Watergem

Chapter 6

I'm about to respond, when I hear a shout of my name from in front of me, behind Eirlys, the whiz of an arrow shooting through the air, and a strangled scream as it embeds itself into her.

She falls on to my chest and grabs my shirt. Silence fills the air. The crowds of dancing people stop and stare. Everyone freezes. No one knows what to do or understood what had just happened. I feel so guilty, I did this to her. I wrap my arms around her, trying to give her a bit of comfort. She doesn't know that I played a part in this just yet. Dylan pushes through the circle around us and puts his hand on my shoulder, eyes asking me what I was going to do next.

I step away from him, lay Eirlys on the ground and place her head in my lap. I lean down and whisper into her ear.

"I'm so sorry Eirlys, I never meant for any of this to happen," tears pool at my eyes, threatening to spill. I knew I meant for her to die, but I never meant to fall for her.

"It's... not your fault Brandon," she whispers. I shake my head, knowing that it's exactly my fault.

Dylan walks towards me with a concerned look.

"Brandon... Should I call an ambulance or -?"

I cut him off with a silent but vigorous shake of my head. I know what I have to do next. Jason and Nick are probably wondering why I'm doing this, holding her in my arms, as if I cared for her. They probably think I'm crazy, I've done this for years. Why now would I stop and try to save one of these people?

"I'll take her," I say firmly, "I don't want her to die."

I pick her up as gently, but also as fast as I can and lay her in the backseat of my car. She winces every time she moves. I wonder how I'm going to get away with this.

As I speed down the road, water pipes start to burst from beneath the ground and in seconds, the road is flooded. I almost forgot that she could do that, she must be in a lot of pain. I slow down to avoid slipping and crashing so Eirlys wouldn't get hurt any more.

My eyes flicker to the rear view mirror above me and I was about to ask her how she was doing, when I notice a certain Range Rover tailing us. I assumed it was Jason and Nick, but then I take a longer look through the back window and noticed that it wasn't them in the car. They were in the next vehicle behind. There is one man in the car behind me, and that man is Trent.

He kept signalling for me to pull over, probably thinking I was pretending to take her to the hospital and then kill her somewhere else. I press my foot down even harder, and speed off, not caring about the wet road. I turn into every back street I find, trying to lose the cars behind me.

"Just hold on a little  longer, Eir - Stella,"  I mutter. I still don't know what to call her, what the hell.

She stirs a little and groans at my words, letting me know she can hear me, then goes back to her prior unconscious state.

"I'm sorry, so sorry." I let out a sob as it hits me that I caused all of this. Her pain, and quite possibly her death.

I've always avoided having any kind of connection to a Supreme, and this is why. I curse myself, wanting every bad thing to happen to me instead of Eirlys.

My tears fall, and I couldn't have cared at all to stop them.

"Br-Brandon..." Her voice is weak, trembling even, but it's still the most beautify sound I've ever heard.

"Hey," I whisper, look at her through the mirror. "You're okay, Eir-" I stop, remembering the fact that she thinks I know her only as Stella. I try again and say, "Stella. You'll be okay. I've got you. You're alright."

I turn into an empty carpark behind an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town and pull over near its entrance. I wipe away any evidence of tears from my face, as I step out of the car and stand by the now car door, just watching her. Stella's eyes are closed, and there's a crease in between her eyebrows that indicate troubled dreams. I slowly lift her out of the car, not wanting to wake her up. I step through the doors of the warehouse and notice that it isn't as old and dingy as what it appeared to be on the outside. It was huge on the inside, with a wooden stair case along the furthest wall, leading to what looked like a few small rooms upstairs.

I walk to the back of the building and up the stairs. I open the door to one of the small rooms. The room was empty and dark, the only light coming from the street lamps outside. I lay Eirlys on the wooden floor and examine her injures. Her wound is deep, I notice the discolouration around her wound. It would be bruising, yes, but a bruise wouldn't have dyed her veins black the way they are now.
That's when I remember. The arrows we create at the facility have poisoned tips. This particular poisons induces a slow and intensely painful death for it's victim. It makes its way deeper into your body, all the way into your heart.

Once it reaches its destination, there's no saving you anymore.