A Shade Darker ✔️

{Chapter Forty Two}

Blood for Blood

July 29th, 2017

Ashley

My feet seem to be carrying me the rest of the way, following the echoes of screams and struggles until I find myself standing at another clearing.

I feel sick again and place a hand on my sweating throat to try and force it down. How many times would I do this and fail?

The stick I had broken was clutched tighter in my hand and at first I thought of splinters as the broken wood pieces began cutting into my skin.

But the grunts soon brought me back to reality as I stood witnessing the fight going on between my husband and his brother.

Faces were tight and hard, muscles straining as they came to a shaky stand still, Mike trying to force down the knife that Billie had aimed towards his throat.

I wondered why they were fighting with knives and not stakes, but it was only then that I saw the abandoned one a few feet in front of me.

Billie was with a knife, Mike only with bare hands as he tried forcing his hold down by his wrists.

Finally they break away in a mess of heaving chests and torn clothing. Blood was escaping from Mike's ribs, the evident claws marks bloody and leaking on his cheek. But Billie looked worse, and I knew why.

Mike had made a vow, a promise he was intent on keeping. He was giving everything he had, trying to kill his brother with such violence that it was scary.

They stand circling each other, waiting for one to make the next move.

Mike's eyes go over Billie's shoulder, glancing at me. As if his power, anger and promise had returned, he lunges.

But he's not strong enough to take Billie in his own, this was my battle as well. And I would help him fight it.

I run forward quickly, hear Mike shout:

"Stay back!" He shakes his head, panting and in pain "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

I didn't know how long the battle was going on, but I knew it would be ending soon. One way or the other.

Someone here was going to die, I just prayed to God it wasn't Mike. Because if he was dead, dominated by Billie, then what would become of me?

Billie would take King, he would take me....he would take everything.

Billie turns his head sharply, glares at me.

He's hurt worse like I said before, his eye has a deep cut on it, and his leg has a limp.

It was two against one, I know I could beat him. I know we could beat him.

Billie was weakened, and that meant more power on our side.

Billie turns, looks at me and clenches his hands into fists at his side. The look on his face is obvious.

I dare you.

He's saying it, I can hear him. I can hear his voice echoing through my head and then a ringing in my ears.

"Stay.....back! You'll....kill...please" Mike's words sound choppy coming through my ringing ears.

I'm blocking him out, staring ahead and focused.

If Mike didn't make the first move, then Billie was mine.

Billie steps towards me and Mike grabs his arm. Things are happening in slow motion, everything is silent, and my fingers are tingling again.

Focus, I tell myself. Focusing made the tingling stronger. It made my hands do things, it made me strong.

Billie turns back to Mike, raises a hard fist and begins pounding. Fists fly, then another knife.

I remember the one in my sleeve.

"Billie!" I call his name and he turns to me, just enough delay to allow Mike to rise back to his feet.

He's panting, injured and struggling to keep up. Something was weakening him and I wondered why he hadn't taken the chance to kill him yet.

"Beautiful, you showed up. And with style, too. That a new cloak, or am I just seeing things?" I grasp the stake tighter.

Billie sees it, smiles, but doesn't change the mood. He seems unaffected, and if his eyes weren't so hard to read then maybe I could see that he was just putting on an act.

I'm trying to buy time occasionally, but not obviously looking over Billie's shoulder at Mike and trying to give him signs. Why wasn't he grabbing the stake right next to him? Why couldn't he just kill Billie right here? What was he afraid of?

"Considering your eye is badly damaged, I'm not quite sure what you see" Billie chuckles, low and growl-ish like some animal.

Oh yeah, I seemed to have forgotten he basically was one. As if being a vampire itself wasn't enough. His attitude made everything worse.

Billie steps towards me, within arms reach, but I'm not scared of him. I watch Mike again, seeing that he had picked up the stake and stared down at it as if wondering what to do with it now. He looked distant.

Billie rips open the rest of his shirt, showing off a scratched, pale, but muscular chest.

He slaps a palm against his chest and makes his face blank. The stake in my hand feels heavy.

"Do it, come on, don't be afraid. Drive that stake right through my heart, beautiful" His words hit me like a shock wave, making the heat rise from my toes and start boiling in my stomach.

Focus, focus, focus.

The tingling grows even stronger and I lift my hands as if to stop him from taking that next step, but I'm not fast enough.

Billie runs, tackles me to the ground and covers my body with his.

I scream, trying to get my hand free to push the stake through his chest, but he has the hand pinned down.

He opens his mouth with a hiss and I see his fangs. I close my eyes, tremble and press my palm to his chest with my free hand in order to push him off of me.

Something sounds like a gunshot, but I never felt the shock go through my fingers.

Mike's attempting to pull him off of me, but teeth bite down on my neck before Billie produces a choking sound and rolls off of me.

I gasp, get pulled up off the ground by Mike and watch Billie gasp for air on the ground at my feet.

Mike moves me away. The stake in his hand is gone, but it's discarded on the ground instead of in Billie's heart. So why had Billie suddenly stop?

Mike gathers me in his arms, moves me away and together we stare.

Billie lays staring up at the sky and I wipe the saliva off my neck with a shaky hand. There were no puncture wounds, and I watched Billie's skin produce a humanly glow.

I look up at Mike but utter no words. We stare at each other in astonishment.

What had I done?