Authors: Megan White
mutt
.” She spat as she slowly closed the distance between us, “But I have taken from you too.” A cackle left her parted lips, “Your father, what a
pathetic
excuse of a man.” She came closer, the
tick
of her stilettos tapping off every step she took, “
Oh
, and your mother.” She laughed, “What a pleasure it was to watch her die.”
Liquid began to pull in my mouth as Corina took her calculated steps that brought her mere feet from me. Her laughter still hung in the air as she continued to tell of how she killed her own sister, “It was
so
easy.” She purred, swinging the crystal baton around aimlessly, “A few drops of poison, she never saw it coming. Her worthless commoner and half-breed child blinded her. She had no idea what was right under her nose.
Me.
”
The liquid began to build; a metallic copper flavor filled my mouth, numbing my tongue as it flowed freely. My vision clouded, turning a bright crimson around the silhouette that was the woman that had single handedly ripped my family apart.
She laughed once more as she brought the glass baton over her head, ready to shatter it over my own. My lips twitched as my anger soared to a fever pitch. Through my parted lips, the liquid spilled, rolling freely down my chin.
“What is that?” Her eyes flashed to the star that hung from my throat, “
Where did you get that
?” Her eyes shot to mine.
A smile took over my lips as I watched a panicked Corina back away from me, “My father.” I whispered, grinning when she inhaled, her hand shooting to her mouth. The baton shattered at her side, “
Impossible
,” She breathed, still looking at my necklace, “He’s dead.”
Liquid continued to dribble from my lips, sliding off my chin and onto the star that hung suspended from my neck. Corina’s stare held on the tiny star as it became saturated, her eyes following the line of moisture until she froze, “
No.
” Her head slowly shook side-to-side, “You couldn’t be.” A shriek left her lips as she stepped away from me, “It’s not possible!”
Without thought or care, I leapt at the crimson silhouette that was Corina, her screams of terror when I landed on her back only enticed my driving need to destroy.
The liquid seeped from my mouth as I lowered to her neck, ripping flesh from bone with one twist of my jaw. Her gargled pleas hung frivolous in the air as her lifeless body fell to the hardwood in front of me.
Corina was dead.
Chapter Eighteen
I ran to Declan, collapsing at his shoulders, I brought his head to rest on my chest, “
Please
don’t die.” I sobbed into his bloodied hair. Looking to the sky, I begged anyone that would listen, “Don’t take him too!”
“‘Her blood has healing properties.’”
Kellan’s voice flitted through my mind, “‘
We cannot kill if we are also healing.
’”
Without thought, I brought my arm to my mouth and ripped my flesh away. Blood covered my arm and flowed liberally from the gaping hole. Holding Declan’s head in my other hand, I brought my arm to his lips. I let him feed, forcing my blood into his mouth, “
Please don’t leave me
.” I begged him, “
You can’t die too.”
I let him feed from me, anchoring his head so that not a single drop would be wasted.
Soft light streamed in from the open curtains in the great room, shining off his pale skin and jet-black hair. I shook thinking that I may never see his clear blue eyes look at me ever again, never hear his soft voice or feel his touch on my skin. Holding him close to my chest, I sobbed. Throwing my head back, I cried, “
Not him too
.”
The light danced down over his body, illuminating the tiny shards that had imbedded themselves in his porcelain skin. One by one, I plucked the splinters free, allowing them to
tink
on the floor beside me, refusing to stop until every-last shining crystal was removed from his flesh. Flashbacks to my time in the Farm tortured my already haunted mind, but still I refused to stop. Piles of glass lay around me by the time I finished, my fingers cut and bloodied. Declan remained unmoving but I could feel his shallow inhales, feel his heartbeat, faint at first, but it grew stronger by the minute, “
You will be okay.”
I whispered into his hair as I continued to feed him.
I tried to stay awake, fought my tired body with every ounce of strength I still had, but I couldn’t hold on for long.
Saving Declan meant I would die. I knew I would die, but that was a price I was willing to pay. I wasn’t the first to go in the long line of Testers, and I knew I wasn’t going to be the last, but if there was going to be change, it had to start with Declan. He still had a role to play but my role had ended. I felt myself slipping away with every drop Declan pulled from me. My eyes could no longer remain open. My mind could no longer focus. I allowed my body to fall back to the floor. Declan’s head still rested on my chest, my arm still in his mouth. I knew he would be okay, and that because of him, everyone would find their freedom.
