Bleeding Tears, Crying Blood

I sat beside Leroy, staring solemnly at the fireplace opposite me. Valeria was so confident about us being unable to escape that we were left unbound. I was a little insulted by that but I kept that to myself and ensured my emotionless mask remained firmly on my face. I had to remain calm. I knew no one was coming to me rescue and getting into a panic about it wasn’t going to help me. I had to figure out an escape plan and quickly. Valeria said one of her sister Brides were coming. Together they were to bring me to Gabor safely and quietly.

I didn’t look at either Donald or Alfie who stood by both doors, one standing tall with his hands clasped behind his back, the other leaning miserably on the wall. I had not made eye contact with them since their betrayal or made any attempt to speak with them. While I knew Valeria Gabor had forced them into this betrayal, I still felt hurt, shocked even. I was the daughter of their Head. For a member of my Clan to turn against me was near impossible.

Leroy was quiet beside me but I felt his rage. He scowled at Alfie the most and hatred curled off him. Once I felt Leroy tense and an urge to run at Alfie and sock him filled him. He nearly did until my hand gripped his softly. I didn’t look at him, simply continued my vacant stare, but he settled a little. He understood my silent command and followed my lead. I was pleased. Cassandra had taught him well.

I was there for an hour before a new one arrived. Valeria, who was lounging in the chair by the window, ignoring me completely, stood long after I felt the new comer’s approach. Pushing her long pale hair out of her face, Valeria waited beside me, hands on her hips and surrounded with an air of impatience. Without even glancing up, the door opened and in stepped the second Bride.

Younger in appearance, the second Bride waved to Valeria and smiled. “Hello, Valeria.”

“You took your time, Gabriella.” She snarled

“Well I thought I could seeing as it is unlikely for the girl escape you.” She said defensively and a little surprised by the hostility.

“We are running out of darkness.” Valeria snapped. “If we don’t put some distance between us and her guard, we’re going to die.”

“Oh we don’t need to worry about him. He’s stuck in his house apparently. Errol said he rarely leaves.” She said, waving her hand as if to swat away Valeria’s rage.

Valeria’s scowl twisted as rage boiled. “That man is our greatest threat and if he notices Alma missing, he will hunt us down. We need to get to Marius before Wolfram finds us, tears us apart and hands our heads over to the Lady.”

“But surely we can deal with him.” Gabriella stuttered nervously. “I mean, neither of us are young. And he’s human.”

“If we could fight him then I would’ve faced him, not lured the girl out here!”

Gabriella blinked then nodded and agreed quietly as she began to worry.

Surprise was what made me look up at them, to see if the fear I smelt was true. Valeria’s cold face was thick with it while Gabriella appeared to be apprehensive and nervous. These two old vampires were terrified of Wolfram. It bewildered me.

“Where is Elena?”

“She’s coming. She’s just sorting out loose ends.”

“Loose ends?”

“Someone came. A human. She said she’d blur his memories, dump his body, then come to us.”

My blank stare faltered for a moment, letting a scowl pass through, when Valeria strode over to me. She grabbed my arm and hauled me onto my feet.

“Gabriella, you can kill the boy if you want or blur his mind and release him, I don’t care, but we are leaving in the next five minutes.”

“What about Elena?”

“Elena can follow us by other means. She’s not young, Gabriella, she can handle herself.”

Gabriella pouted then marched over to Leroy who glowered at her. “Sorry boy. Killing you is faster.” She said softly.

Leroy stood and posed to fight; trying his best to remember what Cassandra had taught him as Gabriella approached him, tossing her long brown her over her shoulders. I turned violently and tried to wrench myself out of Valeria’s grasp but only got claws thrust into my skin, making me wince in pain. I glanced at my friend and fear for his life filled me.

“Run Leroy!” I shouted.

He glanced at me, giving me a determined stare and didn’t obey me. Instead he swung his fist, aiming for her face, but missed as Gabriella hopped back then darted forward. Her small hand slammed into his throat, making him choke, and lifted him off the floor. Again I tried to get Valeria off of me and took a wild swipe at her face. She caught my hand though and, with an enraged his, brought her forehead down hard against mine with a horrible crack. Pain exploded in my head and stars danced before my eyes.

“Hurry and kill the boy then.” Valeria ordered as she dragged me away.

