Chapter 462: Sarah’s Cries

Pete kept his eyes shut.

It would have been easier to pretend he was praying or thinking.

Damn it

When he opened his eyes, he saw Julius had already begun to move slowly, almost afraid that Sarah would notice his movements.

Pete kept Sarah’s attention on him while he secretly watched as Julius moved Lilianna away from them.

While Lilianna began to bleed from her mouth, in a thin, dark green blood that shouldn’t be human.

Julius noticed that and began to step back away from her. But he couldn’t let Lilianna lie down inside the perimeter of the safety zone.

They laid down a safety zone with Anti-Personnel Mine Explosives as borders.

Julius met Pete’s eyes.

And Pete found he couldn’t quite hold Julius’s gaze right now when Sarah was literally in front of him, begging for answers.

Julius pursed his lips and sighed. He decided to set Lilianna down in the center of the ballroom. A little bit further from the living room and their border, but still not too far away that they couldn’t see her.

To prevent Sarah from having a bad memory of her sister, Julius decided to wipe away the green blood from Lilianna’s face, or wherever it appeared.

Pete understood why Julius did that and why he had chosen that place.

Julius lowered Lilianna until her head rested against the pale floor. He arranged her carefully and folded her hands on her stomach.

But Lilianna didn’t stop groaning.

Pete realized that Lilianna’s eyes weren’t fully closed.

He could see that beneath the long sweep of her lashes, there were two thin lines of bloody red inhuman eyes that glimmered.

Pete wished he could shut his eyes again.

When Grayson ordered him to keep Lilianna captive, he didn’t expect to see Lilianna like this. He thought that even if Lilianna crossed the line, she would still remain as herself.

He wished the memory of his friend remained happy, albeit bitter, to the end.

"Pete," Julius called as he crossed back to the threshold of the ballroom, but no further. "It’s too late."

He meant that Pete should forget any lingering feelings, as this was beyond them and their judgment.

Pete looked at Sarah and her pitiful state.

He could say no, but I think I might still be able to cure her. She might still come back, give her time some time.

But Pete knew that once the rot was in, the rot was in.

There was no going back.

"I know," Pete replied, this time it was devoid of emotion.

"I’m sorry," Julius said quietly.

To Sarah.

Sarah’s face had gone pale, and she saw Julius going away, but didn’t see Lilianna in his arms.

"Where did you take her?!" A shriek tore out of Sarah’s throat.

"Where’s my sister, where’s my—"

Sarah lunged forward and found the back of the sofa. She tried to claw at it as though it were the one responsible for keeping her seated.

"Bryan—Bryan, please, please don’t let him—"

Bryan knew and heard the exchange between Pete and Julius. He knew that there was no solution for Lilianna anymore and had come to terms with it.

But he couldn’t bear to face Sarah like this either.

So Bryan did the only thing he could think of and turned his head away.

Because he knew that if he looked at Sarah for one more second, he could potentially ask Julius to stop. But stopping wasn’t really an option here, and they couldn’t even begin to explain to Sarah why.

Sarah saw that Bryan had to turn away and felt betrayed.

Devastated, she launched off the sofa, but Iris caught her arm. At first, she missed and got a fistful of silk sleeve instead.

Sarah went past her, and Pete saw it happen. Good thing, she crashed bodily into Bryan and locked both hands into the front of his shirt.

Bryan staggered and almost fell, but Sarah did not loosen her grip.

For a beta whose physical strength was weaker than an alpha like Sarah, Bryan miraculously kept his footing. Only to find out that it was because Sarah herself was holding him up.

The buttons of Bryan’s collar dug into his throat. One of them popped off and went skittering across the floor with a small, bright tick.

"Sarah," Bryan tried to peel her fingers loose, but they were unmovable.

"Bryan—"

"Sarah, please—"

"No—" Sarah’s pupils blew wide. But she saw Bryan’s expression, and she knew that he wouldn’t help her.

So Sarah tried to find another way.

"Iris," she gasped and called out, twisting in her grip at Bryan, "Iris, please, you understand, right? That’s Lily—"

Iris reached Sarah in three strides.

