Chapter Twenty - Seven ✧The End✧

I seemed to suddenly be all to aware of every single bone in my body as I was thrown by the Dread Doctor against the wall. As I crashed against the floor, everything suddenly ached, not just because I had been literally thrown through the air into a pile of bricks but also because my body - no, my soul felt like it had been drained. The life line that connected me to, well, me suddenly felt severed and I knew I didn't have it in me to get myself up off the ground, much less cause any more water pipes to burst. 

It took me a moment to catch my breath and concentrate enough to open my eyes. I almost wish I hadn't because laying just a few feet away from me was Hayden. Her eyes were glazed over with mercury and some of the silver substance trickled from her lips. I knew without a doubt that Hayden was dead. 

A body hurried to kneel in front of me. I pried my eyes away from Hayden and realized Liam was trying to help me up. I let him. 

When I was back on my feet I looked around. There were no Dread Doctors in sight, but that wasn't a surprise. They had gotten what they wanted, they'd killed Hayden. Once again, we had failed to stop them. Once again, somewhere I had desperately wanted to protect was killed. 

As Liam attempted to steady me, Scott and Theo rushed over to us. They both looked tired out, but neither seemed to be gravely injured. At least they were okay. 

"What happened?" Scott asked. His voice seemed farther way then I knew he was. I frowned and narrowed my eyes at him, but that only made him and our surroundings hazier. 

"I don't know," Liam admitted. "But I don't think she's okay." 

At first, I was going to tell them that Hayden definitely was not okay, she was dead, but then I realized they were talking about me. Next, I realized that Liam was totally right, I felt the opposite of okay. I felt my body begin to teeter and if it wasn't for Liam, I would've fallen back to the floor. 

Theo stepped closer to me, and for the tenth time that day I couldn't read his expression. However, this time it wasn't because he was hard to read so much as being becuase I couldn't really make out his face. 

"I can't see anything broken," Theo noted. I felt his hand lightly touch the side of my face, then my arm, as if checking for injuries. "But she doesn't look good," He continued. "I don't know what wrong with her, but she's going to need help." 

"Get her to the animal clinic. I'll meet you guys there," Scott decided. I didn't have the strength to move my head and try to look at him, but I could here the worry in his voice. 

I felt my body although I knew I wasn't the one moving it. Arms were wrapped around me and suddenly I was moving through the nearly empty nightclub. Liam was apparently carrying me out to Theo's truck. 

When we got in the truck, Liam held me tightly to his body. Everything seemed to get blurrier, ike the world around me was fading. Or maybe I was the one fading. Either way, it was beginning to feel like the only thing that I could still really feel was Liam's pounding heartbeat as my head laid on his chest. I felt his grip on me tighten as if it was the only thing that was keeping me together. I think maybe it is. 

I didn't realize my eyes were slowly shutting until Theo spoke up from where he was in the front seat. 

"I don't think it's a good idea to let her fall asleep," he said. 

Liam shifted as he tried to sit me up some. "Hey, Charlotte. I know you must be tired, but you're not going to fall asleep right?" 

I nodded, but my eyes were still half closed despite my best efforts. 

"I wish I could help you," Liam murmured. His lips pressed against the top of my head.

 With what little strength I had left, I leaned my body into his. My hand found his shirt and feebly clung to the fabric. "Hayden," I managed to utter after a few moments of gathering the energy. 

"Charlotte, she's gone," Liam said quiety. I could hear the regret in his voice. 

I tried to shake my head, but I'm honestly not sure if it moved. "She-she was never supposed to be the one to kill me," I murmured wearily. I could feel Liam tense at my words, and I had a feeling he knew what I was going to say next. "I think I was always supposed to die protecting her." 

Liam didn't have anything to say to try to tell me I was wrong. Hayden was supposed to be my downfall, and I had been quite literally been ripped away when I tried to stand between her and the Dread Doctor. And now my body felt like it was slowly being drained of energy.

