by Resca Rojas
Alaina crouched down next to him and removed the knife from his neck. Then, in a rapid succession, she stabbed his neck seven times, and then his chest thirteen times. She wanted to be certain that he was dead before she left.
Alaina dropped the knife and jumped out of the window, receiving no damage from the two story drop as her vampirism was fully intact within her once again. She then escaped into a crowd of onlookers before Kayla would return and find her brother dead on the floor.
33
Nicholas was with his wife and two kids at a park near their home. From a distance, Klayton admired how beautiful the wife was, and how adorable the kids were. It made him miss Kayla and also consider settling down and having a family with her.
He estimated that the little girl must have been around five, and the boy had to be three to four years old. He remembered feeling that small next to his brother when they were young.
Nicholas was chasing his little ones when he noticed Klayton’s presence. They stared at each other for a moment. “Let’s go to mommy.” He gently grabbed his children’s hands and then quickly sped walked to his wife.
Klayton could feel Nicholas’ heart beating rapidly. He was fearful, but somehow, Klayton knew that he was scared for his wife and kids, and not for himself.
He was fifty feet away, but Klayton could clearly hear him tell his wife that he would be re back, and if he gave her the signal, to run with the kids, get on their car, and drive to the safe house. She nodded and quickly kissed his lips. Afterwards, the Huntsman proceeded to walk towards Klayton.
When they were face to face with each other, he asked, “Should I be worried?”
“No,” Klayton said. “I don’t kill innocent people like you guys did to Kayla’s.”
“Is it true? Are you guys together?”
“How is that the question you want to ask me?”
“Rumor is that you guys were fighting each other, until you had your little sit down. Ever since then, we have not heard or seen you two. But Nero has been leaving body after body looking for Zeke.”
“That is kind of the theme of what I want to talk about. That’s why I’m here. To talk.”
“We are not giving up.”
“I’m not asking you to. I want a truce.”
“Why?”
“My issues have been resolved. I killed the vampire who killed my mom, and I also killed the man responsible for my brother’s death.”
“You killed Jarchael? I expected as much.”
Klayton looked at him. “You are a dumb ass. You know that, right? You have a beautiful wife and lovely kids, and you are risking your life and theirs, for Ezekiel?” Nicholas said nothing, so Klayton continued and said, “Give me his location. I kill him, then you take over and leave us all the hell alone. I’m sure that there are vampires and werewolves out there who really need to be put down. I just want a chance at trying to have what you have.”
“A family?”
Klayton chose not to answer that. “Don’t make this hard. I’m giving you a chance in saving your organization. All I ask in return is to let me have Ezekiel. He has killed hundreds of vampires. You don’t think that they are going to seek out revenge?”
“You have to promise, no matter what, it will never be known that I was the one who helped you.”
“Okay. I can do that. I need you at the head of the table.”
“This doesn’t mean that we are allies now or that I owe you any favors.”
“No, it does not. But it means that we can start a relationship. A way for both of us to benefit each other. Not all of us are evil, you must know that. If you can see that for yourself, then maybe we can help each other take out a bigger enemy.”
Nicholas looked at him as he wonder who would be so powerful, that Klayton needed his help. “Who are we talking about?”
“Vanessa, Arthur, Braislo, and Carlanis. Two vamps and two wolves. Think of them as the government body of the supernatural. They make the rules and as long as we follow them, no harm will be done to us. I want to kill them.”
“You- Look. I did not know them by names, but we have heard of them. Celestial Elders, right? They’re ancient. Crazy strong.”
“You have the numbers, we have the power. We both have a crap ton of weapons, and both teams are well trained.”
“You are asking me to betray my best friend, take over, create an alliance with the werewolf king and the vampire queen, the things we trained our lives to kill, to declare war on the elders?”
“I also have three warlocks.” Nicholas gave him a blank expression and said nothing as he thought about what was about to happen. “Are they really calling me the Wolf King?”
“Give me until tonight. My wife must be scared for her life right now. Let me bring her into a peaceful state of mind, put the kids to sleep, and then I will give you my answer.”
“Lets meet back here at midnight?”
“Okay.”
●●●
Thirteen hours later, and Klayton was still sitting on the bench seat at the park. He had never left. He was not hungry nor tired. He was focused. A lot had happened to him recently. The Revenge Tour was a success, his brother and him managed to do what they had set out to do; avenge their mother. But it did not bring her back.
They stopped Kayla’s organization, but many people, with supernatural powers or not, died. Dante was tortured and killed. Klayton avenged him, but it did not change the state of his brother’s life.
Amber lost her brother, Nero lost his nephew, Kayla lost her people, and Ezekiel had also lost many of his soldiers. More blood had been shed along with a lot of damage, compared to any good outcome.
Klayton reasoned that he was not the one to blame for everything, but he was part of it.
