CHAPTER 22

Bianca

Everything happens in the blink of an eye. Edmund rushes right into the very center of the fight, and without even thinking about it, I follow. I know now that I would follow him to the very depths of Hell, if I had to, and I would do it willingly.

Something happens to him, his body becomes larger, his muscles strain underneath his clothes and his teeth are protruding from his mouth even when he is not growling at the shifters. He is like a fighting machine, taking them down easily one by one. Still, they keep on coming after him. They know he is the king. If they manage to defeat him, the others will fall down more easily.

I want to fight by his side. I feel like that is where I belong. I want to keep him safe, and for him to keep me safe. We need to watch each other's back.

But before I can even approach him, someone pulls me forcibly by the shoulder, so hard that they almost pull my arm out of its place, and I hear a familiar voice snarl at me.

"What are you doing here?" Gala asks me.

I lift my gaze and I see her. There is a crazed, almost maniacal look in her eyes. She is enjoying the fight far more than she should be. But I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise. She always had that sadistic bone in her body, which she always wanted to exercise, and she usually did it on me.

She thinks that will happen now as well. She thinks I will cower, like I always did. She thinks that I am still afraid of her, of her threats, of her promises that she will hurt me in unimaginable ways. But she doesn't know something.

"I am here for the same reason you are," I growl back at her, assuming a fighting position. "I will fight for the safety of my clan."

"Your clan?" she laughs offensively. "Don't be ridiculous! You don't have a clan. You don't belong anywhere. We took pity on you, because you are worthless, and you will never be anything other than a useless human being!"

Her words do something to me. I never thought it was possible to feel such rage for someone.

I spread my arms to the side, with my fingers outstretched.

"Do you want to see what I truly am?" I say, feeling that same need for that maniacal laughter, but I manage to resist the temptation for such theatrics. I am better than her in so many ways. But if she needs me to prove it to her, I will be happy to oblige.

I watch her eyes widen in awe when she sees how branches start to grow from fingers They sprout greener than ever, rich with leaves and flowers. My hair starts to float around my head, also turning green. I can feel something inside of me grow, but I still don't know what to do with that energy.

Gala seems lost in thought for a moment, then she regains her senses.

"So, you're not a measly human then, huh?" she snorts. "In that case, killing you will be an even greater pleasure."

Suddenly, she closes her eyes, and her entire body starts twitching. I know what she's doing. She's shifting. I just don't know whose form she has chosen to morph into.

I should probably attack her right there, before I give her the chance to become someone else, someone stronger, but I can't. I watch as her body becomes taller, her hair shortens and becomes darker, her limbs prolong, then her entire face becomes more angular, more manly. A moment later, and I recognize the shape of the person she has chosen to shift into.

"No…" I whisper to myself, recognizing Edmund.

"I've never shifted into a vampire before," Gala says in his voice. "It might take me some time to figure out his moves, but I'll get there while I'm kicking your ass."

I take a step back. Older shifters can take on the memories of the person they have shifted into. They can instantly know their skills, their capabilities, everything. I wonder if she can read his mind and find out that we slept together. She doesn't mention it, so I guess she can't see that yet. She hasn't shifted that many times to have mastered that skill. It is something that comes to a shifter after a while. It doesn't happen all at once.

I guess it is the same with my skills of a dryad. So far, I can only make branches grow out of my fingers, which won't do me much good in a fight. But maybe I will be able to do something else. Maybe something inside of me will awaken. I have to rely on my inner instinct, like Edmund advised me to do.

Gala comes at me, and I avoid being punched by her by a few inches. She took me by surprise. Also, seeing Edmund attack me confused my brain. For one fraction of a moment, I forgot that it's not Edmund, but Gala who has shifted into him, and she used that moment of confusion against me. I can't allow her to do that again. It might cost me my life.

She has always threatened to hurt me horribly. This time, I know she aims to kill. That much I'm sure of. I have to use all my skills and resources to prevent her from doing that.

She lunges at me again and having the shape of a man makes it easier for her to overpower me. But my mind is quick, much quicker than I thought it would be. I aim my hands at her, and this time thin, wiry roots sprout from my fingers, wrapping themselves around her feet. I pull backward as hard as I can, and she falls to the ground.

The roots release her and withdraw back into my fingers.

"That's a nice trick," Gala jumps back on her feet. "But you'll need much more than tricks to defeat me."

She widens her lips, opening them to show me her protruding teeth. If she bites me, I won't become a vampire, because she is not a real vampire, but she can drain me of all my blood. In other words, she could kill me with those. I have to be very careful.

