Bleeding Tears, Crying Blood

I watched the fight unfold with awe. While both Gabriella and Valeria were pure and old, close to being Ancients, and powerful fighters, they could not touch Cian. He would dart and swerve away from their claws and blurred feet then wait for them to attack him again. It was as if he was toying with them. It was strange to watch. I had never imagined anyone being able to take on two powerful Pure Bloods without so much as batting an eyelid. He didn’t even look tired or out of breath. If all dhampir were as strong as Cian, it made me wonder how they had died out.

White was close to my neck and I could feel his intrigue curling off his tiny body. He was enjoying watching this fight. Leroy wasn’t though. He was looking slightly unnerved and worried, wincing now and then when one of the sister Brides were flung across the room or Cian came close to being stuck. My cousins remained perfectly still by the doors, not making a move to come to the sister Brides aid.

I wasn’t sure how long the sisters could keep it up and wondering how the fight was to come to an end when abruptly it just stopped. Gabriella and Valeria were breathing hard and scowling with bared fangs at Cian. He was still in-between us, perfectly calm and unharmed.

“Valeria, we can’t beat him.” Gabriella breathed. “You said we needed to go so let’s go.”

“No!” Valeria hissed. “Not without Alma. We’ve already given our game away. It’s all of nothing now.”

“But-“

“No buts Gabriella. If we don’t kill this Ancient and take Alma now, we and Marius will have to answer to the Lady.”

Gabriella looked hesitant and gave Cian a worried glance. That glance made it clear she knew this fight was futile but failing meant death. She sighed in defeat and readjusted her pose, ready for battle.

“Then let’s do this.” She said solemnly.

I waited patiently, expecting the fight to start up again, when I felt something outside and a body came hurtling through the window. With glass raining through the floor, the short woman landed neatly between the sisters and Cian. She stood up, ruffling her cropped black hair while she stared at Valeria and Gabriella hard.

“We need to run.” Elena said. Valeria opened her mouth to argue but Elena spoke over her. “Wolfram found out what has happened and he’s right behind me. We need to flee or we’re going to die here.”

She made for the door, ignoring Valeria’s hisses and Gabriella’s worried gasp as they followed with an air of panic surrounding them, but froze when it swung open. With his usual cigarette clamped between his teeth and his eyes scowling behind his glasses, Wolfram stepped into the room.

Instantly the three Brides jumped back and gave him a nervous a wary look. Cian remained where he was by the window, blocking in the three Brides as Wolfram came from the front.

“Alfred and Donald. You can leave now. She’s safe.” Wolfram said.

Without a word, only a quick relieved glance at myself and one of spite at the Brides, my cousins fled the room. Wolfram turned on the three vampires who hissed softly.

“Did you really think you could take her while I guard her?” Wolfram asked with mild humour in his voice.

All three vampires remained silent. Wolfram sighed and lifted up the long silver pistol that sat in a holster close to his waist. The strange weapon was instantly recognisable to me. I blinked in surprise, confused as to why he had the weapons of a witch. It might be filled with

“Either you come with me and face the Lady for attempting to abduct the child of a Pure Blood Clan or you fight me and die.”

“Either way we’re going to die.” Valeria snapped. “I am not giving in without a fight.”

Gabriella fidgeted nervously while Elena looked on with hatred. “Remember.” She muttered which was responded by a grunt from Valeria and a stiff nod from Gabriella.

Abruptly all three rushed him, coming at all sides. Wolfram remained quite calm as fangs and claws came for him. With inhuman speed and strength, he tossed Gabriella aside, kicked out at Valeria and let a bullet explode from the barrel of his pistol at Elena’s face. She barely ducked in time then rose, aiming for his throat. He stepped to the side and his fist smashed into her face, sending her flying across the room and into the bed of broken glass.

I watched in shock. Wolfram, a human man, was standing his ground against three vampires. He wasn’t doing it as flawlessly as Cian, I could see he was actually trying, fighting at his best and the sisters were getting attacks in, but it should be impossible for him to fight this well as a simple human. It should be impossible for him to use a Witch-gun. I didn’t understand. A human man who could fight immortals with ease and be able to use witch-weapons could only be a Warlock, the specials of the Families, much like the Silvers were to the Clans. Their Matter was far superior to their female counterparts and where extremely rare. It was uncommon Witches gave birth to boys but they were always normal human males who couldn’t use Matter, only carriers of the genes of the Family and sires of Witches. For a male to be born with Matter was stupidly rare. It was just impossible that Wolfram could be one.

