Blood Ties

Blood

Tears welled in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Not now. Not when they were so close to the end. "Shut up and focus on staying alive, you idiot," she said, her voice trembling but determined. "I'm not going to let you die in my arms, not like this."

Gabriel's hand trembled against her face as he smiled weakly. "You... don't hate me?"

Eve paused, her hands still pressed to his wound as she fought to stem the bleeding. Her voice faltered but steadied, a raw honesty escaping her before she could stop it. "I hate what you did... but not you." Her gaze softened, and for a moment, everything else faded away—the storm, the blood, the danger. It was just her and him, suspended in a fleeting moment of something tender, something unspoken.

Gabriel's lips parted, but before he could say another word, the unmistakable sound of footsteps reached their ears. Damien.

Eve stood, her expression hardening. Her grip on her knife tightened, and without looking back at Gabriel, she faced the figure of her past—the one who had never let go.

Damien stood a few paces away, his eyes dark with something that wasn't just rage. It was a hunger, a need. "You really think you can stop me?" he asked, his voice cold. "You all deserve what's coming."

But Gabriel was already moving, ignoring the pain, ignoring the blood that poured from his wound. He pushed himself to his feet, staggering, but standing tall. The storm around them seemed to hold its breath, and in that moment, everything became clear. This was it. There was no going back.

"I'm done running from you, Damien," Gabriel said, his voice low and dangerous. "You want blood? Then take it."

The two brothers stood across from each other, two sides of the same twisted coin. But there was no love left between them—just a shared history of violence, betrayal, and the promise that blood would be spilled before the end.

And this time, Gabriel wasn't going to be the one to die.