Shed some Light

by Amber Naralim

  Edward growled. He disappeared from where he was. Crossing the distance between them in the space of a sharp breath, he reappeared before her. Edward backhanded her, sending her spinning through the air. Ellie landed hard on the ground. Darkness threatened to eat her alive. Her vision swam, going double for a fraction of a second. Vincent moved to go after her, a snarl tearing free of his throat. Reese stopped him. Vincent glared at him.

  “He'll kill her!” Vincent cried, spitting blood.

  “Wait for it,” Reese whispered.

  Ellie pushed herself up by inches. Blood dripped from her nose, her mouth. Her arms gave out and Ellie went right back down with a cry. She moaned. It was hard to concentrate. There wasn't much time left. Ellie took in a searing breath.

  “You know, Elliot, you are going to thank me for killing your little pets.” Edward practically snarled the word. “When you're older.” Standing there, the backpack inches from him, he pointed back at Vincent and Reese. “When it's just us again. Like it should be. You never should have brought that little punk home. You never should have let them come between us!” Edward thundered.

  Ellie laughed. It was a sound full of pain. “Was that your problem, huh? Is that why you killed Anna? You gutless, son of a bitch!” Ellie cried wiping at the blood dripping from her lips. She used that anger to come to her knees. To raise her head through the wave of nausea that broke over her. Ellie looked into his face.

  Those words stopped Edward. He exhaled a shaking breath, wiping at the blood and the drool on his chin. His body shifted down, changing back to his human form.

  “The river,” Vincent said. Reese nodded.

  “I didn't mean to kill her, Ellie! She just made me so fucking angry,” Edward growled. He stared down at his little sister. Broken and bloody, he had done that to her.

  “Is that what happened with the rest of them?” Ellie asked her bottom lip quivering, tears in her eyes. Ellie’s voice was soft, full of a quiet rage. “I'm not fucking stupid, Edward. You murdered those women. I know it was you,” she said, a heartbreaking admission. Her words surprised both the Hale boys. They thought she believed it was the other one.

  Edward swallowed, his shoulders coming up in an elegant shrug. “Yeah, I killed them,” he said. “Whatever happened to loving me no matter what horrifying things I did?” Edward asked. “You remember telling me that, Squirt?” She couldn't read the tone in his voice. Was it anger, or sorrow?

  Ellie closed her eyes, swallowing the lump in her throat. “I couldn't save you from the start? Could I, Eddy?” Ellie took in a shuddering breath that made her chest ache. “I do love you, Edward, even though you've lost your mind. That’s why I have to do this,” Ellie opened her eyes taking one last look. “Now!” she screamed.

  Vincent never moved so fast in his entire life. Edward had just enough time to open his mouth before she disappeared. Vincent pulled her into his arms. His body slid several feet over the leaves before he got enough traction beneath him to turn in the other direction. Ellie wrapped her arms tight around his neck, screaming out from the pain that erupted in her left shoulder, in her chest. She saw Reese come into view. He was already running full tilt.

  Ellie felt the explosion in her chest. The concussion ripped the breath from her. A wall of fire appeared, engulfing the world behind them. It was beautiful, waves of red, yellow, and orange. Spreading out like liquid, and ballooning up into a black cloud. Eight deafening claps sounded as the other bombs went off. Ellie stared hard at it. The water hit her like a thousand knives tearing into her flesh.

  The beginning of September and the water here was already so cold she should be worrying about frostbite. The river was deeper than she would have thought. The current was so strong that if Vincent didn't have hold of her it would have swept her downstream. She didn’t have the strength to fight it. Ellie pushed up through the icy water, her lungs burning with the need to breathe.

  Her face broke the surface and Ellie dragged in a ragged breath, coughing and gurgling. Ellie went back under again, the current tearing at her. Vincent pulled on her as he swam to the edge. Each drag felt like she was being hit in the chest with a hammer. Pulling her up out of the water, Vincent pushed her up onto the bank. Her lips were blue from the cold water. It cascaded down her face washing the blood away. Her teeth chattered inside her skull. Reese climbed up onto the shore, helping her to her feet. So Vincent could crawl up the bank.

