by SF Mazhar
Skyler’s gaze widened. He snapped his head to the side to look at the woman again. “You’re kidding me?” he said. “This? She’s...Layla?”
Aaron saw the lines on the woman’s brow disappear. Her eyes gleamed. Even with the muzzle hiding the lower half of her face, Aaron could tell she was smiling behind it.
“Yep,” the blond Hunter laughed. “Layla, the last of the vampires.” His smile got wider as he added, “The special lady in Hadrian’s life.”
***
Balt sprang into action. The captured woman – the vampire Layla – was dragged to one of the cottages. Mandara stepped outside to briefly reactivate the Glyph that had been switched off. Many of the residents still gathered at the table, but dinner was long forgotten.
With the city’s Gate secure once again, Mandara’s focus shifted to the prisoner. “You shouldn’t have brought her here, Stefan,” he told the blond Hunter.
“We didn’t know what else to do,” Stefan replied. “We didn’t expect to run into her. None of us had our pendants, so we couldn’t speak to Scott–”
“Why are you lot hunting without your pendants?” Skyler shot into the conversation.
“We weren’t hunting,” Stefan said. “We ran into her by chance.”
“Hell of a chance,” Skyler said, eyes narrowed under the heavy weight of suspicion.
Aaron could see the irritation on Stefan. “I don’t need to answer to you, Skyler,” he said, albeit with his voice shaking a little. He might have been annoyed at Skyler, but that apparently didn’t make him any less afraid of the Air Elemental.
Skyler folded his arms and stared at him with steely blue eyes. “Is that so?”
Stefan was spared when Mandara raised a hand. “Elemental Avira, please,” he said. Turning to Stefan, he continued, “I will contact Scott and arrange to have her removed. Balt is not safe with her here. There are too many residents, as well as a few Shattereds present.”
Aaron felt Sam shift next to him. Shattered was a term applied to humans that were exposed to the mage world. But Aaron found it incredibly insensitive, naming those that had lost everything, as Shattereds. Sam and Rose didn’t like being referred as such and neither did Aaron.
Aaron wondered if Sam and Rose were the only humans in Balt, or if the city had permanent human residents, like Salvador had with its caretaker, Jason Burns.
Mandara continued issuing orders to Stefan. “You will assist Bella in assembling a team to make the transfer.”
Stefan nodded and walked away.
“Is that what Neriah wants you to do?” Skyler asked. “’Cause I’m pretty sure he’d want me and Ella to do the transfer.”
“I’m not sure what he’d want,” Mandara replied with a sigh. “He’s gone. He left shortly after seeing that Elemental Adams had regained consciousness.”
Skyler looked as surprised as Aaron felt. “That was sneaky, slipping away like that,” he said.
“He had pressing matters that needed to be addressed,” Mandara said.
“Yeah, well, now so do we,” Skyler replied, gesturing to the cottage where the vampire had been taken.
Mandara let out a difficult breath. “Excuse me while I contact Scott.”
He was about to take a step when Skyler stopped him.
“Wait a minute.” Something in Skyler’s expression made unease flutter in Aaron’s stomach. He had that cruel smile again, the one that Aaron knew meant nothing but trouble. “Why are we just standing around, worrying about what to do with Layla?” Skyler asked, his eyes gleaming with excitement. “We know what we should do.”
“No,” Mandara was quick to object. “Not here. Not in Balt.”
“Mandara–”
“Do what you like in Salvador, Elemental Avira,” Mandara cut him off. “You can interrogate her, extract memories, do whatever you like – but do it in Salvador under the Controller’s authority. In Balt, you will respect my wishes.”
Skyler straightened up, his eyes cold as ever but his smile was still in place. He nodded. “Of course.”
Mandara hurried away, going to the other side of the street, presumably to his cottage to retrieve the pendant that would allow him to speak to Scott.
Skyler turned too with a grin on his face and a glint in his eyes, one that made Aaron’s skin prickle with dread. Aaron saw him stop next to Bella and a few other Hunters. He said something to them before walking onwards. The Hunters, Bella included, followed after him.
“What’s he doing?” Sam said.
