• CHAPTER 31 - THE BURNING AND THE BLEEDING, WHAT ABOUT DEATH?

    Pain. You think you've experienced the worst, but trust me, it can get much, much worse. Some pains make you feel like you're being skinned alive, flipped inside-out, sometimes makes you want to claw your way through your body with your own bear hands and find the source of the pain. It can always get worse.

    What first felt like ice inching its way through my veins incredibly slow suddenly felt like fire under my skin. I couldn't even feel the crushing sensation from the Werewolf's paw compared to the new found pain. The ground continued to soil and I was lying in shock, unable to scream or force any vocal strength out of my throat except for a few squeaks. I felt my heart beat faster and faster with every passing second and the instant the Werewolf removed the pressure of his paw from my back, the blood gushed out of my shoulder again, melting the snow around me completely.

    The burning pain started again, only much worse. I gripped my shoulder and rolled over onto my back and let out all of my air, "Kai!!!" my voice cracked.

    I had no more control over my body and I was thrashing and twitching uncontrollably. I bit my lip hard and it started bleeding as well, but I still had no control over my actions. The giant animal only gazed at me, almost mocking my pain in his eyes. The burning kept eating away at my skin and my veins and I knew it wasn't in my head. I had just enough sanity to realize one thing...

    The Werewolf had infected me.

    Kai had described the pain of a Werewolf infection the first time we were attacked by a Werewolf. Burning that feels like it's eating away at you, unbearable, horrid, but not as bad as a Vampire infection. I couldn't imagine anything that hurt worse, even being beheaded would feel better than this.

    I couldn't hear my screaming, but I could feel my lips moving in the motion of, "Kai, I'm infected!!"

    The only thing I could hear was my rushing heartbeat and my blood draining from my body. It was ending, it was all ending. Was Kai not coming for me? Did he not hear my screaming? Was he killed? Soon enough, his face and his voice was the only thing suffocating my mind, but not distracting me from the pain. My eyes swelled up with tears the more Kai's face flashed before me, our short lives together, the engagement that might not happen anymore.

    The black Werewolf circled me, still mocking my pain and the burning. I continued to thrash and it was getting worse, but I continued to wait...and pray. I was still shouting but I still couldn't hear it and I didn't feel my fists swinging every which way. The Werewolf lowered his head so that his nose was nearly touching my head and his breath from his nose sweeped across my forehead. A silhouette passed right over me in a flash and knocked the black wolf from my sight. The first new thing I heard after that was a stream of colorful vocabulary; Kai.

    "You ******** monster!!!" Kai boomed.

    I couldn't see him with my tear-blurred eyes, but I knew that was his voice. The seconds passed and the conflict raged. I was only staring up at the midnight sky, still only feeling the burn under my skin as the venom cruised through my veins slowly...slowly...

    The fight between Vampire and Werewolf continued and blood from either of them made its way onto my skin, but blood wasn't even making me feel nauseous anymore. My blood continued to flow, but it was slowing down and my heart was beating faster yet. I was able to smell the blood all of a sudden, I was able to distinguish the different scents. In the next instant, Kai was at my side soaked in his own blood and the Werewolf's blood; Kai had murdered him. I uncontrollably swung my fist at Kai and he caught it and his face was engulfed in fear, pain, agony, and panic from what I could see past my tears.

    "It's burning, it's burning!!" I cried, "Make it stop!!"

    Another silhouette appeared at my other side; Matsuda. Yeah, now he comes...right when I'm in the middle of becoming a Werewolf!!

    Matsuda and Kai were speaking to each other quickly and my ears were covered by the sound of my heart speeding up and slowing down and vice versa. I thrashed around more, not that I had ever stopped, and cried out in the burning that continued to eat away at me.

    "Help me! Help me!!" my tears were pouring out as fast as my blood had been earlier, "Kai, help!!"

