“No, Leon. Please don’t do this!” Madison wept, tears spilling down her cheeks uncontrollably.
Brendan’s eyes fell to the floor; the prospect of losing his friend was too much for him to bear. The pain of loose was something that Brendan had never found very easy to deal with. It was the most terrifying pain for Brendan to conceive. It was an emotion he had felt many times after the loose of his family and friends when they grew old and died, to which he would stay forever young.
Losing one of his oldest and dearest friends was even more painful than losing his Mother or Father. Brendan had shared the most memories with Leon than anyone else and Leon was his closest friend and family.
Slowly two tears slipped down either side of Brendan’s cheeks.
“Oh, man. Don’t. You’ll make me blush” Leon, chuckled, suddenly noticing the tears. He forced a weak smile for Brendan, but it pained him.
Brendan bit his lip and stared into Leon’s eyes helplessly.
Terror flashed through Leon’s eyes, causing the weak smile to fade fast. He coughed violently, blood splattered onto Brendan’s clothes. Leon spat the mouth full of blood onto the carpet. Madison gasped, covering her mouth with a shaky hand. She almost vomited at the sight of what the boy was doing to Leon, destroying him from the inside out. She swallowed down a mouthful of bile, wiping the tears from her cheeks. Leon wiped the blood from his bottom lip, his eyes rolled back in his head momentarily before his refocused on Brendan.
Brendan’s eyes softened when met Leon’s gaze, tears threatened to spill from the corners of his eyes once again.
“Brendan, promise me something?” Leon whispered.
“Anything, what is it?” Brendan replied without pausing.
“Take care of Fred. Watch out for her for me, won’t you?”
Tears streaked down Brendan’s face, he rubbed his forehead as a large lump stung in his throat.
“You know I will” he finally croaked.
Leon took a deep breath and smiled weakly at Brendan. His whole body began to shake violently. Leon’s weak, blood shot eyes finally met Madison’s.
“Look after him, Madison. He’s a good guy” Leon smiled weakly at her.
Madison nodded unable to speak through the emotion. The pain of losing another friend was too much for her to bear. Every bit of energy was going into her not falling apart at this moment in time. Brendan needed her more now and then ever – she had to stay strong for him.
“I know you will” Leon croaked.
Leon straightened up, removing his weight from Brendan, supporting himself.
Brendan’s eyes were full of distress, he wanted to scream out, but he couldn’t find the words. He watched Leon frantically, confused about what was happening, tears continuing to flow.
“Love you, man.” Leon smiled, but struggling.
Leon’s eyes suddenly turned hard and wide with fear. He grabbed the handle of the gun from the waist of Brendan’s trousers, before Brendan had time to stop him. Quickly he pointed the barrel of the gun at his left temple and pulled the trigger.
The gun shot echoed around the room. Brendan and Madison stared in shock, as Leon’s body fell in slow motion to the floor. Blood splashed into Brendan’s face and onto his white shirt that was visible underneath his grey jacket. Blood and large lumps of Leon’s brain were blown out onto the floor. Big droplets of blood splashed onto Madison’s face and clothes. Madison screamed in horror as Leon’s blood soaked body fell sideways onto the floor.
Brendan gasped as the spark of life was blown out of Leon right before his eyes.
They both stared at each other for a second, shock clouding their minds, the sound of the gun shot still ringing in their ears - they were unable to move.
The pain in Brendan’s eyes was heart breaking. Madison felt his pain, not only with Leon and Faye, but with the gaping hole that Stephanie had left which was still fresh.
A golden sparkle caught the corner of Madison’s eye. She shifted towards Leon’s lifeless, blood soaked body.
“Look” Madison gasped in shock, pointing at Leon’s body.
Golden streams of sparkling light flowed out of Leon’s body, like steam rising from hot water. The light was glorious, it surround the room in a beautiful golden glow. It was ghostly, like how you would imagine your soul leaving your body as it descends up to heaven.
