The ground moved up and down and then doubled up, moving around.
Nicholae gripped the wall to steady himself.
One vampire saw it as a sign of weakness and pounced into action.
Without looking, Nicholae grabbed his attackers neck and spun him to face the others. His already elongated fangs cut into the cold flesh of the rogue, all in one breath.
Then he did the abominable, he began drinking from the vampire.
The act was so disgusting that it took the other rogues by surprise.
Sure sometimes it was done as a sexual act between vampire mates or human partners. But not like this. Not as a means of killing another vampire or as a means of survival.
It was a taboo that just went against every grain of a vampire's existence.
But damn, he felt good.
It wasn't like anything compared to Valentina's and yet the euphoric feeling was almost comparable.
It's like he'd opened a new gate of sensations.
'He's gone mad.' One rogue said.
That declaration wasn't far from the truth.
The vampire in Nicholae's grip screamed at his comrades to help him. His squirming was starting to irritate Nicholae.
So he dug his claws into his throat and tore it out. The blood sprayed out.
Now he was useless.
The odds of six against one wasn't a very fair one, to begin with even.
From the corner of his eye, he saw one of them tear off her clothes.
Looked like the werewolves came to play as well.
Nicholae watched in mild fascination as the female's jaw dislocated from place and click back into place.
Her chest stretched painfully as she clawed away the remainder of the human flesh still in her hairy chest.
It made him wonder just what he was really facing here.
Nicholae stepped away from the snapping jaws.
If he pulled out his gun here, that'll be too much attention drawn to him.
It would be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't want people knowing what he was up to. That would alert all the wrong people and he most definitely didn't need that.
So he ran.
He ran away from the town in a more secluded area. Which was difficult to do.
There were three werewolves after him now and with the full moon high in the clear sky, their powers were at their peak.
That meant they were now faster, stronger and more of a threat to him.
One of them caught up to him, scratching the side of his face with razor-sharp claws.
Nicholae winced at the fresh burning pain on the side of his face.
He grunted in anger and pulled out a stun stick and his gun.
Nicholae adeptly fired three silver bullets into the werewolves chest.
'This is far enough, no?'
And he was ready for the other one who quickly caught up.
His stun stick whacked the werewolf in between the eyes and beneath its chin.
The Werewolf quickly recovered but not quickly enough.
Nicholae stood over it and shot it right in the eye.
This was almost too easy, his body was buzzing with so much energy.
He heard the last wolf zigzagging through the widely spaced trees.
It thought it was Tarzan or something as it bounced from tree to tree.
Two vampires rushed at him from both sides.
They were all the distraction the Werewolf needed.
It successfully landed behind Nicholae and knocked the gun out of his hand.
The Vampires swiped desperately at him.
It was clear they were furious about their friend.
Nicholae fended them off with his electric stick. The 10000 volts on that thing could cause Vampires and weres enough pain.
His knuckles connected into the nose of the other vampire unleashing a trickle of blood.
He searched for his gun and so did the other rogue.
'Shit.' Nicholae said before diving out of the line of fire.
He was pinned behind a fallen tree and his ears picked up the movement of the three closing in on him.
Yet his other senses were focused on his bloody fist. He realized he was still hungry.
'This is no time to play hide and seek Lord.'
Nicholae darted out before they were upon him.
The pursuers followed him as he ran further away from the hub of the nearest town.
He would tire them first. The vampires would be the easiest to lose.
The hyper wolf would be his problem now that he didn't have his gun.
Shots rang in the night.
His bullets were going to waste he snarled at the open space before.
Each bullet wasted was further decrease in his opportunity to kill the beast who was hot on his heels.
If he got his hand on the dumbass, he'd wring his neck.
And drink his delicious blood.
Nicholae suddenly changed course and began moving in a zigzag line.
The Were skidded as he tried to cut the same impromptu turn, but he failed. Hind legs knocked the under form under him and sent him skidding into a tree.
That gave Nicholae, what? Two seconds?
He whipped about and charged toward the wolf with a sizzling rod in hand.
He had greatly underestimated the mad wolf before him.
The wolf snapped at Nicholae's wielding hand. Had Nicholae not released the stick the bloody wolf would have taken his hand off with it. It whimpered as shocks ran through his body and threw the rod away from Nicholae's reach.
Nicholae jumped up a tree breaking a good sized branch as he came back down to the ground.
The vampires were with them once again.
'I honestly never thought I'd see the day when rogue vampires and werewolves would work together.' Nicholae said.
'Well, you know what they say.' The vampire with the gun pointed right at Nicholae said.
'Scum of the earth meditate to each other?' Nicholae joked.
'Sick 'em.' The vampire ordered.
Nicholae's body tensed ready to spring into action.
'Really? Are you going to let a bloodsucker order you around?' Nicholae asked.