    Matsuda and Kai discussed again, but I couldn't hear their voices and I could feel my human life slip more with every wasted second. In a sliver of a second, Kai fiercly compressed his lips against mine and entangled his fingers in my blood-soaked hair. My cries were muffled and uneven from his kiss and he pulled away about an inch.

    "I'm going to make it stop, I'm going to make the pain go away, just hang on," I barely heard him say, "I love you." he whispered.

    I couldn't feel it, but I knew his fangs sunk in somewhere either on or near the Werewolf wound where the venom had been injected. I heard my blood flowing in a different direction; into Kai's mouth. He was draining the venom, if there was any luck he could get it all out. I continued to thrash and twitch unintentionally and I ended up splitting open Kai's cheek, only making me realize my nails had grown slightly. I dug my nails from my right hand into Kai's side and Matsuda gripped my left wrist before I could harm Kai anymore. I continued to thrash still, like a mentally impaired person held in solitary confinement. Kai continued to drain the venom and I knew he was disgusted at the taste of Werewolf blood that was dictating my human blood.

    My life with Kai was flashing before me again and it distracted me from the realization that I wasn't thrashing as much, but still pretty badly. I could hear my heartbeat slow to a normal human pace. After several moments that felt like forever, my thrashing and twitching almost slowed to a halt and I clenched my fists to try to suppress the pain. In the last few seconds, I felt the burn creep out of the wound and out of my stystem; Kai did it. He pulled back as quick as he could and stared at me in my tear-drowned eyes. My eyes were too blurry, I couldn't see the features on his face, but he stroked my head in reassurance.

    "Is the burn gone? Is the pain gone?" Kai whispered, still sounding panicked.

    I must have nodded because his lips attacked mine once again and he broke away and held me close to him and my tears soaked his blood-drenched shirt. My body went limp when I was in his arms and the pain was gone, the burning ceased. Kai slowly lowered me back onto the ground and pressed his hand against my forehead.

    "Her fever is spiking phenomenally," Kai confirmed.

    My forehead was burning too much, I couldn't even feel the cold of Kai's hand or the snow. My cheeks burned more after every tear spilled and I started hyperventilating, thinking I was going to die now from a fever rather than a Werewolf infection.

    "We need to get the blood stopped and get her to the hospital," Matsuda demanded, "I'll bring Takeuchi there after you bring Arisa."

    I tried to say Takeuchi's name and ask what had happened, but my words were slurred and incomprehensible. In the next second, I was lifted by the arms of my savior, my love, my fiancée. I gazed around with my last seconds of consciousness and wanted to scream when I saw the damage I had done during my thrashing. Chunks of a tree that was right next to me were broken off and it was on the verge of tumbling down. Craters formed in the ground from where I was tearing up the grass and roots. Kai's cheek was still bleeding but he didn't seem phased at the fact that I unconsciously tried to kill him.

    "You're going to be all right, Arisa. You'll be fine." Kai kept reassuring me.

    I lost my consciousness with one last breath a sliver of a second before we teleported. The moments I remembered since Kai came, I was sure they were all a dream. I was sure I was still turning into a monster, a Werewolf.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    It was hard to force my eyes open when I deeply wanted to sleep, but I wanted to see his face again. I wanted to believe he was the one that had saved me. My eyes slivered open and there was that familiar face, the face that could make any rainy day shine.

    "Arisa," he breathed. He brushed my bangs around, "You're awake."

    I blinked a couple of times and tried to open my eyes all the way. When I did, I had been placed in a white room on a stiff bed that had been inclined a little. The walls were a dull grey-white and the floor was the same color, but tiled. I was in the hospital. I tried to reach my eyes with my right hand but was immediately stopped from the sudden wave of pain that destroyed my whole arm. I looked over at my arm hesitantly and my shoulder and chest and neck were bombarded with bandages under the hospital gown and there were IVs in the crease of my elbow. Kai brushed his fingertips across my forehead.

    "You're lucky you're alive. You almost were turned into a Werewolf and then you almost die of a fever." Kai sighed.

    My throat hurt but I managed to say my first word in God knows how long, "...Kai," I gasped right away after the sting in my throat started.

