TW- sensitive content ahead
Niall could hear his name being called and scooped Shawn up in his arms. With the demons temporarily distracted by their deceased leader, the angel exposed his wings and flew to the house.
Zayn and Louis were leaning over Ares who struggled to stay awake. Zayn was about to shout for the angel until he felt a hand on his shoulder, moving him out of the way.
Niall placed his palms on the sides of Ares' face, breathing deeply and concentrating on pushing his healing energy to the tips of his fingers.
Harry sat with Vincent who had turned back into a human and wiped Elara's blood from his mouth. Harry held tissues to his dad's eye. The blood spread across the tissue at an alarming rate. The wound was deep and needed immediate attention, but Vincent was patient. He wanted his friends to heal first.
When Ares was better and able to sit up, Niall moved onto Eirene and healed her broken bones.
Zayn felt like he could finally breathe, knowing that his parents would be okay. As much as they've angered him and lied to him, he loved them with all his heart and losing them would have been the worst outcome imaginable.
Louis patted his brother's shoulder with eyes moving around the room.
Zayn looked up when Louis' hand tightened and started to hurt him.
"Athena," Lou whispered, seeing the old woman lying on the ground. Carlos had lifted his wife's head and placed it on his lap. He twiddled her grey curls around his fingers, humming gently to himself.
Evander and Lyssa sat together, and Lou couldn't tell if they were crying or not.
Zayn scrambled to his feet and ran across the kitchen. It felt like his legs wouldn't move fast enough like he was running through mud.
"Nana!" He crouched next to them, his heart thumping in his chest.
"Is she- is she breathing?" he asked Carlos. A cold tingle of dread stabbed the back of his legs when Carlos' eyes looked devastated, despite the calm smile on his lips.
"She hit her head hard. We have ancient bones you know" the old man said softly. A tear fell from his eye when his gaze fell to his wife. "I've been ready for death for a long time. Now that it's here, I'm not sure if I was ever ready at all."
Zayn's breath caught in his throat, refusing to think about what his granddad's words meant. He pulled Carlos' hand away from Athena and rested fingers against her neck.
He waited, counted, ignored the fact that Athena's skin was cold and he felt no warm blood running through her veins. He didn't see her chest rise and fall; he felt no breath coming from her mouth, he felt no heartbeat.
Nothing, Athena was gone. Her soul was no longer in her body. His Nana was dead.
Carlos watched his grandson's hands as they started to shake. Zayn's face paled and his eyes heated with approaching tears.
"Niall?" he whispered. Feeling the muscles in his mouth twitching, wanting to scrunch up and cry with agony. "Niall!"
The angel climbed to his feet, but he could feel it. Her death weighed down his heart like someone tied it to bricks and chucked it in the ocean. Death suffocated him. He knew when a body was a body.
No life. No soul. No spirit.
"I'm so sorry Zayn," he said quietly, resting an arm around Shawn's shoulders.
"There's nothing I can do." He approached them anyway, knowing by the horrified expression on Zayn's face that he would scream at Niall to try, not believing that this was the end.
