Dying is a boring side effect.
Emily's pov...
I woke before the sun today, in a cold and damp sweat that beaded my body. I groaned in pain, rolling from the bed while making my way to the bathroom, my back hunched and my arms wrapping around my body. I emptied my stomach in the toilet, wave after wave of pain raked over my body like I was being beaten, only causing me to get sick more.
I thought I could handle it on my own, I have had nausea before - but never this pain that came with it. My knees had buckled, black spots creeping around the edges of my vision until it was like I had closed my eyes.
"Dameon!" I yelled in panic, barely getting his name out loud before I was gagging again.
I could hear Dameon's footsteps and opened my eyes to blink away the dark smudges in my vision. His face was pale, eyes widened in surprise as he saw me crumpled on the floor. "Oh Gods! What did you do?!"
Dameon couldn't bring himself to come any closer, taking a retreating step back as he covered his mouth and left the bathroom. In any other situation when I didn't feel like I was dying, I probably would have laughed at him for not being able to handle vomit - but could easily slaughter a being if needed or asked to.
Gale entered the bathroom first with a damp rag in his hands that he rested against my forehead. Dameon stood at the entrance to the bathroom, still unable to bring himself to enter.
"Leave Dameon, it's okay Gale is here."
"I can't leave you." Dameon said sternly, taking a small step into the bathroom as he tried to overcome his own sickness.
I groaned as Gale pushed my hair out of my face, looking weakly up at Dameon who still hesitated. "I'll still think you're super cool even if you have to leave."
Dameon chuckled, leaning against the door frame with his eyes sealed shut. Although he was concentrating on unnerving himself, he found a response to give to me. "I can't look like a bitch in front of you just yet, Luna."
Gale helped me clean off my face, flushing the toilet before helping me stand on my shaky legs, he helped me slowly make my way to the sink. Confusion pricked my skin when I noticed my appearance, my color still bright and my eyes a little watery but nothing out of the ordinary.
"You don't smell like you have a fever either." Dameon found the courage to open his eyes, taking note of my complexion before he arched a brow and narrowed his eyes. "We need to get you to the pack doctor."
I turned away from the mirror to look at them seriously, a little shaken that they deemed this worrisome enough to go to Doctor Cason about. I was willing to brush it off, like they had wanted and continue pushing as their Luna, why were they making a fuss now? "I'm fine, just a little nauseous was all."
Their faces blanked, eyes widening slowly before even their mouths began to part. I took a step away from them, startled by the expressions they were giving me. What had caused them to make that kind of expression?
"Emily - " Gale reached forward and his fingertips touched the skin underneath my nose. When his hand retreated, I could see my blood coating his fingers. " - you're bleeding." I turned around nervously and looked into the mirror again, two streams of blood coming out of my nostrils and leaving a red trail down to my chin. I stumbled back in surprise, my hands going to wipe away the blood as I ran into Gale by accident. His hands gripped my arms as a means to catch me, but he had pulled back so quickly like I had hurt him. "She's burning up!"
I held onto my arms as I tried to control my breathing.
What was happening to me?!
Dameon pushed past Gale quickly and scooped me up in his arms, shifting me from one arm to the other as my skin became too hot for him to touch after so long. We raced out of the room and towards the doctor as quickly as Dameon threatened to go while holding me, Gale keeping up with our speed as he followed behind us.
My head was pounding from the fast paced moving, Doctor Cason climbing the bottom stairs before seeing us and crying out in shock at the look of me. My head fell to the side to look at him before Dameon readjusted me in his hold, having to hold my face against him so it would stay there. Cason beckoned for us to hurry inside as he held the door open. "Bring her in!"
I gagged and covered my mouth, Gale getting a bucket to me just in time for my stomach to convulse another round. I closed my eyes when I was finished, the black spots were already darkening my vision to the point where I couldn't make out anyone anymore. "Are you in pain Luna?"
"Can you hear us?"
I could hear them making sounds, though their voices were muffled and I wasn't able to make out what they were saying. I was giving into unconsciousness when I heard it, the sound enough to startle me back to life with a silent scream on my lips.
"I'm sorry for this, my moon - "
I hadn't mistaken it
He was in my mind.
.
.
.
Andrew's pov...
Brooklyn had struck me in the face, damaging my nose and senses greatly after delivering such an impact. I had stumbled, dragging her along with me and using our size difference as an advantage.
This wasn't the real Brooklyn, merely a demon mimicking her image to make this harder for me. Brooklyn's eyes were deep pits of black, nothing in them as she snarled at me.
I squeezed my hands around Brooklyn's throat tighter, her claws digging into my hands and arms as she tried to pry herself out of my grip.
She gave up after a while of struggling, her feet dangling with a light twitch before I let her body drop to the ground.
"Two more left."
I had first fought my Father, my Mother coming second which opened old traumas again. That one took a while, and then there was Brooklyn trying to tear out my throat.
I was ready to face the next one, already pained enough that I couldn't bring myself to feel anything - just repeating my wants of going home in my head to concentrate.
My eyes scanned the dark, smelling the air for any scent though I relied heavily on my ears to pick up the sound first.
