Chapter sixteen

S torm is the first to meet me outside the door, and I wait for the snark. I’m not expecting our truce to hold for the whole of this journey. I think that might be just a little bit optimistic. We take every opportunity to poke at each other. I will, however, hold the truce for as long as he does.

“So, I’m assuming you do know how to ride properly then?” he asks.

“Yeah.”

“Another way of showing me not to underestimate you?”

“Yes,” I say simply again because I really don’t know what else to say.

He nods, and we sit in surprisingly companionable silence. Finally, the others join us, and we all set off following Storm since he knows where we’re going. The ride starts in silence which I enjoy until something occurs to me.

“How far away is the village?” I ask, not having bothered to before.

“About a three-hour ride,” Killian replies, having obviously thought to find out that information before we set off.

“Thanks,” I reply. I’m glad the village isn’t days away, although Revel could probably do with the ride.

After that, the ride is mainly spent with Storm continuing to go over the plan even though we’ve been over it so many times that by this point, I think I could recite it in my sleep. I think he’s more concerned about the way the Headmaster was acting towards Reaper and me, he’s almost certain that there’s something else going on with this mission, and I have to say I agree.

After three hours, we get to a tiny village that seems far too quiet for the time of the day. Usually, people would be getting on with their daily tasks, and even in a village this size, the streets should be bustling with activity, but instead, there are only a couple of people out on the cobbled streets, and they look like they’d rather be anywhere else.

“The file didn’t say anything about where exactly the Rogue vamp was last seen, did it?” Killian asks.

“No, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone about who would be willing to point us in the right direction.” Rival answers him.

“It’s like a damn ghost town,” Loki adds, looking around with concern.

“Well, in my experience the local tavern wouldn’t be shut even in an apocalypse and is probably the best place to get some answers.” Mayhem grins.

“I didn’t realise you’d been here?” Storm questions as we make our way through the streets looking for the tavern.

“I haven’t, but taverns are all the same no matter how small the village.” He answers with a shrug.

“He’s not wrong.” Reaper chuckles.

Thanks to the small nature of the village, it only takes five more minutes to find the tavern, and we lead the horses around to the adjoining stables and settle them down, giving them some much needed water.

“People in these small villages can be very close-knit and not that welcoming to outsiders, so let me do the talking.” Storm orders, striding towards the door and not letting any of us question whether he’s really the wisest choice to get people talking.

He certainly wouldn’t have been my first choice; I would’ve suggested Loki; his bubbly personality and smile are infectious and instantly put you at ease.

Keeping my mouth shut through sheer force of will so no snarky comments come out, I follow after the guys, getting lost in their massive forms as they surround me from all sides.

“Good morning, lads. What can I do for you?” I hear someone greet the guys slightly warily as I push myself through them so I can actually see what’s going on. His eyes widen somewhat as they land on me, “sorry, ma’am, I didn’t see you there.”

“We’re with the Black Onyx academy and have received reports of a Rogue vamp near your village.” Storm starts to explain, and the tavern owner's face becomes serious, “if you could point us in the direction of the last sighting, we’ll deal with it.”

“Thank fuck. It’s been terrorising us for weeks. We had to evacuate the houses on the west end of the village. If you follow the main road through town, you’ll get to it. It’s in the small wood behind the houses there. You’re welcome to leave your horses here; it’s only a ten-minute walk, and we’ve lost several horses to it so far.”

I frown at his words as Storm thanks him and we all exit the tavern starting off in the direction that he pointed us in.

“That doesn’t seem right. The amount of damage that he was talking about seems far too much for a level one. They usually steer clear of people’s homes attacking stragglers and loners, not going right into the village to attack people in their homes.” I start, voicing my concerns out loud. “We only really take them out, so they don’t turn into any of the higher levels.”

“We knew going into this that something wasn’t right, and we’re prepared.” Storm replies.

The atmosphere is more tense than it was, and the mood darkens even further when we get to the edge of the village. The tavern owner wasn’t lying when he said they had to evacuate some of the houses. We walk through the first row of boarded-up and abandoned houses before we get to another six that back up onto the woods. These ones look like they’ve been invaded. Doors have been ripped off; blood smeared down the pathways, and no intact windows.

“Holy fuck.” Loki curses, his eyes on the destruction surrounding us. “How many do you think survived?”

“I’m not sure I want to know, but I don’t think many.” Rival mutters.

“That information should’ve been in the fucking file. That’s their whole point so that we have all the information possible. All of this we should’ve known.” Storm growls angrily. His wings make an appearance shifting behind him and reacting to his anger as his horns start to spark.He very rarely has them out, so much so that I had almost completely forgotten he had them. In fact I don’t think I’ve seen them since I first arrived. Even when we are in combat class, he keeps them hidden. I try not stare as they fascinate me, they’re beautiful and I force away the uneasy feeling as they remind me of my past. I wonder if there’s a reason behind why he rarely has them out? I suppose I might never know since that would mean having a civil conversation with him.

