Bite or Howl

Chapter 38

Chase POV

Felix looks behind his shoulder, his eyes growing at the sight of Lupus, laying dead on the floor with a pool of blood surrounding him. Nick backs up and starts throwing rocks at the bouldered wall, trying to knock them down. I stand rigidly, staring directly at Catherine who's back is pressed up against a wall. "Chase," her speech is breathy and hesitant. I shake my head and bite my cheeks, my eyes low.

I look up at her, my eyes questioning with such dread. "Why, Catherine?" I barely whisper. She meets my gaze, her eyes hard and her bottom lip quivering. "I wasn't born to be second, Chase." She mumbles back. Her answers make my blood boil, just knowing this death and drama was all for power. Revenge.

"But there can be so many more ways we can figure this out." I reason, my hands falling down to my side as I complain. Her eyes rim with tears, glistening underneath her eyes. She shakes her head slowly. "There's no point anymore. I failed." She rambles. "All of this hard work that I've sacrificed, all for nothing." She yells. I take a step forward, my brows furrowing as I start to speak. "Years and years of the energy I'd used just for this. And now it's wasted." She cuts me off.

"Catherine, you don't have to fight." I whisper, her head tilting upwards to meet my gaze. She chokes out a dark laugh. "There's no point anymore, Chase. There's no turning back anyway." She tells me. "And say there was a way, what do you think everyone would think of their princess being the daughter of a black witch?" She adds.

I sigh, failing to find an excuse or reason. I chuckle, finding something to laugh about. "You know, I really wanted to kill you when I found out you'd killed Phoebe." I mutter. Catherine's face stays stern and hard. Guess my joke didn't exactly work. She sighs and holds her hand out to her side. A long, scraping sound fills my ears as she brings a small dagger just at the palm of her hand. She holds it in her grasp and turns to me. "Then just do it." She mumbles quietly, I could hardly hear it.

When it came into realisation, I thought I'd heard wrong. "Just kill me, Chase." She repeats, holding the dagger out for me. My eyes grow wide and I think she'd gone crazy. I wasn't going to kill her. No matter how much I really wanted to, I couldn't.

I push the knife away from me and shake my head rapidly. "No, Catherine." I repeat, sternly. "That is an order." I add, my voice hoarse and rough. A flash of warmth runs over Catherine's face and she smiles slightly. "You're right, Cath. You aren't born for second place and you're not! You were never second, Catherine." I try to reason, my mind pacing as I keep rambling for things to say. "But the kingdom loves you just as much as me, gosh probably even more. You do so much for them. They can't lose you." I reason.

She steps forward, closing the gap between us. She holds the dagger firmly and pushes it into my hands, the tip of the dagger piercing her skin as she pushes the handle into my palm. Her arms wrap around my torso and she rests her head on my chest. Her soft cries compressed into my shirt. My arms wrap around her waist and I lay my chin on her forehead. She pulls back slightly and whispers, "you're the best brother anyone could ever ask for."

She grips on my wrist, controlling my entire right arm. "I'm really happy you learned how to control your powers." She adds, her eyes staring directly into mine. Her words seem to make me forget about how she almost killed my wife a few minutes ago or the fact that Lupus was dying on the ground behind me.

"I love you, Chase." She mumbles and a wave of realisation hits me. My eyes grow wide and my body goes rigid as I try to do something but it was too late. Her grip on my wrist had drawn my hand closer to her stomach where the dagger had stabbed right through her. She pulls her hand away, my entire right hand covered in her blood.

My body bursts into action, my hand dropping the dagger and quickly pressing my palm against Catherine's back, pulling her up and preventing her from falling. Her body is heavy from the lack of strength she has and her head hangs back, exposing her entire neck completely.

I pull her up onto her feat, continuously muttering, no. The sound of rocks falling down on each other erupts in my ears as Nick yells in triumph. "Let's get out of here!" He yells at us. He catches my eye and runs toward me. I lay Catherine down on the ground and I crouch down beside her. Nick squats down on the opposite side of her, his eyes wide and his lips slightly parted.

They all start to speak to each other, mumbling words that can't be deciphered from where I sat. My tears covered my vision, leaving me feeling helpless. But I couldn't sob. Staring down at Catherine, her small body laying down against a rock that held her up. Her lips slightly parted and her eyes wide open. Her entire body, covered in blood.

Nick taps my shoulder softly and I turn to him. Felix holds Lupus in his arms, his hands, legs and head all hanging down. He was dead. Phoebe sobs uncontrollably beside him as she lays her head on Lupus's chest, making it harder for Felix to carry although he doesn't say anything, just lets her stay there. They walk towards the cleared tunnel that Nick had opened. Rocks and boulders on the ground that had once stood up and blocked our exit. There was light at the end, directing us to our safety.

Nick stands behind me. "I'll carry her." he mutters, crouching down and starting to pick up Catherine. I quickly push his hands away and shake my head. My fingers trail under my eyes and I wipe the small tears that escaped. I think about bringing her back, but I know she wouldn't have wanted that.

"Leave her here." I instruct and he looks back at me, confused. "She wouldn't want to be buried in a cemetery filled with our ancestors, no. She'd want to be far away from them." I explain to him, my eyes not leaving her corpse. "Leave her here." I mumble, though, it's more to myself than Nick. He nods and taps my shoulder, bringing me up. I take one last look at Catherine before turning around, leaving her there.

Phoebe stands just before the rocks pile and holds her hand out. Her eyes are completely red, it terrifies me. Her nose is irritated as she continuously rubs it. I take her hand and wrap my other arm around her, letting her head fall to my chest as she howls and cries. I let her soak my shirt with her tears as we start to walk out, leaving Catherine in the cave.

Felix holds onto Lupus, his quiet sobs drowned out by Phoebe's wails. Nick's arm goes around Felix's shoulder as we all start to walk out of the cave. It was over.

We made it.

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"Chase?" A small whisper squeaks from behind my door. I quickly drop the bandage in my hand and look at my doorway as Catherine stands behind it.

"Chase, what are you doing?" Catherine asks, peering through the door and stepping into my room. I quickly push my legs up onto my bed and crawl backwards. "No, Catherine. Stay back, I don't want to hurt you." I quickly warn her. She looks at me, confused. She steps forward and pushes herself onto my bed. She's really short so her palms had to be pressed up at the end, pulling herself up and twisting her body just like our mother had taught us.

"Silly, you could never hurt me." She laughs, crawling to where I sat. She stops right in front of me and sits cross legged. "Show me something." She asks, pulling at my hands.

I hesitate. "Catherine, I might hurt you." I whisper. She loosens her grip on my hands and pleads. "Please?" She whispers. I sigh and pull my hands back, twirling them together.

A black mist of dust seeps out from my fingertips and I start to form shapes with it. I shoot them out all around our room and Catherine claps. We laugh and make statues and shapes out of the black dust, making them burst.

And for the first time, I didn't think my power was a curse. Because Catherine could still love me with or without my darkness.