Massacre of the finest

Seri couldn't breath and couldn't move, the weight of the bodies was to much and she was too weak, When the men started killing all the girls, hers missed her head and got her ear, but she played dead, but before she do much else another girl was shot near her and dropped on top of her anther one trying to escape got shot and landed on top of the other girl. In was dead silent in the room, the smell and taste of blood was everywhere, the smell of the burning files and computers mixed in with the blood. The room was dark and she couldn't see but every time she reached out she felt someones body, she was pretty sure she was surrounded by dead woman. She didnt know what to do and her stregnth was fading fast, when she heard movement and a door open she went still

"Such a waste," said Zandar. "Let's gather all of the bodies in the courtyard. The least we can do is send the humans home to their families to grieve. With our school being full of rich kids, it would be a believable story for a terrorist group to bomb the school." Then, he heard it. The sound of a heart, beating in terror. "Someone's in here. Maybe there are some survivors."

She heard a males voice but did not understand the language he was speaking, she tried to make herself seem small and dead, though she hated to she laid her head down on the bloody carpet and laid as still as possible

Zandar began carrying bodies out, being respectful and putting clothes on them. There were so many and he hated stacking them, but he had to send them off. He made sure that the half-Carpathians and the full blooded Carpathians were in one stack and the humans in another to be given to their families. He got to a pile of five last. Slowly, he carried them to the courtyard. However, when he came to Serilda he paused. Colors burst around him and sorrow for the women filled him.

"You can get up now," he said gently. "I can hear your heart beat. Tell me, are you hurt anywhere?"

She remained unmoving, still as the dead that were removed from her

"I've come from the school to help you," he said, almost desperately. "Please, tell me if you are hurt. I know you are not dead, little one, nor will I hurt you or kill you."

Silence and no movement was all that greeted him

He picked her up and said, "I know you live, woman! I need you to tell me where you are injured because you are covered in blood and I know most of it isn't yours! Now, talk!"

She punched him hard enough he saw stars for a second and leaped from his arms and backed into a corner in a crouch like stance "Não chegue mais perto ou eu vou matar você!" she yelled (Do not come any closer or I will kill you)

Zandar knelt to the ground, feeling sick. Colors and emotions were stronger now that she had spoken. He knew the language, had studied it extensively. He wanted to make sure he could speak to his lifemate, no matter what.

"I only wish to help," he said in her language. "I am a teacher at the school. I will give you clothes, a place to rest and recover, and my personal protection."

She was shocked that he spoke back to her but she did not move"Mentiras(Lies)"

"No," he said, "I am not like those men."

He called for Raven, telling her of the situation. She is my lifemate. She thinks I am trying to hurt her. I need your assistance. She speaks Portaguese.

But I do not speak that language...but I will try and Im sorry you had to find your lifemate this way.. Ill be there soon after I am done helping Danarius

"NÃO, você é mais perigoso, você se preocupa com minha mente, me faz querer vir até você, truques malignos de cheiro e voz" (No you are more dangerous, you mess with my mind, make me want to come to you, evil tricks of smell and voice) she said taking a breath like she was inhaling his scent

"I would not force you to come with me, little one," he said. "If had done so, we would be in the school infirmary right now. I could, but I will not treat my lifemate that away."

"Lifemate? Você é cárpato?"(Lifemate? you are carpathian?) She asked in a tired tone

"Yes," he said, holding out his hand. "Will you come with me?"

He saw something in her eyes than, like what ever strength she had faded, tears formed in her eyes as if she was a child seeing her parent after getting lost, with a cry she tackled him, hugging him as she laid on top of him, she started to shiver and started to cry heavily in his shoulder, clinging to him like he was her only hope to escape this nightmare.

"It is alright, little one," he said soothingly, tears in his own eyes. "I will get you out of here. They will never touch you again." He cleaned and clothed her in a green dress to make her feel beautiful, yet protected. "Are you hurt anywhere? I need to know."

She moved her hair and flinched, the bullet cut some of her ear off and cut her cheek, She also pointed to other areas that were more private and also said the word soul, that her soul was hurt. She curled up into his arms and laid her head against his chest, she was so small and skinny, weight at the most eighty pounds

He picked her up and said, "I will heal you. It will take time for the nightmares to leave you, but those, too, will fade. Let's get you out of here. You do not need to see this place any more."

He walked out and saw Raven. He spoke to her in English. "Send the human bodies to their families, telling them of a terrorist attack on the school. The others must be burned. Once we have everything fixed and the injured healed, we will have a day to mourn for those we have lost."

She started to get scared when he walked outside "wait! please wait!" she cried, gripping his shirt tight

"What is it, little one?" he asked. "Why would you wish to stay in this place of death a second longer?"

"I cant go outside please take me back....please" she begged hiding her face in his chest

"Why can't you go outside?" he asked, upset and confused.

She started to shake "Please...." She said holding the back of her neck "Please...it will hurt...don't go pass the trees please"

He took her inside and asked, "Why will it hurt going past the trees?"

In the back of her neck was a chip, what id did was uncertain, but it was active

He growled and said, "I will get that out. We have a healer with us. She will assist me."

"tool...special tool....Inside...I know where" she said holding her neck

"Allow me into your mind so that I may see," he said. "You should not move. You are too injured."

