Dropping to my knees, I look at Christian. "Get Erik."
I see the panic look on his face before he bolts past Adrian and towards the house.
My eyes move towards Adrian and I see panic in his eyes, but his face is full shock and regret. "Rose I am…so sorry." He moves and few steps towards me and kneels at my side, first looking at the stake embedded into my body and then to my face. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I swear. I was just startled, and my body acted without thinking."
He knelt down beside me and raised his hand towards me, "Don't touch it. It will burn you." I gasped out, feeling the poison of the iron spreading throughout my body.
He nodded his head in understanding and placed his hand on my shoulder instead, probably expecting that I would need the support.
"I can't wait for them much longer." I coughed; blood started entering my mouth from my lungs as the poison from the iron started to spread through my upper organs. It won't be too long until it reaches my heart.
I gritted my teeth as I could feel the burning sensation intensify throughout my body. I looked at Adrian to try to communicate to him what I was thinking, but the fear in his eyes told me that right now he wouldn't be able to think. I could only imagine what I must look like in order to make him freeze like this.
"Adrian... I can't wait for them much longer." I gasped as it was hard to talk while more blood flowed out of my mouth as I breathed. "I need you to hold me steady."
He quickly moved and sat behind me as close as he can and pulled me back a bit to where I was leaning against his chest. His hand was on left shoulder while his other hand gripped onto my waist.
I took a deep breath, as much as I could without choking, and braced for the pain. Quickly wrapping my hand on the stake, barely ignoring the burns and poison affecting my hand, I start pulling it out of me bit by bit. Clenching my teeth together, in pain and determination, I finally pull the tip of the wretched metal out of me and let it fall from my hand as my body slumps full force on Adrian.
I stare up at the night sky, feeling comfort in the crescent moons glow and the stars soft glimmers. I could hear the soft murmurs coming from the house in front of us and as I concentrate on my breathing, I saw a light flicker from one of the upstairs windows.
"Just hold on for a little longer Rose, they are sprinting over here as we speak." Adrian whispers to me. I just continue to stare at the moon as my vision becomes blurred.
"Adrian how did you get the stake out?" Christian's voice reaches my ears.
"Right now, that does not matter Christian. We need to get her some help! We need to take her to a hospital!" Adrian shouts at him from behind me.
"Calm down Adrian. We are here to help her. However, we cannot take her to the hospital. She doesn't need to go." Erik's voice is deep and calm.
I feel Erik's presence getting closer to me, but I still do not move, I cannot move even if I tried.
From the corner of my eye, I can see him kneel before me. "how long has she been checked out like this?" He asks Adrian without looking away from me.
"Ever since she pulled out the stake. I would say about ten to fifteen minutes by now." Adrian answered automatically.
"I see."
I feel a calloused hand lay against my left cheek; the thumb of the hand roughly glides against the bottom of my lips. The hand pulls my face to look straight in front of me, straight at Erik. Which makes me realize that it was Erik's hand cupping my face.
He looks at me with concern and conviction in his eyes.
Without looking away from me, he brings his other hand to his forearm and with a single nail, he makes a cut deep enough to draw blood. My eyes immediately focused on the blood on his arm, watching it slowly trickle down toward the side of his arm. My fangs start to elongate and breathing turns into deep pants. Before I could even think of what to do, he shoves his injured arm against my mouth, smearing the blood against my lips. My instincts take over, I immediately open my mouth and sink my teeth into his flesh, moaning at the flavor of his blood as it touches my tongue.
The more gulps I take, the faster my body fights off the poison and starts healing my wounds. I never take my eyes off of Erik, my instinct tells me that he could still be a threat in my vulnerable position but the logic side of me knows better. That Erik would never hurt me.
As my actions controlled by instinct slowly recede, I start to pick up on the other people around me talking. I listen intently.
"Where are the others Christian? With the way you ran off and looked I thought the whole would have been out here." Adrian spoke, his tone hinting at his curiosity.
"The others weren't in the living area when I sprinted in the house, I just figured they are all doing their own things. Besides, I wasn't really concerned about the others, my goal was to get Erik and bring him to Rose. Mission accomplished." Christian spoke in defense.
"Do you know if they heard you? I think the last thing Rose would want is to have a certain some people watching her like this." Adrian spoke with worry. Then I heard one of them sigh in utter annoyance, "It looks like someone already has though. One of the curtains on the bottom windows just moved."
A growl rumbles though my chest in anger as I listened to their conversation. If someone was indeed spying, I hope the enjoyed the show, for it might just be the last one they see. Especially if it was the stupid bitch twins.
Erik's groan pulls me out of my thoughts, and I realize that it could be due to the amount of blood I have taken from him. I slowly open my jaw and gently pull my fangs out from his arm, licking the puncture wounds with my tongue so that my saliva can heal and close them.
I sit up straight and take Erik's face between my hands, "Are you okay Hun, did I hurt you? You should go back inside and lay down, maybe eat a cookie and juice?"
I watched as humor dances in his eyes and the worry lines on his face disappear as soon as he realizes that I seem to be okay and recovering.
He chuckled. "Rose, you should know by now that I will always be alright as long as you are. I didn't even think about anything else when Sparky rush to my side and explained things. My main concern was you. I am sorry that I took so long, we almost didn't make it. I had to really stain my hearing in order to hear the beat of your heart, otherwise I would have thought you were dead." As he talked his voice got softer and apologetic, like he was confessing a sin. I moved my hands to that my arms could wrap around his neck and as I leaned in and gave him a hug.
" I am so sorry that I worry you so much." I whisper into his chest.
He wraps his arms around my waist and lower back and squeezes me tighter against him for a few moments before he gets up and attaches my legs around his hips with his hands before putting them back around my waist.
"Erik, what are you doing? You shouldn't be up and about so soon; you need to take it easy and rest. You shouldn't be trying to carry me, put me down." I protest from his chest.
"I will rest, but you're coming with me. I do not trust some of your friends and there have been watchful eyes from the forest and the other house members as well. We will talk more about it more once we are inside. "He said gently, so that whoever was watching couldn't hear him. Which confused me because I could not detect and negative energies around here.
"Christian! You, Atali, and Adrian will be on watch tonight, you three I know I can trust. Tomorrow we all will work out watch shifts as a group. If anything else happens tonight, report to me immediately." Erik said with authority as he turned around and headed towards the house, where we were about to have our own private meeting.