  Reese threw his feverishly warm arms around her. He gave her a smile. “Nice move, Goldie,” Reese said excitedly. Ellie would have liked it better had it not been Edward. She gave him a look that made him hug her tighter. “It's alright, Ellie,” Reese whispered.

  Vincent pulled her away from his brother. Wrapping his arms around her, he looked her over. “Tell me you're okay?” Vincent practically begged. She nodded, heaving a sigh that hurt. Ellie was pretty sure she had broken another rib, at least. The look on her face made Vincent’s heartache. “El, you had no choice,” he assured her. “You did exactly what you had to do,” he said pulling her into his arms again.

  “Yeah, what I needed to do,” Ellie repeated. The tail end of it became a sob. She stared into the cloud of smoke. It was so thick she could barely see five feet in front of her. The air was heavy with the smell of burning leaves. The tree branches were on fire. Vincent held her as she wept.

  Reese watched them for a moment. He waved at the air sending the smoke swirling away from him. Cracking sounds and debris falling to the ground could barely be heard over the ringing in their ears. Reese took a few steps toward the blast area. He coughed, the acrid smoke filling his lungs. The more lingering damage Edward had caused him was healing over. He walked human, naked, and dripping through the singed, smoking trees. Those pipe bombs had done more damage than he’d expected them too. Reese stopped at the edge of the crater.

  He could hear Ellie crying. Hear Vincent's soothing voice. Reese was proud of her. Not only had she kept her head. She kept her word. Ellie killed him. Reese made a resolution to take her at her word from that moment on. He craned his neck to look at them. Reese wanted to be the one to hold her. He huffed out a breath, telling himself that was Vince's job. She was Vince’s girl. She would never be anything more than his best friend. The smoke was finally beginning to clear. Reese thought he spotted Edward’s body, a charred wreck.

  Looking her over, Vincent wrapped his arms around her waist. He pulled her in close. “I'm so glad you're safe, El,” he whispered. “I love you, more than I could ever say. My North Star. I’ll always belong to you.” He slipped his hand behind her neck, pulling her in so he could lay his forehead against hers. Vincent laid a kiss on her lips, against her forehead. His hand slipped up over her wet hair. “It's over,” Vincent cooed. “It's all over.”

  Reese wiped at his eyes. Mourning the love he felt for Ellie. He couldn't let Vince see it. Reese gave them their moment, while he quietly took his. He swallowed past a tight throat. Preparing himself for the life they would share once they were gone from here. He hadn't felt this lonely since he opened his eyes in that Georgia tomb almost a year ago. Reese heaved a heavy sigh, his shoulders moving with the work of it. The movement caught him almost completely by surprise.

  A pain-drenched scream made Ellie turn in Vincent's arms. Made Vincent’s head snap up. Vincent took off. Ellie's heart sank. Edward wasn't dead! Ellie yanked at the parka dragging it from her shoulders. She pulled the cup of thermate from the tangled pocket, one of the flares. Ellie said a little prayer of gratitude that the plastic casings had protected them both from the water.

  Blood dripped in thick syrupy drops onto the ground at their feet. Edward's body was charred. Mottled and twisted flesh stained black from the soot and the flames. A wide, sharpened piece of metal stuck through the side of his head, through his right eye. The wound had healed around it. Edward held Reese by the throat, his feet dangling in the air. His right claw buried wrist deep into Reese’s chest. He gave it a sharp twist, dragging a wretched scream fro
m Reese that echoed out over the ruined trees.

  Vincent bellowed a scream of rage. His body shifting as he ran. He lowered his shoulder, using every ounce of wrath he had within him. Vincent put it all behind that hit. Their bodies left a shock wave behind them as they flew through the air. Reese's body smashed into the ground, his spine bowing. The momentum tore Edward's fist from his chest. Reese spat blood, choking on his own pain. Reaching up clumsily he pushed his shredded heart back inside the healing hole. Ellie came sliding to his side. She dragged him over the edge of the crater.

  Vincent pummeled Edward. He lifted Edward’s body up into the air, slamming him to the ground. Vincent's fists collided with a force that liquefied the bones inside him. Edward closed his arm over Vincent's head, his neck. His fist smashed into Vincent. Each blow splitting the skin with their impact. Edward brought his knee up, sending Vincent flying backward. He recovered quickly, bringing his arms up, crossing them to block the next powerful blow.

