“Are you both comfortable?”
As if that isn’t the most cliché and villainy thing to say, Tania thought, already disgusted with Kale. She looked across to where Alex stood, each arm being held by one of the bodyguards while two more were posted at the only door to the room. Tania was also being held but by one vampire not two. Before being shoved into the huge house they’d been searched and their weapons removed. Like we had any left, Tania thought wryly. Currently they were in a large room, walls panelled in mahogany, just like the door and furniture. Large windows were hidden behind the blood red velvet curtains, the same shade as the rich carpet beneath their feet. Lounging on a red velvet couch, Tania sensed a theme, looking very much at his ease, was Kale.
“Kale have you lost what little sanity you possessed? Tania’s not a vampire. You can’t hold her here!” Alex snarled, chin lifted in a challenge as his eyes blazed with fury.
Leaping lightly to his feet, Kale ambled over to Alex. Smiling up into his face, he replied “Oh, I can.”
Alex lunged forward. Or attempted to, but was drawn up short by the two large vampires holding onto him. Hissing, Alex glared at Kale, eyes already glowing red. “I’m going to kill you.”
Not good. This is exactly what he wants, Tania thought. “Alexander, calm down. Getting angry’s not going to help.”
Meeting her hazel eyes, Alex realized she was right and took several deep breaths, closing his eyes as he did so. It helped when he couldn’t see Kale or Tania being restrained.
His eyes suddenly a deep red Tania had never seen Alex’s turn; Kale whipped about and thrust his face close to hers. “You shut your goddamn mouth you little whore!” He screeched at her.
Alex snapped his eyes open, any calm he had regained was now thrown to the winds. “You stay the fuck away from her, or so help me, I’ll shred you!”
“Not helping, Alexander! He’s deliberately provoking you again.”
With great difficulty, Alex reigned in his temper.
Kale suddenly calmed and returned to his couch. “Since we all seem to be hot and bothered, how about a drink? I can have fresh blood brought up.”
“No thank you,” Alex replied tersely, eyes still faintly red.
Not sure if the offer applied to her as well, Tania remained silent. The last thing she wanted to do was cause Kale to have another fit. I set Kale off, I set Alexander off.
“Well then, why don’t we begin our little discussion then? You two have been very naughty, killing all those vampires.”
“We were attacked first,” Alex replied evenly.
“They were under the orders of the council. You’ve been breaking an awful lot of laws.”
Tania continued to say nothing. He’ll tolerate anything from Alexander but if I say something there’s a good chance he’ll flip. I just need to try and keep Alexander calm and he might be able to talk his way out of this, she thought, watching the exchange carefully.
“And so have you.”
Kale smiled. “But in my case it wasn’t breaking. It was bending them for extenuating circumstances.”
Alex glanced at Tania to calm himself before replying “Well our circumstances were extenuating as well.”
“That’s not for you to decide. That’s the council’s job.” Kale seemed to be enjoying himself, if the smile on his face was any indication.
“But if it concerns the council then the council cannot be considered to be impartial and a different body of people must be chosen to judge.” Alex was beginning to get the hang of this. Calm, he chanted to himself. Just stay calm. Getting angry is only going to make things worse for Tania and yourself.
“Well that’s no great matter. I can have such a group put together in no time at all.”
“No. A third-party would have to be the one to choose the group. One of the other councils might be a good idea.”
Kale frowned. “No. This is a vampire matter and it will be kept within our race.”
“Then all vampires would be considered too close to the case to judge fairly and so we must look outside our group.”
“They won’t agree. They stay out of our business and we stay out of theirs. It’s been the rule for generations.”
“There is nothing to be lost in asking,” Alex continued after another glance at Tania.
Kale saw it. Before either of them could react, Kale had launched himself out of the chair and grabbed Tania by the front of her shirt. “Don’t you dare look at him! You’ve done nothing but corrupt him since you got near him you little bitch,” Kale spat, eyes like dark rubies.
Tania was done being nice and meek. She glared right back at him. “You’re the sick fuck who turned him against his will.”
His eyes blazing, Kale slapped her across the face, the crack seeming to echo in the room. With a roar, Alex threw himself forward, actually dragging his captors forward several steps before their counterparts on the door came and helped drag him back while he struggled violently. “I’m going to rip your heart out and put it in a motherfucking blender!”
Spitting out the blood that had come from the inside of her cheek being split by her teeth, Tania flashed Alex a smile. “I’m fine.” The unspoken words were evident. Calm down.
Turning to glare at Kale, Alex was disturbed by the speculative way he was looking at Tania. “Touch her again and I’ll kill you.”
