didn't. They were still and cold, and the only thing reassuring Adam that the blond was still even alive was the soft, weak thrum of his heart against Adam's palm.

"I love you," Adam whispered, "You're gonna be okay…" He promised, running his fingers through Tommy's hair. He didn't stir or make a sound.

Inhaling deeply, Adam shifted the blond in his arms, tilting his head to the side before running his fingers down the length of Tommy's neck, feeling for the pulse. It was faint and weak, but he found it none the less. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Adam pressed his lips to Tommy's skin, kissing it tenderly for a moment before opening his mouth, biting gently. Taking another breath, he sunk his teeth into Tommy's flesh.

He didn't drink, though. There was not enough blood in Tommy's system to enjoy, and if he did drink, it would just kill Tommy faster. Instead he sank deeper, letting the venom flow from his fangs before he moved his mouth away, sealing the bite mark with a quick swipe of his tongue.

Grabbing onto Tommy's wrist, he bit into the pulse point, releasing venom in his veins before repeating the process on his other wrist, followed by his ankles. Tommy's face was twisted into discomfort, but Adam ignored it, knowing that the blond was conscious enough now to feel the burn of being changed. Adam felt a twist of guilt curling his stomach; unlike himself, Tommy was forced to take the slow path of change due to the lack of blood in his system.

Tommy groaned softly, and Adam shifted, pressing a cold kiss to Tommy's chest, just above his heart. He could feel it skipping beats from pain, but it was beating. It was beating faster than before, though weaker. Swallowing the lump of fear from his throat, Adam bit down into the skin, venom dripping from his fangs and directly into the veins above Tommy's heart. The blond hissed, his eyes fluttering open as he gasped. Sealing the wound, Adam looked up at him, watching agony swirling in his eyes.

"Baby…" Adam whispered, cupping his face as Tommy began to tremble and twitch, groaning and hissing softly. "Baby, it's okay. It's okay, relax, it'll be over soon, I promise. I—" he was cut off when Tommy screamed, loud and guttural with pain. Biting his lip, Adam crawled up onto the couch, pulling Tommy into his arms. Lynn and Vix were sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, watching with concern as well as hope as Tommy writhed in Adam's arms.

Locking an embrace close and snug around Tommy's body, Adam squeezed his eyes shut as Tommy jerked and trembled in his hold, his skin sweaty and hot. He tucked the blond's face into his neck, pushing away his regrets for doing this to Tommy while he shivered. He couldn't take it back now. He couldn't make this stop for Tommy. As much as he wanted to make the pain go away, all he could do was block out his baby's muffled cries of pain, whispering "I'm sorry" into his sweaty skin.