by Angela Foxxe
Isaac laughed for a moment as Gabriel hit square on the jaw. He tumbled to the ground once more, then his hand felt the silver dagger and he swiped this at Gabriel.
Gabriel felt the immediate sting on his cheek and blood began to flow from it.
“Another scar to add to the old ones?” Isaac taunted him. “This is surprising, brother. You are so weak, it’s unlike you. This seems like it’s an almost unfair fight. But when is it ever fair for our kind?”
Isla took a step forward and Gabriel’s hand shot out. “No!” he said, “stay there.”
“She’s mine, Aidan. She’s mine like Lily was mine,” Isaac told him.
“You know nothing about love,” Gabriel seethed, “everything had to be about gaining for you. You had to be above everything, you never learned from the past.”
“Oh, but I have, I learned that the only way I can achieve peace is to see you dead and to have Isla by my side.”
Isla looked at him in horror. “Never,” she found herself whispering.
Isaac’s head snapped up. “What’ll it be, Isla? His life for yours?” he asked, moving closer to his brother who stood in between them.
Gabriel’s jaw hardened and his fists clenched. He had tried to be patient, he had tried to understand why his older brother was this vengeful, but something in him snapped. No one was taking Isla from him, he had promised to keep her safe, and there would be no repeat to what happened before. He could smell skin burning as Isaac still held the knife in his hand.
With a glint in his eye, Isaac ran for Gabriel.
“Aidan!!!” he screamed in fury, dagger in his grasp.
There was a gasp and Isaac looked up to see Isla in front of him, her eyes wide open from the shock. Isla looked down to see the tear in her sweater, and she felt the warmth spread on her chest, that warmth that had begun to leave her.
She held the handle of the dagger with one hand, but couldn’t muster the strength to get it out.
Gabriel’s eyes were in horror. No, no, no, he thought. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening! She didn’t fall back, not yet, and for a second, he was afraid to touch her. She slowly turned to face him and her hands gripped his shirt, seeming as if she was trying to grip onto his chest.
Her eyes fought off the pain, he could see it. Her blood smelled sweet as it stained her sweater. Then she collapsed in front of him and he quickly cradled her as she lay on the snow.
He held onto her face and held onto the dagger. It burned him but he didn’t care. He flung it away to the ground, a flick of blood drawn against the snow. The deer blood was a far cry from hers. He felt himself salivate, and he knew Isaac felt the same way. He looked up to see his brother, standing a few inches away, his eyes in shock, the same look he gave when he stabbed Lily…
Gabriel held onto Isla’s hand, and he felt coldness creeping up to her. Her grey eyes tried to stay focused, those grey eyes that mere seconds ago had been defiant. This couldn’t be happening again. Not again. He fought back tears, knowing he had failed Isla, not Lily, but Isla.
“Stay with me,” he whispered to her as the snowflakes fell on her face, snowflakes that refused to melt now that she was dying.
She was murmuring something and Gabriel leaned in closer, her mouth by his ear. He nodded and choked, closing his eyes, feeling the first pangs of tears. He looked at her eyes one more time and he felt her grip on his hand loosen. He had a minute or less to move.
Without wasting another second, he bit onto Isla’s neck, drinking up all the blood that was possible. A soft gurgle escaped from her mouth, a soft moan to those last remnants of earthly pain. Gently he laid her on the ground, his eyes locked on Isaac as he stood up, a thin line of blood trailing from his mouth.
Isaac shook himself out of the shock, backing away a few feet. Then, he glared at his younger half-brother.
“What have you done? You killed her. You killed Lily again.” Then Isaac laughed. “Brother, you’ve truly surrendered to your blood lust. Was she as sweet as Lily was?”
Gabriel said nothing, but his eyes narrowed. From afar, he could see Isaac readying himself. In a second, Isaac picked up the bloodied dagger on the ground, sprinting for Gabriel. Gabriel wasted no time, launching himself to Isaac.
Both tumbled to the ground, and that was when Gabriel felt the searing pain. The silver dagger was lodged into his rib. He groaned as he tried to stand, blood dripping on the pure white snow. Isaac laughed, seeing his brother bleed.
