Warning: This chapter, "Monster," has a great deal of violent domestic abuse. If this in anyway disturbs you, stop reading at the bold words "Miss me?" and continue at the bold line "But that wasn't comforting." This chapter is meant to give the readers a glimpse into Schuyler's past life with Gabriel and why he still, after centuries, haunts her. The song "Monster" by Meg & Dia summarizes Gabriel and what happens to Schuyler in this chapter.
Chapter 24
Beautifully Broken
"That night he caged her.
Bruised and broke her.
He struggled closer.
Then he stole her."
-Monster, Meg & Dia
Part II
Monster
"Shoot."
"What is it, Jensen?"
"I forgot. Someone has to take the money home and put it in the vault."
I slapped my palm to my forehead. Jared groaned. "Jensen," I cried, "You were supposed to do that this morning." Jensen flashed a great big (guilty) smile. Jared glared and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Thanks bro. Now we're BOTH going to miss all the good parts. I really wanted to see how the wolves fight." Jensen looked as if he were about to cry. And I, being me, couldn't stand it.
"Give it here. I'll take it."
Jensen's head snapped up and looked at me as if I were a goddess. "Really!" I nodded, "I'm stopping at home to change anyway. Can't fight in a skirt, now can I?" Jensen leapt forward and pulled me into a bear hug, "I love you, sis! You're the best little sister in the entire world!" I rolled my eyes away, "Can't say I never did anything for you." Jared decided to jump into the family love, a big sloppy, devious grin dripping off his lips, "Group hug!" "No!" Too late. "Schuyler Taco!" They cheered as they threw all their weight into the hug—the hug of which I was the center. "Eep!" I squeaked as all the air escaped from my lungs. "Love you!" They beamed and kissed both of my cheeks. "See you in a few!" "Hurry or you'll miss your big brothers kicking some serious wolf ass!" The jerks waved on their way out. I glanced at the metal case that housed the week's profits wearily. "Better hurry," I muttered as I picked up my purse and fished out the keys to my truck.
"There," I muttered to myself as I patted the black iron door of our safe, "Tighter than Fort Knox." I stepped out of my brother's closet after locking up the safe. Once the favor for Jensen had been accomplished, I headed for my room so I could change.
"School," I beamed as I hopped from one foot to the next in order to pry off the heels that I always wore with my uniform, "The greatest downside of being immortal. Thank God it's over!" I dramatically executed a silent cheer and leaped like a ballerina across the hallway. "Now," I mumbled, "College!" 'And with Jasper,' I thought as my heart leaped. I swung the door to my room open.
"Now to change," I continued the conversation with myself. I looked up and stopped in my tracks. I swept the room thoroughly with my eyes. "There you are!" I grinned once spotting my favorite pair of jeans lying in a heap on the floor. Without a thought, I unzipped my skirt and tossed it aside. I then unbuttoned my white blouse and tossed it onto the floor. I walked over to my jeans and slipped them on. I frowned when I reached for my shirt, only to find that it was no longer on my dresser. "I could have sworn that I left my shirt there this morning," I frowned. I twirled on the ball of my foot and looked about the room. "There you are," I sighed as I walked over to my bed. Sneaky little thing, I thought, I must have left it there instead of the dresser. What can I say? I must be getting old.
I was about to pull the shirt over my head when my eyes caught a golden glint. My arms dropped and I held the shirt with one hand. "What's that?" I reached out to pick up the odd object that had hidden itself under the clothing I intended to wear. I held it closer for inspection.
I froze.
As if the medal was a venomous snake, I dropped it to the ground and flew backwards a few steps in disbelief. The medal, St. Gabriel's medal—the one I had thrown away. "H-How?" Every muscle in my body locked and my head raced with thoughts, with possibilities. "N-no," I whispered as I shook my head repeatedly. I continued to pace backward. That is until my back hit something. It wasn't a wall.
Time seemed to stop. It felt like everything happened so slowly. There was a light breeze; it drifted through the open window, a window I had not opened myself. It played with the transparent curtains and twisted them into ruby clouds. Ever so slowly, I felt two icy arms snake around my waist and felt a cold breath that could only be compared to a the pins and needles of the arctic's wind smacking across my face. I couldn't breathe and dropped the shirt in utter terror.
"Miss me?"
