CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT:
ROME'S FINAL STAND
Pandora could feel the intense worry that was radiating off of Ron and Hermione as the group ran through the corridors. Each time Ginny's scream punctuated the air, it seemed as if she were being dragged further and further away from them. That didn't surprise Pandora; sometimes vampires liked to play with their prey. Let the victim run away a bit, then catch her again. It was like an immortal game of cat-and-mouse. Judging by the spatters of blood left in intervals, it seemed as if that were indeed what was happening to Ginny.
By the time they finally caught up with her, it was too late. The girl lay sprawled on the stone floor in the dungeons. She was barely breathing.
Ron was nearly in tears as he leaned down and cradled his only sister in his arms, "Oh, Ginny, please be okay..."
"T-tell M-mum and Dad th-that I l-love them," Ginny choked out. Blood leaked out holes that had pierced her body and pink froth covered her lips. Hermione took her hand, "I'll miss you," she said to Ginny, with tear-filled eyes.
"I-I'll miss y-you guys, too," whispered Ginny. "I-I l-love you, R– "Ginny's mouth got caught on the final word. Ron held his sister to his chest, rocked her back and forth, and cried.
"Prometheus Reborn," a voice scoffed haughtily, "only to be on the floor and oozing blood everywhere." Rome felt someone dabbing his face as he came around.
"Such a pity really," continued the mocking voice, "he might've once been destined for greatness, but fortune frowned on him again."
Through his haziness of injury and waking up, Rome still had prudence enough to keep his eyes shut. He shifted just a bit; he was bound expertly at the wrists and ankles.
Remarkably, his face was nearly free of pain. Why the devil was Apollo bothering to clean and cure? He got the answer straightaway.
"And we want the young vampire's senses restored for what happens next, so we'll fix his nose and mop his face off, won't we?"
Rather than talking to Epimetheus, Apollo again seemed to have tripped over into his own delightfully malignant world. The egocentric vampire stood and backed up, as if to survey his "creation."
"At last we get to finish what we started all those months ago, Epimetheus." Transfixed, he continued, "Only it's even better now, as we can complete the switch by using her first-blood." Prometheus was palmed roughly at the back of his neck by Epimetheus, and yanked to his knees. His face might be restored but the wounds in his thigh and shoulder blade ached fiercely, so much he nearly threw up with the motion.
Rome feigned waking up as Epimetheus shook him like a sack of flour. He saw Shantiel in his peripheral vision once again, hovering in trance over the stone floor. Apollo reached out and tore the sleeve of the blonde's shirt downward, exposing the juncture where her neck met her shoulder.
Automatically, Rome whipped his head around because of reflex, shouting, "DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" But Epimetheus put a stop to that immediately by forcing Rome to face forward again.
"And now, we present him with an offer no virgin-blood can refuse."
Prometheus knew Apollo was doing something bad to Shan; she stirred and whimpered, causing Rome to whirl around again while he roared, "LET HER ALONE, YOU'RE HURTING HER, STOP-"
Epimetheus's elbow met Rome's forehead a full velocity as the blow made him fall back and his head ricocheted off the wall behind him. It was so fast, Rome nearly blacked out once more. He fought his swimming vision as his head lolled against his chest.
"Two drops is all it takes," Apollo said, now smoothly walking back over to Prometheus. Epimetheus wrenched Rome's neck upward, so he would be looking straight at Apollo. The mongrel had hurt Shantiel, her blood was on his sharpened fingernails…then he took his two crimson-tipped nails and smeared one each in the corners of Rome's mouth.
Prometheus was overwhelmed by the searing heat of blood-fire pounding in his veins, drowning out everything else. Never before had he felt it so intensely… He stopped fighting the other vampires and they slowly released him.
Epimetheus and Apollo stepped back with victorious expressions, knowing what they had always intended to do was now done. Prometheus tried in vain to fight the virus one last time...blood pounding in his ears...tantalizing taste on his lips-he licked at it hungrily...thirst...hunger...feed...bite...and then, there was only Shantiel. Shantiel and what he could take from her…how she could sustain him...
Rome swept up to the unconscious blonde. Noticing the silvery locket around her neck, he grabbed the chain and tore it off her.
