Diabolus: The Lost Phoenix

Chapter Twenty Nine

BEVERLY WOODS

The atmosphere, charged with evanescent energy of death, seeing, feeling the blood on my hands, intoxicates me. I feel like a flower held under the surface of champagne; I take a deep breath as the walls of the house, the fighting people become a part of a fun house, changing figure in a blink of an eye. I'm still not sure if that's my fright, or anger; or if that snake's venom is already doing its job.

"Beverly, baby!"

Like nothing was going around us, I feel Kai's hands suddenly appearing on my shoulders. One of them, just under the bloody wound that might be already killing me. But from what I feel now, I think it does.

It's nothing different than panicking, Tension, growing in my face and limbs, my mind creating the best and the worst scenarios of this day. My breaths come in gasps and I feel like I will blackout, my heart, hammering inside my chest. Just this time, everything spins. I feel how slowly, my legs refuse to hold the rest of my body. Like I was drunk.

Opening my eyes to the softening sun, I gaze at the clouds, brilliant white against the blue. What a beautiful day. A beautiful day to die. When I feel that the sky is pressing me to ground, out of nowhere, Kai's strong hands grab me before my body lands on the perfectly smooth asphalt.

"Beverly! Oh, fùck!"

"Kai..."

When our eyes meet again, I realise I can't see his, clearly. The view is blurry; one moment, I can see his sharp jaw and pursed lips as clear as a day, and the other one, it seems like a piece of paper was placed on my eyes. But even the disappearing view couldn't hide one thing that I saw in those beautiful, green pupils.

A crystal clear layer of tears, that covered his eyes. That was everything that I could see; and his look showed, how his heart broke.

"I love you."

"No! No! No!"

I barely can hold my eyelids and I feel like I'm falling asleep, the wound seems to start pounding in my shoulder. That's when I know it's not my fear anymore. Kai's strong body, holding mine, is still shaking when he starts to look around, to search for something in the battlefield.

"Aaron! Come here, fast!"

When he draws his eyes to me, for the first time, I see a perfect rounded tear falling down the smooth skin of his cheek. His eyes, locked on mine. His fingers, stroking my hair. And his heart, that I can see from his eyes; is breaking. That's when I realise I'm not afraid of death. I'm afraid of what my death will do to Kai.

"What's wrong?!"

Suddenly, I hear Aaron's voice right next to my ear, breathing heavily. He dropped everything he was doing, stopped fighting and came all this way, because Kai asked him to. That is, probably, a sign of a good leader. Everyone always hears him, listens to him, wherever they are, whatever they're doing. But I know Kai doesn't consider them as his soldiers.

He considers all of them as his family.

"Bev got cut. I don't know if..."

"Holy fùck."

"What the fùck I should do now?! We have to save her!"

"When she was cut?"

"I don't know... maybe about a minute ago."

"It means that the venom already started to spread through her system. You can do nothing, but I, however, can try to."

With my eyes almost closed, I feel how Aaron gently draws his arms on my back, and in moments, holds me in his embrace.