…no…
His breath felt like hundreds of knives impaling my skin as it brushed across my cheek. Soon, an arm, clothed completely in black, uncoiled from my waist and reached up to my face. The man caressed my face, leaving painful ice trailing behind. His hand slid down the contours of my neck, pausing only slightly to caress the veins, and settled upon a single curl. The man pulled slightly on the curl, watched it straighten. He let the strand free; instantly, it sprung back into a spiral.
"It's been so long, songbird," he whispered, his lips barely touching the back of my ear. Hearing the name—a name that only one person, one monster, had ever called me, I completely froze, encased as an ice sculpture of terror. My thoughts that had once been racing came screeching to an abrupt halt, leaving nothing but echoes of silence in my head. My heart, which had once been fluttering at thoughts of those who had found it, stopped. Air no longer filled my lungs and all I could feel was pure, absolute terror, a terror unlike anything I'd ever felt before.
Like acid, his hands left scalding trails as they wandered over my exposed skin. The appendages roamed down my neck, shoulders, arms. He leaned his head closer to kiss the flesh covering my neck and shoulders. The curled edges of his dark brown hair brushed my shoulder. It was him… "You've grown so beautiful…" He whispered the words, his voice serene, overwhelmed. His grip around my stomach and forearm tightened immensely. He snarled, "And with beauty, your ignorance." Before I could even register what was happening, I was in pain.
Like a rag doll, I was flung across the room by inhuman strength. I slid across the floor at speeds only a car could reach and slammed straight into a dresser. The pure force forced the heavy object to explode instantly into splintered wood; glass shattered as tiny fragments of the mirror attachment burst and fell like rain. I caught glimpses of myself in the pieces. My skin was whiter than the moon and my eyes were unrecognizable. Any hope I had left was snuffed out by my own reflection. I was a doll, consumed by fear, about to be broken beyond all repair. I was no longer the bold woman. I was once more a frightened fifteen year old girl, trapped in a dark cellar. The screams would go unheard. Against him, I was a scared, fragile little girl. I was human.
What was left of the once hefty piece of furniture gave out, collapsing on top of me, burying me beneath. It didn't stay that way for long. Within a flash, the chunk of wood was pried off and flipped out of the way. I stared up with wide, terror filled orbs. Only a single word echoed in my mind as I stared in pure horror.
My eyes trailed over his features. He looked exactly as I'd seen him last, exactly 270 years prior. His hair still fell in a mess of waves and curls across his face. Still, he continued to tower over me in height and brute strength. And worst of all, his eyes. They were no longer their heart wrenching acidic green; no, now they blazed with fury the color of blood, an intensity that could stop a heart. A simple glance into his eyes and you would know true evil, true insanity. Yes. One single word came to mind, one that continued to haunt me, even after all of this time:
Gabriel.
Rage boiling, he reached out and grabbed a fistful of my raven hair and yanked me by it until I stood on my feet and faced him. "You've forgotten," he snarled, his bright red eyes widening, crazed, "Who it is that you belong to."
"H-how?" The words slipped from my mouth. They sounded human, weak. It didn't sound like me, but it was. Gabriel smiled wickedly. He seized my forearms roughly and threw me across the room as if I were a wad of paper. My back crashed into the wall, no doubt leaving behind a crater. Plaster dust and photographs fluttered across the room, carried on the breeze.
I slid painfully down what was left of the wall. "You mean," Gabriel laughed as he ran his hands through his hair, "How am I here? How am I still alive after you killed me?" His laugh grew louder, intense with insanity, "I survived, of course, dear." No! My mind finally woke up from the lingering nightmares of my past life, if only a little. He was dead! He couldn't have survived! I killed him! I killed him…
"Where are you going, Songbird?"
"Gabriel!" I whimpered under my breath, my eyes growing in fear as I turned. With a laugh, he stepped out from the shadows created by the storehouse. He strolled closer toward me and stopped once we were face to face.
His eyes darkened and his face contorted with anger, "You weren't leaving, were you?" I couldn't think. I couldn't speak. I could only stand as a statue. "You are my wife!" He shouted, drawing back a fist and smashing it into my face, "I decide when you leave! I own you!"
The hit was enough to wake me up. You have to leave, I told myself. Get far away, far away where it will be safe. Safe from him. "No," I replied strongly as I backed away. "No!" His rage grew to epic proportions, proportions that I doubted even demons could contain. He lunged forward and clasped his giant hands around my neck. He pushed until my back hit the edge of the barn door. Once he had leverage, he squeezed as hard as he could. I clawed and pulled at the human noose, but found no release. With hazy vision and burning lungs, I reached out towards the barn. My hand collided with something and my fingers wrapped around the handle. Without a single thought, I mustered up every ounce of my strength and swung it at my attacker.