'Is He the leader of this ensemble.'
'No, but, I still want to kill you.' Growled the Werewolf.
He swung the branch and sent the Werewolf flying some yards back.
Nicholae had to make a split second decision on who the weakest target was to compel.
He felt powerful enough to compel him from this distance.
'Take the gun from him.' He said to the follower.
And for some time, it was the right distraction he needed.
The arrogant vampire dropped the gun in the scramble. It was apparent the other one was stronger because he quickly incapacitated his colleague.
The good it did for him, Nicholae was already upon him. He had grabbed his gun But didn't bother to use it since he was already low in ammunition.
'Come here and don't move.'
His compulsion barley held. But it was all the time he needed.
The vampire's arteries weren't as loud or as turbulent as humans. It was quiet and slow, like a stagnant river.
And yet it called to Nicholae.
And for a second he tried to fight the urge to feed on the vampire, but something had come over him.
This is not right Cole, he told himself bet there was the other voice.
But it is. Why would it be wrong when it feels so good. Just one drop.
So, for the second time in the night and the second time in his entire life, Nicholae drank of vampire blood.
And despite the screams of the vampire, Nicholae wasn't stopping.
His mind was so tuned to his the task at hand he almost forgot about the wolf he'd rendered confused for a minute there.
And before it could pounce two other wolves were on it, holding it down.
Nicholae jumped to his feet,
like a child caught with his hands in the cookie jar.
The Vampire was dead so he definitely wasn't getting any answers from it.
He ripped off its head and wiped his mouth to destroy all evidence of his new, unhealthy behavior.
He saw a huge multi-colored wolf step out of the shadow with a pregnant woman on his back. Beside him was another gray wolf.
And the oddest thing, they had shopping bags in their jaws.
The two wolves that just saved his life was Malaki and Loki, Osei pack mates and the gray wolf was Cayden.
Nicholae took out his gun then made his way to the Werewolf.
'There's one more. Where is he?'
The Werewolf chose that moment to be quiet.
'Is that he the leader? The short mouthy one?'
Still, he remained silent.
'Why did you come after me?'
Nothing.
There's no need for him.
Nicholae fired his last round.
'What's going on here?' She asked. She barely blinked at Nicholae's action.
'Well, I was out for a midnight walk, and I got ambushed.'
'By werewolves.' Semi frowned in confusion.
'And vampires.' His eyes unconsciously went to the headless vampire some feet away.
'It is an unlikely allegiance of rogues.' Nicholae said, failing to meet Semi's eyes.
Had they come looking for him because of Valentina? Or was this meet purely coincidental?
And if so? Did they see him feeding on the other vampire? Questions Nicholae was too scared to ask.
'Why would they come after you?'
Osei was unnervingly quiet. Yes, he had stuff in his mouth. But he'd usually had a snarl or a growl reserved.
Nicholae suspected he might have seen something.
'There are a number of reasons why. But let's not discuss them here. There was one more vampire with unaccounted for and he might be bringing trouble our way.'
Nicholae noticed the glazed look in Osei's eyes.
'Are you alright?' He asked the wolf with no idea if he could understand him.
'Sei? What's the matter?' Semi asked.
Her tone and face conveyed the worry and fear which had taken hold in her heart.
'Don't lie to me. You aren't fine.' She argued.
'Nicholae, help me down.'
Cayden stepped forward but Nicholae was already there to help her down.
Osei and Cayden weren't happy. She took the bags from their snouts and hanged them on nearby trees like Christmas ornaments.
Osei started to change back to his human form. And Cayden followed suit.
It was then they all saw how bad he really was.
His skin was pale, sweaty and pasty.
What caught Nicholae's eyes wasn't his impressive nakedness. No! It was the black blood oozing from the wound on his abdomen.
'It hasn't been three weeks yet.' Semi cried.
'Guess the timeline is moving up.' Osei joked.
From Semi's face, she wanted to smack the smile off his face.
'He needs to be alone. We need to be alone for this.'
She caught Osei before he keeled over from the obvious pain hammering at his body.
Nicholae knew when to ask a question and when not to ask one as sensitive as this one clearly was.
He'd reserve his 'What's wrong with him?' for a less traumatic time.
But in all honesty, it looked as though he was dying.
'He can't stay here. Like I said it isn't safe.'
Semi cast a forlorn look at Cayden and the two wolves.
'They'll hold off trouble.' Semi told Nicholae after a few seconds of silence.
'I hope you can help too.'
'Of course Semi. What are Allies for.'
The four of them spread out to cover more ground.
But no matter how far they went, they could still hear the agonizing screams of Osei.
And if one listened close enough, they'd hear the soft cries of his mate.
But no one could hear the questionable thoughts of Nicholae Tchkovsky.