The Delacours

twenty.

                We walked towards the Den; the path was strewn with dead vampires, wolves, and fae. The witches were hiding as far as we knew. Val tried to talk to them before everything went down but they wanted no part in the fight. As we got closer to the Den, I could smell the blood, stronger than ever. There were a lot of dead wolves. We rushed over to find John, stuck in a state of perpetual transformation. His arms and legs were sticking out at awkward angles, his bones were moving underneath his skin. It was the most gruesome thing I'd ever seen. Val quietly snuck over to him and made it stop. Through heavy breathing, John thanked her.

"Where are the others?" We asked, helping him sit.

"I've been stuck like that for hours. I don't know. I tried to fight it..."

"Hey, it's okay. We'll find them," I asked. "We need to make sure Ezekiel is dead. Adriel is coming back with the Eminence and we can't risk Ezekiel still being alive."

"Ezekiel is a strong bastard." We helped him off the floor and started to search for Dylan and Odette. It was almost a half hour before we heard anything leading to their location. Odette had screamed out. I turned to face the direction and ran towards it, leaving everyone else behind. I ran as fast as I could. When I arrived Ezekiel had Dylan by the throat; Odette's brain was being hemorrhaged. She heard me running towards her and shook her head, signaling me to not come any closer. I stopped and looked on from behind the tree line.

"I don't even know how this was possible. When my son was cursed to become a wolf every full moon, I was disgusted. I couldn't believe that he'd fallen in love with a human. But to see this!? A hybrid!? A wolf mixed with a vampire? This is beyond anything I could have ever thought of. You are an abomination above all abominations and you will die today, son, along with all your other disgusting friends. Wolf, witch, and vampire alike! Dead. It will be a glorious day when we fae are the only supernatural beings again just like the old days... We were free to do as we wanted; use the humans as slaves and prostitutes. It was a beautiful thing..." He stopped speaking to reminisce. After a few seconds, he raised his other hand and aimed it to Dylan's chest. He was going to rip his heart out.

It happened so fast I didn't even see it coming. I felt a huge surge in my chest, like my heart exploded. My vision blurred and I heard a ringing in my ears. When I finally was able to see, I saw Odette lying on the ground, covered in blood. Ezekiel held her heart in his hand. Without thinking, I screamed out and ran towards him. He caught me with a binding spell and I fell flat on my face.

"Ah, the daughter!" He broke his gaze from Dylan and came for me.

"Dylan, run," I said under my breath. "Go find John."

"I'll get to him later," he said, noticing Dylan run away. "That was fun!" He still had Odette's heart in his hand. I could hardly see through my tears, the pain in my chest worsening.

"I'm going to fucking kill you. I'm going to rip your fucking head off and pull your heart out through your neck. I'm going to kill every last one of you."

"Only if that shard of white oak stake working its way to the center of your heart doesn't kill you first. Get up. Fight me, child." The binding spell was released. He threw magic at me before I could stand, but I rolled out of the way. He was hard to get close to; he would hide behind trees or bushes, blocking a direct path. He was good at blasting spells but I had to wait for an opening. I didn't know where everyone was else but I couldn't wait for them either. Wiping tears off my face, I tried to keep it together for just a few more minutes.