Moon's Mercy

Chapter four (Life Robber)

Zeraphiel’s POV

“Zera…el… Ze…raphiel… wa…up… Zeraphiel, wake up!!”

I jolted awake, my chest convulsing with a sharp, searing pain that stabbed through my ribs like a dagger. My head felt as heavy as a boulder, a dull throbbing echoing behind my eyes. The world spun in blurry swirls, colors melting into one another, until at last, I blinked enough times to make sense of where I was.

This wasn’t my room or the pack house. Where… where am I?

The sterile smell of anesthesia and antiseptic filled my nostrils. Am definitely at a Hospital.

I tried to move but pain rooted me to the bed, refusing to let me rise. I tilted my chin down, wincing at the tight pull across my body. My entire lower half was wrapped in thick layers of bandages, from my knees all the way down to my toes. My hands were mummified in gauze as well, stiff and useless, and my head felt as though someone had wrapped iron chains around it.

I must have looked wretched, pathetic, pitiful and honestly I feel that way too, what happened to me?

That i***t Gerald would laugh his oversized head off if he saw me like this. “Oh, look at little Zeraphiel, wrapped up like a broken doll.” Ugh.

But the more pressing question struck me like lightning, Where were my parents? Why aren't they here with me, I hope they aren't somewhere crying and consoling each other like am dead.

I laugh at the irony of it, I really do feel dead right now.

What type of accident.... wait, wait, accident?

The memory hit me with force that made my already throbbing head pulse very painfully.

The last thing I remembered… we were traveling, yes. A family trip to our little cabin in the woods. A tradition. We always laughed about how it was “our secret world.” My father driving, my mother humming softly beside him, me in the backseat, daydreaming about annoying Gerald later with my stories.

So why… why am I here?

Why am I all battered and broken and they are not beside me? A mother hen those two are, so why?

My chest tightened, panic clawing up my throat. I forced my hazy mind to push harder, to remember. But every time I tried, the pain in my skull pulsed stronger, sharper, until finally....

A wave of agony rolled through me, dragging along a memory I didn’t want.

MEMORY BEGINS

We were only minutes away from the cabin. I remember looking out at the trees, sunlight flickering between them, when suddenly, a massive truck that was out of control appeared too close to us.

Its brakes shrieked into nothingness as it barreled down the sharp bend, rushing straight at us.

There was no time to avoid it, no warning, just fear of the unknown.

My parents’ instincts kicked in, they didn’t think,.they didn’t scream, they threw themselves over me. My father’s arms shielded my chest; my mother’s body pressed against mine. They took the blow for me, protecting me, leaving themselves open to the horrors of it.

Then the sound of glass shattering, car tumbling and breaking apart, and the unbearable pile of silver rods piercing through them.

Silver, werewolves' curse, our bane.

My scream was drowned out by the sound of our car continuous tumbling, spinning like a child’s fan toy. Somehow, by miracle, or cruel fate, i was flung out. I hit the ground, my bones breaking horribly on impact, I screamed in pain, I thought I was they were also thrown out with me.

But how wrong was I, my parents… they were still inside.

“Dad!” I croaked, dragging myself forward on legs that bent at wrong impossible angles.

The car door hung open, my parents sprawled across the back seat, blood spilling where silver had entered them. My father stirred weakly, his head lifting,.my mother… didn’t.

“Mom! Dad! Please, please get out!” My voice cracked, desperation fueling every painful crawl. The air smelled strong and pungent..... gasoline.

My chest constricted in terror, the smell of death hung in the air.

“Dad!” I sobbed, reaching out with trembling hands. “Please get her out! I can heal her, I’ll heal her, I just.... please!”

His eyes opened, red-rimmed, pain-filled. He turned to my mother and shook her gently, pleading silently for her to wake, she didn’t move, she didn’t stir.

I saw it in his eyes, the moment he realized, the silver had pierced her heart.

A whimper ripped from his chest, a howl so broken, so guttural, it didn’t sound like my father at all. It was the cry of a man losing half his soul, a wolf losing his companion, his mate.

“No, no, Dad, don’t!” I screamed, crawling faster, my shattered legs dragging uselessly behind me. My tears blurred everything. “She’s not gone! I can heal her! Just bring her out!”

But he shook his head, slowly, defiantly. His face was carved with grief so profound it stole the breath from my lungs, they loved each other too much.

Still, I kept coming, the gasoline smell burned my throat now, acrid and suffocating, it was getting stronger, fear pounded in my veins.

“Dad! Please! We still have time! Come out!”

He looked at me one last time, his eyes glassy with tears. And then.....

A spark two opposite fuse met and then a flash and before I knew it, the world turned to fire.

The car exploded, a deafening roar of flame and destruction.

The force flung me backwards, my fragile body colliding with the overturned truck. Pain cracked through me anew, sharper than before, blood spilled from my mouth.

The last thing I saw before darkness took me was the inferno consuming them both, my parents, my world, it was being swallowed by fire.

MEMORY ENDS

“No…” I choked, jolting up in my hospital bed, my chest rising and falling with shallow, panicked breaths. “No, no, no!”

The machines around me beeped wildly, alarms shrieking as if mirroring my distress. Tubes tugged at my skin as I struggled to rise, but I didn’t care. I ripped myself free as best as my broken body would allow. My legs buckled, but I grabbed the drip stand and dragged myself forward, I needed to find them, I needed to see them.

“Mom! Dad!” My voice cracked as I staggered out of the ward, each step agony, my tears blinding me. “Where are they?! Where were they admitted?!”

Nurses rushed toward me, doctors following. Their voices blurred together, distant and muffled.

“Mr. Zeraphiel, please calm down....”

“Your legs aren’t healed yet....”

“Please, stop moving....”

“Don’t touch me!” I snarled, sobbing harder. “Don’t any of you dare touch me! I need to see my parents! Tell me where they are!”

One of the doctors stepped forward, his face softened with pity, and it made my blood boil. Pity meant loss, Pity meant confirmation of the nightmare in my head and am not accepting it at all, am not.

“I swear,” I spat, my voice shaking, “if anyone touches me again, I’ll break their nose! Just let me see my parents.... please.... please!”

Hands grabbed me from all sides, holding me down despite my thrashing. My ribs screamed, my broken legs folded painfully beneath me, but I didn’t care. I screamed and fought until my voice was hoarse, until all I had left were tears.

A sharp sting pricked my arm, cold medicine burned through my veins.

“No... no, let me go.... I just wanted....” My words slurred, tongue heavy. “I just wanted to see my parents… I just wanted…”

The strength drained from me, my thrashing slowed, until all that remained was the pitiful sound of my sobbing, darkness swam at the edges of my vision, heavy and final.

The last thing I heard before it consumed me was a whisper, soft, broken, but clear.

“…They didn’t make it.”

My heart clenched so tightly it felt like it shattered inside me.

And then nothing just darkness and my wolf's grief soaked voice.

'you will be fine, we will be fine'

When next my eyes fluttered open, the room was silent, too silent, the kind that weighed on your chest.

At the foot of my bed stood a figure cloaked in black, tall, broad-shouldered. Their eyes gleamed in the dark, predatory, watchful, unblinking, it definitely not a doctor nor a nurse.

And when the figure finally spoke, their voice was low and chilling, every word a blade to my heart.

“You weren’t supposed to survive, Zeraphiel.”

My breath caught, my blood froze and my heart stopped.

And the world around me collapsed once more.