Sara threw her arms up in the air. "Now, look what you've done."
Vaughn wasn't about to take no for an answer. He stood his ground. "Look, I want a life. I am not going to hide in this dusty cluster fuck all my goddamn life and if that means getting out there and living for just a little bit, even a goddamn day, why that's better than being here and not living at all mom."
Sara growled. "I have lost enough Vaughn. Your sister has lost enough. Our family has lost enough!"
Vaughn growled back. His growl wasn't as guttural as a full vampire, half, but not entirely. "You're the daughter of the fucking queen! Why the fuck are you not trying to find her, huh? Why not find your mother and take our place?! WHY NOT? WHY THE FUCK NOT? We will never be safe mom, never. Better to make our family whole than fucking hide in the goddamn dark!" He walked off, dragging his claws across an antique cherry wood desk.
Sara went to chase after him, but Cecilia stopped her. "Let him go, mom." She looked at the stairwell. "He just needs time."
Sara growled. She felt ashamed. Cecilia and Sara never had a relationship, not a real one. Vaughn, however, got the chance to grow up with his mother. Still, Sara felt like she was failing him, just as she failed Cecilia.
The vampiress walked off. She never knew a mother’s love growing up. Part of why she had such a difficult time connecting with Cecilia. With a son, it had been more comfortable, but she still wondered if she was giving Vaughn what he needed. If it weren't for Isac being her rock when times were difficult, Sara would have felt even more lost than she already did.
Now, all Sara could think about was revenge. She hated those who stole her life from her. She wondered to herself what it might have been like had she stayed in her mother's care, what might have been, and now, knowing that her own mother had been taken, she knew the natural order of the Immortal world would be shaken if Lilith wasn't restored to the throne.
Sara knew the dangers of coming forward. She knew someone in House Ninlil wasn't an ally to her mother. But if that stone was uncovered, what would life be like? Could her son and daughter be safer than they were now? Could any of it be different? Sara needed to consider a few things she hadn't before.
She already watched her own daughter grieve the death of her husband, her children, and lost one to the system that she couldn't even find where he ended up. Sara blamed herself...
Chapter 14
Xairin watched Griffin toss four more thralls to meet a fate that came quickly for them. Each plummeting destiny was the same. They saw the ground coming to claim them faster than they thought it ever would. They would have no grave, no proper entry into the earth. Their bodies would stain the ground, thanks in part to Griffin's handy work.
Joanie had her own uniqueness in how she dispatched her prey. Beheading wasn't enough for the hyperactive werewolf. She had to dismember them first. Taking the headfirst to her, was a mercy killing. Conclave scum didn't deserve a merciful death.
Hammond was different. He hated fighting, but instead of shooting or stabbing, or even slicing someone open with a blade, Hammond needed something else to do the work for him. He let the beast do it. He could control who he killed, but his conscience felt more at ease when he let the wolf do the work. Xairin watched the black striped beast roam the courtyard of the prison. The creature savored each kill.
Xairin found himself on his own for a brief time. Griffin was too busy leaping from the towers to the rooftop of the prison tossing as many as he could find. Alex hunting with a blaster rifle sniping.
He felt as if Griffin had forgotten his charge in keeping Xairin safe. Griffin was letting the inner beast take over. This left Xairin on edge as he realized he was on his own for a little bit. Recognizing the need to protect himself, he allowed his blood to act and begin taking over. Xairin's eyes went red as blood could ever be, with a faint glow of light, flickering in his both his eyes. Even his capillaries began to light up. His fangs sprouted, his claws erupted, and his blood was doing the talking.
A brute of a man came around a corner unnoticed by Alex, Griffin, Hammond, and Joanie. They were too busy in their own battles. Xairin saw the tall man sizing the vampire up.
He had two pistols like Xairin had, blaster pistols. He wasted no time in taking aim at Xairin.
Nine red blasts whizzed past Xairin's head. The man's aim was good; however, thanks in part to the obstacle course, specifically the canyon run experience, Xairin was able to anticipate each bolt. He bent like reeds in the wind.
Xairin had yet to fire back. Instead, the young vampire was closing in on the giant man. He could tell he was human, a thrall with vampiric blood that had empowered him. That enhancement wasn't enough to hold Xairin back.
Xairin knew it was him, or the brute and the brute wouldn't stop or be reasoned with.
Thirty-seven red bolts erupted from the towering man's laser pistols. Xairin weaved and danced around each one, dodging each attempt, allowing him to get closer. Xairin had made up his mind. He wasn't going to behead the man, nor shoot him. He wanted to test what he was truly made of. Xairin wanted to let the beast out for a change, just to see how much he could control it. Xairin was going to be a vampire and fucking feed!
He leaped through the air and pinned the man to the ground. His fangs had already prepared themselves and embedded deep into the man's jugular. His clawed hands held the giant like a professional wrestler, he wasn't going anywhere. The blood tasted so much better than the bagged stuff. This was a new experience for Xairin, and he loved it. He was enjoying it so much in fact, that he forgot to activate his holographic armor.
