CHAPTER SIX

E verything happened so fast that Alistar reacted on instinct. He was in the living room in less than a second upon hearing the upheaval and Neal's cry for help. Seeing his adored on the floor and three fucking vampires attacking him, Alistar went full-on assassin. Alistar grabbed the two large ones, pulling them away from Neal, and very quickly had them together on their knees and dying. He was trained in death, and he could deliver it swiftly and painfully.

The third tried to escape, but he wasn't fast enough. Alistar slammed the door shut and bent the man backward in half, staring into his eyes the whole time as he questioned him with a dagger pressed against his throat. Alistar remained deadly calm, and the man looked resolved to his impending fate. Neal moved away, crawling to the back wall well away from the bodies and the mayhem.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" Alistar demanded.

"He was supposed to be alone." That infuriated Alistar.

"Who the hell are you?" He tightened his hold, bending him further and hearing the bones cracking. "Why do you bother my adored?" That had the man reacting and looking shocked.

"He's your adored?" Alistar nodded and again tightened his hold.

"Why do you want him?" The man shook his head, not willing to say more, and Alistar was losing patience.

"You can't save him. She will come for him." That statement resulted in Alistar ripping his throat out. He dropped the man to the floor and looked back over his shoulder to see his adored cowering against the far wall. He wiped the dagger clean and stuck it back into his boot. He then stepped over the carnage and walked toward Neal, who was staring wide-eyed at him.

"Who were they?" He asked, his voice strained and breathless.

"Miscreants, lowlifes not worth your concern." Alistar worried for his sensitive lover. He didn't regret killing them, but he regretted doing it in front of Neal.

"I know the one in the suit and tie the smaller one by the door." He commented slowly.

"So do I," Alistar told him. "He's the rogue that escaped from the dry cleaner. He was part of that mess."

"He was at the dry cleaner?" Neal was startled and looked confused by the information.

"Yes."

"I know him as Maxwell. He works for my former boss, Mrs. Ball. I don't know what his title is, but he was with her a lot. I thought maybe he was a companion of sorts." Alistar reached out his hand to Neal, who took it, and Alistar helped him to his feet. Neal wasn't ready to step away from the wall yet. The bloodshed in the room was keeping him back.

Alistar put in a call for a cleaner and notified Von of what had taken place. Neal held his hand and his arm and kept his face averted. "Let's get you a coat and get out of here. I have people coming to take care of this and when they're done you'll never know anything happened." Neal looked at him incredulously and comically so.

"I'll know." He said. "I don't ever want to come back here, Alistar."

"You don't have to, baby." He bent and kissed him on the forehead. "I want to take you to my place. I live in an apartment in the coven house in Belmont. It's a nice place you'll like it."

"Agincourt has their offices there. It's exclusive and elite, and only Agincourt people live there or are allowed in the area." Alistar understood that Neal was still in shock and not thinking clearly.

"It's the coven headquarters, which is why it's exclusive and private. Agincourt, in many ways, is used as a cover for the Coven. This will all become clear to you as you integrate." Alistar got Neal's coat for him, put it on, and then navigated him out the door and down to the sidewalk below. Neal held tight to him, and Alistar was cursing himself for killing those bastard vampires in front of him.

"Do not mourn those beasts. They would have killed you or brought you to someone else who would have killed you. Their intentions were vicious and cruel." Alistar walked him over to where he'd parked and just held him for a few minutes, letting him calm down and get his bearings.

"They were vampires, Maxwell was a vampire." He mumbled.

"Yes."

"They're all members of the Kilconnor Coven."

"I don't know Maxwell. He is not a member, but as you know, the Ball family are all members. She and her husband are not a Fated pair. They do not have the bond that Fated pairs like you and I enjoy, and they no longer live together, from what I understand." Alistar did not keep up with social gossip, but the separation resulted in a financial issue involving the bank, so he remembered their breakup. It also drove home to a lot of vampires the importance of waiting for your Fated love because nothing else would do, and nothing else would last.

"She had a lot of humans working for her." Neal seemed to be rambling, but that observation was important.

