The Amalgamation Of Two Worlds

Damon’s POV

Did I feel bad? Did I feel bad that I just killed one of my students, one that I had personally been training? Did I feel guilty that I didn’t protect him better, from whatever had claimed his soul? Any other day, I’d say no. I didn’t feel a thing, and that was normal. But today... for some strange, un-fathomable reason, I did. Staring down at his young body, I felt a twinge of guilt. A twinge of resentment for having to kill him. And with this feeling of guilt, rage came.

Why did I have to kill him? Why was I feeling guilty? I had never felt guilty for killing before, so why now? Why suddenly?

And another thing! Why the hell was Audrey crooning over Gabriel? It was a scratch. A tiny small scratch. Was the human boy so weak he couldn’t even take a little blood? Pathetic. He was pathetic. She was pathetic. They were all pathetic.

“Damon?” My eyes, which I was sure were looking much bloodier, snapped to the voice; Hayden.

I’m sure I looked worse, but for a man who resembled an angel, he was looking pretty rough around the edges. His skin was looking a bit darker beneath it, and his eyes held dark rings, which was strange, since he had none a day ago. His body was held weakly, and he looked to the point of passing out. I was surprised he was conscious, to be honest. Which led to the question, what was going on?

“What?” I snapped, my eyes scanning the area. Audrey had moved further to the side with Gabriel, and was now making a make shift bandage, whereas Josh was now moving Brale’s body, glancing at me the whole time, nervously. The hunters-stupid idiots-were also off to the side, but they were hovering above Audrey.

“Them.” His head jerked to the hunters. “What’s going on?” His breath was raspy and weak. I gave him a hard look. When he didn’t cave under it, I declared him well enough.

“Audrey wants them to help us.” Hayden gave a weak smile at that.

“They’re hunters, correct?” I nodded, and sat down. I hadn’t noticed how bad I was actually feeling, ‘till my rage hit me. I closed my eyes, feeling the hunger for blood come quickly. I pushed it aside, and turned my attention back to Hayden, who was now watching me. His eyes scanned the burn marks and the bullets beneath my skin, before he looked up. “They have guns. I get that.” His eyes went back to the burn marks. “Audrey left with a lantern.” I said nothing, just the mention brought my rage back. “Yet, she’s alive. That I don’t get.” I let out a bitter laugh. Even I didn’t get that.

“Audrey has ways of staying alive. Baffles even me.” Hayden smiled at that, and he almost looked better with it. Almost.

“So they’re joining us? Surprised you agreed.”

“Didn’t. And they aren’t. Yet.” He eyed me now. I really wasn’t in the mood to explain it all, but I took pity on Hayden. He looked even less in the mood to get the information. “They’re here to listen to the reasons of why they should help us. Yet it’s their damn home. And if they don’t like it? They start shooting. Personally, I hope they start, gives me an excuse to hurt them.” Hayden let out a laugh at that. Albeit a small, pained laugh, but a laugh nonetheless.

“Audrey’s good, but how does she plan to get them to help us? They hunt us for a living. Their whole goal in life is to take us out.” I smiled that.

“Audrey’s not convincing them. You are.”

Audrey’s POV

Cold. I was so cold. And I didn’t know why. Shivers were running down my spine, but I held them in. My hands were shaking, trembling even. My breath was quick and even and I had trouble taking in the cold air. It was just too cold.

“Hey.” His voice was soft, which was odd. Gabriel’s voice was never soft. “You okay?” He stared at me with his wide eyes, his pupils dilated. From one small scratch, he had lost a lot of blood, but he didn’t seem to care. I had managed to stop the bleeding, but that didn’t stop the blood from being on him; covering him. That didn’t stop the guilt from hitting me, either.

When it was just myself, that was fine. But now there was another human. Another life, younger than my own, who was in as deep as I was. And... and I felt... I don’t know, I felt close to him. He was the closest thing to family I had. But maybe that was because he was the only human along, if you exclude the hunters.

Being attacked all the time, I had to get used to it. And I always pulled through, for something, or someone, was always there to save me. But Gabriel? He didn’t grow up around it, he didn’t have to deal with it, and just a small incident, could have killed him. Maybe I was over exaggerating, but it scared me. I didn’t want him to die. I didn’t.

My arms wrapped tighter around me as I tried to fight the chill. I also tried to ignore the stares. I didn’t like the hunters, especially Cael; the hunter who had tracked me down. But what choice did I have? And now with what just happened with Gabriel, I was glad I got them to come back. They knew how to fight these things properly, maybe they could teach Gabriel. Or maybe Gabriel could learn from them, for I was almost sure Gabriel wasn’t going to get out of this.

“Audrey?” His hand went to my arm. It wasn’t an intimate touch, either. It was fraternal, proving that he felt the same way. But he shouldn’t. I should be the one looking out for him, not the other way around. “Damn! You’re freezing!” That was closer to the Gabriel I knew. I smiled at him, very weakly.

“I’m fine. How are you? Does it still-?”

