The whole area went silent. Nobody spoke, nobody breathed, until James spat out an icy tone, startled by the sudden outburst of my mother.
"Mrs. Clark what are you-,"
"I said bring it, now!" She looked up, spit flying out of her mouth. All of the guests had expressionless gazes, except Mrs. Lewis whose face was streaked with distorted horror.
"Mother you really aren't thinking of-"
"Do not try to stick up for this man whom you claim you didn't know." She cut me off before I could speak any further. "Chase, get up. Outside everyone now." She spoke with venom in her words, she walked over to James ripping a whip that had seemingly been attached to his belt from his hands. Everyone stood following her orders, Chase stood holding his head high. His body was still, his breathing had turned unsteady. Panic began to swell in my chest.
"Listen mother harming him won't change anything, why don't we talk it out, I'm sure we can come to a solution." My mother's eyes met my own now glowing a deep shade of fiery orange.
"You know nothing of what he could have changed, what could have happened instead!" Everyone quickly made their way outside. I followed closely behind my mother trying to change her mind. The rain still fell heavily although no one seemed to care in the slightest.
"Please listen causing someone to suffer won't-"
"Makayla enough," My father was behind me, his face pained. At this I swallowed hard, nobody here thought the same as me. They all were taking my mother's side in this weren't they? We all continued to walk, Chase behind us all. My mother led us to an oak tree where a thick tan rope hung loosely around its base. Two knots had been tied, small enough to let hands through, but not too large to let them leave. I had begun to sweat upon seeing this, everyone halted their steps standing as though a wall was there, Chase still stood behind us until my mother spoke.
"Wayan, Benjamin, bring him to me now." They grabbed him by both shoulders walking him towards the tree, quickly they forced him to the ground, pulling his hands through the loops in the rope. They secured it so snugly small red abrasions had already begun to form and heal. The two men walked away from the area, returning to the group. Wayan held a sharp glare at my mother, disgust in his eyes.
She moved forward toward Chase, absentmindedly I did the same until a hand encircled my wrist. I found James with a somber expression, he looked me in the eyes shaking his head no. I looked back to the tree as my mother grew closer to Chase, my eyes widened as she lifted the whip over her head and snapped it down quickly, so fast I could barely see it. Chase flinched as his suit was torn and a deep wound was clearly visible on his back. I stared mortified at the scene as yet another slash came down, then another, then another. Over, and over, and over again. Three… eight.... Ten…. twenty. I tried to get to him still, but James held me firmly in place as the entirety of the back of his suit was now destroyed fabric, skin, and blood that flowed down into the grass, the rain drenching us all.
His breathing grew ragged as she continued. He yelled out in pain, his face contorting as black sludge writhed under his flesh. He gripped the restraints holding him hostage pulling against them in an attempt to escape the pain. My chest felt tight as I gripped James, each lashing a flinch racked through me. I tried to remove my gaze, acid rising in my throat, unable to move an inch. Crimson dripped from his mouth as I collapsed to the ground, the abysmal scene not wanting to cease.
James caught me as my gaze held steady. My mother's gaze was that of fire, one that wished not to be extinguished. Newly disturbed mud mixed with the steady drip of blood splattered her entirely. Her hair ceased to be in place as a wicked grin contorted her face.
By the time she was done she had struck him more times than my mind would allow me to count. I couldn't tell if my face was wet from the rain or from tears, as I heaved in breaths of air, panic choking me. Mrs. Lewis had mascara running down her face wincing at each blow Chase received, yet no one helped, no one did anything to stop my mother.
"I'm only quitting because I know hybrids like you have a limit." At this she threw James's whip into the grass beside the tree, spitting at him as he swayed against the trunk. She turned to the house, making her way back inside. Everyone began to follow her, even Mrs. Lewis and her husband. He held her tightly as gentle sobs escaped her lips. The only ones left to remain were James and myself. Once everyone had entered my house Chase collapsed completely to the ground heaving in ragged breaths.