There was the cry of a baby, my interest peeking as I crept closer to the cry and was blindly led into the darkness.
There indeed was the infant, laying on the ground and wrapped in a baby blanket while releasing bellows of pain and fear from the heat and atmosphere.
I picked it up in my arms, it's touch smoldering hot against mine. The hair color was dark and revealed small little curls, still wet against its head. I tried to coo the screaming enough to hear myself think, tilting my head back with a groan at the memories this brought me.
At the sound of my voice the baby's eyes opened, the color of his eyes enough to turn my gaze away as the breath was knocked out of my lungs.
"Impressed? I'm assuming you guessed who the child belongs to, yes?"
This was my child, eyes bearing the color of their Mother's -
"I can't kill this!" The more I looked at the baby the more attached I found myself growing, the thought of this being something Emily and I would create - it was just too hard to think about destroying it.
"Do it."
The bright green orbs soon faded to black as the baby's face distorted and the bellows continued to screech. Images of past slaughters filled behind my eyes, the screaming triggering them as I began to tremble slightly.
Unfolding the blanket just enough, I closed my eyes and led my fingers to cover the infant's face. Warm tears rolled down my face and off my chin as I applied pressure and struggled against the weak thrashing.
"Why?!" I screamed at the pain in my heart that wouldn't seem to simmer, the muffled struggle would be something that haunted me for the rest of my life.
When I was finished, I gently rested the body against the ground like I had found it, unable to look at it again.
"One left."
"What did you do?!" Her scream sent me to my knees, my head going back to reveal my throat to her in surrender. She raced past me to hold the baby's body in her hands while shaking her head slightly in disbelief. Emily looked up at me, her eyes accusing me - unable to love me now that I had done this. "Our baby?!"
"I don't have a choice!" Pulling myself from the ground, I had to remind myself of the goal - no matter how real these trails would seem.
She ran from me, my beasts not in the mood to hunt her down now while we would be forced to do so anyway. I bounded after her with my own motivation spurring me, catching hold of her arm to pull her back to me.
She landed against me weakly, tugging against me as the aroma bubbling around her scented fear.
"Please don't kill me too!"
I swallowed the lump in my throat, my hold on her only tightening as the hate inside me grew. I struck her to stun her, her cry of pain hurting me in ways that would never be healed. She stumbled back as I expected she would, not picking herself up from the floor right away. I circled her, confused that the final demon would be the weakest out of the bunch. Even the baby had some fight with it.
"Andrew, don't do this." Her voice was trembling as she weakly crawled to me, with her hand outstretched for me to take - like I was supposed to do. I grabbed her hand, throwing her away from me with a snarl, listening to her body breaking at the impact on the ground.
She cried harder.
It broke my heart.
I stormed towards her in a sprint, my eyes filling with tears as she begged for me to stop.
But I couldn't -
"Andrew, stop! It's me! It's really me!"
I needed to return to the real her.
Grabbing her neck in my hands, I closed my eyes and let my body do the rest. The break of her neck sent my body in chaos, I gagged and repulsed against the sound until I was crumpled on the ground next to her. I convulsed for a moment in absolute distraught, my hand clawing across my torso to leave enough damage to my body to wake me from the state.
When I snapped too, I found myself leaping from the ground and away from the corpse, gasping for breath while choking from the pain. The claw marks were gruesome, they would be long scars across my front - nearly enough dangerous for me to worry about dying.
"That was quicker than I expected."
"Send me home."
"What? Did you think she was a demon?"
I looked back at the body, my head already shaking in denial as I noticed it still lying in the same place I had left it. It had vanished away into ashes like the others, still bleeding out in the darkness.
Fuck. My. Life.
She isn't real , that can't be her -
SHE ISN'T REAL!
My body cringed as the beast in me flaring in denial, wanting to break apart this body and become the beast I really was without Emily.
"Take - me - home." I had to force the words out between pants, my urge to dominate and handle business ran thick in my blood and I would not be stepping down now.
"We'll see you again - in time."
My bones began to break out of place, a bellow of pain leaving me before I began to suffocate, my surroundings turned to earth as I realized I was buried underground. My limbs struggled to move against the earth as I blindly clawed, sputtering for air and hoping I would reach the surface. I could feel my bones breaking under the pressure, knowing the longer I was stuck like this the closer I was to dying. That meant Emily's life was on the line too.
But the real horror was - I couldn't tell if I was moving up, or down - closer to the surface for my next breath of air, or the opposite way and deeper into the earth.
Concentrating deeply, I forced myself to grow despite the damage to my body, creating enough space for me to switch directions and claw the other way.
My pace began to slow from lack of oxygen, my lungs aching for air as I choked and dirt filled my mouth. My fingers, though broken from the harsh digging, could detect the cool breeze of air brushing against them.
With the last of my strength, I pulled my body up from the ground, clawing and pulling through the dirt until my lungs were freed from the fire and the smell of earth filled my nose. I gasped for breath as tears coated my face, laying against the ground until my body was healed enough for me to move again.
I laughed in relief, the chuckle hurting my raw and irritated throat while I could only cry happy tears.
I was home!