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Hayden
The buzzing in my ears and the pain on the right side of my head is overwhelming, but I fight to stay conscious. The only reason I am still alive is because Gerard is a lousy shot, even up close. The throbbing in my skull serves to remind me he had one opportunity to kill me but failed, the bullet having grazed the side of my head. I won’t provide him with another chance. If I catch him, he’s as good as dead.
The fire spreading across the right side of my cranium makes it very difficult for me to focus on my surroundings. Where did Gerard run off to?
“Hayden!” The sound of Kristina’s panic-filled voice brings me back to my full senses. I scurry to sit up, glancing to my right as Gerard tugs her through a door and out of sight.
I struggle to my feet, but the medications he forced into my body, plus the gunshot, slow me down considerably. I can barely stand up straight, but I force myself to. The room begins to spin the moment I am on my feet. I heave a couple of times before my stomach finally settles down enough for me to focus on getting to the door. I force one foot in front of the other and push through to the exit.
Wrenching the door open, I stumble into a dark hall, and follow Gerard’s and Kristina’s scents to the exit. They have not gone far. I stagger along, balancing my body against the wall.
The ringing in my ears finally subsides, enabling me to hear the utter and complete chaos spreading across the facility. Vampires, werewolves, and humans alike fight as one against Gerard’s empire. As of now, the Legion has the upper hand. I concentrate on the many voices, trying to make out Gerard’s or Kristina’s, but I pick up on Nyall’s and Castiel’s instead.
Having been reunited recently, they joined forces and are now moving in my direction in search of Gerard. Though I will welcome their help, I cannot pause to wait for them. I must get to Gerard before the helicopter takes off with him and Kristina on board.
The hallway ends at another door, which I open and continue up a gray, metal staircase leading up to the rooftop. I hurry along, using the rails to maintain balance as I take each individual step. After what seems like an eternity, I make it through the pair of stairwells and come upon yet another door.
I pause to listen, and my breath catches in my throat as the sound of rotating propellers announces the arrival of the helicopter. Willing my body to take full control of its functions, I open the door and totter onto the rooftop. The sky is gray and cloudy. Rain falls in steady torrents that drench me the second I leave the safety of the indoors.
At the other side of the roof, Gerard stands with one arm wrapped around Kristina’s neck, waiting, in complete obliviousness to my presence, for the helicopter to land in the space left between where he stands and where I do. Eyes focused on the chopper.
Kristina spots me and holds in her breath in excitement at seeing me alive and walking. I cross a distance of about five yards before Gerard notices me. He reacts by placing the barrel of the pistol to her temple.
“Don’t come any closer or I’ll blow her brains out,” he warns, but I continue moving. He needs her alive to use as leverage and we both know it. “Tiger, don’t push me.”
“My name is not Tiger. Not anymore. I’m Hayden now.” I meet and hold Kristina’s gaze. She rewards me with the faintest of smiles. “And if you let her go, I’ll let you live. How about that for a bargain?”
“Who do you think you are to bargain with me? You fool! They will end you. Just wait and see.”
“It’s my choice and I choose to live—in hiding if necessary—but I serve you no more.”
Nyall’s presence is seconds away from being revealed and he is not alone. I lie in wait. One way or another, Gerard will be dealt with. But I am concerned over where Gerard’s desperation will lead him.
The helicopter lowers as we speak, inching closer to the rooftop. The strong wind pushes the rain around and makes it harder for us to see. Kristina shuts her eyes to ward off the worst of the sting, but Gerard tries very hard to keep his gaze on me.
“Back off!” He yells to be heard over the roaring of the rotating blades.
“No,” I shout back, lifting one hand to shield my eyes from the wind. “Let. Kristina. Go.”
“Go, you say? Are you sure that’s what you want?”
“Let her go,” I demand again.
“Have it your way.” Before I can read his intent, he lowers the arm with the pistol to his side while simultaneously turning to shove her over the ledge of the roof.
“Kristina!” Ignoring every stitch of discomfort, I take off running and jump after her.
Arms to the side, I pick up momentum in freefall for a fraction of a second. Kristina’s screams invade my ears and fill me with determination. I manage to close the gap between us, and reach for her. Her arms flail in desperation; her eyes are wide with fear. I wrap my fingers around her wrist and hold on with a tight grasp. Sticking my other arm out, I extend my claws and bury them into the cement as far they will go. My middle finger breaks in the process, but the traction isn’t enough to stop us, though it does begin to slow us down.
