The Guilty Innocent

by D N Simmons

  Xavier fell on top of me, pushing me onto the blood splattered floor away from the spraying bullets. John attacked the uniformed assassin, his eyes were glowing red and his fangs extended. A stream of blood arched from the assassin's throat as John plunged his razor sharp teeth deeply into the man's jugular. The assassin cried out, he began to shoot his gun off randomly, blasting holes into the ceiling of the room. John feasted quickly, taking the assassin down to his knees. More and more bullets came ripping through our windows and the sound of police sirens became more distinctive as they approached the hotel. I heard Sergio cry out and I turned around to see that he was in front of Elise and he had been shot in his stomach and was bleeding profusely. John tossed the body away from him and we managed to get out of the room. But there was another assassin waiting for us outside in the hallway. He began to shoot at us and Xavier pushed me back into the room.

  Devin had changed forms, I hadn't even noticed when he did it. But he was beautiful, a white leopard who looked to be at least three hundred pounds in weight with green eyes. He leaped over us and out of the door. Xavier grabbed my hand then led us out of the room to the stairway. I looked down the hall when I heard a man scream and saw Devin standing over the man, ripping out his throat. I wished I had not looked back to see gentle, adorable Devin pulling chunks of flesh from a dying man's throat. I began to feel nauseous, but knew I did not have time to throw up. Elise called to Devin but he continued to feed. Sergio, despite his injuries, ran to Devin and pulled him away from the body. Devin clawed at the body with his long sharp nails that shredded the assassin's flesh and shirt. Sergio slapped him on his nose, Devin yelped and looked at Sergio. Sergio fell to his knees next to Devin, weakened. Elise ran to Sergio, she put him over her shoulders in the same manner a fireman would and ran towards us with Devin at her side as we made our way down the stairway. John stopped us when he heard the loud transmission of the police walkie-talkies down below.

  “He needs to change back and fast!” John exclaimed.

  Devin began to change forms, he cried out as he rushed the change. I stood there in amazement as I watched the skin on his body vibrate as the hair receded. His paws began to change back into human hands, same with his feet. His face was the last to change and the most horrifying to watch. Devin quickly wiped his mouth with the back of his hand to clear away some of the blood. Finally, Devin was naked but in complete human form. Xavier's body had healed but he was weak. Sergio was in the worst of shape. His stomach had a huge gaping hole that was bleeding heavily. I closed my eyes and looked away from the wound before I could see any more detail. I looked back a few seconds later and saw that Elise had given Sergio her blood to drink as she began to lick his wounds. I watched astounded as Sergio's skin began to heal over the wound, but she had to pause the healing process when the police arrived.

  Six uniformed officers approached us, gun barrels aimed. They spoke Russian and only Xavier and Elise could understand them. Xavier put his hands up as he began to explain our situation. More and more officers filled the stairwell and began placing us in handcuffs. But not before allowing Devin to clothed himself and me to clean my face. We were placed in different patrol cars and driven to their precinct. We were led to the local police station and placed in separate rooms where we were expected to answer a barrage of questions we did not know the answers to. Well at least I knew I didn't have many answers. I was directed to a chair and told to sit down. The uniformed officer stood over me until an inspector took over. He looked at me, he appeared to be in his fifties. His silver hair was receding both in the front and in the middle of his scalp. He had large brown pupils and small wrinkles by his eyes, mouth and on his forehead. His jaws hung low on his face which reminded me of a hound dog. He was about five-feet-eight-inches and stocky. He read over the report that he had on his desk then he looked at me. “You want to tell me what happen?” he asked me in English. His Russian accent was thick but the words were understandable.

  “Well, I think it was a case of mistaken identity, officer.” I said nodding my head agreeing with myself. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows, he didn't believe a word I said. Couldn't blame him, I wouldn't believe my excuse either.

  “Don't play games with me young lady, this is very serious,” he said as he straighten himself in his chair.

