It was deafening, the sound of slipping away of delicate fingers as she was torn away from him.

“No!” My scream was almost desperate, resounding in an angry cry.

Her tiny voice shouted and pleaded when she was dragged by a fistful of hair across the muddy grounds of the arena. Her body thrashed and twisted, yanked and pulled, but to no avail. It only seemed that the fist gripping her scalp clasped on even tighter.

The length of the chains kept me close to the wall that helped detain me. I tugged and wrenched, using the anger to fuel my strength. Against my skin, the metal links pierced and burned my wrists, drawing small streams of blood down the length of my forearms. I screamed her name over and over. But my roars were drowned away in the chaos erupting in waves from the fanatical audience.

In the center of the arena, she was thrown in front of a post. Her hands slipped in the greasy mud, and her body dropped into the muck. Peering up, she looked at me through the dirt-stained veil of her hair. It was all I could see as she attempted to lift herself up, the exhaustion weighing her down.

Every ache, every instinctive impulse, and every part of my soul wanted to help her and protect her. I needed to save her. The muscles in my body waned against the strength of the iron shackles that burned into my skin. My teeth tightly clenched, I endured the pain. Behind me, there was a tiny sound of the wall beginning to wane.

The vampire growled a barked command, irritated as he yanked her to her feet and pushed her forward. She staggered as her head belted into the post. Angry and Annoyed, the vampire's nails snatched her wrists and secured them to the wooden base. The metal chains searing into her skin, and she shrieked from the pain.

To the crowd, the vampire waved an encouraging uproar of louder jeers and hoots. All around, the audience grew boisterous and raucous with stomps and claps as he turned to face her. With one sharpened nail, the vampire tore her tattered shirt in half and ripped it away from her body.

She stood, naked and exposed with only a pair of frayed, old trousers to cover the rest of her. Goosebumps covered her skin, and her body shook, her teeth chattering. Her blue eyes were hooded with exhaustion.

"Keep them open!" I shouted. "Stay looking at me!"

With a slight nod, she managed.

Legs fixed in position, body shaking, I could see that she attempted to steady herself. The fear, nonetheless, was welling up in her throat, threatening to choke her. My eyes transfixed on her, I silently reassured her. No matter, though, a wave of tears befell onto once rosy cheeks.

"No!" My voice shouted.

Don’t you dare give up on me. I thought. Around me, the chaotic arena rattled with frenzied commotion. The crowd frazzled with impatience for the event to finally begin.

The vampire's oversized shoes sloshed in the mud when he moved into position. Behind her, the leather lashed whipped against the ground. He saw her involuntarily flinch—a whooping sound of taunted laughter rubbled in the vampire's throat.

Raising his long, bony fingers to the air, the surrounding crowd all at once hushed in an anticipating silence.

He spoke, his words high sounding for all to hear. "As you know, my fellow kin, that this so-called luna and her mate," he spits the last word before continuing. "Has taken something from us." His words were drawn out, almost emphasizing each one. Then a gentle, but with a threatening promise of more, a trickle of rain began to fall. It stained the arena with soft shimmering reflections of the stormy clouds. The stones glistened with muck, grime, and the darkened stains of old blood. Small puddles of water formed on the muddy grounds, the rain growing heavier.

He stared at her. The twinkling drops of the rain gleamed over her skin as it rinsed away some of the smudged filth. Crisscross patterns of scars marred her skin, some still healing from last time.

"We know what is to become of those who take from us." The vampire continued, a smile gleaming as he turned towards her.

The pain marring into my wrists grew to become almost a numbing ache. Behind me, cracks began to form outside the wall. Grey darkness swallowed the sky when a few rainclouds bellowed a downpour of rain. The leathery whip rose through the air. Then with a vicious swing, it sliced through the heavy droplets of the deluge. A booming sound of thunder resounded as her scream reverberated.

The crowd erupted.

"NO!" The anguish in my voice roared.

She clutched to the post, forcing herself to keep standing. There was not enough time to brace herself when another lash left more agonizing pain. Without any respite, lash after lash crisscrossed over the canvas of her back.

Once again, the tender hand of the whip ripped open her skin. The sound of it like an earsplitting echo of bones cracking. A mangled river of warm crimson streaked down her body as it left behind gashes of disfigured skin.

With the last bit of strength beaten out of her, she had fallen to her knees. Her haggard, exhausted body hung limply within the folds of itself. I could barely hear the small raspy breathes wrench at the back of her throat. With one last bellowed cry, I yanked on the chains bolted to the stone with my remaining strength—a spiderweb of cracks spread across the stoned wall before bits of gravel exploded. Rising onto my feet, I ran towards. The loose chains buckled against my torn ankles.

When I reached her side, the vampfire's eyes gleamed with hunger rising the bloodied whip. He rumbled a dark, throaty laugh, "You can't save her this time." Bearing his toothy smile, the vampire struck the whip down, but only to find the lash curled around a fist, it caught in midair.

Dead eyes widened, and with a screech of fury, the vampire yanked on the whip, attempting to pull me forward. I jerked on the leather band, and the vampire jolted forth. With one swift movement, I beat in his face. Dark blood spurted from his nose and mouth. I slammed him to the ground, my fists crushing his face after each blow. The vampfire's legs and arms flapping about, but my weight is too heavy, and he cannot move.

My fangs outstretch themselves, a low growl vibrates in my throat as I peer down at the bloodied vampire. Through a clenched jaw, I snarl, "Watch me."

Plunging forward, I latch my fangs on his throat and rip it away. Blood falls down my chin as I spat out the vermin. Beneath me lays the dead vampire, his wide-open in petrified forever in fear. A blurry haze of chaos and fury erupted around the crowd, but I only saw her. The muck and grime from the ground are plastered all over her. Rivulets of blood painted over the wounds that have been welted into her skin. The imprint of the whip had benevolently shredded apart the tender skin of her back and left it mutilated. Beaten by the brutality of a fist, stains of black and blue mare her delicate features. What was once rosy, plumped lips are now creased with layers of broken skin, split and torn with blood. Embedded in her gaze glimmered the wet tears that wept over the edges of her cheeks.

She began to fade into the comfort of death, the exhaustion already claiming her.

To me, she will always be the sky made up of billions of stars filled with millions of undiscovered galaxies. I would spend forever gazing up at her, getting lost in her soul. “Stay with me, dammit!” I tightened my hand around the filth intertwined in her hair, settling her head to nestle in the nook of my arms. I pressed my lips to her ear and said, "Stay with me, Caterina." I sounded her name as an invocation as the silent tears of anguish poured grief onto her broken body.

Above me, there were the booming echoes of rain beating down in heavy roars. Light flashed from thunderous skies that rave across the blanket of night. It was deafening, the moment of her death sounding like delicate fingers slipping away.