She did not forcibly pry Sarah’s fingers off Bryan. She simply slid one arm around Sarah’s waist and another behind her shoulders.

When Sarah turned to scream at her, Iris hugged her and muffled her screams in her chest.

"Sarah," Iris murmured, "Shhh, shhh, it’ll be alright."

Iris somehow managed to steer Sarah back toward the sofa.

Sarah weakly went along with Iris, and her energy drained out of her body.

Iris settled Sarah into the cushions and knelt down in front of her. She put one hand on Sarah’s wrist, massaging her hands softly in comfort.

"She’s my sister," Sarah whispered in between sobs.

"I know."

"Lily wouldn’t—"

"I know."

Iris replied almost in a whisper, low and soft.

There was nothing that Iris could do, either, because she could already guess what these people around them were hiding from them.

Because everyone, apart from Sarah, had already seen Lilianna’s eyes turned red and inhumane.

But just as things were calming down over in the living room.

Across the ballroom, Julius raised the gun.

Sarah heard it and saw Julius with the gun, aiming at Lilianna’s head.

Iris reacted too slowly to prevent Sarah from seeing what Julius was about to do.

"Don’t look," Iris hurriedly said. Her hand came up to cradle Sarah’s jaw and turn her face into her shoulder. "Sarah, don’t, don’t—"

"Why—" Sarah’s voice cracked and shouted, "Why—why is he—Iris, why is he—"

Iris did not answer.

If the worst happened, the mines would catch what came through the wall before it reached the living room.

"Why—" Sarah was sobbing into Iris’s shoulder now. "Why won’t anyone—Iris, please, just tell me, just—"

Iris’s hand tightened in her hair.

"I can’t," Iris said, her voice cracking, sorry for her dear friend. "I’m sorry. I can’t."

Sarah cried loudly in grief. She tried to tear halfway out of Iris’s hold before Iris caught her. Then she struggled and fell, clawing for the floor again.

"Bryan—"

Bryan moved over and came around the side of the sofa. She caught Sarah from behind, one arm across her chest and one across her shoulders. He pulled her back against him hard enough that she lost breath for a second, locked into position.

"Stop," Bryan said quietly. "Sarah. Stop."

But Sarah thrashed around again.

Bryan held on, and Iris helped.

Iris reached up and took both of Sarah’s hands and folded them between her own. She pressed them flat against Sarah’s own knees. Iris anchored her to her own body so she could not raise them to claw at anyone else.

Meanwhile, Julius adjusted his stance and breathed out through his nose. He was waiting for the full transformation before he pulled the trigger because it was written in the law.

Pete was unable to look anymore and looked away.

That was when the basement door slammed open.

Pete jerked, and Iris’s head lifted up. Bryan didn’t even adjust his hold on Sarah, but his eyes snapped to the direction of the sound.

Grayson came up out of the stairwell.

Alone.

Pete saw at once that he was hurt but not badly. However, there was a dark slick across the outside of his left thigh, and the cuff of his shirt sleeve was sticking to his wrist.

He looked tired and furious.

Grayson came up into the lounge, and his eyes flicked in one fast sweep across the room.

Iris was on the floor in front of Sarah.

Bryan was holding Sarah.

Pete was standing with a bunch of weapons around him.

Julius was in the ballroom with the gun still raised, aimed at Lilianna on the floor.

He ignored everything and went straight to his business.

"Where’s Thiago?" Grayson said.

Pete saw that things were not looking good and hurriedly asked, "What—what happened down there—"

"Where. Is. Thiago," Grayson said again, sharper and more urgent.

"He’s going after the huge zerg with Ciel," Bryan reported without taking his eyes off Sarah. "That thing ran off to the gardens."

Grayson would like to curse right there and then, but he didn’t.

Instead, he turned his attention towards Pete and called, "Pete."

Pete looked Grayson in the eye. He felt that Grayson seemed to be having a hard time facing him.

"Down. Now. Get a stretcher field running. Helena’s left hand was severed shut, and Zero is—Zero’s not in a good condition." Grayson said, "You cannot manage them both—"

But before Grayson could finish, Pete was already running past him.