#hemorrage

Nova sat back in the car, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“You look terrible” Amilia said as she got into the passenger seat “What on earth happened this time?”

Groaning Nova looked over at her.  “We fucked up, is what happened” 

“You seemed to be doing that a lot theses days” Amilia said shaking her head “And you always come back hurt”

“I’m fine, Princess” Nova said, dropping his hand to his side, ignoring the flaming pain in his shoulder “Now let’s go before we’re late”

“I’m still surprised that you agreed to go with me” Amilia said as Nova started the car.

Nova rolled his eyes as he pulled back into the traffic.  “You asked so nicely”

Amilia laughed softly and shook her head.  “No I didn’t” she said.

“You’re right.... You practically bullied me into this” Nova said as he started speeding up.

“Oh please” Amilia said “it wasn’t that hard to convince you”

Nova tisked, his eyes flickering around.  “And just how do you want me to say no when you’re looking at me with that begging expression?”

Amilia laughed softly.  “What begging expression?” she asked, smiling at him.  

He just gave her a flat look.  “Oh please don’t play innocent with me, Princess” he said “You know exactly what you’re doing”

“I would never”  Amilia said, biting her lip as she smiled.

“And they say you are one of the good guys” Nova snorted.  

Amilia laughed softly.  “You just keep your attention on the road” she said “And you’re speeding”

Nova looked over at her.  “You asked me to drive, Princess” he said “Did you really think that I’m going to drive the speed limit?”

“And if I ask nicely?” Amilia said with a smile.

“it’s not me you should be worried about” Nova said “I know how to driver, it’s the other people you should worry about”

“Oh come on” Amilia said, shaking her head. “You just like bragging about your driving skills...”

Nova sped up, a frown forming on his face.  

“Nova?” Amilia asked softly “What’s wrong?”

“That blue Koenigsegg” Nova said slowly “It’s been following us for the last twenty minutes”

Amilia looked at him, her eyes focusing on the car in the mirror.  “Don’t do anything stupid” she said.

“Like what?” Nova asked with a smirk “Speeding up?”

Before he even finished speaking, the black Bugatti Chiron sped up even more.  Nova just waved through the traffic with ease.  

“Nova” Amilia said with a frown “They are keeping up”

Nova tisked and sped up even more.  It was hard to get a good speed out of the sport’s car with all the traffice around him, but it was also the best way to get away from the people following them.

“This is annoying” Nova grumbled “What do these guys want?”

Amilia shook her head.  “How should I know?” she said and looked back again “Careful, they are going to try and block us up front”

“Yeah...  Thought as much” Nova said as he weaved the car through traffic.  

“I’m pretty sure they must be some of your friends” Amilia said.

Nova grumbled under his breath.  “And if they don’t back off,  I’m going to start doing more than just break traffic law” he snapped as the car drifted around a corner.  

The high speed chase continued.  And the moment they got to the open road, Nova sped up even more.  

Without warning a boulder crashed into the rode in front of them.  Nova slammed on the brakes.  The car spun before it rolled and then crashed into a tree.

Nova struggled to open his eyes.  There was a weight on his chest, making it hard to breath.  

He tasted blood.  Slowly he turned his head, spitting out blood.  

It took him a moment before he remembered what happened.  Immediately his attention snapped towards Amilia.  

The girl was unconscious.  There was a small trail of blood running down the side of her head.  

“Amilia....” Nova groaned as he struggled to get free from his seat “Ami!  Come one open your eyes.  Please....” he reached towards her, putting a hand against her cheek “Come on Ami....  Wake up!”

The sound of foot steps reached his ears.  

Nova’s head snapped towards the sound.  It took him a moment before he could make out the figure.  This was not right.  He clenched his jaw as his eyes followed the figure.  

He lifted a hand towards the door, blasting it away.  

For a moment his vision blurred and it took everything he had to bring his focus back to the person moving towards them.  Clenching his jaw, he aim rapid telekinetic blasts at the figure.  

As one of the blasts hit the figure, Nova dragged himself out of the car.  He crumbled to the road, gasping.  Pain pulsed through him.  

Slowly he pushed himself back up, getting ready to fight.  

His feline side ready to take over the moment it was needed.  It took him a moment before he just gave it to the power and let it take over.  He did not have the strength to fight anyone at the moment. 

The moment his feline side, disappeared, Nova sank to his knees, vision going white with pain and exhaustion.  

Pushing the pain back, he struggled back onto his feet and stumbled toward the wrecked car.

Amilia was still in the passenger seat, unmoving.  

There was blood in her hair, running down the side of her pale face.  

Let out a shaky breath, Nova managed to get her out of the car, letting her lay down on the ground.  He knelt next to her, pushing her bloody hair back, out of her face.  

Nova leaned over her, feeling a sharp pain in his chest.  It made him stop for a moment, but then he just ignored it and checked Amilia further.  

He put a gentle hand against her cheek.  “Come on, Ami” he said softly “Please...  Don’t leave me here...”

