The Reaper
Two people are connected at the heart, and it doesn't matter what you do, or who you are or where you live; there are no boundaries or barriers if two people are destined to be together.
She didn't want to believe it but the surveillance footage left no doubt about the recent violence on the street. She couldn't picture him as a murder, he was her close friend and always would be. She could clearly remember the time of their childhood, they had grown up side by side and it wasn't until Nomak got older that the changes enhance. He was unique and that frightened people, instead of trying to understand, they pushed him away which led to his father and her Overlord, Eli Damaskinos to banishing Nomak from the compound.
"Zara." Her head snapped up from its resting position on her knees to see her father coming towards her. When he stopped in front of her, she stood up to be level with him. "With the recent turn of events, I don't want you going outside alone." Her father warned.
"With all due respect father, it is my job to be out there." She replied carefully, after the deaths of her mother and brother, her father has been in a fragile mind.
Her father tried looking for other options. "I can talk to Damaskinos-"
"I have been trained for this." Zara reasoned, thinking about the Bloodpack and the hard training they'd received for the last two years.
"That was for the daywalker, not reapers." Her father hissed out, showing his dislike to her not following his wishes.
She tried to not flinch at the word "reapers", it was the name that Nomak and his followers had quickly taken. "I will be a part of the unit when it is ordered." She firmly stated, letting her father know her final choice on the matter.
The hard line of her father's mouth showed that he was displeased with her. He simply stared at her for a moment longer waiting for a change of decision. When she didn't flinch under his gaze, he signed and swiftly walked away in anger. The heavy pit in his stomach told him that he would be lucky to see his daughter alive once the Bloodpack were sent in for reinforcement. He had seen the change in her, the constant shifting of thoughts when Zara had found out who was behind the reapers. When she was a child, she'd go to him and she'd do exactly that again.
She knew it was dangerous, the dark alley brought back happier memories of running amuck with a friend. The sound of someone behind her, had Zara drawing her sword from her hip. Turning around, she spotted a pale figurer standing there with someone else closed behind with hunched shoulders. Without warning, the two figurers started running at her and she raised her sword in preparation. "Stop!" The sudden roar made the two figures' halt while the hooded body moved forward, stepping between the figures and the vampire. "She's mine." He hissed out, the announcement of his possessive sent unreasonable pleasure down her spine. The figurers' surprisingly backed away, leaving the pair in the alley way. "You shouldn't be here." He whispered, stalking towards her.
"I need to speak to you." She tried not to seem imitated by him, like he wanted her to be.
"There is nothing to talk about." He spoke as if they didn't have any history.
"Why are you doing this?" She ignored him, trying to find answers to her questions.
"I hate vampires." He spat, standing toe to toe with the woman.
Her eyes wandered over his face, the strong edge of his jaw and his pale eyes. "You hate your father." She corrected. "Don't go causing more trouble than necessary."
"None of my other options got his attention. Now, he knows I'm coming after him." A tiny smile came to his lips. It didn't scare Zara, merely made her more irritated at him.
"His going to send Blade and the Bloodpack after you."
"The daywalker?" Nomak questioned, surprised that his father had reached out to the enemy.
"He is to lead us." Her eyes travelled from his jaw to this throat where she spotted a splash of blood, vampire blood.
"And you are to fight?" He questioned tensely.
"Not against you." She felt unbalanced even thinking about impaling him with her sword, but she would not hesitate with the others as they would not hesitate in draining her. "You should have just stayed hidden." She said harshly, thinking about the mess he had gotten into.
For years, Zara had confined in Nomak's presence, going to see him at his current residence after he was banished. The childhood friendship grew over time, intensifying their emotions towards each other. With no one to step between them, they expressed themselves with pleasure and long nights laying with one another.
"I want my revenge." He stated, not fussed about her fiery attitude, it was one of her qualities that captured his attention.
"Revenge only gets people killed." She'd seen it happen many times over the years.
"I'm a reaper, it's my job to reap." He said walking backwards into the darkness.
…..
She walked into the room, hardly in the mood to put up with anyone's attitude. "Where ya been Zara?" Cupa yelled from his seat next to Priest at the table.
"None of your bloody business Cupa!" She spat back at him, passing him to get to the weighs to ease some of the frustrations after her conversation with Nomak. The two of them always had their arguments when they were kids, the thing is – they weren't children anymore and the situation had gotten serious.