But at the same time it made sense. His strength, his speed, his knowledge of the Old World and the fear the Brides showed when speaking of him. Even my father’s choice. He would not choose one singular human man to be my only guard if he didn’t think he was strong enough to ward away a whole Clan of vampires. Wolfram being a Warlock, a hunter of the immortals and holder of powerful Matter, made the reasons behind my father’s choice clear.

I wrung my hands nervously as Elena and Gabriella began to fight harder. Their attacks become swifter and more precise, forcing Wolfram to go on the defence as claws nicked and scratched at his arms and chest once too often. It was then that Valeria dashed towards me. I didn’t realise she was until White stiffened and demanded that I run as she tore towards me. I glanced at Cian and he hadn’t moved. He remained still even though he was watching Valeria reach out to me, intending to grab me and run. Then there was crack of a gun and howl of pain as Valeria tumbled to the floor.

Wolfram acted quickly. He smashed the butt of his gun into Elena’s face, causing a spurt of blood to squirt out of her nose as she fell to the floor, and tossed Gabriella aside then aimed his gun at Valeria’s head as she struggled to stand with a hole in her leg. There was another crack but this time my ears popped as something exploded in the room. Blood and flesh burst from Valeria’s chest as the large Matter bullet tore through her body. She gagged then sighed as she dropped to the floor, dead.

Elena screamed at the sight of her dead sister and ran to Wolfram with the intent of tearing him limb from limb. Cian however was acting now. He ran to her and slammed his hand into her throat before she got close to him.

“You have lost. I suggest you return to your Groom and inform him that taking Alma is impossible. Underhanded tactics you used this evening will only fail again.” He said calmly. “It is best for him to back off now or risk death.”

“I never said they could leave.” Wolfram said sharply, his witch-gun now aimed at his head. “They want to die fighting me, to pay for trying to take Alma when I was ordered to take care of her, they’re more than welcome.”

“But they don’t.” Cian said and squeezed Elena’s throat. “Do you?”

“No.” She choked out as she glanced wildly from one man to the other. “My sister and I will leave.”

Cian’s grip loosened and she dropped heavily to the floor. “Then leave. Warn Marius Gabor that Alma is strongly guarded. Getting passed us again will take more than luring her away.”

“Letting them go is foolish.” Wolfram snarled, glancing from Cian to Elena.

Elena scowled up at him but, after giving the body of her dead sister a sorrowful glance, limped over to Gabriella, who was bloody and wounded with tears streaming down her face. Wolfram remained stiff but swiftly turned and aimed the pistol at the back of Elena’s head. Just as he pulled the trigger, Cian grabbed his wrist and forced his arm upwards, causing the Matter bullet to fly into the ceiling.

“Leave now.” Cian said firmly to Elena.

The two Brides didn’t hesitate and fled from the room while Wolfram and Cian stood stiffly. Wolfram was scowling at Cian while he in turn was observing him with a calm gaze. Suddenly Wolfram’s fist shot up to Cian’s face, forcing him to let go of his wrist and swerve away. Trailing his gun after Cian, Wolfram let out a few shots, all of which Cian avoided. But, even though I knew Cian was the stronger one out of the two, I couldn’t let them fight. Gripping White hard, I ran over to Cian and latched onto his arm while I put myself between Cian and Wolfram.

Instantly Wolfram froze. He stared at me with a gentler gaze. The cigarette glowed sharply. I looked at him, quietly pleading with him to lower the gun, to stop fighting. Slowly his stature became less wound up, more relaxed, even if he didn’t lower the gun.

I watched Wolfram warily. Cian made no move to disarm him or flee. He remained quite still and calm, as always.

“Who are you? Why are you here, fighting a fight that isn’t yours?” Wolfram demanded of Cian.

Cian smiled as realisation came to him. “Alma has not told you of me.”

Instantly Wolfram appeared confused and he looked at me, seeking answers.

“This is Cian Pluvia. A dhampir I found.” I said softly.

Shock, disbelief and doubt were now flooding over his features. “A dhampir? Seriously?”

“I found him underneath the church. He was chained there.”

“And why didn’t you come to me about it?” He demanded.

“Because I didn’t know what was going to happen to him. He said he was imprisoned. He might have been taken away from me if anyone found out.” I said defensively and glanced at the floor when Wolfram’s expression became firm. “Once he had taught me about the dhampir I was going to tell you about him.”

