Chapter 23

[Leah PoV]

I woke up to find half my face sunken into soft and comfy cushions.

My bleary eyes closed shortly after opening and I buried myself deeper under the thin but warm blanket. I wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, but sadly there was something very important missing for me to achieve that goal.

That something being my cuddly, cold, hard and absolutely delicious smelling body pillow, who was sometimes also known as Markus.

I let out a weak groan and blindly felt around the bed searching for my missing Mate, despite knowing that he was most probably up and about already. The delicious smell of freshly made coffee and frying bacon, coming through the open bedroom door, only confirmed that assumption.

With all hope for further sleep dashed, I gave into the inevitable and began to fight my way out of the bed. The blanket kept tangling around my legs and in my dazed state I just barely avoided an unpleasant meeting between my face and the bedroom floor. After much struggle, I managed to escape the tempting confines of the bed and slowly stumbled into the adjourning bathroom.

One look into the mirror showed that I looked just like how I felt. Like shit.

I blankly stared at my own disheveled appearance, too tired to react in any noticeable fashion, before I went about freshening up. It took me longer than usual and considering that I needed a lot of time on a normal day, that just showed how done I had been after the training yesterday.

By the time I was finished and out of the bathroom, there weren't any more cooking noises coming from the kitchen and the smell of breakfast had filled the whole house. A light smile played around my lips, as I made my way out of the bedroom and into the living room.

My smile grew, as I saw the literal feast covering every inch of our dinner table, and it turned truly radiant, when my eyes landed on my lovable Mate, who cooked all of it just for me. He returned my smile with one of his own, before pulling me against his broad chest.

"Good morning, my love. I hope you slept well?," he greeted me softly, while he nuzzled his nose into my hair.

As always, his caring words and gentle touch made my knees weak and my heart feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy. I slung my arms around his torso and did my hardest to simply meld into him. His cool touch and addicting scent filled me with love and comfort, and I took a moment to revel in it, before answering him.

"Good morning. Yeah it was good, but it would have been even better if you had stayed until I was awake."

I didn't need to raise my head to know that he was one hundred percent raising a brow at my words.

"As much as I would have liked that, you and I both know that you wouldn't have woken up before the afternoon, if I had done that. Hell, even if you woke up at a normal time, you would have probably managed to convince me to stay in bed together, all day."

I grumbled and poked his side a little, but ultimately didn't argue against his claims. He was right of course. That was exactly what would have happened. I was a little torn between the frustration of him seeing through my ploy right away and happiness, that he knew me so absolutely.

"Come on, breakfast is ready, love. You wouldn't want the bacon to get cold, right?"

His amused voice broke me out of my deep dilemma. The knowing grin on his face during that, showed that he knew exactly what he did. That made me smile and huff at the same time, before I gave him a short kiss and sat down on the table.

The food was absolutely delicious as always, and I was totally not biased because of the identity of the chef. Not at all.

As I went about erasing all the food, Markus was moving around the kitchen area, replacing any newly emptied dishes with full ones. On one occasion, when he was reaching up for a new plate, I thought I saw his hand linger over his side. It was around the area, where I had poked him.

The moment passed quickly and he went about his movement, like nothing happened. That was the only instance of him touching his side, during the whole breakfast, so I didn't think more about it and dismissed it as nothing.

"So, what is on the schedule for today, Mr. Drill Sergeant?," I asked him after gulping down the last of the food, with some coffee to flush it down.

"Today…," he began, before trailing off.

"'Today…' what?," I asked him, when he didn't show any signs of finishing his sentence.

"Today, we…," he said, before stopping once more.

I was bewildered by his constant stopping, until I noticed something. He had that special smirk on his face. The smirk that he only ever had, when he wanted to mess with someone. In this case, that someone appeared to be me. Sadly for him, I didn't plan on entertaining his sudden desire for mischief.

