I stopped in my tracks and gritted my teeth. Alexander held a blade pointed to Amelia"s chest; if she tried to move, he would stab her.
"Let them go!"
"I don"t think so; you see, we came here to take someone"s life today because letting you have your happily ever after would just be too easy."
Calliope was all too happy with the idea of making my life h.e.l.l and, since Amelia was immortal, the only one here that she could kill was Willow.
"I can"t let you do that."
"You can"t stop me, either."
Calliope positioned the cross bow to be pointing at Willow"s heart and took aim.
"No!" I yelled; but, before I could move, Amelia was already knocking Calliope to the ground, so I took down Alexander instead.
The arrow missed Willow"s heart, but it penetrated her left arm. Calliope rolled out from under Amelia and kicked me in the face to get me off of her brother.
"Enough Alex, we did what we came here to do."
I rushed to Willow"s side as she tried to pull the arrow out. I snapped the shaft of the arrow and pulled it through. I ripped the bottom of my shirt and wrapped it around her arm to stop the bleeding.
Amelia stayed on the ground with the knife protruding from her chest. It missed her heart, so she should be healing soon, but something didn"t seem right.
"Amelia?" Willow sobbed, as she crawled over to her and pulled her into her lap.
Amelia looked up at Willow and when she went to remove the knife, Amelia stopped her.
"You can"t."
"You won"t heal if I don"t take it out."
"I won"t heal at all, even if you do."
Her voice was raspy and her breathing was labored. I could see the panicked look on Willow"s face.
"I don"t understand." Willow said, as her sobs threatened to choke her.
"Did I forget to mention that? Oops, my bad." Calliope said with a vindictive grin on her face. "Because you and prince charming here decided to tie the knot, Amelia is no longer bound to him in marriage. That means she has been freed from the curse of immortality and is now dying as a human. Congratulations on your marriage, Willow. Oh, and welcome to the cursed life. Ta-ta!"
I went to launch myself at Calliope, but Willow grabbed my arm to stop me.
"No, forget her. They can"t hurt me now. You need to go and find Tristan. If marriage is what binds me to you and freed her, then he needs to marry her right now to save her life. We don"t have time for revenge Tobias. Go get Tristan, now!"
I looked back at Calliope, but she was gone. She and her brother disappeared into the woods somewhere. As much as I wanted to go after them, Willow was right. I needed to save Amelia.
I kissed the top of her head and took off to find my brother. I had no idea where he went, but this was the last direction I had seen him in.
I found Colton and Jasper not too far from the house. From the looks of it, all the wolves were retreating as well. They were just a distraction so Calliope and Alexander could get to Amelia.
"Where"s Tristan!" I demanded.
"I don"t know! He took off that way; what happened?"
I didn"t even answer Jasper. I took off in the direction he pointed and kept running as fast as my feet would go.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
WILLOW.
I watched Tobias disappear into the woods, and then brushed Amelia"s hair out of her face.
"Tobias is getting help; don"t worry."
Amelia shook her head and took my hand. I could tell she was giving up, but I wasn"t going to let her.
"Tristan will marry you in a heartbeat, and you will be immortal again. You will heal and life will continue as normal, with us picking on the guys and Jennica wanting to throw Colton off a bridge with concrete boots on."
Amelia tried to laugh, but it turned into a cough. Blood dripped out of the corner of her mouth as she tried to catch her breath again.
"The priest is gone, Willow. There is no one here to marry us."
It wasn"t until she mentioned it that I realized the priest had disappeared. I had no idea if he made it out of here or if Alexander"s men had killed him too.
"Then I"ll marry you guys."
"You"re not ordained."
"So? People get ordained off the internet all the time; I"ll do it."
"Willow-"
"No! I don"t want to hear it; you will get better. You don"t have a choice; I need you Mia!"
"I don"t want to die, Willow; but, I"ve accepted it. I am dying. I can feel it, and this time I won"t be coming back."
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to stop the tears. It was no use. My eyes burned and my throat was constricting. It felt like someone had punched me in the stomach.
"You can"t die!"
"It"s not a choice."
