Chapter 225 - 225: Not in This Life

Ruelle pushed herself to stand, one hand braced against the rough bark of a tree, her legs trembling with a weakness that had nothing to do with the cold. If it weren't for the snow, she might have been able to find water quickly and find a way to get out. But the ice had swallowed everything.

Soon she started to run and the trees blurred past her.

Every second she spent standing still was a second closer to Ezekiel finding her, and a second faster was reuniting with Lucian. She didn't know where she was going. She only knew she had to keep moving, had to put distance between herself and the hatch, had to find a road or a sign to escape.

Her lungs burned and her legs ached, while the glass shard, still tucked in her hand, bit into her skin.

The forest was quiet, and all she could hear was her own ragged breathing. Her eyes moved in the dark, while she continued to run. She felt her eyes beginning to blur from pushing her body.

She didn't know how much time had passed, but she finally arrived at what looked like a road. Now all she had to do was follow the trail and reach a town or village to get help. She was close. Just a little more.

"Ruelle!"

Hearing her name ahead of her, Ruelle looked up and caught sight of Lucian making his way towards her.

For one breath, relief struck her so hard her knees nearly weakened. But doubt slipped into her mind and she took a couple of steps away, which had his own feet slow down.

Lucian spoke, "I have been looking for you everywhere. Where is—"

"Which fruit did I give you?" Ruelle questioned while she didn't stop maintaining the distance.

He looked at her with a frown. He said, "This is not the time for fruit—"

"You might mimic people's appearance, but you will never have the memories. You are just an empty shell, Ezekiel!" Ruelle began to run, taking the opposite side of the road and she heard footsteps pounding on the ground that tried to catch up to her.

"Get back here, Ruelle! I will be more forgiving if you listen to me! Ruelle!" Ezekiel shouted not far from behind her. "I knew something was amiss and returned before I even visited the house! We are going to get married!"

The only person she would marry was Lucian! But she didn't speak aloud. And maybe his shouting would be enough to catch someone's attention.

Branches tore at her arms and her face, the cold air of the night rushing against her face. Behind her, the footsteps were getting closer. She placed her hand on her forearm where she had earlier made a marking with the glass, as she wanted to be prepared if she ran into Ezekiel and wouldn't have time to draw it.

Ruelle's fingers found the marking on her arm. It stung beneath her touch and she muttered the spell. Before Ezekiel could close the distance, thorns flew at him. They shot through the air before hitting him like rain being poured.

"Ezekiel, you will never have me. Not in this life, not in the next because the person I want is Lucian," Ruelle stated as she watched him try to pull out one of the thorns that had hit his eye. "You will never have my affections."

Ezekiel groaned in pain as he tried to pull out the thorn in his eyes. Blood dripped out from his eye before it spilled on his face and then on the ground.

Ruelle was glad to see the little damage she had caused, but she wasn't satisfied with it.

She placed her hand on the bark of the tree and used the familiar spell. Suddenly, the ground shook as something moved beneath them before erupting out of the surface. The vines swirled around the halflings' legs before moving upward to restrict any movement.

"Fuck, Ruelle! You are siding with the wrong people!" Ezekiel snapped at her when he wasn't able to move or get out of the vines' grip. "Everything I have done is for you! For your—"

"You did it for yourself! How dare you kill people whom I cared for and loved, and think I will be okay with it?" Ruelle glared at him with tears forming in her eyes. The vines tightened further. "You never cared about me. All you did was satisfy your twisted desires."

"You don't mean that. You're frightened. You've been surrounded by people who poisoned you against me. You are mine and you are having doubts, which is natural but you need to—ugh—" Ezekiel pulled free one vine with his strength. "Listen to me!"

But Ruelle had it snap back around his body. "You have no remorse for what you have caused. If you loved me, you would be happy in my happiness and wish me well. But all you have done is send pain and anguish my way, guilt of bearing two people's deaths that would never ease."

