"This small town of Dentmoth has been rocked by a terrifying series of events. A week ago, bright and early in the morning, a large group of individuals who have yet to be identified, invaded the town. The citizens of this small town woke up to people dressed as zombies batting at their doors. People were hoarded out of them homes by people with weapons.
"We haven't been able to get an exact number as of yet, but by all accounts there were over a two hundred, maybe even more, people who played a part in this. The attackers herded all the people to the high school, and the purpose of this has not been determined but it was no doubt sinister. This is believed to have been a terrorist attack of some form, but no known organisation have taken credit for it. To add insult to injury, all the graves of the town were vandalised in an attempt to no doubt instil more fear into the people of Dentmoth.
"The people of this town were trapped in the grounds of the high school, before being aided by a pack of what is believed to be wild dogs. Experts say the only explanation is that the animals perceived the people pretending to be the dead as threats and attacked. It was only this stroke of luck that let the people run for the exits of the town. They managed to escape, even after encountering more of these people around the town lines.
"Unfortunately, several people were killed in this attack. Over sixty people died in this senseless attack . It is believed that over half of these deaths were caused by people refusing to leave there homes and refusing to be herded to the high school. Of these sixty-eight dead, thirty-two were men, twenty-eight were women and eight were children. There are fifteen people missing, who vanished in the attack and have yet to be found. Over one hundred and three people were injured, with fifteen still in critical condition.
"People all over the world are calling out there outrage of this senseless attack. Several senators and congressmen are preparing to make speeches. The scariest part of this attack is the senselessness of it. These people were simply living there lives and there was no indication of what was going to happen. We are still in the dark as to why this was done, and who is responsible. It is debatable whether it was simply a prank by some deranged criminals that went wrong, or it was a planned terror attack.
"We will have more information on the six o'clock news. My name is Trisha Evans, reporting at Dentmoth. Before I sign off, the names of all those killed in this attack are going to be listed on the screen, and we ask for a moment of silence to remember these unfortunate souls."
Blake sighed and turned his head to the woman next to him that was watching the screen with wide eyes. "Could you please turn that off?"
She looked at him and slowly pressed the button, causing the small TV screen to go blank. Blake let out a sigh at the silence and closed his eyes.
"You are one of those hundred something people injured, aren't you?"
Blake gritted his teeth and opened his eyes. The woman looked at him curiously and Blake felt his rage dissipate. It wasn't her fault he was so irritated and he wasn't going to take out his rage on her.
"Yes, I was."
She smiled and held out a hand that never hoped to cover the distance between their beds, "My name's Sandra."
Blake eyed her, "My name's Blake."
"Are you a werewolf?"
Blake sat up quickly and let out a silent scream, falling back and clutching his stomach. He focused his blurry eyes on the woman who was looking at him amused.
"I- don't- know- what- you're- talking- about," he panted.
She snorted, lying back in her bed. "Please, a pack of wild dogs decided to help those humans. Besides, I was wheeling around the halls when they brought you in, they were sure you were a dead man. You were covered in third degree burns, and your guts were nearly dragging on the floor. It was lucky the pack doctor took control; otherwise they would have seen you heal fast. Technically you picked the best time to be mortally injured because they were so busy."
Blake looked at her, completely astounded. "How in the hell do you-"
"Blake."
He turned at the sound of his name and his eyes widened as he saw the hooded figure standing in the doorway. She hobbled forward and grasped the curtain, pulling it around the bed and insuring privacy. She barely finished before she collapsed over the bed.
Blake could only stare at her. "Jessica? I thought, I thought you were gone for good."
"Not yet," Jessica choked out, lifting her head weakly. Her eyes were completely clouded over and her skin mottled with purple, blues and greens. She was rotting away before his eyes. "I needed to see you again."
"I'm so sorry," Blake whispered.
Jessica looked at Blake. "She's gone. I watched her die and I wasn't sorry Blake. She wasn't my little girl anymore. She changed the day she brought me back. She brought me back to life and I was glad she died." Sobs shook her shoulders but no tears leaked through her eyes.
Blake watched helplessly. "It's not that simple Jess, and you know it."
Jessica smiled bitterly. "I think I'm ready to die now Blake. I was only holding on for her . . . I guess there's nothing left for me."
Blake said nothing.
Jessica stood and let out a sigh. "I needed to come and see you before I went though. I need you to do me two favours, favours for a dying woman."
"Anything."
