Left Behind (Snowbaz fic)

Chapter: 15

                                     BAZ
   I was beginning to believe that every step I took down that narrow cave would be my last. Each of my footfalls caused excruciating pain to erupt throughout my entire body. The world blurred all around me as I frantically searched for an exit. Desperately I clawed at the cave walls for some sort of a way out. But all I felt was the wet moss and dirt that lined the inside of the never ending caves.
   I could hear Amara's girlish giggles echoing all around me. In my daze I couldn't pinpoint exactly where they were coming from. But I knew she was getting closer with each step.
   "You're not going to get very far, Baz," she said. Each word sounded like it was coming from a different direction, forcing me to stop in my tracks. I clamped my palms over my ears, trying to keep her sing-song voice from hammering on inside my head any longer. "I guess I haven't been a good host. I can't even tell when my guests are hungry." She laughed.
   I could see her shadow stretching across the cave walls as she rounded the corner just a few feet away from me. I took a few backwards steps before my back hit the cool, solid stone at the very end of the cave. There was no where else for me to go. She held a tiny, purple flame that danced above her hand, casting a dull glow in the darkness all around us.
   My stomach screamed for food, proving her last statement to be correct. Within the time that Jamie and I have been trapped here we haven't had a morsel of food. Our bodies are beginning to shut down due to the lack of blood. It was especially hard on Jamie, a newly bitten vampire, who has never known what it feels like to starve.
   I left Jamie, after he fell unconscious on the floor of his room, and set out to find any animal that could provide enough blood to give Jamie so much as an ounce of strength. Even though I barely had the strength to so much as stand on my own I pushed myself to the very limit for Jamie's sake.
   But now Amara was just a few feet away from me. Her eyes glinting with the purple light suspended just inches above her palm. I expected her to drag me back to where Jamie was lying on the ground, inches from death, so I can watch him slowly starve to death. Instead she held out a small vile of crimson liquid and waited for me to take it.
   "What is it?" I asked holding back the urge to just grab it and drink it for myself.
   "Blood, you moron!" She replied.
   "You know what I mean."
   "Human," she shoved the vile closer to my face. I could smell it from here. It made my mouth water.
   "No!" I pushed the vile away and leaned against the cave wall for support. My head began to spin, the world twisting and turning around me. But all I could see was the vile of blood still clutched in Amara's hand.
   "Baz, just do it!" Jamie's voice echoed all around me. It was then when I realized he was standing a few feet behind Amara. I could even smell the blood on his breath. I began to wonder if Jamie had the choice to take the blood or not. Was he too far gone that Amara was able to force it down his throat? Or was he lucid enough to know what he was doing?
Jamie looked stronger now. Stronger than he ever was before all this happened. He even carried himself in a more proud way. And every ounce of his innocence seemed to have drained away, leaving a shell of the Jamie that once was. I could only imagine what he was like before all this happened to him.
He reminded me so much of Simon that it killed me to even look at him. I often imagined Simon taking Jamie's place I feel so useless because I know there's nothing I could do to help him.
"Look at you!" Jamie shouted, his voice booming all around me. "You're wasting away to nothing!" He gave me a worried look.
"I refuse to let myself turn into one of those monsters!" I spat. I struggled to stay standing despite the cave wall supporting my weight.
"You're already one of those monsters, sweetheart," said Amara, "it's time you start acting like one." She held out the vile once again but this time when I shoved away it went flying out of Amara's hands and shattered against the stone floor. The crimson fluid spilling out all over the floor.
Amara turned towards me looked at me like she wanted to hurt me, but we both knew she couldn't.
"I need you strong for what we're about to do. So if you don't want to do it the easy way then I guess we'll have to do it the hard way."
She gripped the collar of my shirt and pulled me just inches away from her face. I was too weak to fight back and I couldn't pull away from her grasp.
      I continued to struggle against her grip as the tiny orb filled with black smoke materialized in her hand. She held it up so it was between our faces. I watched the black smoke billow and twist inside the tiny glass orb. It's movements made me dizzy but I couldn't tare my eyes away.
   "If you had some blood in your system it would make this process a whole lot easier. But, of corse, you like things the hard way. Why am I not surprised?" She rubbed her thumb against the orb and the smoke inside began to move faster. When she looked satisfied she snapped her fingers and everything went black.

                                  JAMIE
I watched helplessly as Baz crumpled to a heap on the ground the second Amara's dark magic touched him. But a version of himself remained standing. This creature that stood in Baz's place was far from the Baz I had come to know. This version of him was cast in shadow, everything about him looked darker and more menacing than ever before.
   His skin was grayer than usual and had a sickly green tint to it. His hair looked longer, resembling a ravens unkept, dirty feathers. His fingernails were long, jagged and black with dirt. But above all the most disturbing thing about him was his eyes. A hazy, white film covered them resembling two full moons. They almost seemed to glow in the darkness.
   It was like Baz's soul was split into complete entities. All the darkness that he had hit away in his heart took a form of it's own and whatever was left fell away and died at his feet.
   "how do you feel, Baz?" asked Amara who was smiling broadly. Clearly pleased with what she had done.
   Baz was silent for a moment as if he didn't know that the question was directed at him. His hazy, ghostly eyes fell on me then shifted to Amara. He gave her a wicked smile, his jagged, razor sharp fangs hanging out of his mouth.
   "Hungry!" He shouted.
Amara smiled and held out her hand to where the vile of blood remained shattered all over the floor. The shards of glass reassembled themselves within seconds and flew safely into her hand.
She held it out to Baz once again but this time he didn't refuse. He took the vile gladly and without a second thought he tore the top off and drained it of its contents. A single stream of blood trickled down his chin.