Empire of Vampires ✔️

Chapter Twenty-Nine

A/N: ^soundtrack for this chapter is 'wherever you will go' by the calling :)
I love that part in the bridge where it's like I'll stay with you for all of time.. gives me the major feels<3
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James was crawling through one of the war tunnels that led to the battlefield. The narrow space had soldiers crawling one behind the other and the air was heavy with the stink of rotten blood. James kept his eyes firmly fixed on the heels of Simon's boots, the soldier who crawled just in front of him; it was easier to control the claustrophobia that way.

'I can't wait for this war to be over,' a man grumbled from somewhere behind them.

Simon glanced back at James and gave him a sad smile, 'if we're still alive by the time it's over,' he mumbled softly.

James felt sad to hear it because he knew that he would stay alive and Simon most likely wouldn't. They had been drafted at around the same time and had become instant friends when they met during training drills.

Simon was sort of different from everyone else James knew, and it made him get picked on by the other soldiers. He had his secrets just like James did. It was something they couldn't talk about at the time but it made them kindred spirits nevertheless.

The tunnel rumbled slightly, causing them to lose their balance a little bit. They steadied themselves and then continued on, confused on whether there had been a minor earthquake. The dirt in the tunnel loosened slightly and sprinkled itself on their helmets.

They continued crawling forwards but James picked up the scent of smoke first, having a better sense of smell than any of the humans. Just as he started to say something, the tunnel was lit in a blinding flash of red.

'It's an ambush!' the soldiers at the front of the line yelled as they were slashed and torn apart. The tunnel started falling in on them as grenades were thrown their way, the dirt falling like rain from above. The explosions killed the lucky ones instantly, the others lost their limbs before they were buried alive in the dirt of the caving in tunnel.

A grenade flew near them and James pushed Simon beneath him, covering the boy's torso with his own body that wouldn't be destroyed in the explosion. Simon screamed as both his legs were blast off in the shockwave. He looked up in horror at James who was somehow still alive and partly shielding him.

'I can turn you,' James whispered shakily. The boy was losing blood fast through his blown off legs and he wouldn't stay alive much longer. Simon was so delirious from blood loss that he instinctively knew what the vampyre meant, all his senses were heightened as he neared his death.

'I don't want to live forever,' Simon's face was tight in pain, 'I'm a sinner and so I deserve to die.'

'That's not true.'

'It is... please allow me to finally rest in my peace. I don't want to be like you.'

James couldn't thrust upon another his own twisted fate. He had asked to be turned so that he may join his sister; but he understood why Simon preferred death over the life of a monster.

'You're not a sinner and nobody deserves this,' James whispered. He wanted the other boy to understand that before he met his untimely fate.

Simon shook his head, 'you don't know the things I've done. The person I am.'

'Loving someone is not a sin.'

It was the last thing Simon heard as his eyes finally closed in the painless escape of death.