Her usual visitor, Dee, bends down beside her and looks at her arm where she was bitten. In the blink of an eye, he is no longer beside her but in front of the other Rogue with his hands around his throat.
“You were not supposed to touch her!” Dee growls and slams the creature’s head into the wall behind him.
“I told him not to, Dee. I told you he wasn’t to be trusted,” says the Rogue who had followed Dee into the room.
“I’m sorry. Her scent possessed me to do it,” The Rogue whimpers. “She’s not even human. She has been tainted,” he yells back in defense.
Dee turns around to look at Anna-Marie. With one motion, he lets go of the Rogue and walks back to her side, as the other one pants for breath and scampers out of the room.
Dee studies her with concerned eyes for a few seconds, looking her up and down. He bends his head down and sniffs her arm where she is still bleeding.
“Are you a vampire, Anna-Marie?”
Anna-Marie is shocked by this question.
“What are you talking about?” she yells back, full of hysterics.
Dee bends his head down even further, but this time he grabs her arm more aggressively than before. Shocking her even more, he licks her wound, and then pulls back immediately.
“No! Not a vampire but-” He stops to licks his lips again. “How can this be?”
He backs away slowly towards the door, barely able to look at her now.
“Please, Dee, tell me what is going on? Oh, my God! Did he turn me into a vampire?” She starts crying even harder.
Anna-Marie is hysterical and panicked at this point. Breathing is becoming harder and harder as the overflow of oxygen floods her lungs. She was hoping for a quick death. She had even prepared herself for it as a way to end this torture, but this is far worse than any death she could ever imagine.
“No, Anna-Marie, you are a mix.”
Dee walks out of the room with the other Rogue trailing behind him, his head bent, looking utterly defeated. They leave Anna-Marie crying on the bed, confused and panicked, all alone.
“But, I don’t understand! What do you mean I’m a mix? A mix of what?”
17
As Alessandro peers into the main sitting room, he is hit with an enormous sense of pride to be amongst this group of prestigious creatures. The view from the staircase is a very impressive sight to see, one that doesn’t happen often. Eleven out of fourteen of the area’s most powerful creatures are preparing for war. Even Rosa is huddled close to her husband, James, as is Claire and her husband, Dane.
“Hmm . . . only eleven, where are Michael and my father, I wonder?” Alessandro says to himself as he watches the men.
He knows they are all antsy with anticipation of the events to come and are probably preparing for it in their own way. It has been a long time since they have had a war like this one. The last one was many years ago after his mother’s death. It’s a strange coincidence that the circumstances are the same.
Alessandro was still fairly new as a Protector at the time of his mother’s death, only having a little over a year under his belt, but that didn’t make him any less ruthless at seeking his revenge. There were no nests in Washington back then, so finding the exact Rogue that took Gemma was impossible, so they killed every one of them and their bastard offspring that were found. This time will be easier and the vengeance even sweeter. They have a target and it will be destroyed before the night is over.
Alessandro steps off the landing of the staircase and onto the elevator. He knows exactly where to find his father these days.
Alessandro takes a seat in the last pew as his father finishes his visit with his wife. Alessandro stares at his father’s bent head and wonders what exactly it is that he says to her and if it really makes a difference? His father has been so devoted to his beloved wife, in life as well as death. Such devotion is an amazing thing to witness. It goes to show that love is real and never really dies, even if the human shell does.
***
Marquis has grown accustom to coming to this chapel almost every evening. Speaking to his beloved late wife, Gemma, has become more frequent in the past few months, mostly because of Alessandro. Learning that he could still speak to her has been his saving grace since her brutal death. For a while, he let his grief devour him and consume his every thought, but reality returned and settled in. He had his son to raise and an order to lead; they were all counting on him.
Marquis is not a religious man. He knows God exists but he cannot find the will to worship a being who, in his opinion, cared so little about his once devoted servants. He could have easily lived up to his reputation and forgave them for their betrayal, especially the seven that thought they were truly doing good. Oh, how different the world would be, had he found it in his heart and put his ego aside to forgive them. There would be no Rogues to cause anyone any more pain, but then again there wouldn’t be a Brotherhood or Protector order either.
His undying allegiance stands with his goddess, Ameretat, the goddess of immortality. It’s far more fitting with his life and she has never let him down.
Marquis’s wife has been dead for thirty years now, but her soul still lives within him. He speaks to her as much as possible and fills her in on their son’s life.
He has told her all about Anna-Marie these past few weeks. He knows she would be happy to hear her son has finally found love in a human.
What has happened to Anna-Marie is so sad. Alessandro is such a very strong-willed, stubborn man. Very much like his feisty Italian bred mother. No one ever thought for once he would fall in love, but he did. He knows his son will never recover from this. He, too, fought these same human emotions for so long, for this exact reason. He fears for his son’s stability after this.
Marquis tried to stay strong and set the example that love is a great thing, even if it does turn bad, but Alessandro never bought it. He can’t really blame him for that.
