The old guy had engaged in a personal fight with Liam. They where not budging an inch and they seemed to have equal chances. I hoped the old guy would win his battle with all my heart but I could not waste any more time paying attention to them. Lucrecia, Jonathan and I had more than enough with Gwen to ourselves.
Time seemed to stall. I felt flashes of copper-lightning everywhere and saw small droplets of blood slowly tinting the white snow. Mud started to appear around us as our rapid vampire movements heated and melted small patches of snow. The clearing in front of the blue cottage was slowly becoming a battlefield.
Corbin fought with Aidan, but whenever he managed to have the slightest advantage in their fight Aidan fled the spot with uncanny speed. Corbin always chased him but couldn’t even scratch him. Aidan on the contrary seemed to be playing cat and mouse. Slowly he was leaving Corbin with small flesh-wounds that slowed him down every time a bit more.
We had no chance. Not with these numbers, and not against them . . .
James was fighting the two unknown vampires at the same time. He somehow managed to skip and escape from each and every one of their strong blows! And even left a bloody mark or two on his massive opponents . . . The huge guy was the one that seemed to be most wounded with a small dripping wound at the side of his temple, but he continued as if nothing had happened. He looked like the bad guy from the “Halloween” movies! James wounded him and it was useless.
The lean vampire with the Japanese swords was faster as I had expected. Only a small gash on his upper arm showed that he was not invincible, for his fighting skills could easily make one think otherwise. He twisted, turned and jumped evading every blow that came his way; and attacked James in the most unthinkable ways.
Sometimes he rolled on the floor and extended his swords trying to cut James at the height of his calves or his feet. Luckily James managed to jump and escape from each attack . . . the problem was that slowly he was getting tired and his movements were getting slower. It was only a matter of time before he made a mistake and got hurt.
The twins engaged in no direct combat but helped Corbin from afar. They broadcasted each move that Aidan would do and helped him have a chance against his uncanny speed.
Ginny also fought from afar, which was really good since she was probably not a good fighter and no match for the other’s speed or strength. She was very much the most human of all of us, and as long as we were engaging direct combat they would not go after her.
She had climbed up one of the trees and from there she shot copper-pointed arrows and darts at all of our enemies. Even though she didn’t manage to hurt any of them, it was good for it distracted them and gave us a chance. Ginny forced them to evade her shots and that made them more prone to mistakes.
Both of the old guy’s friends seemed to be missing . . . Terrance and the dark-haired woman seemed to have gone. I guessed they saw the opportunity to flee and save themselves and simply took it. I could not blame them but the mere idea of it made bitter bile go up my throat.
I knew we were doomed. I looked around and noticed it was us who were most tired and not them. I was panting and it took all my effort to concentrate and not make a mistake. Allowing myself a simple distraction, even for a fraction of a second, would mean my death in Gwen’s evil claws.
Time passed and the field turned from the purest white to red and brown. Our strength was at its dusk and we saw no hope on the horizon.
I believe we had all accepted our fate when I suddenly saw Liam’s cruel smirk twist. It was a very subtle thing that was probably not visible for the rest but I held on to it. It raised my hopes and helped me regain my strength. For a second he was not so sure! Something had made him doubt their odds, I was sure!
With regained strength I tried to hit the elusive Gwen and managed to mildly scrape her perfect cheek. This made her venomous temper boil and she attacked us with greater strength. By then, Jonathan was helping James from a halfway distance between where we females fought and where his father was. That’s the advantage of arrows: you can attack from a distance.
Lucrecia and I fought side by side like lionesses. “We may die here today, but we will do it with honour!” I thought and felt Lucrecia’s approving thoughts beside me, when I realized why Liam seemed unsure moments before. We where not alone anymore! They had come back.
I suddenly smelled Terrance and the dark-haired woman, and behind them many other vampires I had never encountered before. They had not abandoned us to our fates! They had found other members of The Order!
Odds had shifted to our side and things became messier.
