Flames and Starlight
TWENTY-ONE

The three of them ran through the city as fast as they could. They stuck to the shadows in their attempt to reach safety. It was a miracle they weren’t attacked or accidentally struck or a building fell on them as everything was literally falling apart around them. He prayed Hannah would be able to keep up, he could tell she was pushing her limit.

It was straining his body to run and carry Laura at the same time. If he didn’t have Hannah running with them, he would shift into something big enough to carry her but he didn’t want Hannah to fall behind. Even though Laura’s safety was his priority he wanted to try to protect Hannah as well.

They ran as far as the outskirts of the city where a forest was the only thing between here and the Ocean Falls territory. He couldn’t go on anymore and had to stop and was on the verge of collapsing.

They stopped to rest behind a restaurant alley. Its sign was completely destroyed from the fighting, the windows shattered, and burn marks were all over the brick exterior. Shattered glass was scattered all over the ground and he did his best to avoid them, the pieces crunching under his feet.

He breathed heavily, sweat soaking his hair and skin. He felt his heart beat hard against his chest and his knees buckled from exhaustion. He knelt down and gently set Laura on the ground, making sure no glass was around her.

He stared down at her unconscious form in fear. The image of her being thrown through the window and laying so still on the ground, bleeding heavily appeared in his mind. The sight scared him more than he’d ever felt and he prayed she’d be okay.

He sensed Hannah kneeling next to her but wasn’t paying her any attention, his focus solely on Laura. He ran his hands over her body, checking for other injuries. He lifted her shirt and winced when he saw a nasty gash on the right side of her abdomen that looked deep.

“Is she going to be okay?” Hannah asked.

He roughly pushed his hair out his face and felt tears sting his eyes. “I hope so. Fates, I hope so.”

He turned to Hannah with hopeful eyes. “Do you know any healing magic?”

She bit her lip and looked down at Laura. “We were starting to learn that in class but we didn’t get the chance to go in-depth about it before this started.”

“Do you know enough that could help at all? I don’t know if she has any internal injuries or not and these gashes look bad.”

“I only know one spell but never actually practiced and -”

Laura’s eyes snapped open and she gasped. Ruben closed his eyes in relief as Laura coughed and tried to sit up. He helped her up and she winced and touched her abdomen.

“Are you okay?” he asked her even though he knew it was an idiotic question. He hugged her close, grateful she was okay. He rubbed her back and she buried her head in his chest.

“I’ve been better.”

“Do you think you have any internal injuries or bleeding? Do you think you can stand?”

“I think so. I don’t know if I have a concussion but I think the gash on my stomach is just a puncture wound. I should be fine. That just hurt, you know?”

“Definitely.”

He tried to slip his arms under her to carry her but she shook her head and managed to get to her feet herself. She swayed on her feet and he quickly stood up and steadied her.

She shook her head and leaned against the wall, blinking. “I think I need a minute.”

Hannah stood and put her hand on Laura’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Laura squinted her eyes at her. “When did you get here?”

“When you were thrown through the window. I stopped the vampire from going after you again.”

Laura rubbed her hands over her face and said, “Thank you, Hannah. Thank you both of you for saving me and getting me out of there. I could’ve been dead back there.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” Ruben said. “You know I’d do anything to save you. I know you’re hurting but right now we need to replace somewhere safe to hide out.”

“What about our families?” Hannah asked. “My aunt is still out there and Peter and everyone else.”

Ruben’s mind went to Mark and Laura’s family. He hoped and prayed that the van that’d taken Laura’s family hadn’t been attacked and they made it to the shelter okay. He hoped and prayed everyone was safe and they’d see them soon. He wanted to go out and look for Mark and Laura’s family so badly but there was no way they’d be safe going out there just the three of them out there right now. He and Laura were injured even though they were still healing and Hannah didn’t know how to fight. They’d get killed if they went out there and they wouldn’t help anyone.

He hated doing this, he felt like a selfish, cold-blooded bastard, but he knew they needed to help themselves first. “Hannah, there’s nothing we can do for them right now. Right now, the three of us have to get to safety.”

Hannah’s brows lowered in a scowl. “What about my aunt? What about your families?”

“Hannah,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm and resisting the urge to snap at her. He was worried to death about his family too and wanted to be out there so bad and didn’t need her to harp on him. “I want to look for them too. But Laura and I are in no condition to fight and you said you don’t have defense magic down. When you saved Laura it was more of an instinctive reaction rather than you concentrating on it and right now, if you try it without practicing then you could make things worse. The best thing we can do is replace somewhere safe, heal, and then regroup. The longer we waste time arguing, the higher the chance it something will come along and attack us again.”

Hannah looked away. “I can’t leave my aunt out there. She’s done so much for me to just leave her.”

He hated doing this, but he felt like he had no choice at the moment. “You can come with us if you want, or go your own way. Laura and I are going and -”

“I’ll go. You’re right. My aunt’s place isn’t too far from here and we can heal there.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

With his heart heavy with guilt and remorse, he let Hannah lead the way to her aunt’s house.