Conversion Book Three: 'Til Death

by S. C. Stephens

  Malcolm looked between the three of us as I ticked off how far away Alanna and Imogen were. Their streaks were still moving, still getting to my son. Malcolm pulled at his arms but we had them tight, even Ben, who was using every human muscle he had.

  His eyes wide, Malcolm started sputtering. “I didn’t hurt him! I was lying about the food and water thing. He’s as healthy as a horse. I just needed a card to play so you wouldn’t kill me. I’ve treated him like a King.” His frantic eyes looked between the three of us. “I’m a business man, not a child torturer. I just needed you to think he was in danger, so you’d back off. In fact, if you had taken me, the daily injections I’d been giving him would have worn off and you’d have found him easily. I was bluffing!”

  Teren leaned in close again. “Why should I believe anything you say?” His grip tightened around Malcolm’s throat and he winced in pain.

  Malcolm’s eyes widened as he realized that Teren just may kill him as well as Gabriel. Struggling, he managed to squeak out, “Hamburgers!”

  Teren relaxed his hands, tilting his head. “What?”

  Malcolm inhaled deep. “Hamburgers. The kid eats them like they’re gonna disappear.” Teren narrowed his eyes and Malcolm added, “Ketchup! He likes them plain with about a gallon of ketchup.” His eyes flicked between mine and Teren’s. “He thinks it makes them look like they’re covered in blood.”

  My hands loosened on Malcolm along with Teren’s. We stared at each other, our expressions equally startled and relieved. It was true, that was exactly how Julian loved his burgers. I always got the super large ketchup bottle at the store, just for him.

  As Teren and I smiled at each other, hope that our child might not be starving filling us, a roar of grief and despair pierced the air. My ears rang with the force of it. Before I could even start looking for who or what had made the sound, Teren was yanked away from Malcolm. Malcolm staggered back a step as his neck was suddenly free.

  Twisting my head, I watched an enraged Halina pulling Teren to the ground. She immediately ducked down, her short skirt riding high up her thighs, and clenched an iron hand around his throat. With a strength that superseded us all, she stood, lifting him easily into the air.

  His eyes wide, he struggled against her. “Stop,” he croaked out, the air he needed not really reaching him.

  “What did you do!” She yelled, her face in a near unrecognizable snarl.

  Her eyes filled with hatred and pain as she stared up at him. I wasn’t even sure if Halina saw Teren anymore. No, I was pretty sure she was no longer looking at the grandson that reminded her of her late husband. She was letting her normally contained anger explode in her grief, and the only thing her eyes saw now, was the thing that had destroyed the man she loved.

  My hands loosened on Malcolm as I took a step towards her. After everything we’d survived…she may be what finally killed my husband.

  “What did you do!” she repeated, louder. Her hand jerked him back and forth, shaking him like she could shake an answer from him. As he couldn’t get air to speak though, he couldn’t get air to answer her.

  I watched Teren mouth, ‘not now,’ and filled in his speech for him. “Halina! Stop it. You can deal with Teren later!”

  As if to prove my words, Malcolm took the moment of family strife to break away. Squirming out of my distracted hands, he easily broke free from Ben’s. My head snapped back around to him right as he shoved me. Not expecting it, I fell harshly to the ground. My hip land on a jagged rock in the dirt field and I gasped as I felt skin tearing. It healed as soon as I shifted, but it still hurt like a bitch.

  Hot Ben watched me fall and started to help until he noticed Malcolm making a break for it. He grabbed hold of the weary vampire’s shoulders, stopping him from blurring away. Irritated, Malcolm twisted around and connected his fist to Ben’s jaw. Weary or not, Malcolm was still a supernatural being, and a hit from him was like a steel bat being swung at you. Hot Ben twisted around and slumped to the ground. He didn’t get back up.

  Seeing what was going on, Teren tried to kick his great-grandmother. Her back to the turmoil of Malcolm making his escape, she ignored him kicking her in the shins, only batting his legs away like he was paining her no more than the twins would have. Leering at him viciously, she finally lowered him, bringing his head to hers. “You…will pay,” she hissed.

