Waking up was brutal. I sat up, exhausted. Peridot was there, leaning over me with her hand on my shoulder and her eyes glowing.
"Lapis, hurry," she said. "We have to go."
"I'm exhausted," I replied. "I don't wanna go."
"Lapis, we have to go," Peridot said, picking me up. "You'll wake up when I start running."
She carried me downstairs, where the rest of the werewolves were waiting. Quietly, they snuck outside and walked off of the driveway. Then Peridot put me on her back and began to run. She was right. The cold wind immediately woke me up.
"Are you sure the vampires will know we're coming?" Ruby asked, barely keeping up with Peridot.
"Yeah," Peridot replied. "They'll hear us coming." She looked at the other wolves. "Keep running until we reach our part of the forest! And remember!" All eyes turned towards Peridot, awaiting orders. "Whatever you do, don't think about Lapis! If you think about Lapis, they'll see her coming!"
We ran farther and farther into the forest until the light of every star was hidden. It was so dark that I didn't understand how Peridot and the rest of the wolves were able to see. I had known that Peridot had quite the talent for making it through dark areas like this, but I never understood it.
"I see them coming!" Royal Blue cried.
"Run faster!" Peridot shouted. "We can't let them take any of our ground!"
I closed my eyes as Peridot and the rest of the wolves sped up. The mood was becoming extremely tense. Everyone was rushing to make sure the vampires didn't win, and everyone was panicked. Peridot was panicked, I could feel it, but she wasn't showing it as much as the others were. Instead, she was channeling her panic into motivation to run faster. Finally, we came to a stop. My eyes snapped open. We were just in time. Vampires were just starting to arrive.
"Remember the plan," Peridot said, placing me down. "And remember. Don't think about the plan."
The werewolves nodded and ran off to attack the vampires. Peridot stood with me. She looked down at me and took my hand in hers. Then she let go, letting me feel what she had placed in my hand. I looked down at my hand. Peridot had given me a small knife. I was terrified of having to use it. The last time I had done something like this was to Jasper, and that was a few months before. I hadn't done anything like it since.
"Lapis," Peridot said. "This is up to you. We need you more than ever."
I looked up at her, holding the knife tightly. I was scared.
"You can do this," she said. "Right?"
I nodded hesitantly. "I think so," I answered.
"Can you or not?" Peridot asked.
I took a deep breath in and exhaled. It calmed me down a little bit. I put the knife in my pocket and glared.
"Yes," I said. "I can."
"Alright," Peridot responded. "Stay hidden. Your best chance of staying safe is staying out of sight."
"Who do I get first?" I asked.
"You need to get Dravite and Elbaite first," Peridot answered. "I'm gonna be there to distract them and take them down, along with trying my best not to think about you."
"Okay," I said. "I'll do it."
Peridot leaned in and gave me a quick kiss before running off to her first target. Of course, she didn't go directly for Dravite and Elbaite, and, instead, took down a few of the weaker ones first. I dashed behind a tree to hide. I only moved when I didn't see any vampires running around behind. Eventually, I had moved so much that both Dravite and Elbaite were in my sight, but they weren't near each other. As planned, Peridot had caught up to them too. She realized the problem too. They were too far away from each other. I could see her thinking about something, but I couldn't tell what it was. She began to run towards Elbaite, followed by Dravite.
Of course. She was thinking of attacking Elbaite so Dravite would follow her.
I took that chance to run behind more of the trees and get myself behind Dravite and Elbaite. They slowly approached Peridot, growling fiercely. They began to get dangerously close to her. I knew I would have to strike soon, or else it would be too late. I clenched the knife close to my chest. This was crazy. I wasn't nearly brave enough to do this, nor did I have the courage to make the impulsive decision I had made months before. I didn't understand how I had done that to Jasper, despite her being a terrible person.
How did I do it?
I looked back at Peridot. She was visibly panicked. Dravite and Elbaite were getting closer to her, and I wasn't doing my part. I took one quiet step forward, and more panic swept through me. I couldn't do it. I knew I couldn't. We were all going to die. I looked away, trying to keep my mind off of my impending death.
First, it will be Peridot. Then it will be me.
I held the knife to my chest again. It was my only defense. It was my only attack too.
"Lapis," I whispered to myself. "You have to do this. You have to go along with the plan. If you don't, we're going to lose. You can't stand here like this."
I growled at myself. I didn't know why I had so little courage. I looked back at Peridot once more to check on her. She was in front of a tree with Dravite and Elbaite coming right at her. They were grinning eerily. I knew as well as they did that Topaz would be very happy with them, but I sure wasn't. No one could hurt Peridot. No one could.
I began to feel furious. Anger bubbles up inside me, and I snarled. I ran out from behind the tree, running faster than I'd ever run before. I ran up behind Dravite with the knife held above my head. Then I swung it forward. A clean cut to her shoulder. Dravite, just as Peridot predicted, was shocked. Peridot immediately took the chance to dismantle the rest of her. Before she could get far, Elbaite was after her. Peridot stopped her attack on Dravite to take down Elbaite, which, luckily, was successful. Then Peridot quickly got rid of both vampires in a large fire and returned to me with a prideful smile on her face.