Amber loved Ethan, who had turned into a vampire, and they were now expecting a baby. She was in another city with her aunt. Ethan was with Nero waiting back in a hotel room for Klayton.
He loved Kayla, with all of his heart, and he knew that what he had felt for Lillian was lust and confusion wrapped together nicely, and yet he felt guilty for never reaching out to her and seeing how she was once things calmed down.
He had thirteen uninterrupted hours to meditate on every single detail of all the things that had happened to him. Now, he wanted to kill Ezekiel. Thus, he desperately needed Nicholas on his side, to know where and when to attack Ezekiel.
He was also looking forward to killing the Celestial Elders, and now that it seemed like a possibility to make an alliance with the Hunting Party, he was anxious.
He sensed Nicholas the moment he parked his car a few feet away. He had his wife’s scent on him and his kids and for a moment he thought that he had brought the family with him.
Klayton did not turn around once Nicholas was behind him. Instead, he simply asked, “Are you here to kill me?’
“No. I am here to assure the safety of my family’s fate.”
“What’s your condition?”
“I-“
“It’s okay, just tell me.”
“I want to be set for life. This line of business pays well with all the ways that we have managed to acquired money but I’m risking a lot with making an alliance with you. So you have to assure me that after this is done,” he took out a piece of paper and handed it to him, “You have to pay me one million dollars. That way, my family will be set for life if something were to happen to me.”
“Done.”
“And if I do die, you have to make sure no harm comes to them.”
“You have my word.”
Nicholas took out a cigarette and lit it up. He only smoked when he was nervous. “Shit. I killed his uncle a week ago, now I’m making a deal with a werewolf to kill my best friend.”
“Did you know that Jarchael was a Hybrid?”
“No one is allowed to obtain vampirism, lycanthropy, or master Earth’s energy like a warlock. If found, they are to be killed. So, only a selected few knew.”
“Does he
know that you are here?”
“No. I am his right hand man, and he trusts me.”
“He keeps sending you guys on suicide missions. Has dealings with a Hybrid; which is both illegal in your world and mine. He has to go. Hopefully afterwards you can purify your group and guide them to hunt down and kill the true evil out there.”
“Maybe.” He thought for a moment how everything was going to change with the next words that were going to come out of his mouth. It was not easy, but he knew that it had to be done. The war was only going to stop once one of either side’s leader was dead.
“He is going back to his home to get a few things that he cannot live without. Family documents and stuff that has sentimental value to him. His wife is going to be staying in a hotel, and he is going to go to his house with me. Tomorrow around nine in the morning.”
“Where and when is a good time to attack?”
He felt wrong for betraying Ezekiel, but then he remembered how his leader ha ordered to kill all vampires from Kayla’s group, including children, and it reminded him that Ezekiel had to be stopped.
He took a deep breath, then he said, “We are relocating to New Orleans. He is going with me to pick up a shipment of his personal belongings, and then we are driving to his new home which is a penthouse. He wants to make his wife, Veronica, feel at peace in their new house. So he plans on heightening up security on this new property.”
“Do you think that his wife is going to be an issue once we take him out of the picture?”
“No. I don’t think so. This group, well, it has been run like a cult for hundreds of years. But everyone is trained at a young age to follow whoever is leading the group.”
“Jesus. If you are aware that it is a cult, why are you still part of it?”
“It gave me a purpose. It led me to Annabelle, my wife.”
“I just hope that you are able to make your Hunting Party into something better than what it currently is.”
“How do you plan on killing Ezekiel?”
“It will be quick and painless. I just want all of this to end. Get rid of him and the Elders. Then, I just want to retire somewhere far from here with Kayla, maybe even start a family. This has all turned into a crap storm.”
Nicholas looked at him. He always believed that supernatural entities were pure evil, with no humanity inside them, but hearing Klayton speak now, it sounded as if they both wanted the same things in life. He wondered, “How does it feel? What is it like to have all that power?”
“Honestly? Orgasmic. Do you want to be a werewolf? Just take my blood.”
“No. It’s not right. It goes against everything that I was taught to believe.”
“Everything that you were taught to believe by a cult. Did they tell you that it was okay to kill Kayla’s people or torture my brother?”
Nicholas sat on the bench next to Klayton. Then he thought about how he could make Klayton understand everything that he had gone through and how it had shaped him to be the man that he was today. He told him, “My first vampire kill was when I was fifteen years old. Think of it like an initiation. They praised me.
I ran away from an orphanage and they took me in when I was twelve, and it was the first time that I felt part of a family. I was led to believe that what I was doing was a great thing for the world; killing off a monsters that could have caused harm to a person.
After I killed my first vampire, we went back to their Nest. That is when we found two kids around my age. Jarchael, and his brother Alistair.
They were both the offspring of a vampire father and a werewolf mother. Ezekiel’s dad, the leader at the time, made a compelling exception and they used them as our secret trump cards.
Great. “Is Alistair still alive?”
