A/N: I know, I know, I'm a horrible person. It's been way too long since I've updated. Let's just say a bad case of writer's block and a newfound obsession with the CW's Supernatural are to blame. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm not completely satisfied with the outcome but I couldn't leave you guys hanging any longer! CLIMAX TIME!
Quil
We were out of the house and tearing through the forest in five seconds. I was leading the pack, running so fast my paws weren't actually touching the ground at all. Danny, being the only person in his right mind at the moment, was explaining the situation to the rest of the pack, who had turned around and were racing back to Forks at full speed.
But they wouldn't make it in time to help… Even Collin, who had only crossed the border into Canada an hour ago, was still two hours away running at full throttle.
And Claire could die any minute. There was no time. No time. I let out another agonized howl as we wove through the trees. Brady was only a pace behind me, and Mason was at his heels, alongside Danny. Four wolves. Against Lilah, her accomplice, and for all we knew an entire army. There was no knowing what Lilah was capable of.
Quil, I know you're freaking out. We all are, but I'm going to need you to focus, okay? We need a plan of action, Danny reminded gently.
I knew he was right, but I couldn't curb my panic. Why was this all happening to me? Why Claire? If she died tonight it would be my fault. I never should have let her leave. Why didn't I just follow her? Mason was right. Fuck! I am so stupid!
If she dies, I swear to God I am going to end your life Quil. I will fucking kill you. Mason promised darkly.
I'll let you, I replied miserably. If the vampire bitch doesn't do the job for you.
No one is fucking dying, got it? Brady snarled, speeding up. No one except for those worthless vampires, that is. Tonight we finish this once and for all. His words were confident, but Brady's mind was almost as hectic as mine. Every thought colored with terror. He was thinking of how stupid he was for not chasing after Eliza. How this was all really his fault.
Stop it, this isn't the time for beating yourself up, Mia, always the voice of reason, interrupted from hundreds of miles away. Go save your girlfriends and kick some vampire ass. Oh, and don't let my brother get hurt either.
I'll be fine, Mia, Danny promised.
Is Lilly okay? Embry asked hesitantly.
We didn't want her to panic, so we didn't tell her what's going on. As long as she stays at the dance, she should be safe. I don't think Lilah will try and touch her, Danny assured him.
Okay, game plan, I intervened, finally gathering my thoughts enough to focus. I transformed my fear to rage and let that rage drive me forward. Brady, get Eliza out of there. Eliza is your priority, okay? Get her out of there and kill any vampire that gets in your way.
Gladly, Brady nodded.
Danny, I need you to get Claire as far away as possible. It doesn't matter if any of us need your help. Take Claire and get. Her. Out.
Sure thing, I'll deliver her to Paul or Sam or Jared if I can. She'll be safe with one of them.
I'm trusting you to protect my everything, don't fail. I warned, my thoughts suddenly scarily calm.
I'll protect her. You can trust me.
What about me? Mason asked, his usual loathing tone of voice he reserved for me was nowhere to be heard. He was all business now, like a true member of the pack.
We are going to take Lilah down. It won't be easy, she's smart, fast, and powerful, but if we work together we can end her. Permanently.
One problem, how do we find the bitch? We've circled Forks a million times and never caught the scent of her hideout, Mason reminded with much frustration.
We follow Claire's scent. Lilah may be able to hide her own trail, but she can't mask Claire's, I explained.
Run faster damn it, Eliza and Claire are in trouble! Collin ordered, doing the same himself.
Yeah, we know, I swallowed hard.
I'm coming for you Claire, hold on baby.
Eliza
The world froze when Lilah lowered her lips to Claire's neck.
"Claire, no!" I screamed, using up the last of my strength trying to break the invisible restraints. It was useless, of course. Everything was hopeless.
I kept screaming, letting my voice go completely ragged. Each new scream burned my throat, but I didn't care. Nothing mattered other than Lilah's bared teeth as they sank into my sister's neck.
I wanted to avert my eyes, but couldn't. This time it was not Lilah's power, but my disgusted horror that rendered me unable to look away. Horrible streaks of red blood poured down from her neck, staining the light gray of Claire's shirt.
I'm going to throw up.
Then, just as quickly as she started, Lilah ripped her mouth away, rising to her feet with wide, furious eyes. I quit screaming. Claire froze. All was still.
"No! Damn it!" Lilah shrieked furiously, kicking Claire harshly to the side. She landed with a heavy thud that made Claire yelp in pain and me flinch for her. "Damn it all!"
I didn't understand Lilah's anger at first, until the front door busted in and four very angry werewolves spilled into the living room.