When the heart slowed, Xairin stood up quickly and stomped his foot down onto the man's neck, crushing any chance of survival.
Hearing another thrall on the way, he turned his head slightly. His peripheral vision caught the attacker coming at him with a pistol armed with a silver loaded mag at the ready. Xairin could smell the silver in the gun from fifty yards away. Like it would have done the asshole firing it any good. Xairin dodged them just as he did the blaster bolts.
Xairin closed in on the second thrall like a stalking cheetah. He kept picking up speed, dodging silver bullets, and right as he got close enough, he swung his right hand, slapping the man into the air.
By the time the man in the black suit landed, Xairin had already pounced with his knee aimed right into the man's stomach while he lunged his head forward, biting into the man's face. A quick pin of the arms, Xairin shifted his bite to the left side of the man's neck. He gorged.
Other thralls approached.
Xairin was becoming overpowered and high off the adrenaline-infused blood. His eyes locked onto a man approaching.
It was like watching a tree frog moving at blurring speeds, leaping from the concrete walls to the next thrall and biting into their necks while ripping them out with his teeth. Once one fell, he jumped onto the next one. Xairin was becoming insatiable. Before he even realized it, he was on his ninth one, feeding like a vicious unstoppable beast.
Each kill made his blood vibrate with potency. This rush of fresh adrenaline-fueled blood gave Xairin not only an enhanced speed and strength as he went about slaughtering the enemy thralls, but also a glimpse of the past, a brief overview. He could feel Lilith within him, her primal way of killing in the old days, days before swords were even an everyday thing. He knew this was where some of his savageries was coming from, though something else about how it felt seemed like there was a bit more to it that he didn't understand yet.
Griffin looked down at the courtyard. He stood there for ten seconds while he watched a savage young vampire leaping from victim to victim, feeding. Sure, they were thralls, but just the sight of it was impressive enough to have Griffin scratching his head. "Holy shit…"
There was a building next to where Xairin was feasting on the last thrall he had seen. A vampire kicked open a door, sending it flying past Xairin as he was feeding on the woman. His red eyes glowed as he stood up quickly. The vampire looking at Xairin wa
s wearing a black suit, a business suit, he even took a moment to adjust his black tie.
This was it. Xairin's first real challenge. What he had killed in the past was all out of instinct and mostly luck. This was a fight that would test him. He could smell the man's blood, his blood told him he was about to fight a beta.
The dark-haired man shot at Xairin first with silver bullets from a handgun. Xairin did a few backflips and then a move he had gained from the figure skater he had pulled from to avoid several shots. Each one missed him with his graceful movements at play.
The man adjusted his neck while pulling out a silver edged kukri and went into a run. The attack plan was predictable, behead the red-eyed vampire.
Xairin decided to try something. He was charged with the blood of adrenaline-infused delicacies that he had been chowing down on for the past ten minutes. He was going to test his powers. Right as the man was twenty feet in front of him, Xairin willed his cells to allow him to slip ten yards ahead.
The moment the vampire stopped and realized his target had vanished from sight; his head exploded in blue light from Xairin's left blaster pistol.
He was a little nauseous from the slip, but not like that first time. His body was adapting.
After getting over the brief upset stomach experience, Xairin turned around letting out a panther-like growl. His eyes continued to flicker with red light, flowing into his capillaries.
Xairin looked upward, and slipped to the top of the building, arriving perfectly beside Griffin who almost fell backward from the sudden arrival. "JESUS XAIRIN!"
This time his stomach didn't feel dyspepsia at all.
"What? Didn't you say to stay close behind, right? And you took off like a mad man tossing people to their deaths."
Griffin snarled, "You're one to talk? I've been watching you. Nice job on the vamp by the way."
"Hey, I did a good job on those thralls too!" The young vampire proclaimed.
"Not bad, not bad, just don't get too cocky, I mean it!" Griffin said with an insistent tone.
Xairin looked over Griffin's shoulder and smiled.
"What are you smirking at?" Griffin asked. Xairin erupted into a faint red electrical outline. He slipped to another side of the roof and bit into the neck of a well-dressed thrall that was trying to get a clean shot in on Griffin.
Griffin scoffed. "Pfft, don’t show off too much Xairin, that's when you get caught with your pants down, and not in a good way."
Xairin smiled as he tossed the body over the side. It almost landed on Alex.
Alex looked up. "Xairin?"
Xairin looked down with a red-eyed grin.
Joanie was on her last kill, another werewolf that had yet to transform. He was dodging her attempts to remove his arms and legs. He was faster than her blades were.
She held her own, avoided his fire until his handguns made clicking noises. She stopped. She watched as he was quickly trying to reload it when a black striped wolf in hybrid form came up and mauled the man's head from his shoulders. Joanie rolled her eyes. "I almost had him Hammond, but thanks, Hun!"
Speaking in a guttural voice, Hammond looked at her. "No problem."
Marylou came over the commlink. "The outside perimeter is secure. Start making your way inside the complex and stay frosty. I expect heavy immortal encounters once we're inside."
