by D. N. Hoxa
Adele smile sadly. “No,” she simply said and then turned to her bedroom again.
I sighed and held the flash drive tightly in my palm. I didn't want to go back in there. I never wanted to see her again, either. What she was making me feel…it was just not okay because I knew her. I had seen her rip a shifter apart right after she said she fucked his brains out. She was a lunatic.
And yet, I felt bad for her.
Without a word, Aaron held me by the arm until we were outside the house. He looked like he was in a hurry, and I couldn’t help but be suspicious. I turned all my senses on and felt around as far as I could reach. I even held my breath to try and hear better. Nothing.
“Let’s get out of here fast,” he said.
Our chopper was going to meet us close enough. Once we reached the main road, Aaron stopped walking. He had his head down and was breathing heavily. I knew it cost him so much more than it did me to do things like that. To threaten and torture someone for information. I wondered what he would do if he saw what I had seen, if he saw people being ripped apart just for the fun of it. He would not take it well, I was sure. I hadn’t taken it well the first couple years, either.
We needed a cab to get to our destination, and thankfully, the first one I spotted, stopped. As we rode in the backseat, Aaron wouldn’t meet my eyes. Maybe I should’ve felt bad that I wasn’t letting myself feel all that my body wanted to feel about what had happened. I couldn’t help but wonder if he would’ve thought more of me if I did.
And then I wondered if Audrey would’ve felt bad. Probably…and he would’ve liked that, no doubt.
But I was who I was. I adapted fast to everything and anything because that was how I was taught. I played it like it needed to be played to win. And I definitely didn’t feel bad about that.
As we waited for the chopper to arrive, we ate lunch at a local restaurant, but neither of us actually put much food in our mouths. We walked in silence to the highway after that until we reached the end of the road and the dry field where the chopper would come for us.
“Where to next?” Aaron asked me, finally speaking and breaking the cold silence between us.
“I need to figure where Samayan stays,” I said, my lips pressed tightly together because I already knew what he was going to say.
“That’s impossible. We’ve been looking for his hideout for years.”
And I had, too. I had always been curious to know where he and the rest of the Council Members stayed. Even when working for them, I always kept my ears open for that information. But, of course, I never heard anything. No one knew and the few of those that did would die before they told.
But back in the day when I was the Council’s assassin, I had had the chance to more than once meet and work with a warlock. John Arsenal. Most people thought he was a tracker, but he wasn’t exactly. His spell was that of observing. He could take a plant and tell you its story from the time when it was just a small seed. He used that spell to track, and he was better than any I’d worked with in the past.
We had been chasing a ghost, Arsenal and I, quite literally. His name had been Ghost, too, a warlock who went invisible with the right spell. He’d stolen three million from a Council member’s finance department. Ghost never declared himself of the Council, but he wasn’t a Red Rebel, either. Arsenal and I were to work together to catch him.
In our confrontation with Ghost, Arsenal lost a leg. He would’ve lost his life if it hadn’t been for me.
I still remembered that night. We were on the emergency stairwell when Ghost appeared in front of him and pushed Arsenal hard on the chest. A broken metal framework from the building that was being built behind us was on the ground below with three sharp tips. Arsenal was going to fall on his back on all three of those tips, but I jumped a story below and tried to grab him by the ankle. I couldn’t hold him, but I did manage to pull him just enough so that only his right leg fell on the tips of the framework.
I killed Ghost minutes after that, but the Council retired Arsenal. He was no use to them with only one leg. The man was more than pissed at Samayan for taking away the one job he loved and was good at, and I was counting on him to still be angry, because I was going to ask for his help in tracking the vampire.
“I know, but I have someone who just might be able to help us. The least we can do is try,” I said to Aaron. He didn’t comment. “How did you know, by the way?”
I was talking about Adele’s boy toy, but when Aaron shrugged, I knew exactly what he was going to say.
He shrugged and I knew his next words.
“Lucky guess?”
