These Streaks of Blood

41

"Ryffin!" Natalee gasps, and he opens his eyes to look at her. He nearly bursts out in laughter when he sees her ropes, laying useless on the ground behind her. She must have teleported right out of them. He wonders, not for the first time, if the werewolves even realize that normal restraints don't work on vampires. More likely, they just didn't have time for anything else - at least that is what he guesses, judging by the sounds of a pretty big fight outside.

"We need to get out of here," he says, and tries to get to his feet. He falls back immediately with a groan.

"Obviously we can't. Your neck looks better, so it's healing... but there's no way you can travel right now. Either the blood will start flowing again or you'll black out, and then what am I supposed to do?" she replies. He hadn't even noticed that she had unwrapped the bandage. She begins re-wrapping it gently, and her touch soothes the burning pain.

"Then clearly you have to leave without me. Like I told you to do before, when you ignored me."

Natalee flushes. "I wasn't about to leave you like this, Ryffin."

"You didn't have to. You could have left me before I was like this," he responds.

Natalee's nostrils flare. "I wasn't going to leave you then, and I'm not going to leave you now. So just shut up so that we can think of another solution faster," she says, clearly exasperated.

She takes her hands away, finished with the wrapping, and Ryffin winces at the sudden burst of pain that shoots through his neck at their absence.

"Natalee, I'll be fine. I want you to leave. Please."

But she shakes her head, adamant. "I am not. Going. Anywhere. Not without you."

Ryffin opens his mouth angrily, prepared to argue further, anything to get her to leave, to be safe. Before he can, there's a blast, a louder one than he's been hearing. A closer one.

The next second, the roof of their tent is on fire.

Ryffin tugs Natalee down in a sudden panic, yelling close to her ear so that she can hear him over the sudden roaring flames.

"Get out of here. Now. This isn't a request anymore!"

And he sees the fear in her eyes, but with her next shout, he knows it's directed towards him, not herself. 

"I can't leave you!"

The shout is almost a sob, and he doesn't blame her. She saw Amer's heart wither in his fireplace. She heard about the way his parents, his grandparents, were killed. She knows these flames will engulf them both, and that will be it. They'll be gone.

Ryffin squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, gathering his mental strength. This is going to hurt. This is going to hurt bad. But he needs to get up, needs to move, or else he is going to watch Natalee die, just as his enemies promised.

It's even worse than he thought it would be, but he manages. He lays his hand on Natalee's shoulder, though he thinks he may just be weighing her down, using her as support. His face contorts in agony, but he tries to keep his mind focused on getting out of here, tries to set the pain aside.

"We're getting out," he commands, and Natalee stumbles to her feet.

"We can't teleport, there's no way your body can handle that--"

"I know. Just help me get out of the tent. Quickly. Before we're trapped in here."

He tries so hard to keep his mind under control, but this much fire - it's almost too much. Memories come back to the surface, unbidden, replaying his mother's death in his mind. His father's. Their screams, the red flames, the black smoke--