What Lurks in His Eyes

Chapter 33: Ceasefire

Song: Ceasefire by for KING & COUNTRY

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Bodies surround me.

Lifeless.

Ripped apart.

In ruins just like the homes that once were, but are no more.

Blood paints the grass like a gory masterpiece. My wolf's fur is drenched in the sticky, warm substance, and I am exhausted.

And yet I will not collapse.

I can't.

Because there, on the ground in a lifeless bundle, is Ellie.

Her mass of blonde hair surrounds her like an angelic halo, and desperation tears at my heart. Shifting out of my wolf form, I crawl over to her, tears leaking down my face and running into my lips.

Gripping her shoulders, I shake her tiny frame gently, hoping, praying, begging that she will somehow wake up. That she will somehow wake up and open her pretty eyes.

But she does nothing of the sort.

The blade of the knife that took her from me is still embedded into her chest, and her tiny, bloodstained and lifeless hands still grip the handle. Her face looks peaceful, despite the horrific end she met.

Taking her small form into my arms, I rock her gently and cry softly. My tears stain her cheeks, and little strands of her hair falls into her face.

She was just a child.

An innocent, sweet child.

How am I going to tell her parents?

Her adoptive mother, who could never conceive a child of her own, just lost her little girl that she loves. Braxton, the adoptive father of this child, just lost a member of his family. He will be torn.

The brown male wolf has shifted back into his human form, with a look of solemn written on his face. Approaching me like a timid deer, he hands me a long shirt. I pull the shirt on, then bring the lifeless child who dangles in my arms.

"I can carry her." He says softly, his voice gentle.

I shake my head. "No. I will carry her."

My eyes land to the little child I had pulled out of the rubble. He is lying in the tall grass, blanketed by weeds and undergrowth. He is now conscious, and blood runs from his nose as he coughs violently.

"C-carry him. I've got her." I say quietly, to which the man nods and scoops the boy up into his arms. He cradles the boy's head against his shoulder, so that the young boy does not see the death and carnage around him.

And so, we walk silently back to the hideout. I am no longer crying, the dried tears have stuck to my face that serves as a bitter reminder that life is cruel. Life takes. Life only takes and never gives back.

When we get to the entrance of the hideout, I stop.

How do you tell someone that their only child is dead?

How do you deliver such news when the words that will be spoken will tear someone's world apart?

"Luna....you have to go in there." The man speaks from behind me.

"I-I know." My voice is a whisper.

"How am I supposed to tell them?"

The man shrugs and sighs. "There is no easy way, I'm afraid."

"I hate this. I hate how life does this to me. To us. Ever since I've come here destruction has followed me. I am so sorry."

"Don't be sorry. This is not your fault, these vampires have been stirring up trouble long before you had arrived." The man replies.