Quest 50 | ONC 2024 HONORABLE MENTION ✨️✨️

Eight:

I stumbled back and felt the jagged edge of a rock had cut against my pant leg. I hissed but didn't take my eyes off Damon. I felt like if I did, he would be instantly closer, and like that, I' be done. Dr. Who said don't blink.

I gripped my sword until my knuckles were head. If her voice pulled him into a poisonous state, maybe mine could bring him back. I licked my lips and tried to gather myself. "Damon," I croaked, strangled by my panicking fear, "you're still in there."

He bared his teeth as he stopped moving and raised his weapons in a fighting position. I gulped, looking at the man I never stopped loving and always wanted to be with. Today we admitted the truth to each other. We spent days this month flirting, even through my ill uncomfortable days, and had since the aliens arrived, but the love had never left. We lived our lives separately believing the other had moved on with their life. But Damon had always been mine. I couldn't let this happen to him. I love you, Damon.

Because he raised his sword and dagger, I lifted my blade, too. I moved my shoulders back, I strengthened my grip. I couldn't gravely harm him but I needed to make sure he didn't attack me and kill me. If he did, all of this would be for nothing. The beast would kill him, too. Take her heart before she takes his.

I moved further away, never taking my eyes off of him. "Damon, I know you can hear me. Remember what we said this morning?"

Damon growled.

"He cannot hear you, small human," the creature cackled behind him. "He will do my bidding and satisfy me."

I clenched my jaw tightly. She couldn't have him. "No!" I shouted to her. "He will not! I will save him and take him home!"

"Oh, small human, you don't understand." The serpent woman slithered onto a rock and balanced her chin upon her hands. "I said the same thing when the Wiloxes came to my planet. I swore to protect my mate and do all I could to save him. But they took his head and my heart. What makes you any better than me?"

I knew it! She was a prisoner, just like us. The aliens, or the Wiloxes, were going to planets and kidnapping people. While I would love to ask if she knew about the war, I didn't have time. It was either her or Damon and I. And I would kill her to save him, but I needed to save myself from his attacks.

My gaze quickly moved to him as he rushed to me. His arms lifted, weapons over his head and he brought them down over my head. I reacted, blocking the blow with my sword. I clenched my teeth, looking up at the face of the man who meant the world to me. "Damon!" I grunted. "You don't want to do this!"

Damon flicked his tongue out between his teeth, like a snake, as he hissed. There weren't words, just an animalistic sound. My heart raged at the fear that he was truly gone. But he couldn't be. I knew he wouldn't give up, just like I shouldn't. But he was larger than me and stronger; the pressure on my arms and the pain in my muscles made me stagger under his weight.

"Why did we stop calling each other, Nina?"

I screamed as I pushed him away from me. He stumbled back, falling into one of the rocks, but caught the point with one hand. He quickly reacted, looking at the wound in his palm. As blood trickled down his arm, his focus returned to me.

"We grew up."

I scrambled to my feet and ran back through the cave, weaving and zigzagging between the rocks, hoping I could lose him. Just for a minute. Just for the moment to figure out what I could do. I wasn't going to hurt him, but if he attacked me like that again, I wouldn't have a choice.

"We can't die. I won't let us."

I dropped behind one of the rocks, large enough to hide my body, and pressed against it. I panted as I looked up at the dripping ceiling, water hitting my face. The sound of the serpent woman's cackles carried through the air, echoing and bouncing off the mountain's inner walls. I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head, just as Damon shouted in frustration.

"He will kill you, small human!" she laughed. "And when he does, he will come to my bed, covered in your blood, and give me everything I've craved for months!"

I wanted her to stop talking. She had a reason for her behavior but did she need to talk about it? Whatever she believed Damon would do for her wouldn't happen!

"He has such big hands; I can see them from here. Your small human body wouldn't know what to do!" she shrieked. "But when I am done and he's had the best mating of his life, I will rip his heart from his body, just like you planned to do to me!"

My eyes snapped open. For a second, the memory of when Damon and I were in high school came to mind. He was the awkward kid in class, the artist, and the student who always tried his best despite the other classmates' remarks. But when I saw his sketch of a magical tree surrounded by fairies, it captivated me, enough to ask him out on a date. The way his brown eyes lit up, the brightness that forever held my thoughts, took over me that day. I wanted more than anything to see that look again.

"I will rip her heart out." I pressed my sword against my chest. "I will take it and cut it into pieces and—"

I turned. Damon was right there. He leaned against my rock and grinned with his dagger close to his face. Taken aback, I quickly moved away, but Damon was faster. He lunged at me, tackled me, and I was pinned under him as he tried to stab my face. Tears puddled in my eyes as I looked up at him.

"I love you, Nina. I should've said it from the beginning, but I didn't know if you felt the same."

I grabbed his dagger with both of my hands as saliva slipped from between his lips. He snarled and pushed, and my grip weakened. "Damon," I panted, biting my bottom lip so hard I tasted blood. "I love you."

He didn't stop. He pushed harder, scooting enough that his legs moved higher on either side of my chest. His feet were at my thighs.

"I've loved you since the fairies, I've loved you since you took me to the movies the first time."

Damon came ever closer. His face neared mine. His spit dropped on my cheeks.

I sucked in a breath. "I've loved you since we sat under the stars and you promised to help me go to school with you. I couldn't but I swore I'd wait for you. I have, Damon. Fifteen years later, I'm still here."

His brows lifted for a moment. His grip loosened.

"I'm broken," I whispered. "I'm disheveled and fragile, but you make me strong. Please, be the same for me. Please be the Damon who wants nothing more than a normal life with me."

That was it. He heard me, I knew it because he let the dagger go enough that I took it from him. With it in my hands and him so close, I screamed because I didn't want to hurt him, I promised myself I wouldn't, but I quickly sliced at his achilles. When he grabbed the one on the left to stop the bleeding, I did the same to the leg on the right. He howled and pain and fell back. My heart shattered, but I knew like this, with this injury, he wouldn't die, and he couldn't chase me.

I scooted out from under him as the woman continued to laugh, oblivious to the fact that I subdued him.

"You won't win!" she cackled. "He is mine!"

Trembling, I gripped Damon's dagger as I looked down at his whimpering face. "I'm sorry," I whispered to him, "soon this will be over."

Then I looked back towards the woman and shouted, "No, your heart is mine!"

A/N: 

Word count: 13, 435

I am squealing! <3