Ray stares at me, horrified, as I check her pulse. She is screaming almost constantly now, bent in h0rrific pain. “Is this normal, Ray?!” I demand, my voice uncannily high. All my anger begins to focus on the man that coerced her into agreeing to do this.
She stops yelling as quickly as she started, now convulsing as if she is having a seizure. Her face betrays pain, tears running down her face in rivers. My tears soon join hers, making a puddle in the ground.
“We will know soon,” Ray speaks finally, and I look up as if noticing him for the first time. Pure hate is in my features, and combined with a deadly inward beast to match. He is a walking corpse.
I pull back my fist and punch him in the stomach with a mild version of my Earthquake Punch, causing him to stagger back. Soon he will probably be coughing up blood… one of the aftereffects of my hate-filled hits.
“I hate you!” I say angrily, tears flowing profusely. I feel like a mess. Everything is falling apart. I know her movements are normal for a Seer being converted, but I am still afraid. She can still die.
I stagger back by her side as another scream rips through the air, wanting desperately to snatch her into my arms. Whispers of agony are in the air, enough so I can sense it, just beyond my abilities to change the hurt. The tears are coating her face now like a mask, running down her neck, her cheeks soaked.
I wrinkle my nose as her smell turns black, repelling even. Ray staggers back a little also, noticing the skunk-like stench she now carries.
Suddenly, her eyes glaze over, and she is completely still. My blood runs cold.
“You know you have killed her,” I look steely into his large green eyes, “she’s going to be gone forever.” I turn away and hold my head close to her heart. Only the faintest whisper of a heartbeat remains.
The soft forest air turns cold, causing goose bumps to rise on my skin. What can I do? I have never felt so helpless.
My mate soon will be dead.
I could tell from the minute that I met Mona that she was special, so the reality of her imminent death hits me a lot harder than it originally would. She had a past with Shifters. Although she tried to hide it, she also possessed a caring heart and desired to help others however she could. In a small corner of my mind, I thought Mona would never fail. That there was no chance of her dying through an Awakening. I’m sure Ray believed this about her as well.
And here she is, before me, taking her last breaths.
I know it is truly too late for anything now, but I cannot help myself from trying to think of a way to save her. I try to think of any healing properties, such as plants or medicine, that we possessed at the mansion.
“Is there anything we can do?” I ask Ray desperately. I grab Mona’s hand as I ask him, and alarm enters me when I realize her fingers are as cold as ice. It feels as if I am touching a corpse.
“We can wait.” Ray looks away, obviously torn by the sight before him and the possibility of having Mona arise as a Spier, no matter how little the chances.
“Don’t lie to me, Ray. Her Awakening is failing! It is obvious to us both.”
“It’s not over yet,” he protests shakily. It is easy to tell that he is starting to think otherwise.
“I’m not kidding Ray. Tell me what I can do. We need to save her.” My voice turns deadly, and Ray grows pale. A few minutes pass, filled with silence and anxiety.
“Xavier, I’m so… I’m so sorry.”
True despair takes over, leaving nothing to tame my insanity.
I must do something. I have to do something… it can’t end like this.
I take my pocket knife and slice my finger slightly. I can’t bring myself to cut her, so I just hold it over her mouth, which is slightly open. When the first drop of my blood touches her lips, she shivers, almost gagging.
Ray just stares at her and then me, dumbfounded. “You idi0t!” He bitingly whispers, his words like poison.
“Is she going to live, Ray?” I ask bitterly, “have you ever heard of something like this before?”
I can’t think. I can’t breathe. I can’t live without her. Somehow, I must keep her with me.
His words rip through the silence, condemning her. “Never.”
It is only my tears now, racing down my skin like liquid fire, burning where it touches. Mona is still unmoving, her eyes closed. Her skin is like an assortment of bruises, fading in and out. Her hair is thickening, growing straighter past her back at an alarming speed. Somehow, she is growing taller, her legs lengthening. Why is this happening? Werewolf blood is what enhances the person’s looks, not the Spier blood.
Does this mean that this cr@zy scheme is working?
We watch her in silence as she starts mild convulsions again, all the while her appearance changing rapidly. How can she have both symptoms? She can’t convert into both a werewolf and a Spier. That will surely destroy her.
I lean back in the grass next to her, touching her fingers. Mona’s fingernails are sprouting from short stubs into a perfect size, and then stopping abruptly. I haven’t cut my fingernails in thirty-seven years.
I can’t bear much more of this. It is eating at me, tearing me apart. The ground is wet behind my head… not that I care. It is probably just my tears, dancing across my face like an unnecessary amount of sweat. Ray just stands there, frozen. He is clueless, I can tell. No words amount to how angry I am at him.
I am reduced to nothing because of her, and indirectly, Ray himself.
She is finally still, after about twenty more agonizing minutes of these convulsions and morphing. Her chest is moving, breathing. It is a little bit different from the first time, for this time she is only sleeping. It is a wonder she has made it this far. My mate is strong.
I wait endlessly for anything from her… for a response, a touch, or even a glance.
Still there is nothing.
It has been around an hour and a half of pure and utter torture for us both, and the clock ticks towards the eventual two. It might take longer because of the effect of the werewolf blood. I don’t know anything, and that is what’s killing me.
The minutes tick by as I bend my head into the grass, utterly defeated. I was stupid to think I could change anything with a few drops of werewolf blood. The result… is still unknown, and leaning precariously towards the outcome I desperately do not want. I probably guaranteed her death, adding some blood like that… why am I so stupid? Why couldn’t these doubts have occurred BEFORE I applied the blood?
“Xavier,” Ray’s voice, soft and smooth, lingers over me. I barely notice as a soft, delicate hand deposits itself on my head, smoothing my azure hair.
And then suddenly I realize whose hand that actually is.
I lift my head, catching Mona’s hand as it falls towards the ground. Squeezing it tightly, I use my hearing to listen to her heartbeats, starting back weakly, and then turning stronger with surprising force. Her eyes are still unopened, but a little smile is on the corner of her mouth. It is then that I give myself away to peace and the assurance she is so graciously giving me. Everything will be just fine.
No matter what happens, Mona will be with me.
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