Chapter 51 FINAL END. ONE WEEK PASSED.

ONE WEEK LATER. FRIDAY
When I wake up it is to the soft touch of someone's skin against my regrown arm. My eyelids flutter slower as dim lighters through my lashes. I saw several blurry figures looming above me. I couldn't make out any faces or sounds except for the darker skin of Jhan... Or Nicha.
After a few more minutes of indistinct chatter and blurry vision, I finally made out Leya's face. She looked down at me, a concerned frown on her face.
"Le-Leya?" I muttered. "What happened?"
"Shush. He's waking, he's waking..." I couldn't recognize to whom this voice belonged to but it sounded feminine.
"Where I'm I?" I tried raising my head but the blow from a strong migraine sent me back.
"We won Kaldar, you helped defeat Hardaj..."
'Tia? Who is Hardaj?"
"Oh, for hells sake. Cut us the slack Kaldar! You were only out one week." Jereum said in an irritated complaining manner.
I tried recollecting how I had got here and very slowly, like a snail crawling on glass, my memories leaked into one another and my eyes widened on shock and recollection.
"Nicha!" I shouted suddenly.
I saw the irate look on Tia's face and the sly expression the appeared on Jereum's.
Tia folded her hands and walked away. Leya smiled at me as she followed behind Tia and Jereum scoffed as he left as well.
I saw the beautiful face of Nicha. Her long niveous hair standing out from the color of her skin.
She looked at me in the eye.
"How are you?" I asked.
She nodded
"That's a fine or a...?"
She smiled widely and then pointed to the scars on her throat.
It took me only a second to understand what she meant. "I'm sorry. Temporal loss of speech or permanent?"
When she spoke here voice was badly wounded and gruff. "Temporal..."
"Sorry, sorry. Don't stress it..."
I looked at her. A knowing look. "Jabari?"
She nodded and I felt a heavy relief that I may still be seeing the ash coloured wolf.
"Tom?"
She nodded again, with a small smile.
"Pheww." I was smiling now. "Cole?"
Her smile slowly dropped and she hung her hear low.
"No..." I muttered, dumbstruck.
Cole didn't want to fight. He didn't have to. I remembered Tom telling him to back down but he still insisted on. I felt like a heavy load had been placed upon my chest, pinning me harder to the ground.
"What happened?"
She motioned her hands, using her fingers to demonstrate a wolf fight.
"He was killed in a fight?"
She looked at me sheepishly and then shook her head to either side.
She mouthed it to and I could hear her most inaudible sounds.
"He died saving Tom..."
She nodded.
I pushed myself up using my elbow. I felt the sadness swirl in me and for a moment I had wished that she'd smile and tell me it was a just a joke.
"Will they be a burial for him?"
She nodded.
"For him and all the ones we lost huh?" I asked and she nodded. I found peace in that, peace in the thought that he'll have a memorial send off. He died fighting for his clan and his sacrifice was not in vein.
Silence fell in the room.
She glanced at me, a knowing glance.
"What you said back there, did you mean it?"
She sighed. And then nodded.
"You're beautiful Nicha." I knew she was holding back her smile, I could see how difficult it was for her to keep her lips in a tight line.
"But you need someone who lives on the same timeline with you."
She drew her brows before leaning in and kissed me. She kissed me twice before pulling her head from mine.
"Just had to let that out huh?" She smiled before standing up and offering me a hand. I took it and was surprised at her strength as she effortlessly pulled me up.
"Where's my clan?" She pointed towards the top of the slope. I saw Tia, she was so wrapped in a conversation with another girl she didn't seem to notice when I landed with a thud beside her. The girl—now seeing her up close I should say woman—had long pitch black hair and looked like she would be in her thirties. Night.
Leya was on a tree high above us, probably enjoying the view of the small village. Jhan had his back to the village and Jereum and Tom were giving consolatory pat's to a weepy Jabari.
I walked to Jhan, nodding solemnly to the sad trio.
"What now?" I asked him. We always had a strange way of doing things, like we were a secret duo we didn't even know about.
"Well, Alzaraq said he'll be relocating to the mountains in a week's time. The higher court is holding a victory assembly to congratulate the surviving fighters and badge new adjudicators—"
"That's not what I meant Jhan."
She sighed through his nose before looking at me.
"If you talk to her Kaldar she'll remember you. I didn't erase you from her memories I just locked you up in the darkest corners of her mind. Where she won't be able to reach except you talk to her as the Kaldar she knew, not just as any ordinary man."
