A Dark Pursuit (3)

‘’’’ "Once upon a time, at the beginning of age, when the world was new. There were two rival tribes. The Tribe of the Bat and The Tribe of the Snake. The Tribe of the Bat were known as what we would call today vampires, they were the guardians of the sea and fire. The Tribe of the Snake was also like vampires but instead of drinking blood they put poison into the blood stream like snakes today can. They were the guardians of earth and wind. No tribes however were guardians of the darkness that separated the heavens from the earth and the earth from hell. So they battled each other, a war lasting for 13 days and 13 nights. Finally they came to a tie. Both tribes had lost many men and women and were afraid that if the war continued, their existence would be threatened, so they agreed to a truce, they would split the darkness’ power. The darkness that separated the heavens and the earth belonged to the tribe of the bat and the darkness that separated the earth and hell belonged to the snake. Now, the tribes still disliked each other for having to split the darkness so for centuries they stayed out of each other’s way. It was to be said that only the royal bloodline could carry the tribes half of the darkness and element. So centuries past, even a millennium until one day, both of the tribes decided to sign a peace treaty. A woman from the Snake tribe would marry a man from the Bat tribe. So the marriage was arranged. Shanara, was of the snakes, she was caring and compassionate, a very good person," Kier paused." I loved her very much, but my father, Lyrr was of the bat, he was cruel, and arrogant. He cared for no one but himself. Shanara begged her parents to reconsider, that she could not marry a heartless man like Lyrr himself. But they ignored her cries of protest. On the day of their wedding all was silent. Although Lyrr was a heartless man, he did respect and honor her as his wife. It seemed that he almost cared for her. Soon she became pregnant with their children. When she gave birth, the portal joining this world and the human world opened. Vampires from both the Bat Tribe and The Snake Tribe went to the human world. And so me and my brothers were born." Kier shifted uncomfortably.

"There’s more?" I guessed. He looked at me and gave a half-hearted smile. My heart spluttered uncontrollably, "You know me too well. Yes, there is more. After me and my brother’s birth, that’s when things went wrong. My father changed, about three years went by until my mother could stand no more the way my father was treating her and us. She stood against him, demanding that he not only respect her as a woman but as his wife. Angry, he told her that he only wanted heirs to the throne and disowned her. Betrayed and humiliated, one night, she planned to escape him, bringing me and my brothers along with her. We made it out to the courtyard, but before long, my father came after us. He shouted at mother and then he…." He stopped. Pain covered his face, and I wanted to make it go away. I hugged him, holding him tight as if to erase all the sorrows. "He ‘killed’ her. A stab through the heart. He took me and my brothers back to the castle with him, saying that if we ever tried to escape he would kill us too." I could feel the sadness in his voice. I wanted to cry, not only for him, but for his mother. His mother he barely knew. "I should have done something," he said.

My head snapped up at those words, "What could you have done Kier? You were barely three. I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I really am." He brought up his hand to gently stroke my hair. I sighed in content. I wanted to stay that way forever, in his arms, completely forgetting about the cruel world around us.

"Though I do have one question…" I trailed of, thinking that he was still tender on the subject.

He chuckled, "Yes?"

"What year were you born?"

He laughed, "1890, a few years before the book Dracula was first published. I think that story goes after my father, he lived in a castle you know, it was torn down, but that was where he stayed when he weren’t with us."

I had to laugh at that thought. The whole world didn’t know that Dracula was based on a true story. Who would have known it was linked to Kiers father.

"So, are the stories true? You can run faster and hear better than humans?"

He shook his head, "I don’t see where the stories come from. We aren’t thirst crazed beings, and I don’t see how drinking human blood can make you have abnormal senses. Though…" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "We do live longer than the average human and we do sometimes get very thirsty. Don’t you see that’s how vampires are born? The Tribe of the Bat drink blood, and The Tribe of The Snake have venom. So when my mother had us. Me and my brother’s got my father’s blood drinking ability and my mother’s fang poison. We were the very first of what we call true vampires. Vampire knights. But there’s still more to the story."

Kier led me over to his chair and settled down, letting me squeeze next to him.

