It didn't take Nick long to react at all.
His hands probably snapped up as quickly as his eyes snapped open. He grabbed for the dagger that he watched coming so fast to impale his chest. His peripheral caught sight of Adalind who was moving fast to place Diana in the carriage, he was glad she took care of Diana first even though it was probably a bit too rushed.
He caught the hands of the red-dressed woman but felt the tip of the lathered blade stab through his chest. Not fully but he felt an immediate searing of pain erupt in him as he strengthen the dagger out of himself and he heard the woman gasp in pain at how hard he was squeezing her hands away.
Adalind hoped she put Diana in well enough because she motioned over to quickly help Nick. Her face Woge highly aggressive and she took off toward him and she knows whatever the woman stabbed him with, along with his injuries must truly be affecting him because he should be overpowering her pretty easily but it looked like it was taking some effort.
As she took her first step she felt a huge blow to her head causing her to stumble to the side and ended up smacking into the corner of the fireplace wall. She wasn't knocked out but damn that hurt, her face Un-Woge and she felt the blood coming down from her temple. She didn't care though as she hastily moved to get up but then a strong grip of hands wrapped around her throat.
Shoving her back to the ground and then delivering a punch to her mouth that she was quite sure split her lip wide open on the side. Now he was choking the life right out of her.
While Adalind was beginning to get choked Nick was just getting the dagger pulled out of his chest completely then he saw another man running up to him. "Quick my son!" The woman's raspy voice commanded to the man who apparently was her son running up.
Nick's peripheral then caught sight of Adalind being viciously choked and he felt himself go numb inside. He saw his hand shifting to a dangerous shade of pale. He never understood this side of himself but he definitely wasn't going to complain right now. He heard a bewildered gasp from the woman as well so she must have caught sight of it.
His whole skin complexion resembled as if he was dead and all of a sudden he overpowered the dagger from lethal stabbing him as the son got close, he used his clasped hands around hers and shoved it upward. The dagger made a sickening sound as it stabbed right through the man's throat and came out of the back of his neck. It stuck there for a moment in which she had a fearful and hurt expression on her face. "Yanko!" She called out in despair.
Nick, still pale as ever, then turned the dagger upside down in her hands and drove it through her gut and she let out a big gasp of breath as the life was already leaving her body. She collapsed down and he moved over to go help Adalind who was struggling to breathe even though she was Woge again and clawing into the guy's face.
All of a sudden though Nick's hand regained its color and he felt weakness come to his knees. He grunted a little as he tried to fight it off but he rained his full color now along with all the pain of all the damage he has taken. He wouldn't fail her though.
He collapsed to the floor but used the last bit of strength he had from his previous zombie state and slid the dagger over to Adalind. "Adalind!" He exclaimed in this scratchy voice. She looked over and saw the bloodied and lathered in whatever that substance was blade slide over to her.
She grabbed ahold of it with her right hand and stabbed it through the neck of the guy. She closed her eyes at the blood splattering out and the disturbing image of the dagger coming out of the other side of his neck.
He made grumblings of retched pain noises but was prevented from making any of them loud for obvious reasons as he fell and died beside her. She looked at him and her face was bothered but she got up quickly. She cast a look over to Diana to make sure she was still safely in her carriage and was very glad she didn't see the brutality that just took place. Well, she hopes not.
She ran over to Nick and began tending to him. "Nick?!" She called out to him. She thought she only said it once but she was sure she rattled his name off a couple of times with how worried she felt.
She could see him fighting a lump in his throat as he was laid out on the floor. "Theirs something on that thing." He said with a struggle. Lifting his shirt to reveal where he was stabbed in his right pec. It was black and there were veins around it turning a shade of black as well. She felt her breath hitch at it.
Adalind looked over to the woman who had blood coming out of her mouth as well but it was black. So was the blood coming out of her stomach. She recognized her immediately now that the hood was no longer in the way. Stefania.
"What did you do?" Adalind's voice was embedded with anger and panic.
Stefania was coughing and struggling to maintain however much livelihood she had left. Her head craned to the side to look at her son who Adalind stabbed by the fireplace. "Miguel." She said in a strained voice. Her face began having black veins now. Whatever was on that dagger was killing her. "Yanko" She said through another strain in her voice, sorrow as well. "You made me kill my own son. You Grimms, really are ruthless as they say." She sounded hurt but impressed at the same time. Adalind had a look of disgust flash on her face before the panic reclaimed most of her.
"Adalind...Adalind." Nick had to say twice to get her focused attention. "Call Rosalee." He said and he wished he could tend to the side of her head. There was blood rolling down her face on the left side and it was on her cheek now and some was on her ear.
