TWENTY-TWO: Magic Arrow

CORNELIA COULDN'T HELP but feel nervous at the possibility of meeting his family. She wondered if they would actually like her, or how he would introduce her to them. A friend, she decided, or perhaps the daughter of the great lawyer Jerry Cooper.

She didn't like it, she felt like she should be called more by him. However, she decided to settle for that at least for the time being. After a couple of minutes of pure silence, which felt tense to Cornelia in a way, she began to notice his strange urgency to get to the mansion.

His grip on her arm tightened, and his steps were fast enough that she began tripping on her feet. "Is something wrong?" She asked him hesitantly.

"We should get out of here." Lucien could feel someone around. He could no longer hear them, but he senses them pretty well. Lucien didn't care what she would think any longer, the sense of danger was rising within him and he hastened his pace.

Cornelia's heart was pounding and she began to panic slightly. She turned her head to see if anyone was behind them, but she saw nothing. "You're freaking me out, just tell me what's going on."

Lucien stopped, and had a grave look on his face, "Someone is here." No sooner had he uttered the words that he heard something swooshing through the air from a distance. He turned around just in time to pull Cornelia away from an arrow that was about to plunge itself into her chest.

He pulled her into him and her face hit his chest. He wrapped his arms around her one, one of them around her waist, holding her in place. His eyes however were kept on the arrow that was now stuck to a tree.

The warmth of his body only distracted her for a second before she pulled away and looked up to see his eyes focused on something. She turned to the direction he was looking, and a small part of her was elated with how his arms remained around her. A loud gasp left her with she saw the arrow.

"Did someone try to shoot you?" She mumbled without looking at him.

The two stiffened when the arrow began shaking in its place. And while Cornelia was trying to figure out what was happening, Lucien immediately realized that it wasn't just a normal arrow, that it must had been infused with magic in a way.

It's another attempt on her life. He thought with gritted teeth.

In a second his mind pondered over the right thing to do at that moment. He could flash them both out of there, but then she would know what he was was. Or he could wait and hold the arrow in place before it reached either of them.

Both options seemed to have the same result, she would eventually figure out something was different about him. And she was already close to finding the truth.

The arrow pulled itself out of the tree trunk and hung in the air, then it began floating to turn in their direction, which elicited a sharp inhale from Cornelia. "What in the living hell is that?" She exclaimed unsure of whether her mind was playing tricks on her or it was actually happening.

Lucien's jaws tightened, and once the arrow began flying towards them once more, he tightened his arm around Cornelia and carried her in an almost inhuman speed away from the danger. Cornelia's mind wasn't able to process the whole scene properly; she just knew her feet were no longer touching the ground.

He out her down, "Stay here, and don't move." Lucien ordered and she nodded her head dumbly.

At the same moment the arrow moved again towards them, "Stay down."

She nodded again, and scrunched on the ground, but her eyes followed the arrow. She wasn't sure how Lucien jumped that high, and caught the arrow with his bare hand. He was moving at an inhuman speed, she was sure of that.

As soon as he touched though, Lucien felt like a shock of electricity, a very high voltage of it, had hit him. He fell to the ground with a loud thud and fir a second he felt confused and unbalanced.

Cornelia watched feareful as the arrow directed itself towards her once more, she was frozen with fear again, and for a fraction of the second she was willing to give it all up. She couldn't believe that she was faced with death again, and in both times she was willing to let it take her.

Lucien didn't have time to do anything except jump in front of Cornelia and place his body between hers and the arrow. It all happened so fast and he was shot in the shoulder. The arrow embedded itself deep within his chest, very close to his heart, only missing it with an inch.

The pain that shot through him was immediate, and he crippled on the ground next to Cornelia. She held his head between her arms, with eyes brimming with tears. "Are you okay?" He asked her weakly.

Tears began falling down on her face, and she held him tighter to her chest. "I'm fine, I really am. Tell me what should I do!" She asked him frantically. She had never been faced with such a situation before.

Lucien gave her a soft smile, "Dying like that, I never thought..." He coughed up blood, "I never thought I could feel this way while dying. It's the first time."

She shook her head, "Oh, hell no. You're not dying on me right now."

His hand moved, touching her cheek softly, "Trust me, I'll be okay."

She shook her head again, Cornelia didn't believe for a second that he would be okay. His skin was getting paler, and the blood around his mouth, and the way his breathing was shallow were not good indicators. She looked at the arrow stuck to his chest, but she knew better than to remove it. She knew it was the only thing holding him from bleeding to his death.

She then noticed something dark moving up to his neck. With furrowed eyebrows and shaky hands, she moved the hem of his shirt slightly and saw black veins pulsating under his skin. They looked like they were spreading.

She attempted to look beneath his shirt and saw that the dark veins were surrounding the arrow and close to his heart. "I think you should wait after the first date, Ms. Cooper. It's not proper for a young lady like you to do that." Lucien said lightly, a trial to joke and lighten her panicked heart.

She looked at his eyes, holding his gaze with hers. "I'm afraid we won't have time for that first date at all." Different emotions were swirling within her eyes. They were stern, fearful, sorrowful.

Lucien gave her a soft smile, "Anyone told you that you have the ocean in your eyes? It can be calm, provide serenity and peace, but then they can reflect an impeding storm. I..."

He couldn't say anymore, the words got stuck in his throat as more blood came out of his mouth then he fell numb in her arms. A loud shrill scream echoed through the woods from her mouth.