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~GUILT~
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Malcom could smell the heavy scent of blood in the evening air. The sun was still lingering above, so that eliminated the involvement of vampires from the equation. The closer they got the more his senses could pick it up. He looked to Tatiana who reached the same realization just moments after him. “Vincent!” He growled and quickened his pace as he ran towards Tatiana’s home. Breaking through the line of trees to the small-town Malcom wanted to scream. They had come and they had created chaos. Houses burned as people screamed in pain and fear. A few were desperately trying to find their families. Vincent had committed an act of war.
Tatiana took off on her own path aiding those she could while trying like hell to make sense of what had happened in their absence. Malcom spotted Sirus sitting on the ground, his back to him. As he approached, he noticed that Sirus was holding someone in his arms. Malcom knew who it was from the scent of the young blood of a wolf in training. Sirus looked back at Malcom. “He killed him! JR was not supposed to die! That is why I did all of this. I tried to get him away; I wanted to avoid him losing his life to this madness! Why? What the fuck did any of us do to deserve this?” Sirus pulled JR’s body even closer to his own; his frame was overtaken by tremors.
“You did nothing wrong, none of you, Vincent is just fucked up in the head and he’s making everyone else pay for it.” He kneeled next to Sirus. “What happened here?”
“Man, he came in the middle of the afternoon. I have to give it to him, no one expected it.” Sirus wore a sad smile as he shook his head. “We weren’t prepared, we were eating lunch, the second round of busses had left and everyone was settling in. I mean we were laughing, talking and waiting for your return. He came this time. The coward showed his own face. He lead the pack, I haven’t seen him do that since before you left. He was looking for you, that is why he came and when he realized you weren’t here, he started looking for Mara. I was able to deter him but then Steph got involved and all hell broke loose.”
“Mara? Why?” Vincent looking for Malcom made sense, his revenge plot had never been fulfilled. Why was he looking for the vampire?
“He walked through the street yelling out to her about how they had ‘unfinished business’. It was sick, the sound of his voice, he would have killed her if he’d gotten the chance. In the daylight, he had the advantage.”
“Stephanie, is she okay?” He scanned the area but didn’t find her. Malcom realized what Vincent wanted with Mara. The same thing he wanted with everyone...revenge.
“No, she isn’t okay, he hurt her bad. I don’t think he realized she was still here until she walked up to him. She tried to reason with him. Once he saw her, he just lost it, that cool calm collected front he showed up with just melted away. I must say though, I was proud of her, you would have been too. She called him out on his shit, but once she started talking about their father and their family’s legacy... he lost it. It didn’t even matter that she was his sister. He ordered his men to burn down the town as he started attacking Stephanie and anyone else who got in his way. At least five are dead, 20 or so injured, I lost count.”
“Where is Steph?” Malcom asked, the story Sirus told only added to his worry.
“I don’t know, I lost track of her, I was just looking for her, but then I found him, laying here, dying alone. I told him I wouldn’t leave him. He has been gone for a while now, but I just can’t bring myself to walk away.”
“Take your time man, I will go and find her.” Malcom rubbed Sirus’ shoulder and stood to his feet.
“Thank you.” Sirus said as tears began to fall. “I loved this little guy, like he was my brother, my son. Vincent took him away from me, like he did everything else!”
“And he will get his, this I can promise.”
“Oh, yeah, he will.” Sirus looked up at Malcom with a new fire in his gaze that worried Malcom. The two of them would need to talk and hopefully they could do so before he did anything that he would stand to regret.
“Stephanie!” Malcom yelled as he walked through the town and helped people pick themselves up along the way. The fires were snuffed out enough to create a thick smoke that filled the air and made it hard for him to catch her scent. He tried to open his ears to the sound of her voice but could only hear the cries of the hurt. He prayed that her voice wasn’t mixed in with the others. As he moved, he noted Tatiana also following her own swift path not too far from him. To an outsider looking at her movements, they would consider her fluid, effortless, like a warrior unfazed but Malcom knew better. Tatiana wore the look of a woman carrying the weight of the world. There was no doubt that she was beating herself up over the mayhem that had consumed her home. The protector inside of her could blame no one else for what had happened. It was her decision to take in the southern clan in the absence of her own Alpha.