James hauled me to my feet, an all too familiar scent of copper invading my nostrils, I held back a gag. We raced to his aid turning Chase onto his side to help him breathe properly, he groaned loudly against the pain. I began to unbind the rope from around his hands to free them from its suffocating grip. Red burns lined them, they bled ever so slightly, yet they looked like they had already begun to heal. The wounds on his back were a different story. Shredded fabric and flesh melded together in the deep lacerations. The wounds hadn't changed in the slightest. The corners of each serrated.
"Why haven't they changed?" I asked in a slight panic as Chase's eyes shut while he grit his teeth.
"The weapons they-" Chase heaved in a breath and coughed. "They're meant to kill demons and other monsters, I can't," He heaved yet another breath, "I can't heal them with my powers." James grabbed his whip, a look of disdain plastering his face as he wiped the remnants of flesh off.
"We should head inside, Chase's wounds need to be tended to, urgently." All of us were soaked from head to toe. Blood pulsed out of the tears in steady streams. Black veins still writhing under his skin. James had begun to lift him upright, Chase let out an agonizing scream. He bit his lip, closing his eyes hard against the stinging pain he must have felt. "Makayla do you think you could help me get him to stand, please?" I nodded my head quickly and placed his arm over my shoulder, he let out a shriek in pain once more as we both hoisted him upright. He grimaced as he stood in between us, breathing in quick spurts. A few moments later we began to take short deliberate steps waiting as needed for Chase to move. His pain tolerance was clearly high, much higher than any regular person's, however, as we kept walking his energy and strength began to fade. His skin was pale, his eyes looking dull.
"Is there any way we can go faster?" I asked, looking at James for an answer.
"No, not without causing him great pain, we're almost at the house, we just have to get him inside, get him to his room." I tried my best to hide the concern that continued to rise in my chest, knowing that Chase could bleed out didn't sit well with me. "He'll be fine, I promise." James looked at me, his eyes sincere, relieving some of the stress I had.
"But how can you be so sure about that?" I still felt disquiet about the entire situation. Chase's legs gave out with each step, as we got closer, the worse his physical state had gotten. "What if he-"
"Makayla, enough. Stop thinking about what can go wrong, all we can do is get him inside, and help him." He stared me dead in the eye, as the raspy breaths of Chase continued. I nodded my head quickly. Just a few more steps, I thought to myself even though there was at least one hundred meters between us and the house, let alone to his room. At this point his breath sounded ricketty, as though it was an old wooden door trying to fight against the wind, a fight it was losing.
We tried to speed up, but it was impossible with Chase being unable to walk properly. His weight was pushing both of us down, and I was concerned about our ability to keep him upright, and alive. I counted the seconds that passed, hoping time would go faster, that our feet would go faster, but it seemed as though time slowed instead.
"Chase?" I whispered trying to make sure he stayed awake. His dull green eyes made their way to mine, which lit a glimmer of hope within me. He tried to speak, but I hushed him instead. "Don't speak, just stay awake for me, okay? That's all I ask, that's all we ask." He swallowed arduously, nodding his head as best as he could. The smell of blood was thick around us, and the rain soaking every inch of our bodies didn't help either. At this point, his head had begun to sag lower and lower. "Chase, come on we're almost there, don't give up, please."
"It hurts," he choked out, "it hurts so," he coughed, wheezing in a breath, "so badly." His right eye was turning black, as more of his veins did the same, while his awakened eye was burning a bright violet color. "Save me," he spoke with strenuous effort. My heart ached at his words, if both of his powers were activated what did that mean? Did that mean he was going to die? Five more feet. That's all we had left till we were at the back door.
Then in two minutes more, we were there. I struggled to open it, but finally managed to do it. We dragged Chase up the back steps in order to get him inside, he yelled in pain as we did so. We tried our best to get him to his room, when he fell, almost completely to the floor, he was shivering at this point, clearly in shock. James and I struggled to lift him back onto our shoulders without causing him significant pain. The guests from earlier were gone, and the house was dark now. So as best as we could, we dragged him into his bedroom.
