ANCHOR｡ DIEGO HARGREEVES

29.

"Hey!" she yelled, eyes wide in shock. She kicked her jandals off and sprinted across the walkway, unarmed yet incredibly determined. She gasped when the person with the gun turned towards her, so she raised her arm and gritted her teeth, muttering the words Diego had engrained in her head. "Dream and reality coincide."

God, she wished there was something easier to say to spark her powers. Luckily, she was just quick enough, as an invisible shield formed in front of her body, absorbing the bullet that was directed at her. The perpetrator faltered when the shot didn't hit, before they fired another four. Sabrina was drawing closer and closer, enough to see the light from inside the motel room hit their face. A woman in a suit. It looked an awful lot like the suit she'd seen on the burglars at the Hargreeves home last night...

Coincidentally (and perfectly timed in a comedic sense), a lightbulb flickered above Sabrina's head. Her brows furrowed together angrily as she registered the face of the woman who had broken in and terrorised Diego's family. "You motherfucker!"

Before she could materialise any kind of weapon, a second person ran out of the room, sparing her only a glance before he grabbed his partner's arm and pulled her towards the second set of stairs. Sabrina's jaw set, and she picked up her pace, though when she reached the motel door and caught sight of what was inside, she almost lost her footing.

Her feet skidding against the concrete, she dropped her guard and stared into the room, tears quickly forming in her eyes. Lying on the carpet, lifeless, was Eudora. Blood soaked both her jacket and the floor, her gun sitting a foot away from her limp hand. Sabrina swore, before yelping as she felt a familiar sensation tear through the top of her shoulder, narrowly missing her neck. She ducked as she heard the shot, but was a second too late to miss being hit. Her knees hit the ground, pain rushing through her body, but she didn't stop herself from crawling over to Eudora, the agony within her nothing in comparison to her increasing grief.

A car engine started in the parking lot, but she paid it no mind. It wasn't her car, at least.

"Eudora," she cried, almost falling beside the corpse. The motel room was empty, but the atmosphere was so heavy it felt claustrophobic. "Dora, oh my god."

Her fingers reached for the woman's neck, trying to feel for a pulse. Nothing. Eudora was gone. Sabrina choked out a sob, using the fallen chair beside her to pull herself to her feet.

A telephone. There had to be one in here.

She stumbled around, hands covered in her friend's blood and clothes covered in her own, searching for a landline.

She found one on the bedside table between the two beds and picked it up, dialling 9-1-1.

"Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?" a monotonous voice rung through the line, only twisting the metaphorical knife in Sabrina's gut even more.

"I...I have a dead police officer...I was too late...t-they got away," she fumbled over her words, wiping tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand, smearing red across her skin. "I'm at...um...Lunar Motor Lodge Motel, please...fuck...please send an ambulance, a cop car...God, send something, just please get here!"

"What is your name?"

"Bri...Sabrina Nilsson," she felt like she was going to throw up.

"An ambulance and police car have been dispatched, Sabrina," they said, their voice dropping into a slightly calmer tone to soothe her. "Would you like me to stay on the phone until they arrive?"

She swallowed the bile rising in her throat. "N-No, I think I'll be okay."

With that, she hung up and crawled back to Eudora, hiccuping as she tried to contain herself.

It always seemed to hurt a little more when good people died, and Eudora was one of the best. She'd dedicated her life to saving and protecting others, and yet here she was, gone.

"Klaus?!" she heard someone call from outside the room. Sabrina's head shot up, her hands trembling as she held Eudora's face.

She couldn't form the words to respond to him. When he appeared in the doorway, he froze, seeing the two women lying on the ground.

Any and all words were sucked out of him, rendering him useless. "Brie...?"

Sabrina barely had the strength to look over, her eyes clouded with tears. Her mouth was moving, but she couldn't seem to say anything.

Diego rushed forward and fell to his knees. His hands reached to sit atop Sabrina's, squeezing them tight. "Oh my God."

Sabrina rested her forehead against his shoulder, choking out a sob. "Y-you can't be here. I called the cops..."

"I...I..." he couldn't form any words. "Who did this?"

She inhaled a shaky breath. "Those guys from the other night. I should've been here with her - asked her to wait for me. Diego..."

"I should've been here, too," he muttered, staring down at Eudora. His romantic feelings for her may have died, but that didn't make it hurt any less. His heart felt like it was going to fall out of his chest, and if Sabrina hadn't been sitting next to him right now, he'd storm out and shoot anyone in his way to find the people responsible. However, he was paralysed. He couldn't leave Sabrina. Not when she'd found herself in trouble yet again. 

She sniffled, wiping away tears with the back of her hand, accidentally smearing blood across her cheek. "They're gonna think you did it. You have to go."

"I'm not leaving you." 

"Diego," she gathered enough strength to push him away once sirens broke through the silence. It broke her to see the look on his face, but she knew it was something she had to do. "I'll meet you at your place. Just get outta here, okay?"

He reluctantly got to his feet when the red and blue lights started streaming through the cheap curtains. He took one last look at Eudora, then sent Sabrina a warning stare. "I'm gonna hold you to that. Don't you dare do anything stupid."

Her mind was too broken to think of a witty comeback, so she just watched him run out the door. Her grip on Eudora tightened until she swore she heard the woman's fingers crack, and she waited. 

She waited for the confirmation that everything had, in fact, fallen apart. 

★☆

whats this? an update? and it's garbage? YOU BETCHA 

apologies for having you guys wait so long, idk if y'all even remember this book, but I promise I think about it all the time, I just am severely mentally ill and can't seem to write anything I'm happy with at the moment lmfaoooooooooo