"Now and always together we'll be, joined forever as one. Love, Harry," he read the locket's inscription aloud. "Aww, how bloody touching," Rome snorted, throwing the charm and chain on the floor to crush it under his heel. Now leering in Shantiel's face, he tilted her head as all he wanted was to feed off the salty-sweet nectar that pulsed through her vein…Prometheus licked his lips as he bared his fangs and–
Screamed with blood-curdling agony once more.
Pandora took on the situation in mere heartbeats–saw that Prometheus was milliseconds away from drawing Shantiel's first blood–reached into her cloak, and threw her wooden spike at him with deadly accuracy. She'd been conditioning her mind of this possibility for months now, ever since Harry (it WAS Harry who implored it of her, she was certain) had first asked her to be the one to kill him, should his ages-long battle with the vampire virus be lost.
However...now...hearing him scream nearly tore her psyche to shreds...for it was not the soulless shrieking of a vampire that issued forth from Rome's throat... it was instead heartbreaking cry of a teenage boy who'd come within a hair's breadth of reclaiming what was rightfully his, only to have it cruelly stolen from him again... the vampyress wasn't sure whom she was more angry with–her former henchmen or herself.
Epimetheus and Apollo were furious to have their revenge on Harry Potter thwarted one last time... The pair of them rushed her, but she didn't care. There was no fear inside her anymore...only rage and hate. She was seized by the mortals from behind yet made no move to fight them off. They would learn she was not the traitor they took her for soon enough. Her thoughts and vision were only for Harry now.
The Headmaster Dumbledore bound and gagged Apollo and Epimetheus with a sharp twist-jab of his wand. Harry's mates from his mortal life had pushed past Pandora to huddle around him. A crimson stain from the grievous wound through his chest cavity streaked the stone where he'd slid down the wall to land beside Shantiel. Ron and Hermione were weeping over Harry's near-lifeless form, choking out how sorry they were that he'd come so close, only to have Pandora turn against them in the end...now Shantiel was coming around.
Pandora wasn't sure how much more of this human sorrow she could absorb, so she turned to Dumbledore and snapped, "Release them. Their followers now know they're directly responsible for creating the vampire who destroyed their Sovereign. Let them be tracked and hunted down like the animals they are," she spat.
"I'm curious then," the elder man answered with quiet fury, "what exactly does that make you?"
Pandora opened her mouth and replied, "A gravely mistaken fool." The contempt in her voice was directed solely at herself.
"A-a...f-fr-iend," a croaking whisper protested from the floor. Damn him, Harry was still attempting to speak on her behalf.. and even weakly stretched out a bloodied hand across the floor toward her...
Entranced, heedless of those restraining her, Pandora drew forward and knelt down to take Harry's proferred hand. His teenage friends glared at her with open hatred and confused hurt...but the only one of them who spoke was Shantiel.
"Why?" was all the blonde-haired girl could manage to utter, as tears coursed down her cheeks and she stroked the silver shock of Harry's fringe.
A million and one reasons stood behind Pandora's piercing her own sireling through the heart... since I respect him...I once saw the world as you, Shan, but my love exploited me...Harry showed me the heart I never knew still existed...sometimes the best thing to do is the hardest one of all...to preserve his dignity, his humanity, his soul… Yet...the only thing that Pandora could bring herself to say was the one thing she was certain Harry's dearest love and reason for living would be able to understand.
"Because," and Pandora's heart melted as she looked into Shan's watery eyes, "he asked me to."
In spite of herself Shantiel gave a sad little giggle as she gazed down into Harry's eyes. "Yes," she replied, "he can be quite persuasive."
"Thank you," the two teens whispered to Pandora, in tragic gratitude.
Hermione began gently sobbing, and Ron put one of his long arms around the girl..
"It's all for you," Harry wheezed to Shantiel, fluid now clogging his throat. "I'm so-ah-rry. N-n...eve-er...wah-ahn...ted to h-h...hurt- " suddenly Harry's body seized up on him...and gradually released the tension...and he stirred no more.
A great wave of sorrow swept through the group in the hallway, as the mortals not only mourned loss of one of the world's last greatest heroes...but an amazing person, a lost lover, a best friend.
