Dane
“Only in emergencies are you permitted to contact us. Your clan leaders know the protocols if you’re under attack…”
I tuned Quin out as he spoke, his voice becoming an echo in my mind. These gatherings were always redundant once Felix got through with telling the clans of any updates. I was bored, my clan mates were bored, and the clans were bored. I almost wanted to let them go early, seeing as Quin gave the same exact speech every gathering. I could recite it from memory, and I was sure everyone else could, too.
Yelling snapped me out of my relaxed state quickly. Quin stopped speaking, and we observed as Zion shouted at a confused new vampire.
“What the fuck is your problem?!” Zion stood up, four large gashes on his forearm. His blood slowly trickled down his arm, his flesh quickly healing.
Narrowing my eyes at the young vampire, I was amused at the look of terror on his face as he shrunk in his seat. Of course, all the other vampires were quick to speak, and the room was suddenly filled with voices.
“What’s the issue?” Quin snapped, clearly unamused and irritated at the loud interruptions.
Zion gestured to the man. “He attacked me,” he accused, clearly pissed
off.
While sitting down? I sighed. It was a scratch. If I had to sit next to
Zion for the past three days, I’d do much more than that. Good for the kid.
The young vampire widened his eyes, looking up at us like we were going to punish him. “I–I don’t know what you’re talking about? I didn’t touch you–”
“What are you playing at? Everyone can see what you did.” Zion shoved his bloodied arm into his face for emphasis
“That’s enough!” Quin shouted. “Sit down, Zion. We’ve heard enough from you,” he ordered.
Zion spent a few seconds looking around the room like he was waiting for someone to say something. I narrowed my eyes at him, catching a slight smirk he flashed before he sat down.
“Is there any update on Gavin?” I asked. The two of them causing back-to-back scenes couldn’t be a coincidence. Gavin leaving had the clans on edge; now, his right-hand man made more commotion?
Theo and I made eye contact. “Nothing yet,” he answered.
Quin slowly started speaking again after he ensured Zion was done with his fit.
My gaze fell on the young vampire again. If he attacked Zion, where was the blood on his hands? I sat up straighter, looking closer at the two. Catching a glimpse of blood under Zion’s fingernails, I tensed. Why would he do that to himself…
To cause a scene.
A distraction.
Elora was safe with Lucifer, making my loud thoughts ease some.
However, I couldn’t hear her breathing or her heartbeat.
“Lucifer, are you in the red room?” I questioned, just to be sure. I was sure that was where they were, but confirmation would bring me peace of mind.
…
Quin stopped talking, turning to look at us. The same confused expression on his face. Lucifer didn’t answer.
“Nobody leaves this room,” Felix ordered, his expression a concerned glare. He ran out of the room, and I was quick to follow. Duke, Quin, and Eugene came with us upstairs, leaving Theo in charge of the clans.
We sped through floors, checking every room in record time. Worry filled my chest as I heard Felix ask the one question I dreaded. “Where’s Elora?”
Following his voice, I found myself in Elora’s room.
On her bed, looking weak and half dead was one of the strongest men I’d ever known and my dearest friend. His eyes were the only part of him that moved.
“Lucifer,” I quickly went to his side, my eyes roaming his face. I’d seen this before–the stillness, his body tense and cramping. “He’s poisoned,” I
quickly diagnosed.
Duke and Eugene were long gone. They raced out to find her the second they found out Elora wasn’t in the house.
“I’m freaking out down here. What the fuck is going on?” Theo stressed through the mind-link.
Quin picked up Lucifer’s pocket knife, his eyes fixated on the blood on the blade. Elora’s blood. Instead of lashing out like I expected him to, he gave Felix and me a worried look. “Lucifer must have drank from her. Silphium isn’t a threat to humans; it must have been in her system,” he thought.
“Silphium went extinct thousands of years ago. How would someone have injected her?” Felix responded quickly, heading to the window.