 Genevieve's prediction suddenly made sense. 

Since he didn't have anything to say to tell me that I was wrong and that couldn't have been what Genevieve's premonition of my death could've meant, Liam opted to instead hold me as close to him as he possibly could. If Theo had heard any of what we had just said, he didn't comment on it. 

Soon, we were at the animal clinic. As Theo opened the truck's door for us, Liam once again picked me up and carried me inside of the clinic. 

I couldn't tell if the clinic was dark or if my vision had gotten to be too bad to see things any better. What I did know was the Scott wasn't there yet, which left Theo and Liam not sure what to do now. Theo tried to help Liam get me comfortable, but I didn't think comfort was something I'd likely be feeling right now. 

Breathing heavily and wet from the down pour that we'd been greeted by when we'd gotten to the clinic, Liam and I laid in the corner of the clinic as Theo seemed to pace around. Every once in a while, I would hear a whisper of a voice flowing through the air, but even the voices in my head seemed to have gotten weaker. It didn't make me feel too optimistic about what the outcome of this would be, but at the same time I still couldn't find in me to be scared. 

Here I was, dying in the arms of the only guy I'd ever been able to give my heart to after fifteen years of living in a constant state of fear, and now is when my body seems to be uncapable of being afraid of what would happened next? If Peter Hale were here, he would assure me it was better late then never. 

I hadn't realized how odd it was that I hadn't really felt anything but tired until pain suddenly ripped through my body. My body curled up into a tight ball as I struggled to figure out what was hurting. The pain didn't seem to come from any one place though, it just felt like every part of me was being turned inside out. I gasped, trying to catch my breath, but it felt like the air in my lungs was slowly turning into cement. I lurched away from Liam quicker then I'd moved all evening. 

"Oh my god." 

It was Scott's voice, but I was in too much pain to look up at him. There was a small bit of me that was relieved that he had gotten hear, but I was in too much anguish to focus on that relief for very long. 

My fingers curled on the ground, clawing at the hard surface as if it could somehow help me get a grip on reality, on what the hell was happening to me. How could the Dread Doctors have done this? Even after all they had done, this didn't make any sense. But then again, there was nothing else to explain what was wrong with me. 

My eyes were squeezed shut from the immense pain I was in and I didn't realize that I was crying until I felt tears fall from my face. Something about them felt wrong though. It was too much to be tears, to thick as it rushed down my cheeks. But what ever it was, I could feel it coming from my eyes. So with all the strength I could muster, I pried my eyes open and looked down at the ground just inches below my face, only to be greeted by a slowly growing pool of blood. 

Hastily, I wiped my cheek with a hand, but I knew it wasn't doing any good. My body was in immeasurable pain and now blood was streaming from my eyes. This was the death Genevieve had foreseen, that much I knew for sure. 

I felt a hand I was sure was Liam grab one of my wrists. I knew he was trying to take away my pain because the smallest amount of weight was lifted from my shoulders, but then it seemed to fall back on them with twice the amount of pressure as Liam pulled his hand back with a muffled yelp. All of the pain that was making me crumple on the floor of the vets clinic was too much for even a werewolf to relieve temporarily. 

"Scott," Liam croaked. My eyes closed tightly again as a new wave of pain washed over me, but I didn't need to look at him to know he was close to tears. "Scott, I think she's dying." 

"Maybe it's some kind of mercury poisoning," Theo offered as an explanation. 

That wasn't it. I didn't know what was happening to me, but that definitely wasn't the answer. 

Suddenly, there was a ringing in my ears. The sound was loud and high pitched and I was sure it was going to make my head explode. My head fell to the floor as my hands desperately tried to cover them. I felt something wet as my hands touched my ears and I realized they were now bleeding too. 

Somewhere over me, I could just barely hear Liam's voice. 

"Scott, remember what you promised me. You said you would do anything to save her." 