Malcom had questioned his whereabouts early on. He was given a short answer describing travels to the Asian territories to visit a friend. He didn’t question why she hadn’t gone with him. He’d simply assumed it had been her orders to stay behind and handle things with Sirus. Now he questioned things more. He could see the plausibility that Tatiana had been left behind because of her flawed vision and lack of focus. In addition to her personal distractions and her decision to act behind her leader’s back, Vincent had come there, and not only did he attack but he did it while she was away on her own selfish mission. Going to vampire territory to kill Tiffany was a poor decision that left her people unprotected. All of that combined would mean that she felt worse after taking the vampire’s life. The kill that was meant to lift her spirit would be the thing that destroyed her.
“Malcom,” Stephanie’s voice came to him as a soft whisper, a weak one. He ran towards the sound and found her sitting with her back against the side of a small house; one that hadn’t been touched by flames. Blood poured from cuts on her arms, legs and stomach.
“Steph!” He fell to his knees at her side and carefully assessed her wounds. Each one smelled of her brother. How could he do this to her, he’d left her to die. It was intentional, the wounds, they were meant to kill her. There was no doubt in what he had in mind for his sister.
“Vincent, he,” she attempted to speak but the sound barely passed her lips as she struggled against the pain that seared across her body.
“Mara!” Malcom called in a sound of command and power as he stopped Stephanie from continuing to speak.
“Yes?” Mara appeared a moment later. She looked unaffected, but Malcom could sense that she was struggling. Even he could smell the blood in the air. Everywhere around them, people were trying to recover from wounds, there was blood on the streets even on her own hands. She’d stuck around to help, but Malcom knew that Mara had to have been using all of her will to remain in control and not give in to the bloodlust.
“Mara, I need you to give her your blood.” He asked her calmly. The request alone was enough to set the woman off, combined with her heightened thirst, he didn’t know what to expect.
“You need me to what?” He attention snapped to her. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Mara, she is dying. Please.”
“You know what that will do, how can you ask that of me?”
“Please, I can’t lose her too.” They held each other’s gaze and he felt her give into him. He played a card long since put to rest. He lost Serene at the hands of Vincent. Mara cared too much for him to let that happen twice. When he realized that she would do as he asked, he returned his attention to the dying girl. “Stephanie, you must feed from her.” Malcom placed his hands at the side of Stephanie’s face and forced her to meet his gaze.
“No, I will not.” She coughed around the words and winced at the pain that sparked like flames beneath her ribs.
“If you don’t you will die.” Mara spoke, she sounded just as unpleased by the idea as Stephanie. “I can smell the death creeping through you.” Her last words came with an undertone of something less than humane. Malcom switched his assessment from Stephanie to Mara.
“You can’t heal yourself fast enough.” Malcom pleaded.
“But, we will...” Stephanie was now looking at Mara who held herself in a tight form.
“Yeah, I know, but this is the only way.” Malcom coaxed her.
“I can’t do it. If I do,” she shook her head slightly.
“If you do, you will live. If you don’t you will die and I for one am not prepared for you to leave me.” Malcom nearly yelled at her. How could she be so selfish? How could she be so ready to give up? She couldn’t die; he wasn’t ready to lose yet another person he cared about and damn sure not because she was being prideful. His heart was tightening in his chest but he did all that he could to keep the panic from his expression.