Yeah right. It was bullshit, but it didn’t really matter how Aaron knew. What mattered was that he saved my ass, so I didn’t drag it out any longer.
We walked in silence, and I could see the chopper now. It looked small from so far away, and I was eager to get on it, fly to Louisiana and meet Arsenal.
But then I felt it.
I put my hand in Aaron’s chest to stop him from walking. I no longer breathed; even my heart seemed to stop beating. My skin was being pricked with a million small needles. I listened closely, and when the second realization hit me, everything came back to me at once. I grabbed Aaron’s shirt and pulled him to me.
“Run,” I whispered in his ear.
He didn’t have time to process it, but he didn’t need to. As soon as he saw me running, he followed.
I could feel his cold energy and clearly, because he wanted to let me know he was there, that he was coming. His power enveloped me from head to toe as I ran like I had never run before in my life. I could feel him get closer.
Vladimir, Captain of the Council’s Royal Guards.
And the bastard had ten others with him.
I would’ve stopped if I was alone. I would’ve never run if Aaron hadn’t been with me. But I couldn’t risk him, and for once in my life, I decided to be a coward. I decided to turn my back on a fight. Because his life was worth it.
But then I hit something hard that stopped me and threw me at least three feet in the air before I fell hard with my back on the ground. I didn’t have time to think about the pain that had reached my bones. I jumped to my feet the next second.
Vlad was smiling his most evil smile and looking at me with a sense of pride and superiority. I could clearly see his face even though it was almost complete darkness outside. I could smell him just like he was standing right next to me. I could see his muscles prepare themselves under the thin black shirt he was wearing.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that at least seven vampires were surrounding Aaron, who had knives in both his hands and was ready to fight.
“Hello, little Raven,” Vlad said in his husky voice and heavy Russian accent. I shivered. “I never thought I’d see the day when you’d run away from me.”
He laughed and took a step closer to me.
I didn’t have to wait long for the fight I’d wanted to have with the vampire since forever. I saw Vlad’s finger twitch a split second before his fist was in my face. I dodged and kicked him in the stomach. He didn’t budge. The other vampires had started fighting with Aaron, too, and at least three more were standing, waiting behind Vlad and smiling widely with their silver eyes and long fangs.
Vlad moved like lightning. It was still hard as fuck to keep up with him. In less than two minutes, I was bleeding and bruised in more places than I could count, but I kept on going. His foot was already on my stomach, taking the breath out of me, when I dodged his elbow and caught his ankle. I pulled him to me for just a second, but he didn’t lose his balance. Instead, he connected his fist with my shoulder. I landed the tip of my foot right under his chin, and he momentarily lost focus. I used the opportunity to lean down and try to kick his feet from under him, only because I knew he would jump up. And he did.
I crawled under his feet and jumped to mine right behind him. A quarter of a second before his feet touched the ground again, I pushed his ass with both my feet, sending him
flying ahead. I ran at him, and before he could turn, I delivered another kick with the tip of my foot on the back of his skull. Needless to say how much that pissed him off. He took my fist that was aiming for his face and pulled me to him, but I jumped and rested my foot on his chest. He almost tore my arm from my torso, and I was thankful for the adrenaline because I would’ve been screaming from pain by then. But we both kept on going. I caught glimpses of Aaron fighting whenever I could, and I was a little relieved to see that he was doing okay. He was bloodied and bruised and breathing heavily, but where there had been seven, there were now only three vampires in front of him. And the other three joined mine and Vlad’s dance.
I don’t know for how long we fought, but my body was exhausted. I feared that I wasn’t going to be able to get out of it alive. It was just me and Vlad and one other vampire, and Aaron was fighting two more. I had to cut their heads off with Bob since we didn’t have any silver with us.
I looked back for a second at Aaron, and he caught my terrified face. Run, I mouthed at him, but I could tell by the look in his eyes that he wasn’t planning to. The fool!
