"Where are my manners?" the snake-headed demon mocked. "We have not been formally introduced. Sam would you care to do the honours?" he asked with a snigger. "No? I think he's rather indisposed at the moment so allow me. My name is Lucien, Master of the Seventh Underworld, Commander of Legions, Gatherer of Souls and..." He chuckled, "Slaughterer of Parents."
He bent at the waist while he rolled his hand and swept his arm across the front of his body in a formal bow. His eyes never left her. Callie stood frozen to the spot in fear of the fiend that stood just two metres from her.
"Kneel before me, child," he instructed. Callie unwillingly fell to her knees. He rubbed his hands together with glee. "This is going to be so easy. When my band of not-so-merry followers arrive with your sister, we can get started on transferring your powers to me."
Anger spiked within her and she growled, forcing her words past her unmoving lips. "Don't touch my sister." At the thought of another monster hurting Adie, she mentally called out to her, hoping to warn her to escape before they captured her. Adie? Adie please hear me! You're in danger.
Irene and I are okay, a faint voice replied. Her grandmother held them off so we could escape...Cal? Cal?
Pain in Callie's head cut the connection short, increasing in strength until it became unbearable. The demon tried to force his way past her shield. She could feel the iron wall in her mind begin to heat up, taking on a red-hot glow as he forced more of his own power against it. Drawing strength from the knowledge that Adie was safe, Callie visualized water pouring over the iron wall to cool it and harden it more.
"No," she whispered. "No." Louder. "No!" she screamed. "You will not win!" Pushing against the force that held her to the ground, Callie stood tall before the creature who had confessed to stealing her parents' lives.
"Relinquish your powers to me or your soul mate will die," he challenged her. A smile developed on his face as she slowly walked toward him - he thought he had found her weak spot.
She stopped a foot away from the door and swept both her arms up from her side, palms facing up, and thought the power word for protection. Cosain. A wall of white flame appeared between Lucien and the cell holding Sam.
"Mine," she hissed through her teeth.
Rage enveloped the demon. Without thinking, he reached for her, but when his hand touched the portal boundary, represented by the door, he was flung backwards to land hard on the other side of the room.
Callie broke into hysterical laughter at the sight of the big, bad demon flying through the air with his arms and legs akimbo. The resounding crunch as he landed on his ass proved to be a very satisfying sound.
He scowled at her and shuffled backwards until his back hit the wall. "Stop laughing," he ordered. She laughed harder. "Stop laughing!" he commanded.
She continued until tears were running down her cheeks. They ceased only when she could no longer draw a breath.
Realization dawned on her. "Your power comes from other's fear?" His eyes snapped to meet hers. "Hear this, Lucien, Master of the Seventh Underworld, Commander of Legions, Gatherer of Souls, and Slaughterer of Parents. I know your name. And guess what?" she asked, but didn't wait for his reply. "I'm not afraid of you. You have no power over me."
Expecting something to hit her when he flicked his hand in her direction, she ducked. Nothing happened. When she looked up, the door between them vanished as if it had never been there. The smooth walls of the basement store were continuous and unblemished. Sidney chose that moment to enter the room looking a little worse for wear. She was battered and bruised from head to toe, with blood dripping from a split on her lip.
Sidney spat out blood. "What kept you?" she asked with an edge of anger in her tone. "I've been getting my butt kicked out there."
Callie smiled and picked Sam up, fireman style, and carried him out to the car.
The air seemed to thicken and vibrate. A voice, seeming to come from everywhere at once, said, You may have won the battle Callie Williams, but the war has only begun.
Sidney prodded her shields in an attempt to find out what the voice was referring to. Callie opened the door to allow her access. "Is that a demon?" she asked after a moment.
Callie nodded. "Let's get Sam somewhere safe."
How Sidney got Sam into the back seat of a mini, Callie had no idea. She swung around in her seat to grab her phone and another blood bag from the dashboard, and then turned back again to face Sam. She bit a small hole in the bag and squeezed it, a drop at a time, into Sam's mouth.
