Seventy-Five

We remained by the car, and it was the most excruciating wait of my life. I regretted giving her this power over me, but she deserved my trust. The moon appeared from behind the heavy clouds and shone in the winter sky. I stared at it. Maybe it was the last time I’d appreciate such beauty. An apprehensive silence surrounded us. Not even the wind blew, and the animals around didn’t dare a peep out of their burrows. Anton cursed, bringing me back to reality. Liz must have said something, angering him, but not at her. Something else bugged him.
“Don’t let me out of it, Anton. I’m trying to reach her and she blocked me,” I said, my patience running thin.
“My little girl is about to have one more disappointment, if she hadn’t had enough already. I knew it would come to this, and I tried to prevent it, but you know how stubborn she is.” He raked his finger through his beard and stared at me. “Come, we have to go, now it’s not about her call.” Something gripped inside me, and the feeling that lurked around earlier intensified.
“Anton, can we disguise our energy? The closer we get, he will know we’re onto him.”
“No, we can’t disguise, but I can amplify it, so he’ll feel us everywhere. He won’t be able to pinpoint us.” The look on his face just told me he had something figured out, and I wasn’t wrong. “Vlad, I found the reason I didn’t find your resting place and could never identify the source of energy throwing me off radar.”
“Anton…” I growled. Lord, I hated this suspenseful side of him.
“He handles energy, that’s the only explanation. The little brat knew where you were all this time, Vlad. He amplified the surrounding energy, the same I’m going to do now. It’s one of his cursed gifts. Too bad for him, he doesn’t know about me. But we have little time. This gift is second skin to him, and he’ll discover us soon, but until then I can mess a little with the punk.” He winked at me with an evil smirk. If I didn’t know him better, I’d say just the horns were missing from his forehead. “Are you ready, old friend?”
We went to the trunk of the car, grabbing our swords and snuggling them into their sheaths on our backs, just like old times. Anton’s blade hummed and his dagger, different from Liz’s, glowed blue on the symbols, bringing them to life. It was mesmerizing. Suddenly, all the symbols and gems disappeared in front of my eyes, like they had never been there. The son of a bitch knew I was curious, but his face only showed the elation he’d always got before a battle. He blurred, and I followed suit.
We stopped by some trees, and the wave of satisfaction from my brother hit us. He knew we were there. Anton closed his eyes and once more the blue light shimmered around him, and I felt our energy expanding all over the place. The air stalled, the tree leaves stilled, turning our surroundings much more oppressive. Without realising it, I sent back a push, warning Radu off. How did I do that? I didn’t know. Maybe I tapped on Anton’s energy, but I got what I wanted. He got pissed at me.
*‘What are you two doing?’* It came from Liz’s tearful voice. *‘We had a deal!’*
*‘Deal is off, Alex.’* I felt the roll of her eyes when Anton told her off. A smile came to my lips. I loved her sassy attitude.
The house was a total blackness, and a cemetery would be noisier than that place. We had to go a few flights of stairs underground. It had a frigid atmosphere. Although we were in the dark, the place had a clean cut, almost no furniture. A flight down, we found desks and computers, and the energy of the men hidden inside the house got stronger, coming to us like magnets. They had their talents, but unfortunately, it wouldn’t help them save their lives.
What bothered me most was the sense of impending doom about to happen gnawing at me, a crescent uneasiness at the pit of my stomach until my mind went insane. I hate not controlling the situation; I felt powerless, and it frustrated the hell out of me.
*‘Anton, there are three on this floor and three more on the next. Let’s split. I’ll meet you in a bit.’* I was dying to sink my teeth into some proper nourishment.
*‘Have fun!’* He grinned, his eyes glowing red. I blurred, and his laughter echoed in my mind.
My first victim didn’t feel me coming as I grabbed his neck with strength, squeezing it so if he wanted to say something, nothing would come out of his mouth. The horrified look on his face when my eyes glowed made my adrenaline spike. Baring my teeth, I unleashed my demon as I sank my canines into his throat. I didn’t know I was hungry until the rich coppery taste filled my mouth, and I rolled my eyes behind my head, gulping down the dark liquid. I drank him dry, depleting him from his life’s essence as I felt his weight sag on me, letting him fall to the floor with a thud. Then I moved to the next one.
Believe me, this curse had only two downfalls, chasing and losing Liz over the centuries, and living on blood. I hated it, but my body craved this shit. Besides, it was fresher, straight from the source. Not those nasty blood bags Liz got for me, not that I’m complaining. I’m thankful to her, but it wasn’t the same, and I’d need all my strength tonight. I heard Anton one floor down, taking out more men. He was also swift in his ways and, like always, he knew how to have some fun.
*‘Vlad, I feel nine more people in the house, we’re getting closer.’
‘Yes, I sense them, too. Radu is close. Watch it.’
‘I’m close, dragă, and I promise you, if we get out of this place alive, I’ll forge the shackles myself and meld to that bedpost. You’ll live only to please me.’* I teased her in a husky voice, and I felt her shivers on my skin.
*‘Grizzly…’* she moaned, making my heart skip a beat and my cock get uncomfortable in my pants. ‘Believe me, I will hold on to your promise.’
I could see the door leading to Liz, and I couldn’t wait to get to her and take her out of there. Anton had caught up with me again. The look on his face told me something was off. There was a smooth vibration around, barely there. A door came down shut. When we tried to move towards the opposite exit, the door shut on our faces.
My demon snarled when my skin crawled, raising goosebumps all over my body, and he sensed my brother’s energy. My uneasiness went to the roof. Something didn’t add up. We were like wolves walking into a trap. Shit, things were about to get nasty. The lights went on as Anton hissed, hatred filling the room. Five men surrounded us at gunpoint.
“Asshole Jack! Alex trusted you!” He gritted out, and the others flinched when the room vibrated.
“I wouldn’t move if I were you, Tony, and neither you, Vlad.” Jack said, looking at us and at his side.
“Why did you betray Alex in such a vile way?” He growled, shaking the walls.
“I’ve never been her friend, Tony.” He smirked. “I’m an Empath. People feel comfortable around me. Alexandra got at the Agency so stiff, they assigned me to make her feel at home and loosen up. They needed her at ease enough to endure training and tests. I only did my job.”
“You, son of a…” Anton was about to launch himself at Jack when I put my hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
“Calm down, old friend.” I voiced and finished my speech in his head. We’ll have the chance to make him pay.
Even though I advised Anton to take it easy, rage clouded my brain. A strong wish to pass my death sentence onto him took over my body and mind. My fingers tingled to squeeze the life out of him, but I closed them into fists. I looked at those fuckers pointing guns at us as if those would keep us from shredding them. My eyes glowed, promising a slow and painful death to them. For the first time in centuries, I wished to get hold of some spikes!
The sound of a door opening and closing drifted our watchful eyes in that direction as light footfalls echoed around. It didn’t take too long for our gazes to fall upon my little brother, looking at us with a murderous gaze. My guess? I was about to discover what I did to deserve such hatred from him. After all, he was the one betraying our land, people, and me.