The Man Behind the Vampire (The Silver Series)

by Samantha Bates

  "How bloody medieval, a note on the arrow.

  Good evening Darius, I have waited a long time for revenge. But now you have people you care about, it is time to take it all away from you. Did you like my little trick, holy water on the tip of an arrow? Don’t worry it won't kill you; I want to take that pleasure myself. I wouldn’t bother leaving, just like you when you killed my subordinates, I am not alone. Oh and there is no point trying to get help from your filthy wolf friends, for some reason the cell signal is jammed. Enjoy the slow death of your friends

  See you in Hell Jeffrey."

  As all eyes swivelled from Philippe back to him, inwardly he groaned, why now. He checked his cell, already knowing there would be no signal. Looking at those around him, he was not going to let them die. As his brain tried to process options he remembered, Theo was so security conscious.

  "Leila, where's the alarm, Theo would have one here" he watched her eyebrows crease and then clarity struck.

  "Upstairs next to the bedroom and one near the other door." Darius raced through and found the discreet button, it was time to rely on his friends, let's just hope they made it in time.

  Philippe ran past him and raced up the stairs, Mary and Leila had started pushing furniture against doors. As he heard banging upstairs, Darius just stood staring out of the front window as Philippe returned with a fairly large, black holdall.

  "Let's do this." Darius smiled as he saw the weapons Philippe was pulling from the bag, guns, stakes, knives, small sword, a small explosive made him raise his eyebrows.

  "It pays to be prepared." For some reason this statement jolted him.

  "I know what he is going to do, Philippe he is going to…."

  Philippe raced to the back window, "there are two people heading our way, holding large containers" although it was dark outside, even from this distance he could see Philippe was right.

  "Gasoline. The containers hold gasoline, he is going to burn us out."

  He heard Mary gasp "oh my god, he is going to burn us out" listening to the fear in her voice was killing him but he found his strength when he looked into her eyes and saw the moisture ready to overflow.

  "Not if I can help, Mary, you and Leila go upstairs and wet yourself in the shower. Philippe, it's time for some target practice, if we can hold them off long enough, Theo and Imogen will sound the alarm."

  He turned to find Philippe in the kitchen, a small bowl next to him he was pouring water into the bowl and dropping bullets into the water. Darius watched as he pulled the bullets out with tweezers and filled the gun.

  "I only have enough for two each so you get one mistake. Placing them in holy water will only kill them if you actually hit them in the heart so get it right." while Philippe was talking Darius went to the back window, slid it open and fired the first shot at the man closest to the house. His aim was deadly and he watched the man fall, taking a breath he turned to the other one heading for them, he fired again and he fell. Smiling he turned back to Philippe.

  "Was that close enough?" Philippe's laughter rang out, but was quickly overshadowed by Leila screaming.

  "The front, they are out the front." Philippe went into action, racing up the stairs grabbing a rifle on the way. And then he felt calm, Darius could no longer hear what was happening around him, his body was moving as he made plans. He was an expert with explosives and it was time to do this.

  Concentrating on the job in hand, it only took him a few minutes to get set the timer and switch ready. He was thankful that Philippe was so prepared, moving up the stairs he found Philippe firing rounds off. Looking over his shoulder he watched people falling one by one.

  "One minute, downstairs" he turned and raced back to Mary and Leila, he nearly stopped in his tracks when he saw them. There they stood in the kitchen, they now had towels wrapped round their necks, both had knives in their hands, Leila now carried a baseball bat and Mary had the small sword in her other hand. He could see stakes sticking out of their pockets. It was their fierce expressions that made him laugh,

  "What's with the towels round the nexk?" Both grinned but it Mary's innocent answer was the one that warmed his insides.

  "There is only one person who is allowed to touch this neck and he's stood in the room" it didn’t matter what was happening outside, that just deserved a kiss; he pulled her close and kissed her hard.

  "Well I don’t mean to break this up but what’s the plan, because I was kind of enjoying myself up there but I will run out of ammo soon." Philippe looked to be enjoying himself a little too much

  “In one minute we are going out of the French doors, heading straight through the garden. I will go first, Mary and Leila next with you covering the rear Philippe. If I was to guess the back is surrounded by woods.”

