ROTTEN LOVE - Chapter 23: Chapter 23

ZAIN
Her olive skin has dimmed. The radiance that usually surrounds her is not present. She is fading, and I have no idea what to do about it.
I hear her soft voice tremble. I try to silence her but she refuses to listen. Nothing she could say could be as important as getting her to rest.
We lock eyes and my heart stops. Even those beautiful green orbs full of life are darkened by her agony-filled tears.
"Ma-ri-sa," she mumbles.
My eyes widen in realization. This is because of that vampire. I am going to lose my mate because of her.
I link Max to head to Jerry's. I should go but I fear she will leave me. She will slip from this life.
I see her close her eyes. "Hey, no, babe, look at me. My pack is on the way."
Her eyes are halfway open. She is staring beyond. I see her body jerk. Then it turns to a full-on shake.
"What's happening?" I asked the doctor.
"She is seizing. Let her go through it. Protect her head and let's put her to the side to prevent choking." He guides her. She rests on her ribs.
I hold her head. I don't want her to hurt herself any further.
Hurting Marisa was never part of the plan. I told them I would give them the Malfattos on my terms, after I figured out how to remove Helena from the bond.
I should have never gotten involved with them. I regret it and when Helena finds out the truth she will never want to see me. I wouldn't blame her.
I was tired of waiting and looking in the wrong direction. I knew I had a mate out there and she was hidden from me. Her mom was selfish.
She took our mates, from the family that raised and cared for her. Cheryl did not think of the consequences and chose the vamps.
Thanks to her we are in this mess. The wolves aren't the ones resisting the passivist agenda. The Malfattos opened this chaos.
Their kind betrays them and they are willing to put my mate in the middle of danger for wishful thinking. I had to do something, even if it meant working with the enemy.
I would do anything for a chance with Helena. But I know she won't understand. I hope she does not find out the truth.
Helena has stopped moving and she seems to be sleeping. I stroke her hair as she has an internal fight for her life.
'We are here. It's awfully quiet.' Max links.
'Have you found Marisa? Get to her.'
'Not yet. The smell is intense. Metallic. Blood.'
I start to get aggravated. 'Find fucking Marisa. Where the hell is their entourage?'
'I'm about to enter ...'
'Max?'
'Oh, goddess. It's bad man. Their dead.'
'Who? How many? But where is Marisa?'
'The coven members... they were slaughtered. The females are undressed... heavens whoever did this are beasts. May their souls rest.'
I swallow a lump in my throat. I know what Max cannot get himself to say. They took advantage of those women and then discarded them.
I try to hold down the anger rising in me. Helena will be broken. However, she needs to survive this before I can worry about that.
She is still losing blood but she is holding on which means Marisa is.
She is a pureblood. She should not have been so easily attacked. What could have happened?
'None of the Malfattos are in the house.'
'Keep looking.' I order.
'We found her. She is outback. There seems to be a vamp with her. He is badly injured.'
'Bring them in. Can you tell her state?'
'She is surrounded by many of the vamps. All dead near her. She was stabbed badly by a blade it appears. She isn't healing but she is not dead. She seems to be in a state of limbo. The vamp with her I've seen him before. He is her feeder.'
Adam.
The fact that she is not deteriorating is a good sign. The blade could have been poisoned or something. We need to get her here as soon as possible. The doc needs to treat her to help Helena.
I instruct Max. There are no signs of Maddox or Jerry. I have no clue what went wrong.
The wait is excruciating. Helena has gotten paler but she remains with life. She is preserving.
When Max gets to the compound, we set Marisa on the table next to Helena. I never thought Marisa's skin could get paler but it's white as snow.
Marisa's eyes are closed. She is unconscious yet her hand reaches out toward Helena. It's like they're connected. I grab Helena's hand and place it in Marisa's.
"Doc what's wrong with the Malfatto girl? Why isn't she healing?" I ask in desperation.
"The wound is deep. But she should have healed."
I observe Marisa's exposed abdomen. There was hesitation from the stabber. It was not a clean hole. You can tell from the ridges.
I start to get a smell but it's not the bitter hint of blood. Despite the dark state she is in, the smell I get from her infliction is that of fresh mint.
