"Get away from me! Brian!" he heard Heather scream.
He had forgotten about her, and in fact he had forgotten the reason why he was there. All of it came rushing back to him then. Grabbing his chest and rubbing it, he found that it was completely whole again, Not a scar or mark remained where earlier had been bone and lungs. The agent at his feet twitched again still just barely alive. The urge to feast one more time was overpowering, but the cries of Heather pierced through the darkness that threatened to engulf his mind. The hairpin still lay where the Lycan had left it, not more than a few feet from where he stood. With one more longing look at the dying agent Brian rushed to the pin, then flew up the stairs, top speed. The two of them were still in the room where the old gray sofa had been, which now was turned on its side and pushed out of the way.
The great beast had its back to him as it taunted his blonde beauty who was curled into a ball near the entryway. He supposed the Lycan was severely disappointed that she would not run, as he stood there waving his claws at her as if he her were shooing her away. It really didn't matter to Brian what he was doing, as he was moving like the wind, fast and silent. With all his newfound strength, he shoved the long hairpin into its back, at where he supposed its heart would be at. With another motion, he drew a fork and leaped onto the things back, then reached around its neck and sliced as deeply as he could across its throat, sending blood everywhere. As the beast roared in shock and anger, he grabbed its head and twist as hard and fast as he could, just to be safe. A large cracking sound filled the room as the werewolf's roar instantly died away and his body crumpled to the floor. Blood quickly pooled around it, but the thing did not revert back into a man as it always did in the movies. He would have liked to have seen that for real, once.
Heather stood up and ran to him, throwing her arms around him and sobbing. Her warm body felt entirely sensual as it pressed against him. He could feel her hot breath, and the beat of her heart. Something about her made his body yearn for her as the smell of the werewolf's blood filled the little room and began to seep under their shoes. He put his face into her hair and inhaled her scent, a sweet intoxicant that went just right with all the other smells that filled his nose.
“Brian, I thought you were dead.” She pulled back and looked at his chest, her eyes wide, and lost in confusion. "I don't understand. You were bleeding, your chest was ripped open!" she cried.
He made a shushing sound as he took her in his arms and guided her lips to his. The softness of her mouth sent fire through him yet again, as he pressed his body against hers. He felt her begin to struggle and try to pull away, yet he pulled her even more tightly against himself. Her smell and the blood, it was all so overwhelming..
"I see how it is." Bobby's voice broke the trance Brian was falling into, and he quickly released Heather as she backed away from him and wiped her mouth slowly as if it were sore. He could see that there appeared to be blood on her lips, but he wasn't sure if it were hers or one of the agents. "You guys could have at least made sure the old guy was okay before rushing to the ending credits with all the kissing and stuff."
"Bobby!" Heather ran to him and hugged him tightly.
"Careful, I'm going to be feeling this for months to come, I think," he said as he leaned back trying to brace his back.
Heather released him and looked him up and down. "I thought you were dead." She put her hands on her hips. "Why are you both doing that to me?"
"Hell, I thought I was, when that monster just walked up those stairs ignoring my bullets like I was just firing spit balls at him."
Brian walked to the werewolf and flipped it over onto its back. The thing didn't even move. Blood had stopped flowing from its wound, and unlike him, it didn't seem to be healing.
"I'd be careful with that thing. It might not be dead." Bobby cautioned him.
Brian leaned down to its chest and listened for a heartbeat, but found none. "I'd say it's dead." He stood up and brushed his hands off.
"Now what?" Heather asked in a shaky voice. He couldn't blame her for being shaken up. This was more death than any normal person should have to see. The carnage was unthinkable. He knew he might lose a few men, but the entire police department? Hopefully there were a few that had been off duty when he had come and collected them. Otherwise, the town of Woodland was about to have a shortage of law officers.
"Now, we see if we can find your family." He didn't want to say they had one more thing to kill. Something that even his aunt didn't know how to kill or deal with. He had to hope that his newfound strength would be enough for whatever this Annunaki had to offer. "Maybe you should go back to the truck, you two, and stay there this time?"
"No...I'm not going." Heather said, even though she was still shaking.
"We can't leave you with no backup, Kid." Bobby said as well. as he started checking for a weapon with ammo as Brian started to head for the stairs.
"It would be easier if I just went."
"Not going to happen, Son. Like it or not, we're in this together." Bobby dropped his assault rifle and pulled two .45s from the body of a dead officer. Brian looked around at the dead two squads that had led the way. They were some of the first to fall to the werewolf. A part of him felt sorry for them and their families, but another part of him, a stronger part, said it was and had been necessary.
