"Raeden!" I shouted over the sound of the television in the background. Demiesius and I had been discussing his apology for not listening to me the other night before his rampage, when Nathaniel came in unexpectedly followed by a bloody, beaten, and bruised Raeden. "What happened to you!?"
He moved slowly into the room, a cry hidden beneath his attempts to hide his distress, but from the vibration of his nerves, it was easy to tell he was terrified.
My hand hovered just above his arms, not wanting to touch him in fear of hurting him anymore. "Raeden, talk to me. What happened?"
"They—They..."
He searched blindly for my hands, and I set them in his grasp. His grip was tight, but it bothered me none. "They, what?" I said, leading him gradually to the sofa. Demiesius stood and moved aside to make way.
Raeden was shivering when he sat down, his hands still wrapped around mine as if bringing himself to recognize that I was actually with him. His words were incomprehensible mumbles at first, and I wasn't able to understand anything he was saying. I needed to make him snap out of it.
But how...?
"Raeden," I said, brushing his hair out of his flawed face, a dark heavy amount of blood clotted beneath his right eye. His skin was warm and tainted with grime and soot that smelled of death. "Listen to me, please... You have to tell me who did this to you. I can help."
"R-R-Rogue," he stuttered, trembling. "The Rouge. He found me."
Demiesius came forth, "And you lived? Did he say anything?"
"He—He-said I would never be the b-best. He w-will always be—be the best slayer."
"He taunted you, beat you, and left you to suffer the injuries?"
I fixed Raeden's hair again after it flopped back in his face, and gestured for Demiesius to please be quiet. I didn't want Raeden to have to recall all that he'd apparently gone through. "Raeden, I'm going to ask your permission, okay?"
"No, you can't go after him," he shouted first. "He'll kill you!"
"What? No, I'm not leaving, I want to make you feel better. I don't want you to hurt anymore. Will you give me permission to do that for you? Heal you?"
He took so long I considered he wasn't listening to me anymore, but then he blinked up at me. "What would you do?"
"It'll hurt, but I can make the pain go away."
When he nodded deliberation, I knelt before him like a doctor to a stressful patient. He looked down at me and I could see the unadulterated terror still in his gray eyes. His tension was trembling all through his body, and still his heart had yet to find its correct beat.
"Brace yourself," I said beforehand.
He took in a chest filled with air and closed his eyes. I elongated the sharpest nail on my thumb and carried its razor across the bottom of Raeden's busted eye. He screamed and tried to pull away when it slit open, but it had to be done. The flesh beneath his eye opened up and the clotted blood drained down his cheek to drench my hand. He couldn't open his eye for a moment, but before he could think about trying to blink, I bit down with my fangs in my wrist until my own blood surfaced and smeared what drops would come on his wound.
I could see it hurt him more than I intended it to, but if I didn't get the blood out first and then gave him my blood his eye would've burst.
When I was done and his eyes began to slowly close, the gashes all over his beautiful face sealed, and Raeden opened both of his eyes and shoved me back. "That fucking hurt!" he said.
I smiled down at him, standing, "Raeden's back."
I turned and began to pace the living room then, back and forth from the television stand to the back of the couch. "Now... about this Rogue," I looked to Demiesius for confirmation, "What shall we do about this new night stalker? Surely we cannot leave him out there after a crime such as this... Hmm... Let's see." I rounded the front of the couch to where Raeden was still sitting with a you better not go look on his face. However, as much as I love him, he should know just as well as anyone else that I'm not going to stand back and let this Rogue off the hook, and surely with mine, my father's, and Fredwolf's assumptions, I know exactly where I'll go for affirmation.
Before Raeden would cut in, I secretly wrapped my thoughts around his mind and blacked him out. His eyes fluttered shut and he lay back against the cushions. It was the only option I had. If he stayed awake, there's no way I would've made it out the door.
Blackout was the only way.
"Now..." I said turning to Nate, "Shall we go visit this assumed Rogue?"
Nate began to speak, and I watched his mouth move. His lips curled into a smile but... I couldn't hear him. I stared vaguely at him in confusion, wondering if my ears just needed to be popped, but when I wiggled a finger in my ear, still nothing came.
"Dominick," an unknown voice came around.
In bewilderment, I circled in one place, searching for the source. "Dominick," it said again, "Help me... I beg of you."
"Dominick?" Demiesius' voice cut in and the deaf feeling vanished, "Is something wrong?"
I looked about my surroundings once more, glancing down at Raeden who still lay passed out in a sleeping manner. Strange. It was the same voice that had come from my dreams, or my day visions. It was usually muffled and hard to understand, but I was more than certain it was the same voice.
"Uh... no, I'm fine. Nate; let us waste no more time, I'd like to shove my opinion of Julius in his face."
Demiesius snagged me by my shoulder, stopping me. "Be careful, my son."
"I will."
