When Reality Diminishes

His feet staggered forward, sloshing in the blood that was leaving him. Gosh, how much blood did he have? Shouldn’t he be dead by now? He wasn’t complaining, since he didn’t want to die, but the suspense was what was getting to him.

His body was covered with wounds, covered with scars that wouldn’t leave. Blood was leaving him, for he didn’t have any blood to drink to allow them to heal. Pain was coursing through him, but as a vampire, he had learned to ignore it. However, the crying of Brian was harder to ignore. He was crying as Caleb carried him, limping in the process, while trying to tend to his wounds also.

Austin was... well he was alive. He was following in the back, slowly. His right arm was hanging off, only a few strands keeping it on. That was one of the reasons Brian was crying so hard. Then again, it must have been hard for a six year old to endure all of that. Granted he was part demon, but he had never shown signs of cruelty. He had always been the little angle, and now, the little angle was broken.

Even he was trying to get the images out of his head. All the blood and everything kept replaying, and though he knew they deserved it, that it had to be done, a part of him twinged. That was too much death in one day for him. It was enough to satisfy any need for violence for a while, and go long past the need.

Now, as they walked towards where they told Audrey to meet, he couldn’t help but wait for the after explosion. The first one had already gone off, hence Austin’s hanging arm, but the aftermath hadn’t. They had set it up so that half an hour after the originally explosion, which by that time others would have come to investigate, another one would go off.

They had fluked out. That’s for sure. He still didn’t quite grasp what had happened, and how they got away. After Audrey had mentioned it was activated, all seemed to try harder, fight stronger... and though it helped in ways, it didn’t get them out of there. But when a man showed up for Jasmine, all attention seemed to divert away from them.

He had taken that opportunity to kill five men and gain the upper hand. After that, well he didn’t want to think of after that. He had killed too many to count, and all of them, even Austin, had to agree that some things from that night would never be mentioned again.

He didn’t even bother to try and get Jasmine. Sure she was better bait, but what was bait without his life? He needed to be alive to be able to do anything at all. And though the night had went bad, he still had his hopes. Plans for the next attacks were already formulating in his head, and he knew these times he wouldn’t screw up. Security would be tighter, but he’d make do.

He lost most of his men that night, but some had managed to get away. And those who didn’t... well, they had his gratitude.

His back arched as the aftermath went off. Bits of rock and debris still managed their way to them, hitting him in the back and anywhere else they could find. Caleb hugged Brian closer who was now only whimpering, and Austin held onto his arm that was still hanging only by a strand.

“I hope they’re dead.” Caleb mumbled as they began to walk away. He snuck a glance at him. Caleb’s face was set as he held onto Brian with all his strength. For him to say something like that, there must have been anger. Caleb wasn’t the one who enjoyed killing or enjoyed watching people get what they deserved; he was the reasonable one. The one who always said there was a good side to everyone.

“They deserve worse than that.” Austin mumbled, his voice rougher than usual. It was due to lack of blood. They both needed it, and Caleb needed to rest. Werewolves and demons may not have the best ability to heal, but they still do heal faster than humans. With rest, that is.

“Do any of your ear pieces work?” He asked. He had been trying to tamper with his, but after getting shocked for the fourth time, he finally threw it on the ground. Both Austin and Caleb reached for theirs at the same time, and both cursed at the same time. So it wasn’t just his. The explosion probably sent out a current.

“She won’t wander. Not with this going on.” Caleb said, limping to catch up to him. He knew she wouldn’t, not that he was worried. He was just worried of what would happen if they no longer had bait. How would all of it work? How would they draw them out? That’s what he was worried about, but if all went well, he wouldn’t have to worry. And he desperately hoped it all went well.

Her arms wrapped around her body, trying to stop the shaking. The wind continued hitting her, chilling her all the more to the bone. Where was Damon? She had been sitting where he had told her to stay for over a day now, and the cold was beginning to get to her. Okay, it wasn’t just getting to her, it was numbing her.

