431 Her Monsters

The world had ended, so why had the battle not ceased, the castle fallen silent in horror, and every combatant laid down their arms? Chris's mind was in free fall, spinning out of control, unable to grasp the impossibility, as Jason's body started falling down. Chris caught him at the same time Richard did. Something happened to the wannabe Manticore but Chris couldn't look away from the pale face of Jason with blood spilling out his mouth and from the gaping hole of his chest.

Everything just went quiet for Chris. No more battle sounds, no more screams, crashing, shouting, nothing reached her ears as she lowered herself to the ground with Jason. Her robes and hands were already soaked in his blood, but there was no fear in Jason's eyes.

"I told . . . you . . . there is. . . a fine line . . . between stupidity . . . and bravery . . ." Jason stopped talking and coughed more blood as Chris's eyes wet wild looking at his injuries. "I avoided . . . the line . . . altogether."

Chris was supposed to be a healer. She needed to save him. It couldn't be . . . but as she thought of remedies, Jason's eyes went darker. A little more life left his eyes but he still spoke,

"I'm . . . sorry, Chris," his voice became fainter as his eyes started to close. "For . . . everything."

"No! No! NO!" Tears streamed down Chris's face. "Jason! JASON! Please . . . NO! PLEASE!"

A small smile appeared on his face as he opened his eyes to look at Chris.

"I forgive you . . . please don't . . ." Chris whispered as she saw the light leave his eyes completely. 

Jason's eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last smile still frozen on his face. But he was gone.

Gone.

"NO! No! No . . . Jason. . . JASON!!!" Chris didn't recognize her own voice as she wailed, cradling Jason's head in her arms as she had done so many times before when they would just sit by the lake and Jason would rest his head on her lap, saying that it was more comfortable than a real pillow and Chris would laugh at him.

But now she was wailing and sobbing because the person she once loved, the person who loved her once, the person she hated for betraying her . . . just died to save her.

***

Oziyat had only seen Christina cry like this when he found her in the forest on the grave of her pet Thestral, but even then she wasn't crying like this. The way she held that boy in her arms looked such a familiar gesture that his own heart ached for her, for her pain. Oziyat didn't need to guess to know that this boy was close to her. It was obvious by the way he jumped in front of Christina just as Oziyat pulled her back.

But Oziyat hadn't expected that to happen when he pulled back Christina with his vampire speed. He had not expected someone to jump in front of her to save her like that. That was why Oziyat's priority was saving Christina and not killing the beast. But after the beast pulled back its tail from the boy's chest to attack again, Oziyat tore it apart before anyone else could react. All the wizards turned to him in awe and a bit of fear, but Oziyat barely paid any attention to them. His eyes were fixed on the dead boy in Christina's arms. The boy died and Christina's scream echoed through the surroundings. Oziyat felt as if someone had stabbed him through the heart. He couldn't see her like this. He saved her, yet, he failed her.

"What happened?" Rosaline appeared beside Oziyat out of nowhere. She definitely heard Christina's wailing.

Oziyat slowly looked at her. He still couldn't believe his sister was still alive after he had mourned her death. Maybe that was why he knew how Christina was feeling, he thought he had lost his sister too. But luckily, his sister survived but this boy did not. Fate was such a cruel thing.

"This boy tried to save Christina," Oziyat answered quietly.

Rosaline sighed looking at Christina clutching the boy's dead body and screaming for him to wake up. Oziyat saw his sister's eyes soften which didn't happen often.

"I'm glad she survived . . . but she is in no condition to fight," Rosaline looked around the still-raging battlefield, filled with the smell of blood. She held her breath to stop the smell from affecting her. Following her Oziyat did the same. As true-born vampires, they could hold their breaths far longer than normal vampires and far far longer than humans and wizards. Rosaline's eyes landed on the man standing behind Christina holding her. "Take her inside. In fact, take all your wizards inside."

At first, the man didn't understand Rosaline was speaking to him, but then he saw her looking at him and was startled.

"Me? What?  . . . You are vampires."

It wasn't a question but an observation like all the wizards around them made. But Oziyat felt the man was about to argue and they didn't have time for this. Rosaline was right Christina couldn't fight like this. So before he could say anything, Oziyat cleared,

"We are on your side. We are . . . friends of Christina. She knows us."

The man didn't look like he was convinced and the time was running out, so Rosaline stepped forward, no doubt to compulse him. But at the last moment, another boy stepped forward. Oziyat had seen him in Fleur's home. His name was Cedric, Oziyat remembered. 

"He is telling the truth, Mr. Nelson," Cedric told the man. "I met him. Chris trusts him."

"Yes, now quickly take your side of people and retreat. We will handle it," Rosaline ordered.

"We?" Cedric looked at the two of us. "I don't mean to underestimate your vampire powers but can you two alone --"

"Who said about being alone?" Rosaline said dryly and looked around. The other vampires and vampire guardians got her signal and appeared with lightning speed. 

One by one the monsters started to fall or were shredded into multiple pieces. Both Cedric and the man's eyes widened in shock and before they could realize half of those beasts were gone along with those foul-smelling creatures called Inferi.

"But we can't just hand the war to them," the man said still looking uncertain.

"If your people stay here injured, we will be distracted by their smell of blood," Oziyat explained. "It's for your own good."

The man looked taken aback understanding the implication of Oziyat's statement. 

"And they brought their own monsters," Rosaline looked at Chris as she spoke, her sobbing was starting to quiet down. "Don't you think Christina deserves her own monsters to fight?"

Rosaline's eyes darkened as she said the last words and the man looked at Chris with a guilty expression, before raising his voice.

"Cedric, Shawn, inform the others. Take everyone injured, dead, alive, and bring them back to the castle," He ordered and many other wizards apart from Cedric and Shawn heard him and got to work. 

As the man tried to help Chris up from the ground, her crying was subdued but tears were still streaming down her face silently. She looked completely lost in pain, like the way she looked when Oziyat first saw her. She tried to hide her pain behind her determination and coldness but Oziyat could always see them in her eyes. The pain, the guilt, the loneliness. Those things were back in her eyes now and they looked so raw and heartwrenching that Oziyat wanted nothing more than just to wrap her in his arms and carry her away from all of this. He wanted to protect her from all this horror and wanted to hide her away from all this pain.

But he couldn't do any of it.

"Turn this feeling into rage, Oziyat," Rosaline said, as usual reading her brother's aura. "We need to make them understand that our Christina does not deserve this."

Rosaline bared her fangs and darkness swirled around her plans and with a blink of an eye, she jumped over two dead monsters and was tearing into the third.

"Yes, you are right, sister," Oziyat mumbled as she looked at Chris again. He knew what he had to do and this time he was going to do it right. He looked at the man, Mr. Nelson steering her towards the castle. "Find Harry Potter. Tell him she needs him. He would know what to do."

Oziyat turned away from them as his eyes took its redest form and magic and power steered in his veins. He bared his fangs and roared,

"And I will kill Malgino myself for doing this to her."

[To be continued]