Mara bit down into her wrist and held it to Stephanie’s mouth. “Drink girl!” She ordered as she pressed the open wound against Stephanie’s lips. She was tired, anxious, and struggling to keep herself in check. The last thing she wanted to do was waste time listening to them go on about what was inevitable. Her head fell back as Stephanie wrapped her lips around the opening and pulled the blood from Mara’s wrist into her mouth. Mara had experienced this sensation only once before, with Malcom.
Feeding a wolf vampire’s blood was not something that was done often, if ever. To give them your blood meant to sign your life over to them. It was different with humans, a built in fail safe so that vampires didn’t simply enslave the whole of wolves by force-feeding them vamp juice. When a human drank vampire blood, they became indebted to the immortal creatures. For wolves, it was the reverse effect. Mara gasped as Stephanie released her. When the vampire opened her eyes, she revealed the loss of her control. Her eyes were a bright red and her fangs, once kept hidden were on full display.
“Mara?” Malcom saw the look before; he knew what it meant. It was just like him and transitioning, Mara refrained from feeding from people directly and she stayed in seclusion. With her mind weakened by giving herself over to Stephanie, they were entering dangerous territories.
“Yes.” Her reply was the hiss of a snake ready to feed.
“Where is your blood supply?” He asked cautiously.
“At the house with my other things.” She rolled her shoulders and her eyes followed the movement of something behind Malcom. He didn’t turn to find out what it was, that would be a mistake; it would give her ‘permission’ to pounce. Instead, he watched her, and once again pulled the sound of power and command to his voice.
“Go, now, Mara! Listen to me, go straight to your supply. Do not stop for anything!” He couldn’t remember the last time he saw the vampire take a drink, and he could tell that Stephanie had taken a lot from her. Mara’s smile faded, she nodded her acceptance of his order and took off into the night.
“Will I be able to do that?” Stephanie asked after Mara had gone. Her head hung and her body shivered as the blood of the undead worked its way through her veins.
“What?” Malcom rubbed her shoulders hoping to help her keep calm. If she panicked, the blood would take longer to heal her. Soon he would be able to remove her from the street to somewhere more comfortable. He noticed the shivers. He remembered them well.
Neither Malcom nor his vampire friend realized the weight of what Mara had done or the commitment she’d made to him so long ago. They were battling side by side against a massive collection of rogue vampires who threatened to shed light on both species. The general population could not be made aware of their existence which resulted in one of the few times both sides had agreed to work together in the effort to defeat a greater enemy. Malcom was still a young fighter and he’d made a terrible mistake. He tried to go head to head with a vampire who out ranked him on every possible level. He was cut bad; a sword to his midsection left him bleeding to death. Mara found him and without question, she gave him her blood.
At the time, he thought that it would kill him, to take in vampire blood, so he tried to fight it. His body felt broken as the cold sensation of death spread throughout his limbs. For a moment, he thought it was all over, that his life had ended, but moments later, the combination of his blood and hers created an internal reaction that made his body feel as if it were on fire. Mara moved his body into hiding because the process took hours to complete. He’d learned since then that had he simply relaxed and accepted what was happening, it would have been over in a matter of minutes.
“Just tell her what to do and have her take off, no questions asked.” Stephanie brought his mind back from a memory he’d never be able to erase. The pattern of her breathing became less erratic and her wounds no longer bled. The blood was working for her much quicker than it had for him.
“Yes, to an extent, but don’t. She doesn’t take kindly to it and will make your life a living hell if you do.” He released a small chuckle. “Trust me, I know.” He’d tested the boundaries with her and that was long before she became the traitor vampire infused with the blood of an ancient.
“Gotcha.” She finally looked up and smiled.
Malcom helped her to her feet. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah I think I will be.” She smiled again and took a cautious pull of air deep into her lungs. “Where is Sirus?”
“With JR,” he paused, “the boy didn’t make it.”
“Shit,” Her head dropped and she ran her hands through her loose hair.
“Yeah, Sirus doesn’t look good. I didn’t want to leave him but he told me you were hurt and I had to come find you to make sure you were okay.” He ran his fingertips across her forehead removing the strands of hair that were left out of place.
