Incoming.

I watch as if in an instant, Breyden is struck down. His body snaps back as the bullet hits him into the chest. In mere than seconds, his body drops lifeless down to the floor.

I abandon any attempt to stand my ground against the enemy and rush to his side.

I immediately abort my side and hunch my way over to him, where he has fallen into the line of sight. I pull him back to the side and try to assess the extent of his wounds. But there is so much damn blood that it is truly impossible to see without taking his gear off.

But the most frightening thing is that his eyes are closed, and he does not seem to move. I shake him frantically to get any reaction out of him but to no avail. He is lying completely unresponsive. As I stick my hand underneath his shirt to feel where the impact of the bullet has taken him, I get to a large mass of blood by his stomach.

"Fuck!"

I start furiously shaking him, "Breyden, wake the fuck up! Breyden!"

Yet, there is still no response. I cannot feel his goddamn pulse as my hands are still trembling from the fire. And as for listening to his breathing, well, that is pretty useless under this chaos.

"Fuck Breyden. Wake up!"

Still not a single movement.

"You are not fucking going anywhere. Get that ass up!"

Nothing at all.

We need to get Breyden back to the house.

The sight of his body motionless shocks an incredible pain to my core. I have to keep my composure not to burst out in tears.

The man is not looking well. I fear but do not even want to say that it, that he might not have made it. So as we take him back home, we all huddle around his bed while Lilith assesses his wounds. But much to our frustration, she tells us to leave as we are making her feel uncomfortable and intimidated.

Well, guess what? I do not give a fuck.

I stay, and I wait. I watch as she takes his shirt off to reveal just as I suspected. He has been hit in the stomach.

And my god, it looks bad.

I swallow really hard and try to get my words out as calmly as possible, but I do believe that I fail. She places her hand on my shoulder and looks at me with genuine compassion in her eyes.

"I promise you that I will do everything I can."

It does not reassure me; I take her hand from my shoulders and stare back into her eyes, "Then fucking start."

I have put Breyden into danger; the very thing I was protecting him from has now threatened to take his life. My decisions were reckless, and it has left a man lying on a bed fighting for his life. If anything bad has to happen to him, then I shall simply just fall into shattering pieces to the floor. He was there for me when life threatened to take my light away, and I shall be there for him.

Lilith has just attended to his wounds, and he is lying completely motionless. I have been the only one that is allowed to sit by his side; even if I were not, I would have still have done it.

As I watch his frail body lying tucked underneath the white sheets, he looks calm, too calm. I cannot help but move my ear to his mouth to listen to his breath; he is still breathing. It comforts me for just one moment.

What else does comfort me is that wherever he is, that he knows that I am here for him. That we all here for him. He cannot, and he will not leave any man behind; he cannot leave us behind.

With this strong in my heart, I lean further into his ear and softly whisper for only him to hear, "You are fucking going nowhere. Do you understand me?"

But as I order him that he shall not leave us behind, I think to myself, did my orders not go too far? Did I not push the boys too far? Maybe we should have come back after they took us a prisoner. Was that not a good time to realize it is not safe to be out there? But he knows the risks, though should that be a comfort when you are lying on a bed fighting for your life?

And fight I know he is going to do, he will fight with every last bone that he has in his body, and even beyond that, he will fight some more.

So this is where I sit, I sit with him, and yes, a big old Vampire is sitting and holding the hand of Angel. They will have to carry me out on this chair if they want me to leave, and even after then I will still come back.

Then a short while later, I hear Edward at the entrance of the room calling for me.

"Sebastian."

"Yes, Edward?"

"May I come inside?"

"Of course, come inside."

I see that he is studying my face, which has no emotion whatsoever, "Sebastian."

"Yes, Edward?"

"How can you remain so calm? I would be going beside myself."

"For one, you need to show strength, and two, Breyden would not want you to lose your head over something he knows that he is going to overcome."

"If I may ask. How do we know for certain?"

"We don't. But what we have, that none of those assholes out there have, is faith. Not only in ourselves but in each other."

"Well, then I will have some extra faith just for him. But I need to get back; we are going back out."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, this has now become personal. As he says and eye for an eye, but even better a bullet for a bullet."

With that, Edward leaves the room, putting some newfound faith that I thought I was lacking back in this fight. This is a battle, a whole new battle. And this is one that we will win.

And yet another battle to be won is the one of love, and it is that very love that has Lilith standing at the door.

"Lilith, I know you are hovering there; come in before you kill yourself with frustration."

"You sure?"

"Come before I change my mind."

With very small hesitant steps, she comes and pulls up a chair on the other side of Breyden's bed.

So, once she is able to speak, she clears his throat, "Is our boy going to get through this one?"

"He will; I don't think for one minute that he will give up. Yet, and I think I have said this so many times too often, this is what happens under my leadership. It happened before, and it has happened again."

"Come on, listen to yourself. You cannot decide for those assholes; if they decide to do the shit they did today, then they are going to. It has nothing to do with what you say."

"But that is where you are wrong. He should not have been up there."

"Okay, then who? Someone had to be up there. It is just how it works."

"It should not be."

"Listen, we know what we signed up for; this was something that we wanted to do. There is always going to be the risk."

I know that she is right.

But this is not about me; this is about Breyden. The man that is normally big ass and strong, the man that lays here with what seems to be but a mere shadow of himself. A shadow that will become a light.

And as I look up at the clock, I know that the start of the countdown has begun. Not the countdown of staring death in the eyes, but the countdown until he is going to open his eyes. And believe me, once he does, I am punching him in the fucking face for scaring the shit out of me.

So with not really caring for much, I take his hand into my own once again. Now, if I thought he would be warm to the touch, I have just been sadly mistaken. He is and has somewhat less color on his skin. Once again, I put my ear closer to where he is lying to hear the faintest of his breath. He is still breathing. It is shallow, but it is still there.

And from across me sits Lilith, somewhat nervous to hold Breyden's hand; she only but sits there and waits. That woman is not moving until you make her move, and so is this man. Right now, Breyden needs friends, and we are the only two that he has got.

So we prepare ourselves that will be the longest night of our lives.

Now, now all we can do is just wait...