Instead of asking again, I simply crossed my arms and stared at him with a blank unamused face. His grin only grew and he met my eyes in silent challenge. A challenge, I accepted all too readily. And so began our impromptu staring match.

Now most people would probably question, why exactly I thought it a good idea to have a staring competition, where the first one to blink lost, when my opponent was someone who literally didn't have to blink at all. To those people, my answer would be simple. Why the hell not?

As if I would ever back down from a competition, especially if it was a friendly one. No way.

The fact that I got to get lost in his warm gaze was also a welcomed bonus.

But even his dreamy features couldn't stop my eyes from slowly getting dry and itchy. I still refused to back down though, even as my eyes began to seriously hurt, but luckily I didn't have to. Just as I was about to succumb to my biological need to blink, his smirk softened into a warm smile and he closed his eye, with an amused chuckle.

That chuckle transitioned into full laughter, when I continued to blink rapidly and rubbed my eyes.

"Yeah yeah, laugh all you want. Some of us actually have to follow normal biological reactions. Stupid Vampires and their stupid statue-like bodies…," I grouched, while pouting slightly.

His laughter increased at that and he pulled me into his arms once more, before stopping in favor of giving me a deep kiss. I was surprised at first, but happily recuperated almost immediately. My hands went into his hair and around his neck respectively, while his were around my back, crushing our bodies together.

I didn't know how long we kissed, but by the time he pulled away, I had become breathless and lightheaded. That did nothing to dim my dreamy smile though.

"You look absolutely adorable when you pout. I couldn't help myself," he explained with a goofy smile, of his own.

I had to fight down the incoming blush and simply shook my head at him, a little embarrassed at his words.

"Thank you, but you still didn't answer my question. What are we doing today?," I brought us back on topic, after one more peck.

"Oh yeah, right, I forgot about that. Hehehe," he exclaimed, while rubbing his head.

I just sighed in fond exasperation, before signaling him to get on with it. Luckily he seemed to be done with stalling.

"Today… we relax."

Perplex, would be the word to describe my expression after hearing his words. Before I could express my surprise in words, he suddenly lifted me into his arms and walked towards our couch, where he plopped down with me on his lap. I thought I saw the slightest hint of discomfort flash across his features, when he dropped me in his lap, but it was gone so fast, that I wasn't even sure if it was ever there. His self-satisfied grin also did a good job at distracting me from pondering about that any further.

"Markus, what do you mean? You yourself said that I need all the training I can get. Why the sudden change?," I asked him confused and with slight irritation beginning to tinge my voice.

"Well, it is quite simple really. You are already at a point where you are pretty much ready. The only thing that could get you further ahead, would be if I let you fight in real life or death combat for your training, ergo if I went for true killing blows. And you know just as well as me, that that won't happen. Besides, it wouldn't be good for you to exhaust yourself now," he calmly explained. During his talk, his grin had made way for a more subdued and calm smile..

I took a moment to digest what he said, before I asked the most prevalent question on my mind.

"Why should I not be exhausted?"

"Because the battle is just around the corner," was his simple answer.

His response was not completely unexpected, but the way he said it. As if he was stating a simple known fact. His complete surety worried me and made me feel doubt at the same time.

"How do you know? How CAN you know?," I voiced my doubts and he regarded me for a second, before his eye gained that far off look he sometimes got.

"After decades full of mortal combat and wars, you gain a feel for violence. Let's call it a sixth sense. A gut instinct, that flares when there is carnage to come. That is how I know."

My doubt was written all over my face.

"Markus, as powerful as your instincts are, I don't think-"

Before I could finish my sentence, I was interrupted by his phone ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and took the call after a brief glimpse at the screen, cutting his ringtone, "Back in Black" from AC/DC, short. He put the call on speaker, without me having to ask.

"Good morning, Alice," he greeted, in a jovial tone.

"Markus, they have made a decision."