They both stared at the strange waves of light in surprise and curiousness.
There was something calming about the light, like clarity – comforting.
The light extracted it’s self from Leon body until it form a large golden bubble of light floating above his body.
“What is it?” Madison murmured, completely dazzled by its beauty.
“I don’t know” Brendan whispered, he’s eyes glued to the object as well.
“Is it Leon?” Madison asked, amazed.
The bubble rippled, and then suddenly flew at Brendan. It hit his solid cold body and bounded off him, flying at Madison. It flew at her so quickly she hardly had time to react. The bubble hit her chest, knocking her off her feet onto the hard floor. The bubble entered her body like The Black Orchid boy had entered Leon’s body, disappearing instantly the moment it touched her skin.
Brendan was at her side in an instant, kneeing over her, alarm flickering into his eyes.
“Madison, are you alright?” he panicked.
Her head felt dizzy and the room span around her.
“I think so” she said unsure.
“How do you feel?” Brendan asked, his eyes scanning her frantically.
“Dizzy” Madison said, slightly panicked by what had happened.
The bubble had entered Madison in the same way the boy had entered Leon. Leon had said that the boy could not survive without a host. It was possible that the boy had been unable to enter to Brendan for some unknown reason and had entered Madison instead. Before long he would take over her body if she didn’t put a stop to him first. Madison was weaker than Leon, so she knew she would have long.
Brendan’s eyes grew wide as the same thought popped into both of their heads.
“No” Brendan said shaking his head in denial.
“Brendan….I don’t want to die” Madison whimpered.
“Don’t even say that! I’m not going to lose you too. You are going to be fine. It was nothing. How do you feel? Are you okay?” he said grabbing both of my hands and holding them tightly in his.
Madison thought for a second, she wondered whether she would be able to feel the boy moving inside her like Leon had.
She thought for longer, emotionally she was a wreck. But psychically, she felt fine. Dizzy, but fine. She felt stronger.
She felt sick from losing another friend and the metal smell of blood in the air, but there was no demon trying to rip out of her or threatening to take over her body.
“I feel… fine. I don’t feel anything inside of me. There’s no pain” Madison said thoughtful.
“Good. I couldn’t cope with loosing you too” Brendan said a little more relaxed.
“I’m not going anywhere” Madison replied, cupping her hand on Brendan’s cheek.
He smiled softly, shifting his head so he could kiss the pale of her hand.
“I think it went straight through me” Madison said unsure.
“It doesn’t matter now. Let’s get out of here” Brendan half smiled.
Brendan pulled Madison slowly to my feet.
Her head swarm from the motion of standing up to quickly, but it settle just as quickly. Brendan supported her by the waist until he was sure that she was capable of standing by herself.
Her legs held her weight with little effort, they felt stronger then they had in days. In fact, her whole body felt stronger than it had ever before. The gnawing hungry that had eaten away at her stomach had now subsided. The bruises and cuts that covered her body had now stopped hurting. And the emptiness inside her that had been present for many years now felt filled, somehow?
It was stra
nge but Madison felt different.
Chapter Seventeen: Sacrifice.
The door next to the filing cabinets flew open, someone dressed internally in black combat gear and a black leotard entered the room, a black machine gun clutched in both hands. Madison and Brendan watched suspiciously as the guard stopped in the entrance of the room. He pointed the barrel of the gun at them and he pulled the trigger, firing shots.
Brendan span around towards Madison, grabbing her arm and throwing open the door behind them, focusing them through quickly. The three bullets hit the wall above the doorframe. The last bullet hit the side of Brendan’s left arm as they raced through the door. Brendan winced in pain as the bullet burrowed through his skin, but he continued to sprint without slowing. The next room was nearly identical to the office they had just come from. Twenty mahogany desks stood in four rows of five in the room, each with the same computer and telephone positioned exactly the same on each desk. The only variation in this room was there were more grey filing cabinets dotted around the room.