Wolfram was quite silent. He never lowered the gun as his eyes observed myself and Cian firmly. I didn’t like that look. It was slightly untrusting and doubtful.

“Do you trust this man, Alma?”

I glanced up and nodded once. “I do. He has only ever helped me and has protected me, even when he said he would never leave the crypt.” I said softly. “He’s also my kin.”

“What about you, White? Do you trust him?”

White hummed. “I agree with Alma. Cian has only tried to teach her, not harm her.”

Wolfram eyed Cian’s gentle ragged face a little longer before he let his arm drop and lowered the gun. “I will take your word, Alma.” I smiled at him which made his eyes grow hard. “But I will be keeping a close eye on him. He doesn’t have my trust yet.”

My smiled turned into a grin of joy, pleased Wolfram didn’t intend to kill Cian any longer. Whether or not he would turn him into the Lady, I didn’t know, but for now Cian was safe. The joy was stunted a little when I looked over at Leroy. Blood was spattered over his pale face and his eyes looked unfocused. It then hit me that this was the first fight between strong immortals he had seen. The first death he had witnessed. He was probably feeling scared and sick. I swiftly approached his side and took his hand, rubbing his shoulder to comfort him and wiping the blood from his face. For once White didn’t say a word of distaste even though I felt a pulse of annoyance come from him.

“I will deal with the body.” Cian said as he approached the corpse of Valeria. “I assume you’ll be wanting her as evidence.”

“I will.” Wolfram said as he inhaled deeply on the short cigarette.

“Then I’ll take her back to my crypt. She will be safe there.”

“No, I’ll have her back in my house.” Wolfram said firmly, ignoring the quiet understanding nod from Cian, and glanced up at Leroy. “Are you okay?”

Leroy smiled weakly. “Yes.”

“Good.” He paused as he observed the white sickly shade of his face. “You’re going to have to get used to scenes like this, Leroy. Death and violence is far more common in the Old World. We’re not an overly civilised people. We still settle tiffs and threats by ripping each other’s heads off, not by laws or words.”

Leroy simply nodded and squeezed my hand. I could tell he was beginning to fear this new world he was a part of.

“Wolfram.” Wolfram glanced up from Cian analysing Valeria’s fatal wound. “Why did the Branch turn?”

“Their loyalties were tested, that is all.” Wolfram said with a slight shrug. White continued to stare. “Everything will be explained once we get back to the house.”

“And how long until we leave for a new house?” White asked, making me look up from Leroy to Wolfram in interest. It hadn’t occurred to me I should leave. The threat was dealt with and Cian had sent the two Brides away alive to warn Gabor of the powerful people surrounding me. I thought that was meant to end his hunt of me.

“As soon as possible.” He said. “Now come on. Dawn is coming.”

“Ah, one more thing before you go charging off.” Cian called, stopping Wolfram mid-stride. “Which Family do you belong to?”

Wolfram’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you ask?”

“Wolfram is not a name I recognise and your Matter is from an old line.”

“It is the Family I prefer to be associated with. The one my mother built.”

Cian smiled in quiet understanding. “Then your first name. May I have it?”

Wolfram hesitated, glancing at my surprised gaze as he confirmed my thoughts, looking a little withdrawn. “Eugene.” He muttered before he turned and left hurriedly.

Cian smiled as he gathered Valeria gently into his arms, while I stood still, feeling a little awed by Wolfram. Even White was surprised. Warlocks were even more uncommon than Silvers. While there were about five Silvers in the world, Wolfram was probably the only one of his kind.

“Come then, Alma, Leroy and White. We have much to do in the next twenty-four hours.” Cian said, forcing me to pay attention, and strode off in lithe quiet strides. “If we are to flee here without leaving a trace behind or be seen, we must do it tomorrow night.”

I trailed after him, keeping Leroy close, a little worried but not that surprised by how quiet he was. I just hoped the shock of seeing someone killed in front of him passed quickly. But my mind wondered as the silence stretched before me in the calm night. I wondered why Cian came to me. I wondered how the Brides found me. I wondered why my Branch turned reluctantly on me. I wondered why Wolfram kept his rare and astounding heritage to himself, not even telling me that he was a Warlock.

But, what I wondered about the most, was where I was going to be dragged off to next and what exactly was my father going to do about Gabor now.