Chapter 152

#Chapter 152 – Sacrifice Desperate, panicked as pieces of the ceiling start to slam down around be, revealing flames behind, I haul myself to my feet. Determined to give it one last shot, I grab Bridgette by her shoulders again and pull, putting my whole weight into it –

Suddenly, I feel something at my back. I gasp and then cough viciously against the smoke in my lungs.

I turn, then, to see Victor behind me, looking furious. I open my mouth to speak but he beats me to it.

“Evelyn, go –“ he yells, his face dark with soot, with panic.

“No!” I yell, hauling on Bridgette’s limp form.

“I’ll get her!” he says, adding his strong hands to mine.

“I’m not leaving her here!” I yell up at him and, seeing the determination on my face, he snarls and then turns his attention back to Bridgette. We both take an arm and then the process is fast – just barely fast enough as flames roar through the kitchen, licking at the floor where we were just sitting.

We haul her out, dragging her onto the porch, then across it, and then I feel her arm pulled out of my grasp. I stumble the last few feet into the grass before falling to my knees, gasping for air, savoring the sweet freshness that works its way into my lungs.

Looking around for Bridgette, I see her in Victor’s arms as he stumbles away from me, towards a group of people. Rafe is there, putting out his arms for Bridgette, his face horrified, grateful, scared as he takes his fiancé from his brother.

Then Victor spins around, looking for me. I see him curse as he hurries back towards me, stumbling over his own steps, and then I rise to meet him as he grabs me by the arm and pulls me further away from the house.

When we reach the area where everyone else is huddled, far away enough from the house to be deemed safe, we both fall to the ground, gasping. I let myself lay back on the cool, hard cement next to the pool, staring up at the smoky sky as I work to get my breath back.

I glance over at Victor, sitting with his head between his knees, reaching a hand towards him. But when he looks up to meet my eyes, I can see that he is livid.

I snatch my hand back as he takes a deep breath – the first one he’s able to manage – and begins to yell at me. “What the hell were you thinking, Evelyn?!” he shouts.

“I saw her!” I say, looking back to the house. “I had to help –“

“I told you not to go in there!” He says, his face still lit with rage. “You could have died!”

I work to sit up, frowning at him – how dare he scold me for doing the same thing he did. “I couldn’t not help her, Victor,” I say, gesturing an arm towards her.

Victor moves then, leaping to his feet, confronting the nearest Beta with the full heat of his temper.

“Who let her go in there!?” He roars, his hands curling into fists.

“Sir, she –“

“I said,” Victor roars, his teeth elongating into fangs, his fingers sharpening with claws, “who let her go in there –“

The Beta cowers back, true fear on his face, and Victor bellows, hauling his fist up and punching the poor Beta across the face as hard as he can.

“Victor!” I yell, horrified –

I have never, ever seen him lose his temper like this. I put my hands out towards him, palms forward, and feel the message first coil within me and then pulse out from me, towards him, a single word –

STOP.

I can see the moment, half a second letter, when the message reaches him. He turns sharply away from the Beta, fixing his gaze on me. The Beta scrambles away, looking back over his shoulder with fear, a hand pressed to his cheek.

Victor seethes, closing the distance between us and taking me by the shoulders to give me a rough shake. “You could have done anything else, Evelyn! You were surrounded by Betas – you could have sent one of them in –“

“And have them risk their lives?” I say, appalled at him, though – actually – I hadn’t even considered it in the moment.

“They’re trained, Evelyn!” He says, giving me another shake, “They’re bigger than you – you’re –“

Victor shakes his head at me and then allows himself to ungracefully sit down on the ground, putting his head in his hands. I watch him, shocked, and see suddenly that he’s shaking.

I move closer to him, putting my hand on his back, rubbing it softly. “It’s okay,” I whisper. “We did it, we’re safe –“

“Evelyn,” he murmurs. “I don’t know what I would have done if I had lost you – if I hadn’t seen you out of the corner of my eye while I was getting Rafe out – I couldn’t live with myself if anything –“

“We’re fine,” I murmur, keeping my voice low. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “You’re right – I should have sent someone else – but Victor, in the moment, I couldn’t…”

He looks up at me then and I reach out a hand to wipe some of the soot from his face with my thumb. I wonder, passively, if I look the same. Victor studies my face.

“The baby,” I whisper to him, shaking my head.

I see him take a deep breath, then, realizing that I wasn’t simply being heroic. That in seeing Bridgette collapsed on the floor, I couldn’t not go to her. He nods, then, forcing himself to understand, to see that that it’s in the past. That we’re safe now and he can calm down.

I nod at him, confirming his thoughts. We’re safe, I say, with my face, my mind.

He nods, understanding, and repeats the idea back to me with his body, his thoughts. We’re safe, he says, and that’s all that matters.

I wrap my arms around him then, hearing the wail of a firetruck’s siren somewhere close.

A few heartbeats pass and Victor turns his face to mine. “It’s not worth it, Evelyn,” he says, softly. “I’m sorry – I’m sorry I lost my temper, but it wouldn’t be worth anything you could save if it meant losing you.”

My eyes fill with sadness as he says this and I put my hand to his cheek. “She is my sister now, Victor,”

I say softly. “She’s worth it.”

He shakes his head roughly, looking away. “No, Evelyn. You are everything. Without you, the world doesn’t turn.”

I’m confused by this but simply shake my head softly again, resting it on his shoulder. To him, perhaps, I am the moon and the tides, as he is to me. But in the grand scheme of things? There are things, always, which I would sacrifice my life for.

For my sons, for him, for the life we are building. In that moment, I know, they’d all be worth it.

I bite my lip, then, and close my eyes, saying a little prayer that that price is never truly asked of me.

Because as much as I’d hate to leave this world, I know I’d pay it so they could stay.

Victor warps an arm around me then, pulling me closer against him. Then, together in silence, we turn our eyes towards the house and watch it burn to the ground.