***
A few minutes later, Alessandro sees his father’s head come up.
“Come, sit with me, son.”
Alessandro smiles at this. He has always been impressed at his father’s sense of him. He always seems to know when he is around.
Alessandro sits beside his father in his usual spot.
Marquis doesn’t speak for a while and neither does Alessandro. They both know what is going to happen tonight and why. As much as both are looking forward to the destruction of this Rogue nest, the reasons for it are still crippling.
Marquis looks at his son and asks, “Alessandro, what are you going to do after tonight?”
This question confuses Alessandro. He hasn’t thought much about anything past tonight. Nothing else seems that important, nor does anything else matter at this point. Secretly, he hopes to not see tomorrow. He would never tell his father this. The pain is too much. He doesn’t know how to live anymore. He has only known Anna-Marie for a few months, but his whole life changed when they finally met. He knows he will never be the same person he was before. How can he be? Every second that passes, he feels detached from his own skin.
“I don’t understand what you mean, father,” he says expressionless.
“Alessandro, I know you hurt now and you want nothing more than to seek your revenge. I completely understand that, but once your revenge is met, you have to go on. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I know, but to be honest, I don’t know how.”
“I know you don’t, but I promise you, it will get easier. You’ll wake up one day and your heart won’t hurt as bad, then maybe the next day it will be even a little better. It’s a part of life.”
Alessandro stares at the statue of the goddess, the same beautiful figure that he saw in his dream just the day before. She told him his answers are near. He still doesn’t know what that means. He didn’t ask her a question, so what answer was she talking about?
“I am well aware of the grief’s in life.”
“Yes, but there is so much good in l
ife as well,” Marquis says.
“I’m sure there is, father, but it’s out of my reach right now. Maybe one day I’ll see it, just not today.”
“I hope so, son.”
Alessandro stands to leave. “I have to go prepare.”
“Alright, I’ll be up there in a little while.”
Alessandro walks out of the chapel without another word. He was going to go back to his quarters so he could sit and think alone, but the prospect of revenge has got his senses perked, and after talking to his father, his emotional level is running off the charts.
On the second lowest level of the underground mansion, there is a training facility with every necessity a person would need to prepare for a fight.
Surprisingly it is empty. Alessandro is baffled by the quietness.
He growls. “We are going into war tonight, why isn’t anyone training!”
With anger radiating through him, he walks over to one of the practice dummies and starts to punch. It starts off as light solid strikes, but the more he hits, the madder he gets. He is so full of emotions, he feels like he could explode at any moment.
Mindlessly, he continues to strike until he hears a loud splinter, then a crack as the dummy crashes to the ground.
Alessandro stops and stares at the defeated dummy lying on the floor in a heap. He bends over and begins to laugh aloud hysterically.
“Holy shit, Ales! You just killed that dummy!”
Alessandro stops laughing and stands up straight. He takes a deep breath and turns around to face Michael, who is leaning against the door frame looking amused at the destruction.
This makes Alessandro lighten up some. “Yeah well, he talked back.”
Michael laughs more and walks further into the room.
“Do you mind company?” Michael asks.
Alessandro looks around, not really feeling like doing this dance with him again, but he knows Michael should warm up also. “Only, if we can do it in silence.”
“Alright, man, I can do that.”
Michael walks over to one of the other dummies and starts his assault. Alessandro looks around to figure out what to do next. He looks back at the dummies, but he knows he shouldn’t go that route again, after what he did to the first one.
Michael notices this and decides to help.
“Hey, man, you want to spar? I think the rest of the equipment will be thankful.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea right now.”
“Come on, man, I won’t break.”
Alessandro thinks for a minute. He knows he needs the warm up, but he feels like he is too unpredictable right now for any kind of sparring.
“Nah dude, I’ll just practice with a sword.” He turns to walk away before Michael can say anything else, but he didn’t move fast enough.
“What is your problem, man?”
This makes Alessandro stop in his tracks.
“All I’m trying to do is help you because from what I can see, you can’t exactly help yourself right now.”
Alessandro turns around, and in the blink of an eye, is standing in front of his best friend.
“Screw you, Michael. I don’t need help. Not from you or anyone else.”
“Yeah, okay. You’re so in control you meant to destroy that dummy over there,” Michael says, pointing to the pile of broken wood on the floor.
Anger stirs up in Alessandro once again and he starts to snarl.
“Ahh . . . there’s the beast. Come on, friend, fight me,” Michael says as he takes a couple of steps back, not once taking his eyes off of Alessandro as he prepares for the sparring session.
Alessandro doesn’t speak. Anger is churning inside him. He can no longer see straight. He kneels down in his stance to strike and lets out a low animalistic growl and his eyes grow even darker, causing almost all of the white to disappear completely.
Michael thinks to himself, Shit, man, you are one stupid son of a bitch, but he won’t let Alessandro see his fear. He knows Alessandro is older and much stronger than he is. The pain he feels has blinded him, making him that much more of a deadly opponent, but he is his friend and he has to find a way to get through to him. As dumb as it may be to egg him on, fighting is the only way Michael knows.
