“Kill them!”
In the spur of the moment, Katie quickly shoved her thoughts aside and released the last arrow in Sarah’s direction. But unfortunately, before she could even see where her decision would take them, the life slowly left her blue eyes and she fell flat against the floor.
Following her sudden death, the shifted wolf latched it’s teeth into Damon’s skin, drawing lines and lines of blood through the deeply punctured wounds. With no one there to stop the flow of blood, Damon’s sheer will was only able to keep him conscious for so long… and the sad part was the fact that if he even moved an inch while trying to defend himself, he’d only make it worse…. or even end up aiding his own death.
On the other hand, Kevin staggered back and gripped his chest when the arrow pierced through him and caused wolvesbane to circulate through his veins. Pain like no other scourged his being and in response, his body weakened drastically and agony spread throughout every limb he possessed. Before long he was on the floor, writhing and trembling until his whole body suddenly stilled, signaling that, he too, had lost his life. It was astounding how a mere human like him could even last a whole minute while being infested by wolvesbane. In other cases, the human would’ve died almost in the blink of an eye.
In the interim, two bloodied figures slipped through the door with heaving chests and stood silently as they accessed the scene before them in disbelief…. one being Delarius and the other being Jason. They had worked their way through the war and had now come in hopes of helping Damon dispose of the trash. But the scene was sadly opposite to what they both expected to see.
Delarius remained calm and poised as he stared, while Jason’s eyes bulged out of their sockets, zooming in on Damon’s unconscious form.
Meanwhile Jason’s vision reddened with rage and he rushed forward with no sort of reasoning, Sarah suddenly dropped to her knees, struggling to differentiate between what was real and what was not. Everything just seemed like one big bloodbath before her eyes, but even so, her eyes remained trained on an unmoving Damon.
Beside her, Maxim was now panicking. His frantic eyes looked over the room hurriedly as they searched for something or rather someone that could change the outcome of this whole war. In this case, Sarah was obviously the easiest victim and the most valuable person to use as leverage. But Sarah didn’t even batt an eye at him, despite knowing full well of that very fact. Her full attention was focused on one man… and that was Damon. Her whole body convulsed in anguish and salty tears sprang forth in her eyes. Slowly, she creeped across the cold floor and as she did so, even the small pebbles jutting into her wounds went completely unnoticed by her. Unlike before, she currently wasn’t feeling physical pain, but rather an emotional one.
Hesitantly, she reached for Damon’s pale body, desperately wanting to confirm whether he was truly lying unconscious before her or if all this was all one horrible nightmare. The wolf biting into his neck growled as her fingers neared her mate’s body. That was clearly his way of telling her to cease her movements, but nonetheless, Sarah ignored yet another enemy and continued to reach for her mate. Swiftly, the wolf released Damon’s limb body and an earth shattering growl erupted up it’s throat before it’s teeth swooped in, attempting to rip her hand from her body.
However, in split seconds, Jason’s wolf form had tackled him to the floor in a fit of rage. Teeth clanked together, claws ripped through flesh and threatening growls thundered from each side.
The moment Jason lost all reasoning and rushed forward, he only had one goal in mind… and that was to kill the werewolf who had done what he previously thought was impossible….. hurt his best friend. He’d skin him alive and chomp on his flesh till nothing remained… that was a promise.
Similarly, Delarius striked his own target as well… Maxim. Though sadly, the outcome of a battle between two with totally different skill level was already set before the fight even began. But Jason was too out of it to even realize that while he had a 20% chance of winning a fight with Maxim, Delarius has a clear 1%… if not less. Without a doubt, Delarius was sure of his defeat but despite that, he’d try his best to hold out and protect the luna until Jason successfully got his revenge. That was his task… the very last one he’d get to execute.
And so, his very first attack was a full on strike for the neck…. which Maxim unfortunately managed to evade.
“Luna!” He called out to Sarah as he tried to effectively oppress his enemies. “There’s a broken window in the room before you, get out of this place and leave through the woods around back! We will take care of things here then take the Alpha to safety!”
