by Kate Wendley
A tall, dark haired vampire regarded Zach and bowed his head in a regal manner.
Zach said, “Hey Benicio.”
“Good evening Mr. Johanssen.”
Zach casually asked, “So what’s up with all you guys needing so much blood tonight?”
Benicio looked intently at him. “Many of us gave much of our own blood to try to save the wolves who’d been shot last night. Our Master even ordered that we drain ourselves if necessary. A number of us did.”
Sebastian stopped eating and frowned as he briefly looked over the crowd of vampires, then back to Benicio. “What wolves?”
Benicio eyed him almost appreciatively. “I heard you were shot by one of the hunters, but you weren’t with the others. The two that were saved from the death shift were one of Ethan’s and one of our own.”
Zach’s eyes went wide. “Were there any more? Any that weren’t saved?”
“No one died, but that’s why we vampires needed so much blood tonight.”
There was silence for only a few seconds before gossip quickly started amongst the shifters.
Zach looked at Anthony again, then back at Benicio. “So what’s up with Anthony? What’s he doing out there?”
Benicio’s expression turned grave and Jade felt tension building in the air. Sebastian’s focus was on the crowd of vampires as he shoved his bag of food at her and quietly said, “Jade, leave. Right now.”
She took a careful step back, but with the press of bodies behind her, she couldn’t go far.
Zach asked a little more forcefully, “Well? What’s up with him?”
Benicio slowly answered. “Our blood wasn’t enough for the damage that’d been done to those wolves, and since our Master is loyal to those he’s sworn to protect, he gave his own life energy to save them before their death shifts completely robbed them of their lives.”
He looked alternately at Zach, Sebastian and Torin when he more tersely said, “He gave everything he had so those wolves, his allies, would live. He drained himself for them.”
The crowd was silent as the tension in the air quickly reached a fever pitch, and then it was a race to see who could get to Anthony first.
Jade watched in shock as vampires and shifters ran into the electrified grass. Some of the action was too fast for her to follow, but from what she could see, Sebastian, Zach, Torin, and a few shifter guards all bounded after a good handful of vampires as they headed straight for Anthony, who still hadn’t moved.
There were too many vampires and the fight was loud, everyone screaming battle cries. Sebastian was mesmerizing, horrifyingly brutal, and efficient as he fought. His eyes were bright gold and his hands were meaty claws as he voraciously went after anyone who got too close to Anthony.
In all the chaos, a vampire got past them all, but he strangely dropped to his knees about three feet from Anthony and started convulsing. Smoke rose from his head and red rivulets of blood blossomed on him everywhere at once.
Sebastian grabbed the man by the back of his jacket and effortlessly flung him at least thirty feet away to the basketball court. He angrily yelled, “Who else wants to fry?”
She stared at Sebastian in awe. His face looked more wolfish than normal as he panted and kept a keen eye on everyone and everything around him. He was a protector to his core and she felt like a fool for ever thinking he’d hurt her or abandon her if something happened that she couldn’t handle on her own. Like gaining his power of touch. Even his wolf wouldn’t hurt her and he proved that back before they even started dating, when he ran into her in the restaurant and startled her with his soft ways. She was just too stubborn and scared to believe that had been the real him.
All of it was the real him. His tenderness and his brutal ways. His vulnerability with her and his decisiveness in a fight. He was loyal and dependable, a true friend to those he cared for, even to some that he didn’t. He was a complex, gorgeous, troubled, fearsome man who commanded absolute respect in equal measure to his extreme loyalty to his family and friends.
The vampires that were still on the lawn spared a look around themselves. They gave Sebastian, Anthony, and everyone else one last strategic scan, then abruptly raced away.
Zach bellowed noisily as he hopped off the grass and back onto the blacktop, and Torin and the shifter guards followed more quietly behind, but no less quickly. They all hunched over or knelt down on the ground as they caught their breaths and healed from whatever the electric grass had done to them.
