Jimmy returned the look.
Together they turned and walked over to the elevator and called it to go up. When the doors opened, they moved inside and pressed the button for the top floor. When the doors closed, they both grew even more nervous than they already were. For Robert it was for the unknown. The fear of what would be waiting for them on the other side of the doors. For Jimmy this was the first time he would be surrounded by his kind. It was a lot to take in at once.
When silence overtook them, with only the soft orchestra music playing from the speaker above them, Jimmy was the first to break it. “I hate elevators.” He crossed his arms over the front of his jeans and held them together within each other. Suddenly he felt rather formal, didn’t like the feeling, so he broke the stance.
Robert felt taken aback by the comment. “Why is that?” He laughed some after asking it.
“The music.” In front of them, the doors had mirrors and with them, they could see each other standing there clearly. They could even look into each other’s eyes.
“Music?” Robert smiled. The more time he spent with Jimmy he found himself liking him even more. He could see what Rachel saw in him. He felt alive. He felt real. He felt complete. He was what he was and you couldn’t help but to like him for it.
Jimmy nodded. “Elevator music always makes me feel like I’m heading to a funeral, or worse yet—the dentist.” He smiled, still looking ahead.
Seeing it, Robert smiled too. He didn’t say anything else until the doors opened. “Are you ready?”
Jimmy nodded. “As I’m ever going to be.”
“Here we go then.”
Right in front of them, they found a long hallway stretched out from the elevator, and standing there, not two feet from them, were four men and two women guarding the hall. They turned to the elevator the very moment they heard the doors open.
“Well look at what we have here.” The furthest man on the left was the first to talk. “Who would have thought that we would ever see this?” He and the woman right next to him, on his left, approached the elevator with strong, yet cautious strides. They crossed the short distance between them rather fast.
Jimmy saw their red glows. They looked like they were ready for a fight. The four others behind them had tannish colored hues. He knew all of what it meant and decided to let Robert do all of the talking for them. He didn’t know what to say here anyway.
“Ladies and gentlemen?” Robert smiled, and made his voice sound playful. He had to be. They would grow overly cautious if he didn’t. “How are you all on this fine evening?” He looked at each of them. “I do hope that you are all well?” He kept his eyes focused. He had to be ready for anything if they decided to fight.
“You have a lot of balls coming here like this wanderer. What pray tell would cause you to do such a thing?” The four grouped together and blocked the hallway completely.
Jimmy could feel their hearts racing. He could smell their sweat. They were scared. He loved feeling this. It helped him to stay calm.
“We have important things to discuss with the elders.” Robert nodded and dropped his smile.
Jimmy tried hard not to smirk with that Robert just said.
“And what in the hell would the wanderer himself have to say to our elders?” The woman on the right growled some. When she smelled a heavy must coming from the young man on Rochie’s right, she almost couldn’t believe it. Why would one of their kinds ever be with him? “Who are you?” She took another smell. It was the strongest scent that she had ever smelled before in her life.
Jimmy nodded. “I’m…” but Robert cut him off fast.
“He is a friend of Sharlia.” He nodded strongly. He stared all of them down with a strong and forceful stare.
The man on the left shrugged his shoulders hard. “Sharlia has not arrived yet wanderer. How would we know if he is or isn’t?”
Robert stared him down. “Would you like to anger her if he is and you don’t let him in?” He passed him a casual smile. “Would you truly want to keep a friend of hers from joining her inside?”
The young man, dressed to the hilt in fashionable splendor, looked to the woman next to him and then to the others behind him, and then back to the elevator.
Robert noticed his hesitation so he continued with what he knew would work. “Do you wish to explain your reasons for this to her, or just let us in?” All walkers were afraid of the elders. It didn’t matter if it was their group or not. All they were concerned with was that they were an elder for a reason. They had strength and everyone feared them because of it.
The man took a deep breath, also smelling the heavy must with Rochie and sighed after it. He didn’t doubt what he smelled. He had to be a wolf, and if he was, he must be with one of the clans. It made sense that he may actually be with Sharlia. Knowing the possibilities of crossing a powerful elder made him decide quickly. He nodded and stepped towards his left. “Fine, you both can go inside.”
Robert bowed his head towards him, gratefully. “Thank you. You have chosen well.” He smiled and turned to the woman.
She stood aside, as did the others behind her and stepped back to the walls.
Robert turned and nodded for Jimmy to follow him.
Jimmy watched the little show and couldn’t believe any of it. I’ll be damn that worked. He smiled as he and Robert stepped off the elevator and made their ways down the hallway.
When they reached the last door at the end of the hall, they opened it and stepped inside the room.
They found that the meeting had already begun.
28
“I can’t believe that they wanted us to stay here like this. What are we children? We just have to stay here while mommy and daddy go out for the night.” Brandon did nothing but pace around the living room after Robert and Jimmy left. Everything he said felt worse on the inside. He hated it. It made him feel weak. It made him feel like a half a man—or whatever the fuck he was.
