Broken Soul

Dannie heard horrible shrieks erupting from the vampires that were about to kill them. She opened her eyes and quickly regretted doing so. One of them stabbed himself in his own throat and was set on fire. Another was thrown into the air and broke his spine against a tree and his body was twisted so badly, it didn't look like a body anymore. A third approached Dannie and he was about to bite her when his jaw was torn off by nothing and Dannie screamed then kicked him away. After he hit the ground, he was also set ablaze. Another vampire picked up a branch from the grass and lit it on fire from the flame that was killing one of his comrades. He charged at Dannie with it, pointing the fire toward her. Evan was free now and with all the strength he had, he rose to his feet and stumbled over as he ran in front of Dannie and pushed the vampire away from her. He fell along with him and had caught fire himself. Dannie screamed at him and wanted to help him but was still bound to a tree. As her horrified eyes were on her friend, she heard someone crawl up beside her and then felt the chain break. She looked to her left and saw Erick sitting next to her, his face cringing with pain. "Erick??" She was so relieved he was still alive. Gently, she touched his face and said, "Thank you." He just looked at her with sadness as he leaned against the tree and watched her walk away into the smoke.

By the time she got to Evan, the fire on him was nearly out but he had been burned badly. One of the last remaining vampires was about to kill Amanda. Ravyn grabbed him by the neck and dug her nails into his throat and ripped his skin off and the blood inside him poured out. She pushed him to the ground and he was the last to embrace a fiery death.

Dusk stood in the center of the Battle Field, examining all the damage and fatalities. "Well done," he grinned, accepting his loss surprisingly well. "I thought you'd be back, demon."

"Let them go," a voice echoed through the trees. October stood above Evan and Dannie, her eyes locked on dusk.

"I can't believe you returned," he remarked. "Tell me. How's Leighton?"

She ignored that question. "I'm giving you one chance to leave."

"Are you telling me, darling, that you actually still care about this vampire?" he asked as he slowly approached her. "Did he not renounce you?"

"That is none of your concern."

"Do you really think he deserves to live after what he did to you?" he asked. "Didn't he hurt you? Didn't he break your heart?"

October continued to stare at him as she thought about what he was telling her. Dusk believed he had gotten to her and no longer saw her as a threat. Bemused, he turned and faced Ravyn as he said, "Now, since I can't kill them, maybe we should-"

Dusk was hurled back against a tree and October made the branches secure him. He was managing to break them so she knew there wasn't much time.

While she held him there, Dannie picked her cross up and ran faster than she ever had in her life and plunged the cross into his heart. He screamed in pain and cried out for Ravyn to help him. Instead she stood right in front of him and watched him suffer. "You betrayed me..." he whispered as his body was weakening. "After I saved you..."

"You damned me," she told him. "The only good that came from this was that I saved him." She was referring to Evan who was lying on the ground, covered in burns.

October stepped up to him and said, " I don't have a heart. You failed." She set the ground on fire and the flame rose and eventually consumed him. The last thing he saw was her cold black eyes staring at him as he was enveloped into darkness.

Dannie rushed back to Evan and knelt beside him as she looked at his burns. His blue eyes and were fading and Dannie knew he was dying. "Evan?" she asked and gently held him in her arms. He gazed up at her as his gray eyes started closing slowly. "Evan? Can you hear me?" October and Ravyn knelt in front of them. "Can either of you help him?" Dannie asked rain started sprinkling down from the starless sky. Ravyn touched his arm and tried to heal him but it wasn't working. "He's lost too much blood," she replied grimly. "He can't survive without it."

"He can have mine," Dannie insisted, cradling him in her arms. "Evan, you can have it. I want you to have it..." His eyes were closed completely now and he wasn't responding. Tears fell from Dannie's eyes as she tried to wake him up. "Evan?...Evan?..." Rain drops scattered all around his face as Dannie gazed down at her best friend. It all felt like deja vu. She didn't want to go through this again.

October gazed down at Evan as Dannie mourned him. She wanted to help but could only do so by stealing someone else's soul. The only other person around was Amanda. Even then it may not work but she still pondered it.

