by Amira Rain
At first, each knife that connected had the effect of making each of the three bears fall to the ground for just a few seconds, but then they started staying down for at least ten to twenty seconds, and sometimes even longer than that. And when they were down, they seemed nearly unconscious, with eyes still open but staring at nothing, as if all their accumulated knife wounds and the resulting blood loss was putting them in some sort of a stunned daze.
After I’d stabbed Gerard deeply at least a half-dozen times, he seemed like he was going to be down for a while, with his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. His black fur also seemed to be turning red all over, as if he’d been dipped in very dark red paint.
With him down, I returned my focus to the other two Bloodborn bears, one of whom was still doggedly blocking Marie’s path back to the house. She was on her feet now, glancing from me, to the bears, to the battle on the tall hill in the distance with a look on her face that made me think she was wondering if she hadn't woken up at all that morning and was still in some strange and very horrifying dream.
Within a minute or two, and after yet another few stabbings of Gerard and the two others, I’d cleared a path up the driveway for Marie.
“Go right now, Marie! Run as fast as you can!”
She did run, at least as best as she could, considering that she was a larger woman and one who’d developed some painful arthritis of the knees in recent years, as she’d once told me. She was also wearing thin-soled flimsy light blue tennis shoes that were so broken-in and comfy that she’d once described them as slippers, which was clearly not exactly ideal footwear for running. She made it up to the house, though, and I glanced up at her repeatedly until I saw that she was safely inside with door closed and hopefully locked. One of the bears had been kind of lurching and staggering after her and was now at the porch stairs, but another knife throw from me, probably his tenth, brought him down before he could climb up even a single step.
Once I saw him hit the ground and stay down, I turned my focus back to the other bears. One was on the grass, dazed, and Gerard was jerkily lumbering toward me, snarling in an odd, sporadic way, as if being stabbed so many times had done damage to his nervous system.
Hurriedly, I turned my gaze downward and began fishing around in my bag for another knife. I was beginning to run low, and the knives that I did have remaining were somehow getting lost in the pockets at the bottom of the bag. Finally, after probably only two or three seconds that felt like hours, I grabbed one by the handle, yanked it out, and prepared to throw it, but I didn’t see Gerard anywhere. A quick scan of the dense evergreens bordering the driveway didn’t reveal him, either. In the very brief length of time it had taken me to fish another knife out of my bag, he’d seemed to have vanished into thin air, which was actually not what I’d been wanting at all. As much as I was relieved that he was gone, I’d really wanted to either finish him off myself, or at least keep him close so that when Reed or some of his men arrived, they could finish him off while he was in a bloody injured daze, along with the other Bloodborn bears.
Something else unwanted happened shortly after Marie had gone inside the house, and unwanted was the only way I could think of it. It was maybe also unfortunate. I was beginning to feel incredibly dizzy and nauseous, symptoms I’d been experiencing on and off ever since I’d become pregnant. Now my grip on the knife handle was even loosening, seemingly of its own accord, as if some faucet of strength inside of me was twisting off.
The two Bloodborn bears also seemed to be recovering from the pain and shock of their stab wounds, too. In fact, they weren’t moving or growling jerkily at all anymore. Other than an occasional stumble as they both lurched toward me, they seemed almost back to normal. Terrified, I began throwing knives as fast and furiously as I was able to while the remaining two bears began circling me, teeth bared, leaping out of the way each time I almost got them with a knife. I tried to muster more strength in spite of my rapidly-increasing dizziness and nausea, but it seemed that the more I willed my strength to return to me, the more it didn't, and the more it seemed only to continue to get weaker and weaker. I was now just barely holding the bears off.
The very slight chill of the sunny May morning had helped to stop sweat that had been snaking down the back of my neck earlier, but with the two circling bears, I began perspiring again, so much so that my shirt soon felt as if I’d put it on directly out of the washer. My heart began hammering in my ears again, too, followed by the full-body trembling I always seemed to develop when scared.
I knew I was soon to be in very serious trouble if I couldn’t get my strength back, but I had a gut feeling that my dizziness and extreme nausea wasn’t going anywhere. And the more terrified of the circling bears I became, the worse my symptoms became, and the more my strength seemed to desert me. I wasn’t sure what I should do, or what I could even do. All I was sure of was that the two bears circling me were closing in, becoming nearer and nearer to me every second.
CHAPTER 14
I’d just decided to try to use what little strength I had remaining to try to run past the remaining bears to try to get up to the house, throwing knives as I went if I was even still able to, when a mighty, earth-quaking roar coming from somewhere behind me made me startle, gasping. My first thought was that Gerard had returned after a little rest in the forestland behind the house, and he was now going to hurt me, abduct me, or maybe even kill me in a rage, despite what he’d said earlier about having decided to keep me alive. That had been before I’d started stabbing him and his men.
However, to my extreme, knee-weakening relief, it hadn’t been Gerard who’d roared behind me. The very picture of strength, fury, and power, Reed was charging up the lane and toward the scene on the lawn, all black fur, muscles, and glinting, razor-sharp teeth. He roared again, thoroughly drowning out the sound of the alarm siren and causing the very ground to quake again. Several bears following close behind him answered with thunderous roars of their own.
