The Tali

Chapter 17 - Unrelenting Agony

I was panting, my fists were burning, and my legs begged for me to stop. I refused, and pushed on, kicking and punching the target in front of me. It had been hours since Andrian left, my anger only growing. Zeke gave up trying to get me to stop training two hours ago. I was an orphan because of him, and when I changed I'd have to fake my death to keep my adoptive parents from finding out the truth of the world. He put me in this position.

No, the Kamatayans did. I growled at the little voice that had been defending him for the last several hours. He is a Kamatayan. His family is literally out to kill off my bloodline, and that's me. A small part of me had hoped that when finding out who I was he would just take my side since he is my mate, but no, he went back. Probably to tell them my current identity. 

"Lailah," Zeke's voice pulled me from my thoughts and I pulled back the punch I was throwing to avoid hitting him. "What the hell, Zeke? I almost hit you." I hissed as I stumbled back, my legs threatening to give out. "You need to stop. You're going to exhaust yourself and then you'll be useless." He offered an arm and I gladly took it to avoid hitting the floor. "Fine," I grumbled and followed him up the stairs. 

"How are you feeling?" He amended his sentence after the look I gave him. "Okay, I know you feel awful right now, with everything that happened, but I'm more concerned with you and the Cyan Moon." I sighed, I was scared but I was determined to make good on my promise. "I'll live through it, even if it destroys my heart in the process. The Athenos bloodline will survive." 

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The next day flew by and before I knew it, it was sunset. The day of the Cyan Moon was here. Zeke squeezed my hand as we looked out the second story floor at the four people standing at the bottom of Zeke's driveway. A Lycan, a Witch, a Tali (Andrian) and one of the Fae. When Andrian's eyes met mine he quickly looked away. "Coward," Zeke snickered. "I thought you luuuuhved him" I snarled at him. "Shut up." I gripped the osmium dagger even tighter. Zeke had claimed that since it was osmium and silver it was the best weapon to have for tonight. 

"It's time," Zeke whispered as the sun dipped behind the horizon. I squeezed his hand once more as the four Kamatayans below advanced on the house. I glanced at Zeke, my right eye glowing as brightly as his. "I will protect you with my life, Lailah. You take the witch and the fairy and I'll take Andrian and the Lycan. Those two are more dangerous." I nodded, and faced the bedroom door,  taking a deep breath as it slammed open.

It was utter chaos. Zeke was fighting two on one and I was currently squaring off with a pissed off witch and fairy. "Little girl, you think you can stop me with that?" The fairy's voice was sickly sweet. "I know I can," I replied and lunged. All I gotta do is cut off the head. Just cut off the head. You can do this. Cut it off. 

I ducked to dodge his punch and was quickly met with a knee to my face. It threw me back on the ground landing hard enough to send tingles up my spine. He was much more brutal than Zeke had been. The witch was on me before I could get up, her hands around my throat and muttering a spell. I bucked as hard as I could and managed to fling her off and quickly climbed on top of her, shoving the dagger through her heart. One down, one to go. I refocused on the fairy, just dodging his dagger. 

Zeke quickly dropped the lycan, and was matching Andrian's every move. I had to focus. I refocused on the fairy. "You'll die tonight, fairy." He snarled and lunged. I couldn't help but squeeze my eyes shut as I swung my knife. There was resistance, and then nothing but two thuds on the ground. I forced my eyes open horrified at the head laying several feet from the body at my feet. 

"Lailah! Run! There's more-" Zeke was cut off by Andrian and I used that moment to slip out of the house. I ran with no idea where to go, I just forced my legs to carry me as far as I could as fast as I could. I could hear the footfalls behind me but refused to look back. It would slow me down and I couldn't afford that. I tried dodging the branches whipping at my face but missed one, and it momentarily blinded me as it whipped across my face. "Got you." I slammed into a tree trunk of a body and fell once again, landing in the same spot. We're fucked. I glanced around at the 20 or so people surrounding me, slowing closing in. 

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EZEKIAL

Andrian was relentless. I matched him blow for blow but could never seem to one-up him. "Andrian, please! She's your mate!" I begged as I dodged another fast flying kick. He only responded with a growl. "You waited over 450 years for her and you're just gonna kill her because of some thousand-year-old grudge?" He faltered. There. I kicked as hard as I could grinning at the satisfying crunch on impact. He hit the floor hard and I was on top of him in seconds. 

"Stop this," I hissed. "I can't, they'll kill my family." He looked up at me, panting and tears in his eyes. I pressed the dagger tip against his chest, drawing a small bead of black blood. "The Council can protect you and your family! Plus you'll get to be with her!" He didn't struggle, didn't even flinch. "Kill me, Ezekial. My family will be safe and then you can go protect Lailah." 

I shook my head. "You're my oldest friend, and my best friend's mate, if anyone is going to kill you it'll be her. Please, stop this nonsense." His eyes flashed to back to the dark blue and he opened his mouth to reply when a scream rang out, stopping my heart. "Lailah," We said in unison. 

Andrian was up before I was and out the door, running to his mate's distressed cry. I was hot on his heels. "Andrian! Please-" 

"Shut up, Ezekial. I've made up my mind." I tried to argue further but we burst into a clearing and quickly came to a halt. There were 9 people in a circle off to the left edge of the clearing. 11 lay dead scattered around the clearing. A growl ripped from me before I had a chance of stopping it. "Out of my way," Andrian commanded as he made his way over to the circle. I caught up and froze when the circle split and I could see what they were surrounding. 

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't blink. Andrian dropped to his knees, a heartbroken scream ripped from his chest. I staggered to his side, dropping to my knees next to him. There, in the middle of the parting circle was Lailah. Flat on her back, her head turned towards us, her face pale and her eyes wide and lifeless. On top of her was a witch, removing her hand from the osmium dagger lodged in her chest. 

"Look, boss! We-" Andrian moved before I even began to process his movements. I felt like I was moving in slow motion, I looked up and he had the witch pinned against the tree his hands wrapped around her throat. "She was my mate!" Andrian screamed as he stabbed his dagger through her heart, effectively pinning her to the tree. The remaining eight backed away and I crawled to Lailah, picking her up and cradling her lifeless body in my arms. 

A sob ripped from my throat as I rocked her back and forth whispering "I'm sorry." It felt like an eternity before Andrian kneeled in front of me, his hands bloodied but reaching for her. I handed her over standing to take care of the others but shocked when I found they were already dead. 

Andrian picked her up and stood, then began walking back to my house, his face showing no emotion except the tears falling down his face. I followed wiping at my own tears and watching for any signs of danger.