Alice, lacking her usual cheer, instantly cut to the chase. My eyes flew to his face at her words and I stared at my Mate, with a shocked look. His face didn't show any surprise, he seemed more resigned than anything.

"Do you know when exactly they will be here? How many did you see?"

"They will arrive just after nightfall, today. I wasn't able to see exactly how many there were, but… Markus, there are definitely more than thirty or forty," she answered his questions calmly at first, but her voice turned shaky at the last part.

I myself felt my worry rise at her words. Even with the initial estimation of around forty Newborn, we would have been outnumbered still. Our saving grace would have been our coordination and experience, but that too could be not enough, if there were simply too many. What if they outnumbered us by more than four to one? What if there were even more? We could all d…

I was broken out of my spiraling thoughts, by his cold lips touching against my forehead and his hands rubbing my back. He waited until I looked him in the eye, before he spoke.

"It doesn't matter. Regardless of how many they are, the end result WILL NOT change. We will live and they will die. The only thing that could be different is how big my meal will be and how many bonfires we will have to erect."

His words were spoken without any doubt. His countenance showed such a calm surety, that I honestly didn't doubt that he believed it. And it managed to drive away my own fears and doubts too. His simple statement and calm expression, the sheer confidence that radiated from his whole being, made me question why I was even worried in the first place. His eye gained a warm sheen, when he saw me relax, and I smiled at him with newfound confidence.

I was so focused on the positive picture he was painting for me, that I didn't notice the minute, almost unnoticeable, twitch in his right thigh. A tick of his, that he only ever showed when he was hiding lying to me. A testament of his deep rooted need to be truthful to me…

"Yes… you are right, Markus. We will live and they will die. Just make sure to not get too fat when you get stuffed!" His words seemingly returned Alice's confidence and cheer also, looking at her teasing.

"I will do my best. I wouldn't want to lose my perfect figure. Leah would be devastated if I did, after all."

The joking around dispersed the previously gloomy atmosphere and the next fifteen minutes were filled with light hearted conversation and teasing, until Markus decided to end the call. But not before assuring Alice that we would meet them on the prepared battlefield on time.

"Sooo," he intoned with a grin, after putting his phone away, "wanna watch some movies and cuddle?"

"Sure," was my instant reply, before I went about picking out a good movie.

After throwing in the DVD for "Terminator 2" ,and getting some snacks of course, I snuggled into Markus' waiting arms. I relaxed into his cool touch, before putting my focus on the movie.

If I had been just a tiny bit more attentive… if I had turned my eyes to him… if I hadn't been so engrossed in the movie…

I would have seen the overwhelming pain and sorrow creeping onto his face, as he looked down at me.

But I didn't… and this would be something I would come to regret very soon…

[Edward PoV]

The sun sat low over the horizon, when we arrived at our chosen battlefield.

Jasper didn't waste any time and started to randomly sprinkle the content of several vials all over the clearing. That content being the blood that Carlisle had taken over the last week, from my girlfriend. Sadly I wasn't sure if I could call her that even anymore.

Bella refused to talk to me, after what happened last night.

It hurt. It truly hurt more than I would have thought possible.

My family noticed that something was amiss, of course. If not due to me admittedly sulking, then because of me not being up on that mountain with Bella, ensuring her security myself. Instead I was here, while that disgusting Mutt was by her side. The fact that the only instance where she broke her silence, was to vehemently deny me staying by her side, made it just all the more painful.

I am almost glad that we were about to fight in a battle. It gave me something else to focus on, to distract me from falling even deeper into my depressing musings. It also prevented my family from digging any further, after I denied that anything was wrong, for now. I knew of course, that as soon as things calmed down, they would manage to force me to open up. Alice could be very persistent, when it came to making someone talk, and even if she failed, there was still Esme. I truly believed she could make anyone, regardless of how private that person was, open up to her. I was not the exception and I knew it.

Luckily, she as well as Carlisle simply kept their actions to supportive smiles and hugs or pats, for now.

