Bad Blood - Blood Tied, Book 1(#Wattys2015)

L A S T_N I G H T M A R E

L A S T_N I G H T M A R E

There was a loud thunk as the wooden bolt she loosed embedded itself into the wall behind Fletcher.

He stared at Eleanora, wide-eyed and in shock.

"E-Ella, you-"

"It's Eleanora, Fletcher."

As she kept him in place with the crossbow, the wolf gnawed on the ropes binding my wrists until I could easily slip out of them.  Once all the ropes were untied, I got up to stand next to Eleanora.

"I'm fine now." I placed my hand on her back to reassure her, and I felt her relax to the touch. Then I looked at Fletcher, the man responsible for all of this.  The man who became a monster before he became a monster to rid the world of a "monster". I only had one question left in me for the woman standing next to me.

"What do you want to do?"

She thought about her answer for a long minute before making a decision. Then, she handed the crossbow over to me.

"I want to go home."

"And him?"

She turned her back to Fletcher. "Leave him. I'm tired, and I think that forcing him to live as something he hates is a befitting punishment for the next century and a half or so."

"I see that we're on the same page."  Julien appeared at the entrance to the warehouse and walked around us to cuff Fletcher by the back of his neck and dragged him away.  "I'll be sure to take care of him personally."

As soon as they were out of the building, I sank back down into the chair, my head still spinning from my previous injury.

It's over.

-

A while later, we returned to my house. Since Eleanora and the wolf ran to the warehouse, we had no car to get back with. Not that any of us would've been able to drive it.

Eventually, the wolf shifted back to human form, and Felix emerged from the brush wearing only a worn out pair of jeans and his police jacket. I should've known it was him - no other werewolf I know would bother to save my sorry hide.

With Felix supporting most of my weight, we walked to the main road where Felix borrowed a cell phone from a random stranger to have one of his friends pick us up.

When we got home, we were lucky that Chloe was out at work, so I didn't have to lie to her about how I got my injuries.

After making sure I was carefully set down in the living room and snarling for a few minutes about letting the vampire go free, Felix went home with his friend, leaving Eleanora and me by ourselves.

"How did you find me?" Once I downed some painkillers, I was curious about what happened during my missing hours.

"When Fletcher took you, I immediately went to the police station. There, I found your friend, Felix, and told him what happened. He had your phone tracked through his computer, then we went to find your phone. It was pushed off to the side of the road, though I'm afraid it's terribly broken. After that, we traced the scents to Fletcher's warehouse, and you know the rest."

Yes, I did. I leaned my head back and winced a little. When are those pills going to kick in?

"Did you bring along Julien?"

"No, he must be keeping an eye on us."

"I figured. Maybe I should ask my parents to set wards around my house soon."

"It may be a good idea. Just, don't forget to invite me in this time."

I looked straight into her eyes and moved my hand so it rested on her knee. She didn't pull away. "You are always welcome into my home, Eleanor. I only forgot that time because I don't think of you as a vampire. To me, you're just Eleanora."

"Ella.  I think Eleanora is a mouthful to say so many times."

"Are you sure? I thought you didn't like that nickname."

Ella hummed. "I don't mind it so much anymore."

I almost asked her what she meant, but then decided against it and dropped the subject. "What do you plan to do now?"

She moved closer to me, leaning along my side. "I think I wouldn't mind learning more about this new world. Now that I am more accustomed to my new situation, I am beginning to see there are opportunities I never dreamed possible before."

"Do you know what you want to do first?"

"No, but I will figure it out, and now I have all the time to try everything without fearing for my life. However, I may not be able to do it all by myself.  Could you help me when I need it?"

I only had one answer to her request.  "Of course."

"Thank you, Ace. You have no idea how much that means to me."

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her tight to me.  "I'll  always be here to help you, you only need to ask."

"I know that now.  Thank you for your offer."

For the rest of the night, we sat there in a comfortable silence like that.  No worries about anything. It felt...good. Better than anything in years.  And surprisingly, I was alright with that.