  “Reese!” Ellie cried. “Oh God, please, tell me you’re okay.” Her head snapped up. It was hard to track the speed at which they moved. Edward clutched Vincent's forearms, used them to pull him in the opposite direction. A right cross to the side of his head left Vincent reeling. Edward hurled another potent hit to his chest, shattering Vincent’s breastplate for the second time in less than five minutes. Pieces of his broken ribs tore through his skin.

  Blood dripping from his mouth, Vincent used Edward’s body to push up and off him. His fists closed on the piece of the twisted metal, one at the front, the other at the back. Vincent used his preternatural might to pull it free. Tearing the flesh and crushing the bone that held it there through his eye. Edward screamed a deafening roar of pain and rage, fighting to keep his balance.

  The power Vincent used to tear it free sent him staggering into the steep hill of the edge of the crater. The wound healed fast, too fast and Vincent's weren't healing fast enough. Reese pushed up on hands and knees. Blood dripping down onto her legs, Reese watched her pull the flare free. Ellie unscrewed the top, dumping it free of the red plastic casing. She closed her fist around the end of it. Ellie looked up at Edward. Her face grimaced, eyes going hard. It was him, or the three of them. Ellie made her decision.

  Edward hurled a right hook that Vincent ducked by inches followed by an elbow that shattered his nose. Vincent ducked low again throwing himself into Edward's upper body, shoving him into the wall of the caldera. Edward closed his hands over the sides of Vincent's face, head-butting him. Vincent lurched forward, toppling to his knees.

  Reese leapt using the leverage to put even more power behind a hit that didn't even faze Edward. He threw his arm around Edward's neck, the weight of him dragging him back. Reese slammed his fist into Edward’s head once, twice. Edward grabbed him, throwing him into his little brother. Edward was killing them. Ellie dragged herself to her feet, rushing around the edge of the three-foot deep crater popping the lid on the thermate as she went. Coming up behind Edward, Ellie dumped it over his head. The grayish-white flakes stuck to the wet blood and the ragged burn wounds that weren’t healing.

  Reese grabbed hold of Vincent the two of them rolling up over the edge. “I love you, Edward,” Ellie sobbed. She popped the flare on the side of her thigh. It came to life pouring white smoke. She dropped it onto Edward. It hit his shoulder, rolling down his chest. The flame touched only a flake of the thermate and flames erupted. Singing her eyebrows and tearing the breath from her. Ellie threw herself at the ground rolling several feet.

  Edward screamed, high and piteous. Beating himself against the sides of the hollow. The flames weren't just eating him. They melted his body. He thrashed. “What did you do to me!” Crawling out of the pit, Edward stalked toward her. Ellie's heartbeat thudded inside her chest. She crawled, fighting to come to her feet. Ellie would never be able to outrun him.

  “No! Ellie!” Vincent cried. He didn't think, he just moved. His eyes wide, his breath ragged. Vincent was moving before Reese could stop him. “Save her!” he screamed at Reese.

  Vincent launched himself onto Edward's burning body, throwing his arms around him. Vincent dragged him back down into the caldera. Ellie screamed, “No!” She managed to get her feet beneath her, just to have Reese slam into her, knocking her back to the ground. Reese folded his body around hers with ease. Ellie could hear screaming. It was the most awful sound she had ever heard. Reese held her fast.

  “Let me go!” Ellie screamed at him. Her nails tearing into his flesh, she clawed at his arms, his face. She kicked at him and punched to no avail. He couldn’t let her go. Reese held her. He stopped her from going after his little brother. “Vincent,” she sobbed. “No, please, no! Don't take him from me.” She sobbed. Ellie reached out her hand, pulling with everything she had. “Vincent!” She couldn't lose him too. All she could do was watch in horror as the flames ate them. “Please, please,” Ellie sobbed. “Don't leave me!”

  The pain was excruciating. Still, Edward fought him. Vincent pinned him to the ground. His hand reached for and finally closed around the piece of twisted metal he had ripped out of Edward's head. Vincent stabbed him again, and again. All Vincent could see was Ellie’s heavenly light. The way her green eyes danced. Her smile. The way her hair moved with the wind. How beautiful she looked when she said the words I love you.

