Luukas
Luukas was confused as the girl began speaking in a strange tongue, saying words he didn’t understand. Who was she?
He looked at the dogs (wolves?) that had broken through the door. He seemed to know them. Duncan, and…he couldn’t recall the other one. They were inching slowly out of the room, their eyes never leaving the girl. Their hackles were raised on the back of their necks, and they whined softly as they crept backwards out the door.
Suddenly the air pressure in the room changed, came alive. His muscles tensed with the instinct to flee, feeling something wasn't right.
She raised her arms. Her voice rose in volume with each sentence, and she threw her head back. As the air grew dense with her sorcery, it lifted her body right off of the ground, until only her toes were dragging the dirt.
With a yelp, the wolves hightailed it out of there.
Weak, exhausted, and chained up as he was, Luukas could only hang there and watch as the girl…no, not the girl. The witch…yes! The fucking witch…cast her magic.
And he remembered.
He remembered her standing in front of him, looking much the same as she did now, as he was burned alive.
Remembered the sounds and smells of his skin melting and the meat roasting from his bones.
His mind recoiled violently from the memories. Hysteria rose within him, and he found it hard to breathe as he frantically looked down at himself. His heart pounded. How was this possible? How was he still whole? He had burned! He remembered! Remembered every excruciating second of it!
Am I in hell? The thought flitted briefly through his head, and was just as quickly gone.
His attention reverted back to the girl, the witch.
The word echoed through what was left of his mind. His lips peeled back from his fangs as they exploded down from his gums. He remembered others in the room when it was happening, their features hazy, but her…he remembered her very clearly.
He lunged forward on his chains, attempting to reach her with his razor sharp fangs. Rip her open! Suck her dry! I’m so thirsty. Kill her! Burn her like she did to me!
Suddenly her chest heaved upwards toward the ceiling and she opened her arms wide.
The witch fell to her knees on the dirt floor as Luukas was simultaneously thrown back against the wall, something slamming into him; a force so powerful, it knocked the breath from his lungs.
Gasping for air, his entire body went rigid, as the embodiment of hundreds of powerful life forces surged through him. Every vampire he’d ever created, every soul he shared, ripped through him like a tornado, embedding themselves as a whole back into his cells, before finally settling down within him like a sleeping beast.
In the sudden stillness, Luukas sucked in a deep breath, and then another. But he had no time to comprehend what had just happened, for just then, the witch lifted herself up off of the floor, her hazel eyes huge in her small face.
An evil smile spread slowly across his face, growing larger as she began backing away from him.
A howl sounded from somewhere high above them, a different voice, and the wolves answered from their hiding place in the hall, before running past the open doorway. But Luukas paid them no mind. His focus was on one thing, and one thing only.
The vile bitch in front of him.
Without even realizing what he was doing, he instinctively gathered his power within him, coiled it tightly, and then released it all at once with a blast of energy so strong, the entire mountain trembled. A tormented roar filled the room as his dislocated arms fell to his sides, the silver chains that had held him now nothing but clouds of dust that floated serenely to the floor.
Never taking his eyes from his prey, Luukas moved away from the wall for the first time in seven years.
The witch began to back cautiously out of the cell, like the wolves had before her. He could hear her rapid heartbeat. He could smell her fear.
And her sweet blood.
Steadily, relentlessly, he stalked her, pausing in the doorway only to slam his dislocated shoulders back into place against the wall.
She continued to back away slowly, her eyes never leaving his.
The backs of her heels hit the bottom of the stairway, and she started to fall, her arms pin wheeling as she tried to maintain her balance.
Before she could hit the stone, Luukas swooped in and grabbed her up into his arms, hauling them both up the stone steps with supernatural speed. Reaching the upper hallway, he swung his head from side to side, trying to decide which way to go. He recalled nothing from when he’d first been thrown down here.
The witch beat on him with her small fists. “Put me down!” she yelled in his face.
He threw her over his shoulder, wrapped one arm securely around her legs, and took off towards another stairway he’d spotted to his right.
Have to get out. Have to escape. Take the witch.
The stairway was a dead end. It literally led to nothing but a wall. How?
Luukas’ anxiety grew, and he fought back the panic rising in his chest. Flying back down the stairs, the witch hanging on to his raw back for dear life, he ran back down the other way.
A door!
