85: Tragic sacrifice

**Tristan**

By the time I had said what I needed to say to Ambrose, Lucien was by my side, holding tightly onto my shivering body and preventing me from completely falling apart. Ambrose took one more tearful glance at the both of us, unable to deny any of what I’d said to him, unable to deny his final defeat. Then, his eyes became completely lifeless, and his last breath left his lips in a soft hiss of air. The moment it did, it felt as though a weight had been lifted from my chest, as though another part of me had been restored. And for a moment, my entire body felt numb. I didn’t feel tired, my skin wasn’t on fire, my muscles weren’t aching. It wasn’t until my eyes wandered to my sister’s body, that I started regaining some sort of feeling again- an ache rising within my chest. Her skin had gone pale and her breathing soft and uneven. There was no way her body would be able to heal from this naturally, especially because half of the energy she would have needed to heal was now just trying to keep her baby alive. The healer that they’d brought in knew that too and just gazed down at my sister in solemn sadness. That’s when I knew exactly what I had to do next, and although the thought scared me, the idea of my sister and her baby dying scared me even more.

Slowly I got to my feet and neared the teary-eyed group. Lucien followed behind, watching me sceptically, no doubt already suspecting what I was about to do.

As soon as I made it to my sister’s side, I touched my hand to the coldness of her skin, and then to the warmth of Damon’s hand. He looked up at me, startled for a moment, before seeing the look in my eyes and relaxing slightly.

“Will your body be able to withstand you healing her after everything you’ve been through?”

I was about to answer him when Lucien’s panicked voice yelled, “No!”

He touched at my shoulder and used his hand to turn me towards him. His soft, golden eyes were searching mine in a sense of worry and urgency.

“Y-you can’t do this Tristan. Your body won’t be able to handle it. You’ve taken too many blows today, used up too much of energy.” Then he fell silent before saying, “Let me help you do this. Th-that way you have a chance at being okay afterwards.”

But I knew that channelling anything from him at this point, would completely destroy him. He was far too weak and exhausted to withstand it, furthermore, he did not have enough of the energy I’d require in order to keep from overexerting myself. And so, I shook my head at him, trying to fight back my tears. I knew that my body was passed its breaking point, too far-gone to come back from the decision I was now about to make. And so I knew the possibility of leaving Lucien was high, and the idea of parting from him, of saying goodbye, was utterly heart-shattering. But I also knew that I couldn’t sit back and let Jasmine die.

“Lucien,” I said before touching my hand against his cheek. Immediately tears ran down them, only making me want to cry even more, “I love you. But I have to do this. You know I do.”

Lucien sobbed softly before touching his hand against mine. “Is there nothing I can do to change your mind?”

I shook my head and gulped.

Lucien then turned his head and kissed the inside of my hand before closing his eyes, as if to savour the last touch of my skin against his. The moment was brief and bittersweet and by the time it was over, I felt my chest tighten and the lump in my throat became even more painful to swallow at.

Lucien let go of my hand and then leaned in before kissing my lips. The way he kissed me was gentle and sweet, but it did nothing to hide the fact that this was our kiss goodbye. The moment his lips left mine, they moved to my ear. Then, he whispered, softly and sincerely, “I love you, Tristan. I always will.”

The moment it left his lips, I took in a sharp breath, took one final look at him and then turned towards Jasmine. Damon removed his blood-soaked hands from her chest and gazed at me apologetically.

“I… I’m sorry for asking this of you.” He said, swallowing hard. The sadness in his eyes was evident, even more so when they flashed to Lucien.

But I managed to muster up a reassuring smile and said, “You aren’t asking anything of me. I’m deciding to save my sister. It’s a choice I’m making because I love her, and I want her to have the family and life that she deserves.”

“But what about the life you deserve…” This came from Oliver whose cheeks were now tearstained too.

I smiled at him, reached out and squeezed at his hand. “Don’t you worry about me…” Then I paused, glanced at Loren and then back at Oliver before saying, “You look after her, and treat her right!”

Oliver nodded and I slowly let go of his hand before placing mine against Jasmine’s chest. But before I moved any further, I gazed up at Damon and requested softly, “Damon… I want you to promise me something.”

“Anything.”

I took in a deep breath, once again, biting back my tears before muttering, “I want you to look after my Lucien for me. I never once want him to feel alone or afraid or unloved. *Please*.”

Damon’s eyes softened and he nodded before smiling at me reassuringly. I let out a breath before pressing against my sister’s chest a little harder. Slowly, I felt my healing ability kick in and the energy I had left in me drain from my body. The room was engulfed in silence as everyone watched, both saddened and hopeful. Lucien sobbed softly beside me, holding onto me for dear life. The more the energy drained from my body, the sleepier I became. Each passing minute lulled me into a sense of slumber.

My eyes were just about fluttering closed when the loud sounds of shouts and screams erupted from outside, sending the entire room into a state of panic. London and Amber took to their feet immediately, and cautiously made their way to the door. We all watched them closely, but not once did I take my hands off of Jasmine.

They were silent for a moment, before both letting out a sigh of relief. Their source of relief soon appeared in the form of Landon who rushed into the room. He was covered in blood and when questioned about it, he told us that the rest of our allies (including the rogues who had sided with and been freed by me) had finally made it to the packgrounds and were in the process of completely wiping out the rest of the rogues Ambrose had brought with him. Immediately relief flooded through me as well, and with it, the last bit of energy I had within me, left. By now Jasmine’s wound was almost completely healed up, but it would take a moment or so before the rest of the healing took its effect in her body and healed her up completely. By then I could no longer stay upright, and so my body began to fall the side. But Lucien tightened his grip on me and held me securely in his shaking arms before I could even touch the floor. He looked down at me and almost immediately, his sad, tear-filled eyes zeroed in on my left eye. Slowly he touched his finger to right underneath it. I winced slightly, before realising that my left cheek was completely wet, not with tears, but blood. My own body was no longer healing itself and the remnants of my fight with Ambrose remained etched onto the surface of my skin. But I wasn’t concerned about the pain or the blood. Instead, all I focussed on was the warmth of Lucien’s body against mine and the touch of his hand against my face. The words “I love you” that he’d said earlier on rang in my head, comforting me as my vision faded and this soothing feeling of numbness engulfed me warmly. The last thing to fade were the sounds around me, but not before I heard the relieved cries from everyone else in the room. I assumed Jasmine had woken up then. I felt myself fall further into the warmth of the nothingness embracing me. It was all over. Ambrose was dead, Jasmine and the rest of her family were safe. And as for me, the last thing I remembered was the feeling of Lucien’s warm lips against my skin easing me into deep, dark slumber of nothingness.