Zach snarled at the vampires, “So it’s mutiny, is it?”
Sebastian stayed behind and ran a wide circle around Anthony. He stopped in front of him and called out, “Hey, Anthony. Are you in there?”
Sebastian hadn’t been standing there long before he began coughing up blood.
Zach shouted, “Sebastian! Get out of there!”
He thankfully didn’t argue and wasted no time racing towards them before hopping back onto the pavement.
Zach kept his eyes on the vampires as he asked Sebastian, “What did you see?”
“Nothing. He’s just sitting there with his head on his knees. It feels like he’s half awake, half asleep.”
Jade couldn’t believe how casual Sebastian seemed after all that. He’d just easily beaten up multiple people, got fried from the inside out, coughed up blood, and was now calmly talking to Zach. Could scaredy cat Jade find a place in that kind of world?
Zach sprang to his feet and growled at the vampires as he paced in front of them with Torin by his side. “So who’s next? Maybe I’ll let you go out there and see what happens.”
Benicio, who hadn’t moved the entire time, watched Zach carefully, then surprisingly went to one knee and bowed. “There’s no mutiny tonight, Mr. Johanssen. Just a handful of vampires who have no sense.” More vampires knelt down and bowed as Jade and probably every shifter out here stared in wonder.
Zach eyed Benicio, then turned his attention to the others. “Is that right? Who else has no sense?”
Benicio looked around, then spoke up again. “Our Master has much support in this family. However, there are always those that’ll seek to exploit a weakness without thinking through the consequences. It’s good that Master Anthony has the allies he does.”
Zach visibly sniffed the air, then relaxed and put his hand out for the man to shake. Benicio accepted it and everything seemed ok again. Just like that.
Jade edged closer to Sebastian as he panted and caught his breath. Zach eventually rejoined them after calling out to Anthony again, who still didn’t answer.
Torin said, “What if we got his girlfriend out here?”
Sebastian straightened up, finger combed his hair out of his eyes, then put his arm around Jade. “No. Not tonight. She’d just get hurt around all these tired shifters and vampires.” He hugged Jade tightly to himself, looked her in the eyes for a few seconds, then held her close as he turned his attention back to the guys.
And that’s when Jade decided once and for all that she could do this. She was part of this world, all of it, and wanted to be there for Sebastian in any way she could. And she could be there because she wasn’t too delicate anymore. It felt good to be able to be by her man’s side when before she would’ve been too scared to be anywhere near all this fighting.
Deep down she also knew if she abandoned Sebastian now, it would only be a matter of time before some other woman snatched him up. He was hers, dammit, and she was going to prove it to him.
Chapter 36
Vampires and shifters shuffled around for a long time, and the crowd kept growing and thinning over and over again, though it thinned more and more as the night wore on.
Jade tried to discreetly talk to Sebastian while she sat in between his legs on the ground with his arms planted firmly around her. They didn’t have much privacy out here, but she ached to ease the tension that was still between them.
Sebastian gave her a look that she wasn’t quite sure what it meant, then finally said, “I’d rather talk
in private. Later?”
She sensed tiredness and worry on him, but she couldn’t tell if it was worry for her or Anthony. She wished she were stronger and had figured out what she wanted before things got to this point. She was always waiting for the right moment in life…
He pulled her back against him and hugged her tight for a time, as if he never wanted to let her go. He eventually loosened his grip, though he kept himself entangled around her.
Her heart twisted in knots. Was he telling her things were ok, or was he holding her one last time before he let her go for good? Either way, she was guiltily happy that all the other women could see he wanted her and not them.
At least for tonight.
Hours went by and they had a laugh when Zach lazily asked if any of the ladies wanted to check him for bullet wounds.
It was well after midnight when Jade decided she needed to get something to eat again. “Honey, I’m going down to get some food. You need anything?”
“A sandwich would be nice.” He gave her a little squeeze and a small smile.