Alessandro snarls again. His instincts set in as he notices Michael’s very subtle flinch. Michael can play it cool all he wants to, but Alessandro is a deadly trained warrior. He has learned long ago how to read people. No one has ever been able to hide fear or nervousness from him.
Michael takes a deep breath, “Come on, Ales, what are you waiting for?” he says, sounding much braver then he feels at this moment.
Alessandro smiles a cruel menacing smile at this. For the first time, Michael notices his eyes. They are no longer the brown almond shaped eyes that he got from his beautiful mother. Now they are more like his animal side, dark and soulless.
Michael stands up straight. “Shit, Ales, you really are losing it!”
This sets things into motion. In a flash, Alessandro moves and strikes Michael with a thunderous crack from a swirling back kick hard to the side of his head, which takes Michael by complete surprise and sends him flying off of his feet and across the floor.
After a few seconds, Michael gets his bearing enough to get back on his feet. Michael stands back up and bends over and holds his head as he waits for the spinning to stop. When he looks back at Alessandro, he sees him back in his stance.
“Fine, you want to fight for real? Let’s go.” Michael bends down in his stance as well, waiting for the next move. This time he won’t be caught off guard.
Alessandro rushes forward again and catches Michael in the side of the face with his fist then swirls around behind him to take him down from behind, but before he can get into place, Michael instinctively sticks out his leg and trips him.
Alessandro isn’t the easiest person to take down by any means, but this has caught him by surprise. Letting your emotions control you is a costly distraction for anyone, even a warrior as skilled as Alessandro. Michael knows he has to be quick on his next move.
As Alessandro stumbles for balance, Michael wraps his forearm around his neck and maneuvers himself behind him. Alessandro struggles for air and control, but Michael isn’t budging. Once again, Michael kicks out his leg and swipes Alessandro’s legs out from underneath him, causing them both to crash to the floor with Michael crushed underneath Alessandro’s massive weight.
Michael still doesn’t let up on the whaling Alessandro.
“Dude, seriously, you need to stop. You’re only making this harder on yourself!” Michael yells.
Alessandro stops struggling.
Michael takes this as a sign that he is obeying, so he loosens his grip around his neck just slightly.
That was a mistake.
Alessandro feels the subtle release and takes advantage of the break in his hold. He grabs the back of Michael’s head with both hands full of blond hair and lands the back of his head into the front of Michael’s face, crushing his nose.
Michael releases completely to stop the spout of blood coming from his face.
Alessandro stands up and without looking back to make sure his friend is okay, he walks out of the room, leaving his oldest friend alone on the floor covered in his own blood.
18
Marquis looks around at all of his men as they quietly await their time to leave. Each one of them is mentally preparing themselves for what is to come. They have been waiting for almost an hour now for Michael to come up from the medical ward. An hour ago James had gone down to the training facility for a warm up and found Michael on the floor with blood everywhere.
Marquis was highly disappointed to hear Michael and Alessandro had been fighting. He still doesn’t know how serious it is yet.
After a few tense minutes, they hear the elevator door open. They all watch the corner in quiet anticipation. Finally, Michael turns the corner into the main sitting room to join the party.
Marqui
s frowns when he sees Michael’s face. His swollen nose is bandaged and both of his eyes are black and blue from the impact of the blow. It is obvious his nose was broken during the altercation. He knows he will heal quickly, but the fact remains, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
He turns to look at his son standing beside him and is baffled. His face is cold and expressionless. He hasn’t even acknowledged Michael’s presence. He will have to remember to ask Alessandro what happened down there. But later, now is now the time.
He turns his attention back to the other men in the room. “Ahh . . . good, now that we are all here we can discuss our plans.”
“Each Protector needs to pair up with a Brotherhood. We will go in on all sides so nothing gets by us. I want every Rogue that’s seen, killed.”
“Once all of the Rogues are dead, we will check every room in that building. I want every inch of that warehouse inspected to make sure there are no humans being held there before we set the fire, is that clear?” he asks as he looks around at his men. They all nod their heads in agreement.
He bites his tongue as his eyes stop on Alessandro. Alessandro is still staring off expressionless, but he notices the tight outline of his clenched jaw.
“Alessandro, we will look in every inch of that place. If she’s there, we will find her.”
Alessandro looks at his father now and nods his head. His throat is burning so badly with emotions, he is unable to speak, but he will not falter. He will not show his emotions in front of these men. He will save that for when he is alone.
“Protectors, are you all rested up?” They all say “yes” in robotic unison. “Alright, men, let’s set out. We will all meet back here by dawn.”
***
Anna-Marie’s body is numb from the lack of blood flow and muscle use caused by lying on the bed for so long unable to move.
It seems like it has been a long time since anyone came into her room and her stomach cramps and growls with fierceness from hunger.
Protector Page 17