She bumbled to pull the phone out of her pocket, almost dropping it. She had to turn it back on though for the love of god. "Shit!" She yelled out in annoyance. A sick laugh came from Stefania though.
"It won't matter." She coughed weakly a couple of times. "Viktor by now has his forces halfway here and that child will be where she so righteously belongs." Adalind felt worry and rage build up in her. Eye twitching for a moment.
"If he even makes it that long." She laughed once more and coughed out more oil-like blood. "Passed down from centuries upon centuries. They call it the life-ender for short" She coughed some more as she laughed. "He may have barely been stabbed but he doesn't have too much longer before he will be joining me in the eternity that is death."
She turned a different color of pale but still hadn't passed and the phone finally came on. Adalind was staring teary-eyed daggers at her until she saw the screen pop on. Nick choked a lot but told her Rosalee's personal over the spice shop. She may need a video call or a picture or two to see what exactly he needed.
They heard another wicked, choking laugh from Stefania. Why can't this woman just die?
"The pain of feeling your blood age at a rapid rate while your organs try to make up for it. It's excruciating." She choked a few more times than she just stopped and her body went limp finally. Adalind put the phone to her ear as she waited for Rosalee to answer.
Nick was still laying on his back but he had coughed up some blood himself now which of course was black and all of his wounds were turning that color as well. Much like Stefania as well, his veins were turning blacker by the second but for him, it must have been by the minute. Still wasn't much better. "C'mon Rosalee." Adalind's face was trembling.
She didn't even feel the pain from her own head injury right now. Then the call was accepted.
"Hello, who is th-"
"Rosalee! You have to help me!" She almost yelled in panic and her words almost ran together.
She heard an intake of shock through the phone. "Adalind?!" She heard footsteps so Monroe must have walked up beside her to hear what was going on. Rosalee placed the phone on speaker so it be easier.
"Yes! It's Nick" She swallowed a whimper. "He's dying!"
"What?!" It was both a collective voice of Monroe and Rosalee. She could hear the horror in it as well.
She rambled again. "He got stabbed by this dagger that was covered in this black stuff by Stefania and she said they call it the life-ender for short and I don't if she was just talking or if she was telling the truth then she said your blood ages rapidly and your organs try to make up for it and I don't know what to do" She whimpered around the end.
"Let me see it!" She heard Rosalee exclaim with a calm panic. Adalind switched over to the video call and Rosalee saw her face first and the gash on her temple. She almost commented on it until Adalind flipped the camera to show Nick's very battered-looking appearance at the moment. "Oh my god." Monroe said as they came upon the stabbing. The black veins were disturbing along with the blackened blood.
He was also a lighter shade of his usual skin color.
Rosalee felt a sense of deep sadness overcome her. "I know a way to slow it down but you need things that I only have here." Her voice had a crack in it.
Adalind perked up though. "No no, we may have it here!" She exclaimed she hurried up and began walking toward the room that resembled the spice shop anyways. She showed Rosalee the selection.
Rosalee's voice perked up this time as well and she heard her ask Monroe to hand her a book. "Okay grab everything I tell you too," Rosalee said in a hurry and Adalind planned to grab Diana as soon as she was done telling her everything she needed. She wasn't comfortable with her being out of her grasp this long.
Renard spat the blood out of his mouth as one of the few Verrat members left in the castle tortured him to Viktor's vengeful wishes.
Well, maybe a leftover Verrat member, it could have just been a random guard left. Renard wasn't sure since the guy had gloves on so he couldn't see if he had the symbol or not.
However, Viktor liked to slowly build up with his torture, so now Renard was just getting punched left-n-right. Although rather brutally.
Viktor stepped into the room now. A slow, methodical, but dangerous walk. The tapping of his shoes filled the room.
He loved seeing Renard's arms double chained down to the floor so he only could lift them to the length of his shoulders from the ground. On his knees, bowing as he should be. "I must say, you kneeling is rather fitting for a death."
Renard didn't want to start the ramp-up in his torture at all so he figured now would be the time to put his plans into motion. "You're not going to kill me."
Viktor nodded toward the man who had been torturing Renard, signaling for him to punch him some more which he happily obliged. Viciously punching Renard in his ribs twice and standing up to punch downward on his cheek three times.
Renard spat out more blood but it dripped from his mouth for him as it just hung open from the quick assault. Viktor cleared his throat. "I think I am actually."
Renard felt his nose have a burning feeling to it. He wasn't hit in it but maybe it was the strong surge of pain in his cheek or the repugnant smell of the room and his blood combined. "Because I've been lying." He added on.
Viktor actually laughed. "If you think antagonizing me will make me kill you faster, you are mistaken."
"Not with what I know. You'll keep me alive a little longer." Renard said with some attitude.