“Ok.” She reluctantly pulled free from his warm arms and trudged inside by herself.
**
Sebastian watched Jade sashay away, wondering if she was ever aware of how sexy she looked when she walked.
Zach quietly said, “You’re a horn dog when you’re tired, aren’t you?”
“What?”
He smirked. “You heard me. You want to jump her bones every time you get a little sleepy.”
Zach and Torin both chuckled while Suzanne looked like she was trying not to.
He rolled his eyes. “Shut up.”
“I’m serious! You’re a crab ass to me when you haven’t had enough sleep, but get Jade around? Whew!”
He tiredly laughed, “Oh my God Zach, would you shut up?”
**
Jade freshened up in the bathroom, then placed an order for food and waited at the bar for it. She killed time by texting back and forth with Tina for a few minutes before strange sounds caught her attention. It sounded like glass breaking and things being thrown into walls. She looked up just as Sebastian burst in the door to the club.
He whistled loudly and the place instantly fell quiet. “Listen up! This is an emergency! Anthony has no control over his power. Do not get in his way when he comes down these stairs!”
Jade’s eyes went wide. Anthony was coming back into the club? Why? And why did Sebastian have to try to help him?
No one moved as they kept their eyes on the stairs while the sounds of shattering glass and other things got closer and closer. Sebastian kept glancing behind himself, then was shoved forward as if by an invisible hand. Anthony had slipped down the last stair and was now awkwardly trying to right himself.
Sebastian roared in anger as he scrambled away from him, blood trickling down his chin, out his nose, eyes, ears… Jade hurt to look at him. She cringed when he coughed, only to have blood coat his hand, too.
Anthony didn’t look good, either, and there was a collective gasp from the crowd when he finally made it all the way into the club. His hair was snarled in spots, he had dark circles under his eyes, stubble for a beard that she’d never, ever seen on him, and rumpled clothes. An unnatural breeze floated around him, just like it had outside, and played with the ends of his hair. Overall he looked like an otherworldly zombie as he shuffled along with dead eyes and stiff movements, looking like no one was home.
The entire club watched as he stumbled forward, taking his sweet time wherever he was going. It eventually looked like he was making his way to the vampire hall, which was right next to her. Jade jumped off her bar stool and panicked, not sure which direction to go.
Sebastian caught her eye and shouted, “Everybody split!” He gestured to Jade and pointed out where he wanted her. Her heart pounded and she wasted no time scurrying further into the restaurant where other shifters were already gathered.
Zach shouted, “Sebastian! The guards!”
Sebastian jogged around Anthony to get down the vampire hall before him as everyone in the club scattered as far away as they could. Bar tables and chairs slid around and outright flew out of Anthony’s way all on their own as he lumbered by, and of course some dummy thought he was invincible and got too close. Jade watched in sinking dread as the man started convulsing, smoke soon rising from his head like the vampire earlier tonight. Zach grabbed the idiot and quickly yanked him away.
When Anthony walked by the restaurant, Jade and the woman standing next to her held hands as possessed tables and chairs crowded towards them. Anthony kept right on going as bottles exploded behind the bar, mirrors shattered into glittery shards, and a television set on his other side exploded with a dull thud. Now everyone took him seriously and scattered as far away as they could get.
Jade didn’t like feeling like she was in the middle of a war zone. Her heart pounded and she prayed Sebastian would be all right. Stupid, honorable, responsible, Sebastian. Always doing stuff for other people whether or not they knew it or even asked him to, and here she’d worried he might hurt her.
She hated herself for being so selfish. It made her life feel empty and meaningless compared to everything he always did for their entire community, and he did it without hesitation. He didn’t even like most of the people he helped, but they were family so he protected them with no questions asked. If she drank Sebastian’s blood, would that be her job, too?
She startled when she heard Sebastian shout, “No time for explanations! Get downstairs, as far from Anthony’s apartment as you can. Now!”