  “I swear officer, I really do think it was a case of mistaken identity! My friends and I are on vacation, we were just trying to enjoy ourselves. We ordered room service and then the damn room service busboy, waiter-whatever! He tried to kill us!” I stated hysterically.

  The officer put two photographs on the desk in front of me. “Do you recognize the two men in these photos?” he asked as he pointed to the pictures.

  I looked at the photographs, I recognized one of them as the assassin that was dressed in the hotel's service uniform, but I did not recognize the other. I pointed to the one I recognized. “Him, he was the one who brought us our room service then tried to kill us.” I said, then I looked at the other picture. “But I don't know him.”

  “He was the man we found slaughtered and mutilated in the hallway, know anything about that?” he asked as he looked at me suspiciously. “Before you answer, we know that at least two of your friends are shape-shifters, did one of them kill these two men?” before I could answer, a uniformed officer walked over to the inspector and whispered something into his ear. The inspectors' eyes darted to me then he looked back at the other officer, he said something to him in Russian, he appeared to be upset then he looked back at me.

  “Well aren't you a lucky woman, according to this new found information, another person killed the two men and you and your friends escaped and did not see a damn thing...how typical,” he frowned in disgust.

  “You're free to go, but keep this in mind,” he leaned closer to me for the dramatics. “I'll be keeping my eyes on you from now on, don't even think about extending your vacation,” he said threateningly.

  “Don't worry, after what happened today, I think we'll be leaving tonight.” I said as I rose from the little hard chair. I walked out of the busy precinct and saw the others standing outside in the chilled night. Xavier walked over to me and put his arms around my shoulder, his skin was cold and I could tell he was still weak. Elise hailed down two cabs and we climbed into them. I looked at Xavier, he was gazing out of the window, he must have felt my eyes on him, because he turned to face me. “What?” he asked, smiling.

  “How did we get out of there without trouble?” I asked, I knew he had something to do with it.

  “I had to 'influence' a few people, including their captain to get us out of there. We don't have the time to waste in some police precinct answering a ton of questions,” Xavier said. Then he grimaced and doubled over. I panicked, I didn't know what was wrong with him. I looked at John, who peeked over at Xavier.

  “What's wrong with him?” I asked nervously.

  “Don't worry Natasha, he'll be okay. He's just hungry,” John said calmly. I looked at Xavier, I had never seen him in pain before and I did not like it.

  “Xavier are you going to be okay?” I asked

  “Yeah, I just need to feed, that's all,” he whispered. “Don't worry, I'm fine. It's just our hunger pains aren't too pleasant.”

  I felt a little more calmer now that I knew what was wrong with him and that he was going to be fine as soon as he fed. He must have lost a lot of blood back at the hotel. Our cab followed Elise's as we went back to the hotel to gather our belongings. When we arrived, our room had police tape across the door. Xavier pulled it down and we walked in. I gathered my suitcase and purse and placed them by the door. Devin was gathering their belongings and packing them away in suitcases. Sergio had laid across the bed, still wounded. Elise began to lick his wounds again. Xavier sat down in a chair and we watched Sergio heal right before our eyes. His eyes were closed as Elise's tongue licked across the shallow wound. Sergio would glanced down every few seconds to see the progress.

  When he h
ad completely healed, he looked at Elise, “Thank you,” he said.

  “Don't mention it.” Elise replied with a tiny smile.

  She climbed off of the bed and walked towards the door. Sergio handed Xavier another shirt to wear, then changed shirts himself before helping Devin carry our bags as we walked onto the elevator.

  I looked at Sergio. “How come you healed faster last lime than just now?” I asked.

  He looked at me. “Because, last time they weren't using silver bullets,” he said.

  I was surprised, Silver bullets! How did they know? “Who could have known about you being a shape-shifter?” I asked curiously

  “I don't know, maybe it was the guy from the restaurant who got away. He did see me take a few shots to the chest and live,” Sergio stated.

