Just One Bite »ᴄɵᴍᴘᴌᴇтᴇ«

SIXTEEN

SIXTEEN

Two hours later as dusk settled in around half four in the afternoon – it was winter after all, the Brotherhood arrived. Ashley's Brotherhood that she'd created back in the 1500s to help her vampyre's fight the darkwalkers. They hadn't been human before becoming vampyre like the rest of them. They'd been... Jayden didn't know. And Jayden had a feeling that none other than Ashley knew how to create them. If the other originals knew, there was no doubt that they would try to make their own.

The Brotherhood were a force to be reckoned with and they went wherever the darkwalker population was greatest in Europe. Unless, like now, Ashley called for them. Then like trained dogs – or wolves – they came running to do as she bid. Most of what was said about the Brotherhood was rumour because they were rarely seen. The only way some knew the Brotherhood arrived and had departed was because thousands of darkwalkers would suddenly become none.

Seeing the Brotherhood, Jayden could understand why others feared them. They were six-foot-eight giants and built like a tank each, but their magic was also enhanced. Much stronger than the average vampyre's, but not as strong as an originals. Which was easy to understand when they'd been bred purely to kill darkwalkers. But then, hadn't vampyre's?

The Brotherhood contained five brothers that looked to be around twenty-five. Each brother had their own element, and by looking at them, you could tell who had which. Mortimer's hair was a long and flowing range of blues, and his eyes showed the Mediterranean sea. Phoenix's fire red hair was a short and spiked, his eyes were the colour of ashes. George's hair was an earthy brown and neat, his eyes were grass green. Sparrow's long wavy blond hair generally got in the way... unless he was fighting, then it always seemed to know where to go to be out of the way or to aid, and his eyes were a sky blue. Spirit's white hair was like Micah's, tied back so that it was out the way and his eyes were as unique as Ravin's, black iris with a white pupil.

As Ashley's Brotherhood entered the premises, lightly covered in melting snow that had been created by the draca Rikky by dropping the temperature to freezing, you couldn't help but stare. They were giants. And you could feel the tingle of their magic, even though they weren't using it. The Brotherhood Brother's would be the second group of people you noticed if Ashley was in the same room. And that was saying a lot.

Spirit halted in front of Jayden. Mortimer and George continued for the direction of the room where Ashley and her mate were sleeping. They didn't need to be told where she was, they just knew. Rumour said that they were linked more deeply to Ashley that her other vampyre's were. Phoenix and Sparrow were nowhere to be seen for the moment.

"Spirit, how are you?" Micah asked from where he stood with his arms around his mate in the living room, watching the dracan create the snow outside.

The plan was to let some of the snow settle, then call the snow storm. To let the humans prepare. The media hadn't liked that the weather had changed so abruptly. Even now, Jayden could hear the female on the news channel apologise for the fact that they hadn't seen the snowstorm coming. She was also saying that it would be best to stay inside as they are unsure as to how bad it could become. Jayden just hoped that the humans heeded the woman's words. Or ran out to the shops quickly so that they could stock up on supplies so they wouldn't starve. Jayden had no idea how long the snowstorm would last. Hopefully not too long.

Apart for the unconscious, four of the brotherhood and Maize who was still with Ashley, everybody else was in the room with the dracan. Galina sat near the wall, leaning against the bags that she was going to be taking with her. Dee had woken up an hour ago to help his brother, using Ivey and Nick as the donors for energy. It was only now that the two vampyre's were starting to show a hint of tiredness. They would have to switch soon. It wouldn't do any good to have Ivey and Nick to tired to fight if needed.

"Good, thank you," Spirit answered Micah's question. "Until we received a phone call telling us that an angel has attacked our original and that her mate has also fallen unconscious." Jayden couldn't figure Spirit's voice out. It sounded like a thousand voices and none at the same time.

As Spirit had turned his head slightly to talk to Micah, Jayden saw the tattoo on the side of his neck. It was exactly the same to the one on Damon's neck, although, it was on the opposite side. And it looked to still be just as black as it would have been on it's first day. There was power in the mark. Magic.

"Does my neck intrigue you, Jayden?" Spirit asked, and it took a second for Jayden to realise that Spirit was staring at him with his black and white eyes that had made humans fear him as much as they had feared Ravin for his.

"Ashley marked her mate with the same mark on your neck," Jayden answered. "I was wondering what it meant."

"She marked her mate as well?"

Jayden nodded slowly. Wondering why Spirit had said it as though it was a problem.

With a sigh, Spirit must have seen all of the questioning looks he'd received. Jayden wasn't sure whether to stop Spirit or not before he spoke when he saw the amount of interest Tim was giving the conversation.

"I was hoping that my brothers and I were the only ones Ashley had marked. We may have been able to wake her up. But now we will have to wait for her mate to awaken before we can try."

Suddenly the front door opened and closed.

"I hate the snow."

"Quit your grumbling, Nix."

A snarl was the answer before the last two brothers walked into the room, Sparrow on the left, Phoenix on the right.

"Area's clear," Sparrow said as he leant against the living room-hallway door frame, serious sky blue eyes taking in the room. "The snow looked a little directed, so I pushed it out further. It should cover most of Northamptonshire by the end of the night."

Suddenly Phoenix said something to Sparrow in a language that Jayden didn't understand. Sparrow grinned before a sudden heated argument began. It must have been a normal thing as Spirit just turned his back on them.

"That's too much energy," Tim growled, giving Rikky a worried glance.

"Sparrow's good with wind. He'll tell you when it's too much, draca." Raised eyebrows went round at the snarl in Spirit's echoed words to Tim.

Tim snarled silently back at the brother. They'd met before? Of course, it had been over two centuries since the dracan had arrived, but what had happened between the dracan and Ashley's Brotherhood's leader?

After a couple more moments of tense silence, Alex spoke up. "I think we should take a break and get some sleep. Carry on in the morning. It will give the snow some time to really settle." The last was said as though it was an excuse.

"Of course," Kayline said, standing from where she'd sat on the floor near the doorway. "I'll show you where you can rest."

"It's okay, Kayline," Tim said. "Thank you, but we're going home."

"Dad," Alex stood. "Unless you missed the past couple of hours, there's a thick layer of snow outside that our car won't make it through. And Rikky and Dee are too tired to make it back."

"There's loads of space here," Jayden agreed with Alex's words. "This place was meant to be a Vayre hotel."

Tim looked at his family before giving in and looking at Kayline. "May I borrow a phone?"

"Of course, follow me," Kayline smiled professionally, then lead the way when the dracan followed. Rikky and Dee getting help from Alex and their father.

Moments later Grey was stalking down the hallway Kayline had just lead the dracan down.

"Thanks, Ronnie."

Ronnie smiled then snuggled deeper into her mate's embrace.

"So," Rose said. "Whose taking Galina to the airport?"

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