Releasing the force of his power before him, he blew the door apart by strength of will alone, and ran through. He found himself in a tunnel barely lit by torches, smaller than the previous hallway. Which way to go?
Have to get out! Have to escape! Take the witch!
He looked to his right, then his left, and back to the right again. Which way?
Up. Need to go up.
Bouncing his prize up to a more secure spot on his shoulder, he went right. He hadn’t gone more than a few hundred feet when he saw another dead end ahead.
NO!
Sending out another burst of force, he shattered the stone and ran through.
The mountain quaked as Luukas burst through wall after wall, ascending ever higher through the maze of tunnels, until he felt the ground leveling out again. With a final, strong surge, he turned to the wall on his left and blew through it, dropping the witch to her feet but hanging on to her wrist.
She would not be getting away.
As the dust settled, Luukas found himself looking out into the cathedral-like space where it had all began, with Leeha.
He remembered.
“Keira!”
He felt the witch stiffen beside him. “Emma…” She breathed.
His head whipped around to see a small human female with bright hair running down the stairs in front of the throne-stage, calling for his witch. Pulling his lips back into a snarl, he hissed menacingly at her.
She paid no heed at all to the warning, and continued to run towards them.
Luukas growled low in his throat, his eyes never leaving her. His body tensed as he prepared to defend what was his.
A male vampire with blonde hair threw himself in front of her before she could reach the bottom of the stairway, plucking her right out of the air and holding her tight against the front of him. She struggled in his arms, demanding he let her go, but he held her fast, whispering to her, until she calmed a bit.
Still holding the human, he turned his head and looked Luukas up and down, a strange expression on his face.
Luukas bared his fangs at him too, and also at the wolves prowling back and forth at the far end of the room, just for good measure.
The blonde vampire set the human down, speaking to her sternly this time. Glancing back at the wolves, he turned to face Luukas, his expression relaxed.
“Luukas? Hey, big brother. It’s just me, Nik.”
Nik?
The vampire eased down another step. Luukas’ heartbeat picked up again as he tried to keep an eye on both the vampire and the pacing wolves. Swinging his head back and forth between them, he finally settled on the vampire, as the beasts seemed to be keeping their distance.
Nik. He thought again. Nikulas?
He knew that name. Knew that face. From where? He tried to think back. Fractional pieces of his life before flashed through his mind.
My brother. Trust him?
He wasn’t sure, but he sheathed his fangs a bit. Still, to be safe, he yanked the witch behind him.
“The witch is mine.”
“Ok man, you can have her.” The human female made a sound of protest, but the vampire – Nik - ignored her, easing down a few more steps.
“No one is going to take your witch. I just want to say hello to my brother.”
Brother, yes. My brother. Nikulas.
He took a halting step into the room, scanning the area. Where was Leeha? He needed to kill her.
“Where is she?” he ground out.
“She’s gone…She took Aiden with her.”
Aiden?
“We came to get you out," Nik continued, "When she heard the wolves, she freaked out, and unleashed her monsters upon us." He indicated the room full of decaying carcasses around him. “We killed them all except for a group that took off with Aiden through that door.” He pointed to the doorway where he and the human had been standing. “We can’t get it open now. I don’t know where she took him.”
Luukas growled low in his throat as his lips twitched back off of his fangs. “I’m going to rip her apart. Slowly. Painfully.”
“Luukas!” Keira cried as, in his anger, his grip tightened on her. “You’re hurting me!”
Hurting her? No! He couldn’t hurt her! Luukas immediately loosened his hold, releasing her wrist, but his eyes pinned her to the spot.
“Leave us,” he ordered the others in the room.
The wolves kept a wary eye as they took advantage of his distraction with the witch. They slunk past him through the hole in the wall to go find the rest of their pack, but he paid them no mind. He was incapable of tearing his eyes away from the female in front of him.
“Luuk, man. Let’s just get out of here,” his brother called from behind him.
A cold rage filled Luukas, so intense, it dropped the temperature in the room. The witch shivered before him, and wrapped her arms around herself.
She swallowed hard.
Rip her open! Suck her dry! Ah, I’m so thirsty. Kill her! Burn her!
“LEAVE! US!”
A silent moment passed as he and the witch stood with gazes locked: His intense with anger. Hers frightened, yet resigned.
Finally, he heard his brother urge the human female, “Come on. Let’s go.” Raising his voice, he called to Luukas, “We’ll be at the hideout.”