Kissing his forehead I let go with a smile,
“You will be okay.”
***
I felt like I was floating, weightless. I felt no pain or heartache as I flew. I was free. Emotions did not exist in that state, only beauty. Vast green landscapes flourished as I sailed passed them. Glorious white capped mountains grew up from the barren sea that surrounded the utopia below me, but that wasn’t the most stunning part, not by far. As I flew, the most magnificent creature appeared beside me, her dark hair whipping around her striking face as the wind took possession over it.
Her dark eyes sparkled as we flew together.
We soared through the brilliant blue sky with no end in sight. I flew, wishing to never have to stop. I had an angel beside me, one that I thought I would never see again. An angel that I dreamed would be waiting for me when I died, and she was. She was more magnificent than I could have ever imagined, and she was with me.
“
Erin!”
My name rumbled through the air like a clash of thunder, “
Erin!”
it sounded again, knocking me to the evergreen grass that covered a lush flowering meadow,
my meadow
.
“You need to go back,” My mother’s melodic voice sang to me, “It is not your time.”
“I don’t want to leave.” I cried as she stroked my cheek, her hands soft and warm against my chilled skin.
“There are people that
need
you.”
“
Erin!”
The ground shook around me as the
boom
of thunder clashed, vibrating the landscape in every direction.
“Go back.” Her voice faded.
The meadow began to shatter around me like broken glass. I could feel cold hands fluttering up my body, stroking my face, “
Please wake up!”
I heard him cry, “
Why would you do it!”
He screamed near my ear, “
Why!”
My meadow was gone, crumbled beneath my feet until there was nothing left to see. The evergreen grass of my utopia replaced by a stark white canvas of
nothing
as far as your eyes could see. Everything was gone.
Nothing held me there, nothing was there for me anymore, “
Please come back to me.”
Declan’s voice rang clear in my ear, “
I will do anything.”
I heard the pain and torment that laced his voice. It ripped a hole in my chest knowing that he was hurting, hurting because of me. I let go of my serenity, of my utopia, and of my mother.
My eyes opened to the tear stained face of an angel hovering over me.
“Erin!” He cried out, rocking me in his arms.
“
You’re alive
.” I croaked. The undeniable love I felt for him gripped my chest as I peered into his red-rimmed blue eyes.
“
You
are alive.” He sniffed into my hair, “Why did you do it?” He asked through shakes, holding me tight to his chest.
Through dry lips and a weighted body, I answered him, “I wasn’t going watch another person I love die.”
“
Love?
”
“Yes.” I finally admitted, to both him and myself.
Tightening his grip, he sighed, “You don’t know how long I have waited for you.”
He held me in his arms as he slowly rocked us back and forth. His nose nuzzled into my hair, breathing me in, “I thought you were gone.” His voice hitched, “I thought I had killed you.”
“
No
,” I crooned, rubbing my fingers over his cheek, “You have saved me.”
His eyes filled with tears as he looked down at me. I could see the pain swimming through those crystal clear irises because they always mirrored my own. “I couldn’t have lived with myself knowing you died because of me.”
“
Shh
,” I smiled, “Everything will be okay.”
But I wasn’t sure if that was the truth. We were both alive, but the body of Corina still lay at our feet. The wife of the Supreme leader, limp and lifeless in a pool of her own blood remained in Declan’s great room. I shook as the visions of what Tarant would do when word got back to him that I killed her. Instant death would be too merciful for the tyrant that was Tarant. He would make it slow,
enjoyable
. He would want to watch me suffer.
I pointed to the body of Corina, “What’s going to happen now?”
“I have others coming for her, you don’t need to worry about her.”
“What will Tarant do?”
“Nothing.” Declan smiled down at me, his eyes twinkled with the first sign of real happiness that I had seen from him in so long, “He had no idea she had come here. As far as I know, no one did. When we dispose of her body,” He sighed, relaxing into the back of the couch, “neither of us will have her to worry about her ever again.”
He was right. Out of our long list of enemies, Corina was no longer one of them. She paid for what she had done to our families. Her death was justifiable, and I would have been lying if I denied the gratification it gave me knowing that
I
was the one that killed her. The last thing that woman ever saw was my smiling face as I tore into her neck, and that alone sent pleasure soaring through me.