  Teren shook his head and tried pointing at where Ben’s lifeless body was, but Halina was ignoring everything that wasn’t him. She wanted vengeance and Teren was the only one that could currently give it to her.

  After downing Hot Ben, Malcolm smirked and twisted to flee. I blurred back to my feet, torn between stopping him and helping Ben, assuming the gorgeous man was even still alive. Ultimately, the fear of Malcolm being loose in the world made me go for him. I attached my body to his. If he was going to try and blur away, he was going to take me with him.

  Malcolm struggled, not having the strength to hightail it with me on his back. Cursing, he tried to grab me and tear me off of him. Quite unfairly, his main hold on me was my hair. He grabbed a fistful and yanked back. My head had to follow, which suddenly exposed my throat to him. His fangs dropped down as he stared at the surging veins. He may not kill me by feeding on me, but he couldn’t certainly weaken me to a point where I couldn’t fight back. His arms holding mine down, he sank his teeth in as far as he could. I screamed. It hurt. It also reminded me of being attacked.

  Pure I-won’t-be-a-victim-again panic surged through me and I kneed him in the groin, hard. Some things still hurt men, even when they’re deceased, and he groaned and staggered back a step. Pissed off at another creep taking an unwanted bite out of me, I curled my hand into a fist and clocked the bastard. I felt the jolt of it all the way up my arm, but his face whipped around and he looked stunned, so I felt vindicated. Then he snarled and looked back at me like he wanted to tear me apart. No longer intent on fleeing, he growled and lunged for me.

  I managed to duck out of his grasp by mere inches. Twisting back at Halina still having a stare down with a now freaking-out Teren, I screamed, “Halina! Let him go and help me! You’re the protector, so stop messing around and freaking protect!”

  Irritated, Halina finally looked at me. The heat in her expression cooled as she watched Malcolm successfully tackle me to the ground. His hands firmly on my head, he bashed my skull into the dirt, smacking it into the same rock that had injured me earlier. When I was dazed and more complacent, his palms on the sides of my face started pulling my head away from my body.

  Halina snarled and released Teren. She may blindly hate him at the moment, but she wasn’t about to let my head get ripped off…thank god. Blurring over to Malcolm, her foot came out and connected with his jaw. He flew backwards about twenty feet, landing hard on his back. Stunned and not looking like he wanted to take on a pureblood, he shakily stood and twisted to leave. Halina phased right in front of him. Grabbing fistfuls of his shirt, she yanked his face directly into hers.

  “Going somewhere?” she seethed, anger apparent in every syllable she uttered.

  Malcolm’s eyes were wide as he watched Halina’s fangs drop. I was pretty sure that if she wanted to, the teenage vixen could decapitate him with those teeth. And her eyes blazed with enough fury that I was equally sure she wanted to.

  Teren’s arms were instantly around me, inspecting my already healed head. His face twisted in rage, he helped me stand. Behind me I heard a weary groan and looked over to see Hot Ben starting to stand as well. Relief poured into me that he was okay, that I was okay.

  As Teren started stalking over to Malcolm, looking ready to assist in his decapitation, something changed.

  The blips of Alanna and Imogen in my head started racing back to us. Knowing that they’d only come back if they’d found my son, I closed my eyes and imagined that I felt his presence returning too. Quickly opening them, I saw Teren and Halina paused, looking towards the direction of where Julian was rapidly coming towards us. As the wind shi
fted again, I imagined I could smell him faintly in the breeze. Maybe I even could? I wasn’t sure if it was real or not, I wanted it so bad.

  Malcolm took the distraction to disengage from Halina. Successfully breaking free, he wasted no time in blurring away.

  I yelled, “No!” as I watched him streak towards the edge of the barn. Everyone’s heads turned to watch him zip to the edge of the pool of light…where he ran smack into a wall. Well, it seemed like a wall, with how solidly he’d run into it. But as he stumbled backwards to the ground, I realized it wasn’t a wall at all. I blinked and gasped.

  It was Gabriel.