Brady
The good news, we found Lilah's hideout easily. The bad news, it was in the middle of a mother fucking neighborhood. From our perch in the forest, we would have to cross through a random backyard and cross the street. It was dark, but it wasn't even ten o'clock yet, and we ran the massive risk of being seen or heard.
Smart bitch, Embry huffed. The rest of the pack was in agreement.
You have to get in there without exposing yourselves, Jacob thought.
Yeah, we got that. Danny rolled his eyes. I know you guys want to help, but we kind of need to focus here. Stop being backseat werewolves.
A chorus of apologies flooded my brain, followed by muted thoughts. The rest of the pack was trying hard not to distract us, but it wasn't easy. They were antsy. We'd never been separated during battle like this.
Then I heard a new sound, and it wasn't coming from my brain, it was coming from across the street. A scream, agonizingly familiar. Eliza.
I don't fucking care if the entire world knows werewolves exist. I dashed out of the cover of trees, through the yard of a little white house and toward the blue one across the street where Claire's car was parked. The others, seeming to agree with me, followed. As soundlessly as possible, we raced through the street, dodging the glow of street lamps and sticking to the shadows of nearby trees.
Eliza was still screaming as I approached and a horrible odor assaulted my nose. Worse than any reeking leech was the smell of blood. Fresh human blood. Quil growled, knocking me to the side and busting through the front door, taking a good portion of the wall down with him. We barreled in after him, making a line of massively pissed off vampire killers.
Lilah cursed and positioned herself defensively in front of Claire, who was lying on the floor in a heap. She was the source of the blood smell. Quil's responding growl was so vicious that I imagined it would send any creature in a fifty mile radius running for cover. Lilah didn't though, she stood her ground, crouching possessively in front of Claire.
"Now, now, Quil. Let's not be hasty," she breathed, eyes alight with adrenaline or bloodlust, or perhaps both.
Fucking leech, Quil snarled, taking a step toward her and Claire.
"What did I just say?" Lilah snapped, narrowing her eyes at Quil. It was then that Quil lost control of his body. Lilah wrapped her invisible talons around him and brought his body into an awkward kneeling position. Then, with the nod of her head, Quil was off of the ground and hurtling through a wall into the kitchen.
Then several things happened at once. Claire screamed Quil's name, Danny and Mason sprung at Lilah, and across the room, Eliza got to her feet. It was the first time I'd noticed her… and my heart nearly ripped out of my chest. Was this what hell was like? Eliza's entire face was wet with tears, she had a red mark across the side of her face, like she'd been slapped, and she was running toward the fighting.
Eliza stop! I yelled at her, wishing she could somehow hear me.
Quil, who was getting painfully to his feet in the other room, moaned out an order. Get Eliza out of here, Brady. Remember your job.
I nodded, meeting her across the room and blocking her path. "Claire!" She was screaming. "Claire! Claire!" I shook my head at her, frustrated by the communication block.
You have to get out of here, I attempted to explain with my eyes.
"Move! Get out of my way!" She shrieked at me. Even when I was trying to save her life she didn't want me there. Typical Eliza.
I gave a wolfy shrug as if to tell her, Okay, we're going to have to do this the hard way. As always. I latched onto her dress with my teeth, feeling it rip as I tossed her on to my back. The second she was on me, I evacuated the building. Lilah, switching off between using her twisted full-body control on Danny and Mason, was too pre-occupied to notice. I fled the scene, feeling Eliza's fingers twist into my fur. I knew she didn't want to leave her sister behind, but apparently she wanted to fall off of my back even less. I took us across the street to a house with no lights on and sat her down on the grass in the front yard to let her gather herself as I prepared a plan of action. Where would she be safest? Sam's house? But would that put Amelia and Emily in danger?
"Just what do you think you're doing?" A menacing male voice inquired from behind me.
Damn it.
Eliza
There is no such thing as safe in the world we live in. The wolf (I had no idea which one it was, there were too many to keep straight and I'd never really seen them in wolf form all at the same time) turned slowly, hesitantly, to face the figure standing under the street light. I'd nearly forgotten about him, the accomplice. Lilah had called him Cyril when she sent him outside to patrol the street. His green hair looked damp, like he had taken a swim. I squinted and noticed it was wet with blood. Apparently someone had taken a snack break. I shuddered.