A loud 'thunk' echoed through the estate.
Gabriel's hand loosened before falling away altogether. I fell with him to the ground, gasping desperately for air. Once I could see straight, I looked up, only to be met with his eyes… his glazed, dieing eyes. That was the first time I'd seen so much blood. Yet… even with the bloodlust, I felt nothing, nothing but relief. I looked from him, with half of his face in the dirt, to the shovel in my hand, the blood covering my dress. I'd hit him, bashed his head in.
The blood collected and pooled at my knees. Distraught, I dropped the shovel onto the ground, the clink of metal against the earth was ear-splitting in the silence. I shuffled away, one foot after the other, to create a distance. Gabriel's hand twitched and groped the dirt. I could see his eyes, finally broken by insanity, by death. His eyelids rolled closed and his body stilled. There was so much blood, more so than a human should possess…
"I wasn't dead," he chuckled, his face suddenly inches away from mine. He roughly pinned my entire body to the wall with his own. His lips barely touched mine he was so close. "I'm special too, Songbird," he insisted, "My blood wasn't normal. I had far too much that day, so I did not die like a normal person would. You see, my dear, my blood is special. The cells multiply at a rate far superior to a human, by ten times in fact." He laughed again and wrenched my face into his hand, his nails slicing ribbons of my thick skin. He searched my eyes for something as he spoke, "By the time you had walked away, I was already healing."
He continued as he tilted my head side to side, memorizing every inch, and grinning as red streaks slid down the curve of my neck, "I would have survived had it not been for a passing vampire. Ha! Of all the things! A vampire!" He chuckled at a joke he seemed to share only with himself. His face fell to a straight line, "He found me and wanted my blood. So, he took it. And, again, I survived, but this time, I awoke as another… a creature of the night, a bringer of deaths—a vampire." His hands slid across my hairline to push back falling strands of hair, "When I came to my senses, the first thing that I wanted to do was come find you." He ran his hand through my curly locks. He frowned and his eyes became void, "Unfortunately, fate wouldn't have that. After faking my own death, I set out to find you. It took me centuries to track you down, and once I thought I finally had you, you disappeared again." Pain.
His fist hit me with the force of a wrecking ball. I let out a strangled cry when my head whipped around and smashed into a wall. Big mistake. Gabriel became excited, and possibly even more crazed at the sound. Yet, his anger was not hindered. His touch appeared to be gentle, but I knew the beast within far too well.
Gabriel pulled me by my hair to my feet. Once I was standing, he trailed his nails lightly in a pattern reaching from my neck, over my chest, down to my stomach, and back. "It wasn't until you stayed in one place, this place of all places," he gripped my forearm tightly; so tightly that I could feel my bones bowing under the pressure, "I wanted to take you then… but you were smitten with another!" He growled, snapped, and dug his nails into my skin. Pain seared across my body as he clawed from my neck to the waist band of my jeans. The bloody trails left five lines, taking off bits of skin as they ran down. Gabriel's red eyes brightened, the crimson solid boiling. He flashed a white smile.
In a single movement, he began kissing from the start of the newly created scar down to the end and back, leaving smeared bloody kisses all over in his wake. He sucked up every drop of blood that leaked from the wounds then stood to face me, blood dripping from the gory mess upon his face. "But you left him," he beamed and grabbed the sides of my face. He roughly pulled my face to his and kissed me with a great passion, a passion I could tell nothing of origin. He pulled back with a pant and growled, "But the fool wouldn't let you go!" His hands moved down until they reached my hips. Once there, he squeezed tightly as he scowled, "'I'll run any distance, swim every ocean if it only meant that I could catch a glimpse of my angel', he said." Gabriel scoffed and let go of me completely. I fell into a clump on the floor. He paced the room silently before turning back, a crazed smile of bliss flooding across his face, "He wouldn't let you go, he said, he'd chase you forever." He paused to grin, "So… I broke him so he'd never be able to chase after you again."
