I had another heart wrenching job before me,
possibly or rather probably, and I didn’t want him here when I went
through with it. I wanted to be alone, if I had the guts to do
this.
My soul mate would cease to exist, something
I could not bear, and by my own hands. My heart shattered into a
trillion slivers, piercing my insides. I needed to be cold and
methodical, a hunter not a love sick moron. I shoved aside what
little sanity I had left and forced myself to follow through as
protocol would have it. I would be a machine, a half dead monstrous
hunter with nothing left to live for.
That was all I was left with. Death, blood,
soulless corpses that would add haunting macabre images to the rest
already permanently engraved into my black mind.
“
Come on! We have orders to
abandon the hunt. Commander Ian was injured and we lost one other
hunter.”
I hesitated when he mentioned Ian. I could
not let him die, Lane would be lost, and she still mattered. If
there were more vamps, and there more than likely was I thought to
myself while staring at the elder, than he was right. Although if
Dimitri turned, it was my job, as well as a promise I’d made to
kill him.
I was torn with indecision. If Dimitri was
somehow alive, I could save him. My blood would be enough to insure
he lived, or so I hoped. If he was dead then I wanted to bury him.
If, goddess forbid, he was turned I’d kill him.
I was terrified to look, to see if my lover
was truly dead, a monster, or suffering.
I went to him. The last thought, of him
suffering, had me moving.
Oh, Hell! He was turning. His eyes fading
away to grey then changing to black. His bright blue-green eyes
were gone, forever from this world. Fangs grew with a sharp snick
of sound. One I’d heard too many times on the battlefield.
I lowered my head. He was dead to me. My
love, my Dimi, was no longer human. A sick, dead, and tortured
sound escaped my lips.
A tear ran down my cheek. A burning pain
enveloped my heart. I stopped breathing. I could not go on.
“
Fucking kill me now you
heartless piece of shit!” I screamed at the headless corpse rotting
away at my feet.
Ash came to me and reached for me, just as I
slipped to my knees in the dirt and blood, and my sword clattered
to the ground to my right.
A snarl escaped me as I turned on him,
reaching for my sword and holding it before me. My fangs made their
appearance as my eyes began to change.
“
What the hell Shade?” he
asked, jumping back, clearly confused by my odd
behavior.
I turned back to Dimitri and grabbed him,
shouldering his weight. I would not leave him and I could not kill
him. Damn my promises and damn the priorities.
I pulled him up and dragged his limp body
back towards the truck. I didn’t know why I did this, at the time.
I was not thinking clearly. I was dragging a vamp toward the other
hunters, where there were wounded. It was probably one of my worst
hare brained ideas ever. Yet I rolled with the punches and followed
my instincts. Never been wrong yet, I was still unfortunately
kicking and screaming.
Ash gave me a stupefied look, but then after
a moment he took Dimitri’s other arm, and helped me carry him. At
first I almost snarled again, but I caught myself. Ash was only
helping.
A devastating and stifling sensation floated
over me as I completely realized the seriousness of my current
situation. I was holding a newborn vamp, someone who was once of
the dearest of all people to me, and taking him back to the base
with me. It was a blatant and truly serious act of treason, and
betrayal, as well as stupidity. Would I get away with it? Could I?
Did I want to? What was I going to do when I got there?
When we reached the others, they looked at
me as if I’d lost my mind, which was a very good possibility
sensing I was doing my best to save my lover turned blood
sucker.
I loaded Dimitri into the back of my truck
and crawled in beside him, wanting to cradle him and mourn but
fearing for the lives of my comrades I ignored that emotion and
kept alert. I pulled a blade from my jacket and hesitated. After a
moment I stuck it to Dimitri’s throat, ignoring the way it made me
want to cringe, and the way it broke my heart into smaller and
unrecognizable pieces.
“
Drive!” I shouted out the
door as I closed it.
Everyone hesitated as I stared them down. I
left no room for doubt, I meant business. No one would disobey the
strongest and most lethal warrior they had left.
Santos jumped into the driver’s seat, after
giving me a disturbing look. Ash cursed but joined him in the
front. He turned and aimed his gun at Dimitri. As I opened my mouth
Ash cut me off.
“
Growl at me and I shoot
him. I don’t care if you two are lovers or friends I’ll kill him.
I’m only doing this because I love you. I hope you know what you
are doing because I sure as hell don’t.”
I kept the snarl reigned in, just barely.
Part of me wanted to take off his damned head just like the vamps I
left behind.
Back at the base, we had a moment’s issue of
security clearance.
When I snarled, revealing my fangs, they
hesitated. Commander Ian approved me to go through, which I’m sure
got more of a response than my show of fang.
Once inside we pulled up to the jail and I
dragged Dimitri out who was starting to wake up.
I dug my blade into his neck, next to his
jugular, so he felt it. He tensed and then began walking on his
own. From what I knew about newborns, the first few moments of
waking up as a vamp, was disorienting but the closest they came to
being their previous self.
The others at the base cried out, ran away,
and gave me looks of pure disbelief. I was dragging one of their
worst nightmares into the compound, and it was someone they knew,
someone they had come to depend on or care about.
Their looks of fear and suspicion weighed on
my heart, but I was going with my gut, and it told me to keep
walking. To keep going through with this, whether it killed me or
not.
When anyone came near us, Dimitri snarled. I
ordered them back, for their safety as well as ours.
I locked us both inside the jail cell,
before I removed the blade, and put my back to the bars. Dimitri
hesitated, looked at me, and then slipped into a shadowed
corner.
His presence spooked me but his face, aside
from the red in his eyes and the fangs, made me want to run to
him.
The bars were made of the same kind of metal
as my blade. Dimitri would be going nowhere.
He eyed me wearily and then the room.
