The Bane of Existence

Published: 13 July 2017

“Are you sure?” questioned the Bane for the third time.

“Yes, miLady,” the Rogue answered nervously. “I saw it with my own eyes. They were almost at each other’s throats until the Child stopped them. Then he had to separate them. Send a few of your best fighters and this could be nearly over. I’m sure.”

“You had better be,” growled the Bane. “If this fails I’ll drain your magic and throw you to the others. They’ll drain your blood.”

“Of course, miLady,” the Rogue gulped.

“Go fetch Rufus and the other two. I need to see if they’ve finished their assignment.” She dismissed the groveling Rogue with a wave of her hand.

After he had bowed his way out of the room, Erika leaned back and smiled evilly. So, the Brat’s little chums are falling apart before they’ve even been tested in a real battle. Good!

“Marko, watch out!” called Grayson as he finished off the Rogue in front of him and turned toward where his adopted son was fighting against two others.

The young man spun away from one attacker and planted his foot into the midsection of the second. As the Rogue bounced off the wall Marko had kicked him into, its neck was met by Marko’s razor sharp blade separating its head from the rest of its body.

Grayson had caught the first one from behind and had him in a choke hold. Marko cleaned his sword then slipped it into the scabbard as he approached. Bending down he clasped the struggling Rogue around the knees and lifted his feet off the ground. Together father and son pulled until the hapless vampire was torn apart then with a single word all the pieces of lifeless vampires were burned to nothingness.

“Thanks for the warning, Dad,” grinned Marko.

“You’re quite welcome, son,” returned Grayson matching his grin. “You’re getting better but you’ve got to learn to keep your awareness tuned to all the players all the time.”

“I’ll work on it, Dad,” the grin faded briefly but was back in a flash. “Are there any others around or can we go check out that magic use now?”

The older Rogue Hunter stood still taking stock of their surroundings before answering, “No, there are no others here. We are free to go. Are you hungry?”

“Uhm, I could eat. Yeah,” came the expected reply.

Shaking his head, Grayson said, “Come on then,” and together they took off at a run.

After removing the jokes from his friends and having a make-out session with his beautiful boyfriend, Zane walked into the room in the cave he and Zander shared and knelt down to meditate. Zane spent time reviewing all that had happened earlier then started making a mental list of what had gone wrong, what mistakes had been made, what they had to do to fix them. He wanted to be fully ready for the meeting he had called when everyone got back.

Once he had in his mind everything he wanted to cover with the rest of the group, Zane went back to the room where Rogan was taking care of Gavin. Peeking his head in Zane saw Gavin sitting up with the werewolf’s help.

Zane smiled as he stepped the rest of the way into the room, “How are you feeling?”

Gavin looked up before answering, “Better without a burning hole in my chest. But I’m wiped out.”

“Nourishment should be here soon,” Zane supplied coming closer. “I sent Shayn and Radesh to find a blood source for you.”

“Are you sure that was a smart thing to do?” questioned Rogan frowning.

“Yes. They both understand that it was an accident and that I will not tolerate fighting amongst ourselves,” stated Zane in reply.

Both Rogan and Gavin visibly relaxed after hearing the no-nonsense tone in Zane’s voice. This was Rinaldo’s Child setting rules that brooked no argument.

“Now, when they get back and you’ve had a chance to refresh yourself, I want everyone in the common room for a meeting,” announced the blonde vampire. “We all made mistakes today that would have been disastrous had we been fighting the Bane’s minions. We need to plan ahead better, too.”

“We’ll be there,” answered the vampire and the werewolf almost identically.

“Good! I’ll let you rest some more,” replied Zane as he left the room heading for the cave entrance and Samhain’s Son.

As Zane approached Zander spoke without turning around, “Hey, loverboy!”

“You’re getting good at knowing when I’m near,” praised Zane as he wrapped an arm around the taller teen’s waist and leaned in. “Any sign of Shayn and Radesh yet?”

“No,” answered Zander dropping his arm across the smaller teen’s shoulder. “How long do you think they’ll be?”

“Not really sure,” admitted Zane with a heavy sigh. “I did tell Shayn to find an appropriate human if possible. I don’t know how far they’ll have to go to find one.”

“Is that wise? Should we start culling from the humans if we’re going to use this as our base?”

“No, it wouldn’t be,” replied Zane quietly. “But that isn’t what I have planned. This is a special case where human blood will speed Gavin’s recovery.”

Zander squeezed his boyfriend’s shoulder and pulled him closer to let him know he understood. The pair watched silently for a few more minutes as they waited for their friends to return.

Speaking so softly as to be almost whispering, Zander said, “I don’t know whether to hope they get here soon so I can quit worrying or take their time so we can enjoy this moment longer. I have a feeling there ain’t going to be many quiet moments to enjoy with the war coming.”