“Thanks for coming to find me.” She looked at him and he could see the old Stephanie, the one he very nearly spent the rest of his life with. “I need to be with him, Sirus has been on the edge for so long, I don’t know what this will do to him.”
“You’re right, like I said; he was out of it when I saw him.” Malcom stepped back to give her room as she madder her own assessment of her quickly progressing recovery.
Stephanie stretched her arms out above her head and looked at the wounds that had closed and whose scars already began to fade away. “This is intense.” She was just starting to feel the high. The power of her own blood mixed with the magic of what kept vampires alive had her body tingling with untapped energy. She couldn’t help but to flex and enjoy how her body felt even more her own. She felt like she could do just about anything she wanted.
“Yeah, just wait until your next shift, the combination is overwhelming. It won’t be that way forever, but that first few times are pretty mind blowing.” He spoke as he led her to where he last saw Sirus. When they arrived, Sirus was no longer around, and JR’s body lay underneath a partially charred blanket beneath a tree not far from where he died.
“He’s gone.” Stephanie said as she scanned the area for Sirus. “This cannot be good, Malcom, I don’t see him here.”
“Hey,” Malcom called to Ray who was passing holding a small girl in his arms. “Have you seen Sirus?”
“Yeah, he took off. Rounded up a few guys and headed after Vincent.” Ray gave an aggravated response.
“Shit!” Stephanie groaned.
“Dad? Where is mom?” The girl reached her hand up and touched Ray’s faces as she asked her question.
“I hope he kills the son of a bitch!” Ray said; tears fell from his eyes as he carried his daughter away from the body of a mother she would never get to know. Stephanie could only think of Fay. She’d made it out safely to one of the other packs, she was on the first buss out, but she’d lost her mom in the same fashion, at the hands of Vincent’s men.
“This is bad.” Stephanie said. “We have to go after him, we have to stop him.”
“Yeah, I know.” Malcom spotted Tatiana not far from where they stood. “You need to go and tell Mara that we are moving out, she will know what to do. I will get Tatiana to pull some of her men together, this is just as much their fight as it is ours now. We need to hurry, Sirus is going to get himself killed.”
Stephanie approached the isolated house of Mara. There were no guards there. They had been called into the town to help, no one cared about Mara attacking after they had already been hit by one of their own. She stood outside the door and merely thought of Mara opening it and the vampire appeared.
“Ah, come to push your power so soon?” Mara stood in the door in small jean shorts, a tank top that stopped just above her belly button, and a pair of black pixie boots. Stephanie always wondered about the woman’s ever-changing style. She had only seen her a handful of times and each time she wore something completely different. She had to give it to her; Mara could wear a tattered old rag and still make it look fashionable.
“No, I’m here to deliver a message.” Steph smiled and continued to look over Mara’s body. It took her longer than it should have to catch herself. This caused her to question her sanity. She couldn’t believe she was standing there ogling this vampire, but she was and it was turning her on. Just a day ago, looking at Mara made her stomach turn with disgust and now she was imaging what the texture of her thigh would feel like. The thought was one that aroused her, she could do nothing but shake her head at how fucked up that was. It had to be a side effect of the blood. Stephanie wasn’t into girls and she damn sure wasn’t into vampires.
“And that message is?” Mara cocked her head to the side and waited.
“Oh, um,” Stephanie shook her head free of the unwanted thoughts, “we have to move out. Sirus has gone after Vincent. He took a few men with him but it’s not enough. We have to stop him before he gets them all killed.”
“Wow, I knew the wolf would want to go after Vincent when this was all over, but I hadn’t imagined he’d do it so soon.” Mara turned to go grab a few things but stopped in her tracks when Stephanie asked
“You knew?” She questioned. “How could you have known that he would do this?”
“Yes, he mentioned it to me that he was considering it.” She returned with her own question. “What pushed him over the edge?”