  “Yeah but how did they know how to find us?” the elevator doors opened and we walked off and climbed into the cabs while Elise checked us out of the hotel. When she exited the hotel she walked over to our cab and leaned into the window.

  “I know of a little bed and breakfast we could stay at for now.” She said, giving us the name and address. She walked towards the other cab and climbed in with Sergio and Devin. Our cab followed theirs as we drove through the winding streets. We had to stop for a red light, I looked out the window and noticed the streets were empty. Call it paranoia, but the atmosphere was too quiet, I began to feel suspicious. A car pulled up behind us, practically on our bumper.

  “I don't like this, it doesn't feel right,” I said nervously. John looked around us, he peered at the car in back of us, then he pulled Xavier and me down on the floor of the cab a second before bullets came flying through the window shattering the glass. I was screaming as both John and Xavier covered me with their bodies, but not before I saw that our driver had been shot through the back of his head, his brains were now splattered all over the inside of the windshield. I could hear Elise's screams over the gun shots.

  “Help them!” Xavier yelled to John, his voice almost drowned out by the sound of gunfire and screams.

  John climbed out of the cab behind the driver's side, Xavier grabbed my hand and led me out of the cab on the passenger’s side. I looked at the car behind us and saw that John had snatch the door off of the car and pull the gunman out. The assassin, now without his gun, tried to stab John, but was unsuccessful. John knocked the knife from his hand and twisted the assassins neck, breaking it. He let the man's body fall from his arms to the ground in a crumpled heap.

  “John! Xavier!” we heard Elise cry out.

  We ran to her aid and I saw Sergio laying on the ground, panting, he had been shot in the shoulder, thigh and stomach once again. Devin was missing and Elise was shot in the arm. I looked into their cab and saw that their driver's neck was twisted in an odd angle and a gun was still in his right hand.

  “Come on, we have to get out of here, where is Devin!?” I asked as I looked around, searching the area for Devin, hoping he wasn't injured. I did not see him anywhere, I looked back at Elise. She had tears in her eyes but she looked extremely pissed.

  “They've taken him!” she said through gritted teeth, enraged. “There were shape-shifters with them!”

  “John, drive.” Xavier told John and he did just that. He ran to retrieved my suitcase from the other cab, putting it in the trunk then ran to the driver's side of the Elise's cab. He pulled the driver's lifeless body out of the seat, tossing it on the pavement like a bag of trash.

  “Natasha, sit up front,” Xavier said as he help Elise pull Sergio's wounded body into the back seat of the cab.

  “Where do we go now?” I asked I looked at Elise in the back seat. Xavier was working on her arm. He had his fingers deep inside the wound, trying to search for the silver bullet. Blood poured from her wound as he worked on her. I looked around the cab for something that could aide him in helping her. I opened the glove compartment and found a switch blade inside.

  “Here!” I exclaimed, I handed it to Xavier who took the knife and cut deeply into the wound in Elise's arm. She cried out from the pain but sat still in the seat as Xavier plunged the knife deeper to dig out the bullet. I turned around, sickened. I could not take any more blood.

  “Got it!” I heard Xavier say triumphantly. I turned to look at him, he held a silver bullet in his hand the size of a peanut. The blood on the bullet was still smoldering. Elise skin began to heal instantly. Xavier immediately began to work on Sergio, stabbing the knife into his shoulder as he had with Elise and digging out the bullet.

  As I looked at Sergio's wounds, I could see that his wounded flesh appeared to be seared. I now had an understanding of the amount of damage silver could inflict on them.

  “I know of another place that I'd stayed when I last visited here, let us pray that it is still there.” Elise said then she gave John the address and directions.

  She began to work on Sergio again as she did before. She cut her wrist open and gave Sergio her blood which he drank deeply as she licked on his wound, healing it. After about three minutes, Sergio was healed enough to sit up on the leather seat of the cab. He still had a bullet in his upper left thigh, but it had not hit a vital artery from what Sergio had confirmed, he said he would live. I looked at him and saw that he was just as angry as the rest of us, if not more. They had kidnapped Devin and there was no telling what they were going to do to him.