Viktor stared at him for a moment before speaking. "Again" He said and Renard was confused at first until a punch was delivered to him once more. "Again" Then another.
"Again" Another...
"Again" And another...
Again, Again, Again" Viktor commanded and the punches were coming at such a rapid pace that Renard lost control and Woge out aggressively and almost snapped one of the chains on his left arm. Although double chains made it more difficult.
Viktor didn't budge though. "Alright, just wanted to see you show that beautiful face." He said sarcastically. His insanity must have been calming down slightly then. Slightly...
"You can continue lying now, it was getting amusing I can tell." Viktor said as he sighed. Renard felt the side of his eye swelling from all those. "I wasn't lying." Renard said with a weaker tone.
"Again" Viktor said quickly and another punch was delivered.
"Stop!" Renard yelled out. That was getting agitating and it was taking a quick toll. "I know where the Grimm has hidden the keys" He said finally and Viktor stared on as Renard labored from the punishment.
Adalind was glad Rosalee manage to tell her all the ingredients to get and how much to use with the little time she had. She wished she could have truly talked her through it but the damn phone died right after she told her what to do.
She still honestly couldn't believe that a phone battery almost could have cost him his life but it appeared as if it was working so far. Rosalee said it wouldn't stop it because they didn't have the right ingredients there but it should slow it down for a while.
How long though she said she didn't know of it specifically. Could be hours or maybe a couple of days. Him being a Grimm she believes should add an extended time frame but this undoubtedly made it very clear they needed to get back to Portland as fast as they possibly could so Rosalee could truly stop this.
Adalind hated this so much though, they would just have to hope they can get back in time and if not his life is fucked? Wasn't fair at all. The amount of guilt she knows she would feel too if he were to die not only on her watch but from him only being here for her was going to be too much.
He won over her admiration whether he knew it or not and she wasn't going to return that with his death. She wouldn't.
The problem is she can't do much about it right now. They had to rely on Meisner and most likely Kelly to show up with the 'getaway ride.' Nick hasn't awakened yet and by the sounds of it, they were going to have a whole lot of lethal company on the way.
This suppressor needs to hurry the hell up. Her nerves were already getting worse, her heart was aching at the image of those black veins along with the blackened blood that came out of him while Diana was crying in-n-out, and all she could do was hold her and tell her it was going to be okay.
Not that she was probably too convincing with it. Tears were brimming on her eyelids this whole time.
Her eyes brightened and an immediate rise of hope rose in her chest along with being startled because all of a sudden he popped up from the spot he was previously laid out at. Sitting up and she could tell he was in full-on protective and alert mode because the first thing he did was snap his head around to look everywhere and took the gun off of the stand beside the couch.
"Nick!" She exclaimed with relief. His eyes were wide like he was trying to catch up to his surroundings and what transpired. He looked pale still and the veins hadn't left. But Rosalee said it would slow it down, not heal it.
He quickly lowered the gun to his side and stared at her with this huge look of panic and worry. He tried to pop up on his feet but winced heavily before doing so. She forgot that she just told herself earlier that the pain suppressor she gave him last night would have worn off by now.
So he was hurting all over right now. If she remembered correctly, he was sporting two bullet wounds, three stabbed wounds with one being a few moments ago, and numerous severely damaged ribs that probably felt worse today than they did last night.
"Adalind your head" He limped over to her and the electricity she felt shoot through her body the way he firmly but so gently placed his hands on her cheeks was incredible. He caressed his thumbs on both her cheeks now and she almost closed her eyes to the touch. He was looking at the laceration on her temple that she honestly forgot about so it wasn't too big of a deal to her but the fact it was to him made her feel something that she wasn't sure what it was.
Cared for maybe?
She almost hated having to ruin the moment but she spoke. "I'm going to be fine. You I'm worried about." He gazed into her eyes and for some reason, the way she was looking at him surprised him in a way that he felt bad for because she looked scared but a part of him realized that meant she was being genuine.
He knows she had been up to this point, but it just felt different in a wonderful way this time. He still didn't pay attention to his injuries yet though. Placing a caring hand on the back of Diana who was staring up at him, her face was wet with tears but she stopped crying almost at the consoling touch.
"How long was I out?" He limped to go look out the window. Seeing if he can see any of the forces Viktor apparently had on the way according to...actually, he realized he doesn't know who that was. "Who was she?" He said as he looked down at Stefania who had a gross decaying look on her skin and had black blood streaming out of the corner of her mouth that was already drying.
Her veins were black everywhere as well. "I think four minutes? Maybe five." Adalind manage to avoid the extreme anxiety her voice wanted to explode with. "That was Stefania." She said with disdain. Staring down at the corpse of the woman with resentment and anger.
