Of Mine Enemy

chapter eleven

"And if he harms one of my clanmates before you do?" Isabella snapped, slamming her fist to the desk. "I do not remember you to be so careless." Isabella leaned forward, her hair nearly dropping into the candles keeping vigil in the corners. Saiorse hoped she caught ablaze. "There is far too much room for mistake here, Saiorse," she snarled, fangs dripping freely with venom. "You are an idiot."

Saiorse's snarl rolled from her lips long before she could halt it. She was on her feet, shoulders bunched and face wrinkled at her reddening cheeks. The redhead in front of her mimicked her stance, the snarl she showered Saiorse with far louder and much more grotesque than hers. Saiorse was not one to judge, but the breed of vampire Isabella associated her body with just so happened to be the most brutal. Saiorse was almost glad she didn't have to pry the happiness and sheer life from someone's heart. Taking blood was ugly enough - but stealing the fabric that gave birth to souls? She'd rather perish.

"This is no way to recruit my assistance," Saiorse informed her. "If you wish me to help you destroy the dragon then you will surely comply with my request to keep Alexander's identity a secret."

"I do not lie to my clan," Isabella spat, suddenly in Saiorse's face. "And a representative of my species should not either - or, so, that is my take. I see the lavender may have ruined more than just your appeal."

"As if I knew you were hiding out here," Saiorse snapped. "It is not like you to drift anywhere that you cannot benefit from. Why do you care if a town is demolished? You do not give a damn about human life."

"The scales, of course," Isabella droned, leaning back against the desk as she tilted her head. "Crush them, forge stakes."

Saiorse's face grew redder. "Have I not governed your borderline genocidal tendencies enough? You cannot eradicate a breed. I will not allow it."

Isabella pulled her lip upward. "There are only three of them and they must be euthanized. Nothing can be immortal - it is unnatural."

A shrieking, half-hysterical laugh silenced Isabella's sentence. "And you are natural? Is that it? This is no better than the LeRoys! Or the Circle." Saiorse shoved her face into Isabella's, her eyes alight with her promise and absolute fury. "I will not stand by and witness the murder of three innocent supernaturals. You are daft if you believe executing them will better the gene pool. Touch them and I will personal drape your red hair in the manner of a flag right over your grave." With that, Saiorse turned to leave, but Isabella's voice called her to a stop, her fists curling. The dark clung to her eyes.

"They will die, Saiorse," Isabella told her, walking slowly from the desk to close the distance as they spoke. "I will slay that dragon, with you at my side. We will look as if we were invincible heroes. I will take those scales and I will make those daggers and plunge them right into the hearts of all three of those abominations your husband did not kill."

Saiorse could no longer breathe. She did not have the self contorl to take a breath.

"Tell me," Isabella mused sweetly. "Do you still speak to Khodai? Your son?"

Entire body shaking, Saiorse fought to stay calm. "No," she replied, voice foreshadowing her losing her composure. "I do not speak to my son, nor my husband, or Khodai. And I will be damned," Saiorse snarled, her eyes becoming slits, pupils pinpoints. "If you touch a hair on either Khodai's - or my son's - head. Is that clear?"

Isabella tilted her head, hair falling over her face as she chortled. "Why do you bother to protect them when they left you stranded in a cavern for damn near fifteen years?" She stood before Saiorse now, tongue running over her lips. It seemed she fed off misery, too. "Can I at least slice your husband? Seems to me that is awfully strange that you didn't mention him."