94: Why?

Light flooded my vision as I gently opened my eyelids, and then, I was suddenly greeted by a familiar pair of deep blue eyes.
“I thought you’d never wake up,” said Demetri softly.
“Give her some space you idiot.” Sebastian yelled from beside him. Demetri rolled his eyes and then smiled down at me. “How are you feeling?”
I told him I felt a little disorientated and groggy and then attempted to lift myself up on the bed I was lying on. But the moment I pressed my weight onto my outstretched hands, my elbows caved in, and I slipped back onto my back.
“Careful there.” This came from Sebastian who elbowed Demetri out of the way and then gently wrapped his arms around my back and lifted me up, so I was able to sit up with my back against the headboard behind me. I was glad to see that after all this time, some things were still the same.
I took a glance around the room and noticed that this wasn’t my room in the palace. The floors were made of wooden floor tiles. The walls were covered in a coating of light silverish paint and alongside my bed was another. One on which Liam lay on in a deep sleep.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“The palace is closed during the games. You’re in a hotel in the city of Tenebris. Luckily for us, the game contestants are allowed to reside in the city free of charge during the intermission festival.” Said Xavier who sat halfway between mine and Liam’s bed. He looked well and healthy, but his eyes were stormy and stern. Immediately I knew exactly what the problem was.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get him out of the games in time. I-”
“Don’t apologise,” his eyes suddenly softened, “it’s not your fault… I kinda knew he wouldn’t give up without a fight despite knowing how much harder he was making it for you. That’s just who he is.”
It was then that I realised that perhaps I didn’t know Liam as well as I thought I did. Then again, Xavier had known him for longer than I had. Just then, Liam groaned loudly and then let out a deep sigh before opening his eyes. They landed on me in an instant, tired but warm and gentle.
“Fancy seeing you here, little pet.” He said sleepily.
I laughed softly before falling silent. There was so much left unspoken between him and I and soon the room was engulfed in a sense of uncomfortable tension.
“Well,” Demetri said as a way to break the tension, “since you’re both up, why don’t you get dressed and then come downstairs. The festivities already began yesterday but with all of you waking up today, I have a feeling that the party just got started.”
Liam and I both nodded and Xavier, Sebastian and Demetri left the room promptly.
“You can take the shower first.” Liam said, pointing to the open door of what I assumed to be the bathroom. I nodded, shrugged the sheets off of my body and then got to my feet. But I couldn’t stand to take another step, the tension and unspoken words between us wouldn’t let me.
“Why’d you do it?” I asked softly.
It didn’t take Liam long to figure out what exactly I was referring to. He sighed and then shrugged the sheets off of his body before taking quick steps towards me.
“I told you before. I want to protect you-”
“Why!” I was yelling now and staring up at him in frustration. But his gaze never hardened once and instead, he raised a hand to my face and touched it to the side of my cheek.
“Do you remember what you told us just before the very first round began? The one in Atlantis.”
I thought back for a moment. Atlantis now seemed miles away in my memory and so it took a lot of searching for me to bring up that particular memory. But, when I did, a deep blush made its way onto my face, and I gasped suddenly in embarrassment.
“Exactly. You told us that you loved us. And so, the reason I’m doing this for you is because I love you too Phoenix. And I can’t let you go through this last part alone. My honour and my love for you won’t allow me to.”
His words were soothing and meant to pacify me. But instead, they only made me angrier.
“I can’t fucking kill you for fuck sake Liam! If you truly loved me, then you wouldn’t have put me in a position where I might need to kill you, because I’m sick and tired of the people I love sacrificing themselves for me.” By the time I had finished I was breathless and panting. Then all of a sudden, I burst into an uncontrollable fit of tears. It was the type of crying fit that left me breathless and gagging on air and it lasted a while before Liam wrapped his arms tightly around me. He was shirtless and so all I could feel was the soft, cool surface of his skin against my warmer skin.
“Shh,” he cooed gently, “it’s my choice Phoenix. Besides, it’s still early. We can still try and find a way to finish these games without me dying. But for now, let’s not fight about it anymore, okay?”
With that he gently placed his cool lips against the top of my forehead. Then he pulled away from me slightly, but only enough so that he could look down at my face and wipe the tears off of my cheeks.
“Now go and get ready. I’d join you… but I think we’d stay in that shower all day.” He said with a wink. I sniffed, wiped the remaining wetness from my face and then headed over to the bathroom. As soon as I made my way there, I walked up to the mirror and began to tie up my hair. I didn’t get far before I noticed a large wound on my arm which my hair had previously done a good job of concealing. I gently touched at it and winced. The wound had now been cleaned and was sewn up pretty well and, I wondered for a moment who had done it for me but dismissed the thought as I took a closer look and noticed how much better it looked. It was obvious that it was unaffected by my normal accelerated healing abilities, but it was still slowly healing up almost at the same speed humans healed, perhaps slightly faster. But if Meera had to inflict a severe wound on me like this one, to somewhere vital, I was sure that I wouldn’t be able to heal near fast enough and then, as the celestial said, along with my soul, I would be killed and destroyed.