  "How do you know that?" Leila was pretty amazing, she showed no fear, just grit determination.

  "Theo's a wolf; the woods are the safest way to get help in or out of here."

  "Mmmm Darius what happens when we get outside?" Mary on the other hand was terrified but doing her best to stay strong and calm.

  "We run. It doesn’t matter what happens, you don’t stop, keep running. Theo will probably be on his way with re-enforcements, they will find you in the woods. Keep going and do not stop, okay?"

  He went back to the kitchen window, set the charger; he could already smell the gasoline and knew that they didn’t have long, even less with the gasoline "now to the doors."

  Slipping the locks off the doors, he couldn’t see anyone out there but he knew they would be there, taking the safety off the gun in his hand he clocked three vampires near the back fence waiting. Watching the timer on his watch he waited another 20 seconds, before lifting the latch.

  "Go now," and then they were running, running for their lives.

  Chapter 35

  Mary was terrified, her heart was pounding in her chest, she felt sick, her head was pounding and she had absolutely no idea how she was going to live through this.

  She had the sword but had no idea what to do with it; she might have to work that out pretty quick. When the boom came she screamed. Mary hoped Darius' distraction worked, she wasn’t sure the adrenaline pumping through her body was enough to keep her legs going. She knew that without her and Leila, Darius and Philippe would have been gone by now.

  Oh God, she could see three figures heading for them, Darius stopped, shouting at her to keep running.

  "Go Mary do not stop, Philippe get them to the woods." She kept running by now she had tears streaming down her face, she knew he had stayed behind. She stopped but Philippe grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder.

  "He will not lose another woman." Lifting her head she could see them circle him.

  "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She was banging her fists on Philippe’s back; he nearly lost his grip on her, mainly because he was now dragging Leila who was also trying to go back.

  As they came into the woods, he dropped her and Leila and proceeded to lift his gun, as she jumped up she pulled the stake out of her pocket only to find they were surrounded by wolves, with all of them snarling and advancing on Philippe.

  "Stop! He is Darius' brother. Quick, Darius is surrounded over there, please" All of the wolves raced off, Philippe didn’t relax, especially when four more wolves came forward. She was relieved they were safe but she couldn’t relax until she knew if Darius was safe.

  As one of the wolves shifted, she found she was facing Connor, he gave her a hug and she felt her body sag against him. All around her was noise; she could her screaming, shouting, sirens, the occasional gun. But all she wanted was Darius, so when she heard his voice she nearly dropped

  "Mary" she turned and went to run to him, but her legs wouldn’t carry her; it was a good thing that he is super quick. Suddenly she was wrapped in his arms and she felt safe again.

  Chapter 36

  Darius stood ready, all the while watching as Philippe ran with Mary and Leila. He knew he was outnumbered and was only a matter of time before
they overpowered him. At least Philippe would have the chance to get Mary out. As they approached him, he briefly closed his eyes, the fury taking over him.

  "Let’s dance boys" as they came at him, he was surprised at how weak they were. When he was slammed from behind he realised why, the power was watching from somewhere else. Using brute strength he stood, the mass of a man still with his hands around Darius' neck. Grabbing the vampire's wrist he pulled and twisted, with a shout of pain the vampire let go. Spinning round Darius forced his hand through his chest and pulled out the heart. Taking a breath he let go of his powers, focussing on one of the weaker vampires, the one closest to him, he pictured the image in his mind.

  As the fire engulfed the vampire, Darius watched his friends flee. He didn’t like using the fire but would if he had to. He only had to concentrate and visualise the person and spontaneous combustion just happened.

  He turned to find Jeffrey behind him.

  "Well that's new. No wonder you choose fire." Darius estimated that there were at least 20 of them now surrounding him, closing his eyes he brought Jeffrey's image to the front. The growling and snarling interrupted his thoughts as did the emergence of Mitch and the rest of his team on the Paranormal Task Force. Now the vampires were outnumbered, that didn’t bother Jeffrey, pulling his sword from its sheath; he let out a battle cry and surged forward.