“JR is dead.” Stephanie gave her words a moment to sink in before she moved on to a question of her own. “When did he mention it to you?”
“Does it matter?” Mara avoided the question.
“Yes, tell me.” Stephanie commanded and felt the surge of power that meant Mara could not deny her request.
“While you were... resting that first night. I questioned him on his intentions and he finally broke down and told me that he had thoughts of making a few revisions to the plan he laid out. He wanted to get everyone else to safety first.”
“Well, it looks like he wasn’t able to keep to even his revised plan.”
“Apparently not.” Mara leaned against the doorframe. “But your brother did strike first, as he tends to do.”
“Just be ready to leave soon. Malcom will call you when we are heading out.” Stephanie rolled her eyes. What Mara said was true, but Stephanie didn’t want to hear it from her. Coming from a vampire, especially this one it was too much of an insult.
“Why not you?” Mara grinned and licked her lips. Stephanie ignored the way her stomach jumped at the sight and refused to allow her body to become more aroused, though she had clearly lost that battle.
“Just be ready to go.” Stephanie turned to leave.
“Oh, I will be ready.” Mara laughed. “Eventually you are going to have to actually thank me for all the times I have saved your life. It’s only the polite thing to do you know!” She called after the wolf.
“Yeah, well you are a vampire; maybe you will live long enough to see the day.” Stephanie called back and Mara laughed louder.
“You have to help us! Pull together some of your men and let’s go after them.” Malcom demanded from Tatiana.
“And why do I have to help? Helping you people is the reason my pack was hit, it’s the reason my people are out there mourning the loss of their families!” Tatiana slammed her fist against the wood surface of the dining room table. She frowned at the markings that were still there, left behind by her own nails clawing at the surface as Malcom filled her with his heat.
“So, what now, you turn your back on us?” Malcom challenged her.
She stared him in the eye, meeting his challenge and responded in a tight snip, “Yes. Hell, isn’t that exactly what you planned on doing, or did I hear you incorrectly?”
“I planned to leave after this was done! I would never think to cower in the middle of a war!”
“Well that makes you a better wolf than I, congratulations. I have my own pack to think about now; I don’t have time to go chasing after your lost boys.” Tatiana slammed the table with her fist.
“Well in that case, I know that you can’t just turn away from this, your men are with him too!” Malcom was yelling as the frustration boiled beneath the surface of his skin.
“What?” she paused, her expression softening to mourn lives she already counted as lost.
“Yes, what he says is true.” Ray appeared no longer carrying his daughter but still wearing the look of a man out for blood. “A few of our own went with him, seeking revenge.” The dark undertone of his voice told them he that he wished he had gone as well.
“Fuck!” Tatiana yelled. “This will mean war if they are caught in the southern territories on a mission of this nature. It doesn’t matter how much of a sick fuck Vincent happens to be, this will create havoc.”
“Yes, it will so I suggest that you help us stop them.” Malcom laid his request out on the table. This time he knew she could not deny him.
“Ray, please go gather some men, try to get them as prepared as possible for what is to come, we leave in twenty.” Tatiana waited for Ray to leave before addressing Malcom with an echo of his own sentiment. “This ends tonight.”
“Agreed,” he growled and went to the guest room, which still held the rest of his things.
“I can’t believe this shit is happening. It wasn’t supposed to go this way. I should have-” Tatiana’s voice stopped him in his tracks.
“What? You should have been here to protect them instead of being off on your own little act of vindication?” He finished her confession for her.
“Shut up.” She dropped her head because what he said was the truth that she had been unable to come to terms with. It was what she didn’t want to face, and here he was slapping her with it.
“Look, you need to deal with whatever the hell is going on inside your head before we leave. We have no idea what we will run into and you can’t be on your own little mental guilt trip while we are out there.” Malcom softened his tone, he’d made his point.
