Zaine felt her whole body breaking, and the knives she'd hooked into Jax were turned against her.  Her blood surged as his mixed inside her wounds, and she let out an enraged yell as Seraphina shred her tissue.  She thrashed wildly, but between the two vampires pinning her to the dirt she only succeeded in causing herself to bleed even more.  In an instant it occurred to her she wasn't winning this one.  Her eyes began to fill with tears, and momentarily she wanted to cry out.<br/><br/>No.  Her pride wouldn't let her.  Zaine believed the only good way to die was to make a final verbal ejaculation that is full of both rage and pain but not tainted in the least by squeals of terror or pleas for mercy.  This emerged from her in the form of a howling cackle, and her crazed eyes bore into Seraphina's.<br/><br/>“You look just like your daddy did, when I killed him.  You can tell a lot about someone when they're about to die, you know.  Daddy cried, 'No, no don't hurt me!' I enjoyed<span style="font-style: italic">every moment</span>.  Ha ha… you're exactly like him.” Her words rolled out in a single hiss, directed only at Seraphina.  “Didn't even fight back, dropped him like a fly I did.”<br/><br/>Her lips quivered, and blood trailed out the corner of her mouth. “They'll hail me a hero.”<br/><br/>With the last of her strength, she spat her blood into Jax's eyes.  Then, her eyes rolled back and her head fell limp as her heart stopped beating.<br/><br/>-x-<br/><br/>“What do you intend to do with yourself?  You bloody fool.”  The Chief was busied seeing to his wound, which although Asher was thankful for, he didn't feel he deserved it.  He was still exiled, there was no changing that, but the Clan was humble and allowed a mercy of one night before returning would put a bounty on his head.  They believed in an eye for an eye- quite literally- and now that he was marked properly there would be no hiding it.  His head was wrapped like a mummy.  At least the bleeding had stopped.<br/><br/>He didn't respond to the man's question right away because in all honesty he didn't know.  The Chief was gutted by this outcome, and rightfully so; the man was like a father to him, and Asher had not only betrayed his trust but had gone and made dog's dinner of everything he'd ever been trained to do.<br/><br/>“Couldn't just put it down, could you?” The Chief sighed.  Asher knew his tone of disapproval all too well.  He was the favourite, and if he ever cocked anything up, it was a personal affront.<br/><br/>“No, I couldn't,” Asher returned, a little bitterly, “I don't want to kill anymore.”<br/><br/>“What's that boy?”<br/><br/>“I said I won't do it anymore,” he repeated firmly.  The Chief pursed his lips, a firm and hard line unwilling to spout praise or support.  Asher fully expected it.<br/><br/>“What would your mum say?”<br/><br/>“I don't know.  She's long gone.  It doesn't matter.”  That was it.  He knew how to get under Asher's skin, and he'd had enough with the guilt.  “Move the Clan.  Go kill vampires elsewhere, vampires who done wrong, but not them.”<br/><br/>“You know I can't do that-”<br/><br/>“You can!  It's all I ask,” he didn't intend to slam his fist into the table.  The sound quieted the tent.  The Chief slowly crossed his arms.<br/><br/>“I can't.  I won't.  And if you choose to defend them, you'll be slain no different from the rest,” he said coldly.  The tension was almost tangible between them.  Asher fumed- he wanted to argue but he knew it would do no good.  So instead he stood, picked up his quiver and bow, and limped outside without another word.  He took no glances back as he exited the encampment.  Inside he was gutted.  He didn't want to fight them, his family, but what choice did he have now?  He wasn't exactly fond of the vampires, but he knew they were Seraphina's family, and she was… different.<br/><br/>No matter what he did, there was no stopping these trains from clashing.  In the end he despaired nobody would win.