My heart sputtered and spiraled into a never ending decent of fire. He'd hurt him. Gabriel was the one… who hurt him. Gabriel was the reason he was paralyzed? No…
"Billy…" I sobbed the name in utter horror. He'd hurt Billy. My precious first love, my greatest friend. Gabriel… always swore he'd take everything… everything that I loved…
Gabriel shouted venomously, his eyes flaring with a burning hatred, "YOU WILL NOT SAY HIS NAME!" The shouting in my ears did not lessen, even as I was flung across the room, smashing sidelong into the window pane, my head shattering the glass of the window. With pain flowing rapidly like the river of fear, I slid down, smearing crimson along the off-white walls as if it were an empty white canvas.
He didn't allow any time for my sight to clear before he was back in my face screaming, "The only name you will ever say will be mine!" With that, he smashed his fist into my face again. He continued, his rage rising with every second that passed, "Then, I come for you again and this is what I find?" His rage boiled over and he grabbed my arms and rammed me into the only intact wall, "I find you in the arms of another man!" He snarled so violently before thrashing me so hard that I went straight through the drywall to destroy the wooden supports, and then tossed me across the floor. The slide across the hardwood was made easier from the blood and from the sheer force, it was no surprise when I hit headfirst into the wall. I heard a sickening crack, my skull, and the room began to darken and spin. He yelled, his true nature shining through, and lifted the broken desk from the floor and catapulted it in my direction. My eyes grew wide as I saw it slide as if in slow motion, although the object was moving faster than anything natural on the earth. My arms rose instinctively to cover my face and neck and my lower half curled into the top. Both maneuvers did nothing.
Several series of cracks and pops echoed in the room as several of my bones were shattered or broken. My lips parted to scream out in pain, but I just as quickly bit down on the flesh to cease the cries. In a single shift, the furniture was pulled away. I looked up, my vision hazed from an all too familiar full body pain, to find him kneeling beside me, a broken, pained sheen glossing his red eyes. He cautiously slipped his arms beneath my back to shift my battered, broken body into his arms. He sighed as if the image was far too much to bear and then cooed sincerely, "But, do not fear, Songbird. I will forgive you. You were, after all, lost without my guidance. You have become so confused." He then smiled genuinely, a handsome sight if one did not know the monster beneath, and lifted me to my feet. My leg gave out instantly with a sickening sound and I fell, but he caught me before I could hit the floor. With a soft chuckle, he wrapped his arms around me like a steel cage and pressed me against his chest. He continued to coo as his fingers combed through my bloody curls, excitement at the very core of every word he uttered, "We can be a family again, all three of us."
My eyes grew wide and my breath caught in my throat. The three?
Three…
Dear God…
What have you done?
His smile was nostalgic, sickeningly sweet as he broadened the cage by holding me out at arms' length. While one arm looped around my battered frame to keep me from collapsing, his free hand brushed down and up my back, making sure to caress every scar made by him in the past as he made the rounds. He whispered softly at the reminder, "You know better than to make me mad, Songbird." His hands continued to trace every scar, every deformed patch of skin like a lover as he leaned forward and kissed me.
I could only sag against him, limp, my mind already thousands of miles away in a time I had thought had long since past. But he was here. He always was; and I would never be free that cold, dark room made of stone.
Gabriel grew irritated by my lack of response to his declaration of affection and quickly retaliated. I soon felt his clawed fingers raking down my back, opening old scars and creating new ones. Agony exploded from the destruction of the nerves beneath the skin as my precious life blood slipped away, dripping into a pool collecting at my feet. The mere smell of copper choked me; breath came to me in restrained gasps. His lips contorted upward into a wild sneer as he pressed his lips against mine once more, this time enjoying reaction. His nails continued to slide down the path parallel to my spine; controlled by his own bloodlust, Gabriel desired more blood. A low rumbling in his chest caught me off guard; the distraction gave him enough time to bite down on my lip, allowing more precious life to be lost to me. His kisses grew needier and his lips fell from mine and trailed down my neck to my shoulder. His bloodied hand returned to my forearm, then slid down to my elbow and then my wrist. His hand slid into mine, his red fingers tangling with mine.
The small action was enough to sever all of the strings that held me down to reality, inside that dark room smelling of fear and blood, only to be replaced with a thousand steel cables that anchored deeply into a world of light.
