Wings

Chapter 33

Chapter 33- Poison embedded in my skin

I was clawing at the dress so aggressively I was sure that I was digging into my skin. "It burns." I gasped. "Hope, I'm Doctor Vance, I am going to have to put you on the side." I barely registered that  Dr. Vance was there as the woman rolled me over. 

 Ashered.

I wanted him here with me. I looked at Fallon who kneeled in front of me. He held my body in place as the doctor began to work. 

I glanced back and felt panic rise in me at the sight of a long needle, attached to thread. My eyes widened but Fallon redirected my focus back to him. "Breathe, Hope." He instructed cupping one of my cheeks in his hand. I let out a shaky breath and screamed as the pain of the dress worsened, it was like it was digging into my flesh and internal organs. I felt my body shake and I couldn't control as the pain worsened. 

"Allaric." The doctor yelled and I suddenly felt the fabric tear up from my legs to my hips. The rest of it still burned into my flesh. "She's seizing." A voice called. There was a shuffle of something and then I felt a shot of pain through my back as it died down. I panted grasping onto the fabric of Fallon's pant leg. I was struggling to focus. "I can't get the rest of the dress off, it won't budge." Allaric said panicked. 

There was a growl of anger and I felt familiar hands  grasping onto me.

"You don't need to see her like this." Ashered snapped, surely referring to my half naked mess of self, most definitely exposing the lacy underwear that I had worn underneath the dress along with a midnight black strapless bra. Fallon pulled back and I faintly saw Allaric bare his teeth before he retreated back. "Why should you?" Allaric countered and I saw the faint exchange of a look before Ashered turned back to me. I felt a gust of wind and looked up, curling my fist in pain as Ashereds wings blocked the audience that had gathered.

He positioned me into his lap and held me close to him as I felt the cool metal of the doctors scissors cut forcefully through the black fabric. I howled as it was pried from my skin. Ashered let me bury my face into his lap as the needle went in and out of my skin. Before I could process anyhthing else I passed out in Ashereds arms. 

"Hope?" I moved slightly at the sound of my name. The stich in my back pinched in irritation and I hissed, opening my eyes. I pushed myself up slightly against my pillow to get a better look around where I was. 

I was lying in a black velvet bed. I blinked around the darkness of the room. Panic began to fill me as I couldn't figure out where I was until a lamp was flicked on and Ashered walked out from the dimmness. I felt my body slightly sag in relief. 

He looked at me with his eyebrows scrunched together, his hands awkwardly placed in his pocket as he slid his black shoe against the carpet in the wake of silence. 

"You were having a nightmare." He said softly. I swallowed, nodding.

I reached out my hand to him, palm up. He looked at me uncertainly but when I didn't move it he came and sat on the edge of the bed, holding my hand in his. His eyes were laced with worry and he looked like a cloud that had just rained. 

He swallowed and I watched the adams apple in his throat bob. "I'm glad you are okay. You were brave in saving Allaric." At the mention of his name he slid his hand from mine. I tucked my now cold hand under the covers and smiled gently in thanks.  Ashered looked me over slowly, assessing the bruises and redness of my skin. "What was wrong with the dress?" I asked looking at the red lesions it had left behind, the silk, midnight black , thin strapped dress displayed.

"Poison. Simone had a witch plant and weave it into the dress." I thought back to the shimmering dress and the pain that it gave me and fought the urge to shutter.

"Simone wanted to taunt us and he did well." Ashered said dryly his tone void of any humor. 

I took a moment to stomach the fact of how close I felt to death in the events following Sian stabbing me. 

"You should be healed in about a week or so. You can move around on your own accord, keeping in my mind whether or not it hurts." 

"You've been out three days and the meeting in order to deal with Simone was pushed back until this evening with everything that has been going on."

"How is everyone?" I asked cautiously, my heart pounding in wake of his response.

Ashered stood up walking over to the bedside table, handing me a few pills and a glass of water. 

"They are all doing all right. We are all having to rebuild, which is difficult seeing as one of your so called soulmates tried to murder you." I bit my lip at the thought of Sian and watched as Ashered tried to calm his anger.

"Sian is dead as you know and Allaric is almost completely healed. Nova really did a number on him. We will be having training sessions for everyone, starting tomorrow. We need to be prepared for the next time Simone shows up because I can tell you next time he will have more than just Nova backing him up."

I fiddled with the pills in my hand at the thought of her before I put them in my mouth and gulped down the water. I set the glass down and moved forward to Ashered, ignoring the sting my body gave me in reply. 

Ashered stopped me, grasping my shoulders. "What are you doing?" He asked completely puzzled by why I had moved. I looked up at him and before the tears could fall, I sunk into his arms. 

Ashered carefully avoiding my wounds wrapped me in his arms. "Thank you for being there." I said sniffing into his shirt. " I'm sorry I was so upset with you." 

Ashered  repositioned himself so that we could see each others faces. He wiped a tear off with the edge of his thumb. "I know." He said lightly.

"I want you to know why I killed the girl who I fell for." I shook my head moving a bit away from him. "You don't have to do that." Ashered smiled and nodded. "Yes I do, Hope." I didn't argue this time, looking at him and his dark eyes. 

"Her name was Hannah and she turned into a vampire. She was bitten when I wasn't with her and she begged me to kill her. She tried to do it herself but she didn't have the strength. She knew that if she became one, that as a fledgling she wouldn't be able to control her urges. I couldn't kill her.  She left and I didn't hear about her until months later. You see, Hope, vampires have an incredibly hard time controlling their thirst for blood, especially if they were not born a vampire. I heard there was a problem with a vampire gone wild a few towns over. I didn't think too much of it until a five year old girl was found torn to shreds."

I shuttered at the thought of a little girl being killed as Ashered continued on.

"I didn't have the heart to kill the girl I loved and she killed a child in return. I went over to the town the next night and found her lying in a pool of another Childs blood. The scene was worse and Hannah was on the floor sobbing, begging the creator to take her. When she saw me she was horrified and then angry, telling me that I should have killed her and that time I did. I drove a stake through her heart. She died in my arms, the blood of a child on her lips."

I was baffled by what Ashered had said. His gaze was chalky and his eyes dull as he looked at his hands as if he could picture the blood again. I reached for him and let him bury his head in my shoulder. He was stiff and not long after I heard a quiet sob. I closed my eyes, it was as if I could feel the pain that he was in. "I killed her." He whispered into my shoulder. 

I shook my head against his chest. "No, Ashered you saved her from a life vexed with nothing but murder and self loathing. You saved children's lives."

I squeezed my eyes shut as his arms wrapped tightly around me, still cautious of my own wounds. 

There was a beat of silence, the only sound, our hearts pumping against each others chests. 

Ashered slowly drew back and pressed a faint kiss on my lips. "I will never let anyone hurt you." His eyes were determined, mixed with a hew of golden as he spoke. "So long as I live."