“You’re being ridiculous Brandon. Jimmy just wanted us to stay here and watch Ross.” Sasha stayed on the sofa. She tried hard to keep looking at the bay window across from her, because if she watched him pace around in front of her for too long, he was going to make her sick. Hell. She was already starting to feel dizzy as it was.
Hearing this seemed to make him even angrier. “What are we guards? We should be there with them Sasha. We belong together.” He spun back from the window and to her again. “We should have stayed together.” He rushed his arms to his sides, but that didn’t feel comfortable to him, so they went across his chest instead.
“Why are you getting so worked up over this? They’ll come back soon.” She huffed some, and bowed her head to the floor. Now the dizziness was beginning to become a headache. If she wasn’t a werewolf she would have been sure that it was real. However, werewolves didn’t have headaches. They just didn’t.
Hugging himself like this must have worked. He began to feel calmer already. “You’re right. I am getting a little overloaded about all of this aren’t I?” He chuckled some for it.
Thank God. Sasha finally felt him relax. “We should just try and get some rest. We’re going to have to go hunting soon. Maybe you need to feed. That could be why you feel this way.” She smiled and stood up in front of him. She reached out and took both of his arms into her hands, swept down them until his hands were within hers. “Everything will be all right Brandy.” She changed her voice to a more playful tone. “Besides, we have this whole house to ourselves. What could we possibly do with such a thing?” She slyly grinned.
He smiled, seeing her emerald green eyes sparkle. Her milky white skin blazed out against her fire red hair and it only added to the color of her eyes. Seeing every part of her essence he did relax even more. “You’re right. We are all alone here.” He matched her eyes with his, but then he blinked. “Well—except for the guy we have locked up in one of the bedrooms upstairs, but yeah, we have the whole place to ourselves.” He smiled again, which turned into
his normal boyish grin.
A look she truly did love.
He reached in and gently kissed her lips.
She welcomed it, but soon the gentleness wasn’t enough so it turned into an all-out passionate embrace.
They tasted each other, blending their mouths together with strength.
With their eyes closed, and the taste being as powerful as it ever was, they never noticed a group of people moving towards the front door. They obviously never noticed those gathering around the back of the house either. If they did they may have done something, anything, about it but didn’t. They just tasted each other’s lips. They dwelled into one another’s touch, until it was all too late.
Soon she did notice the smell of something strong and it replaced Brandon’s taste. She released his lips, not truly understanding the scent. She didn’t do this until she noticed that the smell was now surrounding them.
He noticed it too. “What in the hell is that?” His voice turned low. His teeth became exposed. His instincts came alive within a second of a second. His eyes even flared red.
“I’m not sure. I’ve never noticed a smell like this before.” She noticed his reaction to whatever this was, and in seeing it, she instantly became nervous. She’d never seen him do this before. She’d never known him to overreact like this. Taking a good and strong whiff, she realized what the smell had to be. “They’re surrounding the house. Whatever they are, they are all around us.”
He released her arms and spun back to the bay window behind him. With his eyes burning, he noticed that he could actually see through the walls. “I can see them outside.” He could see several people looking back towards the street. He could see their forms. He could see their body heat. He could see their blood pump. “I see several wolves. I see others coming up the steps to the door.”
She held her breaths. Decay surrounded them, she did fear this, but she also feared the other smell, the one that she had never smelled before than the others. There was something very different about it. It smelled strong. It smelled powerful. It reeked with a smell of a heavy decay that smelled stronger than a normal vampire. It smelled bad. It smelled like death itself.
He didn’t like anything that he saw. “You have to get upstairs. Get to Ross.” Thinking that they might be there for him it also helped him with his greatest fear. He couldn’t put her in danger. He would do anything to keep her safe.
She didn’t agree. “I’m not leaving you Brandon. I’m not going anywhere. We have to stay together. We are stronger together.”
The smell, and an image of something showing strongly red, came up to the door. “I’m not going to argue with you Sasha. You need to protect Ross. Now go.”
Smelling the decaying strong smell coming to the door, she puffed the air of her anger aside. He gave her no other choice, and besides that, he was right. She had to protect Ross.
She turned, left him and headed to the stairs. She climbed to the last step when she heard the front door open behind her. The smell came in just after the sound. She turned back, watched a man come inside that she had never seen before, and opened the door to the bedroom on her right. She went inside the room and closed the door behind her quickly. Who the man was, she didn’t know. All she did was her fear for Brandon. Please be careful baby. Please think before you do anything stupid.
Seeing the woman wolf come into the room, Ross sat up on the bed. He wasn’t really sleeping, but was still somewhat surprised seeing her come in and join him. “I thought all of you were going to forget about me?” He lay back down.
She took a deep breath.
He heard her, sat back up to his elbows, and instantly noticed the look of terror in her actions. This made him worried. He knew of her strength. He knew of the things that she could do. If she was afraid of something, than God help them all. “What is it?”
She kept her eyes on the door. She took another deep breath before she answered him. “We have company.” Her worry now doubled in its strength.