“What? No. Nik! NO!! Dammit, that’s my SISTER over there!”
Luukas’ upper lip twitched as the human argued with his brother.
“Nikulas! Stop! I’m not leaving without her!” A pause, “I will not leave without my sister.”
The air began to vibrate, and at first, he thought it was his witch, but no. It wasn’t her. This magic was similar, but different, and far weaker.
He didn’t have long to wonder about it though. The whoosh of a large object soon came sailing through the air towards him. Without taking his gaze from his witch, he lifted his left hand and flicked the rock away from him with nothing but the will of his mind.
“Nikulas. You really need to remove her,” he warned. “NOW. I’m not in the mood to play.”
Keira gave him a hopeful look he didn’t understand, before tearing her gaze away to plead with her sister, “Emma, it’s ok. Luukas and I have some things we need to discuss.”
“Sweetheart, that’s enough. We’re leaving.” Nikulas’ voice was firm.
“He’s going to kill her, Nik!” she cried.
Yes. But first, feed. Then kill.
“No, he won’t,” Nikulas told her in a reassuring tone. “He’s very angry right now, but he won’t hurt her. You need to trust me here.”
“You don’t know that,” the human insisted.
“Actually, I kinda do.”
Luukas was swiftly losing his patience.
With an anxious glance at his face, Keira quickly interrupted them, “It’s ok, honey. Go with Nik. I’ll be out in a bit.”
“Keira?” The human’s voice trembled with disbelief and uncertainty.
With another quick glance at Luukas, Keira ordered, “Emma, just GO. I’ll be fine.”
“Come on,” Nikulas insisted.
Her sister looked as if she was about to argue more, but then turned and stalked from the room in a huff.
Keira watched her go, relief and sorrow playing across her features. She turned back to Luukas, and drew herself up stiffly.
A cruel smile spread across his face.
“Luukas,” she began haltingly, but he didn’t give her any time to give him her excuses. There were no excuses he would accept for what she’d done to him.
He moved before he realized he'd meant to do so. One second he was standing in front of her and the next he had her slammed up against the wall behind her, her feet dangling a foot off the floor. One of his large hands was around her bandaged throat, and the other had a death grip on her wrists, holding her arms above her head.
He lowered his head until his icy visage was but an inch from her face. His glowing, green eyes burned into her with his rage. His lips were drawn back from his teeth in a snarl, exposing his massive fangs.
“I’m going to kill you. Slowly. And painfully.”
Keira looked at him defiantly through her tears. Choking from his hold, she managed to rasp, “I…deserve…it. Just…don’t…hurt…Emma.”
Luuk tilted his head to the side as he stared at her with disbelief, his hatred of her sharpening his thoughts into something that sounded somewhat coherent.
“You dare to demand something of me? For years, you helped that bitch hold me here. Fucking watched,” he yanked her towards him by the throat and slammed her back into the wall, feeling some satisfaction when she winced. “As I was tortured and starved, without a bone in your body feeling a bit of remorse, without one ounce of empathy for me.”
“That’s not…true…!” she gasped.
“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! You don’t get to fucking ask for anything!” he roared into her face. “You don’t get even a small feeling of pity from me. Nothing! YOU! BURNED! ME! ALIVE!”
Luukas was struggling hard to keep the madness in check, but he was losing the fight. He could feel the delicate bones of her throat under his hand, and imagined how good it would feel to crush them in his grip. He began to squeeze, smiling cruelly as her face turned a dark, mottled red.
Rip her open! Suck her dry! I’m so thirsty. Kill her! Burn her!
A single tear escaped and rolled down her cheek: just one tear. And the sight of that single fucking tear gave him pause...made his chest tighten painfully.
Hurting her? No! He couldn’t hurt her!
Luukas squeezed his eyes shut.
Rip her open! Suck her dry! I’m so thirsty. Kill her! Burn her!
But that one brave tear undid him. “God damn you.”
He loosened his grip on her throat and watched anxiously as she sucked in air, coughing, the color rushing from her face, the sudden paleness of her skin stark in contrast. Still effortlessly holding her up by the wrists, as he had been chained for so long, he placed his other hand on the side of her head and brushed the tear away gently with his thumb. Eyes wide with wonder, he cupped her cheek as he let his eyes rove over her exquisite face.
Gradually, he became aware of her lush body pressed against him. Her heart pounded and her blood rushed through her veins. Her delicious, unique scent hovered in the air around him, interlaced with…desire?