“Yeah. He wants to kill you and Nero for what you did to his brother.”
“Where is he now?”
“Zeke barely trusts anyone right now. He has not told anyone about where Alistair is, not even to me.”
“Well, that is just one more target on our back. He won’t be okay with you teaming up with the guys who killed his brother. So we are going to have to care of him also. See what you can do to find him.”
34
Klayton had rented three hotel rooms while they visited New Orleans. One for Kayla and himself, and one for Nero and another for Ethan. Each room was warded with a spell against anyone that would try to locate them.
Kayla had just woken up from her sleep and checked on her smart phone and saw that it was one in the morning.
When she walked into the living room, she saw that Klayton was outside on the balcony, staring at the city. She walked over to him and then stood by his side. “What are we thinking about?”
She had stayed in the room all day and night while Klayton had gone to see Nicholas. She had asked him to wake her up when he returned, but she knew that he would rather have her rest.
They looked at each other. “Our lives together. How crazy it is and how we ended here, and where it’s going.”
“Where do you see us going?” She wanted to know if they truly had a future together. He had her heart and he was always in her mind. Kayla felt protected with him.
“When I went to talk to Nicholas, I saw his wife and kids.”
“And?”
“Nero or I could have killed him and left his wife a widow with two fatherless kids. It made me think about how much damage I have done to people. It also made me wonder.”
“About?”
“Us.”
“Klayton, you have nothing to worry about. We can handle anything together. Are you having doubts about us?”
“All my life I’ve been distracted with avenging my mother, and until I met you, I never had time to consider if I ever wanted to start a family.”
“You want to start a family with me?”
“Yes.”
“Well, maybe I can help ease your thoughts a little then.” She paused and looked at him.
Kayla grabbed his hand and placed it on her stomach. “You can’t brag about your pull out game anymore.” She smiled at him.
Klayton’s face began to burn as he blushed while he smiled with joy. “Are you- are you serious?”
“Yes.” She giggled.
“What does this mean? Will he be a little vampire, or a wolf?”
“I don’t know, but I’m so happy that you are going to be his daddy. But, that means that I can’t go tomorrow. I cannot risk it.”
“No, of course. We can change some of the details of the plan and we can just adapt, okay? Please, don’t feel guilty. This is good for us.”
Klayton noticed that Kayla had a tear escape her eyes and dripped down her cheek. “Hey, what’s wrong babe?”
“I thought that you were going to ask me to get rid of it. Because it’s forbidden.”
He tenderly grabbed her face and wiped her tear away. He knew that it was time to tell her how he felt. “I love you, and our unborn blessing. If anyone so much as lays a finger on either one you, I will kill them.”
“You love me?” She affectionately moved his hand away from her face and placed hers on his chest. Her fingertips were sensitive to the touch, and along with her enhanced hearing, she was able to detect the honesty that came from his words.
“I have loved you since the moment that you walked into the restaurant.”
“People like us don’t get to have a happily ever after.” She argued.
“I don’t think that I can get any happier than I am right now.”
She smiled, and bit her lower lip to stop herself from blushing. She gazed into his eyes as she asked him, “Just like that?”
He tilted his head slightly as he leaned and kissed her lips. Then he whispered, “Just like that.”
After they kissed, she said, “What’s the plan?”
“Ezekiel is only going to be with Nicholas tomorrow. We are going to kill him, and then make an alliance with Nic.”
“You are going to ally yourself with the
people who killed your brother?”
“No. The person who did that is dead. I need Nicholas and his people to take down the Elders.”
“Take down the- wait, why would you want that?”
“Seeing him with his wife and kids, well, it made me yearn for something like that with you, and now more than ever I am convinced that it is the right thing to do. The Elders won’t allow it, and I am not going to spend our lives in hiding.”
“They’re ancient. Part of the first family of werewolves and vampires.”
“I’m a Kordovah. A stubborn fool who loves you more than anything. We got warlocks, vampires, Nicholas and his people, and you and me versus them. It has to happen.”
She smiled and placed her hand on her stomach. “You’re declaring war on the Elders. Once that starts, it won’t stop or be reversed. One side will have to die.”
“Do you trust me?”
“With all my heart.”
“Let’s go inside.”
“You know what this means right?”
“What does it mean babe?”
They were now inside the living room and she turned to look at him. “It means that you don’t have to pull out anymore for the next couple of months.” She grinned.
“I’m okay with this.” He could not stop smiling. This was the first time that he truly felt happiness in his life, as sadness had consumed his every waking second since he buried his brother.
His smile faded as his thoughts invaded him. “Kayla, I’m sorry that I’ve been distant these last few months. It’s not fair that you had to put up with me being an asshole to you.”
He sat on the sofa. He was expecting her to sit next to him, but instead, she sat on his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and then pressed her forehead against his.
He was holding her as close to him as possible, and helping her balance herself. All he could think about was her and the baby now.