I was glad for that. But the question was whether I still wanted to be with Dawn or not. After all, our worlds were too different to meet.
"You owe me Jhan, you owe me answers..."
"I know, you also saw my memories when I was in your head."
"Yes, who was that black robed vampire?"
"Who do you think?"
I had thought about the possibilities since but I wanted to be sure, to get confirmation.
"The count?"
He nodded.
"But why will the count impurify me?" I asked, confused.
"Kaldar, the higher court respect my decisions not because of my age, it because the role I have played for the past century is as important as what they do. If not more important."
"So how about Jereum that vampire—"
"Sadly, yes. You are related to the vampire that impurified Jereum."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Kaldar. I didn't want you to hate yourself."
"You did it base on your own assumptions! That's selfish."
"I agree."
I was more than surprised. The flawless Jhan just agreed to doing something self-centered.
"I am sorry."
"Forgive."
I looked at Tia; she was now sobbing and hugging Night who was sobbing also.
"I want to find them Jhan, I want to find my mother and sister. Father maybe."
"You have my full permission."
"But first I gotta find Dawn. Where did you—"
"Two towns, north from here. There a large swimming school in that town. She practices there every day."
I guess her father did allow her to follow her dreams.
"I don't know what to do Jhan, I don't want to impurify her but I'm not sure I'll be able to hold back if she asks again."
"Again?" He was perplexed.
"Yes, she asked before. But I didn't do it, or should I say. She stopped me."
"Kaldar, there's a higher court for every town. And the reason why we have adjudicators in the first place is to fight vampire hunters."
"Whah?! They are still vampire hunters?"
"Yes. And they are very skilled in what they do."
"Oh."
"But for now let's focus on this burial. They wolves collected the bodies of all their deceased but they would be holding a mock burial here, for us to grieve with them. Before they move on and have the real burial in their mountains."
I looked at Nicha, she was sitting with Tia and her sister.
"That Nicha girl, I hope there's—"
"No, no. No, nothing." I said defensively.
He looked at me through squinted eyes.
"Only twice..." I said sharply and he seemed contented with my answer.
"So, what are going to do once this burial is over Kaldar?"
I had a lot in my mind. Find Dawn and probably impurify her if she still wants it. Find my mother and sister and lastly, find the truth about why I was impurified by the great count.
Jhan's eyes were glowing. He had already seen it all play out in my mind.
I smiled at him and he chuckled lightly.
"You know Jhan, you never really told me your backstory."
He frowned.
"That's because I can't remember it Kaldar."
"What?!"
"When I was impurified I was found by the count. He took my memories and made me work for him. Since then I hadn't had the courage to ask him for them."
"That's cruel." I reckoned.
"I know. But I finally do have the courage to ask."
"Let's find it out together..." I said.
He looked at me carefully. "That means Jereum will have to stand in for me."
"Great, he'll love that." I said. I gazed upon the stretch of forest on front of me. The greying lights of day breaking upon the leaves that glistened with due.
"So we set on our path, together."
"Yes, if that's what our future holds. But it won't be easy Kaldar, vampire hunters may be secret but they will hunt down and kill any vampire that is not protected under higher court territory. We will have to be careful. But first to have to make your decision with Dawn."
I let a few seconds of silence pass.
"I'll say goodbye. I'll meet her and say goodbye."
"That's a wise choice." Jhan agreed.
"She has to live her own life. And I have to live mine."
I looked up a Leya, she had been eavesdropping on our conversation and I locked gazes with her large brown eyes.
I looked back at Jhan. "At least we have a head start. I know her name."
"And I know where we could start looking." He said amdi looked at him with a mixture of shock and surprise.
"You do?"
"Yes, in fact where your sister schools."
"Why didn't—"
"I've told you now."
I smiled, the thought a happy reunion seeped into my mind and it brought a blissful phantom heat to my chest.
I turned and looked upon the small village that would soon no more be here. The villages would destroy the houses and clear up the evidence of a settlement. I looked at the rising sun, behind the grey clouds. The whitish light that filtered through the clouds shining upon us and for a moment I found calm and peace. Calm and peace in the thought that I still had at least a week to spend with my family.
I glanced at Leya, she was also looking the white ball of light that shun from behind the clouds. There was a long journey ahead of me. One that wouldn't be risky but I'll still take the chance. Lastly, I thought of Dawn. I'll soon be with her again. For the final time and I hoped that my love for her would let me let her go.