“You were never the Blackwell heir. You never loved Lily. You were never meant to live this long -- ”
“I think you should speak for yourself,” Gabriel interrupted him, a glint of triumph in his eyes.
Isaac looked down and saw a blade jutting out of his chest. His eyes widened, seeing the silver blade. How? There was only a single silver blade… then he realized this was from when Anna stabbed Gabriel earlier. He looked back at Gabriel, then at Isla, who lay quiet on the ground. He saw the pocket watch in her hand and he began to stumble for it, unable to remove the blade lodged into his heart.
“The diamond,” Isaac muttered, “Lily…”
Gabriel stood up behind Isaac, one hand holding onto the blade still stuck to his chest. “You’re not taking her away from me. You’re never taking anything away from me, ever again.”
Isaac stopped walking and slowly turned to face Gabriel. “You took everything from me, all I wanted was to walk in the sun and be with Lily…”
“You don’t own Lily. And you most certainly don’t own Isla.”
“I would have changed. I would have changed if only you had just died,” Isaac spat out, blood dripping from his eyes. He turned to face Isla again, his senses deteriorating. He saw her blood and he quickly crawled for her. Isaac knew he needed to feed. The closest blood source was Isla. At that moment he didn’t care if he finished her off. He just wanted to live off the remainder of forever.
His nails began to lengthen as he inched closer to her body. Gabriel stepped in front of him as he crawled on his belly. Isaac looked up, his eyes dark and his cheeks thinning.
“Please,” he sputtered, “let me feed. Just this once. I’ll never bother you again. I swear, this I swear to you.”
Gabriel said nothing as he flung the knife away from his chest. He grunted from the effort of it, the red diamond giving off a faint glow. Isaac felt its warmth and he looked at the pocket watch in envy and desperation.
With a piercing scream, he reached out towards Isla’s hand holding the silver pocket watch. When he held it in his own hand it sizzled and the smell of sulphur filled the air. He tried to pry it open, but his strength was fading. He looked wildly at Gabriel, who looked calm despite the pain.
The pocket watch fell on the snow, liquefying it. Isaac looked up to his brother once more. “Why are you still standing? I stabbed you, I stabbed you with silver. Her blood, is her blood that strong?” he groaned.
Gabriel picked it up, his hand burning from the watch, and he pried it open with what remained of his strength. “There’s nothing here, Isaac.”
“Where is it? I’ve been led on a goose chase?” Isaac almost laughed as he wobbled to stand.
Gabriel shook his head. “It’s with her.” Then he walked for Isla who still lay unmoving. Her face was pale and it almost looked like she was fast asleep, were it not for the blood that spattered everywhere, staining the snow.
“No, she’s dead, it’s of no use to her!”
“I’ve turned her.”
“She won’t survive. She’s an Ashworth! She’ll kill you if she doesn’t die, and you’ll regret you ever gave it to her--” Isaac stopped, weakening. “Just give me the gemstone and I swear I’ll leave you be. I need warmth, not this cold, lonely life we have.”
“My life isn’t lonely,” he said, looking at Isla for a moment.
Isaac shook his head. “She won’t survive this,” he said, “just like father. Just like your family. Just like Lily.”
Gabriel glared at him
and Isaac laughed as he collapsed on the snow. The little remnants of his heartbeat pounded.
“You’re afraid,” Isaac taunted him, “you’re afraid she won’t make it. Then what happens? You’ll be alone again.”
Gabriel looked back at Isla once more. Then he carefully showed the red diamond in Isla’s pale hand, a hand that looked like it belonged to someone who had died already.
Isaac felt the immediate warmth that that gemstone gave. His eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened, wanting to get a hold of it. He belly-crawled for it, frantic to have it in his hand, desperate to feel even more warmth if it was on his body. He grunted as he reached out, almost touching Isla’s hand.
“I can hear her heart stopping,” Isaac muttered, trying to stay focused.
His hand shot out to grab the stone on Isla’s chest. There was a triumphant smile on his face, and he held onto the stone, feeling its warmth beginning to spread, that warmth that didn’t burn, that warmth that meant he could walk in broad daylight once more.