"Come on, then." Brian headed down the stairs not bothering to look behind him to see if the two followed him. The hidden cubby-hole revealed a long and new looking hallway heading down at an angle. Brian headed down without waiting. Moments later, the hallway leveled off and opened into a large octagonal chamber. A large pentagram sat in the middle of the room with a human skull sitting at each of its points. A black candle sat half melted attached to the top of each skull. Near the far back of the room stood a stone table, with strange symbols painted on the wall above it.
"Ah, visitors, you really should have phoned ahead so I could have tidied the place up." A man with flowing blonde hair said, as he stepped into the room. His gray-blue eyes seemed to reflect any light source that he faced. A long golden robe enhanced with rubies along its seams rested loosely on his body, which more than filled the robe. Not from fat, but from what seemed to be muscle.
"Are you the Annunaki?" Brian asked.
"Yes, I suppose you could call me that."
Brian ran with all his speed, reaching for the man's neck, but instead found his own caught in the waiting hand of his enemy. The grip of the man was incredible, and exceeded even his enhanced strength as he lifted Brian off his feet kicking and sputtering.
"Where are your manners, Boy?" He turned Brian back and forth, looking at his face as if seeing something more than just Brian.
"Put him down now, or you'll be sorry." Bobby yelled, announcing his arrival. Brian assumed the man had pulled the two guns, or at least he hoped he had.
"My, my, two more? Oh and a lovely one at that. Are these presents for me?" The man flung Brian to the ground as if discarding him. "Put your toys away, old man, those will not harm me, but they will damage my robes, and for that you will find me unforgiving." He walked to the two, and Brian was surprised to see that Bobby complied without hesitation. Heather just stood next to his side, smiling blankly.
"I can see you've hooked them. Poorly done, are you keeping them for a snack?" He lifted a handful of Heather's golden strands, and inhaled deeply. "Oh, I do love your taste with this one," he pointed at Heather and walked back to stand before Brian. "Come now, speak up. You were blessed with a mouth, and you did use it just a moment ago."
"Are you a vampire?" Brian asked, looking up at the man.
"Who I am, is Raffian, and no, I am not a vampire. Please don't put me in such common company."
"Then who, or what, are you?" Brian stood up, and rubbed his neck.
"You answered that when you came in, or have you already forgotten? Now, what business do you have with me?"
Brian looked at his two companions, and saw that neither one had cha
nged their expressions, nor did they volunteer an answer for him. "I'm looking for her parents." He pointed at Heather.
The man turned and looked at her, his eyes raising as he did so. "Is this our missing girl? Miss Thompson?” He turned back, waiting for an answer. Brian wasn't sure he should answer that, and if this Annunaki could manhandle him so easily, what was he going to do to stop him from taking her?
"Speak up, Boy, as I can already read the answer in your face."
"Yes, it is." Brian let his shoulders drop in defeat. What was he going to do against this thing? Would silver kill it?
"No, silver will not, my little friend. In fact, nothing in this world can kill 'it'." Raffian turned and walked back to Brian and looked him in the eyes. "If I had known one of our Nephilim already had possession of this sweet little flower, I would have just let her be." He paused and acted as if he were waiting on Brian to say something. "Do you wish to keep this girl?"
Brian grabbed his left arm with his right, and found that he felt like a small child as this man talked to him. “Yes I want her."
"I thought so." Raffian turned and headed to the stone table and leaned his hands on it with his back to Brian. "Very well, you can have her...and the old one. I don't need either of them for my plans."
He turned back to him and waved his hand for them to go. Brian turned to see the two of them shuffle out of the room and head back up the hallway.
"Next time you drop by, please call or announce yourself in some way." He turned his back on Brian and leaned his hands on the table again.
Brian wasn't sure, but he felt as if he had been dismissed. He stood there for a few seconds before turning and following his companions back up the hallway. The secret door shut of its own accord the moment the three of them had passed through it. A voice sounded in his head as it did so, he was sure it was Raffian. 'The girl's parents and companions are marked and mine. Do not worry, she will not bother you about it.'
Twenty minutes later, the three of them were heading out of Woodland in Bobby's rig. All of them were silent, except Heather, who was going on about the different places she always wanted to see in her life. She excitedly asked which one they would be able to see first. Brian let her prattle on as she really didn't seem to be waiting on an answer from him. Rain started coming down a few miles outside of Woodland, and Bobby turned on his windshield wipers in response. The rhythmic sound of them swishing back and forth helped to dull Heather's talking. Brian leaned back and stared out the passenger side window, thinking about the events of the day.