He instantly ached to bury his fangs deep in her neck. Gods, he was so thirsty.
Her full breasts pressed into his chest, and his cock throbbed painfully. It was strange, feeling his cock hardening again, feeling the almost painful pleasure of it.
He wanted to kill her and fuck her at the same time. Maybe he’d fuck her first, and then kill her. Why not? She deserved nothing less.
And she wanted him. He could smell her desire, stronger than her fear. How could that be possible?
No, feed first.
He snarled at her again as he thought about the past…what? Years? She owed him for what he’d been through. What she’d put him through. Moving faster than she could track, his mouth slammed down hard onto hers at the same time he ripped the bandage from her throat.
She gasped at the assault, and he used the opportunity to invade her mouth with his tongue. He wasn’t gentle. He kissed her ferociously, thrusting his tongue in and out of her mouth, sucking, feasting; the taste of her easing the madness, centering all of his awareness on nothing but her.
His fangs scraped her lips and a drop of her blood touched his tongue. He growled deep within his chest, holding her head firmly to his.
It wasn’t enough. He wanted more. Needed more.
Tearing his mouth from hers, he grabbed her by the hair, roughly pulling her head to the side to expose her neck to his hungry view. Her breathing was ragged in his ear, and the sharp scent of her fear grew thicker around him.
Her plump veins pulsed rapidly just under her translucent skin. He put his nose to her neck, inhaling deeply, reveling in her scent for just a moment.
Rearing back, he struck like a snake, sinking his fangs deep into her succulent flesh. She stiffened in his arms as he felt her vein pop and her warm blood began to gush down his throat. He swallowed greedily, his eyes rolling back in his head as an instant feeling of euphoria spreading throughout his emaciated body.
MINE.
With a groan, he let go of her wrists. Her hands immediately went to his shoulders, but rather than push him away, they clung to him. Putting his arm around her waist, he pulled her hips into his throbbing erection as he sucked hard at her neck.
Her blood was like nothing he’d ever tasted before. It ran down his throat and burned sweetly through his body like a fine liqueur. Luukas’ body responded eagerly, her blood healing him, renewing him.
He pulled her impossibly closer as he dropped to his knees and sat back on his heels, pulling her down with him and holding her on his lap, her knees to either side of his hips. Her hands gripped his strong shoulders and she moaned as he rocked his hips up, trying to push himself into her core through their ragged clothes. His cock felt like it was about to burst, but he couldn’t bring himself to let go of her long enough to remove their clothes.
He rubbed himself against her, seeking relief, moving faster and faster. Lifting his head from her neck, he moved his mouth to her ear and ordered, “Come for me, Keira. Come for me…NOW.”
Her body responded instantly to his words, and with an incoherent cry, she convulsed in his arms. He struck her neck again, groaning deep in his throat, and pulled her down onto him as he ground up into her, hard. With her sweet, sweet blood running down his throat and her cries in his ears, he yelled out against her neck as his cock swelled impossibly larger, before violently releasing as he came.
She went limp in his arms as he continued to rock against her, more gently now. Taking one last tiny pull, he removed his fangs from her throat, and ran his tongue over the wounds to help heal them.
He growled dangerously as he felt the previous wounds there from the other vampire who’d fed from her. Who’d fed from what was his.
Pulling her limp body close to him, he rose to his feet, adjusting her in his arms.
I’ll fucking kill him.
But wait, he was already dead. Wasn’t he? Luukas tried to remember. Yes, Leeha took his heart. He remembered now. He wouldn’t get to kill the vampire who’d fed from his female.
And that pissed him off. He bared his fangs at the empty tunnel, but no one was there to take out his anger on.
He turned in a circle. Which way? He stepped back out of the tunnel into the main room. It was empty also. Everyone had gone. But where? What had Nik said?
The hideout. Yes.
He glanced down at his witch. She hadn’t opened her eyes.
Can’t hurt her!
He frowned, lifting her up closer. He could hear her heartbeat. It was still strong.
Spotting the narrow tunnel Nik and the human had taken, Luukas headed that way, holding Keira close against his chest so as not to bang her limp form against the stone.
He followed the human’s scent until he came to a larger opening. A creek ran by, flowing through the mountain. He followed it upstream until he came out of the mountain.
It would be daylight soon. He would have to hurry.