Everlasting Embrace (Embrace Series) (23 page)

Jumping to my feet
,
I race to Nathanial
’
s aid in order to assu
r
e him that I
’
m safe for the time being. Working together
,
we attack from both sides. Nathanial is struck and knocked to his back
;
he flips back
up
to his feet just as fast
and stabs our attacker from behind. With a quick high five as we pass by each other,
we
mov
e
on to the next attacker.

From the corner of my eye
,
I notice Caspian struggling with Drake
,
and call out for Isaac to help. Drake grabs Caspian
’
s foot as he attempts a
roundhouse
kick, snapping his leg and crippling him to the ground. As Drake prepares to finish Caspian once and for all, Isaac attacks from behind
, dropping
his elbow into the middle of
Drake
’
s
back
.
Drake collapses to the cold, frozen ground beneath him. Isaac
’
s
quick thinking gives Caspian just enough time to jump to his feet again, before at least a dozen Cerberus begin to attack them for taking down their leader. The two Pierce men go full force with their backs to each other
,
protecting one another from
an
attack from behind.

While not paying attention to my own fight
,
I get a hard knock to the side of my face. Shaking it off
,
I fight back with vengeance, pulling another stake from my belt
and
staking the vampire in front of me
, then
tossing the same stake to Nathanial. With one swift motion
,
he catches the stake and slams it into the heart of the female vampire attacking him.

I
’
m concerned we are getting our asses handed to us on a platter. Their numbers are dwindling, but we are getting injured too. I
j
ust hope we don
’
t lose anyone. Elijah, Caspian and Isaac are working hard to destroy the leaders. Florence, Constance, Alex and Matilda are working with their teams, knocking out even more. Ebony and Eliza are attempting a spell to weaken the Cerberus
.
I
t seems to be helping with the minions, but not much on the leaders. T
hrough t
he connection we have through the group, I hear someone call out for help. Panic takes over as my concern grows for all the students fighting at our side. With a frantic glance around
,
I notice a few students down. The students controlling the potions assure me they have the two injured victims covered.

I race to the aid of the student screaming for help
, looking
around for the one in need
,
and
realize it
’
s Siobhan. Before I can get to her, I watch as the attacker stakes her with a tree branch. I get to her within seconds and a protection potion is thrown at us. I can
’
t lose her
,
not again. Siobhan has the same soul as Ashley
; she
’
s
Caspian
’
s
soul mate
,
and I can
’
t let him lose her before he even knows it
’
s her. Looking over Siobhan, I notice the stake just missed hitting her heart
;
I can help her
, and relief
fills me.
As I r
emov
e
the stake, Siobhan cries out in pain
, and
I realize it wasn
’
t just a tree branch
;
it was tipped with silver. The Cerberus planned this attack very well
,
and they are taking chances by using silver. This attack is similar to a suicide mission. They know they will lose members, but they don
’
t care as long as we lose some too. I divulge my revelation to the rest and question a retreat. Elijah insists we can
’
t leave
:
that they would take to the town. I do what I can to help Siobhan, but because the silver went so close to her heart she
’
s out of the fight. The protection releases
,
and I race her towards the cave
, where
she gets hit with another protection
and healing spell, as I rejoin the fight.

We are down three fighters from injuries,
and
everyone else appears spent
. M
orale is low. Numbers have decreased down to dozens. Just as I think we need help, something to help get us going again, Michael appears
,
wings fully out. As the Cerberus race towards him
,
he begins to spin and his wings fly out like airplane propellers. The Cerberus continue to charge him
,
and I notice his wings slicing through them like butter. Michael
’
s wings are like hundreds of swords
.
T
hat
’
s so cool
, I think.
Just as fast as he appeared
,
he destroyed over ten Cerberus
,
giving us just the boost we need.

As most of the students take on the lower ranking Cerberus, the elders take on Drake and Cyrus. Constance races up a nearby tree, flipping backwards out of it
,
and landing on her feet. Cyrus is caught off guard as Constance stand
s
before him with her fangs bared
,
ready to attack. Cyrus kicks at her head
, but
Constance leans back as the force of his leg rushes just over her. She returns the gesture with a right hook
,
just missing him. Elijah catches him on the rebound
,
knocking him off his balance and into several of his fighters. With immense speed
,
he returns with Elijah and Constance before him. They kick and punch
,
with only one of the two actions connecting. Cyrus connects a kick to Elijah
’
s gut. A second later
,
Constance gets Cyrus by the right arm, twisting
it
under and in an unnatural direction. A loud snap echo
’
s through the area, catching most of the fighters off guard long enough for us to stake them
, with the help
of the shifter team
,
and
for
Michael to tear them apart. That
’
s it
. W
e
’
ve fought our way through hundreds of Cerberus
,
and only Drake and Cyrus are left. Alexander instructs the students to
be
split
up
;
some to take the injured back home, others to begin boxing the ashes of those already burned to dust.

