Let Shadows Die

Hope opened her eyes to darkness. She wasn't sure where she was. When she tried to set up pain shot through her right shoulder and down her arm. She gasped and fell back onto the bed.

Andy came out of the bathroom. It was obvious he had been in the shower. His hair was wet and he was wearing only a pair of pajama pants. When he got to the bed he turned on the bedside lamp.
"I'm glad you're awake, baby, I was beginning to worry. How are you feeling?" He asked as he reached out and stroked her hair.
"Like my arm is being torn off. Are you ok? That stake didn't hurt you too badly?"
"Hope, my love, it will take more than that to keep me down. I'm half werewolf. I'm just sorry you had to see that side of me." He said looking away from her.

She tried to set up again and just as before pain kept her from doing so.
"Baby, take it easy." Andy said. He helped pull her into a sitting position. "you're still healing. You'll be tender for a few days."
"Andy, I love you. Please don't be upset. I don't like it when you worry you've frightened me." She said. She could feel the worry coming from him. "If you hadn't done what you did I would be dead. You were protecting me. I know you better than anyone. You would never hurt someone without reason."

She reached up with her good arm and touched his face. She knew he felt bad for having killed them. She could feel the pain it caused him. But he had done what he had to.

He bent his head to hers and kissed her. She felt the tension leave his body as he did so.
"I thought I had lost you." He said. His eyes deeply sad. "I don't know what I would do without you, Hope. You're my world now, without you I would be lost."

Hope stared down at the sheets. She had thought she'd lost him, too. When he'd been hit by that stake, her world had stopped. Andy was stronger than she'd realized, but she was human. As long as she stayed that way, she would be vulnerable. She didn't want to worry Andy. There was only one solution to the problem. In order to protect herself she would have to become like Andy.