"Since my mother was a guardian of Earth and Wind and my father a guardian of Fire and Sea, when they had us, each of those elements were marked on us. I have hazel eyes because my element is Fire. Gabriel has silver eyes because his element is wind. Eric has green eyes, so his element is earth and Drake has got blue eyes because his element is water. So as you can see our eyes reflect our elements,"
I looked up at him. Something was wrong. His eyes weren’t hazel, they were….well a strange color. Definitely not hazel but why…

Kier sensed where my thoughts had drifted and sighed, "When my mother died, I stood looking at her body. I had overheard my father talking earlier to one of his colleagues about soul transference. So as I looked over at my dying mother’s body, I tried it. It was a painful process because I was so young. But it was already too late, and as a consequence of that, I lost my soul to the winds….." he lost himself in his train of thought.

I cuddled closer to him, offering my support. Poor Kier, gave up his soul to save his mother, but only knew too late nothing could be done. But it certainly explained a lot. That’s why for siblings they looked different and the somewhat emptiness in Kier’s eyes. I leaned against his warm body, inhaling the scent of him, something that I would never forget till the end of my days….

"So what do you do if you have the element of fire?" I asked.
He grinned and brought his hand up to rest on my arm. My heart thudded uncontrollably. Using his index finger he trailed down my arm. I gasped, his finger was leaving a small fiery trail down my arm to where his finger had stopped. I didn’t feel any burning sensation, just this warm heat.

"Of course, if I wanted to burn or cause damage I’d be able to…" He tailed off.

He took my hand and brought it to his mouth and kissed it. I blushed deeply. He raised my chin, so much so that I looked directly into those not-so-hazel eyes of his. His head lowered as he bent down to kiss me…

We were so happy back then….. ‘’’’

"I must object to this!" I shouted to Kiers back. He had slung me over his shoulder and stalked out of the restaurant. "This is…this is abuse! Let go of me! I’m not going with you. PU me down right now or I’ll sue you so badly until you don’t have penny to your name. Gabriel, help!"
Gabriel was walking a bit behind us. Blood rushed to my head as I hung upside down. I tried to lift up my head long enough to look at Gabriel.

His smile was apologetic, "I’m sorry Rose, but Kier is after all King."

I shot him a dirty look, "By 5 minutes."

"Still, we follow tradition and technically Kier is older." He replied.

"Traitor," I said. But he just smiled again.

I huffed, "Well, you could at least tell me where you’re taking me!" I shouted to Kier.

"Home Rose, OUR home, where you belong. Your place is at my side, not as a waitress,"

"You’re taking me there! Kier, I already told you I’m not going with you!"

He ignored me, "I’m taking you home Rose whether you like it or not. It’s something I should have done a long time ago."

At that statement we were both silent. Everyone was silent. People were starring at us as we walked down the street. Couldn’t really blame them, I’d stare too if I saw a woman over a guy’s shoulder. I couldn’t really do anything so I went limp in his arms. I swear, if I wasn’t going to be put down any second, I was going to pop a blood vessel in my head.

Finally we came to a halt. Kier gently lifted me of his shoulder and onto the ground. I wobbled, as the blood rushed down from my head. I shook my head trying to clear my brain. Kier was standing in front of me with an amused expression on his face.

I was mad, really mad this time. Kier had taught me how to fight, now it was time to show him that I was no longer an innocent naïve girl. Remembering how he taught me. I did a high kick bringing my leg up to smash the side of his face. I ran as if the dogs of hell were unleashed. I kept running, pushing and shoving everyone out of my way. Not looking back to see if Kier was behind me. Who did he think he was?

Trying to drag me out of my normal life. I mean I had a boyfriend…. Oh god I had a boyfriend. That thought made me stop dead in my tracks. I should call him and tell him that I may be unavailable for a few days. Running to the nearest phone booth I searched my pockets for any spear change. I managed to dig out a few coins. Putting the coins in, I dialed Kurt(my boyfriend’s) number. But before the first ring ended somebody grabbed the phone out of my hand and slammed it back down hard.

I turned around. It was Kier. He looked angry. Fire leaped in his eyes.
"What do you think you’re doing?" Kier asked me.

"Umm…. Uh…" I said, not being able to think of a good excuse. I continued to back away until the phone booth stopped me.

He moved closer and closer to me until his breath blew in my face. He leaned down and skimmed my jaw with his nose, "Were you thinking about calling the police Rose? Surely you can’t be that stupid, you know that you’ll never be able to pin anything on me…"

I almost closed my eyes in the sweetness that was Kier. But no, if I gave in he’ll think I was an easy catch. Not this time.

"Just like the first time we met," he whispered.

With all the will I could muster I pushed him back.

