Darkness Fades (Page 45)

I try to scurry to my feet as he races towards me, fueled by his anger, shoving the table out of the way. My human legs feel rubbery and unnatural, and I can barely get my knees to bend as I lose more blood from my neck. I start to shut my eyes and hold my breath when I see Aiden get to his feet and runs for me.

“No!” I cry as he collides with Gabrielle’s body and they both tumble to the ground. I force my legs to move and manage to stumble unsteadily to my feet. I stagger towards them, moving slower than I ever thought was possible. It doesn’t matter how fast I move, though. I’m too late.

Gabrielle already has Aiden pinned under him with his fangs deep in his throat. My knees knock together as I stumble over to them, grabbing ahold of Gabrielle’s robe, trying to pull him off Aiden, but I’m jerked back and tossed aside by Monarch.

My head slams against the hard ground. The room spins as I sit up, clutching my bleeding neck. I feel like I’m dying inside as I watch Gabrielle and Monarch feed off Aiden, devouring his blood and tearing at his flesh. I remember how Mathew said they’d once drank human blood. The taste of Aiden’s seems to be driving them to want more.

My heart starts to ache as wet droplets slip from my eyes and burn at my skin while I crawl towards them, wanting to help, although I’m helpless. I feel hatred. Anger. Rage. The need to get revenge. I feel out of control. Feel the desire for my strength back.

I hate this.

I hate being human.

Blood soaks their white robes, and when they finally stop feeding, they turn their heads to look at me. Their faces, lips and hair are dripping with Aiden’s blood as an uncontrolled look encompasses their eyes. My initial reaction is to rush forward and claw their eyes out, but I’m not strong enough for that. So, even though I don’t want to, I back away.

They follow my movement, coming at me with their backs hunched over, looking more and more like the vampire breed. I pick up a piece of glass and throw it at them, but it barely flies two feet.

Mathew starts to step forward to help me when Monarch lunges at him and lets out a cry. Gabrielle smiles at me then he zips forward, jumping at me. He ends up tripping over his feet, however, and lets out a wail as he falls on his face. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Higher make a mistake like that. When he starts to vibrate and spasm, I suddenly understand why.

Gabrielle struggles to control his body, flapping his arms around and pushing his feet against the floor. He screams and shouts and flails just like Aiden did, fear filling his reddened eyes. I watch, feeling this sick satisfaction rise within me, as though him suffering somehow makes up for Aiden, when it doesn’t. Aiden is gone and nothing will bring him back.

I’m about to start crying again when I hear commotion at my right. I glance over and Monarch is doing the exact same thing as Gabrielle, both of them at a loss of control of their bodies. Mathew watches with me as we observe them slipping away towards humanity. Their bodies slam into tables, knocking things over, spilling the contents around the room. Vials break, shatter, pooling the floor with liquid.

Then, just as quickly as it began, it stops. Silence takes over as they still; their skin cut up by the glass while their white robes remain stained with blood. Their eyes are the dead giveaway of what’s happened, though. Monarch’s are no longer pale, they’re dark grey like the sky, and Gabrielle’s are an alarming shade of green.

They’re human again. Life and breath and blood stream through their veins.

Gabrielle rolls over to his stomach, moaning as he battles to stand to his feet. He gives up at sitting and then scoots across the floor to the upturned silver table. He peers in the reflective surface, examining his reflection closely. “This is impossible!” he yells, looking over at Monarch who is still lying on the ground, staring at his arms, his hands shaking. “How could this cure us? Why!”

Mathew and I exchange a look and then Mathew gives me a small smile. My blood not only still holds the cure, but it replicates like the virus he injected into me earlier. It worked. The risks we took worked, and now we can save the human race.

Monarch turns over onto his stomach and uses his arms to push himself up to sit. It takes him a moment to get there and then I can see a new look in his eyes; one I’ve never seen before. Happiness. “Because she’s perfection,” he answers Gabrielle.

Gabrielle goes into a fury and begins to throw everything within his reach—vials, flask, syringes—yet all that ends up doing is making his arm tired. He kicks his foot at the nearest chair and swears profusely, cursing me and what I’ve done to him.

What I’ve done to him. This sentence hits me harder than anything that I have ever felt before. It’s over, yet it seems as if it’s only starting. The cure is inside me and in Gabrielle and Monarch and Mathew, but there’s still so much more to do.

“We have a cure,” I whisper in awe, glancing down at my bloody arms. My blood.

“You did this to me,” Gabrielle says as he staggers closer to me, barely able to stand. “You did this.” He gasps for air. So weak. “You’ve undone all that we have worked for. Everything I’ve done…” He lands on top of me as his hands go around my neck and I gasp. He presses his weight down on me, his face reddening as he shoves me down against the floor. “I’ll kill you!” he growls. I can see in his eyes that he will.

I feel my breath leaving me as I try to fight—try to kick, try to get away—but I don’t know how to work my body. The feeling of the helplessness is frightening. Death. Weakness. Is that what being human is?

I shut my eyes as I push on Gabrielle’s chest, refusing to give up; using all the strength I have in me. I feel him leave my body and I think that maybe, just maybe, I’ve somehow gotten over my human weakness. When I open my eyes, though, I find that Monarch and Mathew have pulled Gabrielle off me and Monarch’s shoving him down to the floor.

“Go,” he says to Mathew and me as Gabrielle fights to get away. Monarch picks up a piece of glass as he says, “Go check on your people.”

Mathew hurries across the room, but I don’t dare move as Monarch presses the tip of the glass to Gabrielle’s throat. “You and I have some unfinished business.”

“Monarch, don’t,” I say, feeling something ache deep inside my chest, knowing if he kills him, he might feel the same ache. “It’s not… it’s not worth more blood on your hands.”

Monarch turns around and looks at me, his grey still a bit alarming. “Kayla, go. You’ve done your part, and now I’ll do mine.”