I called on the air and the ground, desperate to form a connection, but Vlad moved way too fast. Both him and his vampire aimed their fists at my face at the same time. I caught the hand of the vampire midair and pulled, so that he was now in front of me, and Vlad, who couldn’t stop in time, broke the guy’s jaw. I didn’t even have time to feel relieved. Another kick from Vlad on my waist, and I fell to my knees.
Air, air, air, I thought as I tried hard to focus. I needed the elements now more than ever because I needed to kill Vlad before he could kill me. I needed to stay alive to protect Aaron.
“Star!” Aaron called, but Vlad’s foot kicked me in my face, and I fell back on my hands.
My whole body was shaking. I wanted to shout at Aaron to run, that I would try to hold them back until he got in the chopper and flew away, but I needed to save my energy for the air.
And finally, the connection clicked into place. I could’ve cried from joy. Vlad grabbed me by my hair and brought my face right in front of his. His grin was disgusting. In slow motion, I saw his fingers pull into a fist, and he aimed for my jaw. Not this time, I thought, just as I let the air go.
The second the power left my skin, I felt a lot better. The wind blew on Vlad’s face and body, and it threw him off me, but just a couple of feet. His grin hadn’t left his face, and he approached me again, lightning fast. So I blew at him again.
Just then, the sky began to groan, and lightning illuminated the highway for a second. If I were lucky enough, it would start to rain because connecting to earth was impossible in the state I was in. If it did, I was going to win this. I was going to kill Vladimir.
The wind slowed the vampire down but didn’t stop him completely. That was more than enough time for me to stand up again and take a look at Aaron, who grabbed the back of a vampire’s neck and his small knife appeared on the other side.
A mother of a slap brought stars in front of my eyes. I had only a second to register Vlad practically flying right by me, headed for Aaron. It was a miracle that I managed to move fast enough to kick him on his side. I grabbed his hair next and pulled him back as hard as I could, but the other vampires, the only one out of ten that was left standing, kicked me on my back, so I had to let Vlad go and turned to the other.
My fist connected with his face fast and his fang scratched my already torn knuckles. He aimed for my gut, but I dodged and hit him in the knee, making him lose his balance for a second—a second I used to bury Bob inside his gut and then twist the hilt around. His fist on my face might’ve broken a couple of my teeth, but I didn’t let go. He tried to push me away, and I used his strength to draw him to me. When he was close enough, I pulled Bob out of him and pushed it inside him again, this time right in the middle of his neck.
He tried to move away, but I called on air and held him there because I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to rely on my hands anymore. The air obeyed and Bob’s blade move from one side to the other, until his silver eyes rotated in his sockets, and he turned to grey, disgusting ash.
No time to be glad. I turned and ran for Vlad and Aaron. They were still fighting, but Aaron was now on his knees. I ordered the air to blow Vlad toward me and it did. But the motherfucker was strong and heavy so the air didn’t work on him like it did with others. I jumped on air and kicked him on the side to distract him because my body was growing weak as all of my energy was dedicated to maintain the connection with air.
When Vlad turned halfway, I grabbed his hair again. Bob was ready in my other hand, and I swung my arm fast and hard, aiming for his throat. Unfortunately, he stopped it midway, and Bob slipped from my fingers. Then, he pushed both his palms in my chest, and I flew at least three feet away.
Vlad turned to Aaron again. I couldn’t see the picture clearly, but I did see Vlad’s silhouette reach down for something on the ground. Then, he approached Aaron, who was still on his knees. Vlad pulled him up by the neck and the thing in his hand was…Bob.
No! I shouted but no sound came out of me. My vision cleared instantly. I jumped to my feet as fast as I could, but not fast enough. I saw Aaron try to push Vlad’s arm away, but he was too weak. And then I saw the vampire’s arm swing.
This time I shouted. At the top of my voice, as much as my lungs let me.
But it was done.
Vlad stepped back as Aaron looked down at Bob’s red leather hilt buried in his chest, straight through his heart. My whole body trembled. He looked up at me, and the agony written in every feature of his face made it worse. His mouth was open, but he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t breathe.