They were both right. The only thing that could have immobilized Lucifer like this was that herb. I’d been racking my mind over why Jason growled at Duke. The scene hadn’t left my mind since it happened, but now I understood. Anton was standing behind Duke. Anton was the only person alive that could have grown Silphium. I clenched my jaw, feeling betrayed. “She wasn’t injected; she ate it right in front of us,” I confirmed.
Both their faces dropped, probably feeling the same betrayal as I was. He’d fooled every single one of us. Anton fucking poisoned our girl, and we thought it was cute.
Felix seethed, turning to Quin. “Let’s go; he’s only ahead of us by a few seconds,” he ordered. Quin was gone, and Felix gave me a look of concern.
“I’ll catch up,” I nodded, not wanting to waste another second. Time was of the essence, and each second she wasn’t with us, was an eternity of dread.
Felix gave Lucifer a quick once over before he left.
I pushed my eyebrows together in concern, picking up Lucifer. “I’ve got you, buddy,” I assured. Seeing him like this broke my heart because there was no way to stop his excruciating pain. I could only hope he didn’t drink too much, or he’d be this way for hours.
Running to the red room, I quickly laid him on the bed. “You’ll be safe here,” I comforted. It would be too easy if someone wanted to kill him right now. We were fortunate that Anton was stupid enough to leave him alive.
He stared at me, then looked at the door, gesturing for me to leave. “We’ll find her,” I promised before running out of the room, being sure to lock him inside.
Knowing Theo was probably confused and deeply concerned, I stopped in the ballroom.
“What the fuck?” Theo asked quickly, standing on the edge of the stage, anxiety clear on his face. “Tell me you know where she is.”
“Dimitri, you’re in charge,” I gave our friend a pointed look. I could trust him to look after the clans while we hunted Anton and Elora down. We needed Theo. This wasn’t something that could be taken lightly, and every asset we had, we needed. “Ramsey, Clarence, Sebastian, if anyone tries to leave this room, kill them,” I ordered my mind on overdrive. My eyes landed on Zion, his smug grin making my blood boil. He thought he got away with this? “Theo, take the trash out,” I spat.
I didn’t waste any time getting out of the manor. Hearing Zions scream was a melodic symphony to my ears.
My body felt numb, the seriousness of the situation crashing onto my chest like a boulder. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. I hoped to all the Gods that she was okay; I didn’t know what I’d do if she wasn’t.
I followed her scent for miles, eventually catching up with Felix, and Theo caught up with me. Quin, Eugene, and Duke were ahead of us.
“It’s rogues,” Eugene deadpanned through the mind-link.
The backs of Duke, Eugene, and Quin came into sight, and I slowed, sliding to a stop on the forest brush once I was next to them.
My gaze immediately landed on Elora, and fury raged through me. Tears were streaming down her face as a man–a rouge–pressed her back to his front. His hand was tangled in her hair, pulling it painfully, immobilizing her. A sharp knife was held against her throat.
The rogue was shirtless, in ripped jeans. His hair was long, brown, and in a thousand knots. He’d clearly spent most of his time in his other form.
The white skirt she wore was dirty, and her knees were scraped like she’d been thrown to the ground. She stared at us, her expression terrified. Her breathing was rapid, and her body was shaking horribly.
“Elora, you’ll be okay, Baby. I promise,” Duke said, his voice filled with worry.
The man holding her tightened his grip on her hair, making her whimper. “Stay back, or I’ll kill her,” he warned.
Anton and Gavin were at his side, surrounded by other rogues in their wolf forms. Probably three hundred of them were waiting for their leader, the man holding Elora, to give orders.
This was where Gavin went. He, Zion, and Anton were the ones collaborating with the rogues.
“What do you want?” Felix’s voice boomed as he stared the rogue down. We couldn’t get to her, not with that knife so firmly pressed against her throat. If she wasn’t so easily broken, prying her from his hold would have been effortless. The blade was already digging into her neck, and I was surprised she wasn’t bleeding already.
