* Here I am again. Your reviews gave me the courage to post another chapter without having it reworked by a native English speaker (I have to go on like that until I've finally found a new Beta – I'm sorry). I thank you so much for your support. Your reviews are always making my day. And I'm glad my English isn't that bad that my mistakes are disturbing the reading flow. So I hope again that you'll enjoy this chapter as well, although it's a bit dramatic. Best wishes, Jenna*

Edit: And again a lot of thanks to Hope for editing this chapter!

Chapter rated M for violence

… and they will reap the whirlwind!

It was an ugly fight – bloody, brutal, and without rules. The men of the Legion hadn't been prepared to meet vampires here and today. They weren't armed well enough for a fight like that and that was giving us a cutting edge. We were faster, stronger and most of all more gory than them and the bullets hailing down on us couldn't really harm us for they were stopped by the vests we were wearing and even if a bullet hit an arm or a leg it just fuelled our broiling rage even more. On the other hand, our weapons were much more dangerous for we carried them always on us and one couldn't relieve us of them…

I just needed a few seconds to free Peterson from the grip of our enemies. One man's neck splintered like unsound wood beneath my hands while the other collapsed to the ground by a pointed headshot of Max's gun and stayed down, lying motionlessly. Peterson reacted quickly and dashed off but he couldn't rival an enraged vampire.

I cut his way with just one flying leap, grabbed his throat and rammed him against the wall to push him up on it a bit. There he dangled, helplessly gasping for air, and was trying to pry my fingers off of his throat while I just showed him my sharp teeth with a cold smile.

But I wasn't allowed to savor his fear any further. Once more bullets were hissing through the air and the next moment a sharp pain flashed through my thigh. I let go of Peterson and sank on my knees while he was falling down onto his side, coughing and rattling.

This time they came from two sides and they were many – too many to map out a strategy first. With a hateful, abyssal growl I launched myself on the first available opponent and rammed my sharp canines mercilessly into his carotid. For a short moment I savored the gurgling sounds coming out of his throat while he was sinking to the ground in his death throes, but the painful kick to my face the next second reminded me that I couldn't make time for my opponents. Yet while falling I caught hold of my attacker's leg, pulled him with me and sank my fangs deeply into his calf. The man was giving a shrill yell and now fell to the ground as well but he didn't get back onto his feet as quickly as I did. Quick as lightning I was above him grabbed his head and twisted his neck 360 degrees, making a loud crackling sound. With an unbelievable fast rhythm my heart was pumping huge amounts of adrenalin through my veins which made sure that the energies released in my body that were of super-human nature. I loved that thrill – it made me a bloodthirsty beast – but I loved it.

From the corner of my eye I saw two projectiles heading for me and cast aside but not without using my drive to turn and dash at the two men who were aiming at me with peculiar crossbows. One of them was rammed by my shoulder with such a might, he was flying several meters through the hall before he hit the floor while the other one's jawbone was giving in to my fist with a unsavory crackling. He had no time to feel the pain for I broke his neck even before he fell down onto his knees. To my own chagrin, I just hadn't enough time to bite down.

For another moment I was free and noticed just in time that Peterson was trying to steal away in the tumult of the battle. I ducked quickly and darted forward, and with just one leap I at his side and collared him before he was really on his feet. But this time I wasn't able to take him to task for another man threw himself with utter fearlessness onto me, a stake in his raised hand. I let go of Peterson unwillingly and grabbed my attacker's hand just in time. His eyes opened widely, horrified when I was pulling him close to me. "Did you want to ram that into my eye?" I hissed through bared teeth. "Did you want to?"

He had no time to answer me for I raised his own hand and rammed the stake into his throat. Then I pushed the jerking body off of me and leapt to my feet again. From somewhere I could hear someone calling my name barely audible and despite the bloody tumult of the battle I took a few seconds time to locate where the calls were coming from. Finally I spotted the headset I had lost in the whole chaos just a few meters apart from me.

Hell yeah! Logan! I punched my elbow into the face of the next approaching attacker and picked the set up quickly.

"Yes!" I shouted into the headset and ducked from another man's skilful karate kick.

"Finally!" Logan screamed into my sensitive ears. "Beth is gone!"

"Gone?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing and stopped dead in my tracks.

"She… she went hog wild! I think she's coming in!"

"In?"

