Chester did not know if his day had gone from bad to worse and he groaned as he slowly began to regain consciousness. He was blindfolded and he knew he was being dragged into the woods, he could smell the trees and feel dirt and twigs scratching against his bare feet as he was pulled along.
"What do you want with me," he shouted. It was not a wolf who was dragging him, he was certain of that; he could not smell their scent or any scent actually.
He grunted as he was roughly dropped to the ground.
Someone began to circle him, chanting as they did so.
"Be quiet, I need to concentrate," the voice rasped.
'I've heard that voice before but I cannot place it.' He thought to himself.
He felt strange, and weak, then he remembered the smoke that suddenly filled the room Jason was holding him in. The panic that unfolded as it began to thicken and turn green, the howls that turned to sounds of choking as the smoke was inhaled. He remembered hearing the sound of thuds as bodies began to hit the floor then he himself had passed out.
"Did you kill them? Did you kill his pack?"
"I need you to be quiet. The voice snapped as the blindfold was ripped from his head."
"Did you kill them?" He asked again as he stood up and turned to face whoever had taken him.
"No I came for you."
"Me? Chester quizzed. "What do you want from me?"
"I am going to feed from you. Your vampire blood has a trace of His and when I am stronger you will call for your maker and he will lead me to him."
"To who?" Chester asked.
"His maker, that multiple faced vampire who keeps his real name a secret."
Chester fell onto his knees as he was pushed from behind but he was aware that whoever had taken him was now walking in circles around him. He could not see what they looked like due to the cloth covering their face.
He snarled out in pain as he felt his wrist being cut and then he struggled against whoever was holding him as they began to drink from his wound. It began to grunt as it drank and from the sounds it made he knew this thing was female.
"Jesus Christ, are you mad? You are going to kill me."
She did not answer him, she only cackled as she silt his other wrist and began to lap up the blood that dripped from the wound.
"I need vampire blood, yours is not yet strong enough to fully heal me but it will have to do for now until your maker will come for you. I need to gain my full powers back."
She roughly pulled the sack off her head and Chester's eyes darted around her face as he tried to place it. He gasped as he recognised her even though she was heavily scarred.
"Mae, you're alive? How can that be, I thought you burnt to death." Chester asked her in astonishment.
"As you can see, you all tried to burn me but I had a belly full of vampire blood so I managed to escape."
"I did not try to burn you I had just taken a beating from him because I warned Rachael. There was nothing I could do. I am sorry."
"I am an old witch, young vampire and I can taste in your blood that your heart remains pure; well until you are hungry that is. I know you tried to help Rachael I heard you and now you will help me, call out to your maker, bring him to me."
"I won't, you will kill him. I will not call for him."
"It's not your maker I want to kill, it is his. Now call for him."
"I can help you catch Winston, you don't need Jeremiah."
"I need to be stronger before I can give Winston the punishment that I have planned for him. If you won't comply, I will have to make you."
Chester shook his head in defiance, "No."
"Have it your way then little pure hearted one. You are going to experience what it feels to be burnt from the inside out."
Chester stared right in to her eyes as she began to chant in a language that he did not understand. Minutes passed and as nothing happened Chester laughed to himself, however he stopped laughing the second her babbling ended because this is when his pain began.
A deep intense burning formed in the pit of his stomach which slowly spread over his chest and down his arms to his fingertips. His breathing quickened as the sensation spread throughout his body, he felt as if he was sitting in front of a large open fire on a hot summer's day.
"I assume, from your mockery, you did not think that I had the power to burn your body from the inside? I am not quite sure if you will explode or implode though. I will just have to watch, wait and see."
He gritted his teeth and dug his nails into the ground to try and stop his self from screaming but the burning sensation became too intense and Mae was right, he did feel like he was burning from the inside out.
His eyes which were now jet black caught Mae's and he snarled as she smiled at him.
"The pain will only intensify Chester. Call for him, before it is too late."
Chester clenched his teeth and closed his eyes, he did not want to betray his maker but he did not want to die either; not just yet. He had to make amends with his former girlfriend, the love of his life, from when he was human before he did.
Mae smiled to herself, if she was honest she knew she had not a single chance of capturing Jeremiah alone. That is the reason why she had healed Jason. It was also the reason why she had led Jason to Chester; she knew he was alone. She also knew Chester was not ready to die and he would help her whether he wanted to or not.
He couldn't stop himself; the burning sensation was becoming unbearable. Chester lifted back his head and screamed into the night air, "Jeremiah, Jeremiah, Jeremiah."
***********************
Abbot Carter was relaxing in his living room waiting for Suzie to arrive and he jumped up in glee when his doorbell rang. However, he was immediately annoyed when he saw her standing in-between Jeremiah and Isaac.
The two vampires he hated the most even though they shared a blood bond.
"Hi nutter." Jeremiah chimed towards Abbot in a deliberate attempt to irritate him.
Abbot narrowed his eyes at his uninvited guests.
"What are you doing here Fletcher, every time I see your face I know trouble is just around the corner." Then he smiled as he eyed the welt running down his face.
"I'd like to congratulate whoever did that to your face."
Jeremiah huffed in response and attempted to enter the house but Abbot blocked his path.
"I ordered her," he snapped as he pointed at Suzie, "not you, so scram and take your idiotic brother with you."
It was hard to believe they had all once been firm friends but that friendship had ended a long time ago. Their friendship began the day Winston turned Jeremiah and his family and they partied together for centuries but the party came to an abrupt end when Abbott found Jeremiah in bed with his sister.
Jeremiah vacantly starred into the distance so he did not have to look at Abbot. Due to their fiery past and he knew he should not have arrived unannounced or greeted him in such a sarcastic manner. Abbot, though, was as mad as hatter he had experienced it first-hand. Everyone who knew him said so but never to his face as they did not want to deal with the consequences.