Speaking of pats, one such pat on the shoulder from Carlisle made me come out of my thoughts and back to reality. His thoughts expressed clearly his worry for me, but I dismissed them with a simple head shake, which elicited a sigh and even more worry from him.

Before he could voice any of his thoughts out loud though, our senses both made out something approaching from behind us. Someone actually. Two someones.

A few minutes after we noticed them, Leah and Markus jogged out of the treeline.

The instant they had entered the range of my Gift, I immediately noticed something unusual with Markus. It wasn't anything truly alarming, but after more than a century I was able to make out even slight discrepancies in people's thought processes.

The mind and thoughts in general were naturally very fluent and erratic, at the same time. A person's mind was never still. It would flow from one thought to the next and even I would have problems predicting the directions someone's mind could randomly take. That was how it was supposed to be.

And that was where my current observation came in.

Markus thoughts didn't flow like they should. They didn't jump randomly between hundreds of random thoughts. Instead they were consistently swapping between two very specific thought processes, or memories in this case. One being his thoughts about how great Leah's fur was and the other being his recollection of past battles he had fought in. His thoughts were revolving completely around these two things and nothing else.

It wasn't necessarily the content of his thoughts that raised my attention. It was more the fact that he was hiding something.

I wasn't alarmed that he did it. After all, everyone in our family did the same, when they wanted to hide their thoughts from me. And they had every right to, if they wanted to do that. I had absolutely no problem with someone wanting to keep some things private, without me catching onto it by accident.

It was the timing that made me worried though.

What could he be wanting to hide, just before an important battle?

Looking at Jasper's thoughts showed that I wasn't alone in my worries. Markus didn't just mask his thoughts, but his emotions too. He seemed to force his emotions to continuously cycle in a strict loop from anger and bloodlust to protectiveness and affection.

While Jasper and I stood back and observed him, the rest of our family was oblivious to our findings and went to greet them. Emmett, with a slap on the back and a loud laugh. Rosalie, with a rare warm smile. Esme and Carlisle, with their calm/warm demeanor. And Alice, in classic Alice fashion, decided to jump at him in a flying hug.

Markus took it all in with a smile, while his thoughts didn't waver from the loop. If it had been just me, then I would have missed it, but luckily Jasper was also paying close attention to him. That was where he slipped.

Pain.

Deep, agonizing, crippling Pain flared up, for a fraction of an instant every time one of them touched Markus.

Jasper and by proxy me, couldn't hold our groans. My body instinctively bent over in protest, due to the intense echo of the Pain I felt from Markus, through Jasper.

Our family, including Markus and Leah, instantly turned their eyes to us. They all expressed various degrees of surprise and worry, with Alice also rushing to Jasper's side. All of them showed their concern. All but one.

Markus' gaze only showed barely hidden resignation and sadness.

"Markus, what is going on?" Jasper beat me to the question that we both had. The others instantly caught on to the reason for our reaction and looked back towards our brother from where they had stepped towards us.

Markus said nothing at first, he just stood in silence, and just then I realized the distance that he had opened between him and us. He moved further into clearing, so that he stood between us and the open area behind him. His gaze wandered over us, stopping at our faces momentarily, before continuing on its path, until it settled on Leah.

Her face mirrored her thoughts, as it went through confusion and worry, until her expression settled on fear and rising dread. It only worsened, when he averted his gaze, as if unable to meet her eyes for long..

The second he turned away and before anyone could inquire further, his mental masking loosened and his mind became clear to me once more.

"No…," escaped me in a shocked whisper, as I read his mind and learned of what he had been trying to hide.

My reaction only made the others more worried and Leah rushed forward, but he stopped her with one raise of his hand, before she could reach him. She visibly recoiled. Her thoughts reflected how shocked she was, as this was the first time ever, that he denied her touch.

"Markus… please… what is going on?" Her voice was shaky from fear and uncertainty.

