The Delacours: Part Deux

forty-eight.

I rushed over before he regained consciousness and stabbed through his chest to reach for his heart to tear it out. As I reached towards his chest, he was beginning to wake up, so I needed to work quickly. He grabbed my arm as I entered his chest and flung me backwards. I fell flat on my ass and took a deep breath, trying to collect myself and make sure everything was okay. He rushed towards me with a knife in hand and I reached for it, breaking his arm in the process. For a human, he was fast – faster than normal – and with the baby, I was worried and didn't react as I normally would've. I took his knife, the wooden handle burned my hand, but I tightened my grip on it and grabbed the hunter as he ran towards me again and shoved it right through his chest. He gasped loudly and grabbed at the knife but I wouldn't loosen my grip on him or the knife until I was sure he was dead. He fell to the ground with a loud thud and I left him there, desperate for this to be over.

I returned to my pacing around the backyard waiting for a sign that everyone was okay. As I paced, I tried to keep my breathing steady so I wouldn't freak out. I was feeling pressure and a bit of pain in my back as I waited nervously. I chalked up the pain to me having overdone it when I killed that hunter and had fallen. I wished, more than anything that Val, Zane, or Chris would come back. I hadn't seen them in a while since Val and Zane left with Margo and the other witches to attack silently and Chris hopped on the first hunter that got too close. As I continued to pace, the air suddenly felt very thick and I was having trouble breathing. I could feel darkness very close by, too close.

"Kalial..." I said to myself. I wrapped my hands around my belly, unsure of what to do. I tried to turn to finally obey Val's, Zane's, and Chris' wish and get into the house and in our bedroom, but my feet wouldn't move. They were planted to the ground in fear when I heard their voice – jumbled together in some weird amalgam of noise. Kalial's dark, deep mixture of voices along with a new one I hadn't heard before. Her voice was controlled and authoritative over Kalial's mixture of hundreds of voices. Her voice was almost pleasant to hear and strangely calming.

"Hello, Elizabeth..." the voice said. "How... unpleasant to meet with you again..." I took a deep breath, trying to keep myself in the shadow of the porch lights. "Now why are you all the way over here? Missing out on all of the action?"

"I have more important matters at hand. You must be Jeanne."

"I am and I am not. You can say I have evolved."

"You've turned yourself into a monster. One worse than me. You're so scared of us... vampires, wolves... look at what you've become."

"Monster? No. Just a superior being and the one to pave the way for a new era. One without disgusting vermin like you."

"What makes us vermin to you exactly? I bet our kill count is the same..." I felt falsely confident speaking to her, but I couldn't let her know how terrified I really was.

"You do not belong here and are unnatural. We would not have to kill so many if there were not so many of you. If you would all just die and disappear, we would all be happy."

"The more of us you kill, the easier you make it for Kalial and his minions to take over. Sure, you'll be rid of us, but what do you think will happen when his reign of darkness and chaos comes to fruition?" I could see Jeanne's facial expression change – my assumption on her knowing his true goal was correct.

"What are you talking about? Kalial and I are equals and are on the same page!"

"That thing is only equal and loyal to himself... He's using you for his own gain."