She swings her hand at me. I bend to the side, avoiding it, but she is quick on her feet as well, shoving her elbow into my side. I stumble down onto the ground, coughing violently. I can barely catch my breath.

Before I can even lift my head to see where she is, she grabs my head with her hands and knees me in the face. I hear a slight cracking of my nose, and an incredible amount of sharp pain shoots through my head, down my back, all the way down to my feet.

I roll to the side, knowing that I can't stay in one place. She will keep hitting me with whatever she has, until I'm not breathing any longer. I have to move away from her. I have to regain my senses. I have to be in control of the situation, because she won't stop.

My head feels like a drum someone has been hitting over and over again. I try to get up, but it's hard. I can barely find my balance. I lean back and almost fall, when I feel someone grab me around the waist, keeping me up.

"What the…" I hear Gala say, then I see her looking behind me.

I turn around, and almost scream with fright. The tree behind me has lowered its branches to keep me from falling. I shiver in its arms, but suddenly, a realization washes over me.

There is no need to fear, someone whispers right into my ear. Almost like the soft breeze of the wind. I hear no words spoken, and yet, my mind recognizes them instantly as being directed to me.

Suddenly, there is no fear in me. Only rage. Only the need to defeat those who have always thought they were better than me, who wanted to crush my spirit and see me down on my knees. Now it is their turn to kneel.

I stand up, putting my feet firmly down on the ground. My blood boils inside my veins. I press my open palms on the branches around my waist. I squeeze softly. The branches pull away, as if on cue, understanding that I don't need their help any longer. It's my turn now.

"Enough of this shit!" Gala growls at me, then jumps with her fingers in the shape of claws and her teeth aiming straight for my neck.

I manage to avoid her attack in the last second, and I turn around towards her. Without even thinking, I point my finger at a nearby rock and it starts to float up into the air.

I can't believe I'm doing it!

I turn to look in Edmund's direction, to show him that I managed to do it, but I see he's being overpowered by four shifters who have attacked him all at the same time. I want to go there and help him, but I can't leave Gala unattended. She will slit my throat if I give her a chance.

I turn my attention back on her. I move my finger swiftly towards her, and the stone comes flying straight at her head. It misses by an inch.

"I will kill you!" Gala shouts at me, and I try to aim another rock at her, but she swerves, and I miss.

She jumps onto me, and we both fall down to the ground. We start rolling. First, I'm on top of her. Then she's on top of me. We're both fighting for supremacy, but we seem to be equally matched.

Finally, I sprout branches from my fingers, and they squeeze around her neck. She releases her grip on me, and I manage to overpower her. She is now lying down on the ground, with me on top of her, squeezing the life out of her. She starts spitting and gasping for breath, but something inside of me just won't stop squeezing harder and harder.

Her eyes start to lose luster, but even this doesn't signal the need to stop myself. The hatred for her, for what she has been doing to me all this time, is too overpowering. I want her to see how wrong she was. I want her to see, to acknowledge that I am the more powerful of the two, that I have always been the more powerful, only neither of us was aware of this.

Now she is. Now we both are.

Her lips are turning blue at this point. Her fingers are frantically squeezing the branches around her neck, but it is no use. She can't break them. She has tried to break me many times, and now, she will see what the repercussions of those actions should have been all along.

"Bian…. ca…" I suddenly hear Edmund call out to me.

I turn to him. He is also lying on the ground, in the same position as Gala. Some shifter is choking him. He has taken on the shape of a human with bear-like arms and he has them squeezing Edmund's neck.

I frantically look around. Kano can't help him. No other vampire is near enough to save him. It has to be me. But then, I have to release Gala.

Or… I can snap her neck. That would be easy enough. That would show her.

I am so close to doing it. So close. It takes only a single second, and I would be forever rid of her.

But I can't do it.

I pull away, retracting the branches. I jump up from her, allowing her to inhale deeply. She turns to the side and starts coughing violently. I can see the red outlines of my fingers around her neck. That shit will be sore in the morning, I'm sure. She will never forget me.

I bend over her, while she is still coughing. I make sure that she hears me well.

"If you come near me again, I won't be so generous next time," I snarl at her as angrily as I can. "Now, run!"

I'm surprised that she does it immediately. She hops to her feet, both hands around her neck, and she runs away in the opposite direction to where the other shifters and vampires are still fighting.

I quickly turn to Edmund. He is still on the ground. I rush there, without thinking. I have no idea what I'm going to do. My mind isn't thinking. It is a complete blank. It relinquished control to my body, to some inner sense of guidance which seems to know exactly what to do.

I feel confident. In fact, I've never been more confident of myself than I am now. I can do anything. And right now, I need to go and save my man.