“He’s up to something.” Rose echoed Aaron’s thoughts.
“Come on.” Aaron hurried after them.
“Aaron?” Michael called as he passed the table.
“Just going back in for a bit,” Aaron said.
Michael got up from his seat, but he didn’t follow Aaron when he saw him heading towards their temporary cottage. Michael relaxed and sat down, getting pulled back into the conversation he was having with another mage.
Aaron and the twins changed route when Michael wasn’t looking and darted after the group following Skyler. They approached the cottage that was holding the vampire prisoner. Aaron saw the mark of Aric had been freshly inked on the door. Was that to keep the vampire from leaving or simply a way to mark that this was the cottage that held the demon?
Aaron, Sam and Rose stepped into the small house, surprisingly to no protest. The Hunters ignored them as they pushed through the crowd in the hallway to the only room at ground level. Aaron halted at the door. The young woman – or more accurately, vampire – had been chained to a chair. Her arms were still shackled behind her but more chains had been wrapped around her torso and legs, holding her to one of the straight-backed table chairs that had been brought indoors.
The Hunters gathered in the room, staring at her with nothing less than hateful contempt.
Skyler stood before her, wearing a smile. “I have to say,” he started, lowering himself to be at the same eye level as her. “After all those stories, I thought there’d be more to you.”
Layla cocked her head to the side, her eyes narrowed. The lamps gave a soft light to the room, but it was stronger than the lanterns outside, so Aaron could see the vampire properly. Whatever her age was, she looked young, maybe in her early twenties. She was in a dishevelled state – her long, thick red mane was messy and falling about her, framing her face. Her eyes were indeed a pale blue but they were just as cold as Skyler’s – colder, if possible. She was bound and gagged, yet she retained an aura of ease – as if she were merely playing the prisoner. There was no fear in her. She wasn’t cowering, she wasn’t squirming in her chains. Even the brutal-looking muzzle encasing her mouth and jaw looked like it was barely bothering her.
Aaron felt someone come to stand next to him. His peripheral vision picked up the dark hair with electric blue streaks through them. Ella stood by his side, but her eyes too were on the vampire in the room.
Skyler touched the chains that were holding Layla to the chair. “These are good,” Skyler said, turning to speak to the Hunters of Balt, “but not quite enough.”
In the blink of an eye, Skyler had taken out a dagger from his belt and jammed it into Layla’s leg. She screamed, her head thrown back, eyes clenched shut. Her cry was muffled against the gag but her pain was clearly heard by all.
Aaron’s gasp was echoed around the room; several Hunters looked shocked at Skyler’s attack.
“Skyler!” Ella cried, taking long steps to reach his side. “What’re you doing?”
“Keeping her docile,” Skyler replied without taking his eyes off the vampire.
He moved closer to Layla, who was breathing heavily now, her nostrils flared. She grunted, glaring at Skyler, warning him to stay away. Skyler smiled in response.
“I’m going to take this off.” He gave the muzzle a sharp tap with his finger. “Then we’re going to have a nice, long, very informative talk. You say one syllable I don’t want to hear,” he pulled his coat aside to show his belt with daggers
lined neatly in the slots, “you’ll get a lot of unwanted piercings.”
Skyler straightened up and gestured to one of the Hunters standing behind Layla. The girl strode forward to undo the clasp at the back of the muzzle.
Aaron hurried to Skyler’s side. “Skyler.” He pulled at his arm, forcing the older boy around to face him. “What are you doing? Mandara told you not to do anything here,” he whispered.
Skyler frowned at him. “Eavesdropping on me is a good way to lose your ears, Adams.”
Aaron ignored the threat. “Whatever you’re planning, stop before things get out of hand.”
“Why don’t you stop wasting my time?” Skyler said, twisting his arm out of Aaron’s grip and shoving him back with one hand.
Aaron watched unhappily as Skyler turned back to Layla, just as the muzzle was unclasped. Skyler pulled the thing off in one go, tossing it aside.
Layla’s lips were swollen pink, the bottom of her chin looked bruised, making Aaron wonder how long she had been wearing that muzzle. Layla shook her head to throw back her hair and tilted her face up to look at Skyler. She smiled, revealing normal human teeth, no fangs in sight.