Ezekiel laughed, his eye still bleeding and he said, "You wouldn't be this angry if you felt nothing for me. Let me free and I'll forgive everything you've done tonight."

With him tied, Ruelle walked to where he lay on the ground. She stared at him before she shook her head. "I don't need your forgiveness, because it isn't worth anything. Your forgiveness is nothing but a curse which I would not like to carry."

Ezekiel stared at her for several seconds, and he said,

"You think Lucian Slater is special? He is nothing. Your own father told you what you were, didn't he? Your mother died bringing you into this world. Your father died after you returned to his life. And now Dane. How many people have to die around you before Slater begins to wonder whether loving you is worth the cost? But I am willing to accept the way you are. I don't care about such things."

Ruelle bent down and pulled out a sharp stake from the ground, which had little spikes covering it. She remarked,

"That is the difference between a vile person like you and Lucian. You wouldn't understand me even if I explained myself for the rest of my life. I don't expect you to understand, as you have a small brain that cannot process what it means to actually have relationships and keep it," she stared right into his eyes as she pulled the stake up. "You are the one who stole people's lives. You should take the accountability for it."

Ezekiel smiled, looking at her before he questioned her, "Do you plan to kill me, my dear Ruelle? Your aim is not right. You won't be able to—"

The stake in Ruelle's hand descended to his face without any hesitation.

Ezekiel quickly turned his head away from the stake to crack into the snow-floored ground. The halfling looked at her with shock before anger simmered on his features. Putting all the strength in his limbs, he broke free from the spine and before Ruelle could stab right into his heart, he caught her hand and pushed her against the ground.

"You were going to kill me?" Ezekiel looked appalled. "I gave you all the opportunities and was going to forgive you, Ruelle. How could you betray me?" he pushed her hand down on the ground. His grip tightened around her wrist. "I came back because I knew something was wrong. I thought you were frightened and you would need me. But you were planning this while you were smiling at me, weren't you?"

Ruelle winced at the pressure in her hand. The bones in her wrist screamed where he'd squeezed them. She reached for the ground and the next moment, vines erupted. They came surging up from beneath the snow in a furious tangle, winding around his neck thickly.

Ezekiel's grip on her faltered as his body arched backward, his hands flying to his throat, clawing at the vines that were cutting off his air.

She pushed herself up, trying to get away—but suddenly Ezekeil grabbed a broken piece of hard ice and he drove it right into her head. It was the same place where the vampiress earlier that day had hit her.

Ruelle's whole body went rigid before it swayed to the side as her vision turned white from the force. At first she felt numbness before sharp pain erupted from it. The vines that had wound around Ezekiel's neck loosened along with her.

"I didn't want to do that," Ezekiel rasped as Ruelle groaned. "I told you, Ruelle. I told you what would happen if you broke my trust. Look what you did to yourself now?" came his worried voice.

Something warm and slick had begun to gather beneath Ruelle's head. The metallic scent slowly invaded her senses, cutting through the numbness until she understood what it was. Blood.

She wondered if the fabric had reached Lucian or if someone had caught sight of the light, even though it had been brief.

Ezekiel let out a sigh. He stood up while looking around and sneered, "Perhaps I should go and poison the people you care for. Then you will have no one but me."

She pushed herself from the ground while her body swayed. The world tilted and refused to stay still. Her hands shook and she placed her hand on the ground.

"Why is it so hard for you to be compliant?" Ezekiel caught hold of her hand and twisted her wrist like a twig.

A shrill scream tore out of her throat, raw and inhuman, which echoed through the quiet forest. The pain was white, blotting out everything except the broken bones in her wrist.

For several seconds, Ruelle lay on the cold ground with her body curved from the violent pain that travelled from her wrist to her elbow. Her breathing came in little uneven pulls, each one catching halfway down her chest.

"It is time for us to leave this place," Ezekiel stated as he bent to lift her.

At the same time, a wolf howled, and Ruelle's gaze moved past the halfling towards the darkness behind him.