Clearly he was bewildered by my choice of action, and waited for me
to explain myself.
“
I take it you know you
were turned?”
Dimitri whipped his head my way when I
spoke.
“
Of course, the intense
thirst for your blood was the first sign. The blade was the
other.”
His voice was nearly the same, aside from
the deadly tone and deeper pitch, making my skin crawl and heart
bleed. His fangs made his S’s longer, much like a hiss.
I nodded.
“
Why didn’t you kill me as
you had promised?” he whispered, eyeing the door. I could have
sworn anger and hurt flashed across his face. I trembled slightly
when I saw the pain. I panicked, leaving me breathless and
desperate for something, anything to get me breathing
again.
I forced the pain aside and focused on
saving him, saving us, and steeled myself for what was to
come.
I shrugged. Any answer would be the wrong
one so why should I reply to that. As a vamp he wanted to live
now.
We gave each other the silent treatment
then, which was probably best.
“
What the hell is going
on?” Shouted Ian as he, and three other officers barged into the
jail with us, making me cringe at the anger in his
voice.
He had a sling on his left arm, a bandage on
his neck, and a black eye. Apparently the vamp that had turned my
boyfriend, had company. I hoped it suffered before they took it
down… if they had. I thought for a moment about sneaking out and
going back and finishing it off or finding others. Fighting until I
fell in battle.
I looked casually at them, knowing they were
clueless of my former thoughts, and possible plans. I knew my
snarky replies would not save me this time.
“
A prisoner? Seriously?
Have you lost that feeble mind of yours?”
“
It’s Dimitri,” I said, as
if that explained it all. In my heart, as well as mind, it did that
and so much more. Saying his name made several emotions flow over
me simultaneously.
“
Of course, I’m not an
idiot, Angelissa. Why’s he here?” Ian’s last sentence was said
slowly so that he pronounced each word separately, emphasizing the
word he.
I considered that myself and came up with no
logical answer that mattered, or none that would matter to them. I
refrained from shrugging this time. It was just as difficult as not
speaking with my usual attitude.
Ash spoke then, which startled me, because
I’d not only forgotten him but he was the last person in the world
who’d defend me.
“
She loves him, of course.”
Ash said this as if it had just now occurred to him. It had
probably run through his mind a few times but until now, until
this, he’d never been totally sure. He had probably held some hope
that I’d come back to him, I’d have some kind of epiphany. Not
happening, it was Dimitri or death. Unfortunately the latter would
be the only road to me, it was the journey that was undecided, how
I would leave this world.
“
What?” Ian asked, as he
spun towards him and asked.
“
They’re together, I
assume, and she loves him.”
“
Shut up!” I screamed,
giving him the stink eye. My behavior was weak and they knew it.
Ash was quickly becoming my enemy.
“
I want some answers Shade!
The whole base is on lockdown. I trusted you, trusted that you had
a good reason for this! You’ve put everyone at risk because you
love him? Why not let them all in? Every damn vamp out there
probably has someone, somewhere, that loves them,” Ian spat. The
fury was justified, but it hurt as he spoke the truth.
He was thinking of Lane, I sure of it.
He was beyond manic right now, and he feared
my irrational behavior might have doomed us all.
This whole time Dimitri sat watching us
silently. I knew he was taking it all in thoughtfully, animalistic
and brutal or not, he understood what we were not saying.
“
He’s no threat,” I
whispered, not even believing my own lie.
A roar from Dimitri countered that. He was
determined to prove otherwise. Determined to get himself killed
before I could find a way to save him.
“
I disagree, Shade. Give me
one good reason why I should not unload my gun into him right now
and end his miserable existence.”
He lowered his head as he sighed deeply. He
didn’t want to hurt me, purposely, but he would never allow my best
friend to be in danger and right now she was about as close as
she’d ever been.
I paused to consider what he‘d just said. My
answer would be the only thing that could save my Dimi in this
moment. I couldn’t be the bullet that took his life, or that same
bullet would have to take my life as well.
“
We may be able to change
him back. He’s as good as anyone to try it on.”
“
What the fuck? Seriously?
There’s no cure and even if you love him more than his own mother
that won’t change him back,” Ian said, irate and nearly spitting.
He checked himself and said the last part a little more
kindly.
I nodded, knowing he was right.
“
I have a theory though. My
blood is toxic to vamps but I think because, well, I’ve drank so
much of his it might not be to him. If it is toxic, well then he is
going to die anyways, why not by me.”
“
What if he turns on you?”
Ian asked, still unsure about this idiotic plan of mine.
He ignored the fact that Dimitri and I had
been together, for which I was immensely thankful.
I did not answer at first. I was now their
only protection from the creatures who sought to eat us. They’d
lost one of their most prized, and revered, hunters today. I was
the last thing that stood between them and monsters outside the
gates. We would all grieve, we would all fear the coming days, and
my actions were making it all the worse.
They could not risk losing me, either as a
prisoner or in battle. Commander Ian would be keeping a very good
eye on me.
“
Wait a few days, and if
nothing, I’ll stake him myself.”
Ian closed his eyes and sighed. I was sure
he was trying to put himself in my shoes, trying to see this as if
it was Lane who crouched behind me snarling and ready to slaughter
us all. I was indebted to him already.
“
She’ll kill me you know…
if anything happens to you.” He sighed again, as he lowered his
automatic rifle, and rested his arm against the wall and his head
on his forearm.
I knew who she was. Ian was talking about
Lane.
She’d understand. I knew she would. I didn’t
reply though. I waited patiently. My very actions and replies would
get me my way. Nothing else could.
“
Fine, if she dies it’s her
head, not ours.” Ian threw his hands up and stalked out.
“
For now,” one soldier
whispered, under his breath, as Ian passed. Ian gave him a pissed
look but let it go. We all knew it was the truth.