Chapter 11
Thwap thwap thwap thwap.
The chopper was nearing the roofs surface, dropping the rope ladders out of its sides. We finally reached the end of one ladder and I forced Ash and Christophe first.
"They can't get past my toxicity, it would be better if I go up last!" I yelled over the noise. "Plus the sun is on the horizon, we're safe. Hurry up! Graves start climbing!"
"Not without-" He started to say.
"Please," I growled with a pleading in my tone.
He started up the ladder right behind Chris. I was hanging on the bottom of the one Ash just went up still keeping an eye out in case any of the suckers attempted the sunlight. I don't know why they would, seeing as they would burn to ashes immediately. The guys were in and the chopper started to lift back up, I could feel my ladder being raised as we got a little higher. Then I seen something glimmer out of the corner of my eye; I turned my head to look and before I could raise my gun it hit us.
The chopper exploded right above me and the next thing I knew I was on my back facing upward. Shards of metal, blades and helicopter parts were landing everywhere. I forced myself up and went for the edge of the rooftop. I tried to avoid the falling pieces from crushing me and as soon as I hit the edge of the rooftop I leapt off of it and into the ocean. The water was freezing cold, and I'm not sure how deep I was, and what's worse is I couldn't move a single muscle. I tried to pump my arms and legs to swim toward the surface, but they stayed motionless. My eyes shot open and I noticed I could see the clouds through the water's surface, it was beautiful, distorted, but beautiful. I could lay there forever if I could breathe under water, and breathing is another thing I couldn't do. I was holding my breath for awhile now and beginning to feel dizzy. Realization hit me then-they were all gone. I watched them die and there wasn't a thing I could do about it. I felt my heart caving in on itself and was about to open my airways and welcome in the ice cold water, hoping it would take away all of the agony; but I couldn't do that. I had to live, if not for myself then for all of them.
For Christophe who had to live his life tainted by his father's blood, but found it in himself to become a good person, who saved me time and time again, who always came back for me, who has always been there when I needed him most. For Graves who lived a life with a mother who allowed him to be taken away and put with abusive foster parents, over and over again, who was an outsider just trying to get by, who let me into his hideout in a mall because he thought I was in trouble, who stood by my side after I got him bit, held a gun to his head, got him kidnapped and broken, not to mention almost bled him dry. For Ash who saved me from 3 suckers chasing me in the woods, who saved me from another group of suckers within the schola walls, who came to my rescue and was there for my first kill, who I "helped" release from Sergej's hold and has been by my side like a brother ever since. I love them all, and I will mourn for them, but I will live for them because they deserve that much.
I began moving, my legs at first, then my arms. I could see the clouds coming clearer into my view, I was moving slowly, but I was moving. Almost there, about to reach the top, I could feel the temperature of the water warming, not by much, but it was something.
"Ahhhhhhhh," I sat upright with a scream coming out that every djamphir and wulfen within the schola walls probably heard. It was a svetocha's cry. My door slammed open at the same time as the shutters from my window. The glass cup on my nightstand shattered into a million tiny pieces and I'm pretty sure I heard the mirror from the bathroom hitting the tile floor. I looked from Graves to Christophe to Nat, Shanks, Ben, the twin blonde's, Isaac and finally my eyes landed on Ash. He was the only person to move towards me, and before I knew it his arms were around me, not in a romantic way, but in a protective way. The way dad held me when he showed up at the hospital after Gran died. I was sobbing like a baby suddenly and even Graves who was right next to me could only stare. No one knew what to do, and well, neither did I. I could feel them grow uneasy even though I couldn't see them. Ash just sat there patting my back like you do a small child when they are hurt.
"Dru, what's going on?" Shanks asked. I could tell he was sitting on the window bench and I knew he was worried, but I couldn't stop sobbing. I couldn't even catch my breath enough to say a single word. I could hear shuffling and knew Nat was probably cleaning up the mess of glass in the bathroom.
"Babe, are you okay?" That was Graves, I could recognize that voice through a snow storm. He hadn't moved since I woke him up with my screaming, and everyone came crashing in through either my door or window. I couldn't answer him though. I couldn't even think; I knew my arms were clutching Ash from underneath his own, with the left side of my face buried in his chest and fortunately with both of us having long hair, the rest of my face stayed hidden. As for anything else, I just couldn't process much at the moment.
"Maybe you could all give Dru some privacy, she's obviously okay, physically," Ash said quietly to the others.
"We'll be right outside Silverhead," replied Christophe.
"Let us know if you need anything Dru-girl," Shanks said getting up.
"I will go get you breakfast and coffee," Isaac said already in the hallway.
"Dru, I'd like to stay," Nat pleaded quietly.
I nodded as best I could. "Graves," I whispered.
"Wouldn't dream of leaving your side love," he said while placing a hand on my lower back.
I was still sobbing when I said Christophe's name, so I wasn't sure he'd heard me.
"I'll be right out-" he started.
"Stay," I asked through gasping breaths.
I cried for awhile longer while they all sat around quietly. Graves sat in the computer chair after he had gotten out of bed and dressed, while Nathalie cleaned up the room. She didn't want anyone helping her, saying they'd only get in the way; and Chris was just staring out the window. I didn't need to look to know what they were doing. I finally pulled away from Ash and as I did he was suddenly handing me a cool damp wash cloth. I should have known Nat would have that ready and waiting for me. I placed the cloth over my face without fussing and it felt wonderful. The food had come awhile ago and was probably cold by now, but I would still eat it. Nat handed me a cold bottle of water so I could rehydrate myself. I slid my feet off the side of the bed and then it hit. That annoying wave of nausea I get after a damn vision, they are really cutting into my sleep. I began to retch, and I had the sudden thought my insides were going come out. I was eventually able to breathe normal again and sit up right without anymore issues. I sat there replaying the dream over and over praying that it wasn't one of my true seeins, but just a dream out of fear.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Christophe asked me gently.