I hear a low voice and whip my head. Adam has gained consciousness. Max had placed him against the wall. He tries to get up.
Max helps but Adam quickly shoves him and limps toward the table. He stumbles several times but nothing stops him.
He reaches Marisa, "She needs blood. Lots of bbb-lood."
I look at the doctor and he nods. He orders to get the reserves from the blood bank. Adam bites his wrist and stumbles to lean on the table toward her lips.
A drop falls onto her lips and another until it's a steady stream. From my peripheral, I see a finger flick from Marisa until her eyes fly open.
They are not her ordinary shade but red. I tell my crew to back up.
Adam seems to become more woozy but he manages to say, "She is not going into blood lust. She just needs reinforcements. She is hungry and weak. They are safe."
I hear a frail voice, "Adam."
He moves his wrist closer to her. "Take all you need. Take it."
"Please no... not anymore...please," seems close to a cry.
Opposed to her words, Marisa couldn't hold back. Her tiny hand shakingly moves and grabs Adam's arm. He leads his wrist to her lips and you hear sucking.
I look at Adam. His typical strong frame is bent. His brown eyes are halfway open. He is in no state to give but he does not care.
"That's enough. More is on the way," I say to her.
She lets go and a thump is simultaneously heard. Adam falls to the floor. Max settles him in a chair.
He will need blood too. I see Marisa move her head to the side. She sees Helena.
"Helena... Helena," she tries to get up, grunting.
I place my hand on her shoulder and keep her down.
I order, "Stay down. The quicker you get better the faster she will gain consciousness."
She does not say anything but remains lying down. I watch as she consumes bag after bag of blood. Never saying a word.
The doctor cleaned and wrapped her wound. Helena's too. The doctor donned a clean shirt on Marisa after he was done while I slipped one of mine onto Helena.
Two hours have passed and Marisa has gone through half of our blood reserve. Helena, however, has not woken up.
Marisa simply drinks while she watches over Helena. Her eyes are back into a grey hue. I catch her glimpse at Adam from time to time. He has not recovered yet.
I wonder how much more she will need until I see her stop drinking. She does not go for another one.
She throws the current bag to the ground where the other empty bags have been flung. She sits up slowly with ease. She takes one last look at Helena and then Adam before piercing me with those lethal eyes.
She does not open her mouth. She simply curses me out with her gaze. There is judgment in the stare and loathing.
I cross my arms and do not flinch. Despite feeling responsible, I will not let this vamp get the best of me.
The silence has gone on long enough.
"You have gotten better so why is she still not up."
She ignores me. I lower my arms and fist my hands. She continues to stare.
I growl at her, "Do not make me repeat myself or I'll..."
"Or you will what? Kill me," she chuckles sinisterly.
There is no humor in her laugh. It is a sad tune.
"Didn't think so, dog. I am already dead. She will be too when she finds out. So let her rest for a few more minutes," she grits then looks at Helena again.
"Find out what?"
Marisa stares at me again, "Everyone is dead. They killed our witches, our friends."
"And the vamps," I raise an eyebrow in question.
Max said that although most were wounded and beaten up, the vamps' wounds should not have been fatal. Whoever attacked them tried to spare the vamps. Yet all the vamps were dead with marks on them.
She looks at her hands in her lap and fists the t-shirt.
"They didn't kill the vamps," I ask.
She lifts her face slowly at me. If eyes could tell a story, hers would repeat a tragedy. There is no water works but there is sorrow. They quiver but remain dry.
"No, I did that," she confirms.
Loyalty means nothing to these creatures. She preferred to kill her subjects than to die. I thank the goddess that she is a vile creature because, without those cruel survival instincts, Helena would be dead.
"To be expected from a bloodsucker," I retort.
She snarls and hops off the table with grace. Max and the rest of the wolves in the room get closer but I wave them to stop.
She walks to me. I am twice her size and weight yet she tries to intimidate me. I huff a laugh this time.
"You are in no condition to fight." I cross my arms.
"You know nothing of my condition dog."
"Has the blood of those you drained finally hit its peak?"