Dannie couldn't take it anymore. Time was running out. She refused to just let him die without even trying to help him. "I don't care," she declared and snatched a knife one of the vampires had dropped onto the ground. She held the blade to her hand, glancing back and forth at it and Evan, wondering if she was making it the right choice.

"Are you sure about this?" Ravyn asked her cautiously.

Nothing was more important to Dannie than her best friend. She wanted him to have a normal human life. After he had saved hers so many times, she knew this was what she had to do.

"Yes." Dannie took a deep breath and slid the blade across her palm, opening it up. She cringed in pain and dropped the knife and put her hand above Evan's mouth. A few drops of blood fell between his lips and she hoped it would be enough.

While she waited for that to take effect, Dannie glanced over to the tree that Erick was sitting against. She noticed his eyes were closed and he wasn't moving. "Erick?" she called out, hoping to get a response. Her heart shattered when she didn't. Before Dannie could do or say anything else, she felt something stab at her heart. It wasn't a knife but it felt like dozens of them were piercing her chest. She screamed and fell on Evan and she cringed as she realized she was dying. Dannie looked at Erick again and reached her arm out toward him, wishing she could be with him too as she faced death. She regretted not helping Erick but didn't even know if she could have. While death began to take her, she thought about all the things she was going to miss; her friends, and family, marriage, having children, growing older with them. But then she knew that Evan would be able to do all of that now. And she felt like she had done the right thing. In her last moment, she held Evan close, resting her head on his own. She was scared to leave him and decided to say goodbye to him. With her final once of strength, she lifted her head and brushed her lips over his, giving him her last breath. All her energy was gone and she lowered her head again as darkness swept over her eyes and her heart stopped.

* * * * *

Evan's eyes slowly opened. He blinked as the rain fell onto his face. He noticed he felt different. He wasn't cold anymore, his skin was healed, couldn't grow fangs and no longer craved blood. Evan sat up and smiled happily and looked around for Dannie. He wanted to tell her the good news. "Dannie! Where are you?" he asked into the rain. "Dannie, I'm human again! We can go home!" He stood up and looked around for her but never saw her. Everyone else had disappeared as well. "Dannie? Come on, please don't do this... I know you wouldn't leave me like this... Dannie?" He remembered what Dusk said about switching the curse and he wondered if Dannie had done that for him, even after he had told her not to. He continued searching for her. He didn't want to give up.

Evan had no idea that she was still there in the forest. The sadness in his voice was heartbreaking. A single tear fell from her eye as she watched him walk away, calling for her while he stepped through the rain. She wanted to go after him but knew she couldn't. While she took her last long look at her best friend, she sensed a presence approach from behind. Dannie had an idea of who it was. "You must be my demon."

"I am." The voice was familiar to her. She turned around and there was Erick. Dannie couldn't believe her eyes. Unsure of how to react, she just stood still and stared at him in disbelief. He stepped closer to her and she noticed the burn on his face was gone. Dannie wanted to smile and embrace him and kiss him so badly, the fact that she couldn't made her ache. Showing the slightest hint of affection for him could sever his tie to her and she'd end up losing him. Again, Dannie wasn't sure if it was better to have him in her life and not be allowed to love him or to show how she felt and lose her only demon. She silently cursed the elder demons for being so cruel to them. "Did you ask for this?" Dannie inquired.

"I did not," he replied. "We have no say in our assignments."

"It's good to see you, though," she told him. "I thought you were dead."

"I was. But they made me come back for this."

"To punish you for not following an order?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Your rules are really messed up." Dannie turned to face Evan's direction. She couldn't see him anymore but could still hear him calling for her.

"You could go with him," Erick suggested. "You could go back to your old life."

As wonderful as that sounded, Dannie had to refuse. "No, I can't." She remembered how much Evan struggled with his blood cravings as a newborn and she didn't want to end up doing what he did. "Not yet."

