Chapter 58: Bound by Blood and Fire

Claire’s POV

The night was thick with smoke and the stench of burning wood. Redwater was crumbling around us, its walls collapsing under the relentless onslaught of Midnight Moon’s twisted army. The sky glowed an eerie orange from the flames consuming our stronghold, and the screams of warriors and creatures alike echoed through the battlefield.

I caught my staring at Derek in the middle of the hill. He fought like a demon, and slipped through the scary wolves without kindness, but even he had begun to get tired. His movement decreased with fatigue, and his body glowed with both sweat and blood.

Then I saw it.

A creature that lies right outside the blind place.

With the dark veins under its sick yellow skin, the disgusting shape was an unnatural hump. The maca was wide, highlighting the lines of sharp teeth that dripped with saliva that turned black. It was expected, planned and ready for the immediate Derek to attack comfortably.

My breath was caught.

I couldn't allow it.

I have found to run into the battlefield, avoid the whistle arrows and kill the claws. I expanded my body quickly as I had gone before, the pulse in my ears.

Derek couldn't notice it.

Animals limp.

I sat down in their way.

White-warm pain exploded through my ribs because the creatures of the creature burst from me, a sick crack tearing the air. I started to pee but continued to move on. As soon as the black blood snapped my hands, I rotated the dagger leaf and put it deep in my neck.

The wallpaper had already been done, but the creature drove out a thunder before collapsing.

Dard threatened me to pull down from my point of view, but I forced myself to stay straight. As soon as my legs used to make a ruckus, caught Derek and walked around, wide eyes in scary eyes.

"Claire!" His voice was crazy for fear. Weapons wounds like steel bars around my body, and warm me, as if he can physically prevent me from slipping.

I tried to talk, but it was difficult to make words because of the pain. The heat ran in my stomach, which caused my body to get stuck. I looked down and saw nothing but blood. My blood.

Derek looked serious. His eyes

With a low curse, he tightened his grip. "And now you are the one bleeding out."

But that was a course of action he could not choose. Now, closer still, the creatures, with their deformed bodies speeding unnaturally along the battlefield, approached.

Suddenly Jared, his face a collage of regret and urgency, stood at our side. "We must go, now!"

Derek looked at me, but he drew back. The war in his mind raged, a tempest I could see. He did not want to leave; he wanted to fight; he wanted to be our shield.

But we would all die if we stayed.

"Go!" I gripped his arm in my teeth. "We need to regroup."

Derek nodded, though his jaw was clenching. In one swift and fluid motion, he lifted me into his arms, the way one would carry a feather. The moment he shifted and carried me, pain lanced through my body, stopping just short of crying.

Jared took the lead, dispatching any creature that dared to come too close to us. Dodging collapsing debris and bodies on the ground, we ran through the battlefield.

But just at the moment of arrival at the northern gate, a voice, hollow and chilling, resonated.

"Are you leaving?"

Lila.

Derek went rigid, rage emanating off of him in waves. Jared stood still next to him; his grip on his weapon tightened even more.

Forcing my head to turn, I caught a glimpse of Lila despite my blurry vision, grimacing with pain.

Before her, black fabric smoothed the outlines of her form, streaming behind her in a wind that whipped up the debris. Shadows formed by the dim light of the smouldering ground complexioned her sharp features into an even more sinister shade. She was pure fear now; she had eyes.

Eyes that shone.

Not crimson, like the monsters she created. Not golden, like that of a wolf.

Voidal, infinitely empty.

Therein lay the problem.

Derek tightened his hold around me. "You did this," he growled, deep and feral. "You made them into monsters."

Lila tilted her head as the smile on her lips slowly turned sinister. "Oh, Derek. You still have no idea, do you?"

She curled her fingers, and something dark pulsed in the air around us, something ancient.

It twisted in my bones and crawled beneath my skin. 

Whiplash: Jared's breath hitched in his throat next to me. "She's using the old magic."

Magic that exists from ancient times?

He was moving in a rage, unyielding in taking me with him. "Oh, and you think that this sick power makes you invincible?"

Lila's smile held firm. "I know it does." 

And then she moved.

Faster than Derek. Faster than anyone had ever seen him move. Suddenly, she was in front of us, reaching towards me with her outstretched hand.

A wall of fire erupted in between us before I could register anything and react.

The fire crackled between Lila and us, and Derek spun around, putting me behind him.

She looked almost amused. "Still so noble," she said. "Still so predictable."

She took a step back, her eyes flicking to me.

"How much longer do you think she can last, Derek?"

He growled, every muscle shaking with rage. "If you touch her..." 

Lila laughed softly, rhino-like. "I don't need to touch her," she said. "She's already mine." 

I gasped.

Then the darkness engulfed me.

The battlefield. The fire. My people's cries of war.

Lost.

There was nothing but silence.

And Lila's voice creeps like poison into my head.

"You belong to me, Claire."

A cold, suffocating force wrapped around me, sinking deep into my soul.

I screamed.