* * * *
The streets of Wind Ridge were as they usually were at such a late hour. On occasions; however, Nate and I would be approached by a wandering drug addict that begged for any pocket change. Druggy humans were without a doubt the most annoying. The night was dark, as it should be, murky clouds hovering overhead, the scent of sunlight still detectable in the air. The wind brushed through the tops of the few trees that were here in the city, making a fluttering resonance hum in the night.
Ignoring yet another money seeker, Nate said, "So who is this Rogue person?"
I stopped, looking him over, "Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you. Well, this motherfucker just so happens to be a murdering human slayer going against his own kind, staking other slayers while they sit puzzled and utterly defenseless. Demiesius and I have our reservations that Julius is part of this business, and given that my Raeden was brutally attacked by this Rogue I'd like to speak with Julius one on one. He's not alone in this; that much we know... In fact, Demiesius is positive."
Making it to Raeden's house, it disgusted me above levels unknown just how much the sight of the house that Raeden was stuck in made me. The thought of blowing it up and having Raeden come and live with me was in contemplation. Then again, what good would that be? Julius and Jackson may be wrong to Raeden and deserve to die in my eyes, but they're his family, and he'd likely go through with killing me if I ever did do something like that. But... I'll make sure to keep the thought in mind.
To some extent, I'm sure Julius Dalton deserves to suffer.
Painfully.
Nate nudged me and my concentration came back. I looked up and he pointed in the direction of Raeden's house, the front door opening, "That's his brother, right?"
I stared Jackson down as he made his way out the house with a large white trash bag over his shoulder, an anger stimulating me further. He rounded the corner of the house, ignorant of Nate and I, at least not until Nate said, "Hey you prissy prick!"
Jackson looked up instantly after tossing the trash bag in the tall brown bin beside the outside wall. A look of confusion came upon him, but I gave him a second to look Nate and me over, I wanted him clear on who was coming to kick his ass!
In a quick instant, he dropped his heaving load and darted for the front door of the house. "Julius!" he shouted passing the threshold.
That's when I began the rest of my journey.
Nate was at my side as we drew nearer to the door and stepped inside. The house was faintly lit with little lighting from the kitchen and upstairs. Jackson's voice from the second floor announced, "Raeden's boyfriend is here."
Nate shut the door behind us as two shadows loomed closer to the ledge of the stairs, and before long Julius stood looking down on me, a sense of disgust in his eyes followed without delay by amazement.
"Hello, Julius," I said with a baleful twitch of my upper lip. The very sight of him pissed me off. I couldn't recall the last time I'd seen him, but I could remember the time years ago when he was slightly in his youth and Demiesius cursed his name more times than a sailor would.
Keeping my stabbing gaze on him, I said, "Right about now I bet you're wondering why I'm standing here looking up at you when your mindless grandson just told you what he did. Though, at this very second you're coming to realize his words. Raeden... is mine, and you, you put your hands on him... which is absolutely blazing within my veins. You hurt him, and you will pay."
The look in Julius eyes was of pure terror, a look I hadn't known from a slayer, especially one such as him, given before. I thought he was supposed to be the most successful Trainee qualified directly from Hamilton himself. And I may not be a human slayer, but I'm sure Hamilton would've taught his subjects to never show fear. Although, at the moment, that's all I could feel steaming off him.
Standing his quaking ground, Julius glared down at Nate and I, "You imprudent vampire. You come into my home striking me with statements you alone cannot prove."
I raised my voice, "You sent that murdering sonofabitch after him to what, to knock some sense into him?"
"Lord knows he needs it," Julius claimed
"So you don't deny it." I cracked my tense knuckles, neck, and wrists, "Why don't you come down here, and we can settle things out like men. I'll give you as much time as you need to get your "tools" ready, and we can battle this out."
Jackson stepped down one stair, "I'll take him, Julius. He's just a queer."
Julius stopped him.
"A queer?" I stroked my chin, "Does he always point out the obvious?" I looked towards Nate who flared his dangerous fangs up at Raeden's brother. I hitched my thumb at him, "I think he'd like to take you on, human scum. If you're willing. I'm sure he'd give you a life lesson."
Julius' voice boomed through the house, "Get out, both of you!"
I smirked, "Make me."
He did not move, and it was then that I knew for sure he was deliberating his actions. What was he going to have to do to get me out of here? Unquestionably, it wasn't going to be through words of command. I'd leave when I got what I wanted, and that was an answer to the questions I had in mind.
I ran a hand through my thick black hair. "Listen, Julius," without warning, I used my paranormal speed to get to the top of the stairs, grasped Jackson and practically tossed him down the stairs, and into Nate's possession, and in that second pinned Julius to the wall by his neck. I heard his grunt from loss of breath, and Jackson down stairs wailing to be released.
With my abilities, I reached into his mind as he tried resisting my five hundred and fifteen year old strength and drew my thoughts inside his. I searched throughout his thoughts from earlier in the night.
