Chapter 9
Damien's POV
My talk with Cole the night before had helped. He hadn't really given me any new reasons to hate vampires, only re-listed mine and then reinforced them. He was a good buddy. He understood that I was angry and sad at the same time. He knew how badly I had wanted my mate, not screwing around like he does. He knew that I was looking forward to finding her, but he just did everything he could to make me feel better.
We'd stayed up late talking about all the reasons that I was better off without a vampire for a mate and then playing video games to take our minds off of the heavy conversation. Even after staying up so late, I woke up early. I was plagued with dreams of Clari. I could only blame them on Jake. If he hadn't taken over yesterday, forcing me to see the playful side of Clari, I wouldn't be having dreams about us wrestling in the forest, her saying my name instead of Jake's.
Once again, all my reasons for hating vampires didn't seem good enough. I wanted my mate, vampire or not. I couldn't have her though. I had to keep reminding myself of that. Mine and Cole's reasons might feel stupid now, but they made sense last night and they'd make sense again.
I was itchy and twitchy and I decided that another run was the only way to calm myself down. If this kept up, my dad wouldn't need to assign morning guards. I'd be out here every morning, trying to get my mind off of my mate.
Shaking my head, I ran for the border. A couple laps around the border would calm me down and set me straight. If I was lucky, I'd find some rogues that I could take down.
Every time a picture of Clari's laughing face appeared in my mind, I shoved it back. You can't have her, I'd tell myself and keep running. She wouldn't be accepted into the pack. I couldn't rule with her by my side. It just wasn't possible.
I had just reached the eastern border when two scents stopped me cold: Clari's and rogues, three rogues if my nose was on point. I had gotten my wish for rogues to attack, but I was terrified that they'd hurt Clari. I took off, running faster than I had been before, trying to find them before Clari got hurt. As I got closer I smelled blood and Jake surged to the forefront.
That's Clari's blood! he growled angrily.
I pushed myself even faster. When I finally found them, I froze in my tracks. A reddish brown wolf was down, cleanly knocked out. Blood littered the leaves and Clari looked to be on her last leg as blood ran freely from a claw mark down her side. A brown wolf was struggling to stand, looking like he'd been thrown into a tree while a black wolf lunged, taking Clari down to the ground.
Before I could help, Clari threw him off her and I watched in amazement as she stood slowly, before faking the wolf out with a punch to the muzzle, knocking him out with a quick kick to the head. She turned to face the brown wolf, the only one left, and slowly sank to her knees, energy depleted. I was amazed she'd even managed to take down the last one with the amount of blood littering the leaves. It didn't look like there was any left in her body.
I leaped onto the brown wolf before it could get close to her, making quick work of ripping its throat out. I wanted to do the same to the two that Clari had knocked out, but she needed my attention more.
I reached her side right when she tipped, catching her softly and laying her gently in the leaves. Fear swept through me like ice. She was pale, still losing blood and not healing as fast as I'd hoped. I knew that she needed blood in order to fully heal. I didn't know what would happen to her if she didn't get it and I wasn't ready to find out.
"Clari, stay with me, baby," I pleaded with her. "C'mon, you can take some of my blood, sweetheart, just stay with me."
She shook her head. "I don't want y-your first impression of m-me to be a m-monster," she stuttered softly.
"I don't care," I told her fiercely, terrified that she might die without it. "Take my blood!" I held my wrist in front of her face, waiting for her to take it. I saw the wanting clearly in her eyes and thought that I had won.
I hadn't. She shook her head, closing her eyes tightly before looking up at me again. "Take me to Fangs," she whispered before her eyes sank closed and her body went limp.
"Shit!" I cursed, running back to the edge of my territory and grabbing a pair of shorts and a shirt. I pulled the shorts on and ripped the shirt to pieces, quickly binding her side so she didn't lose more blood.
Fangs was the vampire club located in town, and as far as I knew, it was the only one in the state. It wasn't safe for me to go there, but at the moment I didn't care. Clari needed help and that's the only place that I knew of that she could get it.
I lifted her as gently as I could, settling her in my arms before running straight through the woods towards Fangs. I could get her there in under ten minutes if I ran hard. If she was conscious and could've held on, I could've gotten her there much faster in wolf form. There was nothing I could do about it though, so I just ran, faster than I ever had before.
I was lucky that I didn't pass anyone in town, as I was too worried to find a less traveled path to the infamous vampire club. I came upon the abandoned looking building and ran straight through the door. I looked around, seeing a hallway of doors, not sure which one would lead where I needed to go.
What the hell was I supposed to do now?
The door at the end of the hall burst open, two vampires looking around with worried eyes before landing on me, holding Clari in my arms. They must have smelled the blood. One vampire had brown hair, hazel eyes and a lean build. He had some muscles, but not as much as the vampire beside him. The other vampire had blonde hair, blue eyes and tanned skin. Their faces were fierce when they noticed Clari's bloodied condition.
The ran at me so fast they were nearly a blur and the brown haired one ripped Clari from my arms, glancing at her wounds quickly. "Levi, call Cecilia and Jackson, tell them to get over here now," he ordered. "You," he added, pointing at me, "you're coming with me."
I gulped but listened, following him as he raced through the door at the end of the hall and down a spiral staircase. This was obviously the club. I wondered what the other doors upstairs were for. It didn't look like they connected to the club in any way. I didn't see any more staircases.
