Nikulas and Luukas had left early with the help of the wolves, worried that if they waited until nightfall, they would arrive too late to help Aiden. Traveling in a blacked-out van, they'd slept in the back while Cedric, Marc and Lucian had watched over them. Duncan drove, getting them as far into the mountains as the vehicle would take them. As soon as the sun dipped below the horizon, they'd set out on foot.
When they arrived at the clearing, they stayed concealed, and came up along the side of the two people standing at the center. The sight before them played out like a scene from their worst nightmare.
Nikulas heard Aiden taunting Leeha, "You're bloody insane! Who in their right mind would choose to be with you? Who would want your maker's leavings?"
"Oh, yes," he continued when she drew back in horror. "I know exactly how you whored yourself out to him. Tell me, love. Did his touch excite you? Were you jealous when he brought the human girls up to your room? Feeding from them? Fucking them right in front of you?"
"Shut up!" she screamed at him.
"No wonder everyone rejects you. You're nothing, Leeha. Nothing but a lowly, jealous whore trying desperately to be a queen. I never wanted you. I only used you to find out what I needed to know. Everyone can see through you. Everyone knows what you really are."
Out of nowhere, her arm rose, the knife in her hand flashing in the moonlight. She brought it down in a wide arc, neatly slicing Aiden's throat.
He smiled as blood spurted from his neck to soil the front of her gown.
With a scream, she swung her arm back and sliced him again.
His head tilted precariously off to the side as he dropped to his knees.
"NOOOOOOO!!" Nikulas roared. Without a thought for his own safety he charged out into the clearing.
"Guards!" Leeha called shrilly when she saw him coming.
Nik arrived at his best friend's side and fell down beside him. He heard Luukas let loose a war cry, and looked up to see him in close hand to hand combat with Josiah, both of them completely vamped out. The look on his brother's face plainly spoke of the history between the two of them.
He looked past them. The disgusting creatures Josiah had brought out, the decaying monsters that had almost killed his Emma, were heading straight towards him. They hissed loudly through mouths filled with razor-sharp fangs and dripping with bloody saliva. Their emaciated arms hung past their knees, yellow claws nearly scraping the ground as they clambered towards the intruders, their uncovered organs swinging obscenely.
Howls filled the air as the wolves transitioned from their human forms. Before the creatures could reach Nikulas and Aiden, the wolves were there. Their powerful jaws ripped off pieces of the things, flinging blood and gore every which way as they delightfully tore them apart.
He caught Leeha's eyes as she stood motionless, looking down at what she'd done. Tears ran down her porcelain cheeks.
While the battle raged around him, Nikulas looked down at the knife in her hand. It was silver. His fangs shot down and he threw his head back, bellowing with a rage that shook him to his core.
Pain lanced through him and he turned his back to her, uncaring of what she may do. He waited to feel the cold blade come down against the back of his neck as he hovered over his friend, desperately searching for a sign of life.
But it never came, so he ignored her.
"Aiden?" he said. "Aid? You can't do this to me, man. You can't leave me. Come on!" he yelled when he didn't respond.
Aiden lay on the grass in a puddle of his own blood. He eyes staring off into the distance.
Nikulas growled deep in his throat and turned towards the one who had done this. Fangs flashing, his eyes glowing nearly white in his grief and anger, he attacked.
Leeha saw him coming and slashed out with her knife, catching him across the abdomen.
He ignored the burning pain, wrapping his hands around her throat as he tackled her to the ground.
She choked with rage and stabbed at him crazily, catching him in the arm and shoulder, the silver weakening the muscles until that arm was nearly useless.
One thrust caught him in the side of the neck, and he loosened his hands in surprise just for a second, but it was enough for her to turn the tables.
With a surge of strength and speed, she flipped them both over until she was on top. Before Nik knew what was happening, she drew back her knife. His eyes widened, Emma's ethereal face appearing before him as he watched it descend towards the middle his chest.
But instead of feeling the blade sink into his heart, he only felt a brush of fur as Lucian caught her around the throat with his teeth, knocking her off of Nikulas. He shook her violently in his powerful jaws, her own blood joining Aiden's to soak her gown, her arms hanging useless at her sides. The knife fell from her hand to lie in the grass as her head went flying through the air. It landed with a thud next to where Josiah and Luukas were still fighting.
Josiah blocked a punch from Luukas and glanced over at the thing, his eyes growing wide when he realized whose head was now lying at his feet. He bellowed with grief and struck at Luukas with a strength belying his age as a vampire.
At the same time, Luukas was attacked from either side by two of the rotting, grey creatures; Leeha's failed attempts at demon possession. With a roar, he turned to his new opponents, sending them flying away from him with a wave of his hand. He turned back to Josiah to continue their fight, but it was too late. He was gone.
Nik rolled over in the grass and crawled back over to Aiden, protecting his friend's body from the creatures battling around him. Whenever anyone came too close, friend or foe, he shoved them away and back out into the fight.
Aiden blinked up at him, and tried to speak through the blood filling his mouth.
Nik leaned closer. "It's all right, man." He gave him a pathetic attempt of his normal cocky grin. "Don't try to talk. We'll get you out of here."
Squeezing his eyes closed hard, Aiden opened them again and tried to speak anyway, but only a cough came out.
Again, Nik saw his mouth moving. He frowned, but leaned down to listen.
"Wasn't me..." Aiden gasped out. "It...wanted her to...kill me."
Understanding dawned across Nik's face. "That thing inside of you was goading her until she cut you? But, it sounded just like you..."
Aiden's eyes widened, begging Nikulas to get the warning.
Oh, shit. That thing was imitating Aiden. "Okay. I hear ya, man," he assured him. "We'll get you through this, and we'll be careful." It was a lie. Aiden wasn't going to come through this. The wound was made with silver. It wasn't going to heal.
Now that Josiah was gone, Luukas stalked through the clearing. He sent what remained of Leeha's creatures flying through the air with nothing but a look as he made his way over to his brother.
Squatting down next to him, his lips pulled back from his fangs as he surveyed the damage Leeha had done. "Oh fuck."
Nikulas bit back a sob and felt his brother's hand on his shoulder. He knew what it was costing his brother to be so close to the thing that was inside of Aiden, but the scene became surreal to him. He and Luukas kneeling next to Aiden while he lay dying on the battlefield. Only this time, Luukas' blood wouldn't save him.
Cedric was suddenly beside him, naked, dirty, and covered in blood. "Aiden, lad?" He looked up at Nikulas and Luukas in disbelief.
"Silver?" he asked.
Luukas pointed with his chin towards the knife lying in the grass near them.
Cedric threw his head back and howled with rage.
Around them, the other three wolves finished off the last of their creatures and turned toward the group huddled on the ground. Their howls joined their leader's, ringing sad and eerie through the trees.