Chapter 34
Trisha’s P.O.V:
“Trisha?
“Trisha!”
I heard someone calling my name, but the voice felt too far away. My ears felt like they were about to explode. What was that continuous shrill noise? Why couldn’t I move?
There was so much pain. My back felt like someone was pouring acid over it again and again…Why couldn’t I scream?
“Trisha! What have you done to her?”
There it was again…that voice? Who was it? Why did they sound so desperate?
“It’s not my fault she can’t handle a little heat.”
I couldn’t see…I couldn’t move…all I could do was feel…
And it hurt. It hurt so badly.
“TRISHA!”
Suddenly, the ringing in my ears stop and I could feel a slight twitch in my fingers. Someone seems to be shaking me. But who?
“Please!” He begged. “Please open your eyes!”
I tried once again to do as he said, but I couldn’t. But I felt like I had to respond to this person; I didn’t know why but I had to.
“My poor, poor son.” Another voice sneered. “If only you’d spent more time begging me than you did saving her, then maybe, I wouldn’t have been forced to kill her today.”
“She is not dead!” He screamed. “Trisha cannot die! She can’t!”
I felt something inside me tighten as he screamed. His pain was so violent that for one second, I forgot that my entire body felt like it was on fire. I tried again, this time harder to open my eyes, to move my hand, to do anything!
And then it all came back to me. Who the voice belonged to…why I was in so much pain…where I was…and who the second voice belonged to…
“Damien!” I gasped both in pain and recognition as I was finally able to open my eyes. The shot of pain that I felt at that instant felt too intense, too much.
“Trisha!” Damien’s voice was filled with relief. “Stay with me, you’ll be fine. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Damien was holding me tightly to his chest as I lay half on his lap. He had his arms around me and was supporting most of my body weight, keeping my back off the floor.
“W-what ha-ppened?” I managed to ask.
“Your back has been burned raw…I couldn’t get you away on time. It’s healing but it’ll hurt.”
“It’s o-okay…” I blinked to let him know that I’ll be fine. “You -ave to s-s-top him…”
“Stay safe.” He begged before laying me on the ground properly and standing up to face Vandal. My vision was hazy but I followed Damien with my eyes, willing myself to heal faster.
The laughter that erupted from Vandal’s throat was completely maniacal. “My foolish, foolish little boy! You suddenly think you have the power to defeat me?”
“I can surely try, can’t I?” With that, Damien launched at Vandal, his right arm engulfed in a ball of fire.
But Vandal intercepted his move by holding on to his hand and immediately, the fire in Damien’s arm was absorbed into Vandal’s. Growling, Damien sprung back, just as Vandal aimed a punch at his stomach. Damien launched once again at his father, but Vandal blocked him again with his hand.
As I lay on the floor and watched the duo battle a few feet away from me, one thing became painfully clear to me, Vandal was a lot stronger than Damien. Not only was he faster than him in deflecting his attacks, but he was also able to absorb Damien’s fine into himself using his hands. The centre of power, it appeared, was same for father and son both, their hands.
As Damien and Vandal fought for dominance, their flames occasionally scorching the other before their vampire blood healed the wounds; I had regained feelings back in my arms and legs. Good. My back was almost healed. I had also been able to understand one thing; Vandal was vulnerable in the chest. He did everything in his power to avoid Damien’s blows or absorb them before they hit his chest. Damien must have figured out the same thing; which was why he used his flames at maximum power and aimed straight for Vandal’s chest.
But Vandal was done playing. The next time Damien went to attack Vandal with his flame; he caught both of Damien’s hands in his…and used his flames to turn Damien’s powers against him.
Damien screamed in agony and fell to the floor as the flames repelled back against his arm and scorched his skin right off the bone as they went. Damien was able to fight the advancing flamed on his left hand, but it was too late for the right. His right hand was scorched up to his shoulder.
“Damien!” I yelled his name, reaching with my hands towards him, but before I could move towards him, Vandal had seen my movement and had come towards me using his vampire speed.