“If I remember correctly you actually bit her didn’t you Alex?”
The chestnut-haired vampire froze. “Don’t you dare. If you so much as…”
Kale smiled, cutting him off. “Your first bite unless I’m entirely mistaken. Much better than your old method, getting people to let blood into a cup. So messy. So where’d you bite her?”
“I’m warning you Kale, don’t even think about it.”
“She’s quite troublesome. Maybe it’d be a good idea if I got rid of her for you. Of course officially it’ll be the rogues who got her, but we’ll both know what really happened.”
Tania stood very still as Kale pulled her hair away from her neck. Alright, calm down. No need to panic. He’s probably just bluffing, to get Alexander going. He wouldn’t actually…I mean Alexander would tell everyone. The others would believe him. Even Kale isn’t crazy enough to do this. I hope. Oh God. I’m going to die.
“What’s the report?” Theron asked.
“Both the earth and the air elementals are pretty sure they’re at the Montreal house. Ilana’s confirming it now,” Aiden replied.
“Is everyone here?”
Bredon nodded. “Black Tip’s just arrived and they’re pissed. They’re the last of the first wave. Second wavers will be here within an hour. Professor Norman’s going to lead them.”
“Everyone’s assembled and ready to head out. We’d better have the location soon because they’re getting restless,” Kayne said as he came to stand with the others.
“Good,” Eclipse hissed from where he paced beside them. He’d been unable to sit still since they’d told him. “It means they’re prepared to fight.”
Theron nodded his agreement. “Are the dryads ready?”
“Just waiting for the destination,” Kayne replied.
Jason and the pack stalked over, eyes all lit up with anger. “When do we leave?” The alpha demanded.
“As soon as Ilana confirms the location. Remember,” Theron told him, voice hard. “You follow my orders. You go off on your own and you might not only get yourselves killed but Alex and Tania as well.”
The alpha glared. “I am well aware of the consequences of my actions. I’m not about to endanger a member of my pack by not following orders. Just because I’m alpha doesn’t mean I can’t take orders.”
“Good.”
“I’ve got the son of a bitch!” Ilana’s cry could be heard throughout the clearing. They’d used the same place the parties had been as the meeting point. It was one of the few places most of the people knew that wouldn’t be discovered by students out wandering. Back on campus, Madison, Chloe, Sarah and Jill sat in Alex and Theron’s apartment in case Tania or Alex phoned. They’d wanted to come too but it was far too dangerous. Not to mention they all knew they’d get a scolding if Tania found out about it.
“Where is it?” Theron asked, head rising with the others. They had the scent. Now came the hunt.
“Bastard has a house beside the 40. With all the traffic going by you wouldn’t hear anything coming from the house unless you were inside. That’s why the air elementals had difficulty pinpointing his location. I doubt that’s accidental. Lucky for us that Kale bastard didn’t think to look to the trees.”
“Give the other dryads the location. I’ll get the troops organized. As soon as we’re ready we head out.”
The grins the twelve of them were so bloodthirsty and merciless that had any of their recruits seen them they’d have almost felt it was useless to go with them. Those expressions promised death and destruction to the ones who got between them and their friends.
The sun had set hours ago and darkness now gripped the sky. Even the stars were obscured by the sudden bank of clouds that had appeared over this part of town. Everything was quiet except for the cars whizzing past on the highway. Their noise covered all others. The large brown house surrounded by the black iron fence stood facing away from that route; its front was towards the park that stood nearby. A park which had suddenly been filled by nearly one hundred and fifty very angry, heavily armed people.
“Surround the place quietly. Kill only if you have to and take Kale alive. We want him to pay for this,” Theron ordered the troops. “And remember the main reason we’re here. Find Tania and Alex. Rescuing them is top priority.”
A low growl of agreement spread through the assembly. “Alright, let’s go.”
Running forward in silence, the house was soon encircled. When they heard the signal, Eclipse’s roar, the troops burst forward, letting loose cries of their own as they stormed the house.
“I’d move if I were you. I’m not in the mood to wait.”
The three guards exchanged amused looks before approaching the lone youth. What had they to fear from this arrogant boy? All of a sudden knives began raining down around them, slicing through tendons and muscles, causing them to drop their weapons. “Get some blood and you’ll be alright. Eventually. You’re lucky I took Anatomy or you’d be dead,” Kayne told them, walking past as the weapons the vampires had dropped lifted up to join his knives in a deadly dance around him.
