Bitter Blood (BBi)

Chapter 26: Convergent

Chapter Twenty-six
Convergent

White hot agony engulfs my entire rib cage.

It's like fire and ice have converged beneath my skin and burned away any other feeling but pain. It climbs into my lungs and gets caught in my throat, causing me to choke and sputter.

The moment the wolf is ripped away from me, my hand goes to my side, trembling as my fingers touch the shredded and soaked shirt for the first time.

It's wet and I feel my own hot blood smear across my palm.

I put one hand over the wound and take in a deep, half cut-out breath as I try to get to my feet. I'm not going to just lie here and die.

Where the gym had once been dark and silent, it is now illuminated with moonlight and littered with wolves caught in combat with a furious leopard that darts between each one, narrowly avoiding their vicious attacks.

Three wolves – two grey, one white – slam into Blue and bring him to the ground. He snarls but is taken from my sight as the remaining wolves surge over him.

I push my own fist into my mouth and bite down to stop myself from crying out when I move.

There's four wolf bodies already on the ground but another five are still up and fighting.

Blue is going to die and then I will, too.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, another wolf comes darting through the doors, sleek black body sprinting straight towards the main fight. The wolf dives into the mass of bodies.

A keening cry curdles my blood barely a second later.

"Blue!" I shout.

Suddenly, one of the wolves is hurled back out of the gathering. It's a bloody and torn mess, it's back legs barely able to lift its own body. It's a horrible sight and it grows even worse when that same black wolf launches itself out of the fight and lands on the back of the injured Were. It buries its muzzle in the neck of the other and jerks its head back. The wolf's whines are cut short.

The black wolf, whose pelt is the colour of coal, lifts it's head and eyes like bright silver rings meet my own.

It's gone again before I can blink.

I stumble forward with my hand on my ribs, rivets of pain still running through my body. With the help of the new-comer, Blue is starting to get a grip on the other wolves. Three more have gone down in the last two minutes and he's already wrestling a forth to the ground.

The last standing wolf tries to make a break for the door but the new-comer steps into its path. It snarls at the little brown wolf and it shrinks downwards, it's belly nearly touching the ground. It looks harmless, right up until it's lips pull back from it's teeth and it tries to pull one last surprise attack on the opposite wolf.

The new-comer kills it quick.

When my balance wavers and my legs give out beneath me, Blue is there to catch me. I lean against his side and he stands perfectly still so I can regain my footing.

The black wolf makes a movement almost like a yawn and licks the blood from it's jowls. It's silver eyes roam over to me again and it stares without moving.

Something about it almost feels familiar.

It huffs a low sound with bared teeth, then turns around and disappears into the night again, leaving Blue and I alone with nine dead wolf bodies and no idea what just happened.

I call Avery. She doesn't pick up.

I call again and again and again until I've sunken down onto my knees and Blue is the only thing keeping me upright.

The pain from the wound in my side has sparked a pounding headache in my skull and a blurry vision to match. Eventually, I stop worrying about the bodies scattered around the gym and instead start worrying about myself. Blue's injuries have already healed and he's muzzling the bottom of my shirt, trying to lift it on his own.

Tears are drying on my cheeks and lingering on the edge of my chin. I eventually sit down completely and push myself back to lean against the near wall.

I swipe the tears from my eyes and reach for the soaking wet white-turned-red t-shirt I was originally wearing. I peel it away like a second skin that has melded with my own.

A terrible, sinking fear hollows out my stomach the moment I set eyes on the wound.

Underneath the mess of ruined flesh and thick, dark blood, I can see a four lined wound resembling claw marks running diagonally across the left side of my ribs.

I choke on a sob and lean my head back against the wall. My hands hover over the wound, no longer wanting to touch it now that I've seen how bad it is.

I'm barely seventeen years old and going to die in my high school gym.

It's so ridiculously terrifying that I let out a maniac little giggle.

Blue remains in his leopard form and sits down beside me, his ice blue eyes now heavy with an almost human sadness. He whines and leans in close to the wound, pushing away my hand with his snout.

“Don't.” I say, knowing exactly what he's about to do, and look away before I have to watch.

I feel his tongue run over the wound, his saliva undoubtedly mixing with my blood. The claw marks sting like I've spilt lemon juice into them and I clench my teeth against the unpleasant burn.

After a couple minutes, Blue leans back again and whines. I look down and see that the wound is barely a millimeter better than before.

This time I don't think it's going to be as easy to heal.

I sit there for nearly an hour, Blue slowly working away at trying to heal the brutal wound. Eventually, I gather enough strength to get to my feet and limp my way out of the gym, my hand between Blue's shoulder blades for support. I get to the Impala and slide into the drivers seat as gently as I can. There's a spare set of clothes sitting in a bag in the backseat and I reach behind to grab at a shirt. I bundle it up and hold it against the wound, hoping I can stop the blood flow.

I drive us home.

I slam the front door harder than I meant to and quickly limp into the bathroom before dad can come down and see what happened. I can hear him up in his bedroom, moving around the room. Cleaning it maybe.

I lock the door behind me, slide down to the floor and lean against the bathtub. This scene is reminiscent of the time Rhys was sitting in this exact same spot not so long ago, blood all over his hands and the tiles.

Only it's worse this time around.

Blue morphed back into his normal cat form on the way back home and lays beside me now. I lift the bloody shirt off my side, grab the towel off the near-by rack and run it under the bathtub tap. I clean away the blood and gore to fully assess the injury.

I don't know how long it's going to take Blue to heal me - maybe he won't even be able to do it completely - but I know that if I didn't have him I'd need to go to the hospital, get stitched up and somehow explain away the attack in a way they'd believe.

Blue stretches out beside me and licks the wound again. My eyes keep fluttering closed and a thought comes to the front of my mind; maybe Blue can heal me, but I've already lost a lot of blood.

I reach for my phone, hoping to get into contact with Avery one more time, then realize I've left it in the Impala out in the driveway.

I could scream for dad...

I lean my head back against the bath rim and drift out of consciousness.