Forsaken Blood

- BOUND -

Layla was heaped in a corner. She tried to focus her eyes as black shadows flickered in and out of her vision. She swiped out with her hand as the dark figures approached, but they seemed to dance away before she could hit them. She wanted to scream out to Jeremiah, but her body was frozen and she couldn't move. She kept blinking, trying to clear her foggy vision. One moment the shadows would be coming at her, the next they were gone. She fell to her knees and clutched her head in her hands to hide from the evil that surrounded her. Jeremiah approached and placed his hand on her shoulder when she let out a screech.

"Don't touch me, leave me alone!" Layla said swinging her arms at him wildly.

"Layla, it's me, Jere. It's okay now, they're gone."

"I can still see them!" Layla screamed, "black figures in front of me! They keep coming and going."

Jeremiah was confused, he stood up, scrunched his eyebrows together and looked around. Layla screamed again but there was no one here.

"Layla what is it?" he asked.

"Can't you see them, Jeremiah? They are right here in front of me."

"How much sleep have you had?" asked Jeremiah.

Layla looked up at with tight lips and razor eyes.

"I haven't had much, why?" She snapped.

Jeremiah sighed, "hallucinations are common when a person is mentally exhausted Layla. I just want you to recognize what's real and what's not. I've been with you the whole time and haven't seen these shadows."

Layla pushed herself up from the floor in a daze, she didn't know what was happening anymore. She just wished she could wake up from this nightmare. Jeremiah took her hand and led her over to Thomas' broken body, Layla gasped in shock.

"Jeremiah, how many people need to die to try keeping me safe?" She had tears in her eyes.

"We have to go," he said, "the vamps are swarming to your blood, we have to move."

***

The sun wasn't far from rising, hidden from behind deep purple clouds. There was a storm coming and in the early hours of the morning, the world felt like it was on the edge of self-destruction.

Jeremiah rode with Layla back to Sophie's house, he knew she would be safe there. He knew her magic was powerful, and that she could easily hold off a couple of vampires on her own.

When Sophie answered the door, Layla jumped on her auntie, wrapping her tightly in a huge hug.

"Oh my poor dear, come in out of the cold." Sophie said, "let me fetch you some warm clothes and a hot chocolate."

She took one look at Jeremiah and gave him a nod in thanks. It wasn't long before he had left and Layla spread out on her Aunt's couch. She felt all her emotions come rushing back from the death of her mother and Kendra.

"Aunt Sophie, I want to ask you something serious... Did you know what Mom was up to, and what is different about me? Please don't lie, I've been through too much already."

Sophie didn't want to have to be the one to have to break this news to her, but she was backed into a corner and realized she would be the one to pick up the pieces of Beth's mistakes. She looked away from Layla and let out a sigh thinking of ways to tell her.

"Layla," she started slowly, "I want you to understand something, your mother at the time thought she was doing the right thing and didn't want to lose you at any cost."