"The one who killed the woman who owns this house and betrayed you?" He asked for clarification and she nodded. She swallowed a little. "Now we have to get back to Portland or you're going to end up like her." She whimpered briefly but now started to ramble her words. "Bu-But maybe now that she's dead and I killed the son who killed Frau Pech I can be able to make something quick for you since I killed the person who killed Frau Pech and so you can not feel the pain or I don't know but something"
She still was talking but Nick started quickly limping over toward her again "Adalind we don't have time for that." She still was rambling. "Adalind, Adalind!" He didn't exclaim but he said it sternly as he placed his hands on her shoulders with his right one a little more bent since that's the hurt one. "We're going to get out of here."
"I know we have to but..." She gave a look over at him. Looking at the veins that were coming up from his neck area that was black and the other wounds he already sustained. He moved his hands back to her cheeks but a little lower and raised her head a little so he could look her directly in her eyes. "I'm going to be fine."
Adalind felt a passionate urge erupting in her stomach. "Yes, because I won't let you do it alone this time." She said sweetly but very seriously. He caressed his cheek with her thumb a couple more times.
"Let's go." He turned around and went to the door. Before he opened it, he looked out the window one more time. "See anyone?" She asked and he spoke while he still peeked out of it. "No, but they're there." He took out the gun to see how many bullets he had in the chamber which was eight.
He turned around as he slapped the clip back in and looked at her meaningfully. "I don't think it's going to be easy..." He began, calling back to the promise, it was kind of like their thing in a way.
"I promise..." Adalind said it more to him this time. It was usually about getting Diana and getting her back home but this time she was saying it from herself to him. She would do everything within her power to get him home. He wouldn't say it or even care to see it that way but she owed it to him.
He opened the door and he was right. As soon as he opened the door an ax came launching at his head but he quickly dodged to the left and used his right hand to grab the handle of it in the middle. The man was dressed in all black with a hood on but Nick took the ax right out of his grasp and swung it at his knee causing the man to cry out in pain as he hunched over.
Nick then delivered a violent elbow to the back of his neck and Adalind cringed for a moment at the cracking sound she heard. She held Diana a little closer and for some reason that she wasn't sure if she should consider odd or disturbing but she found the way he fought kind of sexy.
'Weirdo' She said mentally about herself. He picked up the ax out of the guy's leg though and eyed it happily. He gave her a little smile. "Now I feel like me again." He said as he tossed it up in the air to himself.
Adalind shook her head with a little scoff and a playful eye roll. "You are a clichéd Grimm Burkhardt." She said with a small smirk. Nick was about to speak until another one came through the door but Adalind reacted quicker than him and sent a pen that was on the stand by the couch directly through the guy's eyeball with her powers and he collapsed down at Nick's feet.
Nick looked down at him for a moment then turned his eyes to look at her. "You are a clichéd Hexenbiest Schade." He said and she returned an unamused, playful smirk to him. "You know where Meisner took you last time to get out of here?" He questioned next.
Her brows furrowed. "It's actually not the furthest away from here but it's a while and it was through a forest. You want to go there?" He was looking out the door again before turning around to stare back at her. "Well we can't stay here, the hotel is compromised as much as this house is now if not more. At least that's a destination and most likely where our forever-long pickup probably will be."
She quirked her brows in agreement at that. "Also, having the forest will be an advantage." He pointed to his right ear. His Grimm hearing would be deadly in an environment they could sneak around she had to admit. Not to mention it gave her plenty of weapons herself with all of the different limbs or sticks she could send at the people trying to take her and either take or kill him. She wasn't sure how Viktor was feeling at this moment.
"I got your back." He said as he stepped to the side to allow her to somewhat lead the way. He still was going to be right on her side just letting her lead the way. Damn, he was glad she had been here a lot, who knows how far he would have gotten if she didn't know her way to Frau Pech's house, her way around the castle, or to the destination, they were off to next now.
"I got your front." She said with that little kind of playful, but sarcastic 'well alright' breath of a voice she does that he never knew he liked so much. She also raises her eyebrow a lot when she says something sarcastic and he grew more fond of it.
She walked to step out of the door now and they knew it was about to be bloody. "I got yours too." He said to Diana and she was looking at him with this very cute, big-eyed look. At least she was frowning at him anymore or scowling.
Viktor glared at Renard.
"You're lying. Cousin Eric informed me of how he sent Miss Schade to get you to find the keys and she told him that you came up with nothing."
Renard spat out some more blood. "To Adalind's knowledge despite her better judgment most likely, that was a truth she was telling him." He could tell Viktor wasn't outright not believing him like he was saying.
"So you lied." Viktor said shortly. Anger embroiled in his tone.