Theron didn’t bother transforming. He ran up to the first vampire to get in his way and punched him in the face so hard that the guard flew backwards to strike a wall. “Get out of my way,” He growled, cracking his knuckles as he advanced. Beside him, Ilana had trees breaking into the house and slowly moving inside, hitting any of the guards who got close. She watched Theron continue on, wishing she could go with him but knowing it was her job to keep their escape route open.
“There’s nothing here!” Jason snapped, kicking the chains. They’d followed Tania and Alex’s scent here but the small room was empty. “Chase!”
“On it,” The tracker replied, changing back to his wolf form to try and pick up the scent again.
“We’ve got company,” Vince announced.
“Hell. Celine give us some cover.”
The spirit girl nodded, closing her eyes as she concentrated her power. Beside Celine stood Ben, guarding his mate while she worked. Waves of fog began to billow up and around Celine swiftly moving out to envelop the room while the other pack members hid themselves in the thick mist.
Eclipse leapt forward, tackling another guard to the ground. Yanking her blade with his mouth, he delivered a heavy blow with his paw. When she wasn’t immediately knocked unconscious he repeated the action. He had no time to be nice. Tania and Alex needed him.
Their weapons raised, two guards rushed Aiden. The elemental stepped aside, sending a bit of fire forward to lick up their swords. Both guards dropped the red blades, cursing. Their hands now sported nasty burns. They wouldn’t be able to wield any weapon until they got them fixed. Aiden ignored them as he continued forward, flaming doors open and people out of his way.
Holding Alex’s eyes with his own, black to Alex’s bright red, Kale slowly leaned down towards Tania, who’d just begun to struggle. It was a futile gesture as the vampire holding her was far stronger. “Just wait a minute and you’ll be the way you should be,” Kale promised Alex before opening his mouth wide and sinking his fangs into Tania’s neck.
Tania shrieked as every nerve in her body seemed to explode simultaneously but the pain didn’t end with that. It kept going until she thought she was going to black out, it was so intense.
“No!” Alex screamed, violently thrashing about in his captors’ grasps. The two from the door jumped onto him again but this time even that wasn’t enough. Eyes blazing red, Alex ripped away from their clutching hands, savagely kicking them out of the way as he ran to Tania.
Alex threw himself at Tania, shoving her away but managing to get himself into the path of Kale’s fangs. Once again having those fangs slice into his neck, caused Alex’s eyes to black over for a moment but then his rage resurfaced dyeing the world red and allowing him to block the pain enough that he could deliver a vicious kick to Kale’s stomach as he lunged forward. Both vampires fell to the ground as Alex attempted to rip out the council leader’s throat with his fangs while at the same time he dug his fingers into Kale’s flesh. Eyes wide with obvious fear, even Kale had never seen Alex this enraged before, the red-haired vampire threw his body sideways, causing them to roll across the floor. Alex pulled his right hand out of Kale’s shoulder and landed a savage blow across Kale’s face, making his head snap to the side with an audible crack.
Recovering faster than Alex expected, Kale flipped himself on top of him and grabbed him about his throat, squeezing it hard while Alex reached up and wrapped his fingers around Kale’s collarbone. Scissoring his leg up, Alex kicked the back of Kale’s head, causing him to loosen his grip on Alex’s throat. Jerking his head to the side, Alex’s blood-slick throat proved too difficult to hold onto for the red-haired vampire. Twisting his lower body about, Alex knocked Kale off him and in the same movement, landed a double blow to the council leader’s head.
Before Kale could affect another rapid recovery, Alex released the hold he’d had on the council leader’s collarbone and buried his hand into his chest instead. The sound of Kale’s ribcage being smashed sounded like several dry twigs being snapped simultaneously mixed with the sound of mud sucking a boot of its owner’s foot. With Kale’s blood now liberally dotting his clothes and faces, mixing in with his own blood that was still flowing from his wound, Alex tightened the grip he had on Kale’s still beating heart. About to rip it out, he caught sight of Tania, her eyes wide as she watched him. Not…in front…of her…His blood-starved mind managed to form, before he released Kale’s heart and collapsed sideways onto the ground.
Being pushed away by Alex had caused Kale’s fangs to slice down Tania’s shoulder, the additional pain disorienting her so it had taken Tania several moments to get back into an upright position. Holding one hand to her neck where the deepest wound was, she got up just in time to see a blood-splattered Alex slam his hand through Kale’s chest. Staring at him, Alex looked like he was going to kill everything that came near him, she met his eyes as he turned. As she looked, his eyes slowly returned to their normal black colour right before he fell over. “Alexander!” Tania cried, scrambling over to him. Kneeling down beside him, heedless of the blood, she pulled his head into her lap. Seeing the extent of the damage, she could actually see bones through all the blood that was running out of the wound, she paled. “Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!” What do I do? He could die from this! I need to get help. He can’t die. I won’t let him!
