DURABLE (completed)

Almost There

She never him coming, I doubt she even heard my warning but from the horror in her gaze she saw her still beating heart in his hands before it sputtered stop and her mind caught up with her body.

A snarl tore from my lips as the devastating site before me burned into my mind. For a moment there was nothing no sound no color no breathe no nothing. In that moment it was like my heart had been ripped out of my chest along with Tianna agony, there was nothing but agony mentally but physically it burned down my arm the sensation of pins and needles at a whole different level. Grief and shock glugged my throat even as and holy anger slammed through my mind.

White noise settled over me, like a stranger looking through my eyes I watched as the Doctor stepped over Tianna's body like she was nothing but a pesky bug. "Tsk, tsk. A human has no place here."

I watched his mouth form the words but couldn't hear them. With a hard yank I pulled one hand out of the restraints and then the other. A thought was moving towards the forefront of my mind.

"Oh yessss, yes! You are almost there! Your scent is getting stronger." Titus crowed gleefully. My eyes blinked to the body of my best friend laying on the ground and the pooling blood. He had done this, he had ripped her heart out dispatching my friend like she was trash.

And still the thought drew closer, as I ripped the restraints from one leg and moved to the other. The thought was almost there, and the last restraint was almost gone. With a snap it was gone and with that the though had arrived. KILL HIM!

KILL HIM!! KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!

In a blur I was up my nails growing into tallons with one aim. To Kill Him. With a inhuman hiss I dove for him but he was quick dodging my hands and batting them away like flies.

"Ha-ha, if looks could kill. Not to worry sweetheart in just a second all those feelings will disappear." With a flash, he invaded my space faster than even my eyes could see emptied the long-forgotten syringe into my arm.

"Do you smell that?! Jameel, track that scent." My forces and I had been steadily dispatching vampires and humans alike for the last ten minutes and we still had not found Nikki.

I was also finding it hard to concentrate there was a alluring scent that kept appearing and disappearing, Whatever it was, It was like a siren beckoning me come find it. I ignored it, it wouldn't be the first time that an enemy had tried trap me using my keen sense of smell.

What frustrated me was the scent seem to be intermingled with Nikki's scent and it was quickly beginning to eclipse it. I needed my men to take over because I was being affected. Luckily Jameel was with his keen scent of smell was ranked number one in the royal guard. We were about to turn a corner when the familiar scent of Nikki's human friend wafted towards us. I hissed in frustration how the hell did Tianna get here.

This was the worse place for her she wouldn't stand a chance. A premonition of dread threaded up my spine and I increased the ferocity of my attacks. Something told me that not only was she in danger but so was Nikki. Josiah would never forgive me if his mate got hurt.

The deeper into the fortress we got the stronger Tianna's and that alluring scents became until they were centered behind a door. I was steps away from opening it, after dispatching the head of a particularly deadly werewolf when a slight stir of wind warned me of an impending attack.

I turned and danced back only missing a fatal attack by a hair. Instead a hand plunged into my shoulder missing its intend target my, heart. I immediately swung my fist expecting to deliver a fatal blow of my own only to meet air.

I frowned. That should have been impossible. There was no way a vampire could completely evade me. Even my master had a hard time countering my attacks when I was this focused. By the scent permeating the air my opponent was a vampire yet I couldn't see it. I couldn't see anything an unnatural darkness had descended even impervious to my vampire sight.

It was almost like he had taken the ability to blend into the darkness to another level. I could see nothing, just feel the small stir of the air around me before he attacked. A ferocious battle ensued between me and the attacker. I could hear my men fighting around me and prayed their opponents were not on the level as the one that faced me.

The vampire in front of me was unreal! Faster than anyone I had ever encountered. He had such precise movements that I was forced to extend my senses to the max to keep just breathe a head of him. An intense battle ensued with both me and the vampire delivering deadly blows and still I had yet to see my adversaries face.

We were locked a deadly dance of chops and fists when a deranged laughter spread through the hall momentarily causing my attackers movement to stutter. It was all I needed using my own speed I reached into the seemingly empty darkness and griped a throat. With a quick flick of my wrist I snapped its neck and used my talons to behead the thing.

Like a curtain being lifted the darkness that had descended began to dissipate and before me appeared a gruesome creature that was a vampire but wasn't, no vampire could do what he did and there was something about how he smelled that just wasn't right.

I filed it away for later, something seriously wrong was going on here but that wasn't my concern that scent that had been clouding my senses was getting overwhelmingly stronger and under that Tianna's scent was begging to fade. That could only mean one thing, speeding to the door I burst through the door to the ringing sound of a heart monitor flat lining.

I entered the room to see what I had prayed would be the worse case scenario. Nikki was laying there, the sweet girl I had rescued five years ago, the same beautiful dark skin, cupid lips, and high cheek bones was a deathly palor. A few feet away from her was Tianna her heart beside her body.

She was dead! Nikki was dead and Standing over the bodies was a man emanating an energy that belonged in a mad house. Shame and something else arose inside me that I couldn't put into words. I knew he heard me when I entered the room but he ignored me even as I made a bee line for him. I was steps away from when he turned swiftly and delivered a hard-stinging back hand that threw me back.

He was on a whole different level than the guy I had met outside. He was definitely stronger than me. He was probably older but I knew all the vampires older than me and his face wasn't one I recognized. Stunned, it took me a minute to get to my knees. I was injured, to my incredilibilty. This vampire was not on level I could manage and that damn scent was so strong that I was having a hard time focusing fully and my eye kept straying back to Nikki. I had to save her, I just had to get here and myself out of here.

I moved to stand when the Vamp turned to look at me. His moss-colored eyes surprised me they were the same as my bonded but I had little time to think about that, I had to keep my guard up. I watched him closes ready for movement that might indicate his next attack while he looked at me with interest and amusement. "Hmm...not bad! That hit was meant to kill you. The fact that you survived it means you are not one of those weaklings. We will see each other soon."

In a blink, he was gone faster than even my eyes could see. Flabbergasted that I couldn't track his movement I stood stunned for another moment before the abrasive sound of Nikki's flat lining heart monitor drew my attention.

Speeding over to her I did my best to try and resuscitate her but her heart remain stubbornly still. I searched for a defibrillator only to pause with the realization that the smell I had been overwhelmed with was coming from Nikki.

Shock rocked me back on my feet. Nikki was my mate...It was impossible. She couldn't, she couldn't be his she was human and dead yet he could feel the mate bond between them was getting stronger. Stepping back I considered the possibility maybe she wasn't dead maybe...

Poison, she had been poisoned. It was a long shot but an idea popped into my head. If I fed her a few drops of my blood it should be able to cure her. It was a long shot but it was all I could think of, time was running out. Her brain had already gone without oxygen.

Without another thought I slashed my wrist and placed it opened her lips praying to any deity that would listen to deliver just this one life back to the land of the living. Seconds ticked by and still the insufferable sound of a non-beating heart filled the room. I had failed.