She was breathing.  And she had a pulse.  She was alive, but not awake and that worried him.  

There was blood on her shirt and he managed to find the wound and stop the bleeding, but that was all he could do for her.  It was going to drive him out of his mind.  

What if she was dying?

And he couldn’t do anything for her?

Nova shook his head, his thumb just rubbing gently over her cheek.  His was starting to feel light headed, but that didn’t matter to him.  The only thing that mattered was the girl that lay on the ground in front of him.  

“Ami...  please open your eyes....” he whispered “I can’t....  I can’t do this without you...  I’m not strong enough”

Amilia’s eyes flickered open.  

She let out a soft whimper and tried to sit up, but Nova just gently pushed her back.  “Please don’t move” he said gently “You got hurt...”

Amilia’s eyes finally focused on him and a soft smile formed on her lips.  

Nova breathed out.  His heart was hammering erratically, painfully against his chest.  “You’re awake...” he whispered.

“What else would I be?” Amilia asked weakly. 

“I’m so sorry...” Nova said, just brushing her hair away.

“For what?”

“For letting this happen...  This is my fault.  i should have been more careful” he said “I’m sorry...”

Amilia smiled tiredly, reaching for his face with one hand.  Softly she placed her bloody hand on his cheek.  “You’re bleeding...” she said softly.

Nova tisked.  “Don’t worry about me, Princess” he said, his eyes finding the blood on her shirt again.  It was bigger than before, clenching his jaw, he lifted the shirt slightly.  Cussing he ripped the sleeve of his shirt and pressed it over the wound making Amilia gasp softly.

“Nova...” Amilia whispered, as she listened to his raspy, uneven breathing.

He shook his head.  “Don’t worry about me” he said softly, stifling a cough.  he tasted blood, but ignored it.  

“Promise me...” Amilia said softly “You’re alright...?”

Nova closed his eyes for a moment and nodded.  “Promise...” he said “I’ll be fine.  Like always”

“Bennett…sorry? Bennett lay trap?”

“No, no.” Bennett shook his head, still very distressed. “This…it’s one of the traps the Springvale hunters made. Some of them said they wanted bigger and stronger ones, to protect the village from those wolves—the Black Wolves—but…you were with me when you got caught…and…I…my bad luck must have…!”

“No,” Razor refuted firmly. “Not Bennett fault. Not—AGH!”

He moved a little, by accident, and it hurt really bad. His ankle was bleeding a lot. He was…fine…because Razor had many bad hurts before, but…

“Okay, okay, hang on; I’ll release the trap and hold it open, and you take your foot out, as fast as you can,” Bennett instructed, looking at him like he was begging.

Razor nodded. He trusted Bennett…most of the time.

Bennett hurried to undo the mechanism, and Razor felt the sudden release of his entrapment and hurried to get away from it. There was still lots of pain, and blood, but he felt relieved, because he could move now. He was free, but…still not safe. He wanted to get far away, because this was not a trap for boar, it was a trap for wolves.

He got up quickly and grabbed Bennett’s hand. “Must move; quickly!”

“Uh…Razor!? What are you doing? I need to give you first aid now!”

“No, Springvale hunters will come for prey. Must get to safe place.”

“N-No! You got it all wrong!” Bennett pulled his hand away from him in protest. “The Springvale people weren’t trying to hurt you; they were just trying to protect themselves from the bad wolves! Not you or your lupical! Well, I mean, it was kind of reckless putting traps out like this that adventurers could easily stumble into…but, still, it was an accident!”

Razor listened to Bennett’s words, and they made sense, but… “But, even if accident, Springvale…does not like Razor. Because, Razor is a wolf.” The memories were…still clear. Of the time he first met Traveler, and the other burny girl who was not as burny as Klee. The time soon after the Black Wolf attacked. The villagers…thought Black Wolf was his lupical, but they were not. They did not trust him. He did not trust them, either. They hurt his lupical, his wolf family. They could do it again.

“Well, they…they wouldn’t hurt you for no reason. They know who you are now.” Bennett sounded confident, but his eyes had tiny doubt. “At least…not while I’m around, they won’t!”

Razor paused. He guessed that Bennett meant…if he was with human, they would think of him as human? But Razor did not know what Razor was. Maybe, it didn’t matter. Andrius told him he should be with humans, and he listened…a little. He did not want to live in city, but he did spend more time with human people. Like Bennett. And Klee. And Traveler. But not inside city. Or inside Springvale. He still did not believe they liked wolves…even if only a misunderstanding.

“How about this?” Bennett offered. “You stay for just a few minutes so I can patch you up, and then, we leave right away. I can carry you, even! At least, for a while. We don’t have to stay near Springvale, but…I don’t want you to get hurt running on your bad ankle! You’re losing a lot of blood already, and, it could get way worse.”

Bennett…did seem to have smart ideas, sometimes. Razor did not want to stay. But he did not want bad ankle and bleeding. So, he nodded. “Okay. I will stay, so Bennett can fix.”