Alex tried to laugh but was having difficulty getting air. He wanted to reassure Tania but was having difficulty focusing. And seeing. Lost too much blood, he thought hazily, closing his eyes.
He’s passing out! I need to call an ambulance. But he’s a vampire…Wait! “Alexander, listen to me. I need you to bite me.”
Opening his eyes to the world that was currently spinning, Alex moved his head slightly from side to side.
“Alexander you’re going to die!” Tania was crying now, tears sliding down her face. She couldn’t lose him. She just couldn’t.
Seeming to ignore her, Alex shut his eyes again. Oh no you don’t! You’re not dying on me, Tania thought. I can be stubborn too. Grabbing his head, Tania gently held his face against her neck. “Bite me!”
Whether it was some kind of self-preservation instinct or that he’d just given in, Tania felt Alex’s fangs puncture her flesh. Pressing her lips together so she didn’t cry out like the first time he’d bitten her, Tania knelt with one arm supporting Alex’s back while the other held his head. Much better, she thought, so concerned with the vampire she couldn’t hear the sounds of battle coming from below.
Something hit his head. Hard. Lifting his head and glaring, Alex found himself facing a soot-streaked Ilana. “You keep that up much longer and you’ll drain her,” She told him tartly.
“Wha…Tania!” Alex cried, only now realizing who he’d been biting.
Tania opened her eyes and smiled at him groggily. “You’re better. That’s good.”
Cradling her in his arms, Alex noticed how pale and cool her skin was now. “Jesus Christ! You’ve lost too much blood. I’m so sorry! I didn’t…”
She glared at him. “I made you bite me so stop apologizing. Besides all I need is a nap and I’ll be fine,” Tania replied, too quietly for Alex’ liking, before turning her head slightly and catching sight of Ilana. “Why are you covered in dirt?”
“It’s not dirt. It’s ash. Aiden got into an… altercation with some of the guards. Taking out a wall helped them see things our way.”
“Is everyone here?”
Ilana laughed. “Of course. I have to say that Celine of yours was a god-send. Did you know she can control the weather? She clouded up the sky and then created a nice fog downstairs for the rest of your pack to hide in.”
“My pack’s here?”
“A lot of people are here. There’d have been more but we ended up not needing the second wave so they stayed behind. Actually a good quarter of this group have left already to spread what happened here. I think the councils will all be pleased.”
“Except the vamp one,” Alex answered.
“They’ll be the happiest of all,” Another female voice said.
Turning, Tania and Alex saw Amaya standing there, a shallow cut down one cheek and slight smile playing on her lips. “You!” Alex roared, hugging Tania tighter.
“What do you mean?” Tania asked.
Amaya bowed. “I must apologize Donovan. None of us wanted to bring you in. Either of you, but we had no choice. Kale…the only people he trusted were those he could control. Us, some of the other guards and the council. For each of us he found the thing we cherished most, took it and locked it up. If we were to disobey him, he’d destroy it.”
“So why are you helping us now?” Alex demanded suspicion obvious.
Smiling, the blonde woman held up a ring of keys. “Because I took the keys off him before your troops locked him up. Now I can see my daughter again.”
“You daughter? I thought Nina committed suicide.”
Amaya shook her head. “No. She’s been under Kale’s control all this time. But now we’ll both be free.”
Tania smiled. “That’s wonderful.”
“I’ll return later. I have a feeling we should talk.”
Alex snorted but didn’t disagree.
“So Kale’s been arrested?” Tania asked Ilana, Amaya’s words finally sinking in.
“We’ve got ten guards on him,” Theron rumbled as he came to stand next to Ilana. “We’ll let the councils deal with him. They’ve already started sending representatives to the vamp headquarters. That’s where we’re heading next. You up for it Tania?”
The girl nodded and stood up shakily but fell back down almost immediately. Alex caught her and scooped her up into his arms. “You’ve lost way too much blood. You shouldn’t be walking. I’ll carry you.”
“Absolutely not! I’m not going to be carried anywhere. Put me down.” Even angry, Tania’s voice wasn’t even loud enough to carry across the room, worrying Alex all the more.
“Either I carry you or I get them to make a litter for you.”
Tania made a face. “Fine. But I will get back at you.”
Alex only laughed.
Yes, I once started a sequel. But it's terrible. As in I can't look at it without cringing. And the place I stopped writing is a bit of a cliffhanger. So not something I think anyone wants to read. And honestly, I don't want it read. It's that bad. Which is why it's not happening. Sorry.