1,248I know, boo hiss, updates. Well, i had a hard time making the ending of this not suck,so finally I was like SCREW IT and am putting it up. Make sure to read the A/N at the end. Thanks guys, it's been a ride.
Consciousness crept back to me slowly. I felt utterly drained, as if all the life had been sucked completely out of me. I suppressed a groan as I peeled open my eyes, my vision blurry, and even the dark lights in the cavern making them water. My hands and feet were bound, but at this point, I wasn't even sure I could move them if I wanted to.
Xixer was standing off to the side slightly, overlording over some smaller creature that I had never seen before. They were humanoid, although only about one third the height and a dark wet ash grey colour. They might as well have been made of clay, as they had absolutely no distinguishing features except for two glowing red eyes and a slash across the middle of their face for a mouth.
Then I noticed they were making the marks on the floor by tearing off the limbs of one unfortunate one and using them like paintbrushes. Queasiness settled into my stomach, and I had to stop myself from throwing up.
Xixer must have heard me gagging, however, and turned to me. "You are still not dead yet?" He flicked a finger towards me and a DOI shambled my way. He reached his dirty-nailed hands towards me, and I flinched, but he lit on fire and crumbled down into ash. A wave of pain flashed through me and blackened the edges of my sight, but I forced myself to stay conscious.
A sneer coated his face. "That bracelet."
"What about it?" I managed to get out. I probably shouldn't have, but tiredness and fear were sort of overriding any inhibitions I may have had.
He lifted an eyebrow at me, then turned back. "It has a self-preservation instinct that is horribly annoying, preventing anything from killing its host." He walked over to me, scuffing at the ash underneath his feet. With a shudder, I realised that they must have been other vamps he had sent my way. "You'll be dead enough soon, I guess."
"Dead?"
He leaned down and grasped my chin so hard it brought tears to my eyes. "You didn't think you could use something infernal without consequences, did you?"
"Infernal?" I gasped.
"You think a trinket like that could have been made by humans?" He dropped my chin and I let my head fall back down to the floor with a slightly painful thunk. Seemingly losing interest in me, he turned back to the small creatures in order to yell some more instructions to them.
I sniffed, trying to stifle the tears that were running down my temple. Crying wouldn't garner me any sympathy. I needed to be strong, but I was so tired, so tired.
I wished Matty were there.
Instantly, I threw the thought away from my brain. There was a reason I (or the bracelet or whatever) had sent him away. He had a daughter to take care of. It was foolish and more than a little selfish to want him to come rescue me. I knew that.
Didn't stop me from wanting it so badly my insides hurt.
I should have told him I loved him before I died. No, that was stupid, and melodramatic, and besides, then he'd have to mourn for me, or would probably feel strange. Really, I was just saddened by the fact that I was leaving him alone again.
Well, either way, it was too late now. I was going to be dead in a couple of zombie vamps and there wasn't really anything…
"June!"
Oh great, now I was going delusional.
"Come D'Artagnon, we're saving the king!"
At that, I looked up. Surely, my subconscious wouldn't be so mean as to start quoting me movies right before my inevitable demise. I nearly collapsed with joy with the sight I saw before me.
Jess spearheaded a group of Doug, Ash, and Calc, holding her favourite crossbow propped against her shoulder. A flash of disappointment shot through me that Matty wasn't among them, but I chose to concentrate on being happy that I was actually being rescued.
"Sorry we're late, June," Jess yelled with a smile.
"You people are like cockroaches," Xixer sneered, gesturing towards the small group. The demons and DOIs stopped what they were doing and began shambling towards them. My brothers transformed instantly and slammed into the incoming crowd. Calc tore off into the other side and Jess stood in the middle, almost lazily shooting her crossbow at incoming opponents.
"Hey!" I heard her call out to Calc. "I have no problem shooting you either, so I don't want to see any craziness coming from you, capiche?"
"Noted, Commander," he replied with a mock salute.
Xixer took a step forward, but was knocked backward again by a stake going into his shoulder. Grabbing the piece of wood, he pulled it out, and turned it to ash in his hand.
"You think that pitiful thing – ugh!" He didn't get the next sentence out as another stake passed into his stomach with a sizzling sound.
Jess grinned rather maliciously. "Soaked in holy water," she told him, re-propping her crossbow on her shoulder. "Thought you'd appreciate it."