"So you believe me." Renard countered.
"I'm still working on that part."
"It's in Portland. He had it in his desk at first but he moved it after I found it and gave it back." Renard wasn't sure where he moved it at all but he was telling most of the truth so far.
Viktor's teeth gritted. "You had them in your possession and didn't give them to us?" It wasn't a real question, more like Viktor saying it out loud to anger himself even more.
"Yes well at the time the Royal family wanted me dead." He took a pause. "Wanted me more dead and I had more to gain from the Grimm being on my side. That's different now. I'm trying to live." The Grimm card will always be a good card to use in his deck of tricks that's for sure.
"Where is it then?" Viktor asked with more embroiling anger.
"It's in a trailer that he has hidden away. He doesn't know I know where it is though." He was beginning to dive into the lies now. He had no idea if Nick put the key in the trailer or not. He just knows he gave it back to him and he doubts Nick would be dumb enough to put it in his desk again.
Viktor laughed almost maniacally. "Let me guess. I let you live, you take me to it."
"Now we are coming to an understanding," Renard smirked unamused.
"But if I were to just catch this Grimm again and torture it out of him, wouldn't I still get the same results along with the pleasure of hearing him scream out in terror?" Viktor said with an evil tongue.
"Yes, but as you can see, the Grimm isn't here and it's not a sure thing he'll talk." Renard took a breath. "He can be stubborn that way."
Viktor eyed him some more. "Tell you what. My forces capture the Grimm and that child. You die. But..." Renard had his eyes locked in on him like a laser. "If that Grimm and Miss Schade manage to escape along with the child...You get to live and you take me to that key."
Renard could sense a 'and' coming. "And..."
'Right on cue' Renard thought to himself. "If I even sense you're trying to play me more than I already think you are..."
"I know, you'll kill me." Renard rolled his eyes annoyedly exasperated.
"Again." Viktor said and the guard violently punched Renard in his temple this time and it knocked him out for the time being.
Viktor sighed. "Now why did you do that?" He was looking at the guard. "Now we have to wait for the fool to wake back up before we beat him some more." Viktor sounded so truly bothered by this.
They were on the edge of almost approaching the forest now and she was thankful.
It's been maybe thirteen minutes so far and it's been nothing but straight run, fighting, run, fight, run-run, fight-fight in succession. She had been hit a few times in the face on the journey too but not too bad. Nick has been doing most of the killing while she covers up the leftovers.
She could tell that he wasn't at his full strength because he struggled at times but that's exactly why she was there.
Diana though, Adalind has kept her hugged to her shoulder the whole time, trying her best not to let her see the bloodbath going on.
There were four more approaching them now as Nick just got done beheading what appeared to be another Hundjäger. "How many damn Hundjägers does Viktor have?" She said trying to catch her breath.
Nick let out a hard breath himself. "I found myself asking the same question last night!" He said as he ran forward at the four of what appeared to be castle guards coming at him now.
He threw the ax at the furthest one on the left's leg then ducked the two that tried to punch him at the same time and even though it hurt with his bad leg he spin-kicked the fourth and last one on the right side in the back of his calf with his heel as hard as he could, causing that would to go down to one leg.
Adalind looked on in amazement as he then rolled back to the one he axed in the leg and snatch it out to puncture it into the belly of one of the guards whose punch he had ducked earlier.
Quickly spinning around to elbow the other in his gut then pulling the ax out of the guard and swinging it hard to the right with one hand so it would cave into the chest of the guard he spin-kicked seconds earlier but held on to it and slung it back the other direction so it would do the same to the one on the left.
He let that one stick in as he stood up as the guard fell back and Nick waited to he could just simply grab it out as he died and fell backward then revved the ax behind his head and drove it down to behead the hunched-over guard he had previously elbowed. Killing the four.
Adalind didn't really get a chance to see him in action truly until that moment.
All of a sudden he turned to face her then he pulled out his gun and fired two shots at each of her distant sides and she couldn't help a scream that escaped but she heard two bodies collapse. She peered down and realized he saved her life on that one because two dead Hundjägers just shifted back to their normal faces on each side of her.
Now she sees why Grimms are so feared but she wasn't scared at all. That weird sexy feeling again and she realized she better stop admiring and help. She almost just died.
There were two more coming his way and she saw one coming in her peripheral.
Nick hated the idea of having to even shoot close to her direction like he just did or what he was bout to do but he had to protect her and he had a feeling she knew what he wanted her to do.
The two headed for him were further away but the one headed for her was closer so he threw the ax halfway toward her and she used her powers to send it at a high speed through the skull of the one approaching her.
