HEATH:
Alone. The word is taken for granted until one is forced to be exactly that. Alone. For a century now I have had my pack, all 5 of them were by my side through thick and thin but now we were divided. Separated by broken promises and trust. By now all of them heard and all of them feel the power shift. I could feel the power in me deplete even just sitting here. Even Sebastian would soon feel the effects of losing my pack. He was feeding off my omega which now has to stop. I took another sip from my wine and looked up to see Xiang had returned from the bathroom.
"How are you feeling?" She asked. I shook my head and pointed to the three empty bottles next to me.
"Wonderful I see." She said with a smile.
"My pack is no longer." I said.
"Its wounded but you are a mighty alpha. You have the ability to correct the issues at hand."
"Max is legit heart broken. How do I mend that?" I asked. Xiang took a deep breath then sat down in front of me.
"You messed up there. The conversations involving business should have happened long ago. He is an invested partner in the Silver Mines. He has been on your books since the 1930's and yet he knew nothing of your plans to sell me your shares. Why is that?" She asked.
"Because it hasn't come up."
"But it has come up several times when you spoke to me about it. It came up when you spoke to Rebecca." She explained.
"I haven't had the time" I said.
"You made time for us, you make time for him."
"Honestly I didn't think he wanted it. Why would he? He still runs around like a nomad with an attitude. He shows up late to board meetings, he doesn't have a good standing with our other partners. He's never said he had interests until now." I explained.
"He has been to every meeting you have missed. He has run every international ring that you could not attend because you were taking trips with Rebecca. He has been adamant
about his standings within the company and has made great
head way with your international buyers Heath. I don't want to hear that."
"So are you telling me that you don't want it?"
"I am telling you that you are a fool for thinking your second in command has no interest in a business he has helped you run for decades. This goes beyond the board room Heath. This goes into your leadership skills."
"What do you mean?" I asked
"Your personal issues have overrode your outlook on how to run a business and how to be a pack leader. Your own beta has been left out of the loop of things he should be more in charge of."
"Don't pass judgment until you know what has been going on." I said with a tone that was slightly sharper then needed.
"Whats been going on? You mean you claimed a young girl who hasn't accepted it. She was attacked by a rogue werewolf that was living within your jurisdiction for months and you never knew it. You have ancient vampires now killing people and your pack fell apart. Tell me what it is I don't know." Xiang said. I felt my rage begin to build but I took a deep breath and then exhaled.
"you're right ... sorry." I said.
"Rebecca was absolutely out of line by making the decisions she made however you are allowing her to risk everything you worked hard for. You should be able to
understand her emotional distress while being able to lead this
pack with an iron fist. Something has weakened you Heath. Your love for her is strong, stronger then you may think."
"IS that a bad thing?"
"Typically no but its becoming your kryptonite. You're losing sight on the things that lead you to this point. Being honest is the first step. Being honest with yourself and others." I poured myself another glass and took in all her words.
"She has a strong will in her you know. Stronger then you can control."
"I'm not trying to control her." I admitted.
"From an outsiders point of view, I'd say it doesn't look that way. She is growing and seems to be more aware of things."
"What do yo want me to do Jade? I cant divulge everything and risk losing her before she accepts the claim."
"No however I think its best you tell her everything you know about her past before she finds out on her own or from someone else. If not you'll end up losing her. The pack can only do so much to protect her physically but emotionally thats all you." Xiang said.
"She risks her life almost everyday. How can I expect everyone to continue to want to protect her? I've lost Max, I've lost my pack. I can't lose her."
"Then you know what you need to do. You need to give her the information she craves and you need to do it soon. You
forget the talents she may possess can probably help you in the
long run. Why do you keep things from her anyway?"
"To protect her." I said.
"Not everything you hide is protect worthy Heath. Why is it she found out about you possibly running for Mayor from outside sources. As your partner, as your team, she is to know these things. To support you. These are human interactions that should come natural to you. Has the beast truly overcome your common sense?"
"Are you really siding with her?" I asked.