These poor fucking people, they’ve been terrorised for weeks, and we’ve only just been sent out. They’ve lost family members, homes and animals vital to their survival. Something is not fucking right with the system if they’ve been abandoned this long waiting for help. I do not doubt that they didn’t hold back on the details of what was happening here, so why wasn’t it investigated sooner? And how many more people are in need and reaching out to their enforcement to protect them and receiving nothing in return? It's unacceptable and something that I intend to look into as soon as I get the opportunity.

“You’re right. Let’s get this dealt with and then we can go and see what the fuck the Headmaster is playing at.” Killian says calmly, the anger in his eyes and the stabbing movements his tail is making is contrasting sharply with his calm tone.

The brothers share a meaningful look, and their murderous intent for the Headmaster seems to lessen slightly as they come to some sort of agreement that only they understand.

Storm draws his sword as we get closer to the forest, and we all follow his lead. Despite the sunlight, the woodland seems to be darker than it should be, and there are none of the usual sounds that you tend to find in the woods, no animals, no rustling of leaves, just eerie silence. There’s definitely a predator in these woods and one that’s more dangerous than we initially thought.

A twig snaps to the left of us, and we all freeze, raising our weapons in preparation. We spread out slightly as we entered the forest, which means none of us was close enough to intercept the Rogue as he barrels out from the trees to the right of us. The fact that the attack came from the right instead of the left, where we heard the noise, also throws us slightly.

Since Mayhem is the one closest to the right, he takes the brunt of the attack, and I now know for sure that he at least has been holding back in our combat class. He infuses his sword with his water element making it glow with a blue tinge as he calls up roots to wrap around the rogue vamps legs as well. The fucker is stronger than he should be and breaks it with ease, but he does back off slightly, and that gives Mayhem the room to breathe again.

That’s not the only thing that is different about this supposed level one rogue vamp. Instead of the usual red iris, this vamp's eyes, pupils, and in fact, the whole damn eye are all entirely black. Which instantly gives away that it’s a higher level Rogue. Another giveaway is the yellowed fangs that reach all the way down to his chin, far longer than a regular vamp, and although most of its fingers are transformed into the blood-red tipped claws that are common, not all of them are, some of them are normal fingers. He’s fucking fast, too, and if I didn’t know that it was the Headmaster's job to protect us, then I’d be tempted to accuse him of setting us up. For what purpose, though? I have no fucking idea.

It's definitely going to take all of us and our skills to take this fucker down.

I find myself pausing in my attack, faced with a problem that I’ve never had before; I don’t know where to start. I’m not used to being in a team; I’m used to fighting on my own, and it’s clear that despite Killian’s lengthy absence, the guys are all used to fighting together, having trained for years to do so.

All hesitation flies straight out of the window as Loki gets launched through the air and crashes into a tree with such force that he snaps the thick trunk. I know he’s strong, he’s a vampire for one and fucking strong one at that, but my heart is in my throat until I see him twitch his fingers and then a red film descends over my eyesight, my sole focus on the fucker that threw him and is giving the others a hard time. While they have it distracted, I sneak around from behind and, drawing one of my daggers; I take a running leap; the idea is to land on his back and sever his head to end this.

However, I underestimated him. I’m flying through the air within landing distance of him when he suddenly spins, so fucking quickly that my eyes can’t track the movement; in one smooth motion, he simultaneously knocks the knife out of my hand, grabs me around the throat and speeds me away from the guys. Fortunately for me, he can’t seem to run and eat me at the same time, so he only gets a few metres away from the guys before his bloodlust takes control and he stops.

He still has me by the throat with one hand, my feet off the floor, and my hands wrapped around his fingers, trying to pry his iron grip off my throat. He stares at me hungrily as I struggle, clearly enjoying it, as I let go of his fingers with my hands and bring my fists down on his forearm, infusing my magic in the hit in an attempt to break his hold.

My vision is starting to spot around the edges, and I can feel the trickle of blood drip down my neck as his claws dig in deeper. My hit doesn’t do anything, and it's clear that he’s done playing with his food because he brings me closer to his razor sharp teeth. I strike out with my foot, and he somehow manages to dodge it. Even though I missed, it seems to piss him the fuck off though because I suddenly find myself on the receiving end of a vicious snarl as spittle lands on my face and those teeth aim for my shoulder.

His teeth barely scrape the leather of my armour, thankfully not piercing it, when he suddenly bellows in pain and drops me in a flash. I land hard on the floor, staring up at the vamp whose face is contorted in pain. Five emerald-tipped claws are protruding from his shoulder, and a seriously enraged Reaper stood behind him, a deadly snarl on his face as he lets out a bone-shaking growl. He then tears his hand out of the vamp's chest and then proceeds to rip the fuckers arm off like he’s tearing paper and not ripping apart bone and muscle.

