“It’s been almost five days,” Janus said, nervously pacing about in his study, as his brother sat across the room, staring at a laptop’s screen and watching feeds of various cameras around the estate.
“I know, brother. And I’ll be leaving for Dia’ru shortly.”
“Do you think she’s been – ” he began, trailing off as he shuddered at the thought of what may have been done to his love.
“Been what? Turned?” Adian replied, looking up from his laptop. “I’d bet money on it. If he’s trying to bring Emerald back, there’s no reason he’d wait now. Rais should arrive before I return with her.”
“You can’t help her this time, can you?”
“With as long as it’s been, probably not,” Adian replied, shaking his head and standing.
Janus sat down, holding his head in his hands. “Just get her back safely. And soon.”
The younger brother nodded, then handed his laptop off to Janus. “Keep an eye out for her from here. I’ll call once I have information to call about.”
*********
Snowhawk side-eyed the seemingly tied-up human next to her. The vampire had brought this man, supposedly a small-time, easily missed slaver, back for her to feed off of, but she still couldn’t bring herself to bite him. The thought was tempting, and she was getting pretty damned hungry, but…
“What’s wrong now?” Kione grumbled, interrupting her thoughts. Snowhawk had not been a pleasure to have around the past near week.
“You’re nuts if you think I’m feeding.”
“You’ll die if you don’t,” Kione shrugged.
Snowhawk canted her head to the side. “I thought you were going to kill me anyway. What’s the difference?”
“I have two wolves to kill before it’s your turn. Besides, if you prove useful, you may live.”
“You wouldn’t kill Adian. You’ve said so before. And if you think I’m going to let you take Janus away from me again, you have another thing coming.”
Kione growled at her. “Don’t call my bluff, Delphin, or you’ll find his head on a fucking platter. I at least need to figure out how the hell you managed to gain Emerald’s powers without her being around.”
“I do have a name, you know,” she grumbled.
“You haven’t earned your name yet. And if you aren’t going to eat, then go back to your room.”
Her expression immediately changed at the vampire’s command. He’d mostly left her with her own, stubborn, free will, but at times like this, fed up with that same stubbornness, he held his power over her. He could have forced her to feed, but past experiences led him to know what a poor idea that would turn out to be. I don’t need another prodigy to kill themselves. He heard her door click shut, then looked at the slaver sitting on his couch. The man was still under Kione’s command as well, a much stronger bond than any rope. He’d be easy enough to catch again, and any memory he had of tonight could be easily brushed off as a dream if he woke up in bed. “You there,” he said to the slaver, who in turn looked at him. “You are to go home and go to sleep. If you speak of anything you overheard tonight, I will hunt you down.” The man gave him a dazed nod and then stood and walked from the house.
Once the house was back to two occupants, Kione walked to Snowhawk’s room. Inside, she sat on the edge of the bed, making no movement as he entered. The room was windowless, and the door the heaviest of any in the rest of the home. Still, Delphin hooves had taken out greater doors than this one, and Snowhawk was still shod with steel, so Kione kept her chained away from the door, rather than keep her under his command at all times, as she was now. He grabbed the end of the chain and fastened it to the ring on her collar, then silently released her from his control.
Snowhawk shook her head, grumbling. “Shit’s getting real old, real fast.”
“If you weren’t so damn destructive with my home,” he said, pointing to hoof sized dents in the wall, “I wouldn’t need to keep doing that.”
“If you’d get over your dead mate and leave me the hell alone, I wouldn’t need to be here.”
Kione smirked. “Said by the Delphin who ran herself to exhaustion to find her dead mate.”
“I didn’t wait a thousand years to do something.”
“Once I had Adian, you were the most convenient.” Snowhawk just snorted and turned away from him. “I will have what I want.”
“Not if she’s not here anymore.”
“I’m sure she’s still there,” Kione said, turning her around to face him. “I just have to find her.”
*********
The following evening, Adian arrived in Dia’ru. He headed straight for Kione’s new home. Once again, the front door was unlocked, almost as if the elder vampire was expecting him. Inside, he sniffed about the building, searching for Snowhawk’s scent, and found her room. The door here was also unlocked, and Adian was almost afraid of what he’d find inside. He cautiously opened the door, and saw her sitting up from the bed. As she moved, he heard the sound of a heavy chain. “Snowhawk?”
“Adian?” she asked at the same time, realizing who was in the doorway.
The vampiric wolf was fuming. “Son of a bitch,” he growled as he moved toward her. He grabbed the end of the chain attached to the wall and gave it a few strong tugs. “So I see why the door was unlocked.”