"Are you an echo or something?" was the last thing I heard from Logan before one of the attackers launched on me with a roaring scream and we both were painfully hitting the floor. Again the headset went hurtling through the air. The man was heavy and battle-tested and I had trouble trying to get him off of me. Yet a brightly polished stake was shining in his hand and he was definitely not able to jab it into my heart. I wanted to grab his arm and stop him but in the same second I felt something cold and hard next to my hand and instantly knew what it was. Within a split second I grabbed the gun, pointed it at my attackers head and pulled the trigger at the same moment the stake was hurtling towards my face. Blood and pulp that I didn't want to think about was slapping into my face and the now faceless man above me collapsed onto me. Disgusted I pressed my hands against his chest and pushed him off of me. When I was able to stand up again my eyes were instantly searching for Peterson and found him… at the end of the hall on his way into freedom. I uttered a brutish growl, ducked and dashed off. Quickly, before he managed to open the door into the hallway I grabbed his coat and threw him aggressively back into the hall. He seemed to be more solid than he looked for I couldn't hear his bones break when he heavily hit the floor. But he stayed lying down and moaned, racked with pain. Contusions could hurt…

A deep, horrific calmness affected my body when I approached him slowly, an evil grin on my lips. This time I could take my time, for the other vampires were now controlling the situation – it was just a matter of time until the last attacker had heaved his final breath. And I wanted to take my time… oh, yeah, much time… for he also had taken that much time with Mick – one year of terrible torments, captivated and abused like a laboratory animal…

Everything inside me was crying out for blood… for blood and pain for that devil. A menacing growl emerged from my throat. I collared him and lifted him from the ground with just one arm until he was at eye level with me. Then I bent forward and came so close that our noses were almost touching. But he didn't seem to be afraid anymore, was too exhausted and had given up by now.

"You… you're making a mistake…," he whispered weakly.

I tilted my head aside and smiled at him. "It won't be the first in my long life…," I said low-voiced as I showed him my fangs.

The scream was so loud, so desperate and full of fear, and it sent a freezing shiver through my body. I identified her voice instantly and knew that something terrible must have happened. And suddenly my revenge didn't matter anymore. It felt like I was waking up from a deep trance and my human self was taking over now. I let Peterson fall down and made a dash, leaped over the many bodies lying on the floor, ran past my still fighting friends and darted around the next corner. There I stopped dead and grew stiff for a moment. Beth was kneeling on the ground, holding a man's limp body in her arms and at the same time trying to stop his bleeding with both hands. When she saw me, she tried to say something, but just a desperate sob emerged from her throat.

I began to move forward like a robot and for the first time in a long, long time I felt my knees turn to jelly the closer I came. My throat tightened suddenly and at the same time I felt as if an iron claw would grasp my heart and compress it painfully. What I saw, what I believed I perceived straight away, couldn't be, couldn't… Yet still I knew it, sensed it before Beth's beseeching gaze hit me, begging me to help her, to do something: It was Mick. My best friend I'd believed to have lost forever and he looked dreadful. To see him like that was painful to me, made it difficult for me to breathe properly… emaciated, humiliated… destroyed…

What had they done to him?

But there was something else, something that was confusing me deeply. Not only he was bleeding from several bullet wounds at his chest and the abdominal area, his blood… it smelled like human blood! There was just a very tender tang of vampire blood in the air, as if someone had just changed him into a human… Changed him into a human?! Suddenly I understood Beth's desperation and I put all questions, all feelings aside quickly and fell on my knees next to her. My gaze was roaming hastily over his maltreated body, examining the different entry wounds and finally stopped at his face. He was incredibly pale and was breathing heavily and unsteadily. His eyes were slightly opened but were gazing into space; not really recognizing anything. Someone had filled him full of drugs he was totally absorbed in his own world. I could see it in his eyes and also smell it in his blood. It was definitely possible he was barely feeling any pain – what was indeed advantageous.

"We… we have to lay him down flat, but let's try not to move him too much," I told her in a breathy voice and helped her to pull him carefully off her lap. Mick began to cough and my insides convulsed when blood appeared on his chapped lips.

"Mick, stay with us!" Beth uttered now firmly. "Stay with us, do you hear me?! Do it!"

I had to wonder about her optimism again. Everything in me told me that our friend was in very bad shape. And I really didn't know what to do. Contrary to Mick, I hadn't much experience in dealing with bullet wounds. I had stayed out of most of the human wars and was generally not the first person who went to a casualty's rescue, when they lay in a roadside ditch. What we desperately needed here was a doctor… or a miracle.

I inhaled deeply, then pressed my own hands onto the other two wounds and turned a bit.

"MAX!" I shouted as loud as I could and just a few seconds later he hurried towards us.

"Oh… my… Is it…"

I didn't let him finish. "The doctor – where is he?!"

He looked at me confused. "What doctor?" His eyes widened, when it dawned on him of whom I was speaking. "Oh, fuck…"

That didn't sound good. Apparently no one had taken care to watch Peterson in the battle and he for sure was not just standing in some corner and waiting for my return after I had treated him so harshly. I suppressed a curse and lowered my head to sort my thoughts. The intense smell of fresh blood rising from Mick slowly started to bemuse my senses. When I looked up again Phillip, Mark and William had appeared as well.