  My eyes were wider than they’d ever been as they flicked from the spot where Gabriel’s prone body had been lying, to the very much alive vampire standing before Malcolm. On the ground, only Ben’s bloody stake remained. Gabriel’s shirt was dripping with the red blood soaked down the front of it; he’d definitely been staked. He’d been dead, I was sure. I had no idea how he was standing before Malcolm, hands on his hips in displeasure.

  Hot Ben staggered to his feet, cursing lowly while he stared at Gabriel as if he were a ghost. “Holy hell, I thought he was dead?” he muttered as Halina gaped, stunned into silence again.

  But our reactions were nothing compared to Malcolm’s. He looked about ready to implode from fear and stress. Backing away from Gabriel, he started muttering, “No, I watched you die…that’s not possible.” His slightly glowing eyes darted over Gabriel’s body.

  Gabriel frowned down at him. “Malcolm, I’m very disappointed in you.”

  As Gabriel advanced, Malcolm retreated, scooting right up to bump into Teren’s legs. Teren imposingly stared down on Malcolm huddling by his feet before smiling crookedly. Turning his head between Teren and Gabriel, Malcolm disbelievingly said, “You? You did this? You tricked me?”

  Leaning down slightly, Teren whispered, “I told you not to underestimate me.”

  Malcolm’s pale face seemed to pale even more as he began to realize that he’d been successfully tricked this time; he’d given up Julian’s location. He made a dash for it, but Gabriel reached down and pulled him up by one arm. Halina snapped out of her stupor and immediately grabbed his other arm. Malcolm struggled, but both incredibly strong vampires held him tight.

  His head twisting between the two of them, Malcolm started to genuinely panic. “Gabriel, please…let me go. I didn’t hurt the child!” Gabriel’s only response was to narrow his jade eyes, dark in the bluish lamplight.

  Teren stepped in front of Malcolm, crossing his arms over his chest. Malcolm tried beseeching him, since Gabriel was unmoved. “I did nothing to the kid! I didn’t hurt him. Just wait, he’s fine, you’ll see. When he gets here, you’ll see!” His scared eyes took in all of us. “He’s fine!”

  I took a second to register my family approaching, the faint scent I’d imagined earlier turning into a real one that was getting stronger. Teren smiled at smelling it too. Seeming more relaxed now that Malcolm was securely held and our son was coming closer, he sneered at Malcolm, leaning directly into his face.

  “My son was terrified…for days,” he said in a cold whisper. Teren’s hand came out to point back to the ranch, to where we could both feel Nika. “My daughter can feel every emotion that he feels.” His voice gained strength as fatherly anger poured out of him. “She felt every ounce of his fear! She was terrified…for days!”

  Malcolm struggled against his captors, staring at the river of blood down the front of Gabriel’s shirt. His panicked eyes shifted to Halina and then Teren as Teren stepped back. Malcolm shook his head and shrugged. “I didn’t hurt him, you have my word. I treated him like royalty. I swear. I didn’t hurt anybody.”

  Teren’s eyes flared, the light of the lamp making them gleam in an inhuman way. Leaning in, he snarled, “You killed a friend of mine. You took her life to prove a point, like she meant nothing!”

  Malcolm’s brow bunched together and he shrugged. “She was just a human…?” His face looked lost, like he didn’t understand the problem. Like she really had meant nothing.

  Gritting his jaw, Teren straightened. Shaking his head, he said nothing else. Turning his back on Malcolm, he walked away. As he left him, Malcolm’s fearful eyes shifted between Halina and Gabriel. Halina’s pale eyes glowed with fury. Gabriel’s look was more impassive, but equally displeased. “You betrayed me, Malcolm, took something that wasn’t yours to take.”

  His voice was detached, unemotional, it gave me shivers. It made Malcolm look like he wanted to pee his pants. He struggled between the two vampires, but he was outmatched between the ancient, mixed’s strength and the pure vampire’s. Maybe seeing that no one was going to stop this, he started yanking on his arms, trying to free them. I thought he might start trying to gnaw them off soon, if he thought of it.

