We all sat around the fire, Isaiah had wanted to go for a walk on the path and I had humored him, I expressed uneasiness when he lead me to a path through the woods, it was dark after all, and going through there at this time was against all of what I'd been taught.
"Isaiah!" I said loudly as he took off into the woods, ignoring my warnings.
"If you won't come with me, I'll go alone!" He threatened in a playful tone, I debated with myself, he was a damphir…but he'd never had any training…he wouldn't know how to protect himself, I had no choice. I couldn't just let him go in there on his own…
I looked behind me at the fire in the distance, all I could see was the glow, I didn't have time to get Dimitri, I took off into the woods in Isaiah's wake, I needed to get him out of there.
"Isaiah!" I whispered fiercely, he was standing in the middle of a small clearing about 20 feet in, completely exposed.
"Isaiah, we need to get out of here." I said, on full alert, looking around me assessing all that was around me, I had a really uneasy feeling, and I paid full attention, hoping to not get my tell-tale nauseous feeling.
"Oh, come on, what're you afraid? Isn't that what you guys go through all those trainings for, for protecting yourself?"
"No." I replied, "We go through that training to protect others, others like you in situations we can't avoid."
"We're not in any danger here."
"You don't know th-" Then it hit me at the most inconvenient time possible. Was it just me or did it seem the strigoi always happened to come around at the worst times. I pulled my stake, and I could see fear in Isaiah's eyes as I tensed for an attack, taking in all of my surroundings.
"What-what is it?" He stammered, completely shocked at my change in attitude.
"Get out of here." I ordered, "Get out of here, now. Get Dimitri."
He began to argue, when one stepped out from behind him, I turned and lunged forward throwing Isaiah behind me, the strigoi in front of me snarled,
"I would prefer Moroi, but I'll take Damphir too." He looked at Isaiah behind me,
"Over my dead body." I said menacingly, and he looked back to me,
I sensed another to my side, and prepared myself to take on both,
"That can be arranged." Then, the one on my side lunged, I was just able to evade his attack, but in that second the one that had been in front of me jumped me at the opportunity, but I had been expecting him, and shoved backwards, throwing him off balance, but he dragged me with him, I let out a small scream as my thigh dragged across a rock on the ground. I didn't allow it to make me falter though and I turned and pounced on him shoving my stake up and through his ribs, he let out a high pitched screech, and stayed down. It had taken all but two seconds, he had been young and didn't understand his new skills yet. Right as I jumped up another unexpected wave of nausea hit me and I hesitated, and then my world exploded in pain as one of them grabbed me by my hair, I let out a startled yelp of pain, before, jumping into action, he deflected my first attack, which I had expected, so I caught the one in front of me off guard and lashed out, kicking him in the chest. He stumbled back about a foot, and then threw himself down at me. Big Mistake, I couldn't lie it was funny to watch him take his own man down as I rolled to the side, quickly. The minion let go of my hair, and I stood quickly. Jumping forward as they fell to the ground, I dug my stake into the fallen one's back, there was a gargled choking sound that made me sick to my stomach and he went still.
I jumped up, and let out a gasp of pain, I nearly fell as the pressure of standing sent sharp pains up through my leg from the gash on the side of my thigh, I didn't have time to assess it now, as the other two repositioned themselves for a second attack, one ahead of me and one to my side, and that's when I saw the Strigoi's hungry glance at…Isaiah, who was frozen in place at the side of the clearing.
"Get out of here, run as fast as you can and don't stop!" He looked at me. One of the strigoi moved towards him but before I could do anything the female strioi gestured to me and said, "No, not yet, I want her." She snarled. "She's a good fighter, but she's injured now, and now she's going to die for killing Michael."
"Elena…" The other strigoi snarled, wow that's ironic. I thought to myself sourly.
"I said, No!"Elena screamed, the younger one flinched, squirming in place, at the smell of Isaiah, I could see his thirst in his eyes, but Elena was the dominant here.
"Isaiah, Run! Get Dimitri." I ordered, I was relieved to see him turn and take off back through the way we'd come, my feeling didn't last long though, as the two strigoi began to slowly move in on me, I was hurt, and outnumbered…the odds weren't in my favor. I waited, tense, trying to interpret which one would spring first, or if they would both attack me at the same time which was unlikely…they circled me for about a minute and a half, the one on my side, lunged first. I saw it just in time, spun to the side, just barely evading him, which was amazing if I must say so myself, because these guys were fast, not to mention I was injured, but my adrenaline whisked my pain away, it didn't take Elena long though, before she'd grabbed my legs and in one fluid motion swiped them out from under me, as I fell I kicked her in the chin, and she gave a feral scream as my kick must have caused her some pain, Elena screamed, "KYLE!" I could see the fear in her eyes as I prepared to kill again, but before I could…the other one, Kyle I realized grabbed me from behind by my waist. Shit. This was not good, him getting his arms around me could cause serious damage, and if he used enough of his strength he could crush me from the outside in.