"What do you want Kier? I’m not going back with you. I’ve got a life now, you should move on,"

His eyes narrowed, "I marked you," he said nodding toward my collar bone, instinctively I touched it. The symbol was fading. But I wouldn’t let him know that. "It is impossible to run away from me. I’m taking you back and there’s nothing you can do about it. Now, would you prefer me to haul you over my back like before or would you prefer to walk, keeping in mind you shall not run away again."

I looked around. There were a lot of people, and if Kier was a serious as I think he was, he really was going to drag me over his back.

"Fine," I said and walked.

I hadn’t realized how far I had run, because we were walking for quite some time until Kier reached took his cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

"Yes Gabriel it’s me, I – yes Rose is with me now. Can you come and pick us up? –Yes just of the corner of Mainstreet. Thanks, bye."

Kier gestured me to sit down on a nearby bench. I sat watching the traffic and the cars driving by…

Kier sat next to me, closer than was necessary. I shifted uncomfortably. The silence between us weighed on before I could stand it no more.

"How are things?" I blurted out. I almost smacked my head for bringing up that subject.

He gave me a confused look.

"Like…um…how are things in The OtherWorld?" The OtherWorld, a world parallel to this one, where all the magic, witches and wizards lived, etc, etc, sounds like your average fictional story doesn’t it?

"Well, I’m sure you know that we overthrew my father. We then had to hunt down the source and his remaining minions. But I’m sure you already know that, do you mean after you ‘left’?"

I chewed my lower lip, "Uh..yeah…like..over the phone, at Jurley’s Restaurant, Gabriel was talking to you about some assassin?"

"Ah…yes. The assassin, well shortly after you left, there’s been a string of killings going on. We need all the counsel members to help on the subject. We suspect that he’s after a jewel of some sort. A precious power. We believe the jewel is called the Lacternery. My brothers and I have looked at certain scrolls concerning it, but have come up with nothing. If the assassin get’s it, we do not know what evil means he will succeed with it."

"Why me?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean.." I shifted to turn around to face him. Careful not to look in his eyes, "I mean, why do you need me? I would have thought that if you had all of your brothers things should be fine."

The expression he gave was unreadable. His jaw was set. Even his dark hair looked angry. "I see you really have forgotten."

I blinked. Once, twice, "Forgotten what?"

"The mark on your collar bone. I marked you, and that mark symbolizes that you are mine. That you are a part of me and now that I’m King, you, by OtherWorld law are my queen."

At that my jaw dropped. Like it really dropped. He grinned. My heart spluttered. He leaned closer to me, "Is it such a bad thing to belong to me?" His hazel eyes filled my vision . Will he kiss me? Will he kiss me? Yes, yes, yes! Wait. No. NO!

I leaned back and his eyes narrowed the tiniest bit.

"How have, ‘you’ been lately?" he asked me with suspicion eyes. Should I tell him about my boyfriend? Maybe if he sees that I’ve moved on maybe…

"Alright I guess…, I mean I’ve picked up where I’ve left off. I’ve seen a few people…" I trailed of when I saw his eyes harden.

"A few people…" he mused, "And one of those ‘few people’ was the person you were about to call….I presume?" My heart thudded wildly in my chest if I told him about Kurt, he was going to go on a rampage.

"Uh…yeah, I-"

"Who were you about to call Rose and what’s your relationship with them?" Kier, being the blunt person he was, obviously knew how to make small talk. Thankfully Gabriel pulled up against the sidewalk. I gaped. What Kier meant as a ‘car’ translated into ‘commoners’ such as myself would be called a limousine. I stood there gaping.

"Like it?" Asked Kier. I was stunned speechless, way to keep a low profile.

"Get in." His hand resting possessively on my back gently ushered me into the car and closed the door behind me. The other door opened and Kier slid in next to me, his hand wrapping around my shoulder. Across from us sat Gabriel, he didn’t seem surprised at our embrace, he looked….well, normal as if this was the normal thing to do.

"Any information?" Kier asked Gabriel.

He shook his head, "We haven’t come up with any new leads. We will suggest the possibilities at the Meet. But so far we only have this lead. Polleo, a vampire in London. He’s said to be the leader of an organization."

"A vampire organization?" I asked weakly.

Gabriel nodded his head in confirmation. Ha, so vampires have their own organization……ironic.

"Here’s what he supposedly looks like," he tossed a photo at me and Kier.