They went back inside Leighton's house, even though Dannie was sure he'd be dead. Surprisingly, he wasn't. A pile of corpses were beside his bed. Dannie wondered if someone had brought them to him to save him. She guessed it had been October or Ravyn. It would take a while for Leighton to heal completely but he was at least able to get up and walk. They decided to leave and find another place to stay since the Dawne knew where they were and would probably want to avenge Dusk.

Erick drove Leighton's limo down the highway while Dannie sat in the back with Leighton. They were across from each other and she felt his eyes on her and glanced at him for a reason. "You came back for me," he said, sounding confused. "You didn't have to."

"I did," was all she said back, letting him interpret it however he wanted to.

"How does it feel?" he asked her. "Being one of us?"

"Different," Dannie replied, dropping her gaze. "I never thought this would happen to me."

"Were you bitten?" Leighton still didn't know the whole story yet.

"No. I was given a choice. And I decided that Evan deserved a human life more than I did. So I gave it to him."

"Getting cursed only to save another," Leighton said. "I guess that's something we have in common, love."

She recalled him telling her about his reason for changing. She then wondered if anyone ever became a vampire because they sincerely wanted to. It seemed she hadn't met one yet that had done so.

"If I am associated with you, does that mean I'm part of the Midnite?" Dannie asked him.

"You have to be turned by one of us," he told her. "Unless you'd like to be queen."

"Are you proposing?" Dannie teased with a sly glare.

Leighton softly laughed. "Just merely telling you your options."

"I'll keep them in mind." Dannie turned her gaze to her window and looked out at the sky as it started to lighten and the stars faded away. Dawn was nearly here and she hadn't eaten yet. There was so much she knew she had to do and so much to learn about her new life.

Eventually they came to an empty house in the woods and Dannie and Leighton slept all day while Erick guarded them. When she awoke again at sunset, Dannie left to hunt and Erick accompanied her. They walked through the trees, side by side, until Dannie stopped moving. He turned to face her, about to ask why she was hesitating. "Erick," Dannie's voice was soft and curious, "why did you let me live? What kept you from killing me?"

Erick had expected this question to come up. "If I had, I wouldn't have been able to come back."

Dannie could see right through him. "Bullshit, Erick, I practically handed my soul to you on a silver platter. You could have taken it but you didn't. If demons only cared about power, you would have stolen it."

"Do we really have to do this again?" he remarked and walked ahead of her.

"Yes, we do." She quickly caught up to him and grasped his arm, making him stop. "Erick, I just want to know the truth." He kept his focus straight ahead, refusing to look at her. "After everything we've been through, I think I deserve it."

He stood in silence, pondering his response carefully. "You want the truth?"

"Yes."

He looked her in the eye and confessed everything. "You meant nothing to me when I met you. You were just another ungrateful human I had to guard until my next assignment came along. You were a pawn. A ticket out of this hell on earth I was subjected to day after day until I could get my freedom back. I had never cared about a human and I wasn't going to start with you." Erick watched Dannie's gaze drop in disappointment. He waited a moment, then continued. "At least that's what I thought until I had to torture you. In all my years of existence, no one had ever cared about me. I didn't think I'd ever meet a human who could overlook what I was and actually want to know me. When Dusk made me torture you, I thought of everything we had been through and recalled how much you actually trusted me. But then I severed that trust. I could see it deteriorating as I hurt you. And...I couldn't take it. For the first time, you were afraid of me, even after all the times you assured me you never would be. I had inflicted pain and fear in countless people through the years and it never made me feel remorse or regret until I hurt you. And when he ordered me to kill you, yes, I knew there wouldn't be a way out of it. I would have lost my freedom anyway. I simply couldn't kill the only person who sincerely cared about me. And your soul was never mine. I couldn't take it even if I wanted to."

"So...in other words?" Dannie's eyes glowed at him with hope again.

He knew exactly what she was hinting. "In other words, you are the only good thing I have ever cared about."

Dannie smiled softly at him as she wished she could show him some kind of affection. But she played it safe and just gazed at him with love. She knew he could see it and knew he could leave her just for that.

He chose not to.