Author’s Note: This is my first version of the last chapter, which was pretty good, I admit. The last line was probably the most perfect thing in the world, but the second version of this chapter was much better. If the line had fit, I would have put it in that last version, but it didn’t. Here you go!

Chapter 13

Tiny raindrops began to fall as Amber’s truck sped towards Ashgrove Cemetery. Ashgrove Cemetery sat on uneven ground on the side of a hill, looking down somberly upon the rest of Wanetta. On the left side of the hill stood a figure in a deep purple cloak. The figure moved its hand towards the top of a gravestone and Amber heard the familiar jangle of bracelets when she hopped out of the truck.

“Shannon, stop! You have no idea what you’re doing!” Amber shouted and ran through the open iron gates of the graveyard.

“Don’t I? If you had just done as you were supposed to, I wouldn’t be here now. You have delayed the betterment of so many species by ignoring my request to get this delivered!” Shannon retorted, turning to face Amber at the sound of Chase’s car door slamming shut.

Amber was running up the hill, jumping over rogue headstones, trying to reach Shannon before she set the envelope on the headstone. Chase darted after her, his attempts to catch up to her foiled by loose patches of ground that his feet invariably found their way to. Amber scrunched her body to launch herself at Shannon and she hit the ground beside Shannon’s feet. The cream colored envelope touched the stone and sparked, spewing black smoke that twisted unnaturally in the air and seemed to spell out words.

“Solvo is phasmatis?” Shannon said skeptically as she stared at the smoke.

Amber shoved Shannon’s legs and sent the human to the ground. Instead of fighting back like Amber had expected her to, Shannon lay on the ground with her mouth agape and her eyes glassy. Amber got back on her feet and held out her hand to stop Chase from following her. She backed up until a large headstone with an angel statue on top blocked her path and she kept her eyes on Shannon’s vacant form.

“Amber? What’s going on up there?” Chase called to her.

Amber turned to him and replied, “Shannon just stopped moving and she’s all glassy-eyed.”

“Is she ok?”

“I don’t think so.”

Amber turned back to face Shannon’s body when she met a pair of bloodshot eyes with yellow irises less than three inches from her face. A shriek escaped her and she desperately grasped at the angel statue as if to lift herself away from what had been Shannon’s body. It smiled at her, grinning with yellowed fangs and chuckling maliciously in a voice that had changed from the sweet squeaking to a deep masculine tone.

“It feels good to be alive again.” It said, taking a step backwards and giving Amber room to recover herself.

Amber said nothing in response; she watched the body as it watched her.

“I always thought that the one she called Julien would be the body given to me. I’m not quite used to being a woman. Especially not a short woman.”

Amber remained silent, bending her knees in preparation to run or attack.

“Oh come on, that was a joke—”

“Is it Kole or Killian?” Amber demanded suddenly.

The yellow eyes blinked in surprise before it replied, “Killian, please. You did your research, didn’t you?”

“It wasn’t like it was hard to figure out your fake name. After that, all I had to do was talk to Silas.”

Killian tensed the muscles in Shannon’s neck and shoulders, “You found Silas? You are resourceful. A little too resourceful for my liking. What else did you find out about?”

Amber’s eyes looked around quickly, “Nothing.”

“Are you lying to me?”

“No.”

“Liars tend to get punished, dear girl. Tell me, what’s your name?”

“Amber.”

“Ah, then you’re Chase’s mate! Julien told Shannon much about you: about how you’re a half-breed, about how you don’t belong here, about how much he hates you. That’s all in the past though, isn’t it? Julien left town unexpectedly, so I suppose you belong here now.”

“Why are you wasting your time talking to me?”

“What do you mean?” Killian’s eyes glimmered in amusement.

“You must’ve contacted Shannon through a spirit board for some reason.”

“Alas, it was not a spirit board. She contacted me through a mirror, and she did so because she needed help. She wanted to end these shenanigans between werewolves and humans for good. Foolish child.”

“I take it that you don’t want that.”

Killian barked out a laugh, “Dear heavens, no! I want to try something much more radical than that silly girl’s plan. I intend for there to be peace, but on a more extreme level. I want to obliterate the human race all together. I’ve had a lot of time to practice my skills in the afterlife, and now I can control the entirety of this town. I plant the thought in their minds that they want to go and destroy Jordania, then the town beyond that, and so on until every town for fifty miles around us has been decimated. From there, who knows?”

“You’re a little bit late for that; the full moon ended days ago.”

“I’ve waited fifteen years, I can wait a little longer.”

“I think your plan has some rough edges, because there are some loose ends to it that could unravel it.”

Killian laughed mercilessly, tucked his hand inside his robe, and pulled out a gun, “Guess I’ll just have to get rid of them.”