The wolf growled, putting himself (I knew it couldn't be Mia or Leah, they were away in Canada following a false lead) in between me and the bloodsucker. His lips curled, showing a set of wickedly sharp teeth. The wolf didn't hesitate jumping on him, pinning him to the ground. The vampire had the most vibrant red eyes I had ever seen on a vampire, and was reminded of the redheaded vampire Haley's eyes from the summer. Annie had informed me that the more vivid the red, the younger the vampire was likely to be. She had also said that newborn vampires were stronger and faster. If this was the case with him, my eyes weren't precise enough to tell. Everything was just a blur of pale skin and brown fur. From what I could make out, the wolf seemed to have the upper hand. The vampire, Cyril, wasn't very crafty. Had the vampire ever had to think for himself since becoming a vampire, or if he had blindly done everything Lilah ordered? I assumed the latter. Suddenly there was a ripping sound and something pale and cylindrical landed at my feet—an arm. I cringed and stepped back. Seconds later a chunk of skin went flying off in another direction. That's disgusting.
I wanted to shut my eyes, but couldn't. Not seeing would be even worse than seeing. Closing my eyes would make me vulnerable.
After a moment the tearing sounds stopped. Pieces of vampire were scattered across the yard, but there was no blood anywhere. I shuttered again, finally turning my back to the scene and taking a seat. I hugged my knees to my body and tried not to panic. A few minutes later, I felt the cool dampness of the wolf's nose nudging at my exposed back. I turned slightly, seeing that the wolf had managed to get a a small fire going, which he was roasting the vampire with. I stared at it numbly, then up at the wolf.
"Uh, thanks. You know, for saving me. And killing that vampire," I mumbled awkwardly. The pack member was staring at me with enough intensity to make me uncomfortable. I was not accustomed to seeing so much awareness in the eyes of an animal. Of course, this wasn't just an animal. It was… well, someone. One of my friends.
The wolf nodded once.
"Yeah, well, I guess it would be easier to thank you if I knew who you were. I'm not really used to talking to animals you know. Uhhh," I looked down at the grass. Feeling awkward and just… I don't even know. Everything felt so surreal. The wolf nudged me gently again, communicating something that was lost on me. I wasn't fluent in werewolf. "Okay I'm going to close my eyes now if you want to change back or something. If not well, I guess that's cool, too." I did as I said I would, squeezing my eyes shut tightly. When I opened them again a minute later, I learned the identity of my savior.
Brady—who else?—was doing up the buttons on his white dress shirt from the dance. He had about two done when he noticed me watching him.
"Hey Angel," he said casually, looking down at me with a gentle smile on his face. My heart thrummed excitedly at the sight of him. My knight in shining armor. But I wasn't exactly looking like a princess. My hair had fallen from its earlier style and hung in messy knotted curls over my shoulders, my makeup was probably all cried away, and now, thanks to him, my dress had a tear going up to my mid thigh. He seemed to notice, too. "Sorry about the dress."
He held a hand out to help me to my feet, and I accepted it. As I rose to a standing position, I struggled to think of some typical Eliza response, but everything was too dreamlike, and I was coming up blank. I was memorized by his eyes, which were gazing deeply into mine. Warmth flooded my whole body, and it had nothing to do with his body heat.
"Are you alright?" He asked, stroking my cheek where Lilah had slapped me.
Yes, I wanted to say, Yes, I am perfectly fine. I am Eliza Young… I am always fine. "No. No, I'm not," I murmured instead.
Brady's face twisted with confusion, clearly he hadn't been expecting me to tell the truth any more than I had been. The look passed quickly though, and his face softened. "Don't worry, Eliza. I'm here, nothing is going to happen to you," he assured me, his eyes eyes boring into mine.
Without thinking, I blurted, "I should have known it was you. No one else ever looks at me that way."
"Like what?" He inquired, still holding my eyes with his.
"Like I'm everything," I breathed, against my better judgment.
"You are," he whispered roughly in response, gathering me in his arms and hugging me tightly, rubbing his hands over my goose bump covered skin. Then, too soon, he released me, holding my arms with his hands and staring down at me.
"Brady," I breathed. It had been my intention to sound scolding, but instead it came out like a passionate sigh. Where the hell was I going with this? I needed to stop. I was in a trance. I wasn't thinking reasonably. I wasn't—
"Yes?" His intensity made me weak in the knees.
I got up on the tips of my toes, using my hands to bring his head down to my level, and kissed him.
Brady's body stiffened with surprise momentarily, and then, realizing what was happening, he pulled me back into his arms and returned the kiss.
It was gentle and close-mouthed at first, nothing more than his lips and mine moving together softly. Then, for just an instant, Brady's tongue parted my lips.
That was my breaking point. I couldn't control myself or my feelings. I was so tired of controlling my feelings around Brady. I could no longer bottle everything up inside. So I let go, I stopped caring, and I kissed him with all I had.
Even as I did this, I knew it was a horrible idea. I knew I would have to fix everything later, and that it would not be pretty. But I wasn't going to worry about that yet. I was too selfish to worry about that just yet.
