Drumroll.....here is the next to last chapter. It's almost over. *Sigh*
Chapter 24
I took a deep breath and approached my sister. She looked exactly the same as when I last saw her. Ah, the joys of never aging and living for eternity.
“Nisha, I have come to claim what is mine.”
“You can’t have him.” I growled. Joe stayed behind me, in the shadows of the alley like I had told him to. Thank God.
“He is to be MY Beloved. You went against the rules and stole him from me.” I saw the glint of something metal in her hand.
“I did nothing of the sort. YOU were the one who broke the rules by turning him in the first place. If you have any problems with him being MY Beloved, I suggest you take that up with the Council. THEY are the ones who assigned me to help him while YOU were in purgatory.” I looked around. “Where’s your toy, Marshal?”
“He taught me what he knew and then I disposed of him.” I was shocked, but tried not to let it show. “I know you too well, sister. Don’t try to hide your surprise from me.” She sneered. “I also know you cannot bring yourself to kill me. So you might as well give up now, and save me the trouble of having to catch you.”
“You don’t know me well enough, sister. I will not let you have Joe.” I said, allowing my own knife reflect light into her face.
“Hmmm. Seems you have finally grown a backbone. Nevertheless, Joseph WILL be mine.” She lunged at me, her knife finding a spot deep in my shoulder. I bit my tongue with my fangs to keep from crying out, and plunged my own knife into her side. She did cry out in pain, her own fangs bared, and we both pushed away from each other. “Make this easy on yourself, Nisha. Give up now, and you will have a quick death.”
“It’s a fight to the death.” I panted.
“Yours.” She lunged at me again, and I couldn’t stop the sound that left my lips as she sank her knife into my stomach. I attempted to shove my knife in her heart, but she moved too quickly, and all I was able to do was slice her neck. She closed her eyes, and I could tell she was doing something. All of a sudden, the garbage cans that surrounded us turned from refuse bins into banshees.
“NO!!!” Joe ran out into view as one of my sister’s creatures advanced towards me. “Call them off, Samar!” The banshees stopped at returned to their original form and fell to the ground. “I’m the one you want.”
“But she is the one I must dispose of.” (get it…bad pun with the trash and yeah) Samar advanced towards me again, but Joe had given me time to ready myself. Unfortunately, my knife missed its mark and landed right in the middle of her chest. She closed her eyes again, and I was thrown back by some invisible force. I flew through the air and landed hard on my back, several meters away. I attempted to stand, and it took me a few moments. I reached back and felt blood pouring from the back of my head. Dam.n. “Come on, Nisha. I’m waiting for this to be difficult.” She taunted me, and headed in my direction. Joe beat her to me and helped to hold me up.
“Don’t do this alone, Nisha. You and I can take her. But you have to let me help.” He whispered to me. I nodded, knowing if I tried again on my own, I would almost certainly die. He took my hand and laced his fingers with mine. Then he turned to face my sister. “Samar, you cannot win against us.”
“Hah! You think you scare me? It is your Beloved there who is the evil one. She came between us. I am the one who gave this to you. I am the one who turned you. I am your RIGHTFUL Beloved.” I could tell she was attempting to gain control of his mind. I just prayed he was strong enough to fight her off.
“You may have been the one who turned me, but Nisha is the one who made me ok with what I am. With WHO I am. Nothing you can do will change that, OR how I feel about her.” Samar screamed in rage and closed her eyes. Suddenly, there were at least two dozen clones of her, all screaming at us. Joe squeezed my hand. Then, the clones advanced.
Joe and I were pulled apart. He was busy fighting his way through clones, but I knew my sister would want to be the one to kill me, not to leave me to some clone. So, I was not surprised when I was thrown down in front of the genuine article.
“You will die. Tonight.”
“Samar, what happened to you? Why are you hell-bent on doing this?” I staggered to my feet.
“You stole what was rightfully mine. I will have him.” She drew her knife and it sliced through my ribs and into my left lung. A few millimeters higher, and she’d have made good on her threat. Then I felt her fangs slice into my neck. I pushed away from her with all the strength I had left. I fell backwards and dropped my knife. I scrambled for it, but she kicked it away. “Die, you stupid bi—”
***I could be really mean and just stop it here.***
At that moment, I saw Joe leap and shove a stake right through my sister’s heart from behind. Instantly, she disintegrated.
“So that’s what happens when we get staked?” I nodded and attempted to speak, but all I could do was hack up blood. Immediately Joe dropped to his knees next to me. “Nisha, what do I do?”