There were two doors in the room, one on the left wall, leading out into the corridor, the other at the back of the room, leading into another room.
Brendan grabbed Madison’s arm, guiding her towards the first desk at the front of the second row.
“Get under there” Brendan told her, pulling the chair out so she could fit under the opening of the desk. He pushed the chair in once she was safely under the desk.
Brendan shot towards the door they had just come through, he stood with his back against the wall - silently.
The guard crept quietly towards the door, his gun held high - ready to shoot.
He entered the room, the gun pointed out in front of him. Brendan grabbed the barrel of the gun so fast that the guard had little time to react. The guard hadn’t even entered the room fully before Brendan pounced on him. The guard has been completely unaware that Brendan was stood there.
Brendan flipped the gun backwards, so it was pointed directing into the face of the guard. He squeezed the tiger with his free hand.
Gunshot echoed around the room. Madison gasped from the thud of the guard’s bodies hitting the floor.
Brendan met her at the desk in seconds, the machine gun still clucked in his hands. She pushed the chair out, and climbed out from underneath the desk to meet him. Brendan slumped to the floor by the desk, placing the gun down beside him. He winced and gasped in pain, screwing his face up.
“Oh my god! Brendan, are you okay?” Madison whispered throwing her arms around his neck.
“Yeah” he chuckled, pushing her away gently.
“Your arm” she said concerned, noticing the small circle of blood forming around the bullet wound on his left arm.
“It’s silver, I need to get the bullet out” Brendan said, gently pulling off his grey jacket.
“Are you going to be okay?” Madison said concerned.
“It burns. If I leave it in any longer it could kill me, but it’s not a fatal shot. It will heal” he said, wincing.
A small hole surrounded by blood stood out from Brendan’s bright, white t-shirt. He carefully rolled up his shelve so he could examine the wound. The entrance wound was deep and the skin around it looked like it had been pulled back. Blood poured from the wound, running down the side of Brendan’s arm.
Madison winced at the sight, swallowing back the saliva that ran into her mouth.
Brendan examined the wound for a moment, trying to get a better look at where the bullet was positioned under the skin.
The sight of the open wound was enough to make her stomach turn. She had never been very good at dealing with open wounds.
The smell of Brendan’s blood was overwhelming, but not in a bad way. It smelt sweet, almost appetizing. Madison suddenly realised that her mouth wasn’t watering because of the sick feeling at the sight of blood, but because she wanted to taste the blood. Madison had never felt like that before, her whole body craved Brendan’s sweet, cold blood. She swallowed hard, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of Brendan’s red, sticky blood.
“It’s okay to want my blood, Madison” Brendan said softly, watching her expression with amusement.
“Huh..?” she said, biting down on my bottom lip to stop myself from drooling. She shifted on the spot, embarrassed.
“My blood, It has that effect on human’s. It’s meant to be easier when we turn human’s, they can’t resist the blood. I guess it makes something that’s unappetizing a little more pleasurable in your last few moments of life” Brendan said.
“Oh…” she said, her cheeks turning pink with embarrassment.
Brendan smiled crookedly, his eyes burning brightly.
He placed his thumb and index finger into the small wound. Brendan’s jaw tightened as he grinded his teeth together as he searched under his skin for the small silver bullet.
Madison looked away in disgust as he dug his index finger deeper to exact the bullet. Brendan took a deep breath trying to suppress the pain. he exhaled loudly as he removed the bullet from his arm.
Brendan flicked the small piece of silver onto the floor, It rolled underneath the desk in front of them.
“Why did the guards attack us? I thought they would be looking for Trace and Gabby?” Madison asked, looking back at Brendan.
“I don’t know. Something’s not right, we need to get out of here” he said, rolling his shelve back down.
Brendan placed his hand gently on her knee. A warm wave of pleasure flow up her spine, she urged for him to hold her, to feel his cold, strong body against her own. For his lips to be against hers and to taste his sweet breathe in her mouth.
They stared at each for a long moment, their faces soft.
