The Atham Manor (Slow Updates)

Nightmares are Eternal

AN: extra long chapter. I apologize in advance... this one was actually hard to write. 😕

I didn't think I could scream so loudly.

I'd tried to grab Jenn, but Alex ripped her off of me, slamming her malformed body into the ground. His hand raised. Her widened ribcage did with it. Her strigoi form screeched in pain, contorting as his powers ravaged her. As they started to rip her apart.

"Don't kill her!" I screamed and before I knew it I was on my feet, slamming into him. He didn't move, but his powers halted. Jenn's ribcage lowered and I could almost see the relief in her unnatural, milky orbs.

He whirled his face towards me, looking at me as if I had grown another head. "Xania, move, it's a strigoi—"

"It's Jennifer!" I managed before tears rushed down my face. "You can't kill her, you can't Jenn! Please, Alex, don't kill her!" Jenn remained on the snow-coated ground, letting out a feeble, pained moan before another screech left her. We both turned just in time to see her fingers crack and long, feral nails shoot out from her fingertips.

Alex held his hand out and I grasped it in trembling fists, shaking my head at him frantically, "Please, she's my best friend. We can find a way to save her! Please, just don't kill her."

The brunette looked at me for a long time before he let out a hiss of frustration. "She's a strigoi now, koukla. There is nothing to save." Still, he didn't raise his hand again. Another yelp left Jenn and her back bent and snapped violently, forcing me to look away with a wince. It looked like the pain had rendered her immobile aside from writhing in the snow in torment. Her skin looked paler every second. Her body more abnormal.

"Please," I said again.

Alex didn't get to answer before three more figures appeared beside us. Immediately, I felt them and I didn't even look before I cowered behind Alex.

"What in the hell going on here?" Henry spoke first.

Alex sighed, "It's me being weak, I think." Some other bone splintered with a loud pop, and Jenn let out a whimper that sounded so much like her, I instinctively tried to move to her side. A hand stopped me before I could move.

I looked up and Warren stared down at me with so many emotions flashing through his eyes, I couldn't keep up. So I looked away and pulled back from him, stepping back.

"Is that—" Calvin slowly approached Jenn's strigoi form with measured steps as if he expected her to lash out and try to take his head off. All Jenn could manage to do was spasm, something else breaking and reforming inside of her. Taking away what was once my friend.

"Don't hurt her, please," I begged. My throat burned, and I couldn't tell if it was because of my screaming, the lump lodged there, or the frigid winter wind.

"Jennifer," Warren said with pity and I couldn't tell if it spelled hope for me. I knew there was nothing they could do about Jenn, but I couldn't just let them kill her. That seemed more final and I couldn't lose her. I couldn't lose anyone else.

Calvin crouched close, grabbing her deformed jaw and turning her face. "Yeah, that's Jennifer," he said and then sighed, his hand raising. Ice formed on his fingertips and I knew without a doubt that he was going to murder her.

"NO!" I screamed out and the sound triggered my friend's momentarily lax state. She spasmed, screeching like she'd been burned, and scrambled up to a hobbled stance. I could barely blink before she was slamming through the trees— running away from us. Calvin shot me a look, but Henry launched through the woods after her.

"HENRY, NO!" To my shock, Henry's body went rigid like a plank of wood. I shivered, sobbing as he turned and looked at me. "P-Please..."

"We can't just let her run and wreak havoc, Xania," he said and then marched up to me, his coat billowing in the wind.