He lifted the gun sharply, pointed it to Amber’s right, and took aim. Amber followed the direction of the gun and inhaled harshly. She grabbed the side of the statue to give herself leverage and threw herself around the headstone to get down the hill. Killian’s foot shot out and rammed into her left leg just above her knee, sending her off course. Her head hit a gravestone to the right of her intended path and she clung to the stone for support. She pushed herself up on her right leg and leaned against the stone, the world spinning around her. Blood trickled into her eyes and gave the space around her a reddish glow as she tried to focus her vision. Chase had started running up the hill once more, crying out her name.

Killian chuckled and yelled, “Loose end!”

The exclamation was made clearer and evermore impressed into Amber’s mind by the blast of a gun and the smell of silver as a bullet flew from the barrel. In an instant, she felt her world crumble and her heart shatter into a million irreparable pieces. Horrified tears spilled down her cheeks and she unleashed a panic-stricken scream.

Chase stopped cold in his tracks. Amber’s scream froze his limbs, but his left shoulder burned as though a red hot poker had been thrust somewhere above his heart. Crimson saturated both sides of his shirt and poured down his torso freely. He could hear Amber scream his name in the distance before his knees gave out from under him and he fell backwards.

Another shot was fired and Amber winced away from it, not noticing that the gun had been shot out of Killian’s hand. He howled in pain and blood gushed from a hole in his hand that took up a good deal of his palm. His gun lay covered in flesh near Amber and she turned to look at the noise behind her. A black outline raced towards Chase and she saw it out of the corner of her eye. Julien caught Chase before he hit the ground and steadied him.

“What are you doing?!” Amber wailed.

“Just kill him, ask questions later!” Julien ordered as he placed Chase on his back and carried him down the hill.

Amber turned back to Killian. He was hunched over, cradling his demolished hand in the whole one. Despite the disgust she felt when she grabbed the gun from off of the ground, Amber pointed the bloodied gun at Killian. His yellow eyes locked on hers and he stopped blubbering. His lips curled into a snarl and he growled as she stood up on her good leg.

You won’t shoot me. Killian’s voice said inside her head.

“No?” She answered with a sniffle.

No. You’re going to put that gun to your forehead and pull the trigger.

“That trick may work with regular werewolves, but it isn’t going to work on me.”

“Yes it will! It has to!” He shouted at her, desperation oozing into his voice.

Amber lifted her free hand to her head and wiped away the blood from the cut that the gravestone had given her. Killian’s eyes widened when he saw the perfect skin beneath the blood. Amber smelled his fear spike and she smiled at him.

“I’m not going to shoot you,” she said and she heaved the gun as far as she could. It flew over the fence at the bottom of the hill, hit the pavement, and slid into the gutter. She bent down and got low to the ground and finished her statement, “I think you deserve something slower than that.”

Muscle reduced her clothing to nothing but lacerated pieces of cotton and denim as she forced the quickest change she had ever made. Killian shoved his good hand into his pocket and pulled out a handful of round pellets. Amber finished shifting within seconds and Killian threw the pellets at the angel statue. Gray smoke bellowed out in a large cloud and Amber howled as the cloud was blown towards her by the wind.

When the smoke cleared, Killian was nowhere to be seen and Amber grinned as best as her new body would allow. She could hear his breathing, but the smoke disabled her ability to smell him. Instead of trying to track his scent, she found blood drops on the ground and followed them further up the hill. He was moving, creeping from one headstone to the next as quickly as he could without her seeing him. He pulled Shannon’s compact mirror out of another pocket and aimed it around the headstone. Amber was still on his blood trail, but then she strayed in a place where he had flicked his ravaged hand to throw her off his tracks. He smiled to himself and crawled behind a headstone in the opposite direction that Amber had gone.

Several moments had passed and Killian no longer knew where Amber was. He could not hear her pawing around behind him and he could not see her in the mirror. He dashed behind a large crypt near the very top of the hill and sat down to recover. He was growing dizzier by the minute, finding his human body insufficiently equipped to sustain the gaping hole in his hand. His caught his breath and rested against the cool stones of the burial chamber. Saliva dropped onto the top of his head and his heart skipped a beat. He flicked the compact mirror open and held it in his hand. Staring down at the mirror from above were two golden eyes, gleaming with mocking triumph.

She was on top of the tomb, her forepaws grasping the edge of the roofing tiles so that she could lean down towards him. He was trapped; if he ran, she would jump and kill him, and if he sat there, she would fall and kill him. There were no more tricks to find in his pockets, and he was unarmed. He sat in an inadequate body, in an inopportune position, and his fate lay in her vengeful claws. He snapped the compact shut and closed his eyes to resign to death once more. Amber let go of the roofing tiles and fell on top of him. Her claws dug into his shoulders, and the last thing that Killian Oleander saw was the sky as his body, Shannon’s body, was flung about like a rag doll.

……..

Amber shifted back to her human form once she was certain that both Shannon and Killian were dead. Hiding in Shannon’s back pocket was a book of matches, and Amber lit each match slowly. When the flame sparked on the match, she dropped it onto Shannon’s body and waited for it to catch on the clothing. Soon, fire had engulfed Shannon’s corpse and Amber felt like a heathen standing naked on a hilltop, watching two souls be released by flames, praying that she would not have to release a third soul in this same way.