"I'm siding with every female, male or partner who struggle in secretive relationships. You want her to accept your claim, win her over first. Once you have, the answer you seek will come to you." Jade explained. I looked at her before taking another sip of wine and slammed the glass down on the table.
"I'm not sure she can handle the truth when it comes to her parents."
"There's only one way to find out Heath." She replied. I nodded my head then made my way upstairs to confront Rebecca. If things were going to be right, I had to start by telling the truth. I got to the door and something felt off. I ping deep in my stomach suddenly had me questioning if she was okay. It wasn't until I heard the loud roar come from Sebastian downstairs that I knew something happened. I burst through the door to see that she was not in the room. In fact, the room's large window was open and she had exited from it.
"They have her ... and your Omega." Sebastian said from behind me. I turned quickly and saw him standing in the
hallway, fist balled up, eyes glowing red.
"WHAT? WHO?"
"Gustavo and The remaining Vampire Court."
"How is that you know and I don't?" I asked.
"I felt their fear. Their pain." Sebastian said.
"Pain?" I said now taking another step closer to him.
"I cant reach Rebecca, but Hector is in a lot of pain. He's surrounded by silver." Sebastian explained. I growled when I realized where they might be. The only place I or my pack couldn't go.
"They're in the mines." I said. "They're trying to get you to go by yourself." I said. He looked at me and hissed then charged.
"This is your fault!" He shouted as he lifted me off the ground and threw me across the room. I crash landed into the fully stocked walk in closet but quickly got back up. Enraged, i leaped across the room and grabbed the vampire by his neck.
"SHE WOULDN'T BE IN THE PREDICAMENT IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOUR LAW BREAKING!" I shouted back before charging him through the glass windows, taking us over the balcony and onto the yard 50 feet below. The ground shook beneath our bodies but it didn't effect us. We were up and swinging at each other again, dodging each
other's deadly blows.
"Stop!" Xiang said as he ran towards us but we
continued on. Three very large trees fell victim to the battle we partook in and before a fourth got involved, Xiang leaped in and separated us.
"THAT IS ENOUGH!" She commanded. We both looked at her then back at each other. I felt blood drip from my face and saw that He was holding his arm.
"You fighting each other will not save her! We need to band together and find them... fast! She said. I spit out the blood from my lip then looked back at her.
"The three of us wont be able to fight them on our own. We wouldn't stand a chance." I admitted.
"He's right ... They are ancients."
"You're older though. You have the strength over them" Xiang said to Sebastian.
"Not on his eating habits. He is weak and tired."
"You aren't holding up so well yourself old man" Sebastian replied as he pointed at my recent wounds. I growled and took another step forward but Xiang placed her arm against my chest.
"Either way, if they are in fact in the mines, the pack and myself wouldn't be able to go far without crippling over in pain. They are playing this extremely smart."
"Obviously smarter then anyone here. Why haven't we figured this out?" Sebastian questioned.
"We need to stop this. We need to find the pack and we
need to make things right and save Rebecca. We need to do this and quick, but first we need to figure out how to go in without harming you and the rest of the wolves. I can tell you now that I will not let you go on this mission without me. You have support and we are going to get them back." Xiang explained.
"I don't know who she is, but she is absolutely right ... and you're NOT going in alone." Said a familiar voice. The three of us jumped and went into a defense as the voice caught us by surprise. I turned and saw the body it belonged to and growled. He stood in the doorway of the back yard, cross bow on back, metal sword in hand and guns on either side of his hip. Sebastian hissed out a laugh then looked at me.
"So much for him being retired..." Sebastian said. I felt my eyes turn yellow and a growl escape my throat but this new member to our rescue squad may be our only saving grace in getting into the mines.
*
REBECCA:
I felt my body float along in the ocean as I swam with
the current. The weather was beautiful and I felt free. I felt happy. I stared at the birds as they flew above my head in a circle, dancing in the gust of wind that blew through the
tropical air. How good it felt to be here again with those I
loved. Here. Where was here? I exited my float and began to tread water and looked around. The beach was only about 50 feet from where I was and I could see my parents clearly. They wore all white and slow danced as they stared into each other's eyes. They looked so happy together.