He slowly looked between the six of us, a demented look of success on his face. “I want you to feel the pain that we have. You’ve slaughtered my brothers for thousands of years and have never known loss. That ends today,” he threatened.
He wasn’t bargaining, nor was he asking for anything. “We need to get her away from him,” I stressed. His only goal was to kill her in front of us.
“We can’t get close enough. The second we make a move, he’ll cut her throat,” Theo responded.
“He knows we’ll kill him the second we can. Bargain with him,” Eugene thought.
Felix put his hands up in surrender. “I understand,” he said calmly. “Perhaps we can come to an agreement,” he started.
“There’s nothing you leeches could offer me that would bring more satisfaction than this,” he looked down at Elora, his lip turning up into a snarl.
“Duke…” she cried out, flinching away from him.
“Quiet!” The beast yelled at her, making her cry harder. I was going to slaughter him.
Felix looked around the area, probably making a note of the rogues slowly surrounding us. He gestured to Gavin and Anton. “What’s in it for them?” He asked. They were just as much vampires as the rest of us; the rogues should have hated them the same.
The rogue glanced at the two. “We promised them safety once we overthrow you,” he explained. “We needed a way to get to you… or to her, I should say.”
Cowards.
Felix took a hesitant step forward, quickly stopping as the rogue pressed the knife far enough into her skin to draw blood. “You know that if you kill her, none of you live,” Felix explained slowly. “You have seen what we can
do; you said it yourself,” Felix reasoned. “Kill her, and you and all your little friends die. Or let her go, and I’ll let you live,” he bargained.
“And let you get away with the murder you’ve committed?” The man scoffed. “Assuming you’re telling the truth, you walk away happy!” He yelled. He was feral in anger, his mind clouded with revenge.
“I’ll give you my crown.” Felix offered, and we all gave him a look of surprise. “If you let her live, you’ll never hear from my clan or me ever again,” he tried.
“Felix…” Quin exclaimed.
“I can’t lose her, no matter what it costs us.”
The rogue looked down at Elora again as if contemplating the offer. He slowly looked up at all of us, a dark look behind his eyes. “You’re lying. You’d come after us eventually. You can’t lose, you don’t think I know that? Even if you mean it now, you’ll come after us in the future,” he responded.
No, we were killing him the second he loosened his grip on Elora.
Felix turned, looking back at us. A look of sadness crossed his features, making me knot my eyebrows together. The look was replaced with a hard, sincere one as he looked at the rogue again.
“Spare her life; let her leave with Duke, who doesn’t want the crown and will never come after you. If you let the two of them go, you can kill the rest of us–”
“Felix–” Elora gasped but quickly stopped talking as the rogue pulled her closer to him.
If Elora got to live, I’d let them kill me without a second thought. Her life was mine, and I couldn’t live without her. Years ago, when Elora was young, we’d all agreed that if anything were to happen, Elora would go with Duke. He’d always keep her safe–that was what he’d always done. I’d forgotten about that conversation until now.
The rogues didn’t know that Lucifer was still alive, either. Not only would she leave with Duke, but she’d also have Lucifer watching over her.
I didn’t have to look at my friends to know they all agreed. If they loved her as much as I did, and they did, they’d rather have her live too.
The rogue’s face relaxed as he stared at each of us, as realization dawned on him. It looked like Felix found something he wanted after all.
“Please,” Duke’s voice was soft as he pleaded. He reached his arm out towards Elora. “If you give her to me now, we’ll leave,” he assured.
Theo gave her a small smile, silently telling her everything would be okay. She sniffled, trying to push the beast’s hand away from her throat. “You don’t have to do this,” she pleaded, with sadness in her voice.
