Part Four: End - l

Several gasps of shock and fear could be heard as well.

Despite not being able to breathe, Kendra continued to laugh. It came out as harsh, barely-there sounds but the mocking nature of them served to enrage Bendis even more. Her eyes sparked with that rage.

“Stop!” Bendis screamed. “Stop laughing at me!”

In answer, Kendra laughed some more, started coughing for a bit, and then laughed again.

“You-you’re...a...f-fo-fool,” Kendra gasped.

“What are you talking about? I’m no fool. You are the fool, you pathetic mortal. Did you really think you could come here, in my own domain, and best me?” But the certainty and cockiness the goddess usually felt was fracturing.

Kendra was getting under her skin.

“I am a god!”

Kendra barked out another series of laughs.

“Bu-but...you...are...ar-arrogant,” Kendra gasped back. “And ea-easy...to...bait!”

As soon as those words were out of her mouth, a lot of things happened at once. Kendra suddenly lifted her legs up and wrapped them around Bendis’ arm. The surprise of the sudden movement of her captive target was enough to throw off her balance and she started to stumble. At the same time, Drake’s seeming immobility broke and he grabbed onto the goddess’ other arm, yanking it down and pinning it between his body and hers. Behind the three of them, a flash of blinding, white light exploded into view and when it disappeared, three figures stood there.

One was Merlin, looking much better now and back to his more jovial nature.

The other was Merrick, who had immediately darted forward to throw an arm around Bendis’ neck and hold her there.

The last was Alrich in his gigantic, terrifying wolf form. The beautiful, yet frightening, white wolf bared its wicked teeth as its glowing blue eyes locked onto the goddess. He walked steadily over the shattered building like it was nothing, saliva dripping from his maw.

Bendis tried to throw the three of them off but it was useless. For whatever reason, she couldn’t access her enormous reserves of power. She was stuck there, immobile. Her hand was even loosening on Kendra and a couple of seconds later, her victim was completely free.

“Wh…” she tried to say. “What have you done?”

Kendra didn’t respond. She couldn’t. Her head was nearly splitting from pain as she used her power to effectively block the goddess from her own. It was, without a doubt, the single most painful thing she had ever tried to do in her life. It was like trying to stop raging flood waters with your bare hands. For the most part, she was able to keep it from the goddess but the longer she tried to hold her there, the more of it kept slipping through. She didn’t have much time.

“H-hurry!” Kendra shouted. Even as she spoke, blood started to trickle out of her ears and snout.

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

“N-no-now!” Kendra gasped.

Drake bared his fangs and then buried them into the flesh of Bendis’ arm. At the same time, Kendra bit down on her other arm. Merrick, his head morphed into a wolf’s, bit down on most of the goddess’ neck and shoulder. Alrich’s massive head suddenly lunged forward and bit down on her side. Each one left their fangs buried in the flesh of the goddess for a few minutes but no blood trickled out of the wounds she suffered. She still screamed out in pain. The yell was like nothing Kendra had ever heard before. There was something almost childlike about it, like Bendis was a toddler and this was her first experience with pain.

Kendra, Drake, Merrick, and Alrich unlatched their jaws and then backed away, putting distance between themselves and Bendis. She was absolutely howling now. She had even collapsed onto the uneven, debris-littered ground. There were actual, real tears flooding down her cheeks. Merlin stepped up and threw out a hand. At the same time, five rings of pure white encased the goddess and bound her.

“N-nn-oo….”

Bendis’ voice was warbling and trailing off.

Kendra stared down at the goddess, hoping she was feeling so much pain she would lose her mind to it. Judging by her reaction, she suspected that was an actual possibility.

“I have to admit,” Drake said, coming to stand next to her. “I had serious doubts this would actually work.”

“She can only be hurt by her own power, right?” Kendra growled back, still breathing somewhat hard. Her throat ached but it was already starting to heal. She still felt so, so tired. More tired than she ever felt in her life. “You, me, my brother, and Alrich all have her power coursing through our veins. We are, essentially, the most undiluted sources of it on this planet save for what she wields herself. I felt confident it would be enough to…”

“Kend…” Conor tried to warn but was too late.

Whatever else she was about to say was suddenly cut off. Without warning, Bendis managed to get a grip on herself. She let out an eardrum-shattering scream, flexed her arms, and broke the rings of Merlin’s binding so she could run at them, obviously slower than she would have been if still at full power but still fast enough to take Kendra and Drake by surprise. The vampire king suddenly gasped, taking in a surprised breath. His eyes widened and when he looked down, he saw Bendis with her hand completely inside his chest.

“No!” Kendra yelled, rushing forward.

Seeing the binding’s around the goddess fail and Drake dying at her hands was enough to crush everyone’s hopes that their plan would actually work. There was nothing left to latch onto and fear spread like cancer. Alrich and Merrick, both back in their human forms, rushed to help but Bendis was already gone, Drake’s heart clutched in her hand. She gasped and fell to one knee, her face still a mask of pain but with anger mixed into it as well.

“Traiter!” she screamed. Her hand clenched and Drake’s heart was crushed to a gory pulp.

Kendra made it to Drake but there was nothing she could do for him. As she got there, he was already fading. Alrich and Merrick, however, didn’t so much as look at the fallen vampire king. Instead, they placed themselves between Bendis and Kendra. Merlin was readying another binding but a pulse of power from Bendis sent him rolling across the debris and rubble. He did manage to shield himself first, but it still took him a few minutes to get back on his feet. There was a cut to his left cheek and one of his fingers looked bent at an incredibly odd and painful angle.

“I never...never...wanted to be...this,” Drake said as flecks of blood a few shades darker than normal flew out of his mouth. “I...I...I….”

His eyes fluttered.

“Sss..sssorrr...y.”

The fluttering of his eyelids stopped and his entire body went completely still. The look of pain left his features and as he died, something else came over them. Kendra thought maybe, just maybe, it was…

Peace.

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Sweeping exhaustion. That’s what she felt as she tried to hurry through the streets of Lycaon City. Her legs had started burning with fatigue almost immediately due to the atrophied muscles in her legs. She was lucky she’d been forced into physical therapy since she “woke” up or else she might not have been able to walk at all. There were several moments of hot, blinding rage at her current condition but she forced herself to not let that anger take root and color her decisions. She let her mind clear and instead, focused on the task at hand. The way forward was going to be extremely difficult but there was no other way around it.

She had to get to her daughter.

To Kendra.