He would feel her fear at that, that because she did not trust him in fact, because he was a Carpathian she trusted him without fear, to her and her people they are good and their protectors, she felt honor to even be touched by him, she was scared by what he would see

"Little one, I will not touch the memories you do not wish to share with me," he said. "Please, show me."

She nodded and thought of the place she saw the drill like weapon, it was in the basement were they kept all the Carpathians they kept, it was their torture room a room they all missed

Zandar went to the wall, to a poster that had crude and vulgar drawing on it. He pulled it off the wall with a metallic snap. He went inside and was sickened by what he saw. He quickly grabbed the drill and left. He had to fight nausea.

"Raven," he said, "There is a room of Carpathian women down there. They have been... ripped apart, experimented on, and dissected. It looks like many, if not all of them, had been alive when it happened. That room, this camp, needs to be dealt with."

Raven growled "We will see what other hidden places they might have and bury our dead properly" she said in a shaken voice because she was so full of rage and saddness

Seril sat curled up the ground and rocking herself slightly, her head down on her knees, it was then he would notice the scars on her back that had been filled in with ink

Zandar growled and said, "What have they done to you? Why have they marked you beautiful skin in such a way?"

He wanted to find every man and woman that had touched her and kill them with his bare hands, watch the life slowly drain out of them. At the same time, he wished to hold his lifemate close, remove every scar and memory of her time in that horrid camp. His warring emotions filled the air, making it crackle.

She quickly moved her hair to cover her back as she turned from him with shame and insecurity in her heart "Drill...please hurry..." she said in a soft whisper like tone

He felt her shame and calmed down. "This was not your fault, little one. You do not have to feel shame because of someone else's sickness. You are innocent."

He touched her gently and began drilling. The instant the pain hit, he took it all on himself. Blood dotted his forehead. He didn't give into it. When he was finally able, he took the chip out and used his tongue to seal the wound. She tasted unlike anything he had ever had before. If it were not for the seriousness of the situation and his own weakness after taking on her pain, he would have indulged himself. As it was, he slumped to the ground, breathing heavily.

"What do the marks on your back mean, little one?" he asked breathlessly. "I wish to know."

She shook her head, not wanting to say, with the chip out of her neck suddenly her form started to change, she moaned and pant, the sounds tunred into growls as she took on the form of a large leopard

"Little one, you are amazing," he said. "Please, I wish to learn about you, starting with the scars. There is nothing that will make me angry with you."

The large Leopard rolled in the grass and started running around happily "free.....to run.......to hunt.....to be free....thank you Carpathian thank you....my scars...they marked me for reason I do not know....It hurt...it burned" She said as the large cat groaned and rolled more in the grass

"Thats not a jaguar.....how did she change into it?" Raven asked

"She's amazing, isn't she?" Zandar said, awe in his voice. "I already need her like the blood in my veins, and I have yet to hear her name."

The Leopard stopped and laid in the grass, the beast breath was long and strong, Suddenly it's ear twitched and its head pirked up and looked to a near by bush, the cat angled itself into a jumping position and leaped into the bush with a growl, a high pitched squeak was heard and then silence, the cat emerged from the bush with a rabbit in its mouth and walked over to Zandar and placed it at his feet

He smiled and said, "Little one, can you return to your human form? I very much wish to learn about my lifemate."

"Lifemate? I do not know your lifemate, was she in there?" she said shifting into her human form, moans and groans as she shifted coming from her, the sound of her bones reforming echoed the area, she naked and her mouth covered in the rabbits blood

He pulled out a handkerchief and cleaned her face as he said, "Funny you should ask." His thumb caressed her cheek. "Because you are my lifemate."

She looked at him confused for a moment "but I am not physic....I am only shapeshifter" she said in disbelief "maybe you are confused?"

"That is what allows you and me to be two halves of the same whole," he said. "Shall I say the binding words to prove my claim? Even as a human, you will feel the strings tying us together as we are meant to be."

She shook her head and backed away "no....not me....I want to go home...my people...I want to be with my people.....and ...not worthy to be lifemate"

"We will go to your people if that is what you need, little one," he said. "And you are more than worthy to be my lifemate. Despite everything that happened to you, when I came to you as a stranger, you were willing to fight me for your freedom. Do you know how strong you must be to keep your mind after what was done to you? I am honored to be your lifemate, even though I'm not worthy to even look at you."

you smell like home.... she said getting a little closer you.....brazil?

My family has ranches all over South America, he said, nodding. My main residence is our ranch in Brazil. We can live there, if you like.

She gasped you...you are De La Cruz?

"Yes," he said. "I am Zandar De La Cruz. What is your name, little one? Or should I just make up a name for my beautiful jungle cat?"

"Serilda Keria...my people are natives of your homeland" she said getting a little closer, she was in arms reach of him, her wild sweet scent filled his nose

He pulled her close and kissed her deeply. He couldn't stop himself from saying, "I claim you as my lifemate. I belong to you. I offer my life for you. I give to you my protection, my allegiance, my heart, my soul, and my body. I take into my keeping the same that is yours. Your life, happiness, and welfare will be cherished and placed above my own for all time. You are my lifemate, bound to me for all eternity and always in my care."

She bit down hard enough on his lip to make it bleed and she jumped from his arms even though she felt the binding words click, she glared at him and wiped her lips with her hand, fear and hurt and anger were in her eyes, She stood up and ran away from him into the woods