  His head flicking between Gabriel and Halina, he started endlessly repeating, “No! Please, Gabriel, please, no. Have mercy! I was just making money. I didn’t hurt any vampires!”

  Gabriel’s eyes widened as he pulled on Malcolm’s arm, holding his body closer. “You didn’t hurt them? You sold my drug, Malcolm. You were directly involved in hunters killing our kind.” He leaned in, his voice suddenly passionate. “In killing children, Malcolm.”

  Malcolm swallowed and shook his head. “No…I didn’t know about that. You gotta believe me. I didn’t know!”

  Gabriel shook his head, his impassive face returning. It didn’t matter if he knew or not; he was still guilty of the crime. Malcolm’s eyes widened at seeing Gabriel’s face hardening and he again pled for his life. “Please! You know me! Have mercy! Please!”

  Gabriel, done listening, ignored him. Looking over Malcolm’s struggling body, he nodded at Halina. She locked gazes with him. Her lips in a hard line, she nodded back. Both of them simultaneously prepared their stances, pulling Malcolm taunt.

  Malcolm started yelling for help when he realized just what his sentence was. My eyes widened at what they were going to do. I felt like gagging. Deserving or not, it was awful. This was a sight I didn’t need in my head and I wanted to close my eyes, but, horrified, I couldn’t look away.

  Just as Gabriel and Halina used every vampiric muscle they had to pull their portions of Malcolm in opposite directions, just as Malcolm’s yells shifted to pain-filled screams ripping through the night, arms were suddenly around my head, holding me close to a silent heart.

  My arms flew around Teren. It didn’t block out all the noise, but it helped. Running my hands up his back and holding him to me, I was grateful that he was blocking that image from my sight. My imagination made up for it though. With the muffled, wet noises and the scent of fresh blood in the air, a lot of fresh blood, I felt like I didn’t actually need to see it, to see it.

  When the night was silent from the screams and gory noises, Teren loosened his grip on me. Peeking up at his face, I took in his grim expression - his head lowered, his eyes closed. Malcolm may have created a storm of havoc in our lives, but Teren was a good person and didn’t enjoy hearing the death of another, necessary or not. Once again blocking my ears, he’d heard it all. I reached up and cupped his face, silently thanking him. He opened his eyes and smiled down at me, his face relaxing into a calmness I hadn’t seen in days.

  “Ugh, now I really am going to be sick.”

  At hearing Hot Ben’s voice, I twisted to look over at him. He was holding his stomach, staring at the dirt-packed field, his lips twisted like he’d just seen the grossest thing imaginable. He looked horribly green, even under the strange lighting. He also had a split lip and the beginning of a nasty bruise on his jaw. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d fractured something.

  Following the line of his sight, I instantly wished I hadn’t. The dirt was a deep brown in the lamplight, but there were distinctly dark, wet lumps of…something in the space between Gabriel and Halina. They were now standing thirty feet apart, staring down at the clumps of what was left of poor, stupid Malcolm.

  Sniffing, Ben recov
ered his intestinal fortitude and walked over to pick up the stake that had been inside Gabriel’s body. Striding over to Halina, he started rummaging around her half of Malcolm, searching the body for something. While I twisted my lip, wondering if Ben had gone a little mad, he suddenly found it and jabbed the stake through Malcolm’s dead chest…through his heart.

  Standing and looking pleased with himself, he smiled and glanced around at all of us, like he’d just saved the day.

  Teren scrunched his brow and shook his head at Ben. Unless Malcolm’s super healing abilities included repairing himself from long distances, there was really no way he was walking away from that. As all eyes shifted to Hot Ben, he started looking a little sheepish, his smile dropping a little. “What? You can never be too careful, right?”

  Teren started laughing then, the tension easing off of him as he did. Halina joined in as well, clapping Ben on the back. Then she blurred over to Gabriel, throwing her arms around his neck and leaping onto his body, showering him in kisses.

  Teren smiled, watching them, then, still chuckling a little, he twisted back to Ben. “Want to be really thorough?” Ben nodded eagerly and Teren shook his head. “We should burn the body.”