The whole time he’s doing it, the rumbling, snarling growl never stops, and his eyes, which are usually yellow with a vertical slit, start to glow, red and orange specks flaring to life in them. More worryingly, though, is that his body starts to waver and flicker like he’s fighting desperately against something that’s trying to get out as he stands, breathing heavily over the top of the writhing vamp, who is obviously in enough pain to stop in his vendetta against us for the minute. It won’t last long though, and he’s going to be pissed when his body heals it enough that he can feel it.

“Fuck!” Storm yells, his leathery wings lifting him off the ground slightly, “guys, calm him the fuck down now.”

The edge of panic for Reaper and not the vamp lets me know that there is definitely something else going on here that I don’t understand. I get to my feet just in time to stop the vamp as he recovers enough to try and lunge for Reaper. One of my knives has left my hand before I’ve even consciously thought about it. Macabrely enough, it strikes him in the forehead, and unlike losing a limb doesn’t hurt him enough to slow him down at all. The only thing I’m concerned with is keeping him away from Reaper so that the others can calm him down. Why that’s important right now, I don’t know, but I do know enough about them to trust them.

I know they would never let anything bad happen to each other; they’re family. I feel a wave of relief as I see Loki rush over to help Reaper. Thank fuck he’s okay. I’m not sure why that matters so much to me when I’m used to people dying around me and wouldn’t usually care. Actually, that’s a lie; somehow, I’ve come to care about all of these guys, and I will help protect them even if I don’t know what I’m protecting them from, which is the case now.

With that in mind, I make sure his focus is solely on me as I dive out of his way when he tries to attack again, thankfully the loss of his arm and the knife still sticking out of his forehead, along with the other wounds he’s received so far are starting to slow him down. Drawing my sword, I dart forward, slashing at him and then moving away, leading him in a different direction away from Reaper and the others. In the peripheral of my vision, I see Storm several feet in the air silently stalking him from the sky as he cloaks himself in his shadows, and I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t know that he’s there.

The vamp must sense something though because he starts to turn around, his gaze going up, I’m too far away to do much good with my sword, and I know that even if the vamp can’t see Storm in the shadows, he will be able to see Reaper and he’ll instantly go after him since he’s done the most damage so far.

I fling my sword to the side, embedding it in a nearby tree and then grab my whip from its place on my hip. He’s already managed to turn around and, like predicted, is heading towards a still enraged Reaper. I need to end this before Reaper realises, or I have a feeling that whatever the guys are trying to prevent happening will happen. I somehow know that Storm is readying himself to intervene, but he’s not going to get a good enough angle on the vamp to sever his head. I release my whip, my aim thankfully accurate as the knife on the end slices the back of his ankles deep enough to have him falling to the ground right below Storm.

He glances down at me, still surrounded by shadows and clearly unaware that I can see him; he smiles, not a fake smile, but a genuine smile that reaches his eyes and has me cursing because holy fuck is he gorgeous, a pang in my heart has me worrying that he’s broken through a layer of my defences with his smile alone. He doesn’t even realise I can see it.

I’ve had plenty of practice at blanking my expression, which is the only reason I manage not to give anything away.

Only seconds have passed when he says in a voice that contrasts his expression, “Thanks.”

He then explodes from the shadows and folding his wings in tightly as he drops down onto the vamp, and makes quick work of severing its head, which in itself is an impressive show of strength. It’s bloody hard work getting a sword through all that muscle and spinal cord, and it needs to be severed entirely, or they have a chance of coming back.

Storm kicks the head away from the body, but when it doesn’t turn to ash immediately like an accurate level one Rogue vamp would, he pulls out a vial from his belt, one of the ones that we all carry and are potent ready-made spells that only need a trigger word to activate it. He says the word and then puts half on the body and half on the head, and we watch as it does what it was supposed to do as soon as the head is severed and turns to ash. Stepping over the piles, he makes his way over to me, his expression the careful blank mask I’ve gotten used to. Now I’ve seen what his smile is like, what he’s like when he’s completely unguarded, even if it was just for a fleeting second; there’s an ache in my heart now that I’m faced with the expressionless facade staring back at me.

“Come on, let’s get back to the horses.” He suggests, moving past me and back the way we came. His wings disappearing once again and making me frown.

I let it go though, pushing all the questions away as I glance over to where I last saw Reaper and the others, only to see they aren’t there anymore. “What about the others?”

“They’ll catch up when they’re ready.” Storm answers with finality.

I receive the message loud and clear, we are not going to be discussing what’s going on with Reaper, and that’s fine with me. Goddess knows there’s plenty of shit that I don’t want to share with them.