Fated Heroes

by Brittany Cournoyer

  Without checking to see, I knew my friends were right behind me. I didn’t even know the layout of the bar as I ran. I was moving completely on instinct as I ran toward the back. I reached a door and pushed against the heavy metal to pry it open. When I stepped outside, the sight before me stopped me in my tracks.

  Chapter 12

  “God damn it!” Nick growled out in the alley behind the bar.

  The taller blond man—no, vampire—had Michael pressed against a graffiti-stained wall in the back alley. Michael’s eyes were closed, and the vampire was flush against him. Anyone who passed by would think they were just a young couple in the middle of making out, but we knew better.

  In a split second, the stranger pulled back long enough to expose his fangs and latch them on to Mike’s exposed neck. Michael let out a small grunt and his eyes sprang open before rolling into the back of his head.

  “No!” Kimberly cried out in horror as she started to run in Michael’s direction.

  Nick flung out his arm to stop Kimberly in her tracks. “Stay back!” he ordered before he let out an angry growl and shifted into a wolf, not even bothering to take his clothes off first.

  Kimberly and I watched as Nick lunged for the bloodsucker and latched his teeth into the vampire’s back. The parasite let go of its hold on Mike’s neck and let out a loud scream of pain. The small light fixture above the bar door allowed me to make out the faint traces of blood on its extended fangs. Michael’s blood.

  My eyes widened in horror as the vampire ripped itself away from Nick’s sharp teeth, completely oblivious to the fact that a piece of its back remained lodged in Nick’s mouth. The vampire hissed and launched at Nick. Nick let out a deep, ferocious snarl and jumped at the vampire as well. Kimberly and I both cried out in fear as they clashed midair and grabbed for each other’s throats.

  “Michael!” Kimberly screamed.

  We were so engrossed in watching the paranormal battle in front of us that we had momentarily forgotten why we were out there in the first place. We raced over to where Mike had slumped down in the alley, his back resting against the dirty wall. The collar of his shirt was covered in blood, and even in the dark, I could see how pale he was. The fucking vampire had sucked his blood down like Michael was his human juice box.

  “Fuck, Kimberly, you need to heal him!” I said urgently as I crouched down by our friend. “I think he’s lost a lot of blood.”

  “I don’t know how I did it!” she nearly wailed as she looked down helplessly at her hands. “It’s not like I have a fucking internal light switch to turn it on!”

  Before I could retaliate, we heard a loud cry of pain come from behind us. During the time we’d used to check on Michael, another vampire had joined in to help out its leech of a friend. Both of the things were now on top of Nick as he tried fighting the vampire off, his claws and teeth ripping into the creatures pale flesh.

  “No! Nick!” Kimberly called out and quickly ran over to the vampires on top of her protector.

  I watched in shock as she didn’t even hesitate to jump on the back of the vampire closest to her. I stole a quick glance back at Michael to make sure he was okay before I raced over to help out Kimberly and Nick. I grabbed a handful of the vampire’s clothes and tried to tug it off the wolf. Thankfully the vamp let go and turned its pale blue eyes on me. I glanced over at Kimberly. She was still on the back of the other one as she whaled her small fist into any area she could reach. The vampire was reaching behind, its sharp nails to claw into Kimberly’s arms.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a patch of gray move quickly toward us. Abruptly, the vampire that was eyeing me like I was its meal was knocked to the ground. With one quick movement, Michael—now in wolf form—ripped the vampire’s throat out and raced over to Kimberly and Nick.

  With Kimberly’s and my interference, Nick was able to overpower the vampire, but was in another struggle with it, only this time the vampire was on the ground while Nick ripped into it. This vampire appeared stronger than the other one we had been fighting, and I wondered if it was because it had just been drinking blood. That was a thought I needed to discuss with Michael and Nick later.

  Kimberly made her way back over to me, and I noticed her arms were covered in bloody scratches. She was panting and her hair was disheveled, her clothes ripped, and her eyes were wild. I latched on to her hand as we watched the two wolves tear into the vampire. Clearly, ripping out its throat wasn’t enough. No, they literally tore that vampire to pieces.

