Hidden Lycan. (COMPLETE)

Chapter Twenty Nine

I stayed with Alaric for a little while, long enough to feel more at ease that he was alright. He was still sleeping, his face somewhat pinched with anxiety with whatever nightmare he was experiencing. I wanted to help him, wanted to soothe his dreams but I didn't know how. I ran my fingers along his brow, down the side of his face and jaw, and continued up the other side. 

I repeated this motion over and over. Just running feather light touches along his face until his tension released and a relieved sigh fell from his lips. His breathing evened out along with the rhythm of his heart. I wonder if he always had such trouble sleeping. 

I carefully slipped out from under him, placing his head as gently as possible on the ground before standing and stretching out my stiff limbs. Now the only problem was getting around the Cerberus hounds. I looked around for any opening, any way I could make my way around them by stepping over them. But they made sure there was no way for me to get out and no way for anyone to get in. 

I sighed, turning to look at the tree behind me. I studied the tree. It looked sturdy enough, the trunk was nice and thick. There was a low hanging branch I could use to pull myself up with. After that would be the hard part. There wasn't many other branches within reach, but with my lycan I could jump, assuming I could catch myself on the branch above. After that all I had to do was make my way out across that branch and drop to the ground on the other side of the Cerberus's. Yeah, no problem. Except for the fact that I haven't climbed a tree since I was five. 

I turned back to the Cerberus's with a low groan. I really didn't want to wake them up. I studied the area again, searching for anything that could help, when I noticed an area where the Cerberus was thinner. An area I could jump with my lycan. I sighed in relief as I called on my lycan's strength and leapt over the Cerberus's without waking them. 

I quickly made my way to Eli and Xavier, remembering each of them were bloodied and clawed pretty badly. My heart skipped when I found them. They were both still bleeding though not as bad. They looked pale and weak, their brows covered in sweat. I ran over to them dropping to my knees in between them. I cupped Eli's face in my hands wiping the sweat from his face with my hands. "Eli?" I whispered. "What can I do? How can I help?" I asked trying not to let the tears I felt coming fall. 

"We'll be fine parvulus. We just need time." His voice was so soft and weak. I turned to Xavier who smiled at me but it wasn't his smile. It didn't reach his eyes, it was lop sided and looked forced. My anxiety and concern kept rising with every second I sat between them. 

Eli groaned making me jump and whirl towards him, my hands hovering over him frantically searching for a way to help. I suppressed the urge to groan  in both annoyance and exhaustion. Eli's eyes were tightly squeezed shut, his head leaned against the tree he was propped against. With a glance down at his chest I noticed it was still seeping blood. 

I pulled my shirt over my head and ripped Eli's the rest of the way off. "Get me some water." I demanded mini hulk. He grunted at me but stood and grabbed a water bottle from his bag and handed it to me. His eyes roamed over me and I growled. "Eyes up here." Mini hulk huffed but snapped his eyes to mine. 

Turning back to Eli I poured the water over his wound, cleaning it the best I could of any debris that had gotten into it. Once most of the blood was washed away I pressed my shirt to his chest and applied as much pressure as I could to stop the bleeding. "Do we have any bandages?" I asked turning to mini hulk. He furrowed his brow for a minute before nodding and digging through his bag for the bandages. I was thankful he brought some, if I had known something like this was going to happen I would have packed medical supplies myself. 

"Here." Mini hulk said thrusting the bandages in front of me. I thanked him, before gently nudging Eli into a sitting position and wrapping the bandage around his torso to hold the shirt to him. It wasn't by no means perfect, but it would work for now. Turning to Xavier I did the same thing. I grabbed clothes from my bag and shredded them to cover his wounds and wound the bandages around the majority of them. 

"They need food and water." I said, my voice coarse with exhaustion and concern. I was concerned about all of them. And I still haven't had a chance to check on Lucas yet. I blew air into my cheeks massaged my temples trying to soothe the ache that was building there. "Here." Mini hulk said more gentle this time. "This is all we have but it should bring some color back to them." 

"Thank you." breathed taking the protein bars and water and turned towards Eli. He looked worse than Xavier despite Xavier having more wounds. "Eli, eat this. Please." I said, the words coming out more as a plea than a gentle urge. Eli chuckled lightly but did as I asked. As he slowly ate his I turned to Xavier and urged him to do the same. "I'll be back." I told them. "I have to go check on Lucas." 

As I came up to Lucas I all but collapsed beside him, the paralytic should be almost out of his system by now. "Are you alright?" Lucas's weak voice asked. No, not weak, tired. "I'm okay." I assured him. "Just tired. How are you? The paralytic wearing off yet?" Lucas gave off a grunting sound before I noticed he was indeed moving his limbs again ever so slightly. "Give it another hour or two." I told him. 

The books the slayers gave me must have not only been the history of the supernaturals of myth but also their history and abilities. Whatever they gave me must have been truth if I was going by what happened today. And that means we have to be more careful than ever in these woods because not only do these creatures live here, but the gates to the underworld are here too. And none of us want to end up there. 

"Since you're okay I'm going to go back to Eli and Xavier. They were hurt pretty bad." Lucas nodded in understanding, his eyes closing so he could sleep. I leaned over and kissed him gently before pushing myself to my feet and heading back to Xavier and Eli. 

They both looked like they were sleeping. Their breathing was even, their face now more calm than it was before I bandaged them. I noticed a slight twitch in Eli's hand as he slept but nothing that would cause concern. I still didn't feel comfortable sleeping with each of them being hurt. And if Alaric woke up surrounded by the Cerberus then I think he may have a heart attack. So I sat in between Eli and Xavier and leaned back against the tree allowing myself just a brief second to relax, before all hell broke loose again tomorrow.