Brady's hands found themselves into my hair, his fingers twisting and un-twisting around the loose curls there. At the same time, he was using his hands to keep me in place, to keep my lips hard on his. He was being very dominant… and there were no words for how hot it was. Although it had started off as just a sweet, friendly kiss, we were long past that by now. As our tongues met in a frenzy of passion, I let myself think of all the times I'd wanted to kiss him and stopped myself. I wrapped my arms around his neck. Then, I let my mind wander to all of the sexy dreams I'd had of us kissing over the past couple months. His tongue grazed the roof of my mouth, making my legs give out for real this time. I toppled to the grass, bringing Brady down with me.
There was lots of rolling at that point. I was lying on top of Brady, then he was kneeling over me, then I was back on top. I undid the buttons of his shirt that he had done up, warming my hands on his chest while letting my fingers glide across the hard muscles under his skin. Brady's hand was on the bare skin of my mid thigh, exposed to the winter air thanks to the huge tear in my dress. His hand moved further up my thigh, the tips of his fingers brushing my inner legs, agonizingly close to my underwear. I was hyper-aware of his entire body, where we were touching, where we were not. The remarkable heat coming off of his skin in waves and soaking through to my bones. Kissing Brady had never been this good, in dreams or reality. I wanted to wrap my legs around him, to hold him prisoner in my embrace forever.
But I had to stop myself. The longer I kissed him, the harder it would be to pull away. Even then, as I felt his tongue glide across mine, I found myself forgetting all the reasons I needed to stay away from him. I caught myself disregarding my promise to never let a boy break my heart like Thaeo ever again.
Brady isn't Thaeo, Eliza, my heart reminded my brain.
No, he isn't. I love him more than I ever loved Thaeo, more than I've ever loved any guy. And if he ever decided he didn't want me anymore, or imprinted on some girl, my heart wouldn't break, it would shatter. The pieces would scatter so far to the wind that they would never be put back together in the same way ever again, and some pieces would never be recovered at all.
Maybe I would have listened to my brain, and pulled away for my heart's sake, maybe I wouldn't have. I'll never know for sure, because somehow, in the middle of my deep thoughts of love and heartbreak, in the middle of one of the most heated and passionate moments of my life, the real world slapped me across the face harder than Lilah had earlier.
Claire. Claire was still in there. In danger. And me, selfish as I was, got so caught up in kissing Brady that I had all but forgotten. I pulled away from the kiss then, or at least I tried to. Brady chased after my lips, unwilling to leave the perfect moment. Unable to help myself, I stopped resisting for another few seconds.
Focus, Eliza! Stop being so damn selfish! I physically had to stick my hand between Brady's mouth and mine to stop the kiss. Brady's eyes were confused with just a touch of worry, like he wasn't sure what I was about to do next.
"Claire," I breathed, getting up off the grass. "She's in danger. The pack needs you. You should, uh, go help them. I'm fine out here."
Panic crossed Brady's features, and he stood as well, "I'm supposed to protect you. I can't just leave you out here, what if there's another vampire lurking around?"
"Then I'll scream really loudly, okay? Claire needs help more than I do."
"But—" I silenced whatever argument Brady was prepared to make by kissing him again with fervor.
"Go," I whispered. He bit his lip, and I noticed several conflicting emotions burning within him—clearly something we had in common.
Then he sighed and nodded. "Fine." He peered down at me thoughtfully, eyes filled with emotion. Then, as he brushed a stray strand of hair away from my face, he smiled in a lighthearted way that only Brady could manage in such a horrible situation. "Your hair is curly," he noted before turning away and making his way back across the street, slipping his white button down off his shoulders as he went. I tried not to gawk.
"Brady I—" I called out to him, without really meaning to. I stopped immediately when I realized what was happening. I had been about to tell him I loved him. Horror gripped my chest. Brady I love you. He had stopped and was looking back at me expectantly.
"Yes, Angel?"
"Be careful," I sighed, hoping with all my heart that this would not be my last image of him. I would rather suffer a million heartbreaks than live a single day in a world where Brady Fuller no longer existed.
He was back in front of me within two seconds, drawing me in for one last kiss. When he released me, I averted my eyes, not able to watch him phase and race off into battle, even if it was what I'd asked him to do. Seconds later I glanced up to find myself in the street entirely alone, with only Brady's shirt lying in the road to prove he'd been here at all.
Sighing, I grabbed his now grass-stained and dusty dress shirt off of the ground. Instead of folding it neatly and setting it gently in the grass for his return, I found myself wrapping myself up in it. It will provide some warmth, at least. Hypothermia is the last thing I need right now. And also, because underneath everything else, it smelled like him.