“What about Fred?” Madison said sadly.
Brendan’s face fell; he hadn’t even begun to think how he was going to break the news to Fred. This was something she would never recover from, Leon had been her life.
Brendan’s face suddenly hardened, he looked up, his eyes shifted to the door behind Madison. His vampire hearing had picked up on something that was too quiet for her human ears to hear.
Brendan grabbed her arm, pulling her up with him.
“Who is it?” Madison whispered nervously.
Brendan pulled her to the end of the desk, gesturing for her to duck down behind the side of the desk. She did so without hesitating.
“Stay here” Brendan whispered, grabbing the machine gun.
The door which led out into the corridor flew open. Trace stepped through the door, followed closely by Gabby and four other guards dress completely in black combat.
“Brendan” Trace said, surprised to see him.
“Where’s the bint?” Gabby asked harshly.
Her words hurt feelings Madison a little, but she remained still and silent.
“She had to step out” Brendan said sarcastically.
“Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot. I could find her if she was a needle in a hay stack, she has a scent I will never forget” Gabby spat.
Trace’s eyes fell towards the pile of ash that lay in the other doorway, the remains of what was left of the guard. His body had decomposed until only a pile of ash was left on the carpet.
“Your friend snuck up on me” Brendan said catching Trace’s gaze.
“You didn’t think we done all of this on our own, did you?” a smile stretching across Trace’s face.
Brendan eyes scanned over the four guards, trying to identify any of them under the cover of their black balaclavas.
“Traitors” he muttered under his breath.
“No, Brendan. You’re the traitor. You all are. Traitors to your existences, living out your lives with the humans - pretending to be like them. It’s sickening. Well we’re not like them. There was a time when we were top of the food chain. Now we’re scavengers, relying on prey to sell their blood to us. It’s pathetic” Trace spat in disgust.
Gabby nodded, totally brainwashed by Trace’s views.
“I
t time we retake our place at the top of the food chain and live the way we were meant too. Like the animal inside us needs too” he continued.
The four guards agreed, nodding their head enthusiastically.
It was clear that Trace had brainwashes them and probably countless other to his way of thinking.
“There’s a war waging from the inside, Brendan. There are more of us, older ones, fed up of hiding. They are unhappy with the way of life that has been decided for us. The cards have not yet been laid out, but when they do…you don’t want to be standing on the wrong side” Trace threatened.
Brendan eyes scanned the vampires as he absorbed the information.
Madison thought she could almost see the mechanism of his brain ticking, like the wheels of a clock. It was obvious that he was piecing together pieces of a much larger puzzle, one that he was not likely to share at this moment in time.
“It’s not too late to join the right side” Gabby whispered, a flicker of hope in her voice.
Trace shot a warning look at Gabby. She lowered her head like a dog with its tail between its legs.
“I’ve already chosen the right side” Brendan said, certainty in his voice.
“Really? Because you seemed to be the only one that is standing on the ‘right side’. Where are your friends? Leon? Fred?” Trace smirked.
Brendan blinked. The pain was still too raw to hear Leon’s name being mentioned. Fred was still within The Coven somewhere, but he had no idea where or if she was alright? She was totally unaware of what had happened to Leon.
A large ball rose in Madison’s throat again, she tried to swallow it down but it wouldn’t budge.
Brendan didn’t answer, he remained still. Not giving anything away.
“Don’t you know? Did they run off and leave you? And at the finale as well… That’s a shame” Trace mocked.
“Where’s the Black Orchid? Did they run off and leave you?” Brendan asked sarcastically.
“As a matter of fact – yes. We caught up with one of the boys in the corridor, talking to his so called “Master” again. He legged it, though. Well disappeared, you know what they’re like. Probably gone off to plot their next attack, I’m sure that won’t be the last we hear from them. I think we have royally pissed them off this time! You know what the Black Orchid our like. Their like ants, first there’s one, then two, then BAM” Trace clapped his hands together “Picnic’s ruined”.
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