"Are you sure of that?" Alistar asked and carefully moved Neal into his car and buckled him in.

"Yes, I mean I wasn't aware of the vampires around me, but I knew several of the other staff and they were like me just work a day people from Charlotte. They weren't vampires were they?" Neal turned to look at him and waited for his response.

"I don't know. I never had much to do with them, but most coven members hire other vampires because humans are fragile and can be problematic if they happen to see one of us acting out our vampire selves." Alistar wasn't sure how to explain it, but it was easier to hire other vampires than to go through the difficulty of having a human on staff.

Neal looked forward and nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. You're right; no one has worked for her very long. The humans especially seemed to disappear quickly."

"Master Kilconnor requires those that have humans on staff to keep him abreast of who they are and other specifics. Humans can be taken advantage of, and he makes sure that does not happen." Alistar started his car and pulled away from the curb. He was relieved to be taking Neal home with him. He would be safe at the Coven house.

Alistar wasn't going to relax until they figured out why those vampires came after Neal. Maxwell had been at the drycleaner and had participated in baiting Neal with his employer's dress. After that fell through and his cohorts were killed he still tried to come for Neal when he could have gone after any human. What was so special about Neal? Until he answered that question he was going to stay very close to his adored.

"What about Byron?" Neal erupted. He turned to Alistar consumed by fear and panic and grabbed at his arm. "We have to go back what about Byron?"

Alistar pulled to the side of the road and parked before giving Neal his full attention. "What has you so afraid? Why should Byron be in danger?" He asked and put his arm around Neal comforting him with his touch.

"What if they go after him? What if he stops by, and they see him and target him?" Neal was panicking, and his anxiety was taking over, but Alistar knew he had to solve the problem and not try to convince him there was no problem. He understood worry and anxiety and how it can build, and he wanted his love to be at peace.

"Call him and let him know that you're going to be staying at my place for a few days and inform him that if he wants to stop by and see you he is welcome."

"You're okay with that?"

"I'm okay with anything that makes you happy, my love." Alistar cupped the side of Neal's face and turned it up to him and kissed him thoroughly. "You're my adored and I will do anything for you."

"Thank you, Alistar."

"I'll also have someone keep an eye on him until this issue is resolved. He won't know they're there, but you can then be assured of his safety." Alistar was blessed with a big smile and a heartfelt hug.

"Thank you that makes me feel so much better." Alistar put in a call to Von who assigned a guard to Byron Shawn. He had no problem or qualms with giving Neal everything he needed.

"Maxwell and the men he took with him failed, Madam."

"Are they dead?" She demanded.

"Yes, they are dead, and the Coven has disposed of their remains. They have not connected them to this household or to you."

"Where is Neal Shawn?" She turned on the messenger and grabbed him by the throat. He was a clever vampire, but she easily overpowered him.

"He left with the vampire who killed them. That vampire also killed those at the dry cleaner. He was sent by Kilconnor to eradicate the rogues." He coughed and tried to get her grip off his neck but to no avail. "It's only a matter of time before they trace all of it and all of them back to you. You need to leave; you need to hide."

She tightened her grip as her eyes took on a blood-red hue in her anger and thirst. "That human will not best me. That little bastard will not get away from me." She threw him across the room, and he slammed into the far wall. "Find him and bring him to me."

"I will bring you another. He is not worth it, Madam." He pleaded with her.

Franchesca lost it on him. She flew across the room, landing on top of him, screaming and tearing at his face. He tried to throw her off, but she dug her long nails into his neck and began ripping away the flesh. She continued with her nails and her teeth until he lay still and silent on the floor. She twisted his head and gouged at connecting tissue until she could tear it off and held it in her hands when one of her private guards stepped into the room and froze at the bloody scene before him.

She took the head and tossed it toward him, and it rolled to a stop at his feet. "Are you going tell me it's too dangerous to go after Neal Shawn, or are you going to bring him to me?" She growled as blood dripped from his mouth and hands.

"I will bring him to you." The man said and promptly left the room.