The Last Harmon [Complete]

Chapter 38

 A strange thing happens inside my body. If I wasn't almost certain I was dead then I could swear I can feel my heart beating.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

I listen to the rhythm, almost like a lullaby. I imagined the afterlife to be much more clear and in-your-face, but I just feel disorientated and lost. Maybe this is how it feels at first, or maybe listening to my beating heart is all there is for me. How long until I see my mother? My father? My whole family? Have I failed them or will they be proud of me? I'm anxious. Their legacy is everything to them, and I think I've left at least something behind for another generation to follow. That generation might not be Harmon, but they might be a new hope. I want to see Victoria now. I want to embrace my cousin. It's been so long. So damn long. I can't wait to tell her about the Slayers, about Sam, to tell her that she was right all along.

Oh. Oh. Something changes. I want to wake up. But how do I wake up? My eyes begin to drift open while I linger on that thought. Everything is bright. I see the sun. It is directly above me. My eyes close again.

"Theresa. Theresa."

"Father? Is that you?" I whisper.

"What?"

My eyes open again, wider, more assertive. Sam leans over me, the shine of his golden eyes lights up a smile on my face. I shy away in embarrassment. And then the shock sets in. I'm alive. My heartbeat is real, and I'm still in the same place I fell asleep in. However, Megan is gone, and the attackers are out of sight.

"Are you. . . okay?" he asks.

"She left me alive," I say, glancing at Sam in confusion as I sit up. "Why would she leave me alive?"

"I don't know," he says. "But I'm glad she did."

He holds out his hand and I look at it for a moment, almost wishing I was still asleep so I could avoid this moment. I slide my hand into his and I accept his help to balance me back to my feet. I try to hide the sensation that is burning me from my insides. It starts in the hand he touches, and then it travels to my gut, causing a reverberation of consequences. Does he feel it too? I'm dying to ask him. But that would mean exposing this bizarre connection and he probably doesn't even have a flicker of the same emotion. All I know is, whenever his hand leaves mine, I want to feel it again.

I saved his life, and now I have to understand why, but I don't even know where to start.

"You're alone," I say. "That isn't good news."

"No," he sighs, staring around the compound. "Amara has taken my entire unit hostage."

"We have to go find them."

"I already know where they are."

"She's using them as bait, to draw you out. We need backup, Sam. Tex and his team are waiting literally just over-"

"No," he says immediately. "I'm not giving Amara more hostages." He turns around and stares at the building. "This is our one and only chance of getting those humans out. She's going to leave them to die in there. I have to choose between them and my unit. How do I. . . how can I protect my unit if I can't even save lives that are right in front of me? I couldn't protect Sophia. That witch did something to her head, she started seeing things and then she launched herself at Milasia. By the time I split them up, the coven had already got inside the heads of the rest of them. I've just spent the last hour fighting off my own unit. I had to knock Sophia unconscious. That's when Amara showed up and things got even more complicated."

I take a deep breath. I feel at blame. This was all my fault. If I hadn't have pressured him into taking me and his team instead then none of this would be happening. It's as though Amara predicted my actions from the moment I learned about the rescue. It scares me that she knows me that well. This entire rescue was manipulated into an assassination against Sam. The coven turned his unit against him, Sophia against him, this is the first time I've ever seen him hopeless. It isn't a mask he should wear. I want to melt it away.