She sent it back to Nick at the same speed and he caught it out of mid-air as he spun so he could have more of an impact on his swing as he chopped it into the side of the neck of the first one and he saw another one coming for Adalind so he kept his grip on it and threw it back once again.
She held her hand out once again to use her powers and send it from mid-air into the chest of the Hundjäger coming for her this time then she sent it back to Nick as she slung her hand quickly in his direction so it would travel at a high speed.
Nick ducked the punch of the guard and used that to twist his arm around his back viciously as he stood behind him and held him in place as the ax collided sickeningly through his Chest, neck, and chin area.
The guard dropped and Adalind ran toward Nick whose breathing was extremely hard.
She saw the black veins from the poison were growing a little more and his skin looked more paler. His eyes had slight bags as well. "Are you okay?" He really asked her that.
"I've never felt safer" She gave a quick look around. "Ignoring the circumstances." She meant it though, as long as he was around, she felt like everything would somehow work out and they get home. All she had to do was just make sure she had his back even though she was technically leading the way.
"We have to hurry though. Your getting worse." She said thoughtfully but sadly.
"Feels like I have to exert more energy than I should have to." He hated admitting it but he had to keep doing spin moves a lot more just to get some extra velocity on some of his strikes.
He was winded as well when usually he could run for days. He felt cloudy in the brain as well. Sluggish even.
A worried look grew in her eyes. "Look Adalind" his eyes took a heavy blink. "If I began slowing you down, you may have to lea-" He shook his head but she interrupted him before he could finish.
"Not happening! C'mon." She knew she better hurry up and get to the spot Meisner took her last time even more now. Adalind refused to leave him here, she told herself she was going to get him home and that's the least she could do for everything he has done for her.
It sure would be easier if they didn't have to keep fighting off the last bit of Verrat and Castle guards or whoever the hell they were to Viktor.
They ran into the depths of the forest now. Three came from the side Nick was on but before he could react she used her powers to snap the rather large but halfway-broken tree limb off and it dropped down and smashed down into their heads.
Honestly using her powers this much usually caused a strain but his will and fight has given her even more motivation than what she already had. Not just in the moment, but in general as well.
Now there were two coming from her side and she saw a log on the ground and waited for them to get close to it.
She then raised her hand and shot the log off from the side and it rip through their legs, howling in pain as they crumbled down like a lawnmower ran them over.
Nick couldn't help but be a little wowed by her. He knew Hexenbiest was powerful but she was clearing the scene with ease almost. The environment was her weapon basically. To think she did all this while holding Diana too.
There were three coming at them from behind and Nick was about to spring into action but Adalind gently handed him Diana. "I got it." She said with a very direct determination. He did the same as her and hugged Diana close to his non-injured shoulder and she cooed a little. This kid definitely knew what was going on in some way. He was bothered at first that Adalind just hopped into action but then that thought quickly changed.
He watched her Woge aggressively and her Hexenbiest form increases all of her normal abilities as he well knows himself. She ran and jumped off a log there and delivered a very nasty, uppercut kick to the one closest to the log.
She ducked down to a crouched position almost to avoid a haymaker meant for her already bleeding temple. She saw that the one furthest from her had a gun holstered so she held out her hand and caused it to fire. Shooting him in the foot and crying out in pain.
The one in front of her wrapped his hands around her neck and attempted to choke her out as he stood her up but she used that to drive her face forward and bite him in his neck. The one she kicked attempted to stab her in the face with a knife, she may not be strong enough to make a person's whole body do what she wanted with her powers but she was strong enough to control his hand.
She just made his hand shift over slightly and he ended up stabbing through the ear of the one choking her.
He pulled it out immediately but her Hexenbiest strength allowed her to use his hands and drive it back through his neck and she fell with him as it penetrated through.
Adalind stood and wiped some of the dirt off of her clothes although it didn't really clean anything off, also using her powers once more to get the gun off the ground as it shot over quickly into her grasp. She finished wiping her clothes as she shifted back to her normal face and walked toward Nick who had a look on his face that almost made her blush. Astonishment maybe?
She handed him the gun so now he possessed two "Missed a spot" He said as he gave her Diana back and it was the guard who she shot in the foot still alive and in pain. Adalind never turned around as she kept walking forward but hugged Diana to her shoulder again and held her other hand out then the ax left Nick's hand and went through the guard's head and came back floating to Nick.
It floated in the air in front of him and he turned to look back at her and shook his head with a smile. That woman is something else, was all he could think of as he grabbed it from its floating position.
She never even turned around. He had to repeat that to himself. It was a small action but still.
He could have sworn he saw a confident smirk on her face from the side too. Incredible she is that's for sure. He wished he could marvel at her more but they needed to hurry up and he could feel his strength draining even more.