She started on the weighs, something to keep her mind off her recent conversation and her feeling towards her duty to Bloodpack and Nomak. Her loyalties should have been simple, yet she was wanting to be outside of the compound with a hunted man.
Zara didn't get to dwell on her thoughts as Nyssa stepped into the room with Blade in front, his two humans accompanying him at the bottom of the stairs. She immediately came to attention, she didn't like having the daywalker in their terrority, went against every bone in her body. She stood up after placing the weighs down and came to stand with the rest of Bloodpack as Asad started the introductions. "Blade, meet the Bloodpack. Lighthammer, Verlaine, Priest, Zara, Snowman, Chupa and Reinhardt." She keep her face expressionless as Blade stood before her, though all she truly wanted to do was drive her sword through his heart.
Reinhardt stepped forward, walking towards Blade with his usually swagger. "Hey...me and the gang were wondering..."
"What was that?" Blade tautened.
"Can you blush?" Reinhardt's comment caused her own lips to twitch at the thought and a chuckle run through the Pack.
"Oh I get it." Blade circled around Reinhardt. "I see now. You've been training for two years to take me out, and now, here I am." He stopped in front of the vampire. "Ooh, so exciting, isn't it?" He shivered and bounced around on his feet. "Okay, here's your chance." He brought out a silver stake from his coat and the unit automatically pull out their guns to defend their fellow vampire. "Come on, what are you waiting for?" Blade pressed the stake above his heart. "Here I am, right here in front of you."
Reinhardt glances over at Nyssa. "Come on. What are you looking at her for? You need permission?" Blade taunted. Zara was tempted to reach forward for the sliver stake. "Maybe you need a little bit of incentive. Okay I can help with that." He does a trick with the stake before slapping Reinhardt on the side of the cheek. "What's the matter? Missed that? It's okay, I can do it again."
"Do it Reinhardt! Do it!" Verlaine shouted from Lightbhammer's side.
"Come on. You need a manual?" Blade teased Reinhardt more as the group shouted at him to take it.
"Fuckin do it! Come on!"
"Kill the bastard!" Priest and Chupa threw out comments, urging Reinhardt to take the hit.
Reinhardt goes to do it but Blade moves into action, putting the vampire into a head lock and plants a device on the back of his head. "Now you've got an explosive device stuck to the back of your head. Silver nitrate, rigged to go off if anybody tampers with it. I'll have the detonator with me. And you if so much as look at me wrong." Blade twisted Reinhardt's shoulder before letting the male go. "For now on, we work as a unit. You'll be taking orders from me." Blade glanced at Reinhardt. "Any questions?"
Silence met the unit as Blade turned to Nyssa. "You want to catch the hunter? You start with the prey. We'll target all the night places. Where vampires' congregate. Blood banks, safe houses, the bigger, the better. So...what's first?" The pleased expression on the daywalker's face tested Zara's patience at not running her sword into him. She didn't like his attitude and it didn't sit well with her knowing that the man they had been trained to kill was going to be their leader in the hunt.
"The House of Pain." Nyssa answered, informing the three humans' of a vampire safe house.
Zara stood off to the side, watching Blade and Nyssa stare at the outside entrances of the House of Pain. She couldn't help but wonder, how could Nyssa stand being in the daywalker's presence?
".38, .45 and 9mm calibre." The old human's voice grabbed her attention from the pair to glance down at the box filled with weapons. "Filled with silver nitrate, and garlic extract. This hyper-veloity stake gun spits out a sliver stake at 6,000 feet per second. Since you suckers don't like sunlight, we've modified the gun's entry light with a UV filter." Whistler pointed the light towards Priest with a smile as the vampire didn't go up in flames, making the vampire curse at the action. "Let's go." The group walked towards the entrance of the House of Pain, Zara travelled slightly behind watching, assessing the group and their surroundings.
"You won't pass for one of us." Chupa shoved past Whilster, making Zara follow his eyes to the old man that couldn't pass as a vampire or a feed with his poor attitude or posture.
"Like I give a shit." Whistler spit back in defence.
"No, he's right." Blades voice cut in as he stopped Whistler from stepping any closer to the warehouse. "Why don't you post up on the roof over there? Cover our backs."
"So the Bloodpack's calling the shots now, huh?" Whistler turned on his heel and left them. Zara rolled her eyes' at the old man, it reminded her of a child who couldn't get his own way.