“I want them to get here soon,” Zane stated anxiously. “I’m kinda nervous about this meeting. I wanna get it over with.”

“You’ll do just fine. Everyone will follow your lead,” Zander avowed leaning his head over to rest on top of Zane’s.

The two stood like that for a few minutes when they noticed movement at the edge of the treeline. Zane extended his senses magically and recognized Shayn and Radesh plus an unconscious body carried by Radesh.

“Here they come,” said Zane with relief. “We’ll let Gavin feed, dispose of the body then we’ll start the meeting.”

“I’ll alert them in the cave to have Gavin ready. You can wait for them to get here,” offered Zander as he put words to action disappearing into the cave.

Zane took a couple of deep breaths trying to calm himself as he kept watch on the vampire and wolf making their way up the hill to the cave opening. When they reached the landing in front, Zane stepped out to greet them.

“Welcome back! I need to undo my pranks before you go in,” the teen vampire said as he got close. “Sorry that I forgot to do it before I sent you off. Andeis!”

“Whew! That’s better!” remarked Shayn looking himself over. “Honestly though, I think it helped us separate our prey from his gang.”

“You might want to know too that no matter which form I took whatever hair or fur I had was green,” Radesh informed Zane with a crooked grin. Shayn nodded his agreement to the statement.

“That is interesting! I wondered how a spell like this put on a shape shifter would work,” Zane replied. “Come on! Get inside Gavin’s waiting on you.”

“He’s awake!”

“Yes and hungry! Rogan will be happy to see you too, Radesh!” remarked Zane as he ushered them into the cave.

Shayn and Radesh entered the room where Gavin and the others were waiting while Zane continued on to the common room to wait. After Gavin finished feeding Zander reminded them that the body had to be disposed of before they went to the meeting Ronaldo’s Child had called.

“Radesh and I can take care of the body so Shayn and Gavin can have a little time together,” volunteered Rogan rising to his feet.

“Thanks, guys! Be careful!” admonished Zander smiling kindly. “Take the body a couple of miles or so back towards where he was taken and leave him for the animals or to be found. Cops’ll probably think he got drunk, wandered into the woods and got lost.”

“Sure thing, Samhain’s Son. Anything else?” said Radesh as he joined his partner.

“Yeah! Run a quick patrol around the hill on your way back but don’t take too long,” added Zander. “And be careful!”

“You said that already,” grinned Rogan hefting the lifeless body onto his shoulder.

“I know!” acknowledged Zander with a serious look. “I thought it beared repeating. We’ve had enough accidents for today.”

“Too true,” Radesh agreed. “And came close to having more. We’ll keep our senses peeled.”

“We’ll be as quick as we can,” Rogan averred. With that the two wolves rushed out of the room and the cave.

Zander took a moment to clear his mind then headed to the common room and his partner. Zane stood stiffly with his back to the door when Zander entered. He came up to his boyfriend and began to gently knead the muscles in Zane’s neck, shoulders and upper back. The smaller vampire groaned out his appreciation as his body began to unwind a little.

Between five and ten minutes later Shayn and Gavin wandered into the common room and greeted their old friends with matching grins. Gavin sat back on one of the boulders used for sitting and pulled Shayn down to sit between his legs and leaned Shayn back against his chest. The two couples enjoyed the comfortable silence until about five minutes later when the wolves came bustling into the room.

The two wolves padded over to another boulder, changed back to human and sat side by side leaning on one another. The four seated companions looked expectantly at Zane waiting for him to start. Zander gave his shoulders another squeeze then took one step back and a half step to the right. His actions let it be known that Zane was in charge but that he supported him completely.

Rinaldo’s Child dropped his head, closed his eyes for a second, looked back up, cleared his throat and began,

“Today was both a disaster in the making and a blessing in disguise. I can see by the expressions on your faces that you’re trying to figure out how it could be a blessing. We all made mistakes today and I do mean all. The blessing comes from the fact that it happened now with just the six of us during a game.

Think how much worse it could have been if we had been in a battle when things went wrong. Our mishap pointed out several things we were not doing that we should and several things I should have thought of earlier.

We were too engrossed in the game we were playing and forgot that we are still at war with the Bane. Part of everyone’s attention should have been on our surroundings including mine. I knew where each of you were the entire time but I couldn’t tell you if anyone else had been there. And the Bane could have sent spies to find us.

Another thing we need to do constantly is keep our shields up. You all were so intent on tagging each other and hunting for me that you let them drop. Zander did a better job than most but I still got through with a spell and Gavin would have had more time to react to the energy blast if his shields had been in place.

Next we need to hold our emotions in check and think before acting. This will be even more important when we’re in a battle with Rogues and whoever else the Bane has helping her.”

“Did we do anything right, today?” asked Radesh quietly.