"I need your help."
Now Abbot huffed, "why would I ever help you. All you ever do is cause problems for me. You sided with that Hunter over me and then you had the gall to turn him. You turned a Hunter, a Hunter who at one time tried to kill me. So, ask him to help you Jeremiah since you love him so much. He was a Hunter after all so he is probably immune to bite from a wolf."
"Our difficulties began long before you met Chester, Abbot."
"You mean when you started banging my sister behind my back."
Jeremiah rolled his eyes and exhaled rather loudly, this was a conversation he did not want to start.
"I love your way with words. I need your help Abbott; the wolves have kidnapped Chester in an act of revenge and I want him back."
"Why should I care?"
"Well Jason woke up, he survived the sliver and tracked down our Makers phone number the same day, who is not very happy with us by the way."
"With you, you mean. Were you not supposed to kill him?"
"I intend too, "Jeremiah waved the syringe filled with silver in his face, "we have taken one of his pack so we can make a trade. I am going to inject him with some silver first. By the time we meet it will have started to take effect. The wolves will not know what to do when they see his state and during the panic and confusion, you will help me get close enough and then I am going to inject the rest into Jason's head. The silver will go straight into his brain and kill him, this is what I wanted to do when he was unconscious so will you help me or not?"
"I'm too hungry to think straight Jeremiah."
"Answer me."
Abbott clutched at his throat and rasped as if he was dying of thirst.
"I must kill Jason or he is going to hunt down our Maker and I have an uneasy feeling he can do it and if he does he could kill him."
Abbott laughed out loud, "not possible at all. Our Maker is far too strong and clever."
"He is clever when he is thinking straight."
"What do you mean?"
"You know his history? You know he still holds that grudge and when he is drunk he speaks of how he is hell bent on revenge."
Abbott knotted his eyebrows together and nodded.
"His nightmares have begun again and they are getting worse."
"Did he call you? He never called me." Abbott jealously spat.
"Jaeus called me, he told me why he really took that wolf and I can't believe I did not see it before."
"See what?"
"You saw the wolf in my kitchen, remember? Did it not remind you of anyone? Think back Abbott."
Abbott closed his eyes to help him to remember. He thought back to the last time he saw Winston, his Maker. He remembered over hearing Winston had been seen in the area and Abbott had angrily ran to Jeremiahs house to see if it was true.
He thought back to attacking the wolf in the kitchen, he'd never tasted a wolf before and he was so enthusiastic to be doing so that he had not taken much notice to her at the time. He remembered she was petite, not too skinny. Shoulder length brown hair, almond shaped eyes and then it hit him.
"Effin hell, she looked like Aelia. What the hell is he planning Jez?"
"According to Jaeus, he has really planned his revenge. He was in London for years waiting for that wolf to be ready and he never even told me he was here permanently for all those years."
"Jay called you? Is Aelia even still alive?"
"Johan has spoken to her, Jaeus told me."
"Blimey, what made Johan resurface and why does everybody always inform you first."
"Well you know everyone was talking about what Winston had done, he became a legend. Word got out and those words travelled to Johan's ears and imagine his surprise after believing he had been dead for all those years. He must be quaking in his boots and he called Aelia to warn her."
"Do they know the wolf looks like Aelia?"
Jeremiah shook his head, "she's been kept hidden while he trains her."
"Trains her for what."
"To execute death by wolf bite." Jeremiah said in a dramatic voice.
"He can't go near her, she makes him unstable, especially if he is already not thinking straight and especially if she is still with him." Abbott worriedly stammered back.
"Yes she is still with our Grandfather, she is still with Michael and Jaeus told me our Maker is training the wolf to mimic Aelia, to get close to Michael."
"He is going to try and kill him too isn't he? He won't be able to do it Jez, we have to try and stop him. If he comes face to face with Michael, he will be down on his knees and kissing his feet. Michael will end him; we can't let that happen. You remember what Michael is like and he is no fool. I don't believe a nineteen-year-old wolf can trick him, he has been with Aelia for centuries."
"I know, which is why I have come to you for help. We need to end our current problem and then we are all going to the States to help Jaeus, change his mind."
Isaac almost choked into Suzie's neck. "I am not going to the States; you know I can't travel. I get travel sickness unless I am behind the wheel. Do you not remember when I threw up all over you when we travelled to Norwich in our father's wagon? Thinking about it still makes me feel sick."
Jeremiah rolled his eyes, "that was when you were human. You're supernatural now, you're a flaming vampire FFS."
"I have never left the UK in my life and you cannot make me. Two words brother, dead bodies, next time you can stock and clean the furnace."
This caused Abbott to laugh as Jeremiah was a vampire who was scared to touch the dead.
"We are getting Chester and then we are all leaving together."
"I am not travelling with a Hunter." Abbott snapped.
Jeremiah was becoming angry.
"Look! I have a werewolf in the boot of my car, who is turning, tonight is a full moon so we need to act quickly." He pushed the syringe into his pocket, "will you help me kill him or not?"
A large smirk spread across Abbotts face and a plan began to form in his mind, a plan for revenge on Chester. He wanted him dead and he knew his maker would approve.
"Okay, okay. I will help you kill him." He slyly said.
Jeremiah suddenly cocked his head to the side, "can you hear that? Someone is screaming my name."
Isaac and Abbott both nodded in unison.
"It's Chester, he is calling me and I now know where he is. We have to go." Jeremiah shouted, "God knows what they are doing to him."
Isaac spoke first, "we will get him back Jez but there is no-way I am getting on a plane or a boat for that matter."
As they all left Abbotts apartment Jeremiah was so busy arguing with his brother that he never even felt Abbotts hand slip into the pocket of his jacket and take the syringe from inside it.