"How much further?"
Adalind rubbed Diana's back while she was preoccupied with twisting one of Adalind's stray hair strands beside her on her shoulder. "It's not too far but I don't want to say it's pretty close either."
He was about to reply but then his ears caught something. He held his hand out signaling for her to come to a halt and she followed.
She watched him lean his head forward so she knows he was trying to focus his hearing. His head turned slightly to the left so she assumed it must be one coming from that direction.
But then he looked south. Then he looked upward all over the place.
So they were everywhere.
Nick knew that despite their best efforts together, the forest should have been their ally but it was in a way their worst enemy right now. He could hear them but see them he could not.
He looked at her expecting face and then remembered that there was no way he was going to get her this far and come up short.
Suddenly, he felt some of the strength he had lost beginning to return in a way. The pains all over his body begin to subside but he wasn't sure why. "Uhh...Nick..." He turned to look at Adalind who looked confused and worried all at the same time.
She was looking at him like he grew another head.
Then he looked down at his hand and he saw that it was turning a complete shade of pale. Not the one he already had either.
Oh.
That's why she was looking at him like that. He felt like one of those people in movies when their 'big secret' is forced out. Not that it was a secret or anything he was ashamed of but here we go.
Adalind watched him turn so pale he almost looked see-through.
He started breathing harder again and not like he was out of breath. But like he was angry, it was aggressive. This wasn't whatever that poison was either she could tell. This was something else.
His face was almost snarling a little as well.
Yet this whole time she never felt scared herself, she was a little worried for him but for some reason, she could tell this wasn't a bad thing. She thinks.
All of a sudden he held out his hand and she realized he wanted her to grab it and she did so.
He pulled out his gun and led her to behind this tree, she was about to ask what was going on but he grunted at her in a request for her to be silent. It wasn't rude but Adalind wasn't too sure what exactly was going on.
Also found it wonderfully odd how much she liked him holding her hand.
He stopped the aggressive breathing yet his skin remained that same shade of disturbingly pale. Honestly, he looked dead to her and that scared her. But he looked like he was completely aware of what he was doing.
She didn't know whether to question this or assume it was something he knew of and wasn't bothered by. He was hearing something she simply could not though.
Scanning with his ears as if they were eyes.
He pulled out his gun that had six bullets left and she almost was spooked by him firing a shot upward toward a tree near them. But she heard a thud and looked around to see that it was another one of the guards.
Did he hear them breathing? Climbing? Both?
She didn't know whether she was losing a step or whatever mode he was in right now was allowing him an increase in what he was capable of.
Suddenly again, he fired off three shots in multiple directions and she heard another thud along with a silencing cry out of pain. Then he all of a sudden pulled her in close to him like a covering hug and shot someone who came right behind the tree they were at.
She gasped at the suddenness of it all and the body laid out at her feet.
Adalind found herself enjoying the close proximity despite the current conditions they were in right now. He pulled out the gun she just gave him moments earlier and they begin walking carefully.
The walk didn't last long though because Nick's gun-wielding hand was clawed rather deeply by, of course, a Hundjäger. He shoved her aside to get her out of the way but not enough so she would fall and she covered up Diana even more now because she noticed they were surrounded.
Very surrounded.
Yet he fought.
She noticed it wasn't the usual though. It was more brute force and less finesse.
He got hit in the face pretty hard by two Hundjägers but for one, he absorbed it with no issue, and two, Adalind wondered if he even cared if they hit him. Could he even feel it?
They all shifted their focus to him and begin ignoring her and every time she was about to attack one, he ended up hitting it or killing it before she could use her powers to do anything. There had to be at least nine of them.
Nick bashed the back of his fist into one of them but was tackled into a tree rather roughly by two more. Using both his arms as momentum to slam him into it. Once again he appeared not to feel it too much.
They both moved to claw him in his throat but ripped his arms out of their grasp and ducked both.
Grabbing one Hundjäger on the left and slamming his head violently as he possibly could with little effort into the tree and the sound of skull cracking was pretty unpleasant to hear. He went to the one on the right but was tackled down to the ground by one that ended up on top of him.
It moved to bite his throat out but Nick took advantage and bent its head to the right so it would truly expose its neck and delivered a vicious elbow to it and it went completely limp as it fell off of him.
He popped up and Adalind noticed how he never looks truly angry. More like an unbothered coldness. Besides the intense breathing he had at first, she remembered he wasn't breathing for quite a while when he was listening in by that tree. Matter of fact he was silent for a great while. What the fuck?
She watched as he was between three of them now and he punched the one in front of him. Then the one on his right in the nose as well.