Quil
Lilah was outnumbered, but not outmatched. I realized that as I shook the drywall from my fur. She would likely go down fighting, but she would go down. Currently, Lilah, Mason, and Danny were engaged in a deadly dance. Lilah tiptoed around them, laughing maniacally as she sent one wolf hurtling into the other or knocked one of them flat on their back with not even as much as a nod of her head. She was powerful, that much was obvious. But no one, even vampires, were invincible. In every person's armor, a chink exists. One weakness that when exploited, possesses the power to overcome the enemy. And as Lilah sashayed around the living room, playing her twisted game, I realized her vulnerability.
She can only use her power on a single person at once, she hasn't had the kind of time it requires to fully develop her power, I muttered, as much to myself as the others.
So you're saying we've got to work as a team, hmm? Mason replied, lacking the dry humor that I had become so accustomed to.
I didn't reply. Something in the corner of my vision had captured my attention—a figure crumpled on the floor with a pool of blood forming at her feet. Claire. Claire, Claire, Claire! My mind screamed—so violently that it made my head ache—out to her. The plan evaporated from my brain. Everything was gone, and all I could focus on was getting her out of the house and to a hospital. Or to Dr. Vampire, if he was home yet. I wasn't quite sure where to take your girlfriend when she could be… when she may turn into… after she's been bitten.
And she had been bitten. The blood coursing from her neck made that much crystal clear.
My feet were pounding against the false wooden floor to her before I made the conscious decision to move. Claire may not have noticed my appearance, or she may have simply not cared. Her eyes were locked in on Lilah and the others. I sent them the briefest of glances and felt my stomach lurch painfully. Danny charged at Lilah, and rather than hop out of the way, she nodded her head a little and telepathically sent him flying into Mason, who cursed colorfully.
"Quil?" Claire mumbled distantly, her eyelids fluttering. She was lying in a puddle of her own blood. Her neck, shirt collar, and jacket were soaked with it.
Screw the plan, I'm getting her out of here. Would Claire be strong enough to get on my back?
My fur shifted with a slight breeze as Lilah found her way over. Faster than I could even react, she had hoisted Claire off of the ground and held her in her icy arms.
"You kill me and she dies too," she warned, smirking wickedly. "Then again, she'll probably die either way. Look at all the blood she's losing." My jaw clenched painfully as Lilah dragged one of her bony white fingers across Claire's neck. It came back wet and red. Lilah stuck her finger into her mouth with a smile, licking away all of the blood. Every muscle in my body was coiled to spring and my brain alone was stopping me from lunging at her and shredding her to ribbons. I couldn't hurt Lilah while she held Claire. None of us could, we were putty in her hands.
"You wicked bitch," Claire spat, sounding a tiny margin stronger than she had a few seconds ago. She was a fighter, my Claire. No one could deny that.
She was the girl I had dedicated my life to protecting. The girl I loved with everything I had. The girl who loved me for everything I was. The girl who I put up with young moronic wolves for. The girl I could never bear to say no to. The girl I would do anything, even sacrifice myself, for. And she was not going to die. Not anytime soon.
Mason, I'm going to need you to grab Claire the second I move, got it. Don't hesitate.
How, grab her by the shirt with my teeth? What normally would have been dry Mason humor now held not an ounce of sarcasm. He couldn't joke around when the girl we both loved was in the arms of a vampire.
Improvise. Danny, you and I have to rip her to shreds.
The sound of glass exploding rang in my ears as the entire front window behind Lilah shattered. It was Brady, back in wolf form. Lilah had no time to react before Brady's teeth were at her leg. Mason, seeing his chance, swept in. As much as I wanted to go to Claire, I forced my attention away from her.
Focus Quil, I reprimanded. Lilah had Brady on his back now, but Danny and I lunged at her together. She diverted her attention away from Brady to take control of Danny, sending him hurtling at me and knocking us both off of our feet. Brady seized this opportunity to sink his teeth into her chest.
"No!" Lilah screamed, a horrible, inhuman sound. "Cyril! Cyril!"
Someone ought to tell this leech that "Cyril" is roasting over a fire pit as we speak. Brady thought smugly. While Lilah turned Brady on Danny, I knocked the bitch flat onto her back, my razor-sharp claws digging into her alabaster white arms.
"Be reasonable, Quil! You can't kill me!" Lilah insisted, sounding more insane than ever. "If I die, what happens to Claire? Don't you want to know if she's turning? Don't you want to know if she'll still be Claire in the morning?"
Every bone in my body caught fire, like it did when I was phasing. It was then that I realized I actually was phasing, back to human. "What's going to happen to her?" I demanded. Danny and Brady held her down. She couldn't keep them both off of her at once, and they were stronger.