I blinked at the picture. Remember in all the stories and movies how the vampires were other-worldly handsome and seductive looking? Well this guy here, obviously hadn’t been reading or watching the shows. His face had a lot of baby fat, pimples, quite disgusting really…

"We’ve managed to-" but before Gabriel could finish his sentence something slammed into the car. The impact was great. I flew across the seat hitting my head hard on the window. I gasped at the pain. Kier’s body covered mine protectively. But before I could think, before ANY of us could think, bullets rained on the side of the car. I screamed. The windows shattered making small cuts on my arms and anywhere else that wasn’t covered by Kier’s body. We heard the car alarm ringing. Pain…so much pain.

"Rose…Rose, are you ok?" It was Kier. I looked up at him trying to concentrate on him, not the exploding pain in my head or body. He placed both hands on either side of my head, all the while looking into my eyes.

"Come on Rose stay with me now…" he whispered. Warmth flooded me, a great weight was lifted off me and I sighed in relief. The pain had gone away….. I looked into his eyes and he looked back at me, it reminded me of those mushy romantic movies where the hero looks deep into the heroines eyes. I hate those movies. I was completely disgusted with myself.

Our oh-so romantic ‘scene’ was interrupted by loud cursing. Kier’s eyes instantly became alert. Growling he sat up. I looked to my left and saw Gabriel rubbing his head.

"Well that was unexpected," he said. I rolled my eyes, no duh.

Kier started kicking at the door trying to get out. Finally, with one final kick the door gave way, he helped me and Gabriel out, minding the shattered glass. The complete side of the limo was filled with holes where the bullets had penetrated. We saw a dark figure running away, Kier started to go after him until I laid a hand on his arm stopping him. He looked at me with eyes that had a mixture of emotions in them.

"Let go Rose."

"No, he could be dangerous," I swallowed, "You could get hurt."

He smiled, a smile that still left his eyes hard, "Finally, some recognition, some ‘hope’ that you still love me.." his hand cupped the side of my face. I smiled a sad smile.

We both looked after the fading figure and I sighed, "Fine we’ll go after him. Note how I used the word ‘we’ Kier? ‘We’ meaning us, not just you."

"My rose, still as stubborn as ever."

We all looked at the retreating figure and thought the attacks on us were over, well for now at least. We were so wrong. Before we knew it, more bullets exploded around us and Kier shielded me with his body.
"There’s one on the roof!" Gabriel shouted. Hmmm, I had forgotten all about him.

The dark figure ran, hoping from one roof top to another. We ran after it.

"You follow the one on the roof, I’ll deal with the other one," Kier shouted to Gabriel.

I looked around us, the streets were deserted, the people were probably scared off from all the bullets. I felt it, Kier’s fire, the fire that was branded into his skin, the fire in his blood stream. I pulled onto it, raising my hands up, I shaped the fire in my hands, aimed for the roof, and just as the dark figure came into my aim, I releasing the power I had. The figure yelled and ran around aimlessly until it tumbled off the roof and fell to the ground. I cringed at the sound.

Kier was still running and I had to sprint to get up to him. We stopped short.

"You go there and I’ll search this area," I said to Kier. He nodded towards me, "Be careful," he said.

I walked around the deserted place searching for any clues. Where was everybody? And why was it so damn quiet? That’s when I heard a soft rustling sound, and trust me, it was no squirrel. I didn’t like the look of the alley way, but if I could just walk in and out quickly, then no one could sneak up behind me. Slowly walking into the dark, wet, smelly alley I looked up. He couldn’t have gone there. I turned around often to make sure I didn’t give anyone the chance to sneak up on me. I looked back and turned around again. Something flew in front of me twisting me around so that I had my back to its body and one of its arm around my waist and one around my throat, which, if I may point was holding a knife. A big, sharp knife. My breathing quickened.

"What do you want?" I whispered.

"I want to know how much he loves you. I know you are looking for the Lacternery, so am I. Your beloved Kier will do any noble means of getting it. I however," his grip on my throat tightened, "will do ANYTHING to get it. Even kill an innocent girl. So tell me, where is it?"

"I…I don’t know.." I gasped, clawing at his arm around my throat.
"You do and you’re going to tell me. Or else…" The knife dug in one millimeter into my throat. I gasped.

"Let her go," called a deep voice.

I looked towards the front of the alley. It was Kier, he didn’t look to happy, in fact he looked very, very….murderous….

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My 'guy' story will be out soon. I'm reading books that guys like at the moment. A Dark Seduction will be put on hold for a while, don't worry, I have every intention of finishing it. Please, PLEASE tell me what you think of this chapter!