Once they reached the House of Pain, Chupa lifted the door at the ground and they made their way further down the stairs into the warehouse.
"You're about to enter our world. You will see things...feedings. Just remember why you're here." Nyssa turned her attention back to the front door after warning Blade.
"I haven't forgotten" At Blade's words the twin doors opened to another room.
Zara followed the rest of the Pack down the corridor that held several weapons before they came to another set of doors. Her shoulders felt tense under her leather jacket, she wasn't looking forward to this mission, the idea of searching for reapers among their own kind seemed messy.
"What exactly are we looking for in here?" Priest's voice filled the room which was soon followed by Reinhardt's.
"Anything that looks suspicious."
As another door opened, the sound of beating music filled her ears and the smell of blood hit her nose. "You've got to be kidding me." Blade walked into club eyeing all the activity.
The group automatically spread out, moving against the bodies of dancing beings and the flashing lights that turned everything surreal. The scent of blood filled her nose, filling her head as she turned to the right. Watching as a vampire feed from a familiar, she was thankful that she'd taken the time to feed before the mission.
"Look at them, half of these bastards aren't even pure bloods." Her attention snapped from the feeding to Priest's voice. Priest was right, it was hard nowadays to find purebloods like themselves.
The techno beat was soon scattered with shots running through the club, Reinhardt and Chupa's voice's came through in her ear piece. Taking a couple of steps closer, she caught sight of the reaper running from the two armed vampires. She went into action when another shot sounded behind her.
"We're under attack! There are three of them, probably more." Asad's voice filled her ears as he alerted the team of the situation.
As the firing run through the club, vampires started running, screaming making it harder to get to the reapers. She briefly saw Priest shoot at one of the reapers' as she made her way from the dance floor and followed one down the hallway. She raised her gun but couldn't get a clear shot as the reaper moved behind one of the red curtains.
"Listen to me. If you're under attack, use your UV lights. Use your UV lights! They can't take the light!" Scud's voice echoed in her ears as she unclipped her UV light to shine at the curtain that she saw the reaper disappear behind.
"Priest is down." Asad reported to the unit, making Zara freeze at the news. Her hand tightened on her gun while she could feel a set of eyes on her, the pit of her stomach warned her to back away but she moved forward into the hallway darkness with her gun raised.
She inched closer into the corner, taking a deep breath in to scent anything – a hint of spice met her senses. The coil in her shoulders' loosened with the familiar scent as her eyes landed on the being responsible for observing her. "Zara, you found anything?" The ear piece asked, responding to the hitch of her breath.
"Nothing here." Zara answered, keeping her eyes' on Nomak's sullen expression. She slightly lowered her gun and removed her ear piece into her pocket. "I almost shot you." She whispered, not wanting to be overheard with their objective.
"You always did have good aim." He stepped forward and placed his hand on her arm, lowering the weapon further and bringing himself closer to her body. "I suggest that you stay retired in your room." He whispered, warning her of his plans.
"You know I can't do that." She whispered desperately. Her loyalties seem to be divided with the Bloodpack and her own personal interests with Nomak.
"You know there is only so much I can do to protect you." Nomak replies, reminding her that anyone can meet death, like her brother and mother with the reapers.
"Death is simply another pathway." Her thoughts still centred on her family.
"Then so be it." He spat, taking offence in her dismissing his warning, making him question why he had even bothered to get in touch with her.
"Daylights coming. You're on your own, Blade." Asad's voice caught Zara's attention, making her distracted for a belief second as she glanced down at her pocket. When she looked back to the curtains, she found herself alone.
She sat at the vanity in bedroom, her body feeling numb as she slowly brushed her hair. The events of the following night had her troubled – What could Nomak be suggesting? Surely, he wouldn't come to the compound after his father. In saying that, Nomak would be on familiar grounds, knowing the ins and outs of the compound from their childhood activities, where Blade would be at a disadvantage of such information. Her mind swirled with the existing thoughts, edging with deep, confusing thoughts of her current situation that she had yet to announce, knowing it would be putting more than herself as a target.
A creak from the air vent on her bedroom wall made her reach for the knife on her vanity. The curtain blew with the unusual movement and the Reaper appeared, brooding expression with his shabby clothes and hood over his head.
