From Death Unto Life

Ch. 19 Athos

Helio lay stagnant in my arms. His breathing was sharp and short. His eyes fluttered open.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Don't worry about the time. But I think it's close to dawn. Dean should be here in a few minutes, I called for him." I knew that he was going to live. But there was a part of me that was still worried. It reminded me of the last time that I had held a dying body.

Adelaide's hands turned a nasty shade of blue. Her throat gurgled in resistance, but I kept pulling the rope tight around her neck. Why was I doing this? How did my life come to such pain? My grief had encompassed so much that I was the cause of the death of another human.

Yet I still pulled on the rope. I still had to finish the treatorus deed that I started. Why did I force myself to take such measures?

If you can't have Helio, then you are nothing. Said a voice, reverberating in my head, soft as a feather, buzzy as a bee. If you can't have him, then you can't be with anyone else.

I tightened my grip. Addy's eyes bulged and cried. My whole being shook. How could I do such a thing? Helio would never have even imagined that I could do something as terrible as this. I couldn't stop now. My mind was in a war, trying to justify my actions and telling me I was wrong.

You are grieved, you don't have control over your body.

No, I do. And I know this is wrong.

Athos, your pain and suffering have led you to this. Your mind is not in the right place.

Stop telling me this, I have to stop, I could never do something so evil.

My mind battled itself for what seemed an eternity. I finally let go of the rope, my morals getting the best of me.

But she was already dead.

Her hands were limp, her eyes rolled back, her chest solid. She was as dead as dirt.

I cried for days. I cried for Adelaide, I cried for Helio, I cried for my soul.

The next thing I knew, there was a rope encircling my own neck.

Helio inhaled sharply and let out a long hiss. He shifted in my arms as if he was uncomfortable.

"You alright?"

He looked up and I saw a flash of anger before he turned away.

"No. I should have seen it coming. Now I've got a hole in my gut and it hurts like hell!"

I played with his curls, stroking them slowly.

"You can not see everything that will happen. Sometimes you have to-" I broke off as I heard Dean coming. He knelt beside us, almost everything in his arms tumbling to the floor. Helio gave a snort, but flinched away when Dean leaned down to see the wound. We all stayed in silence as that was processed.

"Your- Your hands are cold." Helio did not look at either of us. Dean gently lifted Helio's shirt and started working on cleaning the blood from the stab wound. When it was time for the stitches, Helio was still. Too still. And his breathing...why was it so calm? My heart started pounding. He was too pale- Dean pulled back, hands on his knees. I ignored him. Something was wrong.

"It's not safe for the two of you here. I know a place where Anthony knows nothing about. We need to leave now, though."

I scooped the motionless Helio up and followed Dean into the kitchen. I set Helio on the table where Dean smeared some sort of paste on the stitches. There was a hissing noise and the stitches and the wound dissipated. Helio gave a shaky laugh. I helped him off the table and to the waiting carriage. Emelia was already inside and Helio leaned against me, falling asleep almost immediately. Emelia smiled tenderly at him.