"You did it!" She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around me. She lifted me up off of the ground, grinning. "I'm so proud of you!"
"Peri!" I shouted, laughing.
She set me down and kissed my cheek. I only smiled and twirled my hair. Peridot's expression suddenly turned confused, and she looked around.
"Hypersthene," she hissed. "I can't see. Lapis, this is up to you."
I looked back. Peridot was right. There, with her pitch black hair, was Hypersthene. She was growling. She had seen the deaths of her companions, I knew. She approached me rapidly, trying to use Peridot's weakness against me. She was right in front of me, and she snarled. Right as her hand came towards my face, I forced my knife into her arm. I was just in time. The sight of an arm without a body was quite disturbing, but there were more important things than that at the moment.
I glanced towards Hypersthene's face as she gasped in reaction to her missing arm. Peridot still couldn't see. It was my job to get rid of her. I stabbed her again, this time, near the chest. I hated that she was doing this to Peridot. I hated that she was taking away what should have been a semi-normal life for me. I didn't want vampires anymore.
I continued to attack her until Peridot came up to me and grabbed my shoulder. I looked back at her. I could tell that the blindness was no longer affecting her.
"My stars," she said. "You took care of that vampire by yourself!"
I nodded. "She was making you blind," I responded. "And ruining our date night schedule."
Peridot cracked that crooked smile at me as she picked up the dismantled pieces of vampire. I watched her, too nauseated by the sight to touch any of them.
"I'll have to take you on a date sometime after this," she said. "We might actually win."
Peridot ran off to drop the pieces in the fire to ultimately eliminate them. I held my knife up defensively, ready to stab any vampire that came near me. Peridot returned quickly and held me close, looking at every other vampire within fifty feet of us.
"You got the powerful vampires," she said. "But it's too dangerous to get you away from here. Stay by my side."
Peridot picked me up and ran across the field, looking left and right at every vampire. Suddenly, she grunted and dropped me. I looked up, realizing what was happening. Stray electricity was surrounding her. Dioptase had gotten her. It was my job to help her. I jumped up and tried to grab her, but a vampire beat me too it. I was swept up off of the ground and rushed away.
I looked back. It wasn't a vampire I recognized, which meant that it had to be a powerless one. I took out my knife, and it immediately stopped. After quickly stabbing it in the shoulder, I ran off. I saw Peridot and waited for her to see me. She looked at me, then at something else. She was confused. I looked to my side. There was another me.
Serpentine.
Peridot started to seem less confused, and more thoughtful. Then she smirked.
"Who's your least favorite vampire?!" She shouted.
"Topaz!" The other me shouted in reply.
Peridot immediately looked over at me. "There you are," she said.
She rushed to me and picked me up. We were rushing away again.
"How about you?" She asked.
"Jasper," I answered.
"Good," Peridot said. "I picked up the right one."
I looked around. I didn't see nearly as many vampires as I had before. It seemed like we really were winning. I was ecstatic. This was going just as Peridot planned. I could see the werewolves smiling at each other and rushing around, taking down the remaining vampires. That's when I realized that I hadn't yet seen Topaz, Aquamarine, or Gold. I thought that out of all of the vampires, I would definitely see them here. Like last time, everyone was at the last battle. Certainly they would be here too.
Peridot set me down on the ground on top of a small hill so I could see the battle. I was right to have guessed that we were winning. There really weren't too many vampires running around. I looked at Peridot, who was watching each vampire's every move. Every time one was defeated, she looked at another one. I looked back towards flat ground. Then I saw them. Topaz and Aquamarine.
Aquamarine was on the ground, her face contorted into a grimace. I looked at her and realized that she had been wounded on her legs. She couldn't move. She was yelling something at Topaz, who seemed very angry. Suddenly, Bismuth pulled Aquamarine away from Topaz right as she backed away. Her expression softened. She looked so upset. She looked at the ground in distress, looked at the werewolves, and ran away.
I waited for one of the werewolves to go after Topaz, but none of them did. I was shocked. No one had noticed Topaz of all people going missing. She was the leader of the army, and, if no one noticed her, she could create another one. I looked at Peridot. She wasn't sharing my expression.
She must not have seen.
I looked back down at the werewolves. The last few vampires were being taken care of. We had won, but after seeing Topaz run away, it didn't feel like it. I looked over at Peridot again, who was looking at me.
"We did it," she said. "We're free."
"Free?" I asked.
"We can finally live in peace," Peridot said. "This is what you've been waiting for, isn't it?"
"Of course it is," I answered. "It's all I've ever wanted since Jasper."
Peridot kissed my head and smiled, burying her nose in my hair. I couldn't help smiling.
"How about we get you home?" She asked. "It's late. You need to get back to bed."
"Okay," I said. "What about Dad though?"
"We'll explain in the morning," Peridot answered. "He'll probably need to know."
I nodded. Peridot picked me up and ran back down the hill. We were promptly followed by the rest of the werewolves. I laid my head on Peridot's chest. I loved how warm she was. Before I even knew, I fell asleep.