The other made its kill attempt by trying this lunging bite but Nick pulled out the empty gun he had and rammed it into its mouth and it didn't kill it but he just needed time because as soon as it struggled but turned around. He palm struck the gun in its mouth as hard as he could and it dropped dead then.
He got hit by another one but he just absorbed that claw to his face and headbutted it.
The two he punched came back for more as they came up on each of his sides.
He elbowed the one on the right then used that same arm to punch the one that was on his left. She watched him do that in succession back-and-forth maybe three times then he grabbed the one on the right and brutally slammed its head into the other and they both collapsed dead against each other.
The one he headbutted she planned on hitting with a log that was close but once again she never got the chance.
Nick just simply ducked the swipe taking at his head once again and measured up a punch that he put a lot of force into that collided with its chest. That may have been the literal definition of caving somebody's chest in.
Now there were three left and she watched him pick up the ax and she almost forgot about the damn thing.
He chopped into the one closest to him as if the guy was a tree. Axing him in his leg quickly but brutally, then into the Hundjäger's side from the left then finished it off by slamming it into the top of its forehead and it fell back along with the ax in him.
Adalind saw one of the two left climb up a tree as the other went straight after him. Now here she could finally get one of them for him. She knew he could handle the one going after him but she waited for it to jump down.
As soon as it took flight she sent the small log that she eyed earlier upward. Crashing into it and it fell backward and ended up landing on its neck at a bent angle. Adalind knew that it for sure was dead after that one. She turned her attention to what Nick had left.
Which would be nothing at all because as soon as she turned her attention to him, he was already snapping its neck with a violent twist.
As the body collapsed, he looked at her. The look grew kinder and kinder as well.
Adalind realized his skin was beginning to regain some color again but it showed the even more new injuries he sustained. He crumbled down against the tree. "Oh my god" Her tone carried so much worry and for the first time, she felt some despair about if they both were making it back.
His blood was turning blacker and the blackened veins had spread some more. Holding Diana closer to her shoulder but running over to him.
"Just need a second." He said but his voice sounded completely gassed. He took a few deep breaths like he was trying to capture more air. Probably be easier if he was already nursing severely battered ribs that just got slammed into a tree and the ground moments ago.
She held Diana still but let her hand rub some of the sweat off of his forehead as she let a nurturing hand glide through his hair.
Even though he felt his life very slowly inching away from him, he couldn't help but fall into a soothing mind at how much he loved her hand tenderly going through his hair like that. So graceful his eyes drifted close for a moment to savor the touch.
He opened his eyes and he was met by her concerned ones.
He never noticed how much he truly could get lost in those before. "It's not too much further." He could tell by the way she said, she was holding back some sobs and even to this very second, he still couldn't believe she was shedding tears over him.
He coughed lightly and he knows some black blood must have come out because her face looked more heartbroken.
It was unbelievable how despite everything she had done in the past, despite everything he knows she was capable of, despite seeing the predicament they were currently in. The bloodshed and her wounds.
Watching that look in her eyes yet while she so carefully held onto Diana...He said it before but never has she never appeared more human to him. Almost innocent in a way.
He stretched out his hand gently.
Letting his thumb drift softly over her split lip, wanting the wipe the blood off if only a little. She blinked slowly and it caused a tear to fall out as her eyelids came together.
Adalind couldn't help but feel her heart ache more at the sight of him.
She knows he was in extreme pain. Agony. Yet he constantly kept fighting and pushing for her.
She hated him for so long for taking her powers mostly. She felt like he ripped a piece of who she was away. Caused people whose love and affection she longed for to discard her and she spent so long plotting her revenge against him and she got it.
Adalind knows she already came to the conclusion but she just doesn't have an ounce of hate left for him at all. She wished she could dive more into her deep thoughts on that but she knows they don't have the time.
He gently rubbed his thumb over the trail her tear left and she made a noise of satisfaction at it. A beautiful hum.
Nick wasn't sure if it was the extreme fatigue, delusions from being poisoned, or just flat-out insanity. But his eyes peered down to her lips and this sweet urge came over him. One he never really had with her except for a recent inspiring dream.
But he wanted to kiss her.
AN: My updates have been so sporadic and late which I apologize for. This is the first time in a while I feel I will be able to upload decently again though! Will be having a lot of free time now.
I wanted to come up with a name for the poison and ingredients that Rosalee would tell Adalind to use but I didn't want to come up with random gibberish and sound ridiculous haha! :)
Have another chapter already halfway done that was supposed to be apart of a double upload with this one but it's been two weeks since I last updated so can't keep you guys waiting for that much longer.
Hope all the waiting between some chapters hasn't caused some of you to grow a little stale on this story especially when they are almost home😂.
Thank you for all of the reviews and thank you for still sticking with this story if you have!
