Disclaimer: The Night World is the property of L

Disclaimer: The Night World is the property of L.J. Smith as are any

of the characters you recognise like Thierry, Hannah, Keller, Lupe

etc.

Spoilers: All of the Night World books especially Witchlight as this

story occurs at the same time as Witchlight.

Part 17.

Des couldn't believe it, they thought she had to make a decision. She almost laughed except it wasn't funny, they thought she actually had to make up her mind, to chose, did neither of them know her? They thought she had to make a decision between her soulmate and the psychopath who had killed her little brother and her parents.

What kind of person did they think she was? Someone who would actually consider being with the person responsible for the deaths of her family. She could understand Ambrose thinking that, he was conceited and single-minded and of course crazy but Gwern, how could he think that. The thought that Gwern might actually believe that ripped her heart in two. She felt so disappointed, so utterly desolate that he thought that of her.

It fastened the last nail in the coffin that was their relationship, she knew without a doubt that she and Gwern could never make it. She was too messed up, he was too messed up and the way they kept hurting each other would end up destroying them both. To survive, to be happy they had to part, it was that simple.

She sighed resigning herself to the fact that she and her soulmate could never be together, in her desire for solace, in her need for him she had been blinded, she had been wrong, she wouldn't be more miserable without him, she mightn't end up happy but they wouldn't keep tearing their souls apart as they had been doing.

She turned towards Ambrose and he smiled catching the gist of her thoughts. He stepped towards her and reached out a hand. Before Des had time to react Gwern was beside him pushing down his hand. He looked at Des his blue eyes full of confusion and pain.

"Des," he said in a pitiful, pleading voice.

Ambrose continued to smile at Des, he reached put his hand again.

"Come Desdemona," he said in his dark inciting voice, "you know what your decision is, come."

Des looked at him, disbelief in her eyes, "I'm not going anywhere with you."

Ambrose's friendly smile changed to a cruel and calculated one, "You will."

"No," Des replied, "I won't."

"Sweetheart we both know I could influence you and you'd be over here in a heartbeat, but I want to give you free will."

"Like before?" Des asked bitterly, "where you controlled my every movement, where I was your little human pet? You say I wanted my family dead, the truth is they weakened your hold on me, every connection I had to anyone helped make your control over my mind weak and you couldn't stand that. That's why you're here, it's nothing to do with me, it's all about you. You regaining control, bringing to heel the little pet that escaped you, and punishing me too I suppose. What are you going to do? Hit me with a rolled up newspaper?"

"Oh no. I have something much more interesting in mind"

All pretence of friendliness was now gone, Ambrose smiled evilly at her.

"You know you're right, any connection you have does weaken my control over you somewhat so maybe I should start eliminating that threat."

Des didn't really understand what he meant until he drew a large wooden knife from a sheath on his back. Des stared at the long blade, it was more like a sword than a knife. Ambrose's gaze fell on Gwern and he grinned wickedly.

One part of Des screamed, don't let anything happen to him, another thought this is Gwern he can look after himself, he's a Daybreak agent, he can handle Ambrose, maybe he'll kill him for you. No she didn't want him to do that, she had to get rid of Ambrose herself, to prove even if just to herself that she had the strength to do it, that she was no longer in his power.

She had to do it for so many reasons, to avenge her family, to free herself, to avenge herself. He had taken so much from her, he had stripped away her life layer by layer, stolen her identity until she no longer knew who she was, and she had never got that back. She didn't know who or what she was and that was a terrible feeling. He had taken her over, taken her control and she didn't know which actions had been hers and which were his, she just didn't know. She had reached a stage where she couldn't even trust herself not to mind anyone else. Slowly, very slowly she had begun to rebuild that ability to trust and now he was here to wipe that all away again, she couldn't go through that again, she wouldn't go through that again.

The fight between Gwern and Ambrose was not going as she'd hoped. Gwern was the better fighter but he was unarmed, she was the only one who had brought a weapon, her gun that was hidden beneath her jacket.

Icarus, Winema and Elissa looked on, their faces filled with horror but unsure of what to do, unable to give aid. Des's heart leaped for joy as Gwern managed to disarm Ambrose with a well placed kick.

She could hear the dark fury in his voice as he snarled at Ambrose. "You are never to touch her again, you understand, you stay the hell away from her."

Des was torn between joy and sadness, joy that Gwern felt that intensity of emotion for her, sadness because no matter how much he felt for her she knew they couldn't be together. Maybe it was the intensity of emotion that was the problem, the passion and depth of feeling that lead to them hurting each other so badly. She wanted to believe it could be, she wanted it to be so much but she knew the truth, if they stayed together they'd end up killing each other or hurting each other so much they may as well be dead. The pain she had felt because he believed she might chose Ambrose was still strong and if that could hurt her so much and if he believed in her so little, believed in their bond so little that he thought she might chose Ambrose over him what chance did they have.

Gwern remained standing over Ambrose and he turned towards her. Their eyes meet for a second and she could sense his emotions, he was angry, sad, confused and hurt, hurt that she hadn't told him about this, that he'd had to learn about what happened to her family like this. He believed they should share everything, that what had happened in the past didn't matter other than it had helped to shape them, he believed they should love each other unconditionally. Gwern Burdock, hopeless romantic, it was a side of him she could never have imagined when they first met.

While they were distracted neither of them noticed Ambrose pulling a very small, narrow stake from his boot. Des barely perceived the movement as Ambrose stood with cat like agility and rammed the stake into Gwern's chest. Des heard someone scream as Gwern fell, it was only after the thud of his body hitting the ground that she realised she was the one screaming.

No, no, no, no, it couldn't happen like this, maybe they couldn't be together but she didn't want it to end like this, she didn't want Gwern to die. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Ambrose had missed the heart and Gwern was still alive for the moment but it was only so long before wood poisoning would reach his heart.