Published: 26 Jan 2017

Chapter 13

 
“Okay, remember what I said.” Hank spoke softly as both Jared and Devon were standing in front of him, and next to the large pile of wood. “You need to concentrate on bringing the fire forth within you first, then directing it. Jared, you start first.”

Jared nodded, then turned towards the pile of wood. He stared at it for a few moments, concentrating as hard as he could. Finally, though he slumped down, and sighed disappointedly. “I can’t…”

“Hey man, it doesn’t come that fast for everyone.” Hank said as he gently patted Jared’s shoulder.

“No wait.” Devon said as he turned to Jared, than moved closer, and dropped his voice. “Remember what Runi said Jared… Before you can use gifts, you need to truly accept what you are now… You’re a vampire. Say it with me.” Devon’s eyes were locked on Jared’s. When Jared tried to drop his eyes, Devon’s hand gently pushed his head back up till they were locked again. “Say it with me.” Devon repeated.

“I am a vampire….I am a vampire… I am a vampire.” Devon repeated several times, trying to convince Jared to say it with him. “Come on babe,” he said softly. “I am a vampire… I am a vampire…”

“I can’t….” Jared said, on the verge of tears.

“Why not?”

“Cause… Cause Vampires are evil….” Now tears were coming freely.

“We are?” Devon asked, keeping his voice soft, and forcing Jared to keep eye contact. “Hank’s evil? You’re evil? I’m evil?”

Jared was shaking his head, but still the tears fell. Devon shook his head. “No man. We’re not evil. I’ve told you that I’m not much up on the whole God thing, but something that I did learn is that God gave man free will. Meaning we do what we want to do, good or bad. Vampires ain’t no different. It’s harder for us I’m sure, but one thing i can say with certainty. I’ve seen evil… looked it right in it’s face…” Devon raised his hand and placed it on Jared’s chest, right over his heart. “You ain’t evil… not even close. It’s what you do, not what you are, that makes you evil or not.”

Devon leaned forward, and gently placed his lips to Jared’s. It wasn’t a passionate kiss, but a comforting kiss. When he leaned back, he smiled and looked Jared right in his eyes. “Now say it with me. I’m a vampire… I’m a vampire… I’m a vampire.” By the third time, Jared joined Devon in saying the mantra. After the tenth time, Devon started to see the change in Jared’s eyes. It started gently, but soon, Jared’s eyes were glowing gently with a warm red color, not a fire like Devon had seen in some of the others, but a warm, almost gentle red. Devon turned Jared towards the wood pile, without stopping his mantra. He motioned towards Hank, who stepped up quickly, and spoke just loud enough to be heard over the two boys repeating their new mantra.

“Pull the fire forward in your mind. Pull it forward and hold onto it. Once you can feel it, push it towards the wood. Don’t push till you feel it inside you.” Hank’s voice was both commanding and comforting. Jared, still repeating to himself that he was a vampire, pulled the fire from within. This time though he actually felt it. He never stopped speaking, but he started to smile, even as his eyes closed in concentration. After another three times through his mantra, he opened his eyes, and threw his hand out towards the wood.

In the center of the pile, a small flame jumped to life, and started to burn the logs. “YES!” Devon cried out while he grabbed Jared in a tight hug.

Jared grunted as Devon crushed him, but he was grinning, he had done it. Although his legs felt like they were about to give out on him. It felt like he had just run a marathon, but he couldn’t help but grin and laugh. He had used a gift. Something he never thought he would do.

After a few minutes of celebration, Hank turned towards Devon with a grin. “Okay Devon, you’re turn.”

Devon sobered up, and nodded to Hank before he turned towards the wood pile. He took a deep breath, than pulled the fire forward. He kept pulling until he felt like it would burn him, then pushed it towards the wood pile. Instead of a small flame, the wood pile exploded outwards with such force that Hank, Devon, and Jared were all picked up and thrown backwards as well. Hank, hit the ground, than jumped back to his feet, screaming as he did. “Devon! Put it out!”

Devon shook his head, looked at the fire that was now burning. “I… I don’t know how!”

Hank shook his head, then started doing everything he could to put out the fire. It took him almost five minutes before he brought the fire under control. When he did, he turned and looked to Devon. “What the hell did you do?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“OKay… no more until Runi’s here.” Hank said as he shook his head, but still he was secretly proud as hell of his childe.

“Okay… I’m impressed.” A voice said from behind them, a voice that made Hank spin around, drawing both swords as he did. There, at the edge of the woods, stood Decon, next to Hector. Deacon threw his hands up, showing that he had no weapons. “Hey there… not here for a fight!”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Hank said through gritted teeth.