Thankfully the door was open, and we could easily pull him through. Blood and water stained the floor, pools of it were all around, the wounds on his back had slowed bleeding, but had yet to stop. We pulled him into his bathroom leaning him against the side of the shower.
"Make it stop," He was basically panting at this point, holding his demonic eye in one hand. The veins on his neck were glowing black and orange, as though fire was eating him from the inside out as the crescent on his forehead glowed.
"James, how do we help him, I-I don't know what those weapons do, or how to help, please help him." I pleaded, not knowing what else to do. He began rummaging through Chase's bathroom, aimlessly looking for something. Eventually he found a vial and a needle, he quickly removed the needle's cap then proceeded to fill it with a liquid I've never seen before. It was cobalt blue, and James filled the vial almost completely with the liquid. Then he looked at me dead in the eye.
"Makayla, I'd back up," I nodded my head confused, but wanting to help in whatever way I could. Then in an instant, on the side with Chase's almost completely black eye, James injected the needle into his neck. Chase let out an agonizing scream as the fluid seemed to destroy the orange that was consuming his dark veins. Eventually, his scream subsided, and his ragged inhales came to a slow. His eyes were tightly shut as he shook slightly.
"Okay we need to see your back," James began sitting him forward, forcing Chase to lean against him. He began to remove the jacket that was now destroyed. Chase winced against the pain, muttering I'm sorry over and over again as though his own pain was invalid. "It's okay, I've got you," James removed his undershirt as well, leaving Chase's skin barer. "Makayla, I need you to find his first aid kit, it should be under his bed," I nodded my head, standing up as fast as I could. Then I basically dove under his bed to find it. Thankfully, it was right at the edge underneath the bed, and I was able to find it with ease.
I ran back to the bathroom, and James had Chase, lying face down on his lap. "Open it, and there's a pair of tweezers, I need you to remove the leftover pieces of clothing from his wounds. Then we need to put him in the shower and rinse off his wounds before we can sew them together." Chase's face was still pale when I removed the tweezers from their case. I swallowed hard as I began to pick pieces of cloth from his back as he whimpered quietly into James's lap.
"I'm sorry Chase," I whispered all he did was lift his hand, as though he was saying it was alright. I continued and he squeezed his hand into a fist, as I kept taking out pieces of the now red stained fabric. There were more wounds on his back than I could comprehend, each intertwining with one another. I kept removing pieces and he beat his fist into the floor writhing in pain as he held back a scream. My heart sank, and I looked at James helplessly, but he nodded telling me I needed to continue.
After a solid thirty minutes, I finished plucking out pieces of fabric from his skin and he rested, panting on James's lap. "Come on Chase we gotta get up," I pet his hair to the side, trying to get him to look at me, "hurry before your back scabs anymore," he put his hands at his side, trying his best to lift himself up. If not for James, he would have collapsed to the floor once again. I grabbed him by his forearm and helped him get up, he groaned in painful protest as we sat him upright. Then we helped him onto his feet and into the shower.
James sat facing him outside the shower door, while I got behind him and turned on the shower head. I began to lightly spray the surface of his skin with the warm water, a scream ricocheting off the walls as the water hit. He leaned forward, cringing in pain. After a while his pain seemed to subside, and I could finally move the shower head around without him crying out. Chase continued to shiver, his face deathly pale. It hurt me to see him that way, but I wasn't quite sure why it hurt as much as it did.
We took him out of the shower, patting him dry with a towel before James walked him to get completely changed. I stood in the bathroom before he said I could come into the room. Chase sat on the edge of the bed; pain still evident in his face. "I'm going to get something for us to eat, can you bandage him up?" I nodded my head as James exited the room. I dug through the first aid kit finding a needle and thread.
"I'm going to have to sew some of them up," I said gently, staring at his devastated back. "They're just too deep," I grimaced looking at the lacerated flesh as I placed the thread through the needle.
"It's okay, just get it over with, please," He started at me silently pleading for his pain to end. His eyes were almost normal, but his demon side still had traces of black in the whites of his eye. I pulled pieces of flesh together as best as I could and began stitching.