Limbo (Part Two)

Chapter Fifteen: An Unlikely Hero

"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."  -Christopher Reeve

Chapter Fifteen: An Unlikely Hero

I didn't meet up with the goblins as David suggested. I knew better than to assume they would trust me and welcome me back.

No. I was on my own.

Alone.

There was once a time I would have been thrilled at the prospect of being alone. When I had still been human I made it a point to spend as much time by myself as possible. It had taken my death and monstrous rebirth to realize how important friendship really was and how much I had been missing out on.

Somehow being alone now, after everything I had endured, was far worse than any torture Moroi had put me through. I thought I had hit rock bottom during my imprisonment by the goblins, but I had been wrong. Losing my friends and returning to the loneliness I had endured as a human, that was what ultimately broke me.

And I had no one to blame but myself. The actions I had taken led to this. Moroi might have made me his thrall, but he never forced me to become a vampire. That had been my choice. People had suffered because of choices I had made, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't at least try to make amends.

What I needed was time to think, but I had none. Two days would fly by and there was no way I would let everyone in purgatory die because of Moroi's selfish pursuit of power and my inability to see through his lies and manipulation. The problem was if I truly was under his thrall there was no way I could kill him.

But maybe that was the point.

All this killing was what was causing the problem. We needed less violence to solve this problem, not more.  

And while I might not be able to stop Moroi, I did know all of the ins and outs of his organization thanks to my time in his entourage. What I could do is get as many of his followers out of the way as possible so that David and the others had a clear shot at him. While it was dangerous and risky, I knew if anyone could do it, it would be me.

Wiping my tears and raising myself up off the ground, I took a few deep breaths and made up my mind. There was no time to sit around feeling sorry for myself. Action was needed if we were going to survive.

It was time to get to work.

...

"For goodness sake! How can you be so heavy when all you drink is blood?" I griped at Grigori's unconscious body as I drug him to the goblin cages.

Once there he would join the other seven imprisoned vampires I had been able to round up in the past few hours. I was proud that I had managed not to kill any of them so far.

As I attempted to shove Grigori's bulk into an empty cage his body fell back into me, causing us both to fall to the ground.

"You have got to be kidding me," I snarled, holding my breath to keep from breathing in his horrible body odor.

And I had thought the goblins were smelly.

I shoved him off me with all of my might and winced as his head bounced off the bars.

"Oops. Sorry," I whispered to him, repositioning him with more care and giving him a small pat before I locked him inside.

As I turned to leave, a group of goblins stood blocking my way. I had wondered when they would find me here.

"Halt, vampire," the leader ordered me.

"I come in peace," I joked. Judging by their solemn faces, they didn't appreciate it.