Taming The Wild Ones

Epilogue: A Decade of Paradise

Epilogue: A Decade of Paradise

The girl gets ripped from my grasp and a feral snarl comes out. I make a trap from her, desperate for her taste, and get shoved back into a tree. A sound comes out of me, like a dragon's roar and I'm as close as hell as spitting fire at whoever took my prey away. Voices bounced around in my head but all I wanted was her.

I see her through the dark figures that try keeping me away from her, blood dripping down her dress like spilt wine. My mouth becomes numb with greed, the blood in my system was not enough. I inhaled deeply and my eyes narrowed. Blood, I thought hungrily.

The need to finish her boiled over inside of me and I pounced. I ripped the man holding me down and tossed him aside. I ran for her, eager and exhilarated. My mouth widened in anticipation. Her warmth was close enough for me to taste, her lightning quick pulse driving me crazy. My hand reached out, inches away from her neck, enough to tangle my fingers in her silk straight hair. I was snatched away before I could finish, hot hands holding my neck and then the fatal snap.

I welcomed the temporary relief.

"Haley." Someone shook me awake. I groaned and rolled over in the dirt. I was well too aware of the fading pang in my neck, and began getting annoyed at myself. Fourth time this week and it was only Tuesday. The last few months have been heavy on me, on all of us.

I think Colton knows that something is wrong, who couldn't, but every time he brought it up, I brushed him off. The same way I had been doing for the last ten years. I could barely believe we were still kicking it after a decade, it was impossible for us to not want to tear each other's throats out. But still, I wouldn't trade a second of it.

Every second we have together I hang on to, because that was the only thing keeping me together. But it gets harder. Everyday I hear the clocks ticking, everyday I'm torn between pushing him away and holding on tighter. The last few months had been hell, I was overly erratic and tense and moody. Not my best behavior. And with everyday that passed, stupid Death was waiting to cash in his chips.

And he wasn't waiting any longer. I had by decade of paradise. Now hell's awaiting.

"Haley, what's wrong?" Travis asked.

I realized I've been laying in the dirt from ten minutes, completely out of it from the world, thinking about what I was going to do. And I barely had the strength to pick myself up.

"This is going to hurt, so much." My voice wasn't even my voice anymore. There was no light twinkle or stupid coy remark. I was dead. Frozen. I couldn't feel what I wanted to feel and that was agony. My heart wanted to shattered but it could barely beat. My body tensed, waiting the impending strike but nothing came because apparently nothing could hurt me.

But nothing prepared me for this. If felt as if there was this black hole inside of me and it sucked everything and everyone until I was that black hole. Until I was the one to hurt them and I couldn't take it. I felt... I felt... I was driving my own knife inside my chest and it hurt. It hurt to helplessly watch as my skin turned to ash and crumbled. It hurt to rip myself in two and never get the other half back. It hurt so much already, and it was only going to get worse.

It took fifteen minutes of me screaming at everything in the damn universe and crying over the numb aching in my chest for me to realize. This was it. The world had flipped and I keep falling and no on can save me.

All breathe got sucked out of me. The twins encase me in the arms and I cry because fuck, I was a girl and I could. My knees were close to failing and my eyes refused to shut.

"We"all be right here, Haley. I'm not going anywhere." Travis rubs my back encouragingly.

I laugh, silly, and smile. "You know, you guys have kind of grown on me." I wiped my face, hoping most traces of my meltdown had disappeared for when I faced Colton.