  He held Edward to the bottom of that pit, trapped him in their little slice of hell on earth. The fire devoured them. The pain was harrowing, but it was nothing compared to the thought that he would never see her again. Vincent could hear her torturous pleas. He heard her voice begging him to stay with her. Vincent had thought a lot about this moment too.

  He tried so many times to destroy himself. To end the bleak existence that was his until she walked into it. Ellie brought with her the sun. She even taught him how to look into its face, to feel the warmth of it. Ellie saved him. This was the only way he could repay that kindness. He could not let Edward drag her down with him. So Vincent went in her place.

  His very last thoughts were of her. How blessed he’d been to hold her in his arms for even a moment. Vincent told her the only thing he could. “I love you.” He hoped that over the screaming, over her begging that she heard him. Vincent would always love her. Death couldn't stop that.

  Chapter 54

  “Save her.” That is what Vince said. Vincent should have known better. How could he save her? He couldn't even save himself. Reese stared at his reflection in the hotel's bathroom mirror. His hands spread wide over the counter top. His shoulders knit together. He could hear her breathing. That's all she did. Her wounds were healing finally, the bruises fading. The damage on the inside was a different thing altogether.

  God, Reese missed Vince. This was not how it was all supposed to play out. Their new life was supposed to be happy. The three of them together off on some grand adventure. Instead, they went back to the house and buried Anna. He called Charlie to let her know they were safe. That Edward was gone and they had nothing left to fear.

  Reese did his best to patch up her wounds, to set the broken bones. Ellie barely spoke to him. Wouldn't look at him. He was a wreck. Without Vince, without her to guide him Reese was lost, drowning in that dark sea they’d saved him from in the first place. Now he was dragging her down with him. Reese blew out a breath, slipping his dog tags over his head.

  Hunting down the crazies was the only thing she showed any interest in. Ellie was still here, barely hanging on. Vincent was gone and it was up to him to save her. Fate really fucked up this time. Reese offered to take her back to Charlie. It was the only time Ellie showed any emotion. She’d sobbed, pulling at him, dragging him into her arms, begging him not to leave her. Ellie wanted to be here. Ellie wanted to be with him.

  Reese took in a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair. Ellie sat next to the window, her forehead pressed against the glass. The circles under her eyes were getting darker by the minute. Her cheeks were gaunt and thin. Reese looked over to the hotel bed,
the bag of Burger King sat untouched. He swallowed and took a few steps into the room. Her long blond hair fell around her in strings. It had been a day or two since it had seen a brush. Hell, it had been a day or two since she had seen a shower for that matter.

  “Ya look tired,” he said to the silence of the room.

  “I'm not,” Ellie said without looking up at him.

  Reese puffed up his cheeks and blew all the air out of them. It was going to be a hard day. He could tell already. He reached up, rubbing at his temples with his thumb and forefinger. Reese chewed on his lip, wondering if he should even try again to get her to talk about it. He walked over to the untouched bed with its maps and newspaper clippings spread across it. Reese plucked one of them at random.

  “You're sure this guy is one of ours?” he asked, more to make conversation. Reese knew she was right. The kill signature was almost unmistakable. When she didn't answer, Reese turned to look at her. She was still staring out the window, lost in her thoughts. A place she spent most of her time lately. Reese rolled his eyes and walked barefoot, still dripping toward her. He went down on his haunches putting him face to face with her.

  Reese grabbed her chin forcing her to look at him. He stared into her green eyes. That sparkle was gone and he was beginning to worry that he might never get it back. He could feel the anger in him building. Ellie may have lost Vince, but damn it so did he! She wasn't the only one hurting.

  “Talk to me,” Reese demanded.

  Ellie took in a breath. “There's nothing to talk about,” she said, her voice almost a monotone.

  Reese rolled his eyes, shaking his head. “I miss him too, ya know. I lost him too.”

  Ellie swallowed the lump in her throat. “Yeah.” That one word was all she said. She tried to pull back to the window. He wouldn’t let her go. Reese was sick of this shit.