Cyrus chuckles, and snaps his arm back into place, wiggling all his fingers. With Cyrus injury repair
ing
fast, we need to move
quickly
. Alexander grabs a stake
,
driving it strai
gh
t through Cyrus
’
s heart. Cyrus collapses to the ground. Before celebrating
,
we turn our attention to Drake
,
only to find him laughing through his fight
;
I guess it just proves the Cerberus have no feelings
.
W
e just destroyed his father
,
and
his entire following. In a moment of weakness
,
we break our concentration, and Drake shoots off a few rounds of silver bullets. Before we can retaliate
,
Drake disappears without a trace. When we turn to bask in the enjoyment of Cyrus being ripped apart by the shifters, we see them all standing there in human form, dazed
and
confused.

“
What
’
s wrong? Why are you back in
your
human form?
”
Danika asks
the question
we are all wondering.

Tamo looks at us all
.
“
My friends, we are unsure. Once we moved in to tear Cyrus apart, he just disappeared. We looked everywhere, but there is no trace.
”

“
It must be one
,
or both
,
of their powers
.
Drake just laughed at us and vanished as well
,
”
Alexander adds.

“
I think our job is finished here for tonight
.
W
e will need to contact the Renata and attempt to figure this out later. Let
’
s gather our things and return home
,
”
Elijah orders with slight worry resting on his voice.

Ramifications

Gathering our tools and our wounded
,
we notice that all three of them are worsening
,
not getting better. Caspian grabs Siobhan, Alexander takes Carlina, and Isaac cradles Russell as the
y
race them back to the house. I follow close behind with Constance
,
as the others gather the potions and bury the boxes of ash around the forest.

Within moments
,
we arrive back at the house and take the injured into the office area. We lay the patients on the couches and floor to help treat them. Isaac and Constance keep a supply of medical equipment here. With Isaac rushing to get the medical supplies from
the
cabinet, I immediately take
some
to Siobhan. I need to save her for Caspian
; he
needs her. The office is spacious, so that we can all work with ease.
There are
two couches on adjacent walls. A small
bookshelf
holds Elijah
’
s personal book collection, ones he doesn
’
t want to keep in our massive library. Shelves and cupboards surround the room and everything has its place. The large oak desk and high back leather chair is placed in front of the
large floor to ceiling window.
Right outside the window is the perfect view of
a
garden. Isaac begins tossing everyone the supplies we need.

Isaac rushes to Russell
,
and Constance to Carlina. Caspian and Alexander assist by getting the required medical equipment
and the rest of the supplies.

“
Isaac
,
is there anything we can do about the silver?
”
I ask with sheer desperation.

“
We can use zinc to burn the tissue surrounding the wound, but it won
’
t work for Siobhan. Her injury is too close to
her
heart
,
and it
’
ll damage the heart muscle.
”

“
So what should I do? I
’
ve tried healing her
,
and it
’
s
not working.
”

“
Speaking of healing from the silver, are you okay?
”

“
Yeah, yeah, I
’
m fine. Now
,
how do I help Siobhan?
”

“
Irrigate the wound with saline solution, lots of saline solution. Then attempt to heal her again. We
’
ll have to figure it out after that
. I
t may just be enough.
”

Caspian hurries to my side with five bags of saline
and a bag of blood. He tears the cap off the first bag of saline and hands it to me. Taking her head in his arm, Caspian rips into the bag of blood to feed to her
,
i
n hopes that the pure
,
unexpired human blood will speed her recovery. As he feeds her
,
I watch her drink while in a weakened state. The room becomes busy as the others begin to file in. Ebony comes to my aid
,
pouring the saline on
and
allowing me to concentrate on healing. I can feel us getting closer to healing her
. W
e
just
need something to give us that extra boost. Then a brilliant idea overcomes me. Vampire blood may increase her healing
; she
’
s
already a vampire
,
so this will not change anything. The healing properties of our blood may be enough to help push her to the point where I can complete the healing.
Only
,
when vampires share blood it gives us a different connection
,
almost like seeing in to each
other
’
s
so
uls;
vampires sharing blood is beyond intimate. This is Ashley…I mean Siobhan we are talking about, so it must be done. They will figure out their connection sooner than later anyways.