Aaron fell to the ground.
I could see Vlad’s silhouette stepping slowly away from me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Aaron’s body. Aaron’s dead body.
Cold wind turned my shallow breaths into steam, but I didn’t bother to check what was happening. Tears were falling from my eyes. This can’t be, I thought, even as I looked at Aaron’s chest and saw that it was no longer moving. Aaron was gone.
And it was all Vladimir’s fault.
I felt completely empty, stripped off everything, but at the thought of the vampire’s face, something in me burned brightly. The need for revenge. Sweet, sweet revenge. And I knew that even if I killed him now, it wouldn’t make a difference. Nothing could anymore. But at least I would’ve gotten revenge for Aaron.
“What the…” Vlad’s cold voice reached my ears and invited my eyes over to him. He had his arms in front of his face to protect himself from wind. Wind I couldn’t even feel. He backed away from me slowly, and my legs started walking on their own accord.
Lightning. It brightened the sky and made a deafening noise, but enabled me to see Vlad’s silver eyes grown wide.
Confusion. Fear. He was looking at me with fear.
So many things to do crossed my mind in a second. I was going to torture him just like McGraw had taught me. I was going to do everything there was to do to a vampire. And once I got my hands on him, nothing was going to stop me.
I jumped forward. I expected him to confront me, but strangely enough, he turned his back on me and started running. It didn’t matter really if he ran or if he hid. It didn’t matter how long it would take me to get to him. It didn’t matter even if he stayed. Nothing mattered. I went after him.
He moved in a blur, but I saw him anyway. I was running almost as fast as he was, but I didn’t stop to think why or how that could be. I just knew that wind and lightning followed my every step. My heart kept stinging every now and then, as if to remind me that I wasn’t really as empty as I felt. I was worse. But I kept on running, and I never once got tired.
Until I had to stop. Not one car had passed the highway while we’d been there and now I saw why. Three huge military trucks were parked at the end of the road, blocking both ways on the sides. At least twenty more shifters were on them with their guns directed at me.
&nb
sp; Vlad had stopped in front of them, too, and was looking at me with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. He believed he had me now. I smiled my evil smile for him.
Come and get me, suckers!
But Vlad and his vampires didn’t move. So I did. All the sups in the trucks prepared their big guns that were aimed at me. My shields were already dropped, and once my senses reached them, I almost fell to my knees.
All those shifters were on the potion. What felt like dust enveloped them, it was clear as day. And I couldn’t wait to…
Tell Aaron and figure it out…
My hands began to shake. I could never do that anymore. I could never talk to Aaron again. I’d barely managed to handle the truth about my mother. And now that he was gone, too, life was colorless.
But I had one more thing to take care of. I had Vlad, smiling weirdly in front of me. So I jumped at him. My fist connected with his jaw the same second that his hit me in the gut. Half a step back and I waited for the bullets to rain upon me. But…
“Don’t!” Vlad shouted at his shifters. “Don’t shoot.” I was too fucked up to even be surprised until Vlad jumped on the last truck and shouted: “Go!”
The trucks started moving immediately. I ran after them.
“Soon, little Raven. Very soon!” Vlad shouted, and the grin was back on his face.
My muscles were trembling, and my speed left nothing to be desired as I chased the trucks.
I didn’t want to let Vlad go. I didn’t want to let him live for a second longer. I gathered all the strength I had left, and when I jumped, I almost landed on the last truck. I tried to hold on to the metal frame, but my hands were sweating and I was just too weak.
Someone tried to push me off. I felt a wrist. I grabbed it and without thinking, I pulled.
A body fell on my chest, and it rolled and rolled down the street with me. The asphalt made a mess out of everything that wasn’t already a mess on my body. As soon as we stopped spinning, I stood up. A shifter, werewolf, with a big AK47 in his hands tried to do the same. I hit him on the side of his neck before I took the rifle from his hands.