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They tied me up to the stake next to my sister. She looked over at me and I could almost hear the words she wanted to set.
You had the chance to leave. Why didn't you just leave?
"I couldn't leave you behind," I said out loud.
She closed her eyes and I didn't know if she lost consciousness or if she was so mad at me that she couldn’t look at me. Either one was plausible.
Already, my broken ribs were fixing themselves and my swollen eyelid was going down. It would take me a while before I could even begin to think of fighting back, but at least I was on my way.
It looked like I would be healthy and whole when they lit the fires beneath us.
I wanted to tell Celia that Artie was okay, that he and Dante were on their way to somewhere else, somewhere far away. But I didn't dare breathe a word when the Ascendancy and Bianca were so close.
I wanted to turn to her, at the last minute and say something. I wanted to tell her how grateful I was that she was my sister and that she had been there for me. I wanted to tell her that I loved her but my eyes were glued on the guard with the small blowtorch in his hand that was coming closer to us. He had the same maniacal gleam in his eyes that I had seen in Bianca.
I had to tear my eyes away from him and the blowtorch to look at my sister.
When I did, I saw that she was looking back. Even though she was probably delirious with pain, she smiled back at me.
"I know," she said.
I was grateful for that much, at least. I was grateful that she knew how much I cared for her and for Artie and for all the time we had been able to spend together.
It seemed like there was no other way to end our story.
Then, the man with the blowtorch in his hand dropped. I stared down at him, so close to the dry kindling and wood beneath us and wondered what he was doing. Then I saw the growing pool of blood underneath him.
I didn't understand what was happening. There was no Hail Mary in this instance, there was no one from the town coming to help us, and we knew miracles didn't exist. But then, one right after the other, the guards kept falling. There were so many of them, close to three dozen, that I couldn't even keep up with who was falling and where.
I looked over at Celia but she was gone, unconscious once again.
For a moment, I wondered if someone had come back from the town.
But no one from the town knew how to use guns. We were all weapons unto ourselves. We were born with the claws and fangs and the supernatural speed. We didn't need to use guns and so, we didn't.
Then behind the Ascendancy, Savannah stepped out.
As I looked around and counted the bodies on the ground, I saw that she had killed close to twelve people. I didn't know if there was a specific pattern for her, if she chose the best fighters or the best shooters, but one thing is for sure; they weren’t better than her.
As she stepped closer, underneath the streetlights, I saw that she was not carrying a weapon. Whatever gun she had was gone and the only thing she had in her hands was a baton.
I guess I was right the first time, there were no miracles. Not today.
"I should've killed you," Bianca said blankly as she stared around at the bodies of the people she used to work with.
"But you didn't. What does that say about you?" Savannah asked.
I saw that she was sweating and pale. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were dirty and torn. I had no doubt that she had run all the way from the college. No small feat for just the average human.
"It says that I wasn't thinking. Not to worry though, because when I'm done with these two, you'll come back home with me. I'm sure grandma has a program that will fix you right up," Bianca said.
I didn't need to look around at the other guards to see them shifted uncomfortably. Whatever Bianca was referring to, couldn't be good.
Savannah shrugged. "I don't think I'll be going home this time."
Bianca was still glancing around at all the dead bodies, but I saw her frown. Whatever Savannah was talking about, Bianca hadn't considered. "What do you mean, you’re not coming home? Of course, you're coming home. It's not like you're the first soldier who's lost their hold on what our mission is. We'll fix you up and then you and I can go on a few field missions together. It will be just like old times."
"You mean all those times when I saw you capture innocent people and torture them? You mean those good old times?" Savannah asked.
There was something different about her. When I had seen her before, walking through town, she had the self-assurance of someone twice her age. But now, she seemed to be fighting something inside of her. She was struggling with something deep inside of her and she didn't know if what she was doing was right.
"Every family has its traditions. Some people do family reunions, ours hunts vampires during the winter solstice. I don't see the difference," Bianca said and nudged a man who had a bullet hole through his throat.
Savannah stepped closer. They were within range of being able to talk normally instead of shouting across the street.
"I don't want to kill anything anymore, Bianca. I don't want to do this anymore," Savannah said.
Bianca snapped. "You don't want to do this anymore? What are you going to do, Savannah? You think you can just go to college and meet a guy and pop out a couple kids? That's not what we are. You can't turn your back on what you know."
My head was spinning and for once it wasn't the pain of my bones remaking themselves. We had never heard of someone leaving the Ascendancy, especially not someone as high-ranking as Savannah. They didn't leave alive, anyway. I wanted to ask her what had changed her mind what had made her see things so differently in the past few days.
Maybe if there was an afterlife, I would ask her then.
The remaining guards were gathering close behind her. Bianca had not given them a signal, but she was not ordering them back either.
Bianca's way of thinking was so black and white that it was easy to see that if Savannah was no longer on her side, she had to die.
I couldn't imagine ordering one of my sibling's death. I watched calmly as the guards descended on Savannah. It wasn't just one, or two, or three. Instead, it was half a dozen and when they began to fall, more and more joined the fight.
I had to admire Savannah for putting up such a fierce fight that it took ten people to hold her down. She was well-trained. Maybe, by her example and by her death, more guards would leave the Ascendancy and join our side.
Maybe our deaths wouldn't be in vain.
She was thrown at Bianca's feet and Bianca looked down at her before she hauled her up to her knees. Bianca had one hand wrapped around her little sister's throat as she studied her with cold disgust written all over her.
Then, Bianca spat in her face.
She dropped Savannah and stepped back.
It didn't take someone with superhuman hearing to know that Savannah was not going to walk away from this. Her ribs were broken and probably stabbing through important internal organs. At least one of her arms was broken and she was coughing blood, but very weakly.
She rolled over onto her back and I was surprised that for the most part, her face was left untouched.
I watched her look up at the night sky and saw nothing but relief written all over her face.
Then came a roar of such unfathomable power, I fought against my restraints to cower.