"Go to the old mausoleum and dig Julian up. Bury him next to me and make sure they know who he is, and that he was a good man. Make sure that C-Clara is with us too, p-p-please." Blake nodded and Jessica smiled. "And I need you to tell Anya Royce that I am sorry with every single part of me. There wasn't a day gone by when I didn't regret what happened. There were times after I died when I thought, I deserved what happened to me, and it was karma. I am so sorry; I just need her to know that."
It felt like an icicle had been rammed into his chest at the reminder of Anya. "Actually, Anya's gone."
Jessica looked at him confused. Blake swallowed his grief. "She vanished, along with another woman and Mary. I don't know what happened to her. I don't think I'll ever see her again."
His neck seemed to tingle at the mention of Mary. He didn't know what happened but when he woke up after three days it was to see the mark had vanished. There was no trace of it. Normally, when a mate died the mark faded into a scar. Yet, there was no scar. Mary wasn't dead, but something had happened to her.
"I'm sorry," Jessica whispered. "But at least you got closure, you had a chance to apologise and make things right."
That icicle in his chest melted slightly at that. He offered her a small smile, "Yeah I did, and that's all that matters."
It really was. Blake realised the weight he'd been shouldering for ten years was lifted. His wolf let out one long howl in his mind, one last expression of grief before he was silent. They'd both finally finished grieving.
Jessica nodded at Blake and slowly pulled the curtains back. With one last weak wave she walked out of the room. Blake listened and heard her collapse in the hallway. He heard several nurses' hurry over and then the exclamation of shock at seeing the rotted corpse. Blake turned away and found the woman staring at him.
"Who was that?" She asked.
"An old friend," Blake said, narrowing his eyes on her. "Now, get back to how you know about werewolves."
She gave him a sad smile and put up her hand, showing a glimmering diamond ring on her finger. "I married one. His name was Kenneth. We got married about a month ago; he died on the way to the honeymoon."
"Oh, I'm sorry." A flicker of recognition flicked into his mind. He'd remembered looking at Kenneth's form, he'd been asking acceptance into the pack. His mate had died when he was very young, he felt her pass, and he'd finally been able to find love. The only problem was she was a human. His pack had told him it wasn't allowed and refused her, so he left. Blake could remember accepting him.
He could also remember when Ed told him that one of his pack members had died. Blake had glanced at the file, told Ed to send flowers and that he would try to make it to the funeral. He hadn't been able to; something came up in the form of a young werewolf shifting for the first time. Blake had never given a thought to his widow.
"I am truly sorry," he told her. "You're still in hospital?"
"Yeah, a punctured lung, a few broken bones and I hit my head really hard. My brain swelled or something, they cut my skull open," she said with mock cheerfulness. Blake forced himself not to wince.
He looked over her and said, "You look fine now."
"Thanks," she said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Then her eye caught on something else and she groaned, "Oh no, I hate this guy." Blake turned and saw a male nurse enter with a platter of needles. He gave Blake a full grin and held up a needle.
He delivered Blake the pain medicine. He took his time in doing so, to the point where Blake was starting to sweat slightly as the morphine totally wore off, revealing the true agony of his wounds. When the nurse was finally done he walked over to Sandra. He spent even more time, fiddling with the needles on her arm for an extended amount of time, simply causing more pain. Blake watched him with narrowed eyes.
When he was done the nurse grinned at Sandra and turned and began walking out the door. Blake reached up and grabbed the fruit cup on his table. Careful of his stomach, he lobbed the cup at his head. It exploded on impact, spraying soggy fruit. It also sent him flying forward into the cart of food that was being delivered. Blake smirked as he saw him knock it off, sending food everywhere but especially all over himself.
"Bravo," Sandra acknowledged, slowly clapping her hands.
After that both of their medication came into effect and they fell asleep. Blake didn't know how long he slept; only that it was deep and completely dreamless. He had no visions of Anya slipping through his grasp. He didn't see a single image of her forest green eyes. It was wonderful.
When he woke up in the morning, having slept away the rest of the day and all of the night, he felt better than he had in years, even though Mary had just tried to eviscerate him and then burn him alive.
He pressed the button on his remote and didn't even have to look for reports about what had happened. This time a young man was discussing what had happened, and it appeared he was standing in front of the high school.
"- and yet no one had taken responsibility for the attack. There have been no theories brought forward by experts, and no one is sure if this attack is the last. Volunteers are streaming into Dentmoth to help with cleanup and help victims. There have been multiple donation sites created, which are listed on the bottom of the screen. There are also multiple petitions circulating that call for the state, or even country to be called into a state of emergency.
"I have been told that this is not necessary, as while it was a senseless attack there is no evidence or proof that the attack was perpetrated by terrorists. The people of this Dentmoth have so far been reluctant to give interviews, but an anonymous source has said the worst thing about the attack was the discretion of the dead.