We have a barely slowed enough to change the outcome of our predicament. With nothing to hold on to and gravity against us, I turn my gaze to Kristina’s horror-stricken face. In one last effort to save her life, I summon what little strength I have in me and jerk on her wrist, drawing her up toward me. She sucks in her breath as her body lifts upward with surprising ease. I let go of the wall and curl my body around hers.
I shift so that I can land on my back and brace for impact. We come crashing against the ground two seconds later. My shoulders and hips take the brunt of the fall. Bones break and all the air is sucked out of my lungs as my backside connects with the muddy, wet soil. I struggle to stay awake, focusing on Kristina’s heartbeat to ensure it pumps steadily.
My own beats even faster as I confirm not only is her heart palpitating normally, but she is still breathing as well. This fills me with joy. She is alive and that is all that matters to me. I am aware of the Ancient One, along with a small army of werewolves, taking down the helicopter. Of Nyall avenging his brother’s century-old enslavement, his very arms tearing into Gerard, effortlessly ending his life, but my only concern at the moment lies with the girl in my arms. She may be hurt, her right arm broken and with a possible concussion, but she will live through this.
As my eyes begin to close, the last image I have is that of Gabriel coming to our aid.
***
Rose’s farmhouse is full of warmth and bustling with activity. The werewolf pack has gone back to their duties after burning down the Institute, but they promised to go in search of other properties belonging to Gerard. Now being led by the Ancient One, the pack’s status and power has shifted overnight, granting them a hierarchy they lacked before.
According to Castiel, within a short amount of time, this particular werewolf pack will be among the fiercest, most powerful ones out there. Though the members did not cross me nor did they attempt to get close, I could sense their unease when it came to me. Gerard was correct in stating that both sides of the coin do not look well upon me.
It has begun with the werewolves and I’m sure it will not end there.
“The Ancient One has unresolved issues with me, doesn’t he?” I ask Castiel as he finishes assembling a makeshift cast for me. Though I can self-heal, the lack of blood consumption keeps the process from progressing as rapidly as it should.
Hours after the Institute’s takedown, my finger is no closer to restoring itself than it was upon breaking. Other injuries sustained during and after the chaos are slowly closing up, healing as I rest and eat while I wait for Kristina to wake up.
“He does.” Even Castiel has regained some of his old strength and seems rejuvenated. Having gorged himself with blood and subsequently cleaned up, he resembles his twin brother more so than he did when I first met Nyall.
“Why is that?”
Castiel has confirmed Kristina and Gabriel’s story, admitting to being my biological father, but he has spoken little else of how I came to be. Also, I can’t bring myself to call him anything other than Castiel.
“The Ancient One’s younger sister was your mother,” Castiel says as he takes a step back to inspect his work. “That should do for a day or so while you finish healing. You were lucky your skull did not break, though it came close to.”
“My mother?” I ask in astonishment.
Castiel’s red eyes search mine as he says, “Your mother belonged to an old werewolf lineage predating to the first separation of the alpha leaders. She was part of the Ancient Twelve, who were the first werewolves created by the Founding Father. It was her bloodline that allowed you to be conceived in the first place,” he explains.
I am shaken by this news. “You did not know her prior to I...to my...being conceived?”
Castiel shakes his head. “No, I did not. I am a vampire. Or most of me is. Vampires and werewolves have warred on each other for thousands of years. We simply cannot get along and that has not changed with the passing of the years. As you can well understand, I would not have any reason to have any form of relation with Venora, prior to our stay at the Institute.”
Though I have wanted to believe for most of my life that Gerard lied when he said I came as a result of a scientific breakthrough, that is not my case.
“Where is my mother?” I had asked this same question before, but Castiel’s answers were evasive.
“Venora died during childbirth, twenty-five years ago. This I did not keep from you. As strong and powerful as she was, her body could not withstand the trauma of your birth.”
“I killed my mother?” Guilt threatens to consume me.
Castiel takes a seat on the rocking chair to my left, where only days before I’d awakened to find Kristina asleep. “Gerard killed your mother. You have no fault over your arrival into this world. Nor did you ask to be what you are. This is something you have to come to terms with. Though you have my blood and that of Venora’s, your birth was not planned, nor were we asked permission for our participation. Gerard took what he wanted, when he wanted it.”
I comprehend now how true Gerard’s words are. I belong nowhere. With no one. Already, I have picked up on some hostility with the werewolves, and even though Nyall tolerates me, I sense he only does so because I am his brother’s son.