"MOM! DAD!" I waved. They continued to dance as if they didn't hear me. "HEY! I know you can hear me guys! L
ook at me!" I begged and laughed a bit. They stopped at the same time and dropped their stance. Slowly they turned and looked at me and began to wave back. I felt a flutter in my stomach seeing them again, seeing them interact with me and for once in a long time, I felt whole. The suns heat started to beat down stronger on my shoulders and it even began to burn a bit. I used the water to cool them off but even that hurt. I looked down for a brief second and saw that my skin was s
tarting to smoke.
"Whats wrong Rebecca?" I heard my mom ask. I turned and looked and saw that both my parents had caught fire. Immediately they both started to scream from the pain and I screamed for them. I watched as my father fell to the ground and his body twitch. My mother stumbled to the ocean a
nd fell into the water, a pile of steam and smoke filtered up from where she landed then disappeared. I started frantically swimming towards her but something grabbed hold of my leg. Panic kicked in and I felt my self being pulled under. I reached and shouted but nothing would save me, nothing would hear me. I was suddenly underwater and facing the body of my c
harred mother. I screamed and pulled away but she held on to
me. She was trying to tell me something, something important.
I stopped fighting for that moment and focused on her mouth as she worded her message. The waters rapid noise suddenly went silent and it gave me more of insight of what she was saying. I listened in closely and finally understood what she was saying.
"WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP!"
I shot up out of the pool of water that was only a few inches deep and gasped for air. I looked around and felt the immediate chill of my environment. The smell was wet and definitely cavern like. The orange glow from the torches that were lit gave me enough sight to see exactly where I was. The massive structure was larger then I had imagined, definitely more grand then the news had lead on to believe.
The bones that outlined the walkways, the endless amount of skulls that lined the walls and the hanging skeletons that dangled from the high dome shaped ceiling were enough for me to know these were the catacombs. How deep were we in the catacombs, I don't know but judging by how well preserved the chamber was, we were deep in. The only thing that seemed foreign was the extra amount of silver placed throughout the skulls in the walls. Whether this was already here, utilized by whoever created them, or strategically placed by Gustavo and his goons is another topic however very smart of them to use this as a hideout.
As I sat there and shivered I noticed that Hector was laid out on the floor about 20 feet away from me. He was pale, sweating and laying in a pool of his own vomit. I immediately crawled over to him to check on him but he was very unresponsive. I could see that he was breathing and his skin
was hot to the touch. It was the silver that was all around us that made him sick. Typically being close to or around silver doesn't harm them unless they touch it but in the amount that surrounded us and in its natural form, silver traveled in the dust, which he was currently breathing.
"Hector stay with me. We're going to get you out of here I swear." I said as I wiped the sweat from his face.
"Just like you thought you were going to save Devin?" Gustavo asked from somewhere in the shadows. I looked around but couldn't see anything or anyone.
"What are you going to do with us?" I asked.
"It's quite simple my dear, you are just a casualty of a long time feud. Unfortunately you were in the wrong place at the right time!" He said.
"What is the deal Gustavo? What is it about Sebastian do you want so badly?" I asked but he didn't answer. Instead, he simply laughed. The tone in his sinister chuckle vibrated deep in my stomach and just as he finished he had me off the ground. Within seconds, I was flying across the room slamming into the wall of bones. I was only landed for a few seconds before my feet were being lifted off the grown and Gustavo had me by my neck.
"It's simple. I ... want ... him ... dead!" He said as we continued our ascend. His face was so close to mine that I could smell the rot and decay on his breath. I tried to pull away but he only got closer. Staring into my eyes he suddenly began to smile.
"Ah ... you care for him ... don't you? You have feelings for the old man aye?" He raised his right hand and waved his index finger back and forth. "Tsk tsk Ms Rhodes. A claimed human should not be having improper thoughts of another man, let alone a dead one a few millennia old. I wonder what your alpha would say?" He said before suddenly letting me go, allowing my body to drop from a pretty decent height. I crashed landed into a pile of bones with excruciating pain shooting up my leg.