My jaw flexed as I gritted my teeth in anger. She wasn’t pleading for her life anymore; she was begging for ours. The sun was setting, making her beautiful face glow in the golden sunlight. She’d be okay. She’d have Duke and Lucifer to look after her. She’d live a long and happy life, and that was all I’d ever wanted for her.
The rogue blinked at Felix. “You all really do love her, don’t you?” He asked. “You’re willing to die… for her,” he said slowly.
“A million times over,” Quin answered.
He looked at all of us again before his gaze landed on Duke. “You can have her,” he whispered.
It happened so fast that I barely saw it.
The rogue pushed Elora roughly into Duke’s arms, and he caught her stumbling body. I stared at her, hoping and praying that my eyes were playing tricks on me. When I smelt the blood, I knew.
She slowly lifted her head, and I saw the deep gash in her neck. Her crimson blood spilled out of her neck, staining her skin and shirt.
I couldn’t move. The rogue actually did it.
Elora slowly looked down, seeing her own blood. She probably didn’t feel it initially, with adrenaline overpowering her scenes. She slowly reached her hand up and touched the blood. She stared at it for a second before looking up at Duke. “I don’t want this on me,” she said softly.
Duke shook his head in denial, looking down at the gash on her neck. “No… no, no, please no,” he mumbled to himself. He fell to his knees with her in his arms.
“Now you’ll understand what it’s like to lose everything,” the rogue announced.
Felix shook in a fury I’d never witnessed before. His eyes turned bright red in anger as he shot daggers at the beast. Felix ran at him in a rage, tearing his head off easily.
Screaming, and hell broke loose all around us. Rogues ran at us; Eugene, Quin, and Theo were tearing them apart, vengeance on their minds.
“Dimitri!” Quin shouted at the top of his lungs.
I was still unable to move. My eyes stayed locked on the growing pool of blood around my world’s body. Was this a dream? She couldn’t be dying,
not like this. We would have never let this happen; this couldn’t be real.
“Dane!” Duke screamed at me, snapping me out of my thoughts. Tears ran down his face as he cradled her body in his arms. “Help her,” he pleaded.
My hands were shaking as I kneeled next to her. The cut was deep, and she was losing too much blood. Her eyes were slowly shutting, fading fast.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I recalled everything I knew about human anatomy. “Put pressure on her neck,” I instructed. Duke quickly covered her neck with his hands, soaking them in her blood.
I couldn’t save her. I was a doctor, I knew I couldn’t. She’d already lost too much blood. Not even stitches could heal that big of a wound. Even if I ran, she’d be dead by the time I could get her to the hospital.
“Elora, look at me,” my voice trembled as I looked down at the love of my life. “Baby,” I said louder, and her beautiful blue eyes met mine. “You’re going to be okay,” I lied.
She opened her mouth to talk but coughed and choked on blood. “L– Lucifer?” She questioned.
I tried my best to give her a small smile. “He’s perfectly fine,” I assured
her.
She looked relieved, her eyes starting to close again. I grabbed her
hand. “I love you, Elora. We love you so much.”
Her heart slowed, and I started doing chest compressions. The only thing this would do was keep her heart beating; I knew that. I couldn’t let her go.
Duke looked between Elora and me. “Baby?” He looked between her eyes. “Elora,” he said again but got no response from her. “Please, please don’t go. I need you. Don’t leave me,” he pleaded, his body trembling as he sobbed.
I kept doing the compressions, in denial myself. Around us, a war had started. More rogues appeared, and the clans joined in on the fight. Blood was spilled all over the forest floor, but I only cared about hers.
Quin fell onto his knees by her head, looking down at her in horror. “Can you save her?” He asked me.
I could only glance at him before looking back down. I was trying.
He glared down at her. “Goddamnit, Dane! Why are you acting like she’s dying? You can save her, can’t you?” He screamed at me.
My eyebrows knitted together, watching her head fall limply to the side.
Her eyes softly open, void of all life.
Take me instead. Anything but this. Anyone but her.