He lifted me up with one hand at my nape and then crushed me to his chest while I struggled to get free. It was impossible to get out of his death grip and he held me in such a way that if I struggled too much, he could simply snap my neck with a single hand, temporarily killing me in the process, since a vampire could only be killed by burning or decapitation. But with the damage he’d already done to my back, it would take me more than a week to get out of coma; enough time for Vandal to take care of me permanently.
“Damien!” Vandal yelled as he held onto me with one hand while the other burned red hot only inches from my face. The heat was overwhelming. I could feel smoke rise from my skin, but it wasn’t burning yet.
Damien rose from the floor slowly; his right arm had been seared raw, reduced to charred muscles and tendon cover bones that were visible in some places. I knew he was severely hurt, I could see it in his eyes how he was battling to stay conscious while his body wanted to shut down so it could repair itself.
“Let her go!” He snapped as he saw Vandal’s arm so close to me.
“For nine hundred years, I’ve worked day and night to make you the man you are,” Vandal told Damien. “I put all my strength into making sure that people know you as the supreme ruler…and that you keep in mind who made you great. But as soon as a little girl comes waltzing into your life, you forget who you own your life to?”
“The only person I own my life to, is my mother, who died giving birth to me.” Damien spat at him. “The only person, who made me the man I am today, is King Dominic, who gave me his name despite knowing, very well, that I wasn’t his biological son. He taught me to be a decent person; he loved my mother enough to keep you alive even after her death because he’d promised her he would. And what did he get in return? Betrayal and manipulation and ultimately, his death.”
“I am your father, Damien!” Vandal cried. “You’re King because of me!”
“And because of that, I had to let you get away with crime after crime, punishing innocent people on your behalf, because if I didn’t, you threatened to tell our entire race that I wasn’t King Dominic’s son! And you knew very well the chaos it would create if people found out I’m not a true heir!”
Vandal looked at Damien quietly with his eyes narrowed. “It’s because of her isn’t it?” He seethed. “Because of this one, pitiful woman, you’re ready to throw away everything that you’ve ever gained.”
“No.” That quiet word held a huge amount of power. “It’s because of her that I finally have the strength to become who I was supposed to be.”
“Then I’ll just have to end her to get rid of the problem.” Vandal told Damien menacingly and brought his hand closer to my face and instantly, the skin on my cheek began to melt from the heat.
I screamed at the pain and just as suddenly as Vandal had brought his hand closer, he removed it from my face. It was only then that I realized that I wasn’t the only one who had screamed. Two other voiced had been with me, screaming my name.
Lucas and…Neema!
“No!” I struggled with all my might to get out of Vandal’s hold as I saw the two figures standing by the entrance. “Why did you bring him here?” I yelled helplessly at Lucas. “Get away! Get away from here!”
“Neema…”
Startled at the hiss that came out of Vandal’s mouth, I looked up at his face to cringe at the unhidden glee with which he was staring at Neema. His eyes held so much malice that I felt my heart hammer at my ribcage. I could see it clearly; he was already planning his revenge. He would make Neema suffer a fate worse than death, because he couldn’t kill an Oracle, but he’ll make every living second worse than Hell for Neema.
“Let’s trade, shall we?” Vandal licked his lips as he stared unblinkingly at a quivering Neema. “Hand the boy to me and you get your little pet back.”
“Never!” Lucas let out an inhuman growl, his eyes a glowing topaz.
“I’m not asking you, mutt!” Vandal once again brought his hand close to my face, making me flinch back as the heat once again began to sear the flesh that had just healed. “Damien?”
I don’t know what happened next as Neema met Damien’s eyes for a split second, but I definitely heard Lucas’s scream as Neema dashed across the room towards me.
“Neema!” I yelled and dropped to the floor as Vandal’s grip left my neck and Neema came bounding into my arms.
And right then, Damien released a ball of fire from his arm that flew straight towards Vandal and hit him right in the chest and he erupted into flames.