As I searched his mental films, they looked like fuzzy swift clips as I filed through his mind. I witnessed with my own eyes as he pounded his fist on my fearful lover. After he'd watched Raeden go down the stairs, he departed himself from Jackson's presence and entered the den where he picked up a phone and dialed a number.
A voice answered and Julius said, "Find him. Punish him," and then hung up.
I pulled out of his mind, growling with influence that sounded like one of an enraged creature. "You almost had him killed!" I shouted over my stinging lungs, "He could've died, and what would you have told his father? Oh, wait, you'd probably go and blame it all on vampires, maybe even blame the ones that stole the lives of your female family member... suddenly they came back for Raeden when he started rebelling against you, huh?"
"Hey, Dom!" Nate's voice came then, "I'm starving. Can I feed from this kid... just a little?"
I tossed Julius' hefty body down the stairs and he landed on his back with a loud thud, his lungs causing an oomph sound. Zipping down for him, I tightened a hold on his shirt and shifted him to face where Jackson was being restrained by Nate. It was humor at its finest because Nate was actually a lot smaller than Jackson, but I was just glad he was a vampire, if not he'd be the one in a bad position.
"Go ahead," I said, "but don't kill him."
I fixed Julius' as he struggled in my grasp, and he soon realized he was going nowhere. My clasp was caught. "Answer my questions and I'll call my friend off before your grandson dies from loss of blood. Do we have a deal?"
When he didn't answer I went on anyways, grinning with satisfaction as Nate played with his tongue and fangs, driving them into the side of Jackson's neck and the boy screamed.
I asked, "Who is the one called Rogue?"
Julius snarled, "Go fuck yourself."
Switching my left hand to take hold on his right shoulder blade, I elongated my violet nails, feeling them pulsate with anger hidden beneath pleasure. "Those are harsh words," I said, driving my index finger's nail into his arm. His mound of pride didn't allow him to scream. Bummer. "Let us get this straight Julius; I am an element to the Coalition. I can kill you with my fingertips if I wanted to, which I do, but I don't think I can at this very moment. Now, let's try this again. Maybe you'll appreciate this question."
I glanced up at Nate as he held fast to Jackson who was crying like a little bitch. I laughed in my thoughts knowing sure enough when Nate and I had gone that Julius would get on him for that. Crying before the enemy, showing your utter weakness.
It was a good look for his "jock" appearance.
"I know," I said, "Would you mind informing me about why exactly my maker is dying to see you erased from this world? I'm in the dark on that because he's not willing to tell me. Would you mind doing the honor, old man?"
A laugh started up, his chest rising and falling with chuckles of merriment. It confused me but I was patient. "That Demiesius," he continued to laugh, "He's just like you, a gay that deserves to die."
A gay? Demiesius...was gay? Although the thought was provoking, I never knew a moment in my life where my maker spoke sexually, lovingly, or anything for that matter about another person. I've never even witnessed a relationship over the years with anyone.
Could he be in one right now that I'm unaware of?
We've got some serious talking to do.
Driving my middle finger's nail into Julius' shoulder, I fixed my stance behind him, flinging him around. His faded blue eyes stared viciously into me now. "I'll drive a stake so far up your ass, you'll—."
I put up a finger, catching his last words. "No, no, no, this is all wrong. Nate, stop filling your belly and beat the living shit out of your meal."
It was clear that he complied when I heard Jackson cry out for Julius.
I shoved Julius back and he landed on the stairs with a groan of discomfort. "You see, Julius; you shouldn't be the one threatening me when you're the one who did wrong. I'm here because you decided to be the ultimate disciplinarian and put your disgusting hands on the one I love."
He grounded himself and felt around his belt.
"Oops," I mocked, "Are you missing something? A stake perhaps?"
Julius tried to turn and dart up the steps, but I caught him before he could reach the halfway point and slammed him against the rising wall. "You should've seen his face," I growled, flaring my fangs, a hunger coming over me, and when I could feel the transformation of my face, I knew I had become my true vampire self.
A frightening sight for Julius I must say.
I brought up my fist and rammed it across his face, "He had a black eye." I struck again. "The side of his face was swollen." And again. "His lips, both of them, were busted." And again. "He was scared half to death." And again. "Because of you." And again, and again, and yet again!
When I was certain he wouldn't try to fight back I released him. Julius' tone old body tumbled down the steps then. He coughed violently, blood rushing from his mouth but he wouldn't die, I made sure of it.
As he stood, I pulled on the collar of his shirt and reached into his mind. "You won't remember this visit, old man. A pack of unknown vampires attacked you and your grandson on the streets, beat you pretty badly before Raeden got there and killed them all before continuing his search for me. What a strong arm he has."
Oh, and I almost forgot.
"You'll forget anything Jackson ever said about Raeden being in a relationship with anyone. He may stay out for long hours, but he's desperate in the search for that vampire Dominick von Kraige."
I released his body and he stood still in weakness and confusion.
After making sure Nate had done the same to Jackson and closed his bite wounds, I said. "Now that that's out of the way, let's go and seek the one called Rogue."