"Jared," She whispered his name, her thoughts been centred on him since the House of Pain incident between him and Blade. "Can we pretend for one night that it's just us, before all this?" She questioned, missing the times that they could freely be together without their positions or society getting between them. She almost thought he was going to decline her until she saw the tension leave his shoulders'.
He turned to her, quickly closing the space between them. The sudden moment made the back of her knees hit her mattress but his hand came around her waist before she fell back onto the bed and pressed her body into his solid one. "One night." He promised before capturing her lips and slowly lowering them to the bed.
….
The events following left dread in the pit of her stomach as she wrapped the gown around her naked body after watching Nomak redress himself. She was briefly at peace with having him by her side though with him ready to leave the compound, she felt the anxiety resurface once again. He'd briefly explained his plan, leaving out the major details on his attack to not endanger her.
"Jared," She begun to talk some sense into him but he cut her off before she could attar another word.
"Don't Zara." He held up his hand, knowing the words that would leave her mouth. "This is happening whether you like it or not." Like usual, he disappeared from sight leaving her frustrated once again.
Thoughts twirling around in her mind, Zara was ready before dusk had fallen and moved throughout the compound to the sewers. She knew that she'd have some chance of coming across him along with other reapers', which is why the weight of her sword was pressed against her back.
The compound seem almost muted with dusk barely risen, she easily slipped passed the room containing her father and ignored the echo warnings of his voice.
She steadily made her way further down into the earth through the tunnel under the compound until she came to a guarded door. "Early riser, Miss Zara."
"As always Archie." She teased back to the dark skinned vampire. As long as she could remember, Archie had always guarded the door from trespassers. The older vampire had seen many moons of Nomak and herself passing through the door during their childhood. There was always a topic between them concerning the age of the doorway warrior, they had never gotten an exact number from the elder but figured he was older than her own father.
The older vampire's lips twitched at her response, having grown use to the woman's tongue. "What is your business?" He asked the usual question upon someone leaving before dusk.
"Come on Archie." She rolled her eyes and stepped closer to the door.
"Zara." He warned.
"Do you really need to ask?"
"No good will come from your travel." Archie answered, knowing fully well where she was heading as it had become frequent after the news of the reapers'.
"One more time." She argued.
"That's what you said last time." Archie informed, staring at the woman with interest before stepping aside from the door and allowing the woman to pass.
She quickly made her way past him, not wanting the doorman to rethink his actions.
Zara steadily walked through the tunnel, the dark damp atmosphere didn't bother her but the echoing shrieks of the reapers' made her shoulders tense.
She continued with her journey down the tunnels, hand guarded with her sword. She prepared herself when a shriek rolled off the walls in front of her, she saw the shadow running towards her all intent to attack before it suddenly halted, and seeming to freeze as it came within a few feet.
The reaper's response took her by surprise, it seem to abruptly become dormant with no explanation. She lower her guard, keeping her sword readily in her hand as she passed the reaper and not leaving her back exposed to a sudden attack. Her shoes made no sound as she walked further into the tunnel, coming across more reapers' who become as dormant like the earlier one.
The shift of astrosphere caught the attention of others, bringing them to the edges of the walls to simply watch her pass by. The shift through the tunnels brought forth the Reaper she'd been hoping to see. His frame seem to hold power, solid and tall while coming towards her.
"Zara, I didn't expect to see you so soon." Nomak teased.
"I'd like to continue our conversation from last night." She bluntly said, already seeing the ugly twist of his lips at the reasons to her visit.
"You test my patience." He warned, turning his back on her to end the conversation once again.
"And you test mine!" Zara bit back, not accepting. "Look at me." She spoke sternly, not backing down like the other night.
Nomak turned around on his heel to face her, his head tilted to the side at her rising fiery. "I do, I see more than you allow others."
"More reason for you to not go through with your plan." She argued as he took another step closer to her. "It is suicide." She hissed, wanting to make Nomak see the end result. "There are other ways to deal with this scuffle with your father."
"He wouldn't listen before, he won't now!" Nomak threw back, anger riddling through his voice at the idea of surrendering. "I'm stronger now!"
"What if we left now? Go anywhere in the world!" She tried desperately to shift his focus, making Nomak suspicious.
"What's changed?" Nomak demanded, stepping closer to her, searching for the reason behind her sudden turn of desires.
"Nothing." She answered to quickly, her hands unconsciously going to her stomach without realising.