    "Your throat is a little dry because you haven't had anything to drink," he pointed at the IVs and continued to speak in a low and apathetic voice, "You were dehydrated and you weren't conscious to drink by yourself."

    I closed my eyes and every breath I took made my dry throat sting more. I looked over at him and pleaded to him from my head...so that I could drink his blood and calm the pain, like how it's supposed to be used.

    "Are you sure? You won't get nauseous?" he touched my shoulder.

    I shook my head and took a deep painful breath as Kai bit into his wrist and gathered his blood in his mouth. He kissed me and parted my lips with his and I let the blood flow freely down my throat and tried to think of something else to keep sickness from coming up. My pain was numbing instantly and Kai pulled away and wiped the blood remains off of my cheek.

    My throat was so much calmer and I finally spoke again, "Where...what happened...to the other Werewolves?"

    "I killed them...both," Kai confirmed, guilt flashing across his face, "I was murderous around you yet again. I murdered two more Werewolves around you."

    "It's fine," I sighed, "At least...they're gone."

    "I didn't want to act like a monster again during that battle, but when I saw you...thrashing and crying out in pain of the transformation, I couldn't control myself," he sighed, probably not understanding my thankfulness to him.

    "It's okay...if you have a reason," I cracked a small smile and took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

    Kai lowered himself over my bed and wrapped one arm around my waist and another around my shoulders carefully and held me as close as he could without hurting me, "I didn't want you to go through that pain," he stated barely above a whisper.

    "But I'm okay now," I reminded him, "You saved me. If you wouldn't have..." I stopped to take a breath, "We probably wouldn't be able to be with each other."

    The thought immediately brought tears to my eyes and I looked away from Kai and at the IV bags. Kai lightly stroked my injured shoulder with his thumb and he kissed the bandages on my neck. Images of my near-transformation crowded my mind and I flinched and Kai pulled away.

    "It's not you," I reassured, "I'm just thinking about what almost happened." it wasn't a dream.

    Kai sighed sentimentally and kissed my forehead and then my lips a few times. I finally remembered what I wanted to ask Kai before I went unconscious.

    I broke up the kiss and looked at him in the eyes, "What happened to Takeuchi?"

    Kai's face turned grave at my question and my face responded with the same grave look, "He...he's alive...barely,"

    I burrowed my eyebrows together, "What? What happened?"

    Kai closed his eyes and looked down, "His skull was smashed in,"

    My heart skipped a beat and I was on the verge of breaking down, fearing the fact that I may have lost Takeuchi.

    "He tried everything in his power to protect me from the brown-haired Werewolf and at the same time tried to keep the black-haired one from coming after you. The brown-haired one caught him unexpectedly and stomped on his skull."

    So that was the shriek I heard. I thought it was one of they enemies...but it was...Takeuchi...Before Kai could say anything else, my tears flowed and I sobbed uncontrollably. Kai wiped my tears as they continued to fall and his face looked pained and depressed.

    "He's alive, but in very grave condition," Kai spoke again, "He still hasn't woken up."

    I tried to control my stuttered sobs for a moment, "How long has he been unconscious?"

    "...You two have both been unconscious for three days," Kai confirmed and looked down.

    I clenched my left fist and prepared myself for whatever answer Kai would throw at me next, "Will he live?" was all I wanted to know.

    Kai instantly lowered his head onto my chest and wrapped both arms around my waist and sighed deeply in depression, "I don't know, Arisa. I honestly don't know."

    I sobbed again at what he said and loathed myself once again for dragging everybody into this. Takeuchi is on the verge of dying thanks to me. Kai didn't cry, but he took long deep breaths and I could feel his guilt pouring into the room, suffocating me. Kai had gotten so mad at Takeuchi because he accidentally told his friends why I was special and where I was, and now Takeuchi wasn't awake to hear Kai's apology...niether of us knew if Takeuchi ever would wake up...my little brother...Kai's little brother...The light of our extended family...