  In a matter of minutes, the entire fight was over. The two wolves stood over the dead vampires, growling. Kimberly was starting to shake, and I knew she was about to suffer a major adrenaline crash. And who knew when someone would make their drunken ass out to where we stood and discover what had happened? We needed to get the fuck out of there.

  “Stay here,” I told her. “I’m going to go grab the car.”

  I made my way to the back door and looked around for Nick’s ripped pants. I found them and fished the car keys out of the pockets. I made sure my friends were okay before I hauled ass to the car. I was able to pull in to the alley, and my friends, two of them still in wolf form, climbed inside. I quickly searched the area and picked up Mike’s and Nick’s tattered clothes before getting in the car and speeding the hell out of there.

  I didn’t even know where to go. Our phones were all dead, had been since we’d left, so I couldn’t pull up any GPS. I was driving entirely on instinct in unfamiliar territory and praying that there would be a sign for any type of lodging. Thank fuck, after about fifteen minutes I saw a hotel at the next exit. At that point I didn’t care if it was the dirtiest hotel on earth. I just wanted to get my friends inside and cleaned up.

  From the back seat, I could hear Nick growling at Michael. How I knew it was him, I wasn’t sure. Almost as if he was reprimanding him; an alpha punishing his beta for foolish actions. I was dreading what would be said when they both shifted back. Kimberly was leaning against the passenger seat with her eyes closed. Fuck, how did a pit stop to grab a drink turn into such a messed-up night?

  I was able to secure us a room—thankfully, once again, in the back—and drove the car around. After unlocking the door, I checked the interior to make sure it was safe, then woke Kimberly up. She groggily helped carry in our bags and we got the wolves inside. With the light on, I was able to make out their injuries.

  Nick was the worst of the two. Even with his inky black fur, I could see the deep scratches, bite marks, and streaks of blood. He glared at Michael, if wolves were able to do such a thing, then went to lie down on the floor between the two beds. Michael went and lay down in front of the doors, obviously trying to steer clear of Nick.

  “Nick needs to be healed. He looks terrible,” I whispered to Kimberly.

  “I told you, I don’t know how to do it,” Kimberly sighed.

  “Just, hell, I don’t know, close your eyes and concentrate. Imagine the light flowing out of your fingers or something,” I suggested with a small shrug.

  Kimberly exhaled noisily again and walked over to Nick. She sat down on the floor in front of him, then gently reached out to rub his inky head and snout. I sat on the bed and watched as she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. I kept my eyes locked on her hand as a faint glow slowly burned brighter and shot out of Kimberly’s fingertips. Her fingers kept rubbing over his head as the light gradually engulfed him and started to close his open wounds.

  After a few minutes, Kimberly stood up and made her way over to Mike. I climbed off the bed and began to gather up some new clothes for the boys as she took her time to heal Mike as well. I set a pile of clothes down in front of each wolf, then settled down on one of the beds. Once she was finished, she made her way back over to me and sat down on the other bed. We sat there in silence and waited for our protectors to shift back into humans. I couldn’t help but study Kimberly and noticed that she looked exhausted.

  “I think I figured out how to turn it on,” Kimberly
said softly.

  “So you found the internal light switch?” I quipped.

  “I guess so,” Kimberly laughed faintly.

  Suddenly we heard a grunt on the floor between us and looked over to see Nick lying there, back in his human form. We quickly looked over to Mike and saw that he had shifted back as well.

  “Oh boy, here we go,” I muttered as Nick stood up to put his clothes on.

  “Yup,” Kimberly agreed and cast a sympathetic look in Mike’s direction.

  “You just had to think with your dick, didn’t you?” Nick growled at Mike after he made his way from the door to stand by us.

  “Me? You’re going to get pissed at me? It was you who stopped there in the first place!”

  “I stopped for a fucking drink. You’re the one who nearly got killed, nearly got all of us killed, for trying to fuck a vampire!”