Gabriel screamed, slapping my hands away and pushing my body away as both of us fell to the floor. He fell with a loud crash and began to scream obscenities as he held his head, in pure agony. I fell back, narrowly catching myself with my elbows, sputtering wildly for air. Once I had found it, I stared at Gabriel in a stupor. He was screaming in utter terror, utter madness. Lost to a world inflicted with fear…
Instantly, my forgotten heart gave a great leap, and with it, my body. Survival instincts, alongside the returned ability of thought processes mixed with painful memories, came to me all at once. I struggled to pick myself as far as I could from the floor and stumbled, adrenaline giving me wings, towards the light switch. I swatted at the wall roughly, leaving bright red hands prints as I scrambled for the switch. When I found it, the lights flicked on and I prayed to every diety that someone would see it. From there, I ran to the glass-less window, driven by the thought of jumping out. I gripped the edges of the window pane and managed to swing my bad leg onto the other side.
Claws ripped me away. Gabriel had broken form his own mental cage. Unfortunately for me, it only made him madder. Again, I was hurled to the floor. He positioned himself to block the route to the window. He didn't even bother with the door. In my condition, it would be unlikely for me to escape the house with him following.
Yet, it wouldn't be impossible.
Fueled by a new-found desire for life and light, in one heart palpitating rush, I raced one hands and knees to the door and broke the handle off in one go. I was nearly out when Gabriel caught me. Abruptly, he yanked me off my feet by the waist and threw me down onto the hardwood floor; he quickly followed. "No!" I screamed defiantly, finally finding my voice in the abyss of fear as I flailed about in attempt to break free from his weight. Gabriel grew irritated by my actions and slammed my entire upper half through the wooden boards. The action resulted in the dislocation of my shoulder.
When I looked up, his eyes were that of the devils. They glistened with rage, hate, lust, envy, insanity… murder. My heart tightened in my chest. His lips curled upward like a feral dog to bare his teeth. He snarled loudly as he pinned down my shoulders before dipping down towards the flesh near my collarbone. Then, without a moments notice, he bit down, hard.
My eyes grew wide, my mouth wide and gaping, and I trashed wildly. I wanted to scream, the pain was so bad, but my voice had abandoned me. Within seconds, I felt a light burning sensation build at the tips of my feet. Slowly, the heat spread through my toes, up to my ankles. The heat grew scorching, and my muscles tensed so extremely to leave me paralyzed. My mouth clamped shut in an attempt to hold in the growing agony. Finding me quiet and the thrashing diluted to mere twitching, Gabriel growled and moved his hands from my arms. They slid lower and lower. He ripped of the buttons off my jeans and did the same to the buttons on his own shirt. "No!" The word was weak and spoken barely above the whisper, but the fire was strong. Gabriel's growl rumbled like thunder. His lifted one hand from the waistband of my jeans, his fingers curling into a ball as he drew his arm back. My eyes clenched closed as I braced for more pain.
Nothing came. My eyes opened slowly to find Gabriel silent with his head tilted at an angle as if he were trying to hear a sound far away. He was still and quiet, which made me realize something. I was getting really hot, like fire hot. The heat at my feet had spread up my legs, getting hotter the further it traveled. In fact, it felt as is someone had doused me in oil and then thrown a match. It was a fire, a burning, very painful fire.
Gabriel growled loudly, drawing only partial attention from me. "That fool," he growled, eyes practically glowing with fury. He glanced down at me and frowned when he found the sound of my heart beat pick up and thump faster and faster, racing. His frown twisted further when he saw my back arch as a sheet of newly forming sweat mixed with the crimson. "Now, now, Songbird," he cooed as he got off of me. He disappeared from my hazy vision, only to reappear seconds later. He leaned down to kiss my forehead softly as he slid something around my neck. The cold item, something on a chain perhaps, chilled the scorching heat I felt from my body before it, too, became hot as well. "You are my wife," he whispered into my ear, "You belong to me. I will return when there are fewer distractions to take back what is mine." With that said, he kissed my lips roughly and disappeared from the room.
But that wasn't comforting. Now, I lay on the floor, burning in the scorching heat of the hottest fire. Tears completely blinded me and I clamped my eyes shut and wreathed in a silent pain. The fire was spreading, and to top it off, I could feel my control of my own body dwindling. I opened my eyes and searched desperately for the fire that consumed me so. Only… there wasn't one. My mind swam in chaos of thoughts as I tried to think how, but the pain was spreading, a pain that dwarfed the battery, and my mind was slipping away. That was when I realized something. This pain, I'd felt it once before, when I had first met Jasper.
I was bitten by a vampire.
But something wasn't right. I was already part vampire. This should have no affect on me! Why, then! My mind fell away as the fire reached my chest. Instantly, my lungs caught fire and breath would not come. Right after, my heart, as if fueled by the heat, began to race. I gasped for air, but found that my lungs would not accept it. Why is this—
Everything went dark.