Delarius’s plan was to get her out of harm’s way. And if that happened, they’d have less people to protect. The low-ranked wolf Jason was fighting, would inevitably be defeated and then afterwards, Jason would be able to leave with the Alpha while he continued to hold Maxim back. That was the best and only option they had. But Sarah wasn’t making things easy, since she didn’t make any move to leave Damon’s side.
“You must hurry!” he urged, wincing when he received an unavoidable strike to his torso.
“L-Leave?” Sarah immediately shook her head, her small hands cupping Damon’s cheeks. “I won’t leave him here! He needs help now!”
Her body was at it’s limit, you could say all her limbs were about to give out… but if she wanted to, she could still make it outside. But the truth was, she didn’t want to. Not when Damon was in such a condition. His eyes were long shut and his whole body was limp. If he stayed here much longer.. he’d most definitely die.
If she was ever going to leave, then it’d be with him or not at all.
This person before her looked nothing like the Damon she knew…. the one who promised that he’d be back…. the one who had never even uttered an apology until a few weeks ago… the one who was 100% sure he wouldn’t loose in a fight… the one who’s the alpha of all alpha’s…
Who’d believe it? The mighty Damon Kalesto was lying before her on the brink of dying. And the worst thing was… this was her fault completely. In fact, everything has always been her fault from the beginning.
If she hadn’t gotten mixed up with Alexis, there’d be no bad blood between them and ultimately, she wouldn’t have tried to devise plans in order to get Damon to kick her out. Secondly, if she hadn’t been so gullible and stupid, she wouldn’t have managed to unintentionally release a rogue king who had been locked up for years. Thirdly, if she hadn’t been his mate or if she didn’t exist at all, then Damon would have probably gotten back with Katie, Maxim would still be in the basement and no one would’ve suffered because of her mistakes.
In short, this whole thing wouldn’t have happened.
All this was wholly her fault… everything. And that realization made her feel as if her body was literally going to split in two. But despite her heavy remorse, she knew that what has already been done, could not be changed. What she needed to do now was to get her act together and do whatever she could before it all becomes beyond help… And that meant:
… no fear
… no hesitance
… no Sarah.
With that resolve, she pressed one of her palms to the floor and then slowly, she tried to stand. Her legs trembled and rocked, but she managed to force herself to her feet despite that.
From this moment on, she’d do everything in her power to save both Damon and this baby…. and nothing would stop her…. not even her own pent up body!
As tears continued to flow from her eyes despite her constant swiping, she reached for Damon’s arm and threw it over her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around his waist and with all the energy she could possibly exert, she pulled him up… well tried to.
To her dismay, his bulky body didn’t budge one bit. She was too weak to lift him… in fact, she was too weak to do anything at all. That fact must’ve tumbled down a few bricks of confidence because Sarah’s eyelids visibly drooped and her small shoulders slumped.
If she couldn’t get him up, then they were all as good as dead. Panicking once again, she turned to the only two persons she could. “He needs a doctor! Jas–” she held both her tongue and her breath when her eyes spotted Delarius’s body sprawled out on the floor.
Unfortunately, not much long ago, he had been taken down after several spontaneous blows to his chest. Evasion was the one and only tactic he could use when up against someone like Maxim. But the moment he failed to evade one attack, Delarius easily found himself on the floor… unable to move nor breath.
And now, Jason, was occupied with fighting against two strong wolves. One wrong move could mean his very death.
“Damon!” Turning back towards Damon, she tried slapping his cheeks but even then, there remained no physical response to her actions. “Damon, wake up!” As panic and desperation continued to infest her like a disease, Sarah frantically switched positions, moving to his feet where she latched her fingers around his ankle and pulled. Each hard pull only brought him a few inches closer to the door, but it was better than nothing in Sarah’s eyes.
She could hardly pull him across the floor so bringing him over to the window was definitely a mission impossible. Then again, if she were to pull him through the door, the enemy wolves would definitely claw their throats out without delay. And if, for instance, she managed to evade them, how would she get him to the infirmary?
She could not possibly drag him all the way back to his pack. That was absolutely impossible, but it’s sad to say that that was exactly what Sarah was thinking of doing. The tingles that they shared were the only source of reassurance that there was still a chance… a chance to save him. Whether by dragging him or by carrying him, she’d get him out… even if it’s the last thing she does!