“Well… I came to see the ancient… but.. .shit, i think I just saw something more impressive.” Deacon looked hard at Devon, than shook his head. “You’ve only just woken?” When Devon nodded, Deacon shook his head. “What… is The Ancient your sire?” Before anyone could reply, Deacon shook his head. “No.. never mind. It’s probably better if i don’t know.” He than looked at Hank. “I came here to talk to The Ancient. He’s made an enemy that he needs to be aware of.”

“Why the hell would you care.” Hank growled out.

“Cause I wanna survive, and fighting against the Ancient, well that ain’t exactly conducive to a good long life.”

Confusion. That’s all that was running through Colt’s mind. He’d held Clay as he died… he’d SEEN him die, heard the last rattling breath escape his young body, but now… now here he was. His eyes, they were red… Clay had been turned!

Colt breathed in deep, his Beast taking in the scents around him. It told him two things about Clay, and the situation at hand. First, Clay was indeed a vampire. Second but even more important, the woman had a similar smell. It was more like Clay smelled a bit like she did. She was the one that turned him!

‘DANGER!’ His Beast cried out, and before Colt was consciously aware of it, he felt his body shift into the war form. Immediately he felt someone tackle him from behind. His Beast was in full control, as he turned under his attacker, landed on his back, with the attacker on top, and rolled through, throwing whoever it was over top of him, as he rolled to his feet.

“GREGORY!” He heard the woman shout, as she grabbed Clay and pulled him back, away from the two wolves. Gregory came to his feet, and lighting quick came at Colt. This time though, Colt and the Beast were working together, rather than just acting on instinct alone.

“I AM THE ALPHA!” Gregory roared out as he tried to swipe his claws across Colt’s chest, but he was able to dodge out of the way in time. “THIS IS MY PACK!”

“Christina NO!” Colt heard Runi cry out. He spared a glance and saw that Runi was physically restraining her. Under different circumstances it would have been funny to see a small figure like Runi holding back a War Formed Wolf the way he was. Mato was also standing next to Christina, still wearing his bear form, and looking to be ready to enter the fight. Colt glanced the other way, and saw six other wolves, all in War Form, watching intensely.

‘MOVE!’ His Beast roared into his mind, and Colt immediately ducked and rolled as Gregory came at him again. Now Colt was pissed, not only was someone attacking him for no apparent reason, but he’d allowed himself to get distracted. He came back up, found where Gregory was, and got set to launch his own attack.

“WHY!” Colt asked, as Gregory started to circle him. Deep inside, Colt knew he needed to move as well, so as not to get caught flat footed.

“I’m the Alpha!’ Gregory roared again, and with a sudden burst of inspiration, Colt knew what was going on. Gregory was the Alpha on his pack, the other six that Colt didn’t know. Yet, Colt was a true Alpha. Gregory needed to challenge Colt if he wanted to keep his pack.

Colt wanted to say that he didn’t want Gregory’s pack, but his Beast made it clear that it would not tolerate someone else being Alpha. When Colt thought about it, he knew he wouldn’t accept it either, unless that person proved that they were able to control him. And this little shit wasn’t going to control him.

“Fine.. you want a fight? I’ll give you a fight.” Colt said, barely realizing that he wasn’t speaking in English anymore, but in a more gutteral language. Not bothering to think about it, Colt attacked this time, and Gregory wasn’t able to move out of the way fast enough. Colt speared Gregory in the stomach with his full weight, throwing them both back at least ten feet, and through a tree.

Colt roared out as he felt Gregory’s claws rip into his chest, while Colt was ripping at the older wolves sides and back. They hit the ground and rolled apart. Colt was on his feet instantly, but so was Gregory. Both huge wolves were now bloodied, but neither cared. They circled twice before Gregory moved in to attack again, and a wild flurry of blows ensued.

Colt’s Beast wanted to go completely on the offensive, but Colt was able to hold it back some, and Gregory wasn’t able to land most of his blows. Colt though was more selective in the blows he tried to land, and most of his got through Gregory’s defenses.

Thirty seconds into the wild flurry, Gregory backed off after a nasty shot from Colt tore open a large wound on his side. Colt was hurting himself. Never before has he had this kind of fight, nor had he been wounded in so many different places. He felt the pain, but the Beast refused to allow the pain to distract them. They were in fight, not just for their lives, but for Control of the pack, which to the Beast was more important than his own life.

He may not have known the other wolves, or that they even existed before now, but he was an Alpha, and they were HIS to command. “YIELD!” Colt roared out at Gregory, knowing full well that the other wolf would not.

Just as Colt knew what would happen, the word had barely left his muzzle when Gregory roared in defiance and charged again. Colt had been expecting it, so was able to sidestep the charge and rake his claws down Gregory’s already injured side as he dove past.

Colt had thought that perhaps that would be enough, but Gregory bounced back to his feet, and charged Colt again. This time though, there was something different. The Beast told Colt all he needed to know… ‘FRENZY’.

