• CHAPTER 136 - IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE

    At one moment, Death is staring you in the face. At the next, he's focused on someone else.

    I groaned painfully after unsuccessfully trying for another breath. The sight and feeling of Mayura's hands around my throat reminded me of when she broke into Kai and mine's house. I couldn't remember how I got her off, however, because the oxygen to my brain was cut off. There were little dots in my vision; I couldn't make anything out right.

    "Scared? Want some cheering up before you die?" Mayura smiled.

    "Off..." I squeaked, gripping her wrists.

    "Kai is awfully gorgeous. It's too bad he's taken." she giggled. "Despite how long you two have been together, I assume you haven't gone all the way?"

    I closed my eyes as Mayura leaned down close to me, "If you weren't in the way, and if I never had Hitoshi, I'd show Kai what a good time truly was."

    My anger spiked and I gripped onto Mayura's short braid. She tried to sit up again but was stopped by me. Had she never have said that last thing, I'd never have used the last ounces of my energy. I pulled at her braid, causing her to hiss and grasp my throat harder.

    "Let go!" she blustered.

    Too late. She pissed me off too much. I pulled harder. soon enough, she wasn't able to sit up at all. I pulled my hardest and a scream of pain passed Mayura's lips. I opened my eyes and looked at my hand; I had Mayura's braid in my hand and there was blood runnin in between my fingers. Mayura released one hand from my throat and cupped it over her bleeding neck. She shouted profanity at me, grabbed her gun with her other hand--allowing me a large breath--and smacked me across my temple and forehead with her gun.

    "You little b***h!" Mayura spat. "How does it feel?!"

    She violently hit me across the cheek and forehead with her gun. Every hit caused me to shout in pain. Sure, I was getting the s**t beat out of me for pulling her braid out of her head, but it was worth it for what she said. She pulled her arm back to swing again and my eyes shut. But the gun never made its final blow. I cracked my eyes open after feeling no more weight on me. I looked to my left--gasping for breath--and saw Kira. He was holding Mayura down.

    "Kira..." I gasped through my pain-ridden throat.

    "You're lucky I didn't see everything you just did," Kira hissed at Mayura.

    "I suppose I am lucky," Mayura snickered. "But did you see her pretty face?"

    "Kira, go home," I groaned. "Go get Kai."

    "I've never before been so compelled to kill a woman," Kira seethed at Mayura, clasping his hands around her throat a little tighter.

    "Try it," she smirked. "See if you can snap my neck right now."

    A crack echoed through the forest but it wasn't the crack I hoped it was. I stared in disbelief in shock at what I had just witnessed. I had never wished so much for something to be a bad dream; things never went the way I would want them to. There was blood soaking through the back of Kira's shirt...and Mayura's gun was pressed against Kira's stomach...and she was smiling. Kira's complexion was a mix of shock and pain. He kept his hands tight around Mayura's throat and remained silent while the blood continued to soak through his shirt.

    "Kira?" I mumbled.

    Kira's face hardened as blood started oozing out of his mouth. With a smirk, Mayura wiped some of the blood off of Kira's mouth and snickered. Mayura pushed Kira off and that was when Kira hacked up the blood. Mayura had shot him with her gun, her Necromantic Hunter's gun. Kira was dying. He was going to die.

    "Oh God..." I got onto my hands and knees. "Oh my God!" I cried out, rushing to Kira.

    I gripped Kira's sleeve and he stared at me from the corner of his eye; his piercing red eye. He was starving already from the blood loss. I didn't know exactly what was in a Necromantic Hunter's gun, besides miasma, but whatever was in there was keeping Kira from healing his wounds and from keeping any blood in his system. He was dying; I couldn't permit that. I couldn't lose another loved one; Kai couldn't lose the only family he had left! I cupped Kira's face as he started breathing heavily.

    "Kira, Kira, focus," I ordered him with a shaky voice.

    "Pain...pain..." he groaned. "I can't...focus...It's burning..."

    "Kai!" I called out. "Kai, help!"

    Kira gripped the back of my shirt and he continued to struggle, "I..."

    "Here," I ripped my turtleneck at the seams on the right side of my neck, "Drink until Kai gets here." My voice was incredibly shaky.

    "I-I'll kill you," Kira rejected, struggling.

    "I'm meant to die anyways; just do it." I cried.

    Kira held back no longer and he plunged his fangs deep into my neck. I flinched from the pain but I ignored it; I was focused on trying to save Kira. I didn't know if my blood would really help; blood can't get rid of the miasma of a Necromantic Hunter gun. How long did it normally take for a bullet wound to kill a Vampire through the stomach? I glanced down and Kira's veins in his neck were popping out and his shoulders were trembling and his nails were starting to tear through my shirt.. He drank heavier, being consumed by his Vampire will to live.

    "Hang on," I cried. "Kai will come and take you home."

    Kira groaned in pain and tried gritting his teeth, which only ended up digging yet deeper into my skin. I felt several sharp stings in my left ankle and was pulled back harshly, causing Kira's teeth to rip out of my neck. I took a moment to look back; Hitoshi had a good grip on my ankle--with his mouth. I reached out to the dying Kira and cried as I was being dragged further away from him. My adrenaline was pounding, blocking my hearing and sanity of my mind.

    "No, Kira!!" I sobbed.

    It felt like a horror movie; being dragged away from somebody you're with and not knowing whether they were going to live or not. I was being dragged into the darkness to be feasted upon, to be the first victim of murder from the horror story. After being dragged for several more long feet, I was turned onto my back and was looking into Mayura's eyes once more. Her neck was still bleeding from where her braid used to be. I continued to cry, only thinking of Kira and how I would break his death out to everybody. It was me they were supposed to kill, not Kira. Kira had nothing to do with any of this, why should he die?

    "I suppose killing two is better than one," Mayura smirked. "Pity for you."

    "Kira won't die..." I cried to myself. "He's not dead..."

    "Denial; the first step to depression, stress, and loss." Mayura tsked.

    "Shut the Hell up; I am not in denial, you b***h!" I blustered.

    Almost a half second after that, the pressure on my left ankle and I heard--no, felt--a crack and a pop. I took a breath and cried out in pain. Where was Kai when I needed him most? My ankle was throbbing and my heartbeat was increasing in pace, causing blood to flow faster out of the wound on my ankle. I didn't know how many bones were broken or how many times they were broken, but I at least knew I couldn't move it. Mayura pressed the barrel of her gun against my sweating forehead and a smile spread across her face. She took too much enjoyment from the pre-murder phases.

    "This bullet won't kill you, but you'll have a Hell of a headache," Mayura snickered.

    Instead of pulling the trigger on me, she shot ahead of her into nothingness, probably hearing something. The forest fell silent for a minute before the gun was to my head again. She was probably planning to injure me severely so that I would beg for death, so that I would want to find Kira in the afterlife. I took another moment to think of Kira...maybe I really was in denial...