"Stop trying to kill me and I'll tell you."
"Tell me now and your death will be mercifully quick, otherwise your death will be the longest and most agonizing experience of your life, bloodsucker so help me—"
"I choose option C. Living," Lilah smiled darkly, kicking free suddenly from Brady and bringing Danny to his knees simultaneously. She sprang for Claire, who was just centimeters from the door. Panic gripped my heart as I flung myself after Lilah, phasing midair. I had to grab her before she could get to Claire. I had to.
But I didn't. Before I could reach her a flash of orange fur came out of virtually nowhere and ripped her head clean off. The head rolled a few times before hitting the corner so her hair was facing us and her eyes were staring deeply into the wall.
Enjoy Hell, bitch, Mason muttered as Lilah's headless body crumpled to the floor, looking disturbingly like an oversized doll.
Claire
Annie had once told me that becoming a vampire was like being lit on fire. You're bitten, and suddenly white hot flames of pure agony are pumped through your veins until the only thing in your mind is the fire. Everything goes black and there is nothing but the burning for what feels like an eternity, and after a while you scream so long that your voice is gone altogether, and the rest of the suffering comes in silence.
Lilah's teeth had broken my skin. I'd felt the sharp pain as she drew the blood from my neck and into her mouth. My neck, along with several other parts of my body ached like hell. My head spun and I'm pretty sure my shirt would never be clean from all the blood… But I wasn't burning.
There was no uncontrollable acidic pain coursing through my entire body, I wasn't delirious with pain. In fact, I felt alert. Well…. As alert as a girl could be when she lost a little too much blood and hit her head a little too hard. I was alert enough to witness Lilah lunge for me with murder in her eyes. I wasn't so far gone that I missed Mason pounce on her and rip her head free from her body.
I was able to fight the dizziness and headache to realize one concrete thing.
Mason saved my life.
Watching Lilah's headless body topple to the ground, I felt almost as if I could do the same. The blood loss was clearly affecting me. On top of the blood Lilah drank before the boys busted in, I was still bleeding a decent amount from the bite wound in my neck. At this point, the sharpness of the pain had subsided to a numb kind of throbbing. Surely that wouldn't happen if I were becoming a vampire, right?
"Claire?" Came a panicked, familiar voice. I was too lightheaded to think straight by that point. "Claire, baby? Are you okay? Claire?" He appeared in my line of sight then, causing my heart to nearly beat out of my chest. Quil had apparently phased back and put his pants on without me noticing. Maybe I wasn't quite as alert as I'd given myself credit for… Or maybe I was just in shock. After all, a vampire had tried to suck me dry only to get her head ripped off all of two feet away from me.
"Quil?" I mumbled distantly, noticing how the word sounded weird coming out of my mouth. It was almost as if I was coming out of a very deep sleep and was still only half-conscious. Or maybe I was falling into one.
Quil half-dragged me into his arms within a second and began hugging me so tightly I could almost feel him squeezing the life out of me. "Can't breathe," I choked.
"Sorry," Quil murmured, loosening his hold but not releasing me. He drew me back only slightly, to examine my physical state. "How do you feel?"
"Like shit, but human shit. If I was becoming a… you know, I think I'd feel more pain." Behind Quil, I noticed Brady, Mason, and Danny back in human form also, hanging close and giving me concerned looks.
"But that's not possible," Mason reasoned, "I thought vampire bite equals new vampire. That's how they populate."
"Maybe Claire's a freak of nature," Danny offered, earning him two very vicious glares from both Mason and Quil. I probably would have glared too, but I was more focused on simply keeping my eyes open. And besides, it's not like I hadn't been called worse things by Eliza.
Speaking of Eliza, where was she? Panic set in as I searched the room for her frantically with my eyes. "Where's Eliza?" I asked, feeling more awake than before.
"She's safe," Brady assured me, "I got her out. She's safe across the street, don't worry, I can still hear her breathing. She's fine. Terrified, but fine."
"I have to see her. We need to get out of here. She can't just be out there all alone! It's dangerous and—"
"First things first, if we want Lilah to stay dead, we have some body parts to burn," Danny reminded.
I shuddered. Lilah staying dead was definitely a good idea. "Yeah, okay, fine. You got a lighter?"
"No, I was at a dance earlier. Thought I was getting the night off, who would have guessed today I'd actually need it."
"I used the last of my matches on the leech accomplice outside earlier," Brady offered up unhelpfully. He turned to Mason, "Hey, you've been known to smoke a cigarette or two, tell me you've got a lighter."
"Yeah," Mason replied, digging his hand into the deep pocket of his shorts and feeling around. "Wait, no. Must have fallen out somewhere on the run. Damn it." He used his free hand to palm his forehead.