I watched as the tears slipped from Amelia"s eyes. I ran my fingers through her hair again, pushing it back out of her face. She was beautiful, too beautiful to be covered in blood. Today was supposed to be the happiest day of my life; but, instead, it was one of the worst.
"Talk to me; help me keep my mind off it."
What was I supposed to say? What does anyone say to someone to keep their mind off of dying? I swallowed back the lump in my throat as I said the only thing I could.
"I"m pregnant."
"What?" She choked out with a smile.
"I"m pregnant. It wasn"t the pain killers making me sick all the time; it was a baby."
"When did you find out?"
"Last night. After you and Jennica went to sleep, I took a test I bought when we were in town for dinner. I realized I was late and I couldn"t think of any other reason why."
She squeezed my hand as more tears fell.
"That is amazing! Did you tell Tobias?"
"I was going to tell him today, but now-"
"Now nothing. You are having a baby, Willow. Me dying doesn"t change that. He needs to know!"
"I just don"t think today is the right day to tell him. Not now."
"Today is the perfect day to tell him. He will need it. They all will."
Amelia went into another coughing fit as more blood flew out of her mouth. She started making a gurgling noise as she tried to catch her breath.
"Hey, don"t you close your eyes on me. Stay awake; I need you to stay with me Mia."
"I"m awake, but I"m so tired."
"You can sleep when this is done. Tristan and Tobias will be back any minute."
"Nicholas."
"What?"
"The baby. I like the name Nicholas. If it"s a boy you should name it Tristan Nicholas Cane."
"I like that name, but what if it"s a girl?"
Amelia smiled as if she was reliving a memory in her mind. Her eyes began to close, and the smile started to fade.
"Hey, keep talking. What if it"s a girl?"
"Amber." She whispered.
"What was that? Say it again Mia, come on. Open your eyes and say it again."
She didn"t move and it felt like I couldn"t breathe. I shook her in an attempt to wake her up, but she didn"t even flinch.
"Mia?"
I put my hand on her cheek and tried to make her look up at me.
"Amelia! Wake up!"
I was yelling at her now, as I moved my hand to her neck to feel for a pulse. I couldn"t feel anything, but my hands were trembling too much; maybe I missed it.
I put her back down on the ground and put my head to her chest inches away from the knife to listen instead. Nothing. There was no heartbeat.
"Amelia!" I screamed, and then pulled the knife out of her chest.
She was already dead, but I couldn"t bring her back with CPR when the blade was in my way.
I tilted her head back and pinched her nose, then breathed into her mouth. I took a first aid cla.s.s in high school, so I tried to remember everything they had taught me.
I placed my hands over her sternum and squared off my shoulders before starting compressions. I counted them out one at a time and gave her another breath.
I don"t know how much time pa.s.sed; it felt like forever for me. I was barely able to breath and I couldn"t see through my tears.
"Amelia!" I sobbed, as I collapsed on top of her, gathering her in my arms again. My arms were numb and I couldn"t feel them anymore. The compressions weren"t doing anything to help; she was gone and I just wanted to hold my best friend.
"Amelia!" Tristan"s voice rang out into the air. I could hear the sound of his and Tobias"s feet pounding against the ground as they ran.
I felt Tobias"s arms around me, pulling me from Amelia"s body as Tristan took her in his arms.
"Baby, no. Open your eyes. Come on, I"m right here."
I couldn"t bear to watch Tristan plead with Amelia"s corpse, so I buried my face in Tobias"s chest as fresh tears began to fall.
"Don"t leave me. Please don"t leave me. I"m right here baby; come back to me."
I squeezed on to Tobias tighter as Tristan"s desperate cries tore at my heart. I"d give up my new found immortality in a heartbeat if it would bring Amelia back.
"No! No, no, no, no, no!"
I looked over to see him cradling her in his arms, kissing every inch of her face.
"I"ll marry you, I"ll make you my wife and treat you like a queen, just come back to me baby. Please come back. You can"t leave me like this!"
"Tristan, she"s gone." Tobias said empathetically.
"NO! I don"t believe that. She can"t be gone!"
Tobias opened his mouth to say something else, but I stopped him. Tristan was in denial and he needed to grieve.
"Let him be." I whispered, my own emotions threatening to consume me again.