I tried to stop her but the pain in my head was too much. I felt myself being dragged away and the sound of Leroy’s gasping for air filled my ears. And then I felt the cold and the rage.

It swirled about me, chilling my skin, filling me with a sense of protection and soothing my pain away. All of a sudden, Valeria let me go, howling in pain and shaking her frozen blue hand. I stumbled back and looked to Gabriella when she screamed in agony. She was kneeling on the floor, her arm limp and sticking at an awkward angle, with Leroy coughing in front of her.

I quickly snatched his hand and pulled him onto his feet, dragging Leroy away to the centre of the room and unhooking White from my belt.

“I have done all I can.” White said thickly as I placed him on my shoulder. I could hear him breathing heavily. He was exhausted.

“It is fine White.” I said as I eyed the two female vampires recover from their brief injuries and turned to scowl and hiss at me.

“No it isn’t. I should be protecting you.” He said irritably.

“You have.” I whispered. “I just have to get us out of here.”

“You can’t. Not with Leroy anyway. He is too slow.” White grumbled.

I felt Leroy’s guilt emit strongly from behind me. “Go Alma.” He said. “I’ll try and get myself out.”

“Do not be foolish, Leroy.” I said severely. “You are under my protection and my friend so I refuse to leave you.”

“Then we’re both going to die.” Leroy said softly.

“No we are not. I am going to get us out of here.” I said firmly, backing into him as Valeria stormed towards us and Gabriella shoved her arm back into its socket.

“How?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t know how to get us out. I could if it was just myself. I could hurl myself out of the window and run like the wind. But not with Leroy. He would probably be wounded by the glass and would only be able to run a few feet before either a Bride or one of my cousins were on him.

I was stuck.

Just as Valeria was within reaching distance, something burst in the room. At first it was an aura. Thick, powerful and old. But it wasn’t like White’s which was filled to the brim with rage. This was aura was perfectly calm. But it still scared me. And it scared Valeria. She stopped before me and took a few steps back, trying to pinpoint the origin of the aura. She couldn’t though. Even I couldn’t pinpoint it. It just filled the whole room.

Then bats appeared. They came from nowhere, just merged from the air in a giant cloud. The circled the room, growing in numbers, until I couldn’t see anything but the tiny black creatures. Rapidly they swirled to a single point in the room, creating a small black cloud that formed a single man. I stared, shocked that he had left his ‘home’, shocked that he had known I was in danger.

Staring with gentle eyes at myself and Leroy, Cian smiled in relief. “I am glad you are unharmed.”

I dumbly nodded while Valeria and Gabriella watching him wary eyes, preparing themselves for a fight.

“Who are you?” Valeria demanded.

“My name is Cian Pluvia but I doubt it has any meaning in this time.” He said calmly, standing perfectly still in the centre of the room.

“Valeria, what do we do?” Gabriella asked as she eyed Cian. “He doesn’t seem to be making any move to fight us.”

“I will not be attacking you, simply defending myself.” Cian stated. “Under an old creed, I refuse to kill.”

Valeria laughed. “Then how do you plan to rescue the girl? I assume that’s why you’re here.”

“It is.”

“We won’t let you take her unless we are dead.”

“There are other means to stop you taking her. Rendering you unconscious should do the trick.”

“Not an easy thing to accomplish, you should know that.” Valeria pointed out.

“For someone other than myself, yes.”

I raised an eyebrow at the level of self-confidence Cian had while Valeria snapped her teeth in aggravation.

“You think we can be taken down that easily? Then let me prove you wrong.”

She darted forward with such speed she became nothing but a blue. She aimed her long thick claws at his throat but, just as she came within reach, Cian’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. Holding tightly, he whirled around, dragging her body as he went, and let her fly with ease into the wall. She hit hard and the brick gave way as she tore through it.

Gabriella gasped and stared as her sister Bride walk uneasily back into the room. Cian didn’t move at all, just watched with a faint smile.

“If you still think I cannot take you both down then by all means let us continue.” He said in a soft confident tone.

“Gabriella!” Valeria snapped, alerting her sister Bride. “We’re taking this bastard down.” She snapped.

“Alma, you stay back.” Cian instructed firmly.

I did as I was told and pressed my back against the wall and held Leroy’s hand as we watched Cian begin a fight he had already won.