SCOTT'S POV
Just when our misunderstandings have been cleared, another problem had to unfold. No power could dissolve the lythari magic that easily. That was one that first triggered my Alpha senses. When the lights shut off, I knew something uninvited has arrived in the mansion. I never thought that the vampires would be quicker than Priscilla's will to transfer the Devlin asset to Sebastian. With Diana in my hand behind me, we went out of the room to the corridor that has been swallowed by darkness. My senses stretched all throughout the mansion. Three things were clear.
There were no voices.
Swift movements hid at the hush of the draught.
And a hint of coppery scent of blood scattered in the mansion.
I planned to take Diana out in the back. On the carpeted oak floor of the hallway, we walked in stealth. Hurried but cautious. One turn in the last hallway with alternate moonlight from the tall windows and shadows flagged me of danger. Up ahead at the end of it, I saw a man with long sleek hair standing with his hands together. I hid Diana behind me as two more men appeared on his sides. Their bloodshot eyes shimmered in the dark like prying predators lurking for their prey.
"Vampires", I heard Diana whisper. Her voice trembled.
The one in the middle stepped forward in the ray of moonlight. Its pale skin was almost porcelain, and luminous like marble. Its mouth split into a grin, lined with knife-life fangs. "Diaa..naa", it sang my Luna's name.
Their prey.
"Newborns", I told Diana. They are dangerously fast, hungry and incredibly limitless. One of them lunged at us in a blur. Before it could reach me and Diana, the newborn have already lost his head. And so are the others who have also dropped dead and headless on the floor. "Brooke", I greeted the Alpha heaving in front of us. His eyes peered passed through me, as he fix his gaze on my Luna. Two members of his pack stayed at the end of the hallway, somewhat guarding.
"I leave my Luna for a moment, and her life once again is in danger in your hands. That's no longer coincidence, Devlin", he says, with that dimpled smug on his annoying tan face.
"What's the situation?", I interrupted his steady gaze blocking his line of sight.
"Newborns. They are all over the place", he says. "There's this yellow-head original bloodsucker who's ordering them around."
I narrowed my eyes as it ring a bell. Just then, Diana have spoken a name that made my blood turn cold. "Claudia", she was frighteningly certain. "She's here for me".
Claudia.
How could I forget that name? I have chosen to spare her, and gave her mercy that I shouldn't have. Diana's terrified look made me instantly regret the kindness I gave the original. I was expecting she'd come after the Nagual... not Diana.
A shimmer of silver dusts spiraled over Diana's shoulder. The lythari perched right on her and not mine, as if it was his home. "Your bold choice has finally returned to collect its debt, Lycan King", he says, with its button eyes narrowing at me. Guilt dawned on me that I couldn't say a word. "I told you it was a mistake."
"YOU WHAT?", Roman hissed, grabbing me by the collar as if it was what he has been wanting to do. I didn't resist his surge of anger, knowing that I deserve more than a punch on the face.
I kept my eyes on the Diana while Roman grapples the linen around my neck. "I am so sorry, Diana. I'm the one who got you in this mess.". Diana walked towards me, and held Roman's arm trying to pull him away. Roman ignored her, that he tightened his grasp more.
"Let him go, Roman", she convinced Roman, but there's no way he's letting me go. "What do you mean, Scott?", Diana demanded my reason, furrowing her eyes that didn't contain a hint of anger.
Straining at Roman's tightening grip, I could feel blood pool in my head. His nostrils flares with his unyielding grasp but still, I didn't resist. A deep breath prepared me the truth. "I freed Claudia. Back then, mercy seemed fitting", my voice roughened. "I found her in Tamara's basement, and decided to free her. Thinking she's valuable in the Nagual's schemes. I didn't realized Claudia will be after you".
"I would kill a fuckin' original when I had the chance. Not free them!", Roman growled, pushing me against the wall.
"Please let him go", Diana simply said. Roman stayed unfazed, as if he didn't heard a word she said. "Fighting each other won't help us. We need to find way out.", she pointed out. Roman and I met each other's gaze. That look in his eyes seemed to have wanted to snap my neck right there. "Roman, please", Diana plead. It was only then when Roman completely released his grip on me with a shove.
I turned to Ofir, and gave him a stern look. "Make her... maker her protective marbles", I demanded, as I catch my breath.
Ofir's eyes widened, as if he was offended. "I haven't even replenished my powers. I needed three full moons, only one has passed."
"Can you make them or not?", Roman fumed.
"Well...", Ofir stared at us looking pressured. "It won't be as powerful", he muttered, with a dramatic sigh.
"Better than nothing", I grumbled.
"Alpha", Gunner with another member of their pack approached Roman. "We've got more company", right across that long stretch of corridor, more newborns clocked in.
I held Diana by her arm, dragged her by the next corridor. "Take her, Ofir, and make her the marbles. I'll be right behind you", before I let her go, I pulled her again in a tight embrace against my chest. "I'm sorry, I'll fix this", I whispered in her ear.
Diana nodded, and raised her head at me. "Be careful", she said, as she squeeze her arms around my waist.
"Come Luna", Ofir floated, and glided along the hallway with my Luna.
