Chapter 35

I tense immediately when begins to walk around me, trying to push me back towards the trees, and then, she smiles, and it isn’t the kind of smile you want to see, she is clearly deranged, just as i always thought. But her games won’t scare me, i won’t let them.
I have faced worse than her, and I've survived. I just have to keep my head clear, no distractions.
I slowly crouch down to collect my knife, watching Amanda as she does the same, picking up her spiked club. She's always relied on heavy weapons to do her fighting for her, she isn’t normally one to use her hands. Let's see how that goes. Maybe she’s changed.
“You don’t have to do this, Amanda.” I say, slowly walking backwards. “We don’t have to kill each other for a council who doesn’t care about us.”
She laughs, throwing her head back, “Of course you’d say that!” she shouts, “You are screwing the enemy after all.”
I narrow my eyes, trying to calm my temper. I fucking hate her, i always have.
I’ve had dreams of sewing her mouth shut so she can’t spread her nasty words anymore, but death will work just as good.
“You should try it.” I say, trying to make her angry, “It’s better than anything a human can do.”
She growls, “This is why Sean and i decided you are too much of a risk, you have to die!” she steps forward, but she isn’t close enough to hurt me, not yet. “You are scum, Mae williams, you always have been.”
I frown, anger pooling inside of my chest the way water fills a cup, and i am almost ready to burst, and she is going to be the one who dies because of it.
I'm done playing nice, if she wants to fight, I’ll fight. But she isn’t going to like the outcome.
I swing to the side when she rushes me, tripping her with my leg at the very last second, sending her flying into a tree. She screams in anger and pain, but she is back on her feet in an instant, and she is rushing me again, swinging the bat like a mad woman.
This is what hate does, it blinds people.
But i am not blind, and i not going to play nice anymore, not when my life hangs on the line.
I slam into her just as she reaches me, flinging her over my shoulder and slamming her into the mud, the fire raging higher into the night as the warehouse begins to collapse behind us.
Whoever is left inside better get out, and quickly, it isn’t going to stand for much longer.
Amanda slams the club into the back of my knee, the fire distracting me from the true danger right in front of me.
She hits me again in the back, the spikes digging into my skin and then tearing it out as she pulls back, ready to strike me again.
“Just give up.” she says coldly, “I can make this quick.”
I almost laugh, grabbing the club when she swings it again, the spikes digging into the flesh on my hand, but i barely notice it. I barely notice anything as i slam the knife into her stomach, twisting the blade until she chokes on her own blood and drops to her knees, her eyes wide and afraid.
i rip out the blade, throwing her club to the ground as i stand, watching as her blood stains the grass.
She was too busy gloating to see the danger, just as she always did in training.
I watch her as she rolls onto her side, tears streaming down her cheeks, “Help me, Mae, i don’t want to die.” she cries, clutching her stomach to try and stop the bleeding.
But it won’t work, i cut her too deep, she’ll bleed out before anyone can help her.
“You did this to yourself.” I say, wiping my knife on the pyjama bottoms I'm wearing, “you can’t blame anyone but yourself.”
She sobs loudly, blood sliding out of her mouth and down the side of her cheek, it won’t be long now, her organs are shutting down.
“You're a traitor.” She gurgles, choking on blood,
I lean down, looking her in the eye as i slowly smile, “You cannot betray what you were never a part of.” I say, taunting her as she did to me. “And i was never a hunter.”
Anger coats her features as she spits at me, blood streaming down my face, but i barely notice, and i don’t bother to wipe it away.
Amanda still thinks she is better than me, even as she lays dying in the dirt, because some people cannot change. She has given herself over to hatred and because of that, she’ll die here, all alone. And i won’t.
“Mae.” Comes a familiar voice, and i look up to see Garne not far away from me, his shirt torn and his chest bleeding.
But he is alive, and so am i.
I walk towards him, holding my knife tightly in my hand, “We have to find Mihai, he could be in danger.” I say, wiping the sweat from my forehead.
The building is burning hotter now, and there is nothing more deadly to the Nati that fire. It is one of the few things that can destroy them.
“He’s at the other side of the warehouse, the hunters are retreating.” he says, glancing between me and the now dead body of Amanda. “You killed one of your own?” he asks.
I look back at her, my mind trying to remember a time when she was small, and innocent. But Amanda has always been a bully, ever since we were small. Nothing would have changed that.
And nothing would have changed the choice she forced me to make.
“I was never a hunter.” I say, turning back to Garne. “I may have been born to one, but it was never who i was meant to be.”
Garne watches me for another moment before he nods, his eyes roaming over my body, “You are hurt.” He says, “I smell the blood, and you are losing a lot of it.”
I look down at my hand, the mangled flesh the spikes tore barely hanging on, and i guess my back would be the same.
“I’m fine.” I say, giving my head a small shake. “Let’s go to Mihai, he can help.”
He nods, stepping closer, “Let me carry you, it’ll be faster.”
I stare at his outstretched hands, wondering if it is some sort of a trap, or if he’ll drink me dry the moment i let him grab me.
But i can’t bring myself to care, he’ll either attack me or he won’t, but if he does, i know that i can survive.
I've killed one today, i can do it again.
I guess after tonight, I'll join the list of monsters that the council want to destroy. They can’t see that the true monsters are among them, and they never will.
Mihai was right, if we want to live freely, we have to kill them, all of them. Including Sean.