She snarls and walks closer to me. I see her shake slightly. "Shut up. Do not mention it again."
"So you have a conscious. Good. I had my doubts."
She steps closer, "shut up."
I don't. She irks me. Her miserable existence is why I can't be happy with my mate. It's why I almost lost her. She drained her crew for survival. I keep going because I hate Marisa Malfatto.
"Tell me. Did you even think twice or where they to your liking?"
She shakes with furry and runs to me. She pushes me and to my surprise, I stumble several feet back. She is strong even in this weakened state. She walks toward me again and pounds away.
Her blows land on my lower abdomen. I get annoyed but the blows start to do damage. I aim to get her wrist but her words stop me.
"Shut your filthy fucking mouth. Never mention them to me. Never say a word about them. They are too good for your filthy stupid mouth," she pounds.
Her voice is stern but I start to hear it break.
"Dogs know nothing of loyalty. Of undivided, unquestioning fidelity."
I grab her wrist before she can give another blow. She pulls it away fast and lifts her gaze from my stomach to my face.
There is indignation. I make sure to be more cautious. Her stature and size hide how much of a true predator she is.
"They were fools that fed a monster," I stare her back.
Despite her height, she manages to land a cold hard slap across my face. My adrenaline runs. I shift my attention back to her.
"I told you to keep them out of your unworthy mouth. You know nothing." She turns her back to me and walks to the table where Helena is.
I will not let her say the last word. Everything that has gone wrong in my life is due to them.
"What don't I know? Seems crystal clear to me."
She slowly turns to me again. "Do you want to know how somehow they were able to take down Helena's charms around the house effortlessly... how they shot Maddox with something and took him away from us... maybe you are curious how I fought several of them at a time only to be stabbed..."
Her voice becomes more frail. She walks toward me. I see her eyes fight to stay dry. She won't cry in front of me.
"I had to see how they beat my crew. They made us watch how they tortured my girls," she gets to me and gives me a hard blow on the stomach again.
I let her because I begin to understand the picture. The trauma. She is punching her way through the details.
"They lined them up and... And... And....those bastards made us watch then ended their lives in front of us. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything. Then they left and discarded them like they were nothing." Another blow. Then another.
"I should have died. I wanted to die. At least my vamps were spared but they refused my death. I wasn't healing and they didn't take that as an option. The first one offered blood and it was not enough. Then another. I couldn't do it. I didn't want to do it."
She slumps her shoulders and looks toward my feet.
"They kept offering. They wouldn't take no. They didn't want their lives over mine. I wouldn't take anymore. They held me down while they pressed their bloody offering to my mouth." Her breathing picks up.
Her gaze was still at my feet.
"It was involuntary. I didn't want to. Half the time I was in and out of unconsciousness. Stupidly weak to cuss them out and tell them to stop. I... I... killed them... I...I"
I hate Marisa for what she is but no one deserves to be denied the right to die. To be forced to live by her friends, the very people she drained.
She had the right to die for them. She had the right to want to save them. Yet they made her live. She will live with the memory.
With the taste of their blood on her lips. With the knowledge of how the coven suffered. She will never forget.
"I...killed them... I should have died...," I see her shoulders rise and fall.
She is hyperventilating. I lift her chin, forcefully. She stares at me and still no tears come down. She won't show any more vulnerability.
I understand the role of a leader. She failed to protect them and she will live with that torment.
"You killed them but you saved her," I remind her looking past her to Helena.
She follows my gaze and turns her body toward Helena. Her back to my front. I lower myself to her ear.
"They saved you. That was their right. You saved her. That is your privilege. You will avenge them. That will be your justice. The fault is on those who attacked not you," I tell her.
She stayed mute and remained looking at Helena. I see her breathe deeply.
Silence.
She does not look at me.
As she walks towards Helena, she does not give me another look. That is until she finally grabs Helena's hand.
"Oh yeah, there is one more thing," her eyes are stone cold, emotions gone.
My adrenaline picks up as she conveys the message.
"Transaction complete, they said. What was taken will be returned," she glares at me.
With a snarl, she ends, "Send our appreciation to alpha Zain."