Her hand hung limply in the air as Gabriel held onto her. He was looking at Isaac who had begun to stand up, just as the sun began to rise from across the horizon.
Gabriel waited for the rays of the sun to fall on the manor, on their skins. It glowed faintly at first, in pinkish hues, almost like how Isla’s blush faded. Her face was now pale, and Gabriel was determined to see things unfold. He was determined to see Isla wake up. He looked at Isaac once more, as his older brother unfolded his arms, as if to greet the sun with all that he could give.
The sun climbed higher and higher in the sky, moving across the tops of the pine-green trees, making its way through the manor. Isaac opened his eyes to greet the morning with a smile. His half-brother would loathe himself until the end of time, and he, he would get what he had deserved since before. A freedom unlike any other, the power that the privileged nightwalkers had hoarded for themselves.
Gabriel found himself collapsing on the snow, precariously balancing Isla’s limp body in his arms. His knees landed with a soft thud on the thick snow. He felt his strength ebbing away slowly, what blood remained in him had begun to fade, and his grip on Isla loosened. He stared at her face again, that peaceful look, her lips drawn into an almost serene smile. If only she was truly asleep. The blood trickling down her neck gave it away. It trickled onto the snow, tainting the pureness of it. He had tainted Isla’s future. He closed his eyes, determined to see this morning through.
Isaac spun around to face the sun, his chest heaving up, knowing he could now do the things he could never have done without the stone. He faced Gabriel with a smile on his face.
“Aidan, look at you. You killed the woman who loved you, you killed her for nothing. Did you think you could survive this fight by drinking her blood? Did you think you could turn this into a situation that’s in your favor? The time has ended for that. My time has come,” he growled.
“Your time is at its end,” Gabriel uttered.
Isaac turned to face the sun once more, feeling something painful. What could be painful? He had the red diamond, he would heal from the wounds… he looked at his arms, at his chest. He could smell something burning. Was it him? He couldn’t feel it. Then he saw steam rising from his arms. No, no. It couldn’t be happening. He had made sure, this was his. He hadn’t stolen it from its original owner. Aidan didn’t own this. Aidan had kept it from him and that was all, right? He looked at his brother on the ground, holding the woman who looked like his beloved Lily, except she was not. He saw the triumph in Aidan’s eyes.
Isaac began to panic. Had he miscalculated? The agonizing pain had begun. He couldn’t keep his eyes open and he found himself collapsing on the snow, on all fours.
“Aidan!” he screamed. “What have you done to me?” Tears of blood ran down his face.
“Aidan!” he screamed again, fighting to keep his eyes open. He reached out for Lily on the ground. He needed her blood. Lily. Lily. Don’t do this to me. You already betrayed me before. She had done something to Gabriel and in turn, Gabriel had done something to him. He was burning, he was burning into a slow and excruciating death.
“No, no,” he muttered, seeing blood from his eyes sink into the snow.
The blood had gone cold, even if his body was on fire. The red diamond fell from his grasp and Gabriel reached out for it, placing it back on Isla’s chest. No matter how much he blinked, the soft rays of the sun blinded him.
“Kill me now!” Isaac demanded.
Gabriel gently laid Isla down on the snow once more. He walked toward his older brother, the older brother who hated him so much, for the simple reason that he had been born. Then he kneeled down in front of his brother’s prostrate body.
Isaac turned his face up, his hand gingerly reaching out for his half-brother’s boot. “Please,” he sputtered, “kill me now. This will be your final act of kindness.”
“I don’t deserve this honor, Isaac,” Gabriel told him in a low voice. He saw the change in his brother’s eyes, the fear of dying, and this time it was a death without resurrection.
“How?” Isaac croaked, seeing Isla’s body still unburned. He could hear her heart slowing down to a pace that all nightwalkers had to live with. She was turning, and here he was, slowly burning.
“She owns the red diamond,” he said simply, “I don’t quite understand the mechanics of it, but its allegiance is with her. Just like this ring is with me.”