[Markus PoV]

"Markus… please… what is going on?"

I couldn't answer her. I didn't know how…

But I couldn't say nothing either. The fact that I stopped her approach was bad enough and that had hurt her already. But I simply wasn't confident in my ability to hide my pain right there and I knew that she would have been even more devastated if she knew that her touch would have caused me even greater pain… and wasn't that just a cruel turn of events.

Her touch, which had always been the greatest source of comfort for me, would cause new agony to fire through my whole body now. I would have laughed, if I wasn't feeling so devastated about that fact.

Through the night and earlier today, I had been able to find some relief in her familiar and beloved touch, but even that little oasis had dried up real fast until I wasn't able to feel any more relief, but only more agony. The pain did not limit itself to just my body either.

No, that would have been way too merciful.

Instead it felt as if my very mind was in flames, every single thought was accompanied by a searing gout of hellfire. Every. Single. One. And there was no adapting to it, due to it getting worse after every instance. I could feel myself approaching my limit very quickly. My mind felt as cracked as my body and I could feel my sanity slipping more and mo-

"...kus… Markus… Markus! Markus, please say something!"

With a start I came back to myself.

I was standing, barely, at the same spot from before. The major difference was that Jasper and Emmett were standing at both my sides me, ready to support me if I needed it, while the rest of our family had moved to stand right in front of me, with Leah being the one being closest to me and also the one who had been calling out for me. With my mind back on track I also noticed that the Wolves, minus Jacob and Seth, had also stepped out of the treeline and were standing just a dozen meters behind my family. That was only an afterthought though, as my attention was almost solely focused on my Mate.

"Markus… please tell me. What is happening?"

Her voice was barely above a whisper, but I could hear it all the same.

Fear. Fear and Dread. Even with my mind clouded as it was, I could still see it in her eyes. She knew. Deep down she knew what my next words would be, but she was unaccepting of it. Her eyes begged me to reassure her, to tell her that it is nothing and that everything will be alright.

And I wanted to. I longed to fulfill her unspoken wish with all my being, but…

I couldn't.

Lying wouldn't change anything about the reality of the current situation.

"I'm sorry… Leah, I f-"

Suddenly my senses caught onto something and my head snapped to the side. They got alarmed by my sudden actions, but I paid them no mind.

I closed my eyes and began taking deep breaths through my nose. I focused completely on my sense of smell and hearing and reached out as far as I could. The Pain made it hard to stay focused, but I managed it either way.

The smell of blood. Human blood, freshly shed and old alike. Moldy cloth, leathers, metal… all sorts of clothing in different states of misuse and decay. All of that, infused with varying notes of the same heavy sweet smell.

Vampires. Many, many Vampires, looking at the proverbial tsunami wave of smells that hit my nose. That was only further cemented by what my ears were able to deduce.

Dozens. Many dozens of individual pairs of feet hitting the soil in just as many unique patterns. The only common thing being their unnaturally fast tempo. Accompanying these footfalls were the sounds of clothes rubbing against hard flesh and foliage getting destroyed under their feet, or when they crashed into the trees or each other.

My brow creased in concentration, as I tried to decipher all these inputs to get an idea about their numbers. But even then I knew one thing already. They were way more numerous than any of us could have expected.

My head began to hurt on top of the everpresent pain, but I persevered.

Ten…

Twenty-five…

Fifty-Seven…

Ninety-four…

One Hundred-and-eleven Newborns and one older Vampire.

My head became heavier and heavier as I began to comprehend just how many enemies there were. I barely noticed how Edward relayed this new information to everyone and how they all began to panic in their own way.

One thing kept repeating in my mind, pushing out all other thoughts.

Too many. There were too many for us to fight.

Even if we managed to take out every single one of them, it would most certainly come at the cost of one if not most of their lives… and at that point, it couldn't even remotely be called a victory. Even if I went all out and disregarded all care for my own wellbeing, I still wouldn't be able to protect all of them during a battle of this scale.