Runi had explained one time that when the Beast takes control, and all rational thought is gone, they call it a Frenzy. At that point, the only thing that matters is kill or be killed. This is when a Wolf is at his most dangerous, even the Beast felt a little fear when facing another wolf that was in a frenzy.

Gregory moved quicker than Colt thought he would have been able to, and was able to hit Colt with his full weight, as well as two claw hits to Colt’s back, Gregory was trying to rip parts of Colt’s back open.

Roaring with a combination of pain and fury, Colt responded by slamming his forehead against Greg’s muzzle stunning the other wolf for a moment, but only for a moment. Before Colt could press the attack, the frenzied Gregory came at him again, trying to drag him to the ground.

Colt slammed Gregory in the face three times before he was on his back, and had to keep the large muzzle in front of him from taking a bite. Colt had to struggle to hold Gregory’s muzzle far enough away, as the huge teeth were snapping at his own muzzle. It took him a moment to gather himself enough, but Colt was finally able to roll Gregory onto his back, with Colt on top. Roaring in anger, Colt started slamming a closed fist into the side of Gregory’s face over and over again. Even when he felt the wolf slacked under him, his Beast refused to let him stop. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard a female’s voice cry out, “ANCIENT!” The next thing Colt knew he was flying backwards.

He hit a tree, but instead of going through it, or sliding down, he was held motionless against it, his muscles screaming in protest as they tried to move, tried to get back to the one who had attacked him, who had challenged for his leadership, who had dare to step up to him, a True Alpha. But he couldn’t move.

“COLT!” He heard a voice say, and looked down to see a small vampire looking back up at him. “CALM!” The figure said, causing Colt to try and roar out in protest and fight even harder. No matter how hard he struggled, he could not move. “Control yourself!” The young vampire cried out. Colt heard it, and knew the voice… ‘Runi‘, he said to himself, and shook his head. The Beast still wanted to kill anything that got between him and Gregory, but Colt knew the fight was over. Gregory was down, and not moving.

‘So this is what a Frenzy is like.’ Colt thought to himself. ‘Control… I must get control…’ It was than that Colt started to fight the Beast. This was a much different fight than the one they just had, this was a contest of wills, and one the Beast did not want to lose, but Colt would not. To Colt it felt like the contest of wills took hours, but for those watching, less than thirty seconds had passed before Colt once again took control.

Finally Colt nodded to Runi, then felt himself fall to the ground. He tried to stand at first, but couldn’t. Suddenly Christina was beside him, trying to help him up. He pushed her aside as he stood, than walked slowly over towards the other six wolves. In the guttural language that he now seemed to know, he spoke in a deathly serious tone. “Submit or challenge.”

The two youngest ones, instantly shifted to wolf form, and laid down on their stomachs whining slightly. The other four slowly followed their pack mates, submitting to Colt as the Alpha. Colt nodded, then shifted himself back down to his human form. As soon as he did, he dropped to a knee panting in pain. Runi moved next to him, and offered him a hand up. “I.. I thought you said I would heal when i shifted.”

Runi smiled at him as he helped Colt to his feet. “Normally you would, however wolves claws bite deeper than most anything else. So do the claws and fangs of older Vampires. You must get used to this pain.”

“Gee thanks.” Colt said sarcastically, then slowly turned, his eyes scanning till he found what he was looking for. “Clay?” He said softly as his eyes fell onto his younger brother.

Clay looked up to the woman beside him, who nodded. As soon as she did, Clay ran towards his brother, stopping only a few inches in front of him. Colt opened his arms, knowing that his brother was worried about his injuries. As soon as his arms opened though, Clay launched himself into Colt’s arms, knocking them both to the ground. Colt didn’t care how much it hurt, he held his brother tight, and started to cry.

“Ancient…” Runi’s slight smile vanished as he heard his title being spoken by the female. He turned away from Colt and Clay, then walked a few steps away before he turned towards her. He didn’t speak, he let his baleful red eyes do all the talking. She wilted a bit in front of his eyes, but then took a deep breath. Eyes still cast towards the ground, she began to speak. “My Lord, I am very regretful for the way we have to meet…”

Seeing the that other wolves were now in human form, and tending to Gregory, Runi sighed and interrupted her as she spoke. “While I am very interested to know how you knew where I made my lair, I am more interested in who you are, who these wolf folk are, and what you did to the young brother of the Alpha.”

“Yes My Lord.” She said hurriedly. “I will tell you everything you wish to know. I now go by the name Constance, I am of the Fourth Generation.”

Runi’s eyes got a bit wide at that pronouncement. “Who was your sire?” He demanded.

“During the Generations War, he went by the name Ishmael.” She said softly, causing Runi’s eyes to widen slightly again.

“I knew him, he was an ally.”

“Yes, he was.”