There were flashes of bodies and arrows everywhere around me. It all became so confusing, but I fought, I never stopped fighting. And the council members started fighting for real.
Things became vicious and the body-count on our side started to change. Corpses started cluttering the clearing, but it didn’t make anybody diminish the attacks.
I didn’t know where the rest of my clan members where! I had lost them in the tumult and could only pray for their safety now.
Suddenly something hit my foot and I realized it was Aidan, or what was left of him. His lifeless-body lay still on the blood smeared frozen mud. Corbin had probably managed to bring him down with the extra help. I was so glad! His mighty claymore had destroyed one of our fiends.
I kept on following Gwen but she remained elusive as ever! Nothing seemed to slow her down and she somehow managed to push easily people around her with her mind. I knew I was no match for her, but I had to be persistent, I couldn’t let them down.
The numbers on our side had diminished rapidly, and I still had no idea of what had happened so far to the other members of my clan. The only one I had seen was Lucrecia, but I knew nothing of how she was, I saw a while before a flash of her long blonde hair but nothing else. I hoped Jonathan was OK! I hoped they were all safe.
Time passed and the feverish hide and seek we played with Gwen went on and on. I had her marked as my target and would not let her go.
My blood pulsed hard at my temples and my left leg was sore with a wound Gwen managed to give me. I felt copper’s poisonous effect deep in my muscles and knew it would not be long before I fell. I had to get her before that.
Deep huffs and puffs escaped my tired lungs. My breath felt boiling hot now and not cold anymore. Lactic acid was settling finally in all my tired muscles and it was solely pure determination that kept me going. Don’t ask me how, but suddenly she appeared in front of me between two branches.
I could see her so clear, it was the first time I felt this way and knew it was my opportunity. The world seemed to have frozen still. It was as if time had stopped for a moment and I could see clearly. I moved my arm and felt my muscles burning with strain. I didn’t care about the pain or the poison in my body and moved my scimitar elegantly in a deadly blow towards her neck.
I felt her flesh with my blade. I managed to cut her. A long wound opened from beneath her left earlobe all the way down to the centre of her chest.
Her eyes grew wide with astonishment. She could not believe that for a second I was faster than she was. Her perfect rosy lips parted in a perfect “O” and I could feel the air escaping quickly from her mouth.
The blow was most probably fatal, yet I was not going to leave things to chance. I lifted my scimitar with my tired arm once again to this time finally cut her head off when I heard a heart-freezing wail. It was Jonathan.
* * *
I forgot all about the vicious Gwen and turned with all my speed. I ran blindly towards the centre of the clearing where I thought the cry had come from. My heart pounded in my chest and I could hear nothing. My muscles strained trying to get there but it always seemed not enough. Somebody from our side tried to hold me as I went past him, I believe it was Terrance or maybe Corbin but I didn’t care. I pushed him out of my way and kept on running.
Faces rushed past me in slow-motion and I only wanted to get there to my love’s side. It seemed
to take forever, and then I saw an image I’d seen before. It was the same scene I saw in a dream some days back at the house.
I saw Jonathan standing there. He was bloodied and impossibly handsome. His perfect hair was clotted with blood and stuck to his temples. The perfect lips that kissed me so tenderly were taut over his white, long canines. He was panting, exhausted. He looked like an ancient warrior with his knife at his side and his other hand trying to clutch mine.
I saw desperate longing in his eyes, he was asking something out of me but I could do nothing more but stretch my hand towards him. I did not understand. I heard nothing, the world lay silent waiting for the final blow. He looked so beautiful and sad, I could have just run into his arms but I couldn’t move . . . I could only stretch my hand.
Then I saw it. The fine tip of a Japanese sword was coming out of his abdomen and the sleek guy who had been fighting James before was on his knees behind him. He was trying to stand up but slid with the blood-soaked mud. He was going to kill Jonathan before I even got there. James was on his back, very still on the floor beside him. I didn’t even know if he still breathed.