"It's fine, people lived here at some point, right? So let's just look around and see if we can find a lighter or matchbox or something," Quil suggested, though to me he and everyone else sounded miles away.
"Ugh, it smells like leech and decaying human flesh in here," Brady mumbled distastefully.
"Well what else would you expect from a Bloodsucker's evil lair?" Mason inquired drily.
"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Brady replied, heading toward the staircase, "I'll check the bedrooms."
"Mason and I will look down here, you stay with Claire… and watch the body," Danny suggested before disappearing into the darkness of what I assumed was the kitchen area.
"How about you sit down, baby?" Quil suggested, kissing my forehead and retrieving the chair Eliza had been bound to earlier. I turned my eyes away, fighting back the too sharp images.
"No, no, I'm fine. No sitting," I breathed, burying my face in his chest. For a moment, I swore I was about to cry, but no tears made an appearance. I was cried out, tired out, and soon enough I'd probably have to add bled out to the list. This whole thing felt like a dream. I was there, but I wasn't. Unconsciousness threatened to wash over me at any moment and my main focus was simply keeping my eyes open.
"Claire," Quil's voice was barely a whisper. I glanced up at him and his eyes appeared to be wet, like he was repressing tears of his own. Then again, maybe I had lost so much blood that I was starting to hallucinate. It was impossible to tell. "Claire baby I am so sorry. This is all my fault."
"Shh," I murmured into his bare chest. "Just hold me and tell me you love me and I'll be alright."
"I love you. I love you so much, Claire," Quil breathed, hugging me tightly against him without squeezing the life out of me this time.
"I love you, too. I'm sorry for being stubborn. You gave me what I wanted, and I love you for it. I was the idiot who waltzed right into a trap."
"We're not talking about this right now, okay?" His fingers ghosted down my sleeves and over my wrists. Then, with remarkable gentleness, Quil pulled the bloodied jacket down my arms and balled it up to press to my neck. "Keep this held right here. It'll help with the bleeding. Are you sure you aren't changing into a vampire?"
"Well I'm not writhing in agony on the floor. I'm just a little woozy. And my head is pounding a little from when it slammed against the floor," I assured him.
"Wait, you hit your head?" Quil's eyes filled with a new panic. Shit, I really should have left that part out. If he knew that Lilah kicked me down out of frustration right before he busted in, the rage would all come back to him.
"I was backing up, trying to get away… and I tripped. And fell backwards. In retrospect it wasn't that bad. My shoulder took most of the fall."
Quil scowled deeply down at me.
"What?" I asked defensively.
"Stop trying to make everything that happened seem like no big deal. You're acting like you didn't almost just die."
"Quil—"
"Quil, Brady," it was Danny's voice, coming from the kitchen, that interrupted me, "You may want to come see this."
Quil's eyes darted toward the kitchen nervously. There was something unsettling about Danny's voice, and clearly I wasn't the only one who had noticed. Quil glanced back at me and I knew what was coming next.
"Stay here, I'll be right back," he promised, confirming my suspicions.
"Why can't I see?" I frowned.
"Because I don't know what it is yet, but this is Lilah's den… it may be… upsetting. Please just stay here," he kissed me briefly on the forehead. "Focus on not bleeding to death. Then we'll get you to the hospital."
"Fine." Brady was making his way down the stairs, appearing rather distraught. I wondered if he was worried about what Danny had to show him, or if he had witnessed some horror of his own. A shiver worked its way down my spine.
Brady and Quil shared a long look that I couldn't decipher, and then disappeared into the kitchen together. I counted to thirty before following after them, as soft-footed as I could manage. As I crossed through the hallway and came up to the mouth of the kitchen I heard their voices.
"I'm going to be sick."
"How long you think they've been here?"
"I told you it smelled in here."
I peeked into the room to find the four boys gathered around an open door. The pantry, I assumed. Despite my weak human senses, I could smell what it was they were talking about. It smelled rotten and fowl and oddly familiar yet completely alien at the same time. I squared my shoulders, took a breath, and prepared myself for the worst before barging into the kitchen. The boys turned to me with equally horrified faces. "Claire," Mason said firmly, "get out of here. Now."
"What is it?" I asked, moving closer toward them. "I'm not a child."
"I'll get her out of here, bring her back to the living room and sit with her," Brady offered. Within a second I found myself being scooped off of the ground.
"Put me down!" I demanded angrily. "Put me—" and then… from the corner of my eye… I saw it. I saw… them.
The rotting corpses and decayed skeletons of Lilah's victims.
And screamed.