29
“Well, well, well, is this not a beautiful moment indeed.” Devish smiled as he led Vincent and his people into the house. Seeing one of his children instantly made him smile. Seeing a nightwalker always made him happy, but seeing one like this, also made him feel sad. He always believed that their species should stay together. Seeing this one standing there against him made him hurt. Doing what he might have to do did cause him even more pain than he ever had.
Brandon blinked seeing Vincent, the vampire that led the attack up north, step into the room behind the stranger, instantly made his blood come to life. He rushed the group without a second thought.
When the boy came at him with a blur, Devish didn’t flinch. He simply reached out with his right hand and caught the blur in midair. He then brought him up to his face.
Brandon stopped instantly as a hand wrapped around his throat. Quickly it squeezed, and with it, his entire body grew numb. He lost all of his strength just as fast. “Who are you?” He barely managed to breathe.
Devish smiled. “Oh my dear boy, I am your father. I am the father of all of us.” He stared at him deeply into his eyes. He loved their red color. He loved the look of flames. He loved everything about him.
Staring into his deep red eyes felt beyond overpowering—they almost made his burn. In fact, they felt worse than that. It felt like looking death in the face. It gripped his soul. “You’re Devish.” Brandon blinked. He rushed both hands to the arm holding his throat, tried to fight against it, but failed. The numbness ran like fire through his body. The ice of the grip burned his skin. He just didn’t have the strength to fight him. Realizing this, he now feared his death.
“I am the one, himself.” His smile vanished quickly. “And you are?” His voice went low and soft. His eyes continued to sparkle. His face looked concerned.
“I’m no friend of yours.” Brandon kicked with his right knee and sent it into the man’s chest, but it only bounced off him with a softness that felt cushioned. He obviously didn’t even have the strength to do that.
Devish smiled again with the attempt. “And who is the woman—the wolf that ran upstairs?”
Brandon tried to swallow but couldn’t do that either. “She’s nothing to you.” He dropped his hands back to his sides. He didn’t have the power anymore to keep them up. He was growing weaker by the second.
Devish brought him in closer to his face. He took in his smell. His scent seemed familiar, and with smelling it, it made him smile again. “You are a child of Michael Gorhan, aren’t you my child? I can smell his blood flowing within you.” He pushed him back again. “Michael was weak. He was soft. Which are you?”
Brandon winced. “What do you want with me?” He gasped. He suddenly felt played. The monster was playing with him. He was enjoying the pain this caused him.
Devish truly looked concerned. “There is no reason to fear me my child. There is no reason to fight me either. We can all be as we once were, one time, long ago. We can all live as one again, if you join me. Please join me. Please choose to live by my side.”
Brandon growled some, trying hard to find his strength, but soon realized that he was failing with it fast. Quite frankly, he had nothing left. “You can go back to hell where you belong.”
Devish truly looked sad. “I am so sorry my child. You have been misguided in your loyalty to that lowly black wolf. I do feel that has led you to your ruin. He is nothing. He is the reason for this world’s pain. He will be the reason for your own death, if you so choose it.”
Brandon gave himself one final flare of strength, but all he could manage was a simple flinch. “He is more than you will ever know. He is more to me. He is more than you.”
Devish felt his attempt at strength and frowned. “Pity my son. That is a pity to be sure.”
Brandon felt the hand around him grip his throat tighter. He watched the red of his eyes grow to a deeper hue of fire. He feared what that meant, and when he saw his face snarl into a horrific scorn, that fe
ar doubled in its strength. He watched his teeth grow large, exposed into two large canine fangs, and watched his mouth open wide into a large and powerful growl. He then watched as his face flew at his.
Devish went straight to his throat, down near the shoulder, and bit down with everything he had.
Instantly Brandon felt his very life force, the very blood with him, sucked out through the bite. He even heard the sucking sound that it made. He heard his own blood now leave his body. Slowly the numbness increased as he felt himself grow limp. How long it took him to die, he wasn’t sure. Thankfully, it didn’t take long.
With his life literally sucked out of him, Devish dropped what was left of him back to the floor at his feet. Finished, he turned back to Vincent, who watched everything happen behind him with aw. “That makes me sad my friend. Any walker lost is so very sad indeed.” He wiped his lips with the back of his hand. His hand came back dry. He didn’t spill a drop.
Vincent replied with a simple nod, and turned back towards the foyer behind them and looked to the stairs. “A black wolf is still here my master. So is the human.” He turned and looked back. As for him, he felt nothing. As far as he was concerned about it another one of their enemies was destroyed. Nothing else mattered.
Devish nodded, left the body, moved past Vincent and the others, and moved to the stairs.
Slowly he walked up them until he came to the top step.
There he turned to his left, reached down to the doorknob, grabbed it, and turned the knob. He then opened the door.
30
Sasha waited by the door, trying hard to keep herself contained. Inside she wanted to change. She wanted the wolf, but as long as they were there, and she was protecting Ross, she knew that she couldn’t do it. She had to stay calm. She had to keep to her wits. When she heard someone coming up the stairs and stop on the other side of the door, she took a deep breath. The smell was there again. The smell of a powerful decay was now standing just on the other side of the door.
A Werewolf's Saga Books 4, 5, & 6 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 2) Page 36