"As reports have shown, the attackers went to the local graveyards, and to instil a sense of terror, dug up the bodies. They then attempted to pass themselves off as the dead, herding people from their homes. Many corpses are turning up in strange places. There have been many reportedly dumped at the town's local museum, dozens found in piles in the forests and other strange location. One body of a woman was even found in the local hospital yesterday! This-"
Blake flicked it off, not wanting to hear anymore from the amateur reporter. He thought back to the zombies. Once the humans had been herded to safety, Ed had come back. Thinking fast he'd had several of the pack members who were still strong and had energy to finish them off. They'd arrived to find all of them once again dead and no longer moving. They set about hauling them away, throwing them into piles in the forest for a number of reasons. The first was they didn't think the zombies would be able to find their way out if reanimated. They wanted them away from the living. They were also thinking about when the police came, that it would be hard to explain the corpses, especially if they stood up.
It was smart and Blake had praised Ed, even though he was slurring his words from the medication at the time.
Blake turned his head and sighed when he saw Sandra still soundly asleep. The rest of the occupants of the room had their curtains pulled tightly, obviously wanting to be left alone. His parents had visited him the first day, his father crying as he saw the state of him and his mother swearing vengeance. They apologised profusely when they said they were busy and it might be harder to come back. As the parents of the alpha they had a responsibility to help, especially since he was currently preoccupied with healing. He'd told them he understood perfectly and that he was fine.
Yet, now he wanted some company. He was bored. He had dozens of flower bouquets and balloons, and too many teddy bears for a grown man, but nothing to keep him interested. Besides, all this gifts were from reporters or people who'd heard about the attacks. Everyone wanted to say they'd helped. All his real friends and family were busy putting their lives back together, dealing with the losses of the dead or caring for the injured.
His only visitor who wasn't related to him was Jessica.
But at that moment his thoughts were broken by the clicking of high heels on the linoleum. He lifted his head up to see a woman enter the hospital room, her face nearly completely hidden by a large bouquet of roses. She strode forward, surprisingly over to where Blake lay. She deposited the roses on his desk and turned to him, and it was only then he got a good look at her face.
She was simply gorgeous. She had stunning wavy golden hair that reached half way down her back, that glimmered almost like a halo even in the darkened room. She was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a coat, but she made them look like they were designer. Her body was simply too perfect that it didn't seem real, a small waist and thin legs, but a large chest. She looked photoshoped. Then there was her face. Everything was delicate and sweet, large red lips, big eyes with thick lashes and sharp cheekbones. Though, the most beautiful thing about her had to be her eyes. They were a deep and beautiful green. They reminded Blake of the forest in spring, full of life and vibrant.
"Hi," she said softly in a sweet voice.
Blake eyed her with uncertainty. She was so very beautiful, too beautiful to be human, and he didn't trust her for a second. "Hello," he said slowly. "Who are you?"
"Oh," she said with a smile that would have made another man swoon. "I'm simply here to say I'm so sorry for what happened to you. I couldn't believe it when I heard. I knew I simply had to come and give you some flowers."
Blake looked at her uncertainly, "I'll be fine. But thank you."
"It's really no problem," she said with a smile. "I was worried about you."
"Why?"
She paused for a second, "Because I care about you." Then she leaned down and pressed her lips against his forehead. Blake stilled, unsure of what to do at that moment. She stood up and offered him another sweet smile. "Goodbye."
Then she turned and walked away, her high heels clicking all the way to the elevator.
Blake shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He then lent over, wincing as it stretched his stomach, and grabbed her card on the flowers. When he opened it immediately something fell out in his hand.
He looked at in confusion for a few seconds before gasping in recognition.
In his hand, lay a very familiar silver scythe necklace.
He practically tore open the card, reading it so fast it made him dizzy.
Dear Blake,
By the time you read this I will have gone. Now, don't do anything stupid, like try to get up and chase me down. You need to sit there and rest. I know you're confused and you should be, because I myself am a little confused by it all. You see, you were supposed to die on that bridge. Mary killed you and you're soul was ready, but I wasn't. I didn't take your soul like I should have. Instead, I waited for the ambulances to revive you. Because of that, I was facing a most severe punishment at the hands of the council, and I was prepared to take that risk.
Then Clara, the necromancer, offered to help me in an effort to apologise. You see, she transferred my soul into the body of a succubus, which had already been taken over by one of Mary's goons. She gave me another lease on life, literally. I have another chance to do things over. I have another chance to experience the world again.