***

By the time Liam and I had gotten downstairs to the entrance of the hotel we were staying at, Sebastian had his arm tightly around Demetri’s throat while Demetri laughed mockingly at him. Xavier, on the other hand looked just about ready to die of embarrassment.
“Alright, break it up you two!” I yelled. Immediately, they let go of each other before shoving at one another one last time.
“Honestly you two, have you been like this the whole time I was gone?” I asked.
“Pretty much.” Demetri chuckled.
The moment we stepped out of the front door; my senses were overwhelmed. The beautiful city of Tenebris had its streets filled with the buzzing of excited vampires who danced and sang to the music which filled the air. In front of the various stores which now all seemed to be closed were a wide variety of stalls selling things such as merchandise- T-shirts with the faces of various nobles on, hats and even flags. Some of the stalls sold food, and by food I meant blood in every shape and form, ranging from blood popsicles to steaming cups of boiling blood. There were even stalls at which people were lined up, betting on whoever they thought would win the games and then hidden here and there amongst the other stalls were open liquor stores and bars and nightclubs and restaurants. The entire place reeked of vampires, pureblood, half-blood and turned alike. Everyone had gathered in this city, just to watch a bunch of young vampires slaughter each other. And as I thought this, my hand wandered back to my wound which I had decided to cover up with a jacket- the last thing I wanted was for anyone to worry about me. There were so many questions circling my mind regarding the last round of the games, and I now wondered whether I’d be able to get answers from the people who had the opportunity to watch what had gone down.
“Sebastian, Demetri, who grabbed onto my elbow in the final round?” I asked curiously as we began walking down one of the body-infested streets.
“I’m not sure, we didn’t really see you in the final round.” Sebastian said.
“Yeah, he’s right. It’s actually funny though, you were on camera for most of the games… but during the final round, there wasn’t any footage of you really. We only saw Liam, Kyle, Darren and Samantha towards the end.”
I paused a moment in deep contemplation. Was this all just a coincidence or was something else going on?
“Why, did something happen?” Sebastian asked. I nodded and then began to explain the events that had unfolded at the conclusion of the final celestial round.
“That’s rather odd. I wonder who it was.” Sebastian said.
“Your guess is as good as mine.” but before I could continue, my eyes settled on someone rather familiar… or rather a group of familiar someones.
“Phoenix!” Felicity yelled from one of the stalls in front of a closed-up shoe store. Next to her stood Aaliyah who held onto Alice’s hand tightly. I smiled widely at the three of them and ran ahead of Liam, Xavier, Demetri and Sebastian.
“You’re all alive!” I yelled, stretching my arms out and wrapping them around my three victims. For a perfect moment, I was happy and relieved. I was happy and relieved to see Aaliyah and Alice reunited and to see Felicity alive and well. But the moment was short-lived and shattered to imperfect pieces as I slowly began to realise what Felicity being alive now meant.
Death.
And soon I realised too that death was slowly beginning to wrap itself around me. There would only be one survivor at the end of all of this, and as much as I hated the idea, it *had* to be me. As selfish as it sounded, I knew that there was no way the world would survive Meera if I died.
“Hey, have you seen David?” Felicity asked as I let go of the three of them.
My brows furrowed and I shook my head. Strangely enough, David had made himself scarce during the final two rounds. I wondered if he had figured out the morbid truth about the fate awaiting those who made allies in this game.
Death.
“That’s too bad. But hey, how amazing was it that he helped you during that last round!” she said.
I did an immediate double take, and by then my four lovers had made their way to us.
“Hey, you don’t have to run-”
“I’m sorry Felicity, what do you mean by that? How did he help me?”
We were all now silent, hanging onto every word Felicity said as she spoke. “Oh, you know, he grabbed your arm, the one with the injury on your shoulder-” again, I touched gently at my newly scarred shoulder as the memory flashed back into my mind, “-and then he helped you slice through that celestial’s throat.”
“D-David…” I uttered, and for some reason, the image of him appeared in my mind, just a sliver of his face before everything went white, right before I was teleported out of the broken mirror room. But why… *why*?
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Stay safe! Stay healthy! Sending my love!