This stake didn't come out nearly as easily, smoking in his hands and leaving behind a gaping red hole.
"You will pay for that, human," he growled, then lunged at her.
"Jess, be careful!" I called, but my voice was so thin, I doubt it carried to her.
"She'll be fine."
My heart turned over in my chest. I turned my face up towards the familiar voice, my eyes filling with tears again, almost not daring to hope.
Matty knelt down beside me and pulled me in so tightly to him, I almost couldn't breathe. I sniffed a couple times, my heart overflowing even more than my eyes. He just held me for the longest, most wonderful seconds of my life.
"Is Gabby okay?" I asked, my voice all weird and garbly.
"She's fine," he replied, not letting go of me. "She's with your brothers."
"That's good. I was worried about you two. You didn't really need to rescue me."
"June," he growled in my ear. "Shut up."
"Okay," I replied, smiling and pressing my face into his shoulder, letting my tears fall on his t-shirt. "I d-d-didn't think you c-c-came."
"I snuck around the back to get you out without Xixer noticing," he said, finally drawing away from me. He pulled a knife from his boot and sliced the cords that held together my wrists and ankles. "Can you stand?"
I used his hand to help me up, but my legs buckled underneath me, and I would have fallen if Matty wasn't there to hold me up.
"June," he whispered. I followed his gaze and had to gasp. I could see right through my own body to the floor beneath me. It was as if I were a hologram or something. Was this what the professor meant by people disappearing?
"Matty…" I trailed off in fear. He hoisted me bridal style into his arms.
"Don't worry, baby," he said, his face set in that determined expression that I loved. "We'll get you out of here and figure this out."
He made his way towards the exit with relative ease, most of the other creatures occupied by my family.
"I've got her," he told Doug as Doug switched back into his human form, snapping the neck of one of the little grey creatures. The slash of a mouth in their heads apparently held rows and rows of razor sharp, shark-like teeth as evidence by the bite marks littering his body.
"Good. Get her out of here," he commanded, nodding to Matty. "We'll hold them off."
Matty nodded back.
"Hey, boys," I heard Jess yell. I turned my head to look. She was holding down Xixer's one arm using both arms and her knees. His other three limbs were already staked to the floor.
"Why is it the only human here has to fight the demon?" she bellowed. Xixer screeched something unintelligible, and attempted to escape, but Jess managed to keep his arm secure. She even somehow managed to take off her shoe and hurl it so that it pegged Calc in the back of the head quite perfectly.
"You! Come help your partner!"
I couldn't see what happened next because Matty had already started down the tunnel to the exit.
"Shit," he swore, skidding to a stop. In front of him were several more of the DOIs, blocking the entire width of the tunnel.
"Here," he said, setting me down gently, and passing me the knife. "Whatever you do, don't use your bracelet."
Then he pulled his guns and began firing at the creatures, moving into the thick of them in order to draw them away from me.
I looked to the knife in my see-through hand, my thoughts going a mile a minute.
I couldn't stay with him like this. As long as the bracelet was on my wrist, I would always be hunted. That wouldn't be fair to Matty and Gabby. Plus, he would have to care for me completely. My body was useless.
Tears started in my eyes. It was taking all my energy just to remain sitting, never mind standing or walking. I couldn't become a burden to him. It would eat away at me inside, even as I faded away on the outside.
I glared at the stupid bauble on my wrist, looking wavy through my tears. Even if the bracelet prevented anyone else from killing me, it was forcing me to slowly die until even 'the beat of my heart stopped.' I almost laughed. I was part of the two strongest races on the planet, and I was being killed by a bracelet.
At that thought, however, a new one suddenly popped into my head, resonating so clearly, it almost deafened me. Was that it? Was that the answer?
I looked up to where Matty was fighting, his face in that neutral expression that I knew could melt into a delicious grin that upped my heart beat drastically and instantly knew.
I wanted to stay with him. I wanted to convince him that soulmates weren't bull and that we were meant to be together. And for one of the rare times in my life, I was going to be selfish and get what I wanted.
"Matty," I called, although my voice was paper-thin. His attention flickered over to me, so he obviously heard. I smiled for his benefit. "Sorry. I'm going to make you worry."
He must have guessed my intentions, because he started yelling at me. "June! Don't!"
"But I promise I'll be back," I told him with a firm nod through my tears. "I'm not going to leave you."
I thrust the knife into my heart.