Disclaimer: I own nothing...
A/N: So I bailed and I didn't mean to take so long! Life got crazy, and my book release took over, and I got lost in it all! However, now that book's been out 5 days now, I have had time to sit and write a little of this... But thank you, thank you, thank you for waiting, and enjoy!
Beauty and the Beast – Chapter Forty-One
Reaching for Christian's hand, Ana couldn't believe the sight before her. This was not how her life was supposed to be. It wasn't supposed to be riddled with things you only saw in horror movies, and they weren't supposed to be filled with so much grief and fear. Her life was supposed to be perfect and simple all at once.
"W-why?" Ana asked, and allowed her gaze to latch onto Kaitlyn's stern, cold stare. "Why are you doing this?" As she asked the second question, she could feel her anger beginning to take over. "Your problem is with me! Sawyer and Taylor have nothing to do with this!"
"They got in my way," Kaitlyn merely stated, and looked at the blade in her hand that was stained with Sawyer's blood. "Easy to get in when you have a knife. It kept him silent, and the gun kept him silent until I got you here." She pointed the gun at Taylor who lay getting weaker as blood rushed from the right side of his abdomen.
"Kaitlyn," Christian began to speak, his tone soft. He released Ana's hand and took a step forward.
"Don't you dare try and talk me away from this, Christian!" Kaitlyn snapped insanely at Christian, stopping him from even beginning to take her down from the dangerous ledge she was on. "Whether you like it or not, Ana will out of the equation by the time I am done here."
Christian felt every droplet of blood wash from his face. The thought of Ana being hurt cast shadow upon shadow over him, shrouded him in horror, and he couldn't take it. "You hurt Ana and I will not be liable for my actions."
"You love me," Kaitlyn stated with fearless hope. "You wouldn't dare hurt me, Christian. I was the first woman to love you."
"And you were the first woman to break my heart," Christian replied coldly. "I might have loved you, but that is a feeling that I made sure was dead and buried. How can you think I can love you? After what you did? You never loved me."
"I did," Kaitlyn fought back strongly. "You fell out of love with me after I got that scar on my stomach. I thought if she was scarred then you'd be repulsed by her too."
"It's not about the scars!" Christian bellowed, his hands flying up, his body rigid and dominating. "I didn't fall out of love with you because of a fucking scar on your stomach, Kaitlyn! I just fell out of love with you, and all of your selfish, pathetic ways!" He tried to calm his breathing, telling himself to regulate his inhales and exhales. He closed his eyes for a moment before he opened them to continue. "You could do your worse to Ana and I would still love her all the same. Hell, I love her more after what you did! I nearly lost her, and that's on you! She survived, she came back to me, and I still love her. I always will."
"She's a monster," Kaitlyn stated, not looking at Ana, but staring at Christian.
"No," Christian whispered back at her. "No, she isn't. She's still Ana. She'll never be a monster, and the sooner you look in the mirror, and see the real monster here, you're just going to make yourself bitter."
That seemed to make Kaitlyn even more deranged and she began to wreck the apartment. "I only ever loved you and you broke my heart!" she screamed at him and began to throw anything she could in Christian's direction. She was blind-sighted by her anger and her still apparent heartbreak that she didn't care what she threw, and she didn't even think when she brought the gun up and just pulled the trigger. The pop was delicious to her and the fear she caused only spurred her on. She wanted to cause damage and if that meant hurting Christian then so be it. At least then he wouldn't be able to stop her from killing Ana.
Trying to shield himself, Christian knew he had failed when her felt the base of one of the bowls connected with the side of his head and he lost his footing.
"Christian!" Ana cried out in horror as Christian fell and hit his head on the edge of the coffee table. She saw blood on his shirt and ran for him. Her instincts told her to save him; she had to.
"Don't you dare," Kaitlyn stopped Ana mid step.
"If you love him, you'll let me help him, Kaitlyn," Ana tried to bargain with Kaitlyn, "You saw him hit his head! You can't just leave him."
"He can't save you now," Kaitlyn laughed manically and took a step towards Ana, the gun now trained on her last victim. She pulled the trigger once and Ana managed to move quickly enough to escape the travelling bullet that flew from the barrel. She then tried again and again, only becoming infuriated with the failure of not yet killing Ana.
Running out of bullets, she discarded of the gun, and ran after Ana as she tried to get away. She gave Ana no chance to get away this time. Ana had no time to react as Kaitlyn ran for her, knocking her to the floor with a harsh impact.
Ana didn't care about anything else but surviving and as Kaitlyn began an onslaught of punches, Ana hit back. She had survived the worse moment of her life, and now she was going to show Kaitlyn what sort of beast she had created.
When Ana found herself pinned, she looked to her side and saw the glistening of broken glass beside her. Seeing a game plan forming, Ana gathered all the inner strength within her, and hit back hard against Kaitlyn's chest, immobilising her enough to throw her off. Ana reacted and pinned Kaitlyn, turning the tables completely. Reaching out, careless of her wounds, she latched her fingers around part of the glass and immediately pressed it to Kaitlyn's cheek. With her breathes heaving, Ana looked down at Kaitlyn's suddenly fearful eyes and froze.
Ana saw red at the fact three of the most important men in her life were injured and she almost gave herself the push to dig the blade of glass through Kaitlyn's skin. She looked at the glistening of the shard and back at Kaitlyn, her thoughts darkening. This could well be her chance; she could easily disfigure Kaitlyn and have her revenge.
She could claim this as her closure, but something within stopped her. Clarity cried out for her, her conscious claimed her sanity, and instilled it upon her. She couldn't be Kaityln because she wasn't like her. There wasn't an ounce of her that was remotely like the woman that had attacked her, and she wouldn't lower herself to be like that.