And I'm going to take it.
I did think of staying with you. I wanted to more than anything, but I simply can't. There is the risk of the council finding out what I've done, and the first place they'll look is with you. Trust me Blake; they wouldn't hesitate to kill you. Besides, we missed our chance and I think it's time we accept that. If I stayed I know that I would have always been thinking about before, always wondering about why you did what you did, why I did what I did and the mistakes we made. I decided that was not what you or I deserved.
So, I'm leaving. I know this might upset you and I apologise for that, but you know it's best for us both. I will send letters every so often, just to let you know everything is alright.
I plan to travel the world, and I won't do it alone. I have another ex-reaper travelling with me. She's in the body Mary stole. Don't worry about me, I'm travelling with a dragon! I thought about having that body myself but the thought of being in the same body Mary occupied makes me feel ill. We are going to travel together sightseeing, but we also have another purpose in mind. We know nearly all the soulshifters escaped. We know they've gone back into hiding and we've decided not to let them. We're going to hunt them down and kill them all. It's time the parasites were gone from the world, don't you think?
Now, Mary. I want you to know we didn't kill her, I think that would be letting her off to easy. Instead, she's in another body. She's in mine. She has been taken back to the reaper world and no doubt become a demon reaper. It's a punishment worse than death, trust me on that. The council doesn't give trials and doesn't listen. She will spend eternity in the worst place possible, and I am very glad.
The necromancer died on the bridge. She wasn't upset or angry, and she went without struggle. Make sure she gets a decent burial, would you?
Death has restarted, I watched it happen. Another marvellous thing happened. You see, they couldn't simply go and reap the individual souls, instead they simply opened all the portals and all the dead passed through. This means that even the ones who refused to go the first time could pass through. There is a woman called Sandra, she's in the hospital. Could you tell her Kenneth was able to move on?
I'm sorry Blake. I'm sorry that I'm not staying with you. I hope you realise that it is for the best. You said yourself, when I was there you stopped looking after your pack. When you looked at me I knew you loved me, but I also knew that the overwhelming emotion was guilt. It wouldn't have been real.
Again, I'm sorry.
I want you to know that I do forgive you though. I have not a single negative emotion. I don't hate you, I'm not angry, I don't grieve for what could have been, I've been able to let go. I don't think that's something the either of us could have done if we were together.
I know I have no right to ask anything of you, but I'm going to do it anyway. Now, Blake, listen to me. Find someone else. Move on with your life. Get some furniture in that empty house. Make some friends. Get a hobby. Honestly, get a life. I need you to promise me that. You are a good man and you deserve a life. You deserve to be happy and content.
Goodbye Blake,
With the uttermost love Anya Royce.
Blake stared at the pieces of paper and slowly sat them down; he looked at the scythe glinting in his hand and smiled. He could do what she asked, he decided. He could move on.
"What you grinning at?" Blake turned to see Sandra looking at him groggily, yawning and sitting up.
"I just got some good news," he said. "Oh, and I have some for you."
Sandra frowned but got up out of her bed and took a seat next to him.
Blake took one last glance at the letter and grinned, before turning to Sandra.
.
"That didn't take long," Norma noted, pushing up her sunglasses and Grim slid into the car. "I expected at least half an hour of gooey kisses and love filled words."
"It wasn't like that," Grim said, smiling softly.
Norma snorted, "You are all happy and contented, it's weird."
"I'm allowed to be happy."
Norma waved a hand, "I know, it's just that it's a new look for you. Oh, did I tell you I have a plan for getting money."
Grim rolled her eyes, "What?"
"Let's rob banks," Norma said, excitedly. "You'll seduce the guards and I'll go in breathing fire!"
Grim simply laughed. Norma started the car and they drove to the front desk, where Norma handed the parking ticket over. The man in the booth looked bored out of his mind until he saw Grim looking at him. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped in shock.
Grim resisted the urge to groan .She wished she'd never taken this body. The succubus was too seductive, too beautiful and it was annoying. Sure, the reason she was so attractive was so she could seduce men and take their life force, but it seemed unnecessary. No matter where she went so far people looked at her and it made her very uncomfortable. She was thinking about resorting to a wig or ugly glasses to stop it.
"H-h-hi," the man said, leaning down low so he good look through the window at Grim. "What's your name gorgeous?"
Grim paused before giving him a wicked grin. "Well, they used to call me Grim."
Norma snorted and stepped on the accelerator and they sped away, both laughing all the while.
THE END
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Well, it's the end.
I hope that you all enjoyed it and i want to thank you all so very much for reading.