The bones rolled off me as I struggled to get up and the dust in the air had me coughing more then I needed. Breathing was hard to do already down here so the added dirt didn't help.
"aw, are you hurt my dear?" He asked now as he stood directly over me, following as I pulled myself away. "Just be lucky your not dead at this point." He said now a few steps ahead of where I laid.
In front of me, a sharp pointed piece of broken bone presented itself. It was perfect enough to pierce through old flesh and If I gathered up enough strength, I could probably stab him with it. I took a deep breath, grabbed it and launched myself at his body. The bone slid into his back at the perfect angle but just missed his heart. Gustavo arched back and screamed before back handing me so hard that my body flew backwards and slammed into the same wall, but this time knocking me out cold.
*
My eyes began to open as I heard the moans come from Hector. Everything was blurry and my head felt like an elephant was standing on it but I still looked around the room for him. Flashing orbs of light and pain really deflected any real objects from being seen and this could be cause from the concussion I probably had. I slowly rolled over and felt like my entire brain shifted over and slammed into the ground. This made me so nauseous that I couldn't hold in my vomit. The convulsing of my body sent me into agony and I suddenly felt as if I were going to black out again.
Finally, as I laid there with my eyes slightly open the
shapes were noticeable and what I could see were the silhouettes of two vampires dragging Hector away. I tried to make noise for them to stop, I tried to reach for them but it only caused me more pain and soon I was out again.
*
"Rebecca" The voice whispered. "Rebecca!" It said again.
I knew the voice but where was it coming from? I laid still on the cold ground and waited for it to come back again. I knew I was alone therefor no one in the room was whispering my name. It was all in my head.
"Where are you?" The voice asked. I swallowed and the pain in my throat was unreal.
"Sebastian?" I asked the voice.
"Where are you Rebecca?" It asked. I tried to find the words but they couldn't be formed. I filtered through my memories but my head began to hurt even more.
"I'm sorry for being stupid" I tried to say but failed.
"Rebecca where are you?" The voice asked. I licked my lips and tasted dry blood and recoiled. I tried to open my eyes but the motion hurt.
"Cat ... cat, comb" Was all I could say before everything went black again.
*
I felt my body being tugged at. Moved gently, then suddenly being pulled at a fast rate. The rocks under me hurt badly and the speed we traveled only made it worst. I opened my eyes to see a rabid looking vampire pulling me down a dark path with his eyes red and teeth exposed. He was feral like, a newborn.
"St-op ... STOP!" I struggled to say and to my surprise he did. He looked around and grunted before leaping on top of me and licking my face. He quivered and prepared to sink his teeth in but before he could, was yanked off me. I watched as he was decapitated directly over my body. The black blood spilled all over me and I immediately began to vomit. I tried to
pull away but Gustavo lifted my limp body and cradled me back to the large open floor cavern.
"Fucking Newborns. I apologize for that. He was just hungry." He said as we entered the large open space that was the Catacomb. It was then and from this angle, that I saw them all on the dome like ceiling of the cavern. Vampire cocoons, all solid and full of new feral vampire waiting to be awaken. A chill ran up my spine and I knew survival was slim to none. He walked me over to the large puddle of water and placed me in it.
"Here, lets wash you up so you're presentable." He said as he washed some water over me, cleaning off the vampires blood.
"Ah, much better. Now lets get you some strength, what do you say?" I looked at him confused as I laid
shivering in the puddle. He lifted his arm and used his extended thumb nail to slice open his wrist. The black fluid dribbled out and he held it close to my mouth.
"Now you already know not to drink a whole lot, because it can be deadly, but we need you to be strong and free minded for this trial. So the quickest way to do that is direct blood from me. Now drink up my dear." He said as he opened my mouth for me and placed his bleeding wrist on it. The blood poured into my mouth and I immediately rejected it. I tried not to let any of it drip down my throat but It was no use. The blood made it down, and I immediately began to feel better, stronger, healthier.
"now now, doesn't that make you feel better?" He asked.
"Where's Hector?" I asked.