  He went for the image again, and just as Jeffrey was about to swing the sword, he was screaming from the heat of the flames. Then suddenly there were only the sounds of wolves, it was over and Ben clapped him on the back.

  "About time you let your friends and family help."

  Mitch came forward "really you couldn’t have warned me that I would get this shirt ripped. I just brought this." He laughed and then his thoughts turned to Mary, before he said anything Ben answered his question.

  "She is in the woods waiting for you." He needed her, he needed to see her, touch her and make sure she was really safe and well.

  Epilogue -

  He was over 800 years old and was nervous about meeting the parents; he was old enough to be their great, great, great, great grandparent. But he could not get rid of the butterflies in his stomach; Mary on the other hand was excited. He had flowers for her mother, whiskey for her father, and then he was lost. He had never actually met anyone's parents, well other than Emily's father, and he wanted to kill him.

  He shook hands with her parents, and was surprised when her mother handed him a glass of blood.

  "Don’t worry its warm" for a while conversation was stilted. When Mary's father started asking him about the wars he had fought in, he saw where she got her inquiring mind from. But things settled, until her mother joined in with her questions.

  "So Darius is it true the vampires make the best lovers? Mary refuses to answer me."

  He nearly chocked, how did he answer? Humour, definitely humour "I am not really sure but I can ask around for you."

  As her father started laughing, the ice was broke and he ended up having a good evening, they were lovely people and truly cared for Mary.

  When they were leaving her father stopped him "now I get all this modern crap, but what I want to know is if you are going put a ring on my baby's finger, I am not getting any younger."

  Darius was overjoyed "if I have you permission sir, I would love to" her father nodded and went back inside.

  When they arrived back at pack, they popped into see Ben and Lucky, Ben had been ribbing him about Mary's parents for days. He left Mary sat with Beth.

  Mary had never been happier, her life was whole, and she was so in love it didn’t feel real. She was sat outside with Beth, while Lucky had gone to settle the boys.

  "So Mary is it true that you are mated to Darius?"

  "They don’t call it mating, but we are blood bonded."

  “How does that feel?" They were sat watching the stars, the quietness of the night prominent in their hushed voices.

  "Marvellous, wonderful"

  "What did you do, to bond to him."

  "Oh Beth it was wonderful, you slice a cut in your hand, then his. Hold hands and say the bonding words and if it's meant to be it happens."

  Mary missed the smile on Beth's face as she asked "so what are the bonding words?"

  Darius was revelling in his new life, not only did he have a wonderful woman by his side, he also had his brother back. Although Philippe was sketchy about what he did it was good to have him back. What was amazing was the impact Philippe had on Leila, he had never seen either of them so happy. Philippe was taking Leila off travelling, he wanted her to see the world but they would be returning to New York. He was genuinely please to see Philippe settled and in love.

  Connor had just ran the patrols, the sun was shining, the pups at school, everyone busy. Just outside of the fence he could smell blood, animal blood, wolf blood. Damn one of them had been hurt, heading past the guards on the gates, he followed the scent.

  Occasionally the wild wolves fought against each other but not normally to the extent that they seriously hurt another wolf. With a deep breath he found the injured wolf, whimpering and blood all over his coat. Running his hands down the wolf's pelt he found the wound. He was surprised to feel it wasn’t a bite wound, more a linear wound. Standing he was about to lift his shirt when he felt the earth being disturbed around him.

  "Hey, what are you doing here? Do you know what don’t worry, just help me get the wolf inside" he turned around ready to lift the wolf when his spine prickled, his wolf calling out in distress, it was too late. He felt the sharp blade slice across his neck; he couldn’t speak to call out.

  "Ben, help, bleeding, traitor, too late, woods." It took what was left of his life forced drift away and then there was nothing more.

  Ben dropped his glass and ran; he could feel the other wolves running with him. He could smell Connors blood; he got there and took one look at Connor, his friend laying there in a pool of blood. Dropping to his knees, Ben roared and then lifted Connors head into his knee; pushing at his chest trying to rouse him Ben couldn’t comprehend the loss. Surely they would be able to find a way to bring him back.

  The 5th book in the Silver Series brings you closer to Vlad the head of the vampires. Can he run from the woman who has decided he is the one for her?