  “I didn’t know he was a fucking vampire! He didn’t look like the ones we killed before!”

  “That’s not a goddamn excuse, Michael! You shouldn’t have been fucking around in the first place!” Nick growled.

  “We shouldn’t have stopped at all!” Michael yelled at him. “Court even said we needed to stop at a hotel for the night. But no, you just had to stop at a bar!”

  “Do not turn this around on me! Yes, as alpha it was an oversight on my part not to listen to her. We should have stopped at a hotel instead. But my stopping at a bar is nowhere near as bad as what you did! I expected more from you than that!”

  “Oh, so you want to play the alpha card now? Is that how it’s going to be? One slip-up and now you’re going to yell at me like I’m some child? I’m not a fucking little kid. Yes, I screwed up and it won’t happen again, but I don’t need you yelling at me like you are my father.”

  “Then quit thinking with your fucking ass! If anything had happened to you, or them, I would never forgive myself. And I sure as hell wouldn’t forgive you, either! These are our lives at stake, Michael. So think about that the next time you want to screw around.”

  Mike stood there for a second and looked down at the floor. I felt the shame emanating from his body in waves. I nearly wanted to cry for him. I knew he felt terrible. But I also knew that he knew that anything he said wouldn’t justify what had happened.

  “I’m so sorry, guys. I don’t know what else to say,” he finally choked out.

  Nobody said anything for a while as we all sat there in silence. There really wasn’t anything that could be said. Nick needed to calm down, and Michael needed to forgive himself. All Kimberly and I could do was sit there, completely helpless.

  “What I don’t understand, is why that vampire looked different than the other ones,” I finally spoke up. I couldn’t take the silence anymore.

  “I have no idea. I couldn’t tell he was a vampire at all,” Michael insisted.

  “Well, I know how we might be able to find out,” Nick said as he walked over to our bags.

  He grabbed the book that Michael’s grandpa had given us and sat back down on the bed. The rest of us walked over and sat down around him. We all took deep breaths as he opened the cover and turned to the first page.

  Chapter 13

  “Holy shit,” Nick gasped as he looked down at the weathered, yellow paper.

  The first page showed a very crude, yet realistic drawing of a wolf. The dark lines and shading looked like they were done in some kind of charcoal, considering there was dark ash on the page. It clearly wasn’t done in ink. Hell, maybe it was drawn with burnt twigs. God only knew what people used to write with hundreds of years ago. History wasn’t my forte.

  Whoever drew the picture was a freaking amazing artist. The wolf’s fangs were exposed as if in mid-growl, and even with the roughness of the picture, the ferocity was palpable in the beast’s eyes. There was no doubt that the wolf we were looking at, even in such a rough sketch, was an alpha. The amazing animal’s fierceness was practically attacking off the page.

  “Don’t look at me! Grandpa told me that everything we needed to know would be in here. He isn’t very forthcoming with the information, as you can see.”

  Nick rolled his eyes in exasperation but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he slowly turned the nearly brittle page and stared down at the beautiful scrolled handwriting. The impeccable penmanship would be a person with OCD’s dream. Every row of writing was lined up perfectly. Whoever took the time to write everything down not only wanted to make sure the information got told, but took pride in what they were saying. They wanted to make sure that it was legible for anyone who took the time to read it. But then I noticed something peculiar about the words.

  “What does that say?” Kimberly asked and pointed at the bottom of the page.

  “Atticus, 1383,” Michael read.

  “Who the hell is Atticus?” Nick asked and turned his intense gaze to Mike. Mike shrugged.

  “How did you know what that said? It looks like a bunch of scribbles,” I asked and looked down at the strange markings.

  “What are you talking about? It’s easy to read,” Mike asked in confusion.

  “No, it’s not. It looks like it’s written in hieroglyphics or something,” I argued with him.

  “Or Greek,” Kimberly said. I was relieved she was agreeing with me on this.

  “You two are crazy. It’s written in plain English right here,” Nick said with a laugh and pointed to the book.