For being the middle of the day, there sure were a lot of vampires here. A black vampire behind the bar, jumped over it and raced over to us. "Xavier? What happened?" he asked, running a hand softly across Clari's face and making me want to growl again. I wasn't comfortable with other people touching her. Especially the young, black vampire that had his worried eyes focused on her.
"We'll find out when she's taken care of," Xavier responded shortly. "Nila!" he called, making a pretty blonde woman step out of the crowd of worried vampires hovering around us. "Get the medical supplies and bring them to Ceci's room. Jerome-"
"Blood, I know," Jerome said, disappearing behind the bar so fast that he was a blur. Did they keep humans back there to be blood donors or something? I shuddered at the thought.
I followed the vampire holding Clari through another door and up another set of stairs. He went into a bedroom, laying Clari gently on the bed. "Belle?" he asked softly. "Claribelle, baby, wake up."
So her full name was Claribelle? Jake purred at the sound of it.
I heard a groan and snapped my eyes to my mate. "Uncle Xavier?" she murmured, opening her eyes slightly. She had an uncle? But he looked like a teenager! As a matter of fact, almost all of the vampires downstairs looked like teenagers. I felt like smacking myself when Jake snorted. They were immortal. Of course they all looked like teenagers.
"That's it, sweetheart," he encouraged her. "Open those eyes for me. Damn it, Jerome! Where's that blood!" he hollered at the door. I was amazed by the worry in his voice. I didn't know that vampires were capable of that emotion.
Jerome appeared only seconds later, carrying a goblet of blood and six bags in his hands. "Right here, Xavier," he responded quietly. He smiled gently when he saw Clari's eyes open. "Hey there, baby girl," he murmured. He lifted her head gently and put the goblet to her lips.
She drained it and he quickly refilled it before giving it to her again. When she'd finished all six bags, she collapsed back against the bed. As much as I felt like I should be disgusted that she was drinking blood, the only emotion I could feel was relief. She was going to be okay. Her color looked better, but she looked exhausted.
Not even a second later, the blonde woman returned, holding what looked like a tackle box for fishing. I was amazed when the woman opened it and started cleaning Clari's side. I had never seen vampires like this, so caring, like they were a family. It was amazing.
The other vampire from upstairs ran into the room. "Ceci and Jackson are on their way," he stated, moving over to Clari. "Hey, Belle Bear," he murmured, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "You gave us quite a scare."
She grimaced. "Sorry, Uncle Levi," she told him. "It wasn't my intention.
I started as another vampire paced agitatedly into the room. He had sandy brown hair, blue eyes and was slightly tanned. "It was those vampires, wasn't it, Belle?" he snarled angrily. "I told you I didn't want you going after them, but you and your mother were both convinced you could handle it! Do you see now why we didn't want you-"
"Ashton, shut up," she exclaimed quietly. Even though her voice was quiet, everyone in the room listened. "It wasn't the three vampires," she told them. Three vampires? Does she mean the three that have been creating problems with my pack? Is that why she's been hanging around my borders? Why would she care about them terrorizing my pack? "I couldn't find them. It was three rogues that were loitering while I was looking for the vampires."
"Rogues?" A voice asked from the doorway. I stared in shock as Jackson Walker, beta to one of the strongest packs in the state, ran to Clari's bedside, a pretty vampire woman on his heels. "What rogues?" he asked again. She sighed as Jackson and the new woman hovered over her.
"I'm fine!" she insisted. "Absolutely fine."
"You are not fine, Claribelle!" Jackson shouted angrily, making me bristle. No one should be yelling at my mate. I caught the growl right before it escaped my mouth. I was surprised that no one had turned on me yet, and I wasn't eager to draw attention to myself.
"I told you she shouldn't have gone alone, Cecilia!" Jackson exclaimed turning to the vampire woman that had come in with him.
"Dad!" Clari yelled, making my eyes widen in shock as Jackson spun back around to look at her. A werewolf was her father? How was that even possible?! "I. Am. Fine," she repeated slowly. "The rogues are taken care of and as you can see, I'm still very much alive."
"You killed them?" Jackson asked her and she made a face. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she didn't like killing anything. Jackson sighed.
"He killed one of them, if it makes you feel any better," she told him, pointing at me.
Eight pairs of eyes turned in my direction, staring at me threateningly. "And who might you be?" the vampire called Ashton asked, stepping closer to me.
"I'm Clari's mate," I replied, thinking it would calm them down. It did calm the vampires down slightly, but not Clari's parents. A deep, rumbling growl escaped Jackson and Cecilia clasped hold of his hand to calm him down, glaring at me as well.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Jackson asked of me. "You made it perfectly clear what you thought of Belle just the other day!"
All the vampires snapped their heads towards Clari. "You met him before today?" they asked of her.
She nodded slowly.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Xavier asked her, taking her hand.
I didn't think she was going to answer for a while, but she finally said, "Because he made it clear that he didn't want me."
A pang went through my chest at the pain in her eyes and voice and then my eyes widened as every eye in the room turned to me, glaring hard enough to kill.
~~~*~~~Author's Note~~~*~~~
Merry Christmas! I'm a little early, but I didn't want to make you wait two extra days, so I'm wishing you all a merry Christmas two days early!! And an extra long chapter for you as well! The length was your surprise :)
I hope you enjoyed it and your holidays!
Also, if I'm feeling crazy and you are all as awesome as usual, I might even post another chapter on Christmas! I'm doing it for Intransigent, so I probably should be fair and do it for both, right?
~Haley~