Callie called her sister. "We got him out, but he's really badly hurt. Do you think you could heal him?"
"Hi to you too. We're fine, thanks for asking," Adie said sarcastically. "I can try. Where are you and we'll head that way?"
Sidney answered, loud enough for Adie to hear, "Head to Seven Tower City Hospital. I'll send Rick to meet you at the A&E entrance. He can bring you round to the bank, it'll be quicker."
"Will do, we should be there in about five minutes. What does Rick look like?"
"Don't worry, he's met Callie. He'll find you."
"I'm glad you're both okay. See you soon." Callie said and snapped the phone closed.
Sidney snatched it from her hand and called Rick to relay her instructions.
"Who's Rick and is my sister safe with him?" Callie asked as soon as Sidney hung up.
"Relax. Do you remember the guy who opened the door to you earlier? Well that's Rick and he's half human."
"Half human? I'm almost afraid to ask what the other half is."
Sidney chuckled. "He's a white tiger."
"There are no wolves in Ireland, but there is a white tiger?" Callie scoffed. "Really?"
"He's actually from the States - visiting with Felix for a couple of months."
"Who's Felix?"
"Our blood brother, he was the first person Sam turned."
"How many of these sisters and brothers do we have?"
"There are four of us now - Felix, Charles, you and me," Sidney revealed.
"How old is he?"
"Felix is..."
"Sam," Callie interrupted, correcting Sidney's assumption of whom she meant.
"Oh, I think maybe you should ask him this stuff. Vamps can be a bit tetchy about age."
"Fine... Tell me about you then."
Sidney flicked a glance in her direction. Callie was studying the bruising that marked Sam's face by gently tracing them with her fingertips. She decided that she quite liked this nosey, little witch.
"I've been a vampire for 597 years in March past. Sam turned me when I was nineteen. I originally come from a small village called Blainroe, which is south of Dublin. Our village was attacked and all the men killed on sight. The women and female children were raped repeatedly and tortured for the fun of it. They left us to die and I'm guessing the smell of blood drew Sam to what remained of the village. My younger sister and I were the only ones left alive at that point and he gave us the option of becoming like him or he would end our suffering for us. We chose to live.
"Marie's didn't take and she turned night stalker. She went on a rampage in the next village, killing her boyfriend and his family before Sam and I could capture her. I was the one to plunge the stake into her heart." She paused and cleared her throat. "We rested during the day in any covered area we could find and followed the trail of death and destruction from our attackers at night. We come upon them several nights later when my bloodlust was at its most intense. Between us, we killed around thirty men."
Callie didn't flinch. "Do people notice that you don't age?"
"We generally don't stay in one place for more that ten years. It's getting easier to explain now with the excuse of plastic surgery, but we move around a lot to different towns and countries."
"How long have you been in Ireland this time? I can tell from your accent that you've been in America for a while. Have you always been with Sam?"
"We were in America for a long time, living in most of the states there. This is the first time I've been home, to live here, in about a century."
They pulled up outside the building with the red door. "Rick's car isn't back yet. Give me a hand getting Sam out of this minuscule car. You should really think about getting something bigger, you know."
Callie took the hint and let the subject of Sidney's past drop. She laughed. "No way, I love my pink Minbin."
Felix raced out the door and relived them of Sam. He strode down a long corridor with his burden, turning into a small room about half way down. It contained a narrow bed, chair and sink. Callie followed him until she was shoved to the side by a gorgeous blonde woman with legs to her armpits and boobs the size of melons. Callie picked herself up from the floor and growled at the blonde, who had plastered herself on top of Sam and sobbed into his neck.
"Oh my poor baby," the blonde cried while she stroked his hair.
A haze of red rage descended on Callie, clouding her vision. She hissed and growleded, speeding toward the woman with the intention of ripping out her throat.