“No,” Isaac gasped, “it can’t be. No one told me about this, Anna didn’t tell me. It has no owner. It’s mine…” Isaac’s own blood stung his eyes. He had become incoherent. “Lily, please. Lily, leave him.”
Isaac’s skin began to have blisters, and his eyes reddened. “No, no…” he muttered, trying to get up in vain. “I can’t. Not with father upset.”
“I had always respected you, Isaac,” Gabriel told him. “It’s unfortunate we never met eye to eye.”
“Lily, you took her from me,” Isaac groaned. Then he screamed out, a scream that echoed across the manor, the scream of a man dying from the agony of fire. “Aidan, please!”
He had only wanted what Aidan had, he had only wanted Lily. He had only wanted the Blackwell name. These were the simplest things he had wanted to covet.
Gabriel stepped back and saw his brother’s arms smoldering, the skin sloughing off of them. It cracked, and blood and other liquids oozed out. Isaac gave a guttural scream, a scream that Gabriel found wounding to hear.
“Aidan!!!”
Isaac’s head plopped to the snow, blood trailing sideways, and his body slowly burned, a low fire that came from within his body. In less than a minute, all that was left were the charred remains of a man curled up on the snow, a stark contrast to the whiteness that surrounded them. Gabriel leaned in forward to touch the body, and all of a sudden, the remains crumbled into dust. Gabriel closed his eyes for a moment. Was it all truly over?
As soon as he opened his eyes, the snow surrounding what was Isaac began to melt, his ashes mingling with the freshly liquefied ice. The sun rose high into the sky, filling the town with some well-deserved sunshine. A sunshine that most found ordinary, it would be just another morning for the townsfolk, but for Gabriel, it was something new, something that burst with meaning and purpose. He spun around and looked at Isla who lay in repose.
Walking to her, he quickly held her in his arms once more. He brushed away the hair from her face, holding one cheek gently. Then he placed the gemstone on her palm and closed her palm with his hand. She was still beautiful, even in death. He longed to see those grey eyes once more. He saw her neck, the blood had begun to dry up, the gaping wound still present.
The wind rustled dead leaves and he looked up to see a faint shimmer in front of him, perhaps it was the rays of the sun against the snow. The shimmer grew stronger and from that distance, he could see a woman looking at him with a soft smile on her lips. Lily…
Lily nodded at him and looked at Isla. Then she began to walk away into the sun, fading as q
uickly as she had come. So this was what it felt like? What he had been searching for, for more than a hundred years? In all the years he had visited graveyards and looked for Lily’s forgiveness, he had never seen her, until now. It almost seemed like it was Isla’s presence that called her out to him. The presence he needed. He held Isla tightly, his heart finally at peace.
Gabriel heard the faintest heartbeat, then he smiled.
*
Her eyes had fluttered open merely an hour ago. She had tried to stand up, holding onto furniture, declining his assistance. It was strange to feel this feeble, when her senses were overwhelmed, and she knew her body had changed immensely.
Her hand felt the lingering warmth of the sun, and she could feel it pricking her skin gently.
“You’ll need some time to get used to it,” Gabriel told her as he watched her looking outside the window.
The sunset was fading, and she was finally up after what seemed like endless days of a death-like sleep. He knew she was in pain, but he was glad she was unconscious as she changed. There was no taking it back, what he did. He could never revert the process of turning her into a nightwalker.
He had hovered over her constantly, intravenously feeding her to keep her from slipping into a total coma state. He wasn’t used to seeing her this pale, he admitted to himself. He had wanted to see her in her happy, full-blooded human form, but to know she was near him was more than a consolation. It was what mattered.
She turned to face him, and she looked at her hands quizzically. “I can feel every fibre on everything. I can hear sounds and smells from far away. It’s too much…”
He smiled at her. “Are you hungry?”
“Am I killing someone?” she asked with alarm.
“I don’t want you to,” Gabriel told her, “but if you feel that you must, I’ll help you. Although I’m a bit rusty and I’d make a terrible mentor.”
She held onto her neck, surprised she could no longer feel the wound. She was certain it had been massive. She walked for a mirror and was shocked to see that she had no clear reflection.