She runs through the corridors, palms sticky with sweat, heart thumping in her chest

She only has so much time until Dimitri re-awakens from the temporary coma that the make-shift stake had put him in

She has to get out. NOW

So she runs as fast as her strength will let her, trying not to look behind her, back towards that room where he lays, trying to put himself together again.

She has to get away from him. She realises now, that she can never be what he wants her to be, even if it means being with him forever, it goes against everything she stands for.

But she cannot be without, she can't kill him. She had her chance once and she failed. It wasn't just because she didn't have the strength to do it, she knows deep down within her heart the she didn't WANT to do it. She cannot possibly live in a world where he doesn't exist.

Her only option now is for them to live side by side in the world, as enemies not lovers, however excruciatingly painful this will be, she is too weak to give him up entirely.

So she runs faster and faster through the many rooms of this house, through all the twists and turns

Until

Her stomach twists into itself so violently; she feels she is going to be sick

There is only one thing on earth that can make her feel this kind of nausea

That can make her heart stop and her skin tingle and grow cold

And she realises she is surrounded

They are everywhere, enclosing around her, their teeth glinting in the candle light, eyes shining with hatred

There is no way out

She is lost

So the only thing she can do

Is to fight, use every ounce of her strength, all that she has ever learnt

It is not going to be enough

But at least she will go down fighting

Slowly, you begin to wake from the fog

The cold numbness is lifting and you can feel the heat of Life as it trickles through your body, popping and hissing through your muscles and tingling at your fingertips

You begin to see blurred colours, hear sounds and movement, smell the air in the room around you.

Then the memory comes

Of her clumsy weapon, her eyes sad and downturned

Her insignificant soft whisper of 'sorry'

And anger is a heavy iron fist that drives you

You break out of the stupor with vengeance and fury

That burns in you ligaments, dreams of wrapping cold hands around slender throat

The bitch, the whore who defied you

But even as the hatred swells, you feel slightly proud that she took all she had learned and used it

But that she did it to you

Well that was her mistake

And she is going to fucking pay, there are no second chances

You strength has returned, you are yourself again fast and hard

As you run through the corridors, following the lingering scent she trailed behind

You hear it before you see it

The sound of soft flesh yielding beneath hardness

The grunt of pain and weariness

And as you turn round the corner you see

She, small and trembling with anger and fear

Beneath the cold arms of one of your kind

So close to death, to annihilation

And the sight of it stops you in your tracks

The room seems to spin, to blur together incomprehensibly

You can feel her pain, her tiredness

As she clutches at the last strings of resistance she has left

And all you can think is NO. NO

The word shoots through you

Breaks you in half

Something shatters inside you

And with vigour you don't understand

You throw yourself between the girl and harm

You must fight

To protect her

To protect this revelation you've just had

And to keep it inside you

You want this

So you fight, and it is easy enough for you

Your training, your strength and power

It is bursting out of you, as you slice through your opponents' one by one

There is no room for tiredness or hesitance

And there is no room for thought

That you barely notice her slipping out the window

So that all is left to remind of her exit

Is a puddle of moonlight on the carpet.

She is running away from time again

Through the frosted grass and cold night air

She is running from herself

She is running from him

Leaving him there, fighting for her life and his

That was the hardest thing she ever had to do

To be unsure of his survival

To not know whether her will conquer or perish

That she might never see, or touch or kiss him again

She already knew, accepted this

But to never have in her heart, the knowledge of that he still roams this earth

That no matter where he is or what evil he is doing, he still exists, still part of her world

She could not survive with this

She knows he is strong, that he has a fighting chance

This is why she is still running

But to be so uncertain, if he shall fail

It stops her heart

Makes her want to sink to the ground

And turn into snow and mud

But she keeps going

Pushing herself back and forth across the acreage

Till her lungs burn and her eyes tear with the effort

The wind rips away her sobs

Turning them to silence

And somewhere out there

He is coming....