“We will speak more of this later. Now though, I wish to know about the other wolves.” Runi said deciding he needed to know about them more than he needed to know about her Sire.

She looked around noticing that Gregory was now on his feet, albeit leaning on one of the others, and Colt and Clay were also both on their feet, looking at the two of them. “Gather round.” She said, and the seven wolves, now in human form, came closer. Clay hesitated only briefly before he too moved. Although Clay did not just move closer, he moved right up beside her, where she draped an arm over his shoulder.

Colt growled slightly, till Runi held up his hand in warning. “We will discuss the matter of your brother later.”

“But…” Colt said as he moved closer, wanting to get near his brother.

“Colt. I give you my word that neither she, nor he will go far before we know all that I want to know.” He then looked at her. “Is that not correct.”

“Yes My Lord. I will not part company with you until you allow me to. I swear that on the blood of my Sire.” She spoke looking at Runi. when he nodded, she turned and spoke to Colt. “I know that you have no reason to believe me, I swear to you though, that things are not as they seem.”

Before Colt could say anything, Clay spoke up. “She’s right Colt. Things are really messed up, but she’s not really the bad guy here.”

“I am sorry to interrupt Ancient.” Mato said, causing everyone to turn and look at the large teen, who was now back in human form. “We may wish to consider having this conversation somewhere else. It is well past midnight, and the sun will be rising soon.”

Runi looked up towards the sky, then nodded. He moved over towards Gregory who tried to take a step back, but almost fell as he did so. “Had I meant to harm you pup, you would not be able to stop me.” Runi said, then put both of his hands against the man’s chest. Moments later, his hands started to glow. “This will hurt.” Proving his point, Gregory cried out but couldn’t move. Thirty seconds later, Runi pulled his hands back, and all of the most serious injuries that Gregory had were healed.

He than turned and looked at Colt. “You need to feel the injuries, feel what that kind of pain is like. Besides, Gregory could not keep up in the state you left him. You can walk easily enough.” He than looked at Constance. “You will follow.” With nothing else said, and no words being exchanged, Runi turned and walked back the way they had come. Honestly, he was thankful for the chance to gather his thoughts, and think through these new developments. He almost said something when Constance motioned to two of the wolves, who shifted to wolf form and ran the other way. However, she assured everyone that they were just going to get their vehicles.

As they were entering the vehicles, Colt started to say something about Clay, but Runi held up a hand. “Colt, I know that your first concern is your brother, but please believe me when I say he is in no danger. I too want to know the hows and the whys of his turning, but we shall have to wait until we are back to the house.” Colt didn’t look pleased, so Runi reached over and put his hand on his shoulder. “I swear to you, I will get to the bottom of this, I just ask that you give me time.”

The boy looked into the vampire’s eyes, and finally nodded, and relaxed, knowing Runi was not one to break a promise. Runi smiled, nodded, and then sat back. As the vehicle accelerated, and other vehicles took up following positions, Runi felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

He let his eyes close, and cleared his mind as he reached out to a device he had not used in a very, very long time. There! Not only did it still exist, but he could feel the other mind that was attached to it. That there was still an active Librarian, after all this time, almost amazed Runi.

By the time they reached the house, it was closing on three in the morning, and Runi was still very concerned over the current events. The one good thing he could say was that his ‘Library’ was safe, and on it’s way to him. As he exited the vehicle, he couldn’t help a bit of a pleased feeling knowing that he would soon be reunited with it.

He hadn’t made it more than a few feet from the vehicle when he saw the front door to the house open. He felt Hank’s agitation before he could see it on his face. Immediately the smile vanished from his face, to be replaced with his normal stone look.

Hank didn’t bother looking at the other two vehicles that followed Runi’s, just walked up to the ancient and spoke softly. “We have an issue.”

“The list gets longer…” Runi sighed, causing Hank to look confused. “Nevermind, what is the issue?”

“You remember the scavenger that wanted to soul drink me?”

“Yes…” Runi voice drew the word out.

“He’s here. Says he needs to speak to you. Something about an enemy that you have made.”

Runi couldn’t help but chuckle. “I will have to add this one to the long list of enemies I have made. Very few of them still walk though.” Runi’s unconcerned look actually made Hank feel a bit better. “I also have something else that is more pressing, however, I will speak with him briefly, and if he promises not to disrupt things, he may stay till I am able to get to him.” Seeing Colt look more than a bit upset at the prospect of Deacon hanging around, Runi smiled a truly predatory smile. “He will of course be made well aware of the consequences should he step out of line.”

Hank actually chuckled before nodding in agreement. He than indicated the other vehicles with a nod of his head. “Who are they?”

“One of them is the woman that found you. The others, they are other wolves.”

“Others?” It was Hanks turn to be surprised as he looked over the group that was forming. “Are things always this… interesting around you?”

“No.” Runi grinned as he started to move away. “They are usually worse.”

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