Chapter 9
Failure

 
D ran. He ran through the halls and corridors, past the paintings and sculptures, the flowers and pathways of the gardens, the trees and shrubs of the forest. He ran as fast as his long, weakened legs would carry him, not looking at anything but what lay just before him.

It was cold outside. It had begun to rain and it was pouring even harder then the night he arrived. He was drenched, but even with the heavy rain and cool breeze, D's severe fever was rising to dangerous levels.

As he reached the edge of the forest, that he had obliviously dove into, his run slowed as he could feel himself being drained of energy. He managed to get a few more feet before tumbling into the soft grass. He caught himself with his hands and sat there, his knees bent and lying sideways, using both of his arms to prop up his torso and head. The rain wasn't letting up. In fact, it was getting worse. His hair and robe were now soaked and heavy with rain water, only adding to the difficulty of moving, being as ill as he was, and he was getting weaker.

A jolt of pain, and his arms collapsed, sending him face first into the ground. He managed to roll himself over on his side, before losing all his strength, and laid there, drowning in his agony. His skin was freezing with the sudden change of weather and his inner body was on fire. His blood felt as if it was boiling inside his veins. The friction between the opposing forces made the dhampire feel as if he would explode.

"D! DEEE!!!!" The symbiote cried as it darted through the forest to finally catch up with the hunter. "You... IDIOT!!!" It said and slumped down in the grass in front of D's face. "What do you think you're doing out here?! You know there are beasts out here that would love to make a coat out of our hides!!!"

Just then, a hideous cry of a large beast bellowed through the darkness. The symbiote's large ears perked up and its eyes darted around in every direction with fear welling inside him. "Okay, this is bad. We gotta get out of here! Get up!!"

"No...." D muttered.

"Do you have a death wish?!!" Another roar came, closer now. "Let's go!!!"

"I... I can't move..."

"Yes you can!" The ghost grabbed D's hand and tried tugging on it to make him get up, unsuccessfully. "Come on!!!"

D suddenly began to cough and gasp like he was having trouble breathing. The dhampires illness had finally taken its toll. The rising temperature of the hybrids body from the fever had risen too high and his own body heat was letting his weakness to warmth take over.

"Ohh... shit!" The symbiote flew a couple of feet above D and looked around in hopes of seeing an ally near by, but instead he saw the opposite. Monsters sent by enemy forces were hastily approaching them and the ghosts growing fear quickly turned into panic.

D laid on the ground in unspeakable pain, too wracked in agony to even hear what the symbiote was saying to him. His muscles convulsed again and again, causing him more pain with their involuntary movement. He could feel his throat close up and it felt like he was choking on his own heart as the organs beat quickened and pushed hard, fast pulses through his veins, causing his neck to throb sickeningly. His mouth was dry, his eyes were burning, and his hands and feet began to tingle and then go numb, and the feeling slowly worked up his limbs. "Haghh...! Aahh!!!"

"Shit, shit, shit!!!" The symbiote yelped as it franticly tried to find a solution to their situation. Even if it could dig a whole to cure D's heat syndrome, the monsters would kill them while he was healing. "We're screwed!" The creature shouted. "Unless you can get up! Come on, D! You can at least crawl!!" It flew down to the dhampire and shook him. "D! You HAVE TO GET UP!!!! ...Ack!!!"

D wasn't moving, or even breathing. He had passed out and his pulse was dropping quick.

"Ah, shit! No way, man!" The symbiote said franticly. "No way you're gonna die on me now! Get you're ass off the ground, goddamnit! Come on!! Get up, damn you!!!"

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It was the loudest noise he had ever heard... A shout and the sound of a bullet being forced through the air echoed off the marble walls... Then a cry and splatter.... He didn't care about that... It wasn't until he heard another cry, a high pitched scream broke through all other noise and he could feel his heart and soul shatter with it.......

......He turned to see an innocent child fall next to an enemy..... Pain, as if someone has spiked his own heart, rose in his chest and, as he dropped the sword clutched in his hand, he ran to the young boy...... Dropping to his knees, he caught the child in his arms before he could hit the ground........ Crimson red blood poured from the wound in the young ones tiny body..........

..........With tears welling up in his eyes, he put one hand under the small head, that was smothered in beautiful, thick strawberry locks, and the other over the open wound, staining his hands in blood......... He looked down at the child, at the innocent, beautiful creature.......... The picture of innocence, with pale white skin and blue eyes so like his own..................