Fang War

31 ☽

At the base of her skull, the terror that vibrates travels down her arms, then courses to the tips of her fingers.

One step, then another, Lila inches closer to Adonis. The growls that subsided began to escalate again, as a scream from the house brings both beings in the shed to lurch backward.

Clutching her chest, Lila curses under her breath as an already stressed heart reaches a higher rate.

Morganna had enough life left in her, it seemed, to cry out in agony from the house.

Trying to tell herself that the royal wolf had all the help she needed without her ignorant presence, Lila focuses on the one wolf she believes she can help.

"Adonis, it's me, it's Lila..." she cooed, her voice hitching in her throat. She takes a cautious step forward.

The growling continues, but Lila moves forward again, her outstretched hand trembles in front of her.

"You saved my life, more than once. I owe you. I owe you more than I can ever repay..." she says, her hand beginning to lower toward the ground and the chain left there.

Pressing on with both hands wrapped around the guiding chain, she moves toward the trembling man whose growls vanish into silence.

"I know you are in there still and I want to help you forget everything that happened...the world needs you, Adonis. I need you."

Inching closer, she's within reach of the heaving, sweat-laden chest in a skin tone shades darker than her own. She leaves part of the chain to free one of her hands, then stretches out to him. To his bare chest, she presses the flat of her palm. It shifts upward at her touch until the breath escapes from his mouth and brings his chest to rest with a slow compression.

A heat passes between them. In those eyes, the amber begins to dance and she knows it's Adonis looking back at her and not Fang. Or, so she can only hope. So close to him now, it would take nothing at all from him to kill her before she blinks.

"I want to take you back to Vegas with me. I think we should get out of Seattle. Would you like that?" Her voice is softer than ever and all sense of force she had with Zachary and in the interactions she had in the world of vampires, is gone. She means it as her authentic self, she wants freedom from all this. Most of all, she wants to be with him, to help him find himself again.

He nods, pressing his cheek against her hand that slides up his neck and then rests on the side of his face. Voice cracking, he's caught in between breaths as he utters out, "With Lila, I will go anywhere."

A heat settles over her shoulders and the air is thick, but with Adonis, it feels natural, and all memory of Zachary becomes obsolete. It's just them in this shed and the chains that hold him. Needing to free him, to take away all that holds him down, she turns the key left in the lock and peels the silver chains from his flesh. Where the chains leave their fading marks, her hand presses over them as if to try and erase the last of the vampires from their lives.

Watching the imprint of silver, that he as a werewolf has a natural reaction to, disappear, evokes tears from Lila. Tears of relief, of sadness for both of them, tears that have built up over the years from all of her own mistakes. All of them made, to run away, to blame others for her own poor choices. Now, she had no one to blame but herself and in doing so, she felt a weight lift off of her.

She was free to do as she wanted and no longer be burdened by revenge, by the scars in her soul. From here, she could move forward.

She wanted to go home, to forgive her father and most of all, forgive herself.