"Keep her safe, or I'll smash that little head of yours with my bare hands", Roman threatened the poor lythari before they became one with the shadows of the corridor.
More pale figures emerged from the other side of the mansion's second floor. Red eyes surged towards us, with mouths stained with blood. With two Alphas and two Betas against newborns, mayhem ensued. Pale bodies crash against the walls. Some where thrown out of the windows. All of the furniture and paintings were splintered on the way. We faced every one of them making it known that coming here is a mistake.
More newborns emerged from the dark.
I couldn't believe how Claudia built an army just for Diana, the Luna who can't even protect herself. Gunner and their pack member whom they call Troy fought back to back, with their movements practical, tactical, and lethal. When one newborn leap onto Gunner, Troy would catch it by the throat and hurl it on the floor. Betas needed to pair against newborns. It must be that way.
Roman and I took on most of them without the need to shape shift. Newborns are no match against Alphas like us. Though I admit, we both leaped into great lengths to jink and weave against them. Newborns are terrifyingly fast that their movements come in blurs. Their strength are even more greater than most of our Betas. Nonetheless, they fight like wild animals. No strategy, no control. The flaw of arising bloodthirsty slaves of the moon.
One vampire charged. A sidestep missed its attack, snapping its arm backward before riving it face first into the wall. More bones cracked, and more jaws were broken. More newborns exploded into ashes. The last newborn made its way towards me. A total mistake for choosing me over the three others. He snarled on his way, with his crimson eyes blazing in madness. Head on, I met him halfway, and with great force, I buried my hand into his chest, grabbing his black heart. Its body bursted into ashes, as the life in the newborn vampire faded. I looked at Roman and his Betas whose mouths are completely open. "I think we're done here.", patting the ashes on my clothes.
"That was totally... violent", Roman muttered.
We rushed towards Diana after. Followed her faint scent that lingered over the stench of blood and ash. Roman checked every the room that we passed, until we were both led to the mansion's receiving room for guests. We stared at the closed double doors, as we both grab the brass handle of each panel and turned the knobs simultaneously. Pushing the heavy door open, we found a boy cornering Diana beyond the grand piano. He was no older than twelve, with height almost reaching Diana's shoulder. She doesn't look afraid as she reach the hissing boy with her hand. Behind Diana, the Lythari floats cross-legged in the air with its eyes closed, and his tiny hands glowing as spheres of moonlight. She was protecting Ofir, rather than choosing to leave him there.
As Diana's hand nears the boy, Roman and I have lunged forward. "Diana don't!", we both reached the boy in time. Tearing its limbs before a scream was formed in his fanged mouth. Pieces of the child scattered across the floor before it turned into ash.
Instead of relief, Diana wore a face that have gone white. Her eyes were like orbs, staring at the child's ashes. Her pity on the child who almost ended her life confused me. "He... he was just a child", she ached for the monster.
"Not anymore, Luna", I held her trembling hands, and locked her in my arms. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?", she replied with silence.
"They are designed to kill, Luna", Roman clarified, making it sound more acceptable, But Diana kept stilled in my arms, gaping at the floor.
The exhausted lythari elf finally finished forming his protective marbles. He collapsed on the grand piano, with three tiny marbles resting in his hands. One pink, one tangerine and the other in amethyst. "Good work, Ofir", I commended.
Wheezing, he handed the marbles to Diana. "Here...", he looked ready to faint. "I'm never doing this again".
"Thank you. I told you many times you didn't have to", Diana disputed, wrapping the marbles all together in a piece of cloth she tore from the hem of her dress. "Look at you..", she took Ofir and cradled it in her arms.
"I can't just let you walk around here without some magic to protect you", he says., curling in her hands.
"More are coming", Gunner interrupted, as he rest his ears against the door.
"We can't keep her here", Roman admit openly.
"We're leaving, Diana", I declared, the longer we stay at the mansion, the more unsafe it is for her.
"How about the others? Reina and Sebastian? Your father? And your friends?", Diana kept worrying on the wrong persons, when she's the most vulnerable one in here.
"They are wolves, they can manage on their own", I guaranteed, soothing her worries.
"Forget about them Diana, your safety is more important here", Roman nodded at Gunner and Troy as we prepare to leave.
As we were about to flee, voices from outside the mansion halted our intention. Then, come the screams. Loud and clear that it was piercing to the ears. Slowly, we drew nearer the window by the mansion's frontage, just close enough to peek and see what's outside. I looked down and to my surprise, my impulse pushed Diana back for her not to see. "Step back", I told her. My gaze returned to the people below. Standing in the moonlit front yard of the mansion was Claudia, the blonde original vampire who came for Diana. Behind her were four other vampires. Regular ones. Decennary kind. And in front of them, a blonde haired woman wearing a hospital gown who knelt on the grass. Head lowered, and whimpering. "No..", I refused to believe my eyes.
It's Kate.
"That's a trap", Roman tilts his head, as he stood on the other side of the window.
"She would never leave her", my low voice hoped it didn't reached Diana.
"We both know nothing ends well with a human in the hands of an original", Roman countered, making it sound that there's no more hope for Diana's best friend.