being nearly dead

Black spots

  Nix bent down beside her, not allowing Silas to check her himself. He ran his hand down her face and laced the hair in her face behind her ear, lifting her head to look at him. She took a sudden gulp of air and began panicking in his arms, she pushed away from him and landed alongside him.

  Nix immediately, after seeing she was okay, leapt onto Silas, knocking him into the grass, his hands went to his neck to shove him further into the dirt. He only saw red. "What have you done!?" he shouted as Silas choked. "What spell was this!?" he demanded.

  "You did this... to yourself..." Silas squeezed out as black spots filled his vision.

  Ava regained her composure and ran to them, pulling Nix back by his shoulder. "Get off him!" she screamed and was met by angry eyes.

  "What has he done?" he had also felt a hollowness in his chest, his cause for trying to find her.

  "Get off him and I'll tell you."

  Nix threw him down and stood off from him, it was a pointless venture to try and kill a man who couldn't be killed. A monster that can't be killed, Nix thought bitterly.

  Ava bent down and ran shaky fingers along the side of his neck as he drew in the sweet night air. "It'll bruise..." she murmured as his eyes met hers.

  He sat up and took her hand, instead of it resting on the future bruised area. "Would you like to know what I've done, brother?" Silas asked, not touching his neck to appear calm. He knew the feeling of strangulation well, it was one of their father's favourite tools against him. "She's now in my care, as a renewed Angel of Death."

  "You have no idea what you've done..." Nix said hollowly, his eyes wide. He snapped their accusing gaze to her next. "You agreed to this?" he narrowed them again.

  She involuntarily gripped Silas' hand. "You scared me... You're still scaring me. I can't be scared of my guardian..." she explained and looked down.

  He scoffed. "You claim to know what he's done and yet you'd have him as a guardian?"

  Silas went still. "He hasn't hurt me..." she countered and met his eyes again.

  Nix chuckled. "You're making a mistake, you'll see that soon enough... I'm just not sure whether it'll be too late or not when it finally gets into your head," he disappeared and they wondered if it was back to the house or gone for good.

  Silas felt his presence leave the surrounding area of the house. He let out a long sigh and let his head hang back.

  "Does he do that often?" she asked quietly.

  He glanced at her then closed his eyes. "Fly off the rails and strangle me? No, I'm afraid not..."

  "It's not funny, I think he's going to kill you," she stared at him.

  "If he was going to kill me, he would have done it a long time ago." Ava went quiet so he sat up straight and looked between her eyes but she was looking away. " Ava... look at me," he tilted his head as she finally did. "You needn't worry about me." She glanced away so he placed his fingers softly on her jaw to move her to look at him. "I'm serious, I can take care of myself, I have for five-hundred-years," he removed his hand and spread his arms to show her he was fine.

  She moved forward to lightly touch his neck, imagining the finger marks already forming. She assessed the skin carefully and didn't notice the way he was watching her with attentive eyes, lowering his arms.

  He felt a disturbance not far from them and shivered. "Something's wrong..." he whispered and she sat back. He helped her up and they walked to the front of the house. The door was swung open and there was a wind blowing through.

  He glanced at her. "Wait here, please," he asked her. He walked in swiftly and heard a scream. He sprinted up the stairs toward Cara's bedroom and saw the door already open. He saw a man hovering over her, a fistful of her hair in his hand. She screamed again when she saw Silas.

  He gripped the man's shirt and threw him backwards as Cara whimpered. He turned on the man and punched him through the door. "Do not touch her," he growled. A strange second man appeared behind him and wrapped his arm around his neck. Cara sobbed as all three disappeared.

  Finally, Ava rushed up the stairs, unable to keep herself downstairs. She ran toward the room and saw Cara curled up against the back of her bed, holding her legs against herself. "Cara, what happened? Are you okay?"

  Cara shook her head violently. "He's gone... they took him..." she snivelled.

  "Who? Silas?"

  "They took him..."