“The Ancient One, he will return...and when he does...will I have to fight for my life?”
Castiel’s expression does not lie. “Perhaps.”
I have spent my entire life locked in a prison, but as grateful as I am to be free for the first time, I’m afraid I will now have to live in the shadows. As if I don’t exist.
If I were to do things over, I would not change a thing. I have met kindness at the hands of humans. I have experienced many firsts, and tasted freedom. Even when it tears at my heart to think of myself miles away from the one person I have come to care for the most, I can only keep her safe if I’m someplace other than here with her.
“I think it’s for the best,” Castiel responds after having a glimpse inside my head. “You should leave with us for the time being. I have much to teach you, still. Before we depart, I encourage you to bid your goodbyes. Kristina will want to see you, but we cannot stay long. Nyall is anxious. He is uncomfortable being in a human’s house. And Gabriel keeps wandering off.”
Castiel stands and I follow.
“Go talk to her. She is finally awake.”
I nod, but my heart aches with emotions I cannot control. “Give me a few minutes.”
“Go on, then.”
I leave my cozy bedroom behind, ignoring the steady gazes that follow me as I make my way up the stairs and down the hall, and knock once I’m in front of the door to Kristina’s bedroom. Rose opens the door, not surprised to find me at the other side.
“Tiger—er, Hayden. Come on in. She’s been asking about you.” Rose steps out before I can walk in. I reach for her arm and pull her to the side of the hall.
“Rose, I can never thank you enough for your kindness.”
A smile plays at her lips. “You don’t need to thank me, boy.” Her hand comes up to touch the side of my face with motherly affection. “Besides, I should thank you. If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t have my Kristina.” She opens her arms and embraces me, taking a moment to hold me as a mother would a child.
I may have not gotten the opportunity to meet my mother, and perhaps would have been rejected by her, should she have found me as repulsive as many others have, but I won’t die thinking there isn’t more to life than violence, torture, and death.
In the hands of those I was taught were my enemies, I have known compassion.
Rose smiles up at me. “Now go on in and have a talk with her. She’s fretting ‘cause she thinks you coming to her rescue was a dream and whatnot.” She pats my hand gently before turning to walk down the hall.
I enter Kristina’s room, closing the door behind me. I find her sitting up in bed, her right arm up in a sling. Though I took the brunt of the fall, Kristina didn’t escape unscathed. Her right arm is broken and she did suffer a mild concussion, plus some minor bruising and abrasions that are covered up by layers of clothes and blankets.
“You are okay,” she says in obvious relief.
I approach the bed and sit beside her. “The bullet only grazed the side of my face.”
Two tears roll down her cheeks. “I thought he killed you.”
“I thought the same when he pushed you over the ledge.” I lean in to plant a kiss on her forehead.
“And you jumped after me.” Her lower lip trembles with suppressed emotions.
“I couldn’t let you die.” My mouth seeks hers. Momentarily, I forget what I came up here to do and allow my sentiments to flow through our joined lips, expressing that which I cannot say.
With a heavy heart, I find the will to tear myself away from her. I take her hands in mine and say, “Kristina, it was you who saved my life. You are the one who has given me the will to go on, no matter what happens. Meeting you has been the best experience of my life. I will never forget you.”
She doesn’t appear startled by my choice of words. “I knew this was coming.”
“Did you?” I ask in surprise.
“I knew you couldn’t stay, but I hoped...” she wipes away fresh tears with the back of her hand, “it doesn’t matter. I understand why you can’t stay. We are too different, you and me. Gerard made things clear. I don’t really care much for them, but I’m not entirely clueless. Things would be hard for us.”
Ah, so this is the conclusion she has come up with. I think it better this way.
“Yes, it would be.” I glance at our joined fingers and feel a tug at my heart. “But I will never allow myself to forget every moment of every day we spent together.”
Her lips curve up into a sad smile. “Neither will I.”
I give her fingers a light squeeze. “Wyatt, Ray, and Drake will keep Rose and you company for a while to make sure you are both okay.”
She dips her head. “Take care, Hayden.”
Hearing her say my new name fills me with hope for the future. Will I ever see her again? I’m unsure, but if there’s a way for me to come back to her, I’ll find it.
“Don’t pick up any more strangers.”
She laughs softly. “I won’t. You were the first and the last one. I promise.”
With a final kiss farewell, I walk out of the room. The sound of her soft sobs stays with me long after I have left the farm and embarked on a journey to self-discovery.