  “You said there were other shape-shifters working with the humans, how many were there?” John asked as he drove the car.

  “Yeah, two of them, both wolves. There's no doubt that they were the ones who found us. I noticed there was a scent in the hallway back at the hotel, but I disregarded it. I smelled that same scent tonight before we were hit,” Sergio said.

  He looked like he wanted to hurt something or someone and I made a mental note to be sure not cross his line of vision. John pulled the cab in front of a wooden cabin. It was surrounded by trees and more trees. I wasn't so sure if being in such a secluded place was a good idea, but then again, maybe it was. Elise had covered her bloody shirt with her coat before walking inside the main office to rent a cabin. After a few minutes she came back out with our cabin key. Sergio and John unloaded the cab, taking our luggage to our cabin. I helped Xavier as he laid gently on the little brown sofa, his body was wracked with pain and I felt so sorry for him. As we settled in, I looked around. The interior of the cabin was all dark wood. The walls and floors were made of wood as was some of the furniture. I did admire the natural atmosphere and the rustic decor. There were two bedrooms, a kitchen and one large room that made up the living room and dining area.

  I walked into the living room and sat down on one of the comfortable reclining chairs. Elise had taken Sergio into the other bedroom to heal the bullet wound in his thigh. Xavier laid in a fetal position on the sola, whimpering softly as hunger pains ravaged his body. Finally, I could take it no longer, I walked over to Xavier and lightly touched his shoulder. He looked up at me, his grey eyes full of pain. It was then, that I noticed he had been shot several times. I could see by the amount of damage done to his bloodstained shirt where the bullet holes had entered his back.

  “Oh Xavier!” I said, my hand going to my mouth at my shock as tears fell from my eyes.

  “It doesn't hurt, it's okay,” he said.

  “No, it's not okay! I don't want to see you suffer any longer!” I stated, he looked at me, eyes questioning. “Drink from me, Xavier. It's okay.” I said, a bold move I know but I would not see him in pain.

  He looked at me, his eyes softening. “Are you sure, Natasha? You don't have to do this,” he said softly.

  “I know I don't have to...I want to, please.” I said sincerely as I leaned closer to him.

  John walked towards us then kneeled down behind me. I could feel his chest against my back. “After her, then I will share,” he said. “It should hold you over until the heat calms down enough for us to hunt undetected.”

  I turned and smiled at him. Even though he had fed recently, I
knew he would be weak after he shared with Xavier, I just hoped he would not be in pain. Xavier's eyes focused on me again and his hand caressed the side of my face gently.

  “I have never met anyone like you before, you are extraordinary,” he said tenderly.

  The tears were flowing freely from my eyes, but I was not as sad as I was a moment ago. “Are you going to feed or not?” I asked bravely.

  He smiled and sat up on the sofa. He slid off of the cushions and kneeled in front of me. He held my head in both of his hands and he kissed me softly on the lips. Then he tilted his head to the side and I began to tense.

  “Relax, my love,” he whispered in my ear.

  I trusted Xavier, I knew he would not harm me. I started to relax my body, a second later I felt his fangs pierce my skin and I cried out against the pain. John held me in place so that I could not injure myself by pulling away, which is what I tried to do, it's my instinct to shrink away from anything painful. The excruciating pain of Xavier's bite began to transform into a most delightful pleasure. My body felt as light as a feather as he drank from me. The most unbelievable pleasure coursed through my veins sending ecstatic tingles throughout my limbs. I felt an orgasm build from between my legs. It grew and grew with Xavier's feeding then in the moment that seemed like it would last forever, indescribable pleasure exploded within my entire body and I whimpered in ecstasy. My body jerked as spasms rippled through me. Regrettably, I felt Xavier release me, he pulled away from me licking his lips.