The long, sharp, tooth sank into Vincent\'s skin and as soon as it did, he cried out in pain but it was drowned out in a roll of thunder.  Delaney gasped and felt as if flames were licking up her arms.  Within minutes the invisible fire was consuming her body.

She couldn\'t breathe.  She couldn\'t think.  The pain was unlike anything she could have ever imagined.  Where her hands were touching the tooth she could swear the skin was being burned off.

Vincent let out a sound something like a sob and a scream, arching his back upward, pressing his head into his pillows.  This only served to push the tooth deeper, into his abdomen so he immediately reversed the movement, digging his heels into the bed and bending his knees so he could push his back harder into the mattress as he tried to escape.

Delaney\'s eyes were smashed closed against the pain, her teeth clenched with her breaths hissing between them.  The fire was in her blood, boiling her alive from the inside.  Surely Helena had been wrong.  Surely this was going to be how she died.

Thunder shook the manor again and lightning lit up the room.  Delaney didn\'t let go.  She couldn\'t let go.  Not yet.

She blinked quickly and saw the startling white of the tooth against the deep crimson blood that was oozing out of Vincent\'s stomach now.  She could have sworn the blood was bubbling but she couldn\'t keep her eyes open long enough to see.  The pain was too great.

As another moan was torn from her husband\'s throat, the sound of it added a whole other kind of pain in Delaney\'s heart.  She was hurting him.  She was really hurting him.

The flames burned over her body, hottest at her hands, and she reminded herself that she wouldn\'t die.  The witch had said she wouldn\'t die.  Hadn\'t she said that?  Suddenly Delaney couldn\'t remember.  Her heart began to pound even harder in her chest as she began to panic.

What if she was going to die?  What if this killed her?  What if it killed Vincent too?

She couldn\'t think straight.  The fire was burning her alive and making spots dance in front of her eyes even though they were closed.

She couldn\'t keep this up.  She would have to let go.  She had to let go and take the tooth out of Vincent.  She would throw it aside and the pain would be gone.

No.  Wait.  She couldn\'t do that.  Why couldn\'t she do that?  Why was she doing this?  This was putting her and Vincent through hell.

Vincent.  That was why she couldn\'t do it.  He was dying.  The dragon\'s poison was killing him and she had to save him.  This was how she was going to save him.

Managing to suck in a breath, Delaney eased one eye slightly open and saw her husband\'s scars were a bloody red now, worse than anything she had ever seen.  The heat was rolling off his skin and she thought for sure he would burst into flames at any moment.  He had to.  How could he be this hot without starting on fire?  She knew her hands had to be on fire.  She could feel it.

The pain was becoming too much.  Her head was aching as if it was going to erupt like a volcano.  That would make sense because she was sure her blood had been turned into molten lava.  She could feel it burning in her veins.  She swore she could even feel her bones being baked like they were in an oven.  With this heat, her body was an oven.

She had to let go.  She couldn\'t keep this up.  It was killing her and she just wasn\'t strong enough.  Her head began to spin and stars danced against the inside of her eyelids.  She had to stop this.

Suddenly she felt something though.  It was a warmth but a different kind.  This warmth was comforting.  What was this?  Where was it coming from?  It felt like it was coming from the tooth but it couldn\'t be.  This horrible tooth only brought pain and misery.  But she could swear she felt it in her hands.

Well... in one hand.

Delaney opened her eyes just a bit and eased one hand off the tooth.  She looked down at the scar across her palm and saw it was glowing a warm golden light.

Ian.  Ian was helping her.  His strength was flowing through her and making her strong enough to keep going.  A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth even as the pain was making tears pour from her eyes.  It was as if her best friend was there with her again telling her she could do it.

When her hand grasped the tooth again it moved it inside Vincent just a bit but even that little movement made him scream.  This time the sound was heard over the rain.  Delaney had her eyes smashed closed again but she heard someone pounding on the door and shouting her name.

Then suddenly the door flew open and she heard feet running across the stone floor.

"Delaney what are you doing?" someone shouted in horror.

Then there were arms around her, yanking her backward off of Vincent, jerking the tooth from his gut.

"No!" she screamed, "No!"

She thrashed around, trying to break free of this person\'s grasp but they were too strong and she was too weak from the pain.

Another cry of agony escaped her husband and she inhaled sharply, her eyes flying open and taking in the sight of Violet pressing towels down over the hole in his stomach as she tried to stop the bleeding.

"What have you done?" her mother-in-law screamed at her in anger.

"No!" Delaney shouted as she tried and failed again to break free from whoever had her, "No!  You have to let me go!  I have to save him!"

But it was too late.  She could already tell it was too late.  In her hands, the tooth had grown cool to the touch.  The heat from the magic coursing through it was already gone.  She only had one chance and it was finished now.  They had ended it.

"No!" she sobbed, her body going limp and the tooth falling from her hands where it clattered across the floor, "How could you do this?  I was saving him!"

"Harris help me!" Violet shouted, "He\'s bleeding so much and I can\'t stop it!"

Delaney felt the arms around her ease her to the floor.  Her head was spinning and she was so weak she fell forward.  Bernard was there suddenly then, scooping her against his chest.

"I\'ll go for the doctor!" Duncan shouted and ran from the room.

Harris moved to Vincent\'s side, pulling out his bag of medical supplies, and began doing all he knew to do.  Vincent cried out again at the pain.

"Where is the medicine?" Violet shouted, looking around wildly, "Where is all his pain medicine?"

Her eyes landed on the bottle on the table and she snatched it up, seeing it was empty she turned sharp eyes on Delaney.

"You stupid girl!" she shouted before turning back to her bleeding son.

"No," Delaney sobbed, weakly shaking her pounding head, "I had to help him.  This was the cure.  This was how we save him."

"This was the cure?" Bernard asked, astonished, "Delaney why didn\'t you tell us?  One of us could have done it."

"He\'s my husband," she whispered.

And then she screamed.

The fire was back.  It was burning in her hand like she was holding a hot coal.  She felt it on her side and her thigh.  It was on an ankle and burning down towards the top of her foot.

Then she felt it burning up the side of her throat and she screamed again, trying to claw at it and make it stop.

"Delaney!" Bernard shouted, trying to grab her wrists to keep her from scratching herself but he couldn\'t with only one hand.

With wide, terrified eyes, Violet looked between her son and the woman who was like a daughter to her.  She was frozen with fear.

But then she moved, shouting for help as she ran and dropped to the floor, catching Delaney\'s wrists in her hands and fighting to keep the younger woman from breaking free.

"Stop Delaney," she fought to speak calmly, feeling guilty now for yelling at the girl, "Please stop.  You\'re hurting yourself."

"I\'ll take her my Lady.  You go to your son."

Violet looked up at the little old maid who got down on the floor next to Bernard and pulled Delaney into her lap, grabbing hold of her wrists.

"I have you, my girl," Ms. Bird spoke in her motherly tone to her mistress, "I have you but you have to calm down now."

Delaney\'s eyes opened and she looked up at the older woman.  The burning fire on her skin was too much though and she cried out again as she felt it reach her face.

And then as suddenly as it had started, her world went black.