Duke grabbed her face. “Baby.” He paused for a few seconds before he looked at me. “Her heart isn’t beating,” he cried.
Her heart hadn’t been beating for a few minutes… And yet here I was, pushing on her chest, hoping for a miracle.
Theo ran over to us. He stood at her feet, looking down at her. He covered his mouth with a fist as he stared at her. “She’s not–she can’t be.” He shook his head quickly, “She’ll be okay, won’t she?” He asked, an innocent gleam of hope in his eyes.
Eugene threw himself over my shoulders, pulling me away from her. I panicked, pushing him away. If I stopped, she’d die. Eugene grabbed my shoulders and pulled me again. “Dane…” he said slowly.
Tears poured out of my eyes as I looked down at her lifeless body. “She’s not dead!” I told him. She couldn’t be. “She isn’t dead,” I repeated to myself in a whisper.
Eugene squeezed my shoulders. “She’s been dead for five minutes. You have to stop,” his voice cracked, and I could tell how hard he was trying to keep himself together.
The world moved in slow motion around us. Felix had tears on his face as he slaughtered rogues. He was long gone, deep in an endless fit of rage. Even with a dozen rouges around him, he tore through them like a knife to paper.
Theo was standing over Gavin’s body, his head detached from his shoulders, held together by his spine and a few pieces of skin.
The clans weren’t doing good. Rouges outnumbered us thirty to one.
They’d been planning this, growing their numbers for years.
I heard a twig snap and looked over at Lucifer. His eyes had deep dark circles around them as he stared at Elora. He slowly looked ahead onto the mess of vampires and rogues. “Anton!” He called, his voice gruff as he yelled.
My eyes followed Lucifer as he stalked up to Anton, fury in his bright red eyes.
Anton backed away from him. “I–I had to. They promised me safety.
Please–”
Lucifer grabbed him by the throat, slamming him against a large tree. “That was a nice trick you pulled,” he complimented darkly. “My turn.”
Lucifer suddenly slammed his fist into Anton’s chest, squeezing his heart. “Let me into your mind, Anton,” he whispered.
Anton was screaming in agony. “Just kill me!” he begged. Anton had survived all these years by laying low and being a coward. Now that he had made a move, it backfired on him. He couldn’t even own up to his choices.
Lucifer chuckled humorlessly. “Kill you? And give you the easy way out?” He narrowed his eyes at him. “Your fate will be worse than death; I’ll make sure of that,” he promised.
Anton suddenly stopped struggling, a void look on his face as he stared at Lucifer.
Lucifer pulled his hand out of Anton’s chest. “Good,” Lucifer nodded. He stepped forward, glaring at Anton. “As your punishment, you’ll spend an eternity pinned to this tree. I want to remember that you are responsible for the death of an innocent human,” he said, his voice low and dripping with venom.
Lucifer took a step back, and I watched as tree roots started growing from the ground. Anton couldn’t move, trapped by Lucifer’s mind control. The roots pierced Anton’s legs and arms, restraining him. His blood stained the bark as he screamed in agony.
Lucifer smirked, watching. More roots appeared, snaking up Anton’s legs and plunging themselves into Anton’s eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. The urge to look away from the gruesome scene was strong, but I wanted to watch him suffer.
Lucifer made Anton use his own gift against himself, pinning his body against a tree, roots mutilating his body. Blind, mute, and unable to escape the cruel punishment, he slowly became part of the tree, doomed to live forever in Lucifer’s cage.
Turning away, I looked down at Elora. This couldn’t be it. Her life had barely started. She didn’t deserve this. She was supposed to live a long, happy life, having everything she wanted and more.
We never found a way to extend her life. It’d never been done; we’d looked in every possible place. Females could not be vampires. Human blood and our blood were completely different. It was a disease we carried, forever healing and keeping us alive.
Our blood. A slight feeling of hope washed over me as an idea came to mind.
