The Eleventh Hour (FINISHED)

66 - The big fight

Warning! Long chapter ahead!

"So, you bed him and not me?" Elijah yelled, startling Meadow awake.

She shot her gaze around the room before her eyes settled on him, finding him seething, pressing his hands to the invisible wall Ash made. He was panting, pupils slit like a cat.

"It's okay," Ash whispered from above her, making her eyes aim to his when he smiled, still lying beside her. "He can't get in here," Ash promised.

Meadow tried wiggling her fingers, attempting to see if the drugs were really gone, and when her muscles twitched under her skin, and her fingers moved, she exhaled a sigh of relief.

"How did you even get the WARDS DOWN?" Elijah yelled.

Ash glared ahead even though he couldn't see it.

Elijah then slammed on the wards, making Meadow cry out. "I hate you!" he growled. "She's MINE!"

"Meadow..." Ash whispered, attempting to get her attention elsewhere, "can you walk?"

She shook her head. "I can move... but I don't know if I have the strength to walk."

He sighed, holding her closer. "It's alright then. I got you."

But at the exact moment, the walls shattered inward, making Meadow scream as shards of the flew toward them but vanished before touching their skin.

Ash shot up from the bed, panicked.

"You're not the only one who can practice Angelum magic, you know," Elijah stated, stepping menacingly toward them.

Ash immediately rolled onto Meadow and tucked her head in his chest, shielding every bit of her body from impact with his.

Meadow could barely move... now wasn't the right time for this to happen.

Footsteps flooded the room, and she could hear Ash's strangled breathing as he held her under him.

"It's okay," he promised. "I'll protect you."

But the trust was broken when he was ripped away from her by two of Elijah's men, yelling out at them as he tried to fight and get them to loosen their grip.

Elijah stepped over to Meadow, once again, making cold wash through her.

"No!" Ash said, still fighting the assassins. "Meadow!"

Two more caught his arms and brought him back against them, holding him still as Elijah sat on the bed beside the girl.

"Hey..." Elijah said softly.

A single tear slipped from her eye as her gaze hardened with panic.

"Don't be scared," he said to her, clearly knowing she couldn't move. "I won't hurt you."

"You injected her with a sedative!" Ash screamed in protest.

"I just didn't want you to hurt yourself fighting," Elijah said.

"Meadow!" Ash called, struggling to move out of the people's grip. "Don't listen to him!"

"No," Elijah countered, "listen to me. That's all I ask of you."

At her silence, he leaned a little over her to see her expression. "Don't you like me...?" he asked her. "I put cologne on... I bought you these, too." He pulled out a wad of roses.

The perfect flowers from him; sharp and deadly, the color red like blood.

"They smell good, huh?" he said, lowering them gently to her face so she could take a whiff.