“Yes, once I stopped the emotional reactions I didn’t have to do anything else,” answered Zane with a smile. “All of you were quick to follow my directions and helped one another out.”

“That’s true and all of you accepted Zane taking charge,” added Zander. “Each of us answered his order by calling him the Child.”

“I want to thank each of you for giving me that honor,” Zane spoke from his heart. “I have never led before and I’m having to learn on the fly which brings me to the rest of the meeting.

“We have four vampires with more likely to join as we go. We need to find a way to keep a supply of blood on hand so we don’t have to send someone hunting when a need arises like it did today. We also need food for humans. My brothers and the werewolves will need to eat after heavy uses of energy.

“Also, where will we put people to stay when more start showing up to join us? In this cave we have the room for Zander and I, the room for Rogan and Radesh and this room that we call the common room. Shayn and Gavin have been staying in the other cave that is also our training cave. We need a plan for housing more people.

“We are now in January and so far the weather has been mild but that will likely change and any humans with us will need a heat source. In the caves we can build and use fire pits and that includes in your room, Radesh and Rogan. Vampires aren’t bothered by the cold so it won’t matter to us.

“Our training routine needs to change. The game and mishap showed us aligning along our usual coupling. We need to get used to working with everyone in the group so we are going to start rotating partners for training and for patrols so we get to meet, learn about and work with each person in the group. That will continue as we add people; they will become part of the rotation.

“That’s all I came up with if you have anything to add or suggestions on how to accomplish one of these challenges then please come to me. Thanks!”

Zander stepped behind Zane again and wrapped his arms around him. “You did great,” he whispered in the blonde’s ear softly.

Rinaldo’s Child leaned back resting against Samhain’s Son’s chest and watched the rest of the group as they settled on the floor of the cave in a circle and started discussing what they had just heard from Zane. They seemed unfazed and taking his proposals to heart as they bandied ideas on how to accomplish them between them. Even if nothing came of it at least they were working together and not at odds with one another.

The next morning after rising from their nightly meditations and enjoying a rousing round of mutual stimulation, the Z’s exited the cave to find the others already working out. Shayn and Rogan were paired up on the hillside with Shayn teaching the wolf a couple of the Tae Kwon Do forms. In the training cave Radesh was helping Gavin with a few new spells that had tricky to pronounce incantations.

They watched each group for a little while then the two vampires ran a patrol around the hill and ventured out into the forest for a ways. Zander thought he saw a strange footprint but they weren’t sure it wasn’t one of theirs since it was only a partial. As they were patrolling, the two discussed this morning’s development and how they were going to be able to get into the rotation.

Once they had a made a couple of trips around the hill Zane and Zander made their way to the very top of the hill. There they took some time to look in every direction around them. Satisfied that all was as it should be the two warmed-up their muscles with a few forms then started sparring lightly.

Fifteen to thirty minutes later the sparring became harder and harder until after an hour and a half the lovers were drenched in sweat in spite of the cool January temperatures. They knelt down back to back to clear out their minds and allow their bodies to cool down.

When they stood to descend to the cave it was the middle of the afternoon and they spotted two figures exiting the woods headed up the hill. Closer examination revealed Zach and Derek arriving after work and school. The Z’s hurried down the hill to greet their brothers and to relay last night’s propositions.

By the time Zane and Zander arrived, the others had all come out to meet Zach and Derek also. The Child and Son had barely gotten hugs and hellos when their four comrades took over telling of last night’s decisions and claimed one of the brothers for their group. Shayn and Rogan took Derek with them and headed for the training cave. Zach was collected by Radesh and Gavin and taken to the level spot used earlier by the other pair.

The two looked at each other and laughed. “This has got to stop,” Zane continued to chuckle. “What do we do now?”

Curbing his own laughter Zander responded, “Why don’t we take turns watching each group to see what they’re working on? Then we’ll know how we might be able to help them.”

“Sounds good! Which ones do you want first?”

“You can watch the one over there. I’ll head to the training room and we can switch after while.”

“Okay. Hey, Zander, let’s stay in touch mentally. That way we’re getting training on becoming one at the same time.”

Zander nodded his agreement and jogged away while Zane strolled over to watch Zach, Radesh and Gavin.

Lady Bane looked up from her comfortable wine colored chair as the three Ancients entered the room. She looked like a queen receiving royal visitors. “Are they ready?”

“Yes, miLady,” answered Rufus with a slight bow and the other two bowed as well. “We have four of the best with the extra training and conditioning just as you required.”

“Good!” she replied then looking at the useless excuse of a Rogue who had spied on her rival. “Do you have the other four ready?”

“Y-yes, miLady. They are very good but untested just as you ordered,” he stammered while nearly touching the floor in his low bow.

“Excellent! Send them!”

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