At least not, if they were also proactively fighting.

I felt my mind click, as I came to a solution that would see them all survive.

I was absolutely certain that they would die, if we fought them like we had planned before. But… what if 'we' didn't fight them. What if only 'I' fought them, or at least almost all of them. That way, they wouldn't be in any serious danger and should at most have to dispose of any stragglers. I should manage to kill most, if not all of them, if I went all out. I simply had to be fast in case my body ga-

Searing hot hands gripped me by the jaw and turned my face around, until I was face to face with my Mate. Despite the sudden contact, I still managed to suppress my flinch (barely). Even through the roaring pain I could feel the soft shaking of her hands. Her mouth was opened to say something, but no words were leaving her lips. Her eyes were fixed onto mine and they made any words she could have spoken unnecessary. Anger, fear and slowly creeping despair, were dominating her normally warm gaze and just one look was enough for me to understand her unspoken plea.

A sad tiny smile, barely managing to curve my lips, was my reply.

The realization that bloomed on her face was swiftly overtaken by terror and despair. Before she could voice her distress, I firmly pulled her against my chest and held her tight and secure. Searing pain be damned. A strangled sob escaped her before she buried her face in my chest. I simply held her and let her tears soak my shirt in silence. I had no words, as there was nothing I could say that would make any of this better.

I wished for nothing more than to stay like this until she felt better… but the situation didn't allow it.

"The enemy will arrive in less than twenty minutes. There are too many. If we fight as we had planned before, most if not all of us will die."

My eye stayed focused on Leah's head against my chest, as I stated these facts. They knew that already, courtesy of Edward relaying that info to them earlier, but me saying it made it all seem just that much more damning. They all desperately thought of ways for us to survive this, but one of them caught onto one specific part of my words.

"What do you mean with 'all of us'? Shouldn't you be fine in any case? You know, with you being that invincible Super-Vampire/Not-Vampire?"

Surprisingly it was Emmett that caught onto this small slip in phrasing. Once he said it, the others also replayed my words once more and saw what he meant as well. Before they could inquire, I already answered their inner questions.

"Regardless of the outcome of this battle…", I made sure to strengthen my hold around my Mate, before continuing, " I will be dead either way."

I closed my eye and continued further, without looking or listening to any of their reactions. And there were significant reactions for sure, the most immediate one being Leah's head violently jolting up to stare at me.

"Yesterday night, I entered what I instinctively know to be my death throes. It seems like my body has reached its final limit. My death is a foregone conclusion, but that doesn't mean that yours has to be too. I will fight the enemy army. I should be able to put down most if not all of them. I trust that you will be able to clean up any remaining Newborn, after I am done."

Rosalie was the one to speak up first and her anger was clearly visible.

"After you kill yourself, you mean. Because that is what this sounds like to me, you are doing! You are doing nothing more than speeding up your own death. We still have time to-"

"We DON'T have time. There is no other way that somewhat guarantees your survival. There is no saving me! But you all have still a chance and I will give my fucking everything to see you all come out of this alive!"

"...but what if I want to come out alive?"

Leah's question was almost inaudible, but I heard her nonetheless. Her words came down like an ice cold ocean on the small flame of my rising irritation. In the end, I couldn't stand my own cowardice any longer and opened my eye to meet her gaze.

The fear, the despair… it was still there, but heavily overshadowed by determination and sheer love as she stared into my very soul.

Any words of protest or arguments, I had thought of in case something like this happened, vanished from my mind as I was pulled into her eyes. Just as she was seemingly looking into my soul, I was also doing the same and what I saw made me come to one simple conclusion.

I was an Idiot.

An absolutely hopeless Idiot, for even entertaining the thought that I would be able to convince her. I was foolish really, after all she had given her answer on the very day we met.

I won't leave you, no matter what. So please… don't leave me, also.