“No pain no game, Aud. Come on, let’s start a fire.” Aud? That tore at my heart, making my eyes close. Never had I known anyone enough for them to give me a nickname, and while it was a small insignificant fact, it mattered a lot to me.

“I think she’s started enough fires, for today.” My eyes snapped open, the chill slowly leaving me. My eyes went up, from my sitting position, to see Damon staring down at both myself, and Gabriel. His eyes were guarded, but he looked tense; angry, almost. But I didn’t doubt he was angry. He got lit on fire, shot, then had to lead hunters back to the group he was helping. Fun day for him. “Let’s get this over with, shall we?” He didn’t wait for an answer, he just grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet. Gabriel cursed after him, and stumbled to follow.

The hunters also followed, more cautiously. Hayden was still sitting down against a tree, but now Josh was with him, also. There were also at least twenty of the remaining group, there, all gathered and still bloody. I couldn’t help but stare; there had been so many more. Damon still clutched my upper arm, as the hunters filed into a circle around us. Gabriel reached my side, panting and swearing, before joining Hayden on the ground. His face was pale from the exertion, and that only added onto my already growing guilt.

“Damon explained the situation.” Hayden said, his voice still weak, but better. It seemed he had gathered as much energy as he could, for this. Again, the guilt hit. I shouldn’t have put this on Hayden. Cael didn’t like me, and I didn’t like him. So I would be biassed in my persuasion, and Damon... enough said. Hayden seemed like the only sane choice.

“If she’s telling the truth, “ Cael said, jerking his head in my direction, “what makes you think you can stop them?” Hayden let out a soft sigh, his eyes showing how much he just wanted this over with.

“I don’t know if we can. But I’m not just going to watch.” Cael opened his mouth, but Hayden beat him to the ball. “You want us dead, I get that. I understand that, and sometimes, I want us dead too. But while many creatures do ‘cause devastation to Earth, and no doubt still will, we’re not this bad. Are we?” Cael went to speak again, but was cut off, yet again. “I’m not asking for us to be buddies, or even friends. While that would make this easier, I don’t expect it. I expect us both to get the target eliminated, and then, after that I expect you to hunt us. No deviations. For as you can see, we’re currently short in numbers. Anything with a weapon would be nice at this point.”

Cael stared at Hayden long and hard for that, his eyes narrowed into slits. His eyes showed the wheels turning in his head, and the silence pounded against all of us. Damon was tensed, and I could tell that because he was still gripping my arm. What I didn’t know, was whether he was tensed out of anticipation for a fight, or whether it was dread for a fight. I didn’t like either option.

“We don’t take orders.” Cael said, his voice sharp and clipped. Hayden let out another sigh.

“Obviously, but sometimes if we say something, it may be for your own safety. Whether you follow it, is your own decision.”

“And, I want something in return.” I winced as Damon’s hand tightened even more. I tried yanking it away, but that only got me an annoyed look. What was with him? I could understand if he was angry with me lighting him on fire, but now? Now wasn’t the time, and if he was going to take his anger out on me, why not when we were alone? With no one to stop him?

A wave of heat ran through me at that. I quickly shoved the images away, I didn’t want to think about that. It didn’t make sense, and what did make sense, was sick and wrong. It was disturbing on so many levels, and I was fine with suppressing it. Really, I was.

But the heat didn’t go unnoticed by Damon. His hand immediately left my arm, as if scorched, and I got a very deadly glare for that. Which I tried my best to return.

“What would that be?” I snapped back to the conversation, to find Cael staring directly at me.

“I want the details. How she got out.” Hayden turned his eyes also to mine, and I expected him to say sure, but he didn’t. Instead he stared at me.

“Her choice. Not mine. After it’s over, though.” Was it worth it? Answers for help? Yes. But did I want to do it? No. I didn’t want to be near Cael, if I had a choice. I wanted him as far away as possible. And I wanted to talk about my experiences in The Dark Lands even less. I could only hope that either them, or myself, got killed in the end. Cheery thoughts.

“Fine. No hitting.” He shot me a smile at that.

“Never dreamed of it.”

“This is bullshit.” Murmured Damon, earning a lot of looks. “Whatever. Just stay out of my way.” His eyes were on Cael, but they seemed to expand to all of the hunters, for all stirred at the comment. And lucky me, his eyes turned to me next. “You. Come with me.” He grabbed my arm again, and dragged me.

“Damon. Let go!”

“No. I need your help.” That got me to pause, which I’m sure he was hoping for, for it gave him chance to get me a further distance from everyone else. And the sad thing? No one seemed to care he was dragging me away. Hayden’s eyes had closed, as he fought whatever was happening to him. The hunters were all gathered around Cael, and Gabriel had, sometime during the talk, fallen asleep or passed out. Not sure which one, but I was hoping for the sleep. Really hoping.

“Help?” Damon needed mental help, beyond my help, that I knew. So what did he possibly think I could do?

“Yeah,” he smiled, his eyes meeting mine in a challenging sort of way. “Someone has to pull the bullets out of my chest.”