“Don’t tell me how to hunt. You’re the one who has been in exile, disconnected from his own kind. Not me.” She lashed out again.
“And yet, I am the one who is focused on helping my kind to survive this, I am not out there worrying about my own selfish vendettas. Funny how that works out.” Malcom growled and continued to his room. He grabbed a few of his things and quickly left. Before he exited her home, he called out to her. “Get your people together, we’ll meet you at the border.”
“Look, we have our men out there and we need to make sure that they come home safely!” Tatiana spoke to the group at the border consisting of wolves from both packs and Mara who lingered close to Stephanie. “No one else can die because of this!” With that, she howled into the night and shifted to her wolf form.
Malcom came close to Stephanie. “Breathe, remember what I said, your first shift will be intense. Let the power roll through you, do not attempt to fight it or it will be agony and your shift will take twice as long, if not longer.”
She nodded, dropped her head back and called to her wolf. The feeling was overwhelming, the power of her wolf fueled by Mara’s blood. The moment was orgasmic as she erupted into her wolf form. Dark auburn fur covered her body and she howled into the moon. Malcom watched her, admiring her body before allowing his own wolf to surface. He moved closer to her, brushing the side of his body along hers and growling low. It was a show of his affection for her beauty in all forms.
The wolves ran together in a tight formation, a dark river of fur that flowed across the land and called to the moon. Malcom lead the pack of wolves with Tatiana and Ray to his left, Stephanie, and Mara to his right, 27 other wolves flanked them, a blend of the two packs. The goal was to stop Sirus, not to go to war but they had to be prepared for the possibility of just that.
They were making good time but Malcom pushed himself harder, digging into the Earth and sprinting forward ahead of the group, Stephanie and Mara kept up, Tatiana lagged, but only because the weight of her own guilt was tied to her limbs, an invisible ball and chain. The entire team halted with the death cry of a wolf, Malcom turned to see the wolf lying limp on the ground. Blood pooled from his throat and he was slowly transitioning back to his human form as the life slipped away from him. Just then, the scent of death flooded the night air and Malcom looked to Tatiana. It was Duvein.
“Malcom!” He yelled from the line of trees as he sprang forward and fell to the ground softly. He had five vamps with him; the only one Malcom recognized was Lance. It seemed he left his usual lackeys at home. Duvein charged at Malcom but was targeted by Tatiana, she slammed her body into the vampire and he slid into the line of trees. He should have noticed her, blocked her hit or at least dodged it, but he was too distracted, instead of checking all his points he became focused on one target. He was emotionally compromised and out to get Malcom because he didn’t know who else to go after.
Vampires came in from all angles and the wolves prepared themselves. This would be a nasty battle. Though each was train to take on the blood sucking enemy, they would not be taken down easily. With the age of the vamps, even their numbers didn’t help their cause. Duvein had brought his top fighters with him. He didn’t want to make this an easy fight and it appeared he had chosen the right men to accompany him, because it was taking three wolves easily to busy one vampire.
Malcom was the first wolf to make a kill. He pulled a short red haired vampire from the back of a female wolf just before he could snap her neck. The vampire tried desperately to get away, but Malcom’s mouth was locked onto his neck. He increased the pressure of his jaw and in a smooth movement; he ripped away the side of the vampire’s throat, an action that left an empty space just above the shoulder blade. The vampire turned on him with every intention to fight back, neck or no neck. With his paw, Malcom pushed the small vamp to the ground and swiftly finished the job ripping away the remaining flesh and decapitating him completely. He dropped his head back and howled at the moon but his cry was cut short as her voice rang out. Just beyond the line of trees Serene appeared.
Her scent was no longer the mixture of summer essence that called him to her. Her soul was tainted by the magic that made it possible for her to stand there. She was just like the others, death intertwined. He’d questioned before if she still smelled like herself or if it was his memory of her that caused him to make the connection. There was only a trace of her left behind and the faint smell came to him across the field and mixed with the scent of blood that surrounded them.