And even though a small part of me was still raging against the very idea of letting her come to harm, the majority of me couldn't help but come to feel at peace and even happy, when confronted with her unwavering devotion and will.

At that moment I truly accepted that there would never be any separating us. Not in life, or in death.

Despite the situation and the general grim mood, I could feel a soft smile stretch across my lips, as I felt my heart swell up with love.

"It's either both of us or none of us… right?"

Her own smile was beautiful to watch, as it bloomed across her lips and heightened her already great beauty to unfathomable levels.

"Yes."

No more words were needed, as we understood each other on a level that made long speeches unnecessary. I softly leaned my head against hers and closed my eyes to fully take in this moment for a few seconds, before my senses alarmed me that our time was almost up.

With a quiet sigh I moved away from her and turned once more to my family, who had allowed us this moment in silence. There was so much I wanted to say to each and every one of them, but there wasn't any more time.

"They are almost here. It would be for the best, if you stayed out of sight, behind the treeline. That way they won't randomly focus on you… There is so much more I want to say but we don't have nearly enough time. If there is one thing I would say is the most important, I want to get off my chest then it would be… Thank you. Thank you for everything you have done for me. For giving me shelter, for aiding me in my need, for saving me from myself, but most importantly… for becoming my Family."

Just as the last word left my lips, loud sobs broke through previously sealed lips, as Esme and Alice all but broke down, with only their respective mates holding them somewhat steady. Rosalie, also looked like on the verge of tears, but managed to hold it in. She didn't refuse Emmett's comforting hug in any case, who's face lacked any of his usual cheer and instead showed only sadness and suppressed anger.

Jasper's expression was frozen in a blank mask, but he couldn't hide his anguish from me.

I walked towards him and silently held my hand out, as he already knew what I wanted. With only a few choppy moves, he pulled out the remaining three vials of Bella's blood and handed them to me, without a word.

"Thank you, brother. Don't blame yourself."

He simply turned away at my words, but I still managed to catch his look of pain and self-loathing. Despite my first impulse of wanting to reassure him further I turned away anyway.

There were only two minutes left.

With one last look over all of them, I stepped out from between them and moved to stand next to Leah, who had already transformed and was seemingly finishing up her mental talk with the Pack. I gently pet her thick neck fur, before turning my head to look over my shoulder, for the last time.

"Go now."

At my command, they finally began to move out of the clearing, some with more than a little bit of distress, but they did leave all the same.

The last one to remain was surprisingly Sam.

His eyes met mine for a moment and there seemed to be more turmoil in him than I had ever seen him show before, until he broke our eye-contact and did something I could have never expected.

He bowed his head. He bowed so deep that his nose almost touched the soil and held that position for several seconds, before he abruptly turned and bolted away into the forest. I was absolutely perplexed, after his showing, but couldn't dwell on it for long.

They had arrived.

The sound of greenage getting destroyed became almost deafening as they poured out of the forest and onto the clearing. Their control over their instincts all but evaporated, as they jerked their heads around, close to feeding frenzy from all the blood scent all around the clearing. Already it looked like they were about to scatter in all directions, in search of prey to quench their thirst for blood and violence.

With a steady hand, I raised my hand in which I held the vials…

"I love you, Leah Clearwater."

… and smashed them on my torso, while spreading the blood all over my upper body and right arm.

The Newborns all stilled, as their noses picked up the fresh smell of blood. As one they turned to us and all their eyes focused on me. The moment they identified the source of the smell, they rushed forward in a mad dash. Punching and kicking each other in their drive to get to me first, before their perceived meal escapes.

They didn't need to worry.

After one last caress over her snout, I took the first step in my own dash towards the approaching enemy… and Leah was by my side in an instant.

And so we ran head first into what we knew to be certain death…

… without fear or hesitation…

… because we knew that even in death… we would be together.

And so we drove right into the midst of death…

With a smile on our face.