  “No, it’s not! We can’t read it. Obviously, only you two can,” Kimberly said with a huff and crossed her arms.

  “They’re not joking,” Mike said slowly to Nick. Both their eyes were wide in disbelief.

  “No, we’re not,” I said in agreement. “So just read the book.”

  “Thank goodness this person has good handwriting. It’ll make reading it much easier,” Mike said sarcastically.

  “Will you shut the fuck up so I can read it?” Nick asked good-naturedly.

  “Why can’t I read it? It’s my family’s history, after all,” Mike pointed out and held out his hand.

  Nick placed the book in Mike’s outstretched hand and shrugged. “Then by all means, go ahead.”

  Mike stared down at the pages again in wonder. I could only imagine the thoughts that were going through his mind, but I was anxious for him to speak. He was literally holding a piece of his family’s history in the palm of his hand. We were all dying to know what the book said and were waiting on the edge of our seats in anticipation. Mike took a deep breath and began reading.

  “Atticus turned last night. The entire village had heard from the seer that it’d happen by the harvest moon. It would be upon the arrival of a person who can heal that which cannot be healed, but we didn’t believe. We should have. King Edward scoffed at the idea. He ordered to have the seer executed for such foolishness. The minute King Edward brought Genevieve home as the palace healer, the villagers knew that the seer, Annabeth, had been speaking truths. I just never thought that it’d be my Atticus.

  Genevieve’s arrival sparked fear within the town. Everyone was scared of who would turn into a wolf. Before her execution, Annabeth tried to warn the town of unforeseen evils. Strigoi. Blood drinkers. She promised that the shifter would protect the healer. But King Edward didn’t listen. We begged him. Pleaded to spare Annabeth’s life, but it didn’t work. King Edward ruled with an iron fist and made an example out of the seer. No foolish words were to be spoken in the village. Her execution was to be thirty days after her imprisonment.

  Why did it have to be my husband? Why did it have to be the man I bore children with? When he turned, I was not afraid. I knew he would never hurt me or our children physically. But I also knew my Atticus could not stay with me anymore. He needed to be with Genevieve. He needed to protect her. The seer prophesied it, so it must be true.”

  “Wow,” I breathed as Mike took a deep breath.

  “So Atticus must be my great-grandfather to the twentieth power or some shit,” Michael mused and turned to yet another page. “But I have nev
er heard of that name.”

  We gasped as we saw the next drawing. It was just as crude and just as spectacular. Except this time we weren’t staring at a wolf. We were looking at a vampire, or a Strigoi, as the writer of the book called it. The hairless entity with exposed fangs was a dead ringer for the things that Nick and Mike had killed that night at my house.

  “Keep reading,” Kimmie urged.

  “I snuck into the village one night to pay a visit to Annabeth. Her imprisonment was not one that had been taken lightly by the villagers. Only, we were too fearful to speak our concerns anymore to the king. I had to kneel down by the window of where she was being held prisoner and could not see her face. I explained how my Atticus was who’d turned, and she already knew. Atticus turned because he was such a good man. A loyal man. A man who would do anything to protect his family. And because of the impending war, the healer would need Atticus as well.

  Annabeth begged me to flee. She told me to take Sarah, Elliott, and Everett and leave the village. She promised me that we would be okay. But only if we left. The Strigoi were coming to the village, coming for the healer, and Atticus had to save her. We would only be a distraction for his great duty as a shifter.”

  “Everett? Well, that makes sense. I’d heard that it was a family name,” Mike said in awe.

  “Oh, wow. Please keep reading,” I begged. I was completely enthralled by the story.

  “I begged Annabeth to tell me what was going to happen. She finally agreed after I promised her I would write it all down. She told me that these words would be of great use some day. She explained how the Strigoi would come and destroy all who inhabited our village in a month’s time. How the night walkers would be too much for the king’s army to battle. Atticus would have to save the healer and get her to safety. And because of this, Annabeth was welcoming her execution. She didn’t want to die at the hands of a monster. And then she made me promise to take her daughter with us. She knew that her husband would not survive.