"Let's not push her," Nat said.
"We need to make sure she's okay," this came from Graves.
"Why don't we just stay quiet and when she's ready to talk we will let her talk," Ash said sounding defeated, probably because he didn't know how to help me and it was killing him inside.
They shut up and I sat there next to Ash shoulder to shoulder. I turned to look at him and when our eyes met there was a surge of an electric current. He must have seen something in my eyes because his were suddenly fierce. They were filling with tears, but fierce nonetheless. Graves and I can have a conversation just by looking at each other, but the connection Ash and I had, was entirely different. We connect on a different level. Like he knows exactly what's going through my thoughts and me with his. If I ever had a brother I could only hope we had what Ash and I have. He put his arm around me and leaned me into his side, while resting the side of his head on top of mine.
"It'll be okay," he whispered.
"I don't know, I don't know anymore," I said, my voice sounding very husky.
"Dru, we can stop this now. Just let me go and trade myself-" Christophe began to say.
"That is what we are not doing," before I knew it I was standing, "He won't stop at you, hell, he won't stop at anyone till he gets to me! He just wants you 3 out of the way so getting to me won't be such a hassle! If anyone is trading themselves over it'll be me, but I'm not giving up that easily! I have too much to live for! I'll die for it all if I have to, but you bet your ass I'm going to do my best to live and keep you all alive as well!"
He was looking at the ground by now, and when I turned to Graves he looked at me with so much love in his eyes that I just wanted to curl up into his arms right then and there. Nat stirred restlessly from the bathroom door with worry on her face and when her cat tilted eyes met mine I almost started to breakdown again. The gold in them glowed brightly and even in the dimness of the room you could see the whites around the irises because they were opened so wide.
"What time is it?" I asked her trying to distract her.
"Around 6," she whispered.
I began to panic, "At night?!" She jumped at the question, probably because I yelled again.
"N-no, in the morning, you went to bed a little over 2 hours ago," she said scared that I was going to yell again.
I had wanted to get to bed early that night, well morning, now that I remembered. I wanted as much rest as possible. And I wanted for everyone else to do the same, I had told them to be in bed before the sun hit the horizon. It was beginning to rise now actually, and now it makes sense as to why the room was so dim.
"I'm sorry guys. I didn't mean-I'm really sorry," I was about to start crying again but Christophe stopped me.
"Never be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for. Please, let's get you back to bed?" He said softly.
"I'd like to eat first. You can all go now if you'd like. Thank you for staying," I said to them all.
"I'll be next door if you need anything Dru," Nat said giving me a hug and walking out.
"I'm gonna go grab you something warmer to eat," Graves said getting up from the chair. Before I could protest he was out the door.
"Ash please get rest. You cannot stay outside my window all the time, you need a good sleep, plus you could get sun burnt," I pleaded with him knowing that even if it was possible for him to get sunburn he'd probably heal immediately.
"I gotta work on my tan," he said jokingly and I gave him a small tight smile, "But you're right, I'll be across the hall if you need anything okay?" I nodded to him and he left the room after he locked up my window's shutters.
Chris and I were left alone once again. He was still when I looked at him, and all I could do was stare into those glowing blue eyes. His gaze dropped to my lips and then back to my eyes, and my gaze did the same. His face worked so well together, and his perfectly mussed hair was distracting, but not as distracting as his scent. My breathing quickened and in two strides I threw myself into his arms. I hugged him, and hugged him tight.
"Kochana, I have never had someone risk themselves for me. Why?"
"Because I love you," I whispered to him.
He pulled away to look into my eyes and kissed me softly on my cheek. I yearned for more, but knew it was wrong. He gave me one last hug then walked out of the room. I stood there near my window hugging myself. I could hear my owl's wing beats from a distance. They weren't urgent, but it was letting me know it was there for me. I couldn't tell them about the dream, I knew I couldn't when Ash and I looked at each other. We have to go into this with as much confidence as possible. Whether what I just seen was a dream, vision, true-seein or whatever; it was something to keep to myself. I couldn't burden them with this. I figured I'd just do whatever possible to keep us away from that damn rooftop. We shouldn't have to go up there anyway, and if we did, I'd rather us all just jump into the water than wait for a damn chopper.
"Hey, I grabbed you some eggs and a grilled cheese, I hope that's okay," Graves said pulling me out of my thoughts.
"That's fine," I said taking a seat at the foot of my bed. We sat there eating and talking about anything but what had just happened earlier. He knew by looking at me that I couldn't and didn't want to talk about it, and I was grateful that he didn't push the matter any further.
After we were done eating I took a hot shower. When I came out of the bathroom Graves was laying there staring at the ceiling. I laid down next to him and propped myself up on my elbow to face him.
"What are you thinking of?" I asked him
"Just wondering," he replied. When I gave him the look to go on he did, "About what our kids would be like. Not just how they'd look because I'm sure they'll be beautiful, but what they would actually be. I'm mean, humans and suckers, humans and djamphir, djamphir and suckers, djamphir and djamphir, all make djamphir. Wulfen and wulfen, all make wulfen. Loup garou can have both depending on genetics. But a Svetocha/Maharaj and a Loup Garou, I wonder, what would the outcome be?"
Even though his question caught me off guard, it did get me thinking. Then I smiled to myself and said, "Well I guess we'll know in a couple of years won't we?"
He looked at me and gave me that beautiful smile of his. I kissed him goodnight and hoped to get a decent rest. We held each other as I drifted into a blissful sleep. The last thing I remembered thinking, was that I hoped I was right about finding out in a couple years. I can't lose him tomorrow; I can't lose any of them.