As if answering me, visions encased in red from the flames flashed before my eyes.
Ulric frowned, having finally solved the mystery and allowing the information to set in. His eyes were guarded, disbelieving, "There's no way. It can't be done. You're mistaken." "Am I?" I retorted as I reached to untie the choker around my neck. His eyes traced the spot and his eyes grew wide. "You've been bitten?" He exclaimed in disbelief. "Yes," I nodded as I sat back, "And you saw what happened to give me the other part of my DNA. You were there." "That's why you almost died," he frowned, leaning back in slight acceptance. "Yes," I nodded again as I watched his reactions, "Werewolves and Vampires are toxic to each other." He sighed heavily and snatched his mug off the table and downed it with one gulp.
"You've got problems."
"Thanks."
Ulric sighed and rubbed at his throbbing headache. "So," he chuckled dryly, "You do have a weakness." "Do I?" I wondered aloud. He moved his hand away to reveal his serious, dangerous blue eyes. Speaking with a tone of learned wisdom, he bluntly stated, "It's a double-edged sword, love. You're the impossible, one-of-a-kind. Judging from the sickness, I'd have to say you're in trouble."
"What do you mean?" I asked in a hushed whisper.
He leaned closer onto his elbows and whispered just as quietly, "You're no longer invincible, Sky. Like I said, you have a weakness."
Weakness?
He sighed and ran his hand through his ruffled hair, "You'll never be accepted onto either side and both will combine to destroy you. The blood that runs through your veins, love, shouldn't be. It's a raging war, always has been. If an outside force comes into contact, a force that would oppose the enemy side, you could cease to exist." He groaned when the words refused to make sense. "Sky," he stared desperately, "You, what you are, it was never supposed to be. It shouldn't be, but it is, and eventually it will kill you, permanently. Love, you're two halves that can never make a whole."
He frowned in worry, "Tread carefully with this war. I believe your bloke has it right; you should sit this one out."
"Why?" I groaned, completely confused, "Why can't I fight!"
"Newborns bite," he scowled at a memory, "Werewolves scratch and cut bodies into ribbons. You really don't get it, do you?"
I shook my head.
"Sky, you're allergic to the venom of the cold ones."
Allergies.
Who would have thought the great Schuyler Lorena Von Curen would be done in by a simple allergy?
Yes, I chuckled at the irony.
"Yet," Ulric sighed, a small hopeful smile spreading to his face, "the dosage shouldn't kill you. You will, most likely, survive an attack. Heck, you might even escape with a cold. So long as it's only one."
Ironic, isn't it?
He said he would kill me if I ever left.
Without even realizing it, he'd kept his promise.
"I'm special too, Songbird," he insisted, "My blood wasn't normal. I had far too much that day, so I did not die like a normal person would. You see, my dear, my blood is special. The cells multiply at a rate far superior to a human, by ten times in fact."
Bastard.
He had too much blood because of rapid cell growth.
The same idea applies to venom.
So, in reality, that means he had 10x the venom.
I'm going to die.
My body was shutting down, bit by bit, yet I happily welcomed the freedom from pain. I sat in silence for the longest time. My thoughts were slow and few in number, as well as quiet, and my heart grew weaker, so weak that I could barely hear it. My body became numb and I felt like all the weight I had grown so used to had been lifted, leaving behind a weightless, disintegrating mind. The vision from so long ago, the vision foretelling this very moment, seemed so cynical. I remembered seeing myself, my room slathered in blood. I remember the faceless girl—I laughed dryly as I realized that I'd always known in the back of my mind that it had been me—lying in a pool of her own blood baring the trademark, a medal, of her killer. I would be rushed to the hospital, of course. I felt more hot tears escape from my eyes and imagined their stream down my pale, bloodied, bruised cheeks. Carlisle would be there when I died. Part of me took comfort in knowing I wouldn't be alone. Another half looked on in horror.
Time seemed only an illusion. Slowly, but surely, I felt the ties, the cables, that had held me so strongly to this world snap one by one. My grip on a world in which I clung so desperately too began to loosen. My eyesight faded out for a second before going completely black. My hearing began to dull; the sirens, the yelling, the shouting, the bustle of movement—all disappeared into nothing. Yet, in the silence, the paralysis, and the darkness, the pain grew fiercer and my will to live, to survive, became weaker and dwindled into short, broken beats, much like my battered heart.