"Great!' Xairin mentioned sarcastically.
Griffin nodded his head. "Send the thralls in first, just like a game of chess, you send out the pawns to make room for the heavier hitters."
Xairin made sure his blaster pistols were fully charged. "Duly noted."
Griffin noticed a door nearby on the roof. He spoke into his commlink. "Alex, Joanie, and Hammond, you three regroup and find another entrance. I'm keeping Xairin with me, we're going to try a roof entrance."
All three spoke in unison, "Got it."
Griffin went over to the metal door and gave it a tug. It didn't budge.
"What the heck?' he said.
He pulled on it again, again no movement. That door was almost as if it was welded shut or being held by one hell of a support beam.
The bronzed stalwart beauty standing in front of Xairin gave it a kick, then a shove. It didn't budge that way either, it only dented inward.
Xairin looked at him. "Both of us ram it?"
Griffin smirked. "NO, I got this!" Griffin kicked and kicked, nothing but dents prevailed.
Xairin looked at the door, he chattered his teeth. The door was three feet thick, with a metal bolt running through it with the width of a power pole. It wasn't budging this way. Griffin's echolocation perked and saw what Xairin did. "Well, shit!"
Xairin looked at Griffin. "Ideas?"
Griffin spoke into his commlink. "Scratch the roof entry, we're coming down."
Griffin walked away from the door, while Xairin stood there looking at it. In his mind he could see it, it looked like a giant version of a standard barrel bolt.
He thought, if only someone were on the other side, they could turn the barrel and get the bolt out of the holster that was keeping it from moving. The problem was, Griffin's kicks had dented it in some. The other problem was that no one was on the other side that would open it for them.
Xairin huffed. "Okay. I was a sensitive darn it." He thought how fun it was to slip, and now how he had ignored his sensitive side all those years. Those genes were still there, still in him, and not only that but they had been bolstered by the alien DNA of the Aeon Strain. Xairin wasn't going to let this door keep him and Griffin from advancing inside.
The young vampire moved his hands forward and began feeling for the barrel bolt. His cells permeated with power. He could feel the energy in his palms flowing outward like a stream of static. Griffin turned around once he realized Xairin wasn't with him. "What are you doing?"
"Give me a second?" Xairin asked.
His echolocation gave him the visual, his cells supplied the power, his hands directed the energy, while his mind willed it. He felt the bolt starting to turn. Griffin could hear the metal scraping and scratching. The beta's eyes widened.
Right as the bolt came out of the holster, Xairin's hands moved in a pulling motion, the door came off the hinges right as the oversized barrel bolt fell to the ground.
Griffin slowly spoke into his commlink. "Never mind, Xairin and I are proceeding inside from the roof entrance on the eastern side of the facility."
Griffin walked past Xairin. "Are you trying to show off?"
Xairin shook his head. "I was a sensitive remember. I never could control telekinesis before like that. I just had to give it a try."
Griffin sighed and took point with his guns forward. They entered a stairwell that was pitch black. They had to rely on their night vision and sonar to proceed down.
_____
Alex took point and went through the door that the vampire Xairin had killed had so violently opened. Joanie was behind him, while Hammond was still in his hybrid form.
Marylou and Cullen were taking turns taking point. One would go forward, looking into a room, while the other came up behind checking their flanks. Cullen had both his pistols ready, while Marylou had decided two guns were better than the rifle at the moment. So far, they hadn't encountered anyone.
Adams and Roark were following a similar pattern of approach.
The hallway Adams and Roark were going down opened up into one of the larger cell blocks. The bars were rusted, the metal flooring, weathered. This part of the facility hadn't been upgraded or bothered with in years. It had that haunted vibe.
Richard had his rifle pointed between the spaces in the grated metal flooring, while Parker Roark was looking ahead and to the sides. Parker's own red eyes were showing. Richard, being the curious type, had to ask. "So let me get this straight, you and that other guy were bitten by the same bat right? Some sort of albino or some shit?"
Parker nodded. "Keep your voice down," he whispered. "And yes, the same bat. Why?"
Adams shrugg
ed. "Those red eyes man, they're freaky."
Adams kept looking at the flooring while carefully stepping. "That Xiren dude, can you do the same bat cry bull shit he can?"
Parker huffed. "I think his name is pronounced Z-air-in. And no, I hear he was a sensitive and when the bat that bit us got him, I don't know, I think the story is that it reacted with those damn sensitive genes just like the Thylan we took out."
"Ah," Adams said.
Adams pushed a button on his armband. "Marylou Summers, what's your location?"
Marylou and Cullen were making their way through the cafeteria when the commlink came in. This location had been upgraded. There were still meals warm to the touch on plastic trays on top of the tables. Marylou guessed the thralls had sat down to eat when they arrived. She lightly pressed her band. "Looks like we interrupted their dinner. we're in the cafeteria heading your way."
"Any action yet?" He asked.
"I think most of the action happened outside, but we still haven't found the entry to the underground addition so keep your eyes open Adams."
Cullen Pattinson huffed. "Is Adams always like that?"
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