Despair took hold of me! I would not give up now, and I would not live on if Jonathan died. Not like this. Not today. I was furious, everything I had gotten to love was being taken away and I felt helpless. My world was crumbling down and I could do nothing to prevent it.
I was too far away, too slow, too silly or immature. I didn’t know, but I was helpless.
Something bubbled in my guts and I simply wanted all of it to disappear. I wanted the guy behind my boyfriend to vanish into thin air and the mean council members to just cease to exist. I was so mad, I don’t know how to explain it now but suddenly something exploded from my insides.
A massive blast of energy expanded everywhere in a huge radius all around me. It was as if a huge bomb had gone off and I was the centre of the expansion wave. I saw everyone around me falling and flying backwards, only I seemed to still be able to move.
I could see nothing but pure white for a moment but I kept on walking towards where I had last seen Jonathan. I walked endlessly and slowly I regained my sight.
He lay motionless on the floor not even two feet away from James. Jonathan’s eyes where closed and his long black lashes kissed his cheeks like I had done so many times before. He looked so peaceful, just like a sleeping angel. I could have convinced myself he was sleeping if it was not for the blade still stuck into him. It made his posture look uncomfortable and it bothered me.
I let my body fall on my knees and held the bare blade with my hands to take it out of his body. I could feel it digging into my flesh but I didn’t care, I just wanted it out of Jonathan. I didn’t want it to soil his body any more. As soon as I managed to rip it out of him I threw it away, as far away as I could and held his still body in my arms.
He looked so serene; I held him and rocked him like a child. I wanted to lull him to sleep, to make things right, I simply wanted to hug him and kiss him forever in my arms.
My hands where sticky with my blood and my cheeks felt damp and soiled with tears. What would I do? He was so still, and he was not as warm as before. I hugged him closer and wanted to have him hold on to my warmth, but my body was so cold . . . I looked at his angel face and saw a snowflake fall on his now whitening lips. His lips used to feel so warm, they used to be full of colour, and now even the snow wanted them to be hers: to become cold and white as ice.
I couldn’t stand the snow taking him, not now, not here, not ever. So I moved my hand to brush the infamous flake from his lips, those lips that where only mine to kiss. I brushed it out of sight but I soiled them with my bloodied fingers. My blood made them bright red as if freshly painted.
It looked monstrous at first. I had soiled his face just like the snow but with blood! Still, after the original shock I started tracing and retracing his lips with my fingers. I couldn’t help myself! I wanted to feel them under my fingers one more time, and with my blood on them I felt the illusion of them becoming warm again.
And that is the last I remember of the battle in the clearing. After some time with Jonathan in my arms I passed out.
* * *
I thought I’d died. I saw my parents smiling this time. Not like in the other dream I had of them where they were scared and running from something. They held each other’s hands and smiled. I wanted to be with them, to meet them. Were they dead like me too?
I heard Jonathan’s voice once more. I heard him saying “I love you” one more time. It felt it whispered in my ear. I could imagine his breath on my face and his lips on my cheeks once more. I did not care if I was dead now, he was dead and I was dead with him. No one could set us apart now; we’d be together in limbo forever.
Yet something did not convince me of my death yet. I could still feel my limbs, my hands and my feet, I could even feel a rough wooden floor beneath me. I felt my eyelids fluttering and tried to open them.
It was so difficult! I felt like Orpheus in his descent to the underworld. I didn’t really know where I stood but I kept on my journey.
After a long battle with my subconscious my eyes finally flung open. It was all so bright! I could see nothing but shadows and outlines. Then, slowly, figures became more recognisable and I came back to my senses.
Jonathan was beside me and he was holding my head on his lap just like he had done some days before in his living-room. I could see other faces too but was unsure of who they were until I managed to sit up with Jonathan’s help.
If I was dead, we were all dead, and it was not that bad. Perhaps this was the afterlife? I was still a bit confused about everything that had happened . . . things were not clear in my mind still.
