Number seventeen: Metal.
Pairing: Arrow/His wife.
Disclaimer: See chapter one.
...
The large metal sword fell from Arrow's hand and clanged down on the floor, landing partially in a pool of blood, causing droplets of the crimson liquid to fly into the air and splatter back to the ground again after a few seconds. Arrow lurched forward, his body and mind going numb as he fell on his knees next to the body that lay in the middle of the room. The identity of the body was almost impossible to tell because of the vast amount of blood it was covered in, but Arrow knew who it was.
With a shaking hand, the Vampire Prince reached out and touched the body's left hand, his fingers grazing against the silver wedding band: his wife's silver wedding band.
Arrow threw back his head with an anguished howl and pounded his fists down on the ground, again, more blood splattering up and splashing back down on the ground and on him. He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again, a pained sob escaping from him as he took in the bloodied face of his wife.
If only I had been quicker, he thought sadly, casting his mind back to the Vampaneze he had gone after and, upon catching them, taken his sweet time with killing. He hadn't realised one had stayed behind, hadn't even thought about the fact that his beloved wife could have been in danger. Why should she have been? He was the strongest and most feared of the Vampire Princes. Killing some young Vampaneze had been fun, easy for him. He had just forgotten to scout out the area, to make sure that all the Vampaneze had scattered. Thinking before acting had never been one of his strong points.
Tears streamed down his face as he cradled his wife's body in his strong arms, his salty tears falling onto her motionless face, making the blood watery and run down her cheeks.
As Arrow sat and cried, his thoughts returned once again to the Vampaneze, and he suddenly felt a whole new hatred for them flare up in his chest.
It was their fault he would never see his beautiful wife smile again.
It was their fault he was feeling such emptiness and such pain.
It was their fault his wife breathed no more.
And he would make them pay.
Arrow laid his wife back down on the ground again and leant down and kissed her forehead gently. Happy memories of their time together flashed through his mind and he let a small smile fight its way onto his lips.
And then he was standing, reaching down and scraping his sword up off of the ground, the sharpened point screeching across the ground harshly. The sound made Arrow grin sickly.
The Vampaneze would pay. He would make sure of that.
All he had to do was find them.
And then he would extract his revenge.
By making them suffer just as much as he was.
By killing every last one of them.