There was a pause and I soon realized it was because I was letting out a pained scream I hadn't even noticed I'd been trying to hold back. I curled into a tighter ball and felt a hand on my back. It was Liam's, but this time he didn't try to take my pain. He knew he couldn't. 

"If she becomes a werewolf, she can heal," Liam's voice continued to speak, but it was still muffled by my hands as they desperately tried to cover my ears. "Please, you have to give her the bite!"

Suddenly, the voices in my head were once again loud and clear, and they were all screeching for me to not let myself get bitten. I sat up straight gasping for breathe, and finally made myself open my eyes long enough for them to find Scott. My eyesight was blurred and hazy, but even so I could see the sorrow in Scott's eyes. Seeing it caused me almost as much pain as the screeching that was ringing around in my head. 

"No." 

I didn't actual hear the word leave Scott's lips, but I saw him move them and I knew exactly what he'd said. He forced himself to look away from me, away from the blood-smeared face that was probably contorted in agony, and Scott instead looked over to Liam. 

I hadn't realized Liam had gotten up from beside me until I saw his blurry outline quickly approaching Scott's. 

"What do you mean 'no'?" Liam demanded. That I could hear clearly. 

"Liam, look at her." Scott spoke lowly, but I managed to make out what he saying this time. "What ever is happening to her has made her too weak. If I bite her, it will only do more harm then good." Scott's eyes flitted back to me and I had to close my eyes again, this time so I didn't have to see the tortured expression on the True Alpha's face. "I want to save her. More then anything, I want to save Charlotte. But biting her is something I can't do. There has to be something else," Scott whispered. 

"Scott," I managed to murmur in-between labored breathes. "I think- I think it's time to call Isaac." 

I saw Scott open his mouth, but he didn't say anything. I knew Scott as well as he knew me. He was hopeful, so hopeful that he managed to give both Isaac and I hope for a better life after we were so sure we'd never deserve him. But that hope he had was gone, because he knew if I wanted to call my brother, then I was calling this fight for my life what it is, and that was over. 

In all honesty, I didn't want to give up. I didn't want this to be the end of everything that I had been so lucky to experience in my life. But I also didn't want to die without being able to tell my brother goodbye, that he deserved the life he had created for himself, and that he shouldn't blame himself for whatever was coming. So as much as I hated to see the last bit of hope be stricken from Scott's face, I needed this to happen.

Suddenly, a stinging pain coming from my chest, I let out a sharp gasp. Theo knelt beside me, beginning to ask what was happening, but I cut him off before he could finish the sentence. 

"The necklace," I choked. The words leaving my lips weren't mine. I was saying them as much as my body was being forced to produce them. A small scream escaped my lips, and then more words came fumbling out, completely out of my control. "I lost the necklace at school. I need it back." 

"Charlotte!" 

This time, I couldn't tell who had shouted my name. All I knew is that my name seemed to echo endlessly around me as I lost what little control I had over my body and started to fall back to the floor. Before I even made it, though, the world went completely black. Instead of falling to the ground I instead fell into a pit of nothingness. 

I was dying. 

And then a hand grabbed mine. My body was spun around and I wasn't falling. I was standing. And the pain, the burning from the inside of my veins and the boiling of my brain suddenly had stopped and I was completely fine. 

The darkness I had fallen into turned into blindingly white light. There was nothing around me but a blank white world as I was forced to spin around and when I finally stopped, when my eyes finally adjusted, I was greeted by the familiar face of a stranger. 

"Genevieve Carodine," I murmured. 

The face I was looking at was no longer Allison's, but somehow I still knew that the face I was looking at belonged to the very woman who had been haunting me in the body of my friend. Genevieve was finally showing me her true form. 

"Charlotte Lahey," Genevieve greeted me in response. She took a step closer and grabbed my other hand. Kindly smiling at me, she said, "You're finally home. Welcome to the afterlife." 

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oops.