“He’s out hunting.” She was growing almost frantic. “Adi, it’s not safe for you here. He’ll be back anytime and he’s already pissed enough Emerald is gone.”
“I’m not leaving here without you, Snowhawk.” Adian stated, examining the chain attached at her collar.
“So the wolf returns,” Kione said, stepping into the doorway.
“You son of a bitch,” Adian repeated, growling and bristling as he stepped between Snowhawk and the elder vampire. “How dare you.”
“No, wolf, how dare you for taking my Emerald away from me.”
“You took Snowhawk away from us first.”
“’Us’ you say, like you really have any claim to her. Like that weakling of a brother of yours does.”
“I’m hardly a weakling,” Kirrian’s voice growled. “And I don’t like sharing.”
“Janus?!” both Adian and Snowhawk said at once. The older brother stood behind the vampire, fur bristling and standing crouched, ready to pounce.
“Wonderful. Now I can kill you both and then get back to finding my mate.”
“Not likely,” Kirrian again growled, then lunged at Kione.
The speed of the older wolf caught the elder vampire off guard, and the near-feral fighting style, if it could be called a style, put him even further off guard. Fangs bared, Kirrian seemed intent on ripping the vampire’s throat out as he snapped and snarled at Kione’s head. The vampire finally managed to flip the wolf off him, about the time that Adian joined into the fight. Adian rushed in, unsheathing one of Snowhawk’s dark silver daggers, as his brother landed with a dull thud near him. The vampire scrambled to find his feet, but soon cursed loudly as the dagger found a home in his left shoulder. Kione turned his attention to Adian, backhanding the younger wolf before their fight continued.
With Kione distracted, Kirrian began pulling on the chain’s attachment to the wall. “Help me!” he told Snowhawk, who also grabbed a hold of the chain and began kicking at the wall near the anchor. With Kirrian’s extra strength, and the damage done by Snowhawk’s hooves, the anchor pulled loose from the wall, leaving them with a long length of chain attached to Snowhawk’s neck. “Perfect,” Kirrian grinned, handing the chain to Snowhawk. She at first looked confused, then shifted to her feline form, and looked at the fighting vampires.
A near white blur was all that could be made out as Snowhawk rushed into the fray. She soon had the chain wrapped around Kione and pulled taught. “I won’t let you get away this time, you bastard.”
“Are you forgetting who controls you, mare?” Kione warned. Kirrian snarled and growled, then again lunged at the now chained up vampire. “Before me!” Kione commanded, and Snowhawk stepped in front of him, just before Kirrian reached Kione. Kirrian’s momentum couldn’t be stopped and he crashed into both Snowhawk and Kione, knocking them to the ground. The small feline was knocked unconscious, and Kione just grinned at the wolf that now towered over him. “You make it too easy.”
Kirrian snapped at the elder vampire again, grabbing him by the throat this time.
“You can’t kill me, wolf.”
“Don’t tempt him, Kione,” Adian said, kneeling next to his sire. “Besides, I’ll finish you off if he doesn’t kill you.”
“You can’t kill me either.”
“Then I will,” said Snowhawk’s groggy voice, just before she grabbed her other dagger from it’s sheath on Adian. Kirrian’s jaws tightened on the vampire’s throat.
“Back to sleep with you,” Kirrian choked out, then Snowhawk was out again.
“Not really fair if you keep commanding her.”
“You’re next,” Kione said, then told Adian, “Move away.”
Much unlike Snowhawk, Adian had been away from Kione long enough to not immediately follow his command. “I– I think not.”
“Move. Away,” he repeated. Adian visibly resisted, then after a moment, finally moved away from his brother.
“Now what about y–” Kione was cut off by Kirrian further tightening his jaws about his throat. A moment later, Kirrian yelped and released the vampire as he felt a blade stab into his side.
He quickly lept back, and saw Snowhawk, with a dulled expression, kneeling next to the vampire, her dagger in hand. “You fucking stabbed me!” Kirrian exclaimed. Kione stood, an unwilling Snowhawk helping him remove the chain from around him. Both wolves growled and bristled at the elder vampire.
“I guess I have to move again. Pity, this was such a nice place. Come on, mare,” Kione said, then vanished with Snowhawk.
“Shit!” Adian growled. “He doesn’t have to speak to her. This is an even bigger problem then I expected.”
“How are we going to kill that?”
Adian paused for a moment. “We need to find Onyx. If he’s still alive.”