"Oh, well... he's a bit tied up right now but I'm sure he'll be back to ... hang out... soon" He said. He had me on my feet now and was walking me over to a wooden pole that was sticking out of the ground a few feet away from where I laid. I hadn't seen it there before but then again I wasn't paying much attention. He placed my back against the pole then pulled out some rope.
"This pole was used during the sacrificial beheading ritual while creating the catacombs. You see, the people who made these tombs were a very spiritual people. With big dreams and hopes of one day being reborn into the earth as gods themselves. They would explain this to their people and ask for those who were willing to sacrifice themselves in hopes to becoming a pure one. A God. Once the initiate was chosen they would bring them down here and begin.
They would tie their sacrifice up, much like I'm doing to you, and pour the blood of the pure ones, aka the virgin babies they killed out of fear of over population, all over the initiate while they prayed. As the final drop was laid, they would slice their head off in one clean swipe. They then would take the body, chop it up and lay the parts out in the shape of their symbol. Which if you look over there, those bones shaped like an upside-down triangle with two upside down horns coming out the middle, thats an example of it." He said as he tied me up.
"Anyway, they would then take the head, and place it at the top of this pole. They'd skin it and consume the contents of the brain, leaving the skull to dry out before placing it on the walls of fame you see before you. Pretty civilized weren't
they?" He asked while smiling. He looked up toward the entry way and smiled.
"Please be polite and greet our prestigious group of ancients" He said as the Vampire Court walked in. Only half were here being that the other half were attempting to eradicate the uncontrollable new borns. They all filtered into the cavern, walking in unison and stood beside Gustavo. They didn't acknowledge me with anything other then a hiss or two but then stood still and waited.
"What is happening? What are we waiting for?" I asked. He smiled and nodded his head toward the entry way. I looked and waited, but saw nothing at first. Then the sounds of footsteps approaching could be heard. The lights from the torch captured the shadow of the man walking towards us and stretched it long and far across the cavern. It was my shadow man, he had come to rescue me.
"Ah Sebastian Lonescu, what a lovely surprise to see you made it. We've been expecting you." Gustavo said as he stood in front of me. Sebastian walked in and stood across from us, which was a good 80-90 feet away.
"Are you okay Rebecca?" He asked looking straight at me.
"She's fine ... for now." Gustavo answered for me. "What do you think of the place? It is very ... reminiscent of things we've done in the past aye?"
"Things you've done maybe, I chose not to partake in such disgusting acts." Sebastian said as he stood very still with his hands behind his back.
"No, yet you do kill other vampires for sport, allow humans to see our sacred areas and fill them in on our most sacred of secrets though... correct?" Gustavo asked. Sebastian didn't answer instead looked over to me and winked. Suddenly, one of the Court members walked over to Gustavo and whispered in his ear. I saw Sebastian's face change to horror in the few seconds of the exchange which suddenly put a pit of fear in my stomach.
"You were told to come alone, yet, you brought friends." Gustavo said. "Bring them in!" I looked at Sebastian confused and now worried for who it was that might walk in but as soon as I heard the cries of an injured wolf, I immediately thought of Heath. The two vampires pulled in the body but to my surprise the coloring on the beast was not that of my alpha. The large silver wolf they brought in was not Heath. In fact, it was Max. The two vampires drug his limp
body into the large cavern then flung him to the center of the room.
"NO!" I screamed for him as he laid limp on the ground, injured by the amount of silver that was in the air.
"Well, isn't this an interesting turn of events. The Wallace pack's Beta, came to the rescue of his Alpha's claimed one." Gustavo said as he turned around and faced me.
"He came on his own free will. I can assure you I did not bring him" Sebastian said but Gustavo could care less.
"No, it's quite alright, because now you can have a total
of three witnesses here." Gustavo said. I looked at him in horror trying to figure out who the other witnesses were. Sebastian's face was paler then usual which meant he knew what was going on. From one of the other openings, Another vampire entered dragging something heavy behind him. I looked on in horror as it was revealed to be Heath, wrapped in silver chains that burned his human flesh.
"LET THEM GO!" I begged but Gustavo merely laughed in my face.
"Oh child why would I do that!? The fun has JUST BEGUN!"