Enlightenment

Part 22

              When I heard more people approaching I let his lifeless body slump to the ground. I just needed to find Sam and then I could leave…

              It only took me a couple of minutes to fight my way through to the main room where I was sure Sam was. Sure enough, I glimpsed him before I was confronted by a wave of furious and scared people.

              As soon as I spotted his face, my vision went red as I was consumed by rage. An angry snarl ripped from my lips as I violently ripped through anyone who got in my way.

              Somehow I ended up in the middle of the crowd so I jumped into the air, catching a woman in the face with my foot as I went up, and snapping her neck. I flipped over and knocked out another person as I came down. I twisted in midair to avoid an arrow that was shot from somewhere and jumped to avoid another, letting it hit the person behind me. She let out a cry and fell to the ground and I heard Sam frantically ordering them to stop firing.

              I pulled the arrow from her shoulder splattering the surrounding people with her blood, and shoved it into the person behind me. At the same time I ducked to avoid a knife aimed at me.

              While I was near the ground I grabbed a man’s leg and pulled it quickly so that he fell. I then swung him around and used him to knock away all of the people surrounding me before throwing him hard into the crowd.

              After what seemed like an eternity of constant fighting I realized that there were no longer people surrounding me on all sides. I quickly finished off the last three opponents so that I was left alone facing Sam. To my left I could hear fighting on the other side of another door leading into the room.

              My lips curled to reveal the full length of my fangs as I snarled at him. Renewed fury coursing through me as I looked into his eyes. He had a crossbow pointed straight at my heart.

“I gave you chance after chance to leave me alone. I even tried to get along with you… and what did you do? You threw it all back in my face.”

“I cannot get along with you. You are an evil creature whose only purpose is to be exterminated immediately.”

              I heard a groan behind me and glanced back to see the woman who had been shot with the arrow struggling to get to her feet. I noticed Sam’s eyes unwillingly flick towards her in concern and I smiled. If he cared about her then she could watch him die.

              He must have noticed my change in stance as he put his full focus back on me as he aimed his weapon.

              Just as he moved to release the arrow the door on the left flew open to reveal Jamie. Behind him I glimpsed the unconscious forms of several men.

               He stopped as he entered the room, taking in the scene in shock. He swallowed as he slowly raised the gun he was holding and pointed it… at me.

              A sudden flash of hurt went through me as I looked into his eyes which were torn with indecision and doubt. I felt my fangs retract back up into my mouth and I was sure my eyes were returning to their normal color. What was I doing? His brows furrowed and I realized I had said it out loud.

              I usually have a far better control of myself than this… I would never usually go this far. It must have been his blood, as intoxicating as it tasted it was like a drug to me. The smallest taste leaving me craving more. It had given the monster a chance to take over.

              I slowly raised my hands in surrender. His head flicked towards Sam as he moved.

“Good boy Jamie! You see? It’s a monster shoot it, shoot it now!” when he didn’t move Sam re-aimed his crossbow at me. “Fine then I’ll have to do it for you.”

“No!”

              Jamie suddenly swung the gun so that it pointed towards Sam. There was a silent pause as they both regarded each other incredulously. Then reading the determination in Jamie’s eyes, Sam swung the crossbow towards him.

              There was a sudden bang that echoed around the room and Sam dropped the crossbow as he stumbled back. I watched as a red stain appeared and spread across his shirt.

              As he fell to his knees he stared at Jamie with glassy eyes,

“Why?”

His face was grim. “You wouldn’t understand.”

He persisted as he grew weaker, “Why?”

              Jamie strode across the room and bent to whisper something in his ear. As he hesitated I was startled by the sound of the skylight above my head shattering. I jumped out of the way just in time for Julia, and then Chris to land next to me.

              Chris calmly and silently took in the room. She surveyed the scene and then me;

“Well, looks like we missed all the fun then.”

I glared. “It wasn’t fun.”

She grinned, “come on admit it…. I’ll bet there’s a part of you that quite enjoyed the whole scenario.”

I shoved her away angrily. “Shut up.”

She frowned “fine then. We’ll wait for you in the car. I’ll be in charge of clean up.” turning on her heel she strode from the room dragging Chris. She slammed the door behind her.

              I looked back at Jamie. He was just pulling away from Sam, who fell away from him with a look of pure horror on his face. Curiosity burned through me at what he had said but I didn’t ask. It was personal to him, although if it weren’t for Julia’s terrible timing I probably would have heard anyway. 

              I walked over to them slowly, stopping a few feet away. Behind me I heard the woman cry as she tried to crawl towards Sam.

              We both stood in silence as the light faded from his eyes. Eventually his heart finally stuttered before stopping altogether. Jamie still didn’t move. I stepped up to him and touched his shoulder. He jerked away from me so I lowered my hand.

“He’s gone Jamie.”

He sighed, “I know.”

              Without another word he turned and left so I followed alongside him. When we were almost at the exit door he paused and took my hand. For a second warmth shot through me before it was suddenly followed by a burning pain in my back. I gasped in pain and shock, and I felt Jamie stiffen and turn in surprise. As I fell to the ground I twisted in time to see the woman drop the crossbow as she finally fainted next to Sam’s body.

              I cursed myself for being stupid enough to dismiss her as irrelevant without a second thought. Jamie shouted my name but he sounded far away… I felt his warm hands grab me as I blacked out.