“Malcom,” she spoke and smiled and his heart stopped completely.
Without his consent, his body shifted back to his human form. It was nothing he could control, the world stopped and his body responded. Slowly she approached him, still movement in a world of battle and he waited for her, he longed for her. He remained still as she approached him, his nude body covered in the blood of his foe.
Her movement shifted from the fluid of his angel to the rigid frame of an enemy. She wasn’t making a cool approach; she was charging him. He watched her and waited even though it was clear that she wanted nothing more than to end his life. The impact was unreal, completely implausible. The pain he felt both physically and emotionally was disabling. He flew backwards and heard the crack of the ground as he skidded to a halt. A moment later she was atop him, pinning him to the ground and sneering, he did nothing to stop her. He could do nothing, it was her, Serene, no longer his love, but a monster out for blood. Just as she was about to deliver the blow that would likely kill him, a large jaw wrapped around her right arm and pulled back. When she managed to pull her arm from the grip, everything from mid-forearm and down was missing. Serene looked at her arm and screamed, the sound pierced through the night and she ran from him.
The rest of the fight stopped and the vampires fled. Duvein escaped Tatiana just as his third man was cut down and Lance followed him. The other vampire, a tall blonde female had long since run off when she noticed that things were not playing out in their favor. Duvein would not be pleased with her cowardice, hopefully, for her sake; she was running in the opposite direction of him.
“Please tell me that was not Serene just now.” Stephanie had shifted back to her human form and was now pointing at Malcom, completely nude and fuming. “Tell me I was wrong, that my eyes played tricks on me, I did not just see Serene as a fucking vampire!”
“What you saw was correct.” He spoke as he stood from the ground.
“Seriously, Malcom? Is this the reason you wouldn’t come back when I asked you to? Did you refuse me for her?” Her question was laced with hatred and cut through him.
“No, I had no idea, not until recently.” He admitted.
“Recently?” She stopped to think about his words.
“Yea, recently, Malcom came to my home when your people chased him down like a mutt. Recently he was given a choice, either he...” Mara spoke, her own irritation surfacing, she wanted to spit the truth at Stephanie and tell her to stop being a selfish bitch, but Malcom cut her off.
“Mara, stop.” He held his hand up to Mara. “She deserves to hear it from me,” he turned back to Stephanie. “Duvein gave me an option, a life for a life. Serene’s life in trade for...”
“My brother, you came to kill my brother to save her.” Stephanie looked completely disgusted as she backed away from him. She knew the purpose of Malcom’s return, but never could she have imagined that the cause would be to save someone who was already so irrevocably lost to him.
“Yes.” He didn’t waste her time trying to deny what they both already knew was true. He had hoped like hell that she would never find out, or that he would be able to tell her in his own time, but nothing about that night was working out as planned. He watched the heartbreak play across her chest and he could do nothing to stop it.
“You have got to be kidding me right now! First, you chose her, a human, over us and now it’s her again, only this time she is a fucking vampire! What the fuck?” She growled and held herself back. She wanted to attack him; she couldn’t believe he could betray her in such a way, again.
“Steph,” Malcom stepped forward, hoping to calm her but she jumped back, far out of reach.
“No, don’t talk to me right now. I can’t even look at you!” She turned her back to him, but before she walked away, she spoke. “I thought... I was foolish enough to think that you and I could possibly rekindle whatever it was that we had lost. That’s not possible, I see that now. For you it’s still her, Serene, no matter what form she comes in.” To hide her tears, she shifted back to her wolf form and headed off to rejoin the group.
“We need to get going.” Mara spoke softly.
“Yeah, thanks.” Malcom shifted back to his wolf and without nearing Stephanie again, he led the group as they continued their journey to find Sirus. There was no way they would make it in time to stop him. They were two men down, with three injured, and were heading into a war.
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