She descended the hill once the smell of burning flesh overwhelmed her. Her bags from the trip were still in the truck, and the truck was gone. She followed the smell of the truck exhaust, not caring that she was running through the town with nothing on her body. Tears obstructed her vision the further along the trail she got, but she continued to run. The leg that Killian had kicked was sending her shooting pains to tell her to slow down, but she ignored it, soon limping as she ran.

Dr. Boyce’s office was where the trail ended and Amber found the truck in front of it. She pulled her bags out of the back and dressed herself before stumbling through the front door of the office. Roman was sitting beside Julien, who had a collar on and the leash was wrapped around Roman’s hand. The back of Julien’s shirt was stained red and he sat with his head on his hands and his elbows on his knees. Both his and Roman’s faces were pale and Roman stood up when Amber hobbled into the room. No words were spoken for a moment and the silence left a bitter taste to the air.

“Is Chase—” Amber began, her voice failing and trembling.

“They’ve stopped the bleeding, but they don’t know what else they can do to help him.” Roman answered thinly.

“Can I see him?”

Roman nodded and Amber staggered to the door leading into the examining and operating hallway. Chase had been moved onto a bed in a recovery room at the end of the hallway. Dr. Boyce and two other doctors left the room when Amber entered. She pulled a chair close to the bed and let her tears go as she looked down at Chase’s face. He was pale and had red circles around his eyes. His breathing was shallow and each breath was far apart from the next. The monitor beeped slowly in the background. Amber brushed his bangs off of his forehead and stifled a sob.

“Chase,” she said and choked back more tears, “I need you to listen to me, ok?”

The monitor beeped a little faster in response. Amber slipped his hand between both of hers and held it.

“You need to breathe. Isn’t that what you told me? ‘Remember to breathe, baby.’ I need you to breathe deeper, Chase, because if you don’t, you’re going somewhere where I can’t follow you.” The sob that she had tried so hard to stifle escaped her control, “Please don’t let go, Chase, I don’t know how to live without you.”

The beeping of the monitor gained speed and kept going faster. The doctors rushed into the room and ushered Amber out of the room. She was shouting at them, fighting them, but they shoved her out and closed the door. She collapsed against the door and cried, still praying that Chase would be all right. Dr. Boyce appeared and pulled her to her feet despite her hysterical tears. Seconds later, she felt as though a pillow was smothering her brain and darkness crept over her eyes.

……..

“Amber? Are you in there?” Dr. Boyce’s voice drifted through her head.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. The sunlight coming in through the window was bright and Amber turned away from it. She groaned as she sat up straight, her head throbbing due to the drugs Dr. Boyce had used to subdue her.

“Ah, it looks like she’s back. I’ll go get some aspirin.” He said calmly.

Roman and Julien were sitting on the floor beside her in the waiting room. Roman did not look quite so pale as he did when she had entered the room, but Julien was still the same color he had been before.

“Julien has some explaining to do if you’d like to hear it.” Roman offered.

“Sure.” Amber answered groggily.

Julien had been sitting behind Roman and he now crawled around to the side and sat cross-legged next to her.

“I went to your house this morning to stop Shannon. After what I did, I wanted to do something to redeem myself a little bit. I know you won’t ever forgive me, but I wanted to at least try. When I got there, she was leaving so I followed her to her house in Jordania and then to the cemetery. You showed up after I did, but I had to hide myself in the trees outside the cemetery so that neither of you would panic. Once she pulled the gun after she set the envelope down on the headstone, I got out my handgun, but I wasn’t quick enough. That’s when I grabbed Chase, borrowed your truck, and came here.” He explained in a hushed and ashamed voice.

“Chase!” She said in sudden remembrance, “Is he alright?”

Julien and Roman glanced at one another.

“Is he alright?” She repeated more slowly.

“You can see for yourself if you’d like.” Dr. Boyce stated as he came in with two pills and a small paper cup with water in it.

Roman helped her to her feet and she by-passed the aspirin. Her heart raced as she approached the recovery room door and she could feel more tears lining her eyes. The monitor was beeping steadily and his breathing was deeper. Amber stopped in the doorway and laughed to herself.

“He’s snoring!” She whispered in astonishment.

“He’s been doing much better since that little scare we had earlier. He should be waking up any time now.” Dr. Boyce informed her, offering her the aspirin and water.

She took the little paper cup and swallowed the pills. She tossed the cup into the trashcan beside the door and stepped into the recovery room to sit beside Chase’s bed. One hour, four magazines, and half of a sympathy cookie from the nurse later, Chase opened his eyes. Amber had been sitting sideways in the chair and bolted upright when Chase grunted and pushed himself upwards in the bed.

“Hey you.” He greeted sleepily.

“Hey! How are you feeling?” She replied as she hugged him, avoiding his wounded shoulder.

“A little sore, but never better.”

He held Amber close with one hand.

“Thank you for not letting go.” She sighed.

“There was no way I could leave you behind.” He answered softly.

The End.