Chapter Twenty Four: Dear Brother of Mine

Cedric had a plan, a pretty good one in his opinion. Lorraine would arrive at the Cemetery with the decoy grimoire, distract the vampires and get her mother, then Cedric and Bates would attack them. “I see you complaining and whining, but no one is coming with a better plan.” Cedric said with a roll of his eyes, pouring himself a drink. He had explained his plan once more, which was met with furious rejections from both Bates and Aiden.

Lorraine, who had remained silent through his explanation and their arguments, stepped forward, “I think it’s a good plan. We can get my mom to safety.” She directed the last bit to Aiden, “And they handle the vampires.”

Aiden jolted off his seat, “Are you seriously agreeing to this? I’m not letting you get even a step close to these monsters. You don’t know what they're capable of.” He yelled in obvious agitation.

She let out a long sigh, “Aiden, please.” She pleaded with her eyes to make him understand. When he turned away from her gaze, she moved closer to him, grabbed one of his hands in hers. “This is my mom, Aiden. You’ll be there. If something happens, you’ll protect me, right?” She understood his concern, she really did. However, she didn’t like being told what to do. Lorraine was never one to be told nor forced; sometimes her stubborn mind would make her do the opposite of what she was told. But she also knew a losing fight when she saw one, and she knew Aiden’s intentions were mainly to keep her safe. *“The sweet, damsel in distress approach would be the best to use with Aiden.”* She had decided to herself.

He seemed to contemplate the idea for a second longer, but the way she was looking at him, he knew she had already made up her mind. His eyes drifted to Bates, who gave a sigh then nodded his head discreetly. “Fine, but you cannot and will not leave my side. No matter what, are we clear on that?” She nodded her head and gave him a small smile.

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At midnight, Aiden and Lorraine entered the cemetery. Lorraine’s mind kept reeling with the worst case scenarios; it was her thing to expect the worst. So, if something good happens she would be surprised, happy even. And in case it was bad, then she wouldn’t be let down. She had never been the cup-half-full kind of girl, and she was sure it saved her a lot of unnecessary pain. A few feet away, stood three vampires. With her eyes firm, she asked, “Where’s my mother?” She was glad that her voice didn’t reflect her fear and anxiety.

One of the three walked forward, so he was face to face with her. He tilted his head to the side, his eyes amused at the sight of her, completely ignoring Aiden. “Where is the grimoire?”

Aiden held the grimoire he had up, to show it to them.“After we see she is alive we will hand it to you” Aiden stated strongly, moving to stand between the vampire and Lorraine.

“She’s here.” The voice made Aiden stiffen in his place; he froze and his eyes widened in recognition. It was a voice he hadn’t heard for the past eighty years, but he had craved to hear for just as long. “But not like this. Not here.” The thought saddened him further, and he didn’t even feel Lorraine stepping forward to have a better look at the man who was coming from the shadows. “Hello Brother” The same man said, dragging a languid woman roughly by the arm as they both appeared from the dark shadows and the trees.

Lorraine launched forward towards her mother but was stopped by two of the vampires. One stood with his hands crossed over his puffed chest right in her face. “Where do you think you’re going?” The other vampire held Lorraine by the biceps.

“Let me go you piece of shit”. She yelled trying to get out of his grasp and reach for her mother. Lorraine noticed something on the wrist of the man holding her. It was a small tattoo, it was a small circle surrounding a sun with five triangles around it representing the rays.

Aiden was still paralyzed with shock. “Mark”. The name left his mouth in disbelief. Seeing his brother after all these years engendered the worst kind of mixed emotions; his guilt was the most prominent feeling though. Everything else seemed to disappear, Aiden could only see Mark and even Suzan's sluggish form didn’t seem to matter at that point. “What are you doing, Marcus?” Aiden asked with a dejected look.

“I am taking the path you have forced upon me, brother” Mark replied with a cruel smirk. He knew those specific words would get to Aiden, they would weaken him, and play on his guilt.

Meanwhile, Cedric and Bates were watching the entire scene waiting for the right moment to attack. Cedric gave Bates a look that it was time when they noticed that Aiden had, albeit unknowingly, distracted Mark. They both flash into the scene and everyone else stiffened in their place feeling the shift in the air.

However, Cedric and Bates were both faster than the others. Bates was the first to slap the head of one of the vampires, while Cedric ripped the vampire, holding Lorraine, head off. Lorraine fell to the ground tired from her earlier struggle with the vampire. Everyone was moving way too fast, but she felt the splatter of blood on her face and chest when Cedric ripped the head of the last vampire that was close to her.

Bates walked slowly to stand next to Aiden, and was about to say something, when Cedric showed behind Mark and was about to rip his heart out as well, but was stopped by Aiden, who pushed him with all his strength that he flew hitting his back to one of the trees, breaking it with the force of the push. “Leave”. Aiden ordered Mark and no sooner had the words left his mouth than Mark flashed out of the scene. Cedric ran towards Aiden with great speed and held him by the throat, “What the hell was that?”

“Guys, I need help here.” Lorraine called out. Bates gave Cedric a look that made him grit his teeth and after a second of staring at Aiden with disgust before pulling away from him. They saw Lorraine on the ground, holding her mother in an embrace trying to keep her awake. “We have to take her to a hospital or something. She looks pretty bad.”