“Did you feed on her?” He asked distractedly as he looked over her blood-covered body.
“
No
.” I tensed in his arms, “I didn’t want one drop of that woman inside of me.”
“I have waited
years
to watch her die,” He shook his head, “Thought it would have been by my hands.”
I couldn’t help but giggle in his arm, “Sorry to steal your thunder.”
“I didn’t want your hands to get dirty. When you take a life,” He sighed, “no matter the life, it will always stay with you- haunt you.”
“Maybe that means you are better than I am,” My lips twitched in a wry smile, “Because I will never feel guilt over her death. What she did… her end was
fitting.
”
I felt him nod against the couch, “How are you feeling?”
“Tired.” I tried to sit up, “and thirsty”
“Oh, no you don’t.” His arms bound around my waist, pulling me back to his chest, “You need to stay down for a bit, at least until you are stronger.” He pointed to my arm that had been swathed like a mummy from wrist to elbow, “You have quite a few stitches to worry about.”
“Okay, but could you move me away from her
?
” I pouted, pointing to Corina’s body that still remained only a few inches from our feet.
“Fine, but you’re not walking.” He scooped me into his arms and stood, “Bed or couch?”
“Where will you be?”
“Out here.” He nuzzled my neck, “I have a few
things
to take care of.”
“Then I choose couch.”
“Good choice.”
He slowly laid me on the couch as if I were as breakable as a china doll, “I’m not that fragile.” A giggle left my lips once he pulled away from me. “You are to me.” His lithe fingers brushed down my neck, “The most precious creature to walk the earth.”
My heart expanded as I drank him in. His jet black hair glistened in the brilliant sunlight that streamed in from the large window. His eyes filled with unnamed emotion captivated mine every time I looked into them, his touch, so soft and reverent against my skin. Those were all the things I thought had been ripped away from me, never to experience again. It took watching him die in front of me for the barrier I constructed to fall, giving way to the enormity of emotions I had been running from. But he was with me. He was my other half, my reflection. To see him go would have killed me. His heart, his mind, his soul, they all added to the beauty that was Declan, and I no longer fought the swell of sensations he made me feel.
I had fallen in love with my Keeper.
“You look amazing.” I crooned from the couch.
“I’d like to think so.” He teased while straightening his shirt.
“That is
not
what I meant, you egomaniac.”
“I know what you meant.” He bent down and brushed his lips over mine. “And it’s all thanks to you.
Although
,” He straightened away from me, no longer smiling, “I am still mad at you.”
“Mad?” I squeaked, “About what?”
“I almost
killed
you, Erin.” He shouted in exasperation.
“I knew what I was doing. I wasn’t going to let you die. Would
you
have sat back and watched me die if you could help it?” I pressed him, my head tilting to the side as I regarded him shrewdly. I already knew his answer and by the look on his face, he knew I knew.
“Don’t do it again.” He snapped, turning for the kitchen.
“I will do it as many times as necessary!
You
just need to stop almost dying.”
“I’ll do my best.” A sly smile played on his lips as he brought back a large glass of water that made my mouth instantly salivate.
“Drink this.”
He was still just as bossy as ever, but I didn’t mind. He was alive, he was healthy, and he was all mine, “Planned on it.” I giggled, taking the glass from his hands and downing half in one gulp.
“I have some calls to make,
Please
rest.”
I smiled at his serious expression and laughed, “You should be nicer to me.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I am more venomous than you are.” I flashed him a toothy grin.
“Indeed you are,” He scoffed and pointed over my head, “And what came of that is still lying on my living room floor.” He bent over and planted a wet chastising kiss on my lips, “I have a few calls to make.”
“Jealousy doesn’t look good on you, Declan.”
“You are right,” He jumped over the arm of the couch, landing softly on top of me, “But
I
look good on
you
.” His lips brushed my neck playfully, “Stop talking to me, I have to get some work done.”
“Aye, aye Captain.”
It felt good to be able to play with him. We both knew our troubles were far from over but to have any short reprieve where we could just
be
felt amazing. He had given me something I never knew I was missing, stability. He loved me with everything he had, was willing to put his life on the line to save me, and I was willing to do the same for him. We were going to fight for each other, fight for a love that we both so desperately craved. Fight for a life where we could be free to live and love openly without the fear of persecution.
It was a life we were willing to die for-- together.