Aaron stared at her, at her thick red locks that hung around her in waves. He noticed her creamy complexion, which didn’t match the usual vampire lore of being pale and sickly looking. He couldn’t help but be mesmerised by her light blue eyes, encased by heavy lashes that were black, not red like her hair. He couldn’t tell if her plump pink lips were always like that or if it was because of the swelling left by the muzzle. She might be a vampire, a demon, but she was – well, there was only one word for it – beautiful.
“You must be Skyler,” Layla said. Her voice was silky and smooth. It matched her appearance perfectly. “Your reputation precedes you.”
Skyler laughed before leaning down to meet her eyes. “I bet it does.” He held on to the arms of the chair with both hands. “Now, how about you tell us what you were doing in Zone L-28?”
Layla was tightly chained to her seat, arms pulled behind her. The dagger was still sticking out of her thigh but she managed to relax into her seat and pull off a nonchalant look.
“Can’t a girl go out without being attacked?” she asked.
“Who you calling a girl?” Skyler smirked. “Try blood-sucking monster.”
Layla let out an exaggerated sigh. “Fine, I’m a blood-sucking monster.” She moved forward, to get as close to Skyler as the chains would allow. “But last I checked, some of your kind aren’t so different to me.”
“Vamages.” Skyler spat the word with vicious hatred. “They’re not my kind.”
“They are partly.”
“Is that what your boyfriend tells you?” Skyler asked. “Hate to break it to you darling, but he’s a lying, demonic, scumbag.”
“Now you’re just trying to hurt me,” Layla said, dropping back and faking a pout.
“Where’s Hadrian?” Skyler asked, coming to the point of his interrogation.
“Resting,” Layla replied simply. “You have any idea how exhausting it is having your core unlocked after sixteen long years?” She smiled at the quiet panic that washed through the room. “It’s taking time, but the last time I saw him, his core was almost halfway to being fully restored.”
Fear surged in the air, breaths were sucked in and gasps choked out. Aaron felt his own heart flutter against his ribcage. He had no idea how bad things could get with Hadrian back in power, but judging from the reaction around him, he could make a guess.
“Where will we find him?” Skyler asked.
“You won’t,” Layla replied.
“As sweet as this is,” Skyler started, “I’m not feeling the bond of ‘true love’ between a blood-thirsty fiend and her demon-hybrid boyfriend. So, I’m going to ask once more and if you don’t tell me where Hadrian is, I’m going to start adding to that collection in your leg.”
Layla was unfazed by his threats. “You know, as amusing as it is–”
She screamed when Skyler stayed true to his word and stabbed another dagger into her leg, just beside the first blade.
Aaron had to look away. His unease was echoed across the room.
Layla was breathing hard. She looked down at her leg, at the two silver handles sticking out of her thigh and let out a haggard laugh.
“You’ll regret that!” she heaved out with difficulty.
Skyler smirked. “Yeah? What’re you gonna do?”
“I didn’t say I’d be the one to do anything.” Layla glowered.
Skyler leant in. “I’m not afraid of Hadrian. You can go crying to your boyfriend all you want.”
Layla looked at Skyler with fierce eyes. “Hadrian?” She shook her head. “Try going down a generation.”
Shock resonated throughout the room. Aaron gaped at the vampire. She wasn’t Hadrian’s girl, she was Kyran’s. Even Skyler looked taken aback. He straightened up before sharing a surprised look with Ella. Then his gaze moved towards Aaron, but Aaron knew he wasn’t looking at him. He was searching past Aaron, to the girl standing behind him.
Aaron turned to look at Rose too, in time to see the shock and surprise leave her expression, replaced with nothing but heartbreak. Sam reached out and held her hand.
“You’re with Kyran?” Ella asked the vampire with disbelief.
Layla grinned, her eyes gleaming with delight. “I love that look,” she said. “The complete and utter shock that comes moments before the crippling fear of knowing who you’re going to have to deal with now.” She looked to the daggers in her leg before meeting Skyler’s eyes. “He’s going to rip you apart for this.”