The action didn't escape Nomak's attention, a settle of doubt clouding his mind. She couldn't possibly be because of her nature, unless his unique genetics had something to do with it. "You seemed determined to stay with the Bloodpack in our last conversation." He dug for more answers, observing her reactions.
"Jared, please." Her hands reached for his coat, gripping onto the fabric to keep her grounded as her mind rushed in multiple directions, neither of their fathers' or the Bloodpack would allow for her to carry the life within her.
His arm came around her shoulders' while the other went to her stomach, making the woman tense as she realised that he knew. "You'll leave the Bloodpack." She nodded her head at his request, she didn't want her condition to be exposed. "You'll go to Ireland."
"What about you?" She hissed, what was the point of this if he didn't leave at her side?
"I'll stay he-"
She ripped herself from his arms, putting a couple of feet between them. "No, your father-"
"Is weak." Nomak interpreted, confident that he would defeat the man.
"Blade is with the Bloodpack." She didn't want to doubt Nomak but she didn't want to take the chance that a fight between them could end with his life. She needed Nomak to be there to raise the child, there was no doubt in her mind that the babe would be like the father.
"I can handle the daywalker." Nomak spoke with confidence that Zara wasn't feeling.
"Jared," She tried once again, only to see his attention looking over her shoulder. She glanced over her shoulder, seeing some of the reapers' behind her, she hadn't noticed their presence.
He stepped forward, bringing his lips to her ear. "We'll continue this later, go now." He could see that she was about to argue. "Straight to your room Zara." His tone stopped her from further speaking and she left his side, making the reapers' part a way for her.
For once, Zara did what was requested of her and returned back to her bedroom. She leaned against the door, her wild thoughts racing with Nomak's strategy and the gathering of reapers in the sewers, knowing that the plan was beginning to start and the compound wouldn't be so safe.
Her eyes strayed to the tangled bed sheets which held the scent of her recent affair with Nomak, leading to her hand soothing over her stomach once again. She knew that it would only be a matter of time before the changes of her body would be recognisable to others.
She never thought the possibility of having children would be an option for her, now she couldn't throw that opportunity away. Without further thought, she grabbed a small backpack from her wardrobe, dismissing the clothes hanging and went for her gun and ammunition along with the bundles of money for emergency. She wanted to pack light, only the necessary items.
Leaving the comfort of her bedroom, she retraced her steps to the sewers not faulting in her steps in hopes that she wouldn't be seen suspicious in her activity. Night had fallen, awakening the compound and few vampires were littering the hallway but none stepped within her path.
She reached the doorway, Archie still in his position at the doorway as he leaned against the wall with disinterest in her presence. "Archie-"
"You're going the wrong way." The elder lazily said, finally looking up at the woman and not seeming surprised by the bag across her back.
"This really isn't the time-" She was interrupted again.
"Bloodpack and Blade walked through this door not long ago." The old vampire's warning took her by surprise. "I suggest you take the garage." He suggested, not wanting to see the young woman get punished for the choices of her heart.
"The garage has surveillance." She argued, having already thought of that.
"If you're quick enough, you'll catch them at the changing of the rounds." He lazily said, glancing at his nails as if he'd never said anything about the compound security.
Zara knew she could make it, there wasn't much distance to cover between here and the garage. "Than-"
"Go." The elder interrupted, causing the woman to quickly leave her place and take the twists and turns to the garage.
She reached the garage doorway to find there to be no guard within the area. Zara quickly grabbed a set of keys from the broad and pressed the unlock button, drawing herself to the black sedan that flashed at her. She wasted no time in securing a seat belt and pressed the button near the rear view mirror to open the garage door. Without hesitation, she pressed hard on the escalation and sped out of the garage and continued the steady speed as she passed the gates and the compound disappeared from her rear view mirror.
It wasn't until she had some distance between the danger that she slowed to a somewhat acceptable speed and clicked her seat belt across her torso. She didn't know what to expect for her father, the Bloodpack or Blade to be on her tail but she gathered her beloved had something to do with distracting them. She knew without a doubt that he'd know her whereabouts and hopefully return to her in Ireland at his sanctuary.
AN: If some of the paragraphs seem similar, like Blade meeting Bloodpack. I got the dialog from another Blade story of mine, Inevitable. Hope it's still a good read and reviews are always welcome! It's how this one-shot happened with a suggestion after reading Priest/OC!