Her teeth were chattering, her whole body was shaking and she couldn’t even feel her hands. For the first time she cursed being human. If she wasn’t human, she wouldn’t be freezing. Heck, if she wasn’t human, she wouldn’t be in this mess. It was all because she was a human. A weak pathetic human, as they saw her.

If she had been strong, brave even, when she was younger, none of this would have happened. All of her pain now led to one day of cowardice. One day had ruined her whole life, and she hadn’t even realized it till she tried to remedy it. Because of that one night, that one vampire, that one horrible event... her whole life crumbled. And just when things began to look better, she lost it all again. With her luck, she would freeze to death before Damon even got there. If Damon got there. She didn’t even know if he was alive. No one had been responding on the ear piece, and what little hope she had, was slowly diminishing.

If they were dead, she was as good as dead. Even if you overlooked the whole vampire king after her aspect, and the fact they were probably swarming the forest, she still had other problems. The nights were now freezing, and she had no knowledge of the forest. If she did venture off on her own, she would surely freeze to death. She was surprised it hadn’t snowed yet...

Giving up on warming herself with her arms around her body, she rubbed her hands together, trying to ignore the pain in her one wrist. It gave a slight hint of warmth, but not nearly enough to warm her. Her head bent down into her chest, her cold breath now going into her lap.

Her ears were numb, which was why she dismissed the first sounds she heard. But after the sound continued, she knew it wasn’t her ears ringing. She could make it out cl
early now, and a small spark of hope lit in her.
Granted, the sound of crying shouldn’t have made her feel better, but it did. It was faint, and heading in a way she didn’t know, but it was there.

It took her a moment to stumble to her frozen feet, and longer than a moment to go towards the sound. She stumbled drunkenly through the trees, ignoring the scratches that the branches caused, mainly because she was too numb to feel them. Her feet stumbled and tripped on anything that came in her way, but the sound got closer. And closer.

The crying was soon so close she thought she could join it. Part of her warned her that the crying could belong to someone she didn’t want to encounter. But if they were crying, then they had a soul... and anyone with a soul wouldn’t hurt her, right?

She finally made it onto the path and stumbled in front of the sound. When her head lifted, causing her hair to fall aside, she saw what made relief flood her body.

Damon. He was standing there, staring at her with a hint of shock, Austin and Caleb behind then. Brian was in Caleb’s arms, crying continuously.

Damon’s face and body were covered in scratches, gouges and many other unpleasant wounds. Blood covered him and his eyes held a sunken tired look. Caleb also looked like Damon, only he had bigger rings under his eyes, probably due to his brother. Brian looked fairly well. His body wasn’t as beaten as everyone else’s, but if he wasn’t calming down, there had to be something wrong.

Then there was Austin... she had to take a second look at him. At first glance you’d assume he was as bad as Damon... until you saw his arm. The sight of it almost made her vomit. But the fact she had nothing to throw up helped. His arm was hanging limply to his side, his other arm weakly holding it somewhat. The bone was protruding from the top, and only a thin layer of skin still connected the two pieces of arm. Skin seemed to have mended around the bone on both sides, mending the two pieces, but not as one. Some gore and blood still managed to stick through, though.

It took her a moment before she realized Damon was glaring at her. When she did, she returned it... with not as much force as she usually did. She was too tired and cold to bother.

“Nice to see you well.” She heard the bitterness. Was he mad because she wasn’t beaten as bad as they were? Because she had managed to not almost bleed to death? She may not have endured too much physical pain, but the images...

“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” she grumbled out, showing bitterness just as he had. Damon’s eyes seemed to soften and he gave her a once over before letting out a breath.

“I’ll need to know what happened. But not now. Start walking,” he said, nudging her in the direction of the path. She frowned. She wasn’t an expert in directions, but wasn’t where he was staying in the other direction? He caught her glance behind him and spoke up. “I never planned for us to return.” His voice held something she had never heard him let out; exhaustion. He sounded exhausted and pained. The great Damon was in pain? If she hadn’t been so cold, she would have been as much of a pain to him, as he had been to her.

“How far are we going?” She asked, instead of saying all the cruel things running through her head.

“Far.” Was the only response she got.