Quil
We were back in the living room now. Claire shook all over while Brady attempted to distract her with lame jokes and stories. Mason had disappeared off to God knows where. Danny and I stood tensely peering into the kitchen every so often, unable to wipe the horrible images from our minds. There were five bodies in total, one of them child sized. The only two at all recognizable were a woman—blonde, and probably in her mid thirties who had maybe been dead for a few days and a man who was most likely in his twenties and had probably been dead close to a week. The other three were barely more than bones in clothes at this point.
"Probably the former residents of this home," Mason deducted upon returning to the room, "and two snacks."
"Morbid much," Danny mumbled.
"I'm not the one who put the dead people in the pantry," Mason retorted. He held up a lighter, "But I will be the one to cremate them." In his other hand he was gripping the handle of a gasoline can.
"What the hell?" I questioned, stalking up to him and ripping the can from his hands. "What is your problem?"
"There is a house with dead decaying bodies and our fingerprints are everywhere. Unless you want the cops busting down your door within a week, we burn this whole damn place to the ground."
"You're pretty fucked up, you know that, right?" Brady told him disgustedly.
"Where did you even find that?" I added.
"The garage. Look, it's the only option and you know it."
"He's right," Claire muttered, speaking for the first time since the kitchen incident. "The whole house needs to burn, and every single body inside needs to burn along with it. What does it matter, they're already dead."
The room fell into a lapse of silence.
Eliza
It had been too long—nearly twenty minutes—since Brady had disappeared back into the house. What was happening in there? Where was Claire?
My stomach dropped as I wondered if maybe there wasn't anyone to come out.
Don't you dare think that way, I scolded myself. The night air was freezing, blowing easily through Brady's shirt, but I didn't care. I was long numb from the cold and the shirt still provided comfort if nothing else.
After staring at the house intently for twenty minutes, my eye finally caught sign of something going on inside. A strange, glowing orange light. After a minute, the light intensified, climbing up the curtains framing the windows of the home.
And then it dawned on me. The light was fire. The house was on fire.
No more waiting around. I stood, prepared to race across the street and barge into the house. Ready to fight off fire, or vampires, or both, to reach my sister.
Another movement from the house. This time it was figures appearing in the hole where the door used to be. My heart lifted. First out of the doorway was Claire, who was mostly being supported by Quil. Behind them was Danny, Mason, and finally Brady.
And then I was sprinting. I was aware of my legs burning, and tears spilling from my eyes, my bare feet being scratched and scraped by the old street, and my voice—raw from screaming—calling out for my sister. When I reached them, my body slammed into Claire's with such force that if it hadn't been for Quil we would have both went toppling to the ground.
"Claire, Claire, Claire," I murmured her name over and over, squeezing her as tightly as I could.
"You're literally squeezing the life out of me," she informed me breathlessly, causing me to loosen my grip just enough to allow her to breathe.
"Sorry," I apologized. "Claire, I was so worried. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."
"How could you say that?" Brady demanded angrily at the same time as Claire said "Don't be ridiculous."
"I—I should have found some way to warn you. Somehow."
"Eliza, you couldn't have. Out of everyone here, you are the least at fault," Claire promised. Over her shoulder, I watched as fire consumed the entire living room.
"So, someone has probably already called the fire department and it would be a good idea if we weren't here when that happened. Just a thought," Danny concluded.
"Why exactly did you decide to burn the entire house down?" I inquired.
"Angel, it's a long story," Brady sighed. "Oh, and nice shirt." He nodded his head at my—well, his—shirt and smirked.
Angel. I knew with everything going on that Brady's little pet name for me and Brady in general should have been the last thing on my mind—Really, how selfish was I?—but I couldn't stop the memories from replaying over and over in my head. Brady's lips, Brady's hands on me, mine on him, our limbs tangled together on the lawn. Oh, Brady. Brady, Brady, Brady, what am I going to do with you?
"Okay," I said, hoping to change the subject, "Well, considering that Claire has already bled through a T-shirt I am going to say that getting her to the hospital would be a good idea."
Quil nodded, "That's where we were headed. You coming, Eliza?"
I gave him a No-Duh glare and headed toward the Mustang.
"I'm coming, too," Mason said solemnly. It was the first I had heard him speak since coming outside.
"Okay, but if you two boys are walking into the hospital, I think shirts are kind of a smart idea," I informed them, taking off Brady's button down and passing it to Quil. Danny, who also had his black dress shirt from the dance, handed it off to Mason.
So that was how I ended up in the back of Claire's mustang, bruised and shell-shocked, holding on to my bloody sister while two werewolves drove us to the hospital. Overall, the night wasn't as atrocious as I thought it would be.
It was much, much worse.
Please review! Only 2 chapters of Part II left and I'd LOVE feedback.