I could see Corbin and the Twins seated near my feet, Ginny was standing right behind them. Lucrecia sat beside me and held one of my hands. Her face was bruised and a deep cut was set on her lower lip making her look like the frail survivor of an accident. Terrance was quite absorbed putting some of his ointment on the huge cut I had on my leg. That thing smelled foul! It made my nose wrinkle in disgust at its sight and Terrance lifted his grey eyes at me and smiled.
The dark-haired vamp-woman and the old guy stood by a window and spoke quite seriously to other vampires from The Order that were with them.
I felt so safe and at home once again in Jonathan’s arms, I felt in utmost bliss! My happiness was such that I turned and kissed him. I let myself melt in his arms and felt whole again. For a second there I thought I’d lost him. He was bruised and hurt but was alive! My whole body felt stiff and wounded but I didn’t care I just wanted to stay in his arms forever. We were all alive! How we made it I didn’t know, but something still bothered me.
I let go of my gorgeous guy for a second and asked:
“Where is James?” And as soon as I said it aloud it hit me. The image of him very still on the muddied snow, Jonathan’s cry, Jonathan stiff and cold in my arms . . .
Nobody had to tell me, I knew the answer. James was gone. He had not survived the fight . . . but, Jonathan . . . I thought Jonathan had died too!
“I had not died completely” he said and caressed my hair with his hand. His eyes where bruised with sorrow and rimmed with tears. “A small part of me was still alive when you held me, and I tried so hard to hold on to you, but you seemed so far away. I felt tired, very tired. It felt as if I was sinking, until you gave me your blood.” A faint smile was drawn on his lips and he waited for me to process it.
I had saved him! Without even knowing what I was doing, when my blood had trickled into his mouth it made him come back . . . I didn’t even know what I was doing at the time, yet my blood kept him here. It just made me wonder . . . Could I have saved James too?
“No honey, you couldn’t” Jonathan whispered reassuringly. “He was already gone when I found him.”
He said those words and I cried. I cried because I had in a way lost a parent figure too. In a very short time James had become a very important person in my
life, and now he was gone forever. He was gone and I had never told him how much he meant to me.
“He knew” Lucrecia said holding my leg and making me realize once again I was shouting out my thoughts. I couldn’t help myself but laugh at that, no matter what, I was still me: clumsy and unable to veil my thoughts . . .
“What will happen now?” I asked. My voice sounded different, it was like the voice of someone I had once known but didn’t quite remember. I sounded perhaps stronger, I’m not quite sure, but I can assure you something had changed.
Maybe I had truly died and then come back to life and it changed me. I guess I’ll never know for sure.
The old guy walked slowly towards me at my question. He had been listening the whole time. He stood right at my feet and looked at me intensely with his ancient, wise eyes.
“Aidan is gone, and both of their new allies died too.” He said and paused just long enough to let me answer.
“And Gwen too, right? I killed her . . .” I said and let my voice drift off.
“I’m sorry.” He answered and looked at his feet. “She seems to have gotten away or Liam took her corpse, I don’t know. We cannot be sure but I believe she survived . . .
When you produced that expansive wave you knocked everyone off their feet. I even believe it was that blast that killed the bigger guy and maybe even the leanest of our unknown enemies. We all seem to have passed out and when we woke up we saw you unconscious in Jonathan’s arms. Liam and Gwen where nowhere to be seen, they must have escaped.” He whispered and looked intently at Terrance.
“I thought you where dead.” Terrance said looking right into my eyes. “Jonathan was mute. He said nothing, so we had no clue of what had happened. I touched your hand and some energy seemed to buzz through me! I was in awe! But I knew it was surely a sign that you where still alive, so we got you in here and we used the special Iris ointment.” His voice was truly sweet; he seemed to be truly glad that I was still alive. Terrance was a very sweet person on the inside. He made me smile.
Distract my hunger Page 14