Skyler leant in with a very ugly smirk. “Yeah? We’ll see who does the ripping.”
He pushed away from her, making the chair skid back a little. He gestured to the Hunters to follow and strode forward, taking Ella’s hand and walking out of the room. Aaron was forced along with the crowd gathering in the narrow hallway around Skyler.
“What do we do now?” Bella asked, looking genuinely afraid. “It was bad enough when we thought she was Hadrian’s.” She glanced through the open door to the vampire before shaking her head. “If she’s really with Kyran, then–”
“Then we’ve got a more immediate fight on our hands,” Skyler cut across her. “But that’s not entirely a bad thing. If Kyran finds out she’s here, there’s a possibility he’ll come for her. We can use that to trap him. But first we need to get the Shattereds and the residents out of here. Scott can send back-up.” He met Bella’s eyes. “We have a chance to catch Kyran, Bella. We can get him. We just need to make sure we have everything in place first–” He stopped when a tinkering laugh sounded from the room.
Everyone turned to see Layla laughing. She flicked her long red hair behind her and fixed her eyes on Skyler.
“Oh, honey,” she cooed. “You don’t have time to lay traps.” Her eyes were a cold blue as a mocking smile lifted her lips. “He’s already here.”
8
Coming To The Rescue
No sooner were the words out of Layla’s mouth than the sound of complete pandemonium broke outside. People were screaming, footsteps pounded in a frantic hurry. They could hear dishes clattering to the ground, wood breaking, and several gunshots fired.
“There was no flash,” Bella said, horrified. “There...there was no flash. The Gate’s fallen!”
Skyler went from shocked to full-on leader mode in a heartbeat.
“Ray, Emma and Stefan – you three stay here and guard her.” He gestured to the smirking vampire in the next room. “Do not let her out of your sight!” He turned to Ella but she already had her pendant in hand, talking to Scott, asking for back-up. Skyler faced the rest of the Hunters. “Bella, go upstairs and empty the cabinet. Bring every weapon you can find.” Bella and another two Hunters ran up the stairs. Skyler looked at Aaron. “Stay with them,” he said, nodding at Sam and Rose, surprising Aaron. “It’s not entirely safe to stay here with that under the same roof.” Skyler nod
ded towards Layla. “If you can get out of here and into another cottage–”
“I can,” Aaron said quickly.
“Good,” Skyler said.
He looked behind Aaron to see Bella and the other Hunters hurrying downstairs with armfuls of guns, daggers and a sword.
“Scott’s sending back-up,” Ella said. “But it’s going to take time. The Gate’s fallen, and Scott can’t risk a portal on the Gateway, in case vamages use it to get to Salvador.
“Then until they come, we’ve got to be enough,” Skyler said resolutely.
The group distributed the stash of weapons between them while Skyler and Ella pulled out their own familiars. Aaron and the twins stood empty-handed amongst them.
“Alright.” Skyler cocked his gun. “Follow my lead and spread out,” he instructed the group.
“I would wish you luck,” Layla called from the room, “but all the luck in the world won’t help you now.”
Skyler didn’t say anything. He strode forward to the door. Ella hesitated before turning to face Aaron. She held out one of her guns. Her grey eyes darted once to Sam before meeting Aaron’s again. Aaron took the gun.
Skyler opened the door and the sight that greeted them would never leave Aaron again. What had minutes before been a quiet, peaceful scene was now a ravaged, devastated street. Many of the buildings were on fire – burning bright against the night. Splatters of blood stained the cobbled street, even marking the broken table and chairs. Chaos had befallen the people of Balt, and they ran every which way, trying to dodge the vicious attack of vamages. Cloaked by the night’s darkness, the vamages fired their guns, catching mages in the back, leaving them dead on the ground. Others used their powers, hitting mages with their jolts. The mages retaliated with their own jolts of power but the vamages shrugged them off. Being part-mage gave the vamages immunity so the mages couldn’t kill them. The mages could only hope to incapacitate the vamages long enough to get away.
Skyler flew into action, leaving the doorstep of the cottage in a fury, to appear in the middle of the battle in moments. The Hunters sprinted after him, firing shots at the vamages.