Chapter 62 - Captured By The Shadows

I was barely conscious. I felt hands gripping me, sensed that I was being moved, though I wasn't on my feet. I was too exhausted to resist. You could take me anywhere—I no longer care. Evan is dead. It's my fault he's dead. I was drifting in and out of awareness, caught between consciousness and oblivion, desperately wishing to sink back into darkness.
If only sleep would come quickly, or maybe even death, because I didn't want to be aware of anything, not even a little.
Please, just let me stop feeling, let me stop knowing.


****
I slowly woke up in navy silk sheets that smelled of fresh baby powder. My body ached, but the comfort of the bed was so overwhelming that it almost made me forget the pain. It was a luxury to wake up in such a setting.
Suddenly, my eyes snapped open as reality hit me. I was back in my bed, in my room, in the house of the man who had destroyed my village—but he was nowhere to be seen. For a moment, I questioned whether it had all just been a dream.
Had it?

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

The side of my bed was still made, Damon was nowhere to be found. I stumbled on to my feet and the rush of standing too fast swayed me into the side table. Bottles of pain killers and other medicine fell to the ground. I struggled to regain my vision and balance and eventually was headed to the door. The house was empty and besides the new-found aura of haunted silence and abandonment that thickened the air, seemingly it was just as I had left it.

"Tessa? Damon?"
Only echoes responded.
I descended the stairs and searched the kitchen, then moved on to the foyer and the living room. Finally, I stepped out into the garden. For a brief moment, I caught sight of a figure vanishing into the trees in the distance.
Was that Damon?

"Damon!" I yelled out but the person had gotten too far and I could not shout any louder because my throat hurt and so I followed.
I knew where he was headed. Damon was by his mothers grave when I had finally found him. I was now exhausted enough to pass out and the intense heat from the sun did not assist at all.

"You shouldn't have followed me," he revealed. He was on his knees facing the tombstone and away from me," You should be getting rest."

"You killed Evan," I breathed out immediately losing to the battle of tears.

"Go back to bed. I'll come to you soon."

"How could you? How could you kill all those people?"

"I didn't," he finally stood up and turned to face me. I resisted the wave of weakness that arrived when his eyes met mine. I almost forgot how he made me feel. My knees were weak and the pace of my heart was steady with that of a drum's.

"You did. You're evil," I whispered," you're the worst person I have ever met. I will regret not killing you every single day that I live-"
This seemed to sting him because the look on his face mirrored my own grief.

"I had no idea that they were going to be gassed."

"You're a liar-"

"So are you. How did you survive?"

"Why did you come for me? Why didn't you leave me there with my people? Take me back there-"

"Everyone that is still alive is here in the west wing. Maria and all her children, your father-"

"Why did you bring us here? So you can kill us yourself?"

"I didn't make the command to gas Akbur Hills!" he roared," Luke went behind my back-"

"I don't believe you. You're the alpha, they don't do anything without your permission."

"They've had some doubts about me ever since I left the party to go save you. And they should have. The only reason I did not want to gas Akbur Hills was because of you-"

"It doesn't matter now. Everyone is dead."

"You're right. It doesn't matter. The vampires have already attacked. There's too many of them, they are going to win."

"What?"

"We waited too long, they used the other villages to feed and now we are outnumbered."

"What happens now?"

Damon turned back to face his mothers grave," I failed. Just like my father, I was too weak to do what had to be done and it's going to cost me everything."

For a brief moment, there was silence. Then, there was the stirring of the trees. I felt Damon tense up.
"Get behind me," he pushed behind his back and faced the strip of streets introducing the forest," who's there?"

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Don't move, stay here."

There was more stirring. The grass around us waved rapidly as if altered by invisible harsh winds. I could see the figure of something circling us but it was far too quick to make sense of what it was. Like a little tornado that rushed around us, eventually there was more than one. I could count three or four and then I would lose track. I struggled to get the hair out of my face. Damon held me tightly behind him.
"Who the hell is it!?"

Branches off trees and leaves went flying making everything go blurry momentarily.
The little tornadoes eventually slowed down and once they had fully stopped, they revealed their true visible forms.
They were five vampires that had cornered us into his mothers grave.

Damon snarled and shoved me down into the dirt next to the tombstone. He sprang into the air, his body attempting to shift. His skin bristled with fur, his nails extended into claws only to retract back into human hands. He crashed to the ground with a heavy thud, unable to complete the transformation.
I glanced up at the vampires, who were gripping a silver rock. As they drew it closer to Damon, he struggled to breathe, his strength fading with each second until he finally went silent.
One of the vampires slung his limp body over their shoulder, while another bent down, locking eyes with me.

"Do you want to come too?" her voice was so soft that it was bitter sweet.

"What?"
She raised her fist and half a second later, I went unconscious.