But in the middle of her internal conflicts, a hand wrapped around her wrist, stopping her from pulling him further. Slowly, Sarah guided her frightened gaze upwards, locking eyes with a pair of red ones. Her whole body stiffened.
“Let’s get back to it, shall we?” He grinned. “It’s time I got rid of your sorry ass!”
Sarah tired in vain to pull her wrist out of his hold, but Maxim’s grin only widened as he forcefully pulled her to her feet as if she were air.
It took a while to finally comprehend her situation and when she did, her eyes dreadfully swerved pass him and to Jason who was fighting in her and Damon’s stead. He looked tired, worn out to the brim and utterly half-dead. She wanted to help him, she honestly did. But her uselessness was higher than anyone else’s. She couldn’t even protect herself much less him.
“It’s either you have a whole bunch of luck…” Maxim relocated his hand from her wrist and to her hair, yanking at the stands as his lips curled in anger. “Or I have an endless supply of badluck. Which is it, Sarah?” He drawled out her name with as much malice as he could muster. Even Sarah was taken aback by it. The bloodlust in his eyes was definitely greater than before, which meant he was out for blood… her blood.
Once again, desperation had her looking to Jason for help. She nearly cried in relief when her eyes caught sight of Jason pinning the wolf he was fighting to the floor. From the looks of it, he was either dead or unconscious.
Her pleading eyes silently called out to Jason and thankfully, he didn’t wait much time before sprinting in her direction.
Sarah’s worry for her life toned down a few notches because she was certain… certain that he would catch Maxim by surprise… As Jason was careful with every sound his feet made, even he himself thought the same.
But not everything was as easy as it seemed.
Maxim was damn well prepared… prepared to slam the life right out of him, that is. Before Jason could even graze his skin, he was grabbed by the neck and slammed into the floor with a bone crushing force. Sarah felt the ground shake beneath her feet from the impact and with dread-filled eyes, she followed every movement of Jason’s body as Maxim began pounding him into the floor again and again and again.
“You’re getting boring, mutt. Die!” Maxim grinned wickedly when blood started to pool beneath Jason’s body.
Sarah stepped back as the color left her face and her head began filling with rampant thoughts. Worse case scenario, Jason would end up dead, she’d easily be killed with just the tip of Maxim’s finger and Damon would bleed until he eventually died as well. The thought sent ruffling chills up her spine and Sarah found herself unable to even stand still in one spot. Tearing her guilty gaze away from Jason, she took a glance at Damon who was lying right where she left him.
From the small distance, she could easily tell that his breaths were getting shorter and shorter… sooner or later, he’d stop breathing completely. Which meant, he needed to get out of here and fast.
But Jason… Jason needed help too. If maxim kept up with his maniacal actions, he’d definitely die by his hands as well… whose to say he wouldn’t be dying a useless death? And even if she decided to ditch him and leave with Damon –which she certainly wouldn’t– there’s no telling what danger would catch up with her later.
So although fear was at it’s highest peak within every vein in her body, she knew that the best option she had, was to take this into her own hands… to try and fend Maxim off herself. Not while depending on Jason, not while depending on Damon and not while depending on sheer luck.
This time, she’d only depend on herself… not that she really had a choice.
And as she looked over the bloodied building and swept her guilty gaze over her allies’ pent up bodies, she felt a heap of courage manifest into being… a level of courage that had never even graced her before now.
It was better to die trying… that much she knew and understood. If not for herself, then for those who had perished while protecting her.
And so, as Maxim continued to slam the life out of Jason, Sarah’s eyes darted in all directions, searching desperately for something of use. In less than a second, her eyes caught sight of the perfect weapon a few feet away from her.
Without further ado, she dragged her aching feet over to an unmoving Kevin and with shaking fingers, she pulled the bloodied arrow from his chest after much effort. Taking a deep breath, she turned back towards Maxim and slowly moved in his direction…
Maxim didn’t pay much attention to her. Even when he heard movements behind him, he didn’t think much of it. Why?…. Simply because Sarah was a mere weakling…. a human. One wouldn’t expect someone like her to try anything… but that was where he was wrong. She could… and she did.