58

Blood, the metallic taste is hot and disgusting in my mouth. Maybe I’m about to bleed out and die. Maybe this is how my life is supposed to end.
I don’t know how long I’ve been lying here until I can finally hear the drumming of footsteps underneath my ear.
Angry shouting can be heard beyond the door, words I can’t make out. I can’t focus.
Just as I see Colton enter his office, I drift into darkness, my thoughts blacking out completely.
Silence smothers me. I wanted to stay awake, to see Colton and tell him who did this to me, but my brain wants to shut off. It wants to hide me from the horrors of my beaten and broken body.
I can hear muted yelling, but I can’t wake up. I’m too comfortable now to wake up. I like the darkness.
Come on Layla, wake up.
My heartbeat continues to thud irregularly and slowly.
Do I really want to wake up and face this ? Do I really want to come back to a world so messed up ?
I shake my head, or at least, I think I do. No. I want to wake up, I don’t want to die. Even if living is painful.
I want to see Colton again, regardless of the fact that his girlfriend did this to me, the girlfriend he won’t dump for revenge against her father.
I want to see my older brother again, my friends and god forbid, even my parents.
Wake up, please. You can’t leave me.
I frown. That sounds like Colton. Is it Colton, or is it just a plot to get me to wake up and face all this unknown pain, to face becoming something I should never be ?
Carlos bit me while he was a moonwalker, which means I will become a moonwalker.
I can feel his venom already flowing like ice through my veins. Colton will hate me if I become this. A creature like the one that killed his parents.
Just open your eyes, tell me you’re okay.
My heart drops. I want to see him, to tell him I didn’t mean for this to happen. That I didn’t mean to become something he hates.
I need to go back to him. I can’t give up. I won’t give up until Jenny is lying in a grave, stone cold dead.
I hate her and what she’s done to me, for what she made Carlos do to me. The bitch is working with moonwalkers and I need to tell Colton.
I fight to open my eyes, to make sense of where I am. I’m in some deep, dark place that I need to get away from. I know it’s almost death. Death wants to take me, but I can’t let it. Not with everything just beginning between me and Colton. Not when I have so much to say.
Layla ? Colton’s voice breaks through my thoughts. It’s real. Its him and he sounds close to me. I try swallowing but I can’t, my throat is so incredibly dry and sore.
Finally I manage to open my eyes. Bright lights flood my vision and I can’t see. I groan, wanting to cry because I still can’t feel my body. It just feels numb.
You’re safe, Layla. I promise nothing is going to happen to you again. Please just open your eyes.
Hems begging and it sounds desperate. Finally, after blinking a few times, a room starts forming around me.
I recognise it immediately to be Colton’s bedroom at his house.
I’m here already ?
I feel disorientated as I look around. There are lot of people in this room, but I can’t make them out.
Colton, I barely whisper, but he must have heard, because he’s there immediately. I look up into his bloodshot eyes. His lip is bleeding and so is his left eyebrow.
I wonder briefly what happened to him, but my breathing soon turns to choking.
Colton immediately sits next to me and lifts me so I’m leaning against him. Air filled my lungs, but it hurts to breathe.
Mike is outside, Colton, I hear a familiar voice. It sounds like Toby.
Let him in.
I look into his face, his eyes are the first thing I see and they look so angry and formidable. He looks down at me with clear worry etched into his features. I try to smile, to try and reassure him somehow that I’m okay. But it’s impossible for me to do that, not when I didn’t know the extent of the damage.
I jump when someone new bursts inside the room. Colton’s head snaps towards the door, the same time I look. A skinny and small guy with styled light brown hair stands warily in the doorway starting right at me.
Oh my god. His eyes look horrified behind his black rimmed glasses and I’m suddenly scared at what he’s seeing. Do I really look that bad ? What happened to her, Colton ?
I know you’re not a doctor, but please help her, Colton pleads, emotion thick in his voice. I’ve never heard him sound like that before. She was attacked by a moonwalker.
Mike nods grimly and comes over to me. As he gets closer he hesitates as he looks down my body, his eyes becoming even more horrified by what he sees.
I’ve seen this before, Mike said, looking scared.
What do you mean ?
There is a special cult of moonwalkers called The Savages, you might have heard of them-
Yeah, I’ve heard of them, Colton says through clenched teeth. I can feel his body tense and his arms go around my body a little more.
Well, I’ve come to learn that they specialize in brutally beating their victim to near death before biting them. This way the blood runs hotter and the infection is spread quicker. The transition is more painful this way and a wolf is born through anger and hate. I have never seen it happen to a female before.
A low growl rumbles in Colton’s chest and I feel his angry breathing. Is there anything you can do for her ? To stop it.
There’s not much I can do. Her transition began long ago and the infection is already spreading.
What about her pureblood ?
I’m not sure what it will do for Layla. I have studied Ray and how the infection coped with his blood, but he was not beaten brutally beforehand. His pureblood made sure he has his humanity, but I don’t know how this will play out for Layla. I’m so sorry Colton. The best thing we can do is try and make her as comfortable as possible. Medication is useless once the fever kicks in.