Duke had his forehead pressed against hers, sobbing, cradling her body. “Duke, back away,” I instructed.
He glared up at me. “No.”
I sat up straighter. “Back off. I have an idea,” I ordered.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “She’s dead, Dane. We can’t save her; she’s already gone.”
“She’s not getting any more alive, is she?” I deadpanned, the words burning as they left my lips. “I have to try,” I finished.
He gently put her shoulders down, moving away from her as he stared at me. “What are you doing?” He asked.
“I’m going to try to infect her,” I admitted. “If I empty her human blood and replace it with ours, there’s a chance it could heal her wound enough for me to bring her back,” I thought, my mind finally starting to work again. “Theo, run to the house and grab the box under my bathroom sink.” It had the medical tools I needed to do the transfer.
“How are you going to drain her blood?” He asked.
I glanced at Quin. “She still has poison in her blood,” I started.
Quin pushed his eyebrows together, looking down at her. “You want me to drink her blood? She’s dead, that’s horrible,” he shook his head.
Now he suddenly stopped craving her blood? I sent him a cold glare. “It’s the fastest way to get her blood out of her body. The faster we can replace it, the higher our chance of this actually working,” I rushed out.
Quin stared down at her, clenching his jaw as he held back tears. “Are you sure this will work?”
“Not even a little bit. I’m sure it won’t, but I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t try.”
Quin gave me an apprehensive glance before nodding. “I’m sorry,” he whispered to her before he grabbed her wrist and started drinking.
Surveying the area, I tried to spot Felix in the mess of people. His blood was the strongest of us all; it needed to be his.
Our clans were losing horribly. The rogues had a strong upper hand.
With my clan distracted by Elora, they were at a disadvantage.
Hearing the sound of running coming fast, I turned to the north. I tensed, seeing a new wave of werewolves, at least two dozen of them. They stopped at the forest’s edge, observing the vampires and rogues fight.
This could very well be the end of vampires. We were distracted and outnumbered.
A tan wolf, one that I recognized as Alpha Jason, stepped through the trees. He was much bigger than the others and was clearly the pack’s leader.
His eyes fell on Elora’s dead body, and his ears lowered, a painful whine in his chest. For a second, he had somewhat human characteristics, and I could tell he looked sad.
He looked on either side of him at his pack before he growled. I tensed as he and the other wolves with him ran straight into the fight. My lips parted in shock as they started attacking the rogues, helping us.
I let out a breath, spotting Felix running this way. “I heard your plan,” he said, kneeling next to her body. He ran his thumb along her cheek. “Use my blood,” he offered.
“Good idea…” I mumbled.
Theo ran back, dropping the box next to me. Quin pulled away from her wrist, clutching his stomach in pain. The Silphium side effects were already taking over. I grabbed his hand. “Thank you,” I said genuinely, knowing the massive amount of pain he would be in for the next few hours.
I stuck the needle into her arm, finding a collapsed vein. Please work…
With the other end, I started to draw blood from Felix, setting it up to flow directly into her body.
We all sat quietly, watching her. This wouldn’t work… she was a human, and his blood wouldn’t survive in her body. I was insane and in denial; she was dead, and I was playing Frankenstein.
Lucifer stood over us, looking down at her.
“Can you hear anything? Anything at all?” Duke asked him. Lucifer shook his head slowly, guilt and sadness in his eyes. This wasn’t working…
Elora
I felt strange…
A few years ago, I had headaches frequently. I wouldn’t accept that they were caused by stress, so I begged Dane to take me to the doctor–just in case I was detrimentally ill, of course.
The doctor put me in an MRI machine and injected me with contrast for more accurate results.
All I remember was being unable to move, how hot my body felt, and how loud it was.
I didn’t know how, but I was certain I was in an MRI machine. My body felt like it was burning. No matter how much I tried to move, I simply couldn’t. There was a strange, loud white noise all around me.