**
The guards bolted downstairs as Sebastian watched the vampire hall for Anthony. The air was thick with power and an ever increasing pressure. He jumped back when he started to feel hot, Anthony’s energy seeping into his bones with an unreal insidiousness.
The stairs down to the vampire sub-basement had never looked so inviting, but he waited to make sure Anthony was really coming this way. It seemed like a logical place he might go in his dazed state. Either that or his office, where he spent so much of his time.
Sebastian edged slowly back towards the stairs, then down one step at a time when his insides got hotter. Christ Anthony’s power felt like shit, but this was what being in the family meant. You helped contain the nightmare when everything went to hell.
Anthony wasn’t usually the one that needed to be contained, though, and that worried him. If he didn’t take control of his own power, Sebastian wasn’t sure there was anything he could do for himself or anyone else if Anthony decided to go berserk.
Light bulbs glared brilliantly, then quickly exploded in the foyer. The TV committed suicide next. Sebastian retreated down the stairs making sure to keep his senses wide open.
He flung open the door to their apartment at the bottom of the stairs, then jogged the other way down the hall. He stayed just close enough to keep an eye out for Anthony, but not too close to be fried by him.
Anthony looked shaky when he finally stepped off the bottom stair, his expression blank, though the bags under his eyes showed how tired he was. He walked straight into their apartment… and Sebastian waited.
He clenched his teeth and sucked in a breath to the sounds of glass and electronics exploding, the smell of burnt plastic sharp in his nose. Dammit. The TV and surround sound speaker system weren’t that old and had taken him forever to set up just the way he liked. He didn’t even want to think about everything else that was getting destroyed in there. That was the least of his worries, though, if Anthony didn’t get himself under control.
He edged cautiously closer when he felt his power retreat into the dark rooms of their place. He took baby steps towards the front door, then carefully bigger steps when he felt calm, un-electrified air. The sounds of exploding glass and electronics had stopped, and he cautiously stepped all the way into their now pitch black home.
He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket to try to get some light, but it wouldn’t turn on. Shit. Anthony must ha
ve fried it earlier. He put it away and kept his senses open wide while he creeped further in, crunching on broken glass and other things as he went. He hoped Anthony wasn’t about to go rabid on him, but he supposed there was nothing he could do if he did. It felt like he was in his bedroom, though, and all he felt through their blood connection was calmness.
Even so, he was tense as he braced himself for whatever might happen. “Anthony?” He waited a few seconds, but there was no answer.
The crunch of glass behind him nearly gave him a heart attack.
“It’s just me.” A bright flash of light shone in his eyes and then was gone.
“Jesus Zach. Not in my face.”
“Sorry.”
He was actually glad Zach was here. It was times like tonight, when Sebastian had no idea what he was doing or how badly he’d get hurt that he was glad to have someone just as crazy along to back him up.
“All right. You ready?”
“Let’s do it.”
They edged slowly closer to Anthony’s room, the light from Zach’s phone guiding the way…
Absolutely everything that could’ve exploded in Anthony’s room had, and he was now lying in the middle of it on his bed in his usual sleeping position.
Zach said, “Huh. He’s asleep?”
“I think so. I hope so.”
Sebastian could feel Zach open his senses up wide, so Sebastian did the same.
Zach quietly said, “He’s in there, somewhere, but he’s definitely down for the count.”
“Yeah.”
“He’s still there, though, dude. I can feel him.”
“Yeah.” But what would he be like when he woke up?
**
Since Sebastian’s phone was dead, Zach texted everyone that the coast was clear. They asked Torin to head up straightening the restaurant and the club, and it felt really good to be able to rely on him.
Sebastian swiped the back of his shirt sleeve across his wet forehead. The smell of so much of his own blood was a little disturbing.
Zach looked him over. “You look like hell.”
“Thanks.”
Zach chuckled and Sebastian wearily smirked.