When they reached the driveway and yard, it was something like a stampede as they charged the two Bloodborn bears that hadn’t managed to flee upon their approach. Yet somehow, in this dizzying, disorienting clash of bears and near-deafening sound, Reed and his men were able to shield me from the chaos, forming a loose ring around me and fighting outward, driving the two Bloodborn bears away from me.
At first, I just watched, stunned and feeling somewhat dazed even beyond my dizziness and nausea. I wasn’t content to just sit back and watch for long, however. After some deep, steadying breaths, resisting the urge to get sick, I began throwing knives at the Bloodborn bears again, through gaps in the circular defensive wall that Reed and his men had made around me. Because of how terrible I was feeling, my throws were still weak, but they were still powerful enough to further injure one of the Bloodborn bears when a knife got him right in the eye, making him fall to the ground. In a display of horrific gore, Reed immediately killed him with a few powerful slashes of his claws across the bear’s throat.
After this, one of Reed’s men began attacking the remaining bear, assisted by my knife throwing, and then Reed tackled this bear and began fighting him on his own with his thick black fur glinting in the bright morning sun. It was about this time that I paused in my assisting and put my single remaining knife back in my bag, feeling incredibly strange.
The pealing of the alarm siren in town began to fade, but I had a feeling that wasn’t because it was stopping. My ears felt oddly clogged, and then not clogged, and then clogged again, as if someone were putting their hands over them and then pulling them away, or stuffing them with cotton and then taking it out, over and over. My vision had also suddenly started to go funny, getting blurry on both sides of my peripheral vision, and that blurriness seemed to be creeping closer to the front of my vision with every slowing beat of my heart.
My fainting felt like it happened instantaneously, yet in extremely slow motion at the same time. Before I knew it, I was just falling through empty sp
ace, legs buckling beneath me without warning. However, instead of the ground becoming a blur on my way toward it, I could see every blade of bright green grass in front of me, as if time was stretching and expanding so I could study nature’s spring splendor right in the midst of a shifter fight. A sense of complete tranquility washed over me, and I had the reassuring sense that hitting the ground wouldn’t even hurt.
After a moment that felt like a minute or an hour, I didn’t hit the ground, though. Something had jumped in front of me and a little to the side, and this something was massive and black. This thing was also soft and warm, like a very thick blanket, but with much more heft, at least several hundred pounds more, it felt like.
The next thing I knew, I was in Reed’s strong arms, being carried up to the house with the sound of his deep voice near my ear. He was saying it was all going to be okay, or something similar. With my vision still swimming and my hearing still funnily going in and out, I tried to nod in response to him, but I just couldn’t. I could still speak at least, although my voice came out in a hoarse near-whisper.
“Reed, listen. I... I just really...”
So dizzy that I could hardly even focus on his handsome face, I wasn’t really even sure what I’d been intending to say. Maybe something about how much I really loved being in his arms, because I really did. With my cheek against his chiseled chest, I felt completely safe and protected. I felt like I was in my own personal heaven.
Before I could say anything further, he shushed me, then pressed his full, firm lips to my forehead, giving me a kiss so exquisitely tender that it only served to increase my dizziness.
“Reed, listen.”
I marveled at how a man who was such an incredibly fierce, powerful fighter, a man who was a bear shifter and chief of his community, no less, could also be so gentle. And this, even while an intense fight to the death still went on in his own front yard.
“Just rest now, Samantha. Close your eyes and try to rest.”
With his voice seeming to caress my ears, I tried to nod in response, but again, I just couldn’t. While he carried me up the porch steps, my blurry vision got even worse, then suddenly, everything went completely black.
Some time later, I had no idea how much later, I opened my eyes and saw that I was in my own bedroom. Marie was sitting by my bedside, knitting her graying brows, her expression a mask of worry. Some other older lady, who was dressed in a starched white nursing uniform, was hovering over me, listening to a stethoscope that she was pressing against my chest.
Somewhat to my surprise, I felt mostly fine other than feeling as if sandbags were attached to my eyelids. Try as I might to keep them open, because I wanted to ask Marie how everyone else was doing, my heavy eyelids closed within seconds, and I was out like a light once again.
Some hours later, I awoke again, still in my bedroom, but this time alone. Bright sunlight streamed through the gauzy white curtains covering the windows, and a digital clock on my nightstand told me it was one in the afternoon.
Now I had no trouble at all keeping my eyes open, and I still felt physically fine, completely refreshed, even. However, I feel a little grungy and gross, to say the least. Not only had I been sweating buckets while I’d been facing down Gerard and his fellow Bloodborn bears, but I’d also become a little overheated and sweaty in my sleep. I also felt the need to give my teeth a thorough brushing as well.
After taking a little sniff of my body and catching a distinct whiff of odor, I all but flew in the bathroom to start my shower, and a while later, I emerged smelling and feeling markedly fresher than I had when I’d gone in.