"Go on Ana, do to me what I did to you," Kaitlyn dared Ana as she watched the battle Ana put on herself. Kaitlyn smirked in glee, ready to goad Ana into being the bad guy here.
Ana looked at the shard of glass in her hand and then looked down at Kaitlyn. Could she do it? Could she really make Kaitlyn like her, and in turn, become Kaitlyn in the process? Ana felt like she was at a crossroads between doing what was right for herself, and what was right in this warped sense of reality. This woman had taken so much from her already and was threatening to do more.
"Do it," Kaitlyn continued to push Ana, trying her hardest to get her to react. "Cut my skin, Ana! Go on! I - dare - you. Do it!" she screamed at Ana, waiting for her reaction.
Looking to her shaking hand, her grasp tightening, so much so, the glass was cutting into her skin. Ana found herself unable to go through with it and just dropped the blade to the floor. In utter repulsion, Ana pushed off from Kaitlyn, dissolving into a fresh wave of tears, and looked at her nemesis.
"I'm not you," Ana sneered and suddenly stood up, dominating the moment. She hated herself for that moment of mental imagery of what it would feel like to scar Kaitlyn like she had been, but now she was repulsed. Now Ana realised that no matter what she did to Kaitlyn, it would not be closure. It would not end this moment of crisis in her life, because whatever she did, she was still scarred. That clear fact was something she had accepted.
She backed away, unaware that Christian was now behind her. He had seen it all, even called for help, and he couldn't have been more proud of Ana's stealth in this moment of terror. Hitting him, she spun around and literally flung herself into his arms. "I was so scared. I thought you were dying. She wouldn't let me get to you. I couldn't do anything."
"I'm okay," Christian murmured at Ana as she broke down in his arms, her own arms literally latched on as if he would be gone if she didn't. "I've called for help; we help to get to Taylor and Sawyer."
Ana just nodded, releasing him slowly.
Kaitlyn forced herself to her feet and stood shaking with envy and rage. She hated the sight before her. Christian with his arms wrapped around Ana, comforting her, as he gave her a game plan to getting Taylor and Sawyer help, and she couldn't take it. She crouched down and grabbed her knife she had dropped earlier, and set her gazes upon Ana. Without thinking, she narrowed her vision upon the woman she hated and made a beeline for her, the blade up in the air ready to strike down into Ana's chest as she slowly broke away from Christian. Kaitlyn was aiming for the heart that Christian so dearly loved.
Having seen Ana's eyes widen, Christian reacted. He turned around, blocking Ana's body with his just as Kaitlyn began to lower the blade. He took the full blade in his chest, his lung immediately finding an inability to draw the right breath. He felt the sharpness penetrate his body and he could only gasp, his eyes going wide before he heard Ana's screams. He took a moment to look at the black handle that sat so prominently in his chest, the blade was angled downwards and lodged into its spot.
As she saw the sight before her, Ana cried out as Christian stumbled on his spot, unable to comprehend what had really happened. He had just saved her, and because of that, she could well lose him.
Kaitlyn stepped back in horror, visibly shaken by how wrong her killer drive had become. She had just stabbed the one man she had ever loved, and because she had been driven by her hatred of Ana, she could now lose Christian.
"That was your fault!" Kaitlyn began to scream, as Ana collapsed to the floor with Christian, gently laying him down on the floor. "It was supposed to be you that I got! Not Christian."
Ana remained silent apart from trying to get Christian to stay awake, but she knew he was growing weak on her. The moment she saw blood on his lips, Ana felt the beast in her come alive. She was consumed with grief, riled with putrid hate for the one person that made it her life duty to destroy everything Ana loved so dearly.
Except she didn't react, not in the way she thought she would. She stuck by Christian, unable to leave him. All of her hate and anger could wait because she didn't want to waste a moment by leaving him. She had no idea what would happen with Christian, but she feared that if she left him she wouldn't get a chance to beg him to stay with her.
Kaitlyn noticed this, and slowly began to step away, her mentality slipping closer to rock bottom. Once her back hit the wall, Kaitlyn slid down it, bringing her knees up to hug them to her chest as she silently cried. She couldn't believe she had allowed this happen. She had been stupid to even try to kill Ana without Christian jumping in like some hero. That in itself showed Kaitlyn who Christian really loved. Now with Ana cradling Christian's weakening form in her arms, she realised she had only just removed herself from the situation, not Ana.
"Christian," Ana sobbed, her hands shaking harder than ever as she tried to work out what to do. Logic had disappeared and she was at a loss. Her hands hovered around the blade, the blood pulsating out, and she panicked at what would be the best thing to do here. "Baby, please, I love you. You can't leave me."
"I-I lo-love you," Christian grinned difficultly at her and reached up to wrap his hands around her arm. "I-if this i-is it-"
"No," she shook her head at him. "No, no, Christian. You can't leave me. That isn't allowed. You and me until the end, that's how we play this out." She dropped her head to stop the tears from escaping, she would beg him until her last breath to stay with her, but she knew this didn't work like that. Her words were futile. "It's you and I, Christian. Always and forever. Those were your words, not mine. You made me believe them, so now you have to believe them."
"I do," he whispered silently, his voice inaudible as he slipped into the darkness.
"Christian, please, just a little longer. Baby, don't close your eyes," she cried at him again. "Please, you can't do this to me, Grey. It's your and I. Not one or the other. Please."
Suddenly the door opened, and even though Ana could hear how happy and excited everyone was for their evening together, she couldn't stop cradling Christian's barely conscious form, whispering at him.
"Ana?" Grace gasped in horror, as everyone stood watching the scene before them.
Looking up, Ana had nothing really to say. "Help us," Was all Ana managed to ask the moment she saw everyone spark to life. "Please."