Who was his aunt, what were the Annunaki? Or for that matter, the Nephilim? What did he mean he had 'marked' Heathers parents? And she'd forgotten about them?
Questions, and more questions, none of which did he have the answers for.
"So I was thinking." Bobby began over Heather. "I got a run in Vegas. What say we go there, and I could drop you guys off there for a bit while I make all the arrangements?"
Vegas sounded good to Brian, and Heather seemed to get really excited about it. So Vegas it was.
Bobby nodded in response when Brian let him know it was good with him. The truck quickly sped away from the only home Brian had ever known, and he wondered if a part of him would ever regret it.
Thank you for reading Fallen Blood.
If you would like to continue the journey,
Here's a sample of book two.
Tainted Blood
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003R7L6HO
The sky was still overcast and the forest seemed to go on forever. Brian absently brushed back the errant black hair that dropped down over his right eye as he knelt down to examine the fading tracks. Birds squawked and screeched all around him, making it hard to hear anything in the distance. The prints were old, but still fresh enough for him to follow. They had to, otherwise this entire trip would be for nothing. He wasn't too sure how far ahead she was, or for that matter, how long ago it had been since she passed by this place. Tracking was something new for him, something he hadn't thought he would ever be able to learn. This place was full of surprises, however, least of all the fact that he could track.
Twigs showed the path she had taken. The sheer number of them that were snapped and hanging indicated how quickly she'd been moving as she passed by this place. He was going to have to move faster if he hoped to catch up to her. That shouldn't be a problem. This place lent itself to his unnatural strength and speed. With just a little exertion, he would be able to catch up to his prey before she got too much further ahead. He had to admit, however, part of the fun of doing it was not knowing what could happen or what was around the next bend in the trail. The adventure was always new, and he had to admit, it would always bring him back for more.
The forest around him passed quickly by him as he picked up the pace and ran as fast as he dared to. He barely felt the broken twigs and branches as they tried to grab and hold on to him or his clothes. His outfit of choice for tonight seemed to be a green leather woodsman's outfit. It was something he was sure he once saw on some old classic movie somewhere. If he had a bow and some arrows on his back he was sure someone would take him for Robin Hood, if they could actually see him blurring by. The sound of dogs, no, wolves yapping made him pause for a moment to get his bearings.
“Figures,” he said under his breath. “It's never easy is it?”
The fact that they were heading in the same direction he was, albeit a bit further off to the North, made it a good bet they were hunting the same quarry he was. Very little in this forest seemed to happen by coincidence. Most of it was under the control of one consciousness; he was the sole exception to that. He was free to make his own decisions, and to play whatever part he chose. Whatever forces that were at work here, he was not a part of it, and yet he did shape and mold the events by his own actions as well.
“I suppose I need to try and head them off first.”
The thought was an irritant. All he really wanted to do was catch up to his quarry. He hadn't seen her at all tonight. Everything seemed to be working against him catching her, and yet there were obvious signs like the trial he was following that said she wanted to be found. Perhaps she was toying with him. It was always possible that she knew he was out here, stalking her, and she was baiting him, maybe even daring him to continue. Maybe he should just leave the wolves. They couldn’t be faster than he, and after all, wasn't she already so far ahead of him that the wolves didn't stand a chance of catching up to her?
He wasn't entirely sure if that was true. Things changed without warning in here. He had to be on his toes at all times, otherwise he could be taken unawares, and that wouldn't do. After a quick decision, Brian decided to move on and trust his own speed. He was sure he could easily outdistance the hunting pack. If he couldn't, then he would just have to deal with it when the time arrived. Miles passed beneath his feet over the next few minutes, yet strangely the forest seemed to continue without pause. The wolves had definitely been left behind. He could still hear them, but now only as a faint annoyance.
“Where does she think she is going?” he mumbled as he brushed the hair from his face again. A nearby sound caught his attention as he studied the ground again. This time the prints were much fresher, the imprints from the soles of her shoes were still noticeable in these ones. They were a good sign that he was gaining on her. The sound of something moving in the nearby bushes caused him to pause and stare in their direction.
“What now?” There was no way the wolves could have already caught up to him, they weren't even on his path. They seemed to be making their own trail to hunt by. Whatever it was, Brian could make out a small shadowy figure moving about in trees to his right. It wasn't large enough to be a man, so it had to be an animal of some sort. Then again, anything was possible in this place: one had to be careful at all times. The last thing he needed was to be taken by surprise. That just wouldn't do, not to mention the delay that could cause. Daytime had to be approaching soon, so that meant his time was severely l
imited.
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