I’d just finished dressing in comfortable, stretchy knit pants and an equally comfortable oversized t-shirt when my bedroom door slowly opened and Marie poked her head inside, making a little gasp when she saw me.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were awake! How do you feel?”
“I feel completely fine. I honestly feel great, really. I’m not even nauseous or dizzy at all anymore. But how is-”
“I need to call Chief Wallace right away and tell him you’re awake. He told me to let him know immediately. You’re probably starving, too, I'll bet. You just give me a quick ten minutes, and I’ll be right back with some nice, warming homemade vegetable soup that will soothe any and all traces of frayed nerves. I’ve had two bowls already. Now, you just hold on, and I’ll be right back.”
She bustled out of the room before I could even say another word.
I’d been trying to ask her how everyone else was doing, but, to my extreme relief, I kind of got the idea that everyone, or at least most everyone, must be all right. It just didn’t seem like anyone would be enjoying multiple bowls of soup if anyone had been seriously hurt or killed during the battle.
I’d just finished detangling and combing through my damp hair and putting on socks a few minutes later when Marie returned bearing a large, wooden breakfast-in-bed tray with a glass each of iced tea and milk, a large bowl of steaming soup, a small plate with wheat crackers and small cheddar cheese slices arranged in a perfect circle, and another small plate with whole strawberries surrounding a little ramekin brimming with dark chocolate dip. It was this last item, more than anything, that assured me that everyone must be okay. Strawberries and rich chocolate dip were kind of an indulgent treat for anyone to enjoy if a massacre had taken place in town.
Heart soaring, I began to hope that everyone was indeed perfectly fine and that all the Bloodborn had been killed. However, before I could even ask Marie for confirmation of my thinking, she made me get back into bed to have my late lunch, saying that she was sure I needed more rest, no matter how well and refreshed I felt.
Once she’d gotten me all settled in, with a plush blanket covering my legs and the tray positioned over my lap, she had a seat in the chair bedside and looked at me with her expression unusually serious. “I know you’re probably starving by now, and I’ll soon leave you in peace to eat, because I still have a few more calls to make to check in on various friends who live near the battle site... but first, I want to say thank you. Thank you for doing what you did… for throwing all those knives how you did... to keep those awful Bloodborn bears from attacking me. I’m absolutely sure you saved my life.”
Incredulous that she was actually thanking me, I made a sound between a sigh and a snort. “Well, if I really did save your life, I guess it was the very least I could do since I was the one who put you in the position where you might have been killed in the first place, by making you come down from the house trying to bring me back in. See, I was so intent on trying to help in the fight against the Bloodborn to try to prove to Reed how much I really care, and not just about him, but everyone in this community, I didn't realize that any Bloodborn were so near the house, and I’m really sorry about that, and I’m really sorry about the whole thing. I’m really sorry that I forced you into a dangerous situation, Marie.”
I truly was, and was certain that I always would be.
Marie just shrugged. “Well, I’m a grown woman, and I made my own decision to leave the house chasing after you. And as for the danger we were in, I can’t say I wasn’t scared senseless, but if it had been my time to go, then it would have been my time to go, and I suppose I would’ve accepted it.”
Marie struck me as a person who had a zen-like approach to almost everything, from cooking, to cleaning, to life in general.
“Although I can’t say that I’m not grateful to have a little more time on this earth. This old lady feels like she’s got some more living to do yet.”
She smiled, and I smiled back, remembering after a moment that I had some questions.
“So, please tell me how everyone is. Were there any major injuries or casualties on our side?”
As I’d guessed and hoped she would, Marie shook her head emphatically, making her gray bob swish. “Not even a single one, I’m very glad to report. Not a single one. We were very lucky. A few very minor injuries were sustained by some of Chief Wallace’s shift
ers, and the western hill is pretty torn up and potholed, but that’s it.”
“Oh, thank God. I’m so, so relieved.”
“As I am, too, and as is everyone in town. A lot of us were very nervous about how our shifters might fare during a large-scale battle, but it was the Bloodborn bears who sustained great losses. At least thirty of them were killed, although very unfortunately, Gerard Blackthorn wasn’t among them. Many more than that were injured, probably at least a few dozen of the several hundred Bloodborn who retreated back to Blackbrook. Now, if that’s not proof that often worry is for nothing, I don’t know what is.”
Marie and I talked for a little while longer about things pertaining to the battle before I finally asked her if she knew just exactly how mad Reed was at me for doing what I did.
“Well....” Marie took a deep breath and let it out slowly, casting her gaze to the side for a long moment before returning it to my face. “I don’t know if ‘mad’ is exactly the right word, but… you may find that he's more than a bit upset that you left the house when the attack happened.”
I cringed inwardly, wondering just exactly how upset “more than a bit” would turn out to be. Especially since I’d done what I did in an attempt to bring us closer.
“But, on the other hand, I think he was just as impressed by your knife-throwing as I was. It’s one thing to hear about such a thing, and another altogether to actually see it.”
Marie soon left, after saying that Reed had told her on the phone that he’d be home to see me as soon as he could, although that might not be until late evening, because he was busy organizing patrols that would ensure that no Bloodborn bears were able to reenter the village overnight.