"Okay," I said tersely. "Find a stretcher, a cot… something we can transport him on – quickly!"

My friends didn't need to be told twice. As fast as they had appeared they were gone again.

"Josef…," Beth brought out with tearful voice. "I know you can hear it… is his heart still beating regularly?"

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the sounds Mick's body was uttering. Yes, his heart was beating – fast and astoundingly strong considering his desolate state. But there was another nasty sound – a cracking and crunching in his left lung exactly at the place where Beth was keeping one of his wounds shut with an enormous effort.

I nodded at her and tried to give her an encouraging smile, but it didn't really come off. One bullet had damaged his lungs – what else had the others done to him? It was certainly just a matter of time when his ailing circulation collapsed and stalled his heart. We were running out of time…

"Can… can't you just turn him into a vampire again?" Beth asked shakily.

I looked into Mick's pale face and then shook my head.

"W... why not?" she uttered with a sob.

"Beth, look at him," I responded softly, but she really didn't seem to understand what I was driving at.

"Not every human survives a turning," I explained as calmly as I could in this situation. "To turn a seriously injured person succeeds in just the rarest cases. And we don't know what they've done to Mick – I… I just can't do that!"

A loud rattle and quick steps were announcing the others' return. They had succeeded in their search and now quickly moved a stretcher to us.

"Can we move him?" Beth asked with a shaky voice.

"We have no choice," I gave back quietly although the thought scared me as much as her. I looked up at the others without reducing the pressure onto Mick's wounds. "Can you put it down somewhere?"

Max looked at the stretcher more closely and then nodded to my relief. He and Mark moved two levers at the sides and the stretcher sank down to the ground next to us with a squeaking sound.

"What… what happened to him?" Phillip asked confused.

"He's a human," I explained shortly. "And he'll die if we don't take him to the hospital now!"

"I'll get the van," William said instantly and turned around to hurry on. Finally, someone who was thinking!

"Drive to the side entrance I came through!" Beth called after him. "There are fewer stairs!"

William turned while running and nodded, and then he disappeared around the corner.

I took a deep breath and looked at Max and Phil. "One of you has to take his legs and the other his upper body and you…," I looked at Mark, " … have to push the stretcher below his body, when the others lift him up."

Mark nodded shortly and Max and Phillip got instantly in position. Again I inhaled deeply. "On three; one… two… three!"

We were really quick and Mick came down on the stretcher relatively softly but yet he began to cough again and tiny drops of blood spurted from his mouth. Beth looked at me horrified and I tried to comfort her at least with my gaze for my mouth wasn't able to lead her to believe that surely everything would end well. Our hands were bathed in Mick's blood… we knew how serious the situation was. Max and Phil brought the stretcher carefully back on its previous height and we slowly rose with it, anxious to sustain the pressure onto his wounds. As weird as it seemed to be, somehow I had the feeling it was indeed helping and the flow of blood began to decrease.

"Okay, go, go!" I sped up the others and we set in motion at once as fast as we could do it in this situation. I clenched my teeth. Soon we would have to fold the stretcher to carry him up the stairs and get him into the van. And that also meant that Beth had to let go of him, at least for a few seconds. The question was if he would withstand that. No matter how quick vampires were, Mick's body had its own will and his all too human limits.

We didn't step into the hospital, we invaded it and the nurse who had been very near to sleep in her seat at her registration desk, almost lost her balance with shock. Of course we were a dreadful sight, two men whose faces and clothes were splattered with blood, a woman who was desperately pressing her hands onto the wounds of a badly injured man, who was moved into the hospital in a rush. But she collected herself amazingly fast, for she actually had to be prepared to get acute cases of emergency at night. She rushed to us loudly calling the name of a doctor who had to be somewhere around.

"Somebody fired at us," I said harriedly and noticed with relief that the doctor was storming out of one of the rooms a bit drowsy, putting on his white coat while walking.

"Four bullets hit him," I went on addressing him.

Just one look was sufficient to tell him that they had to move with great haste. Mick's state had distinctly worsened on the way to the hospital. He was now breathing very flatly and his heart was clearly beating much more unsteadily than before.

"Kathrin, see that an OR gets prepared and inform Dr. Mitchel and Dr. Burowski," the doctor instructed shortly. "Tell them we've an emergency patient with multiple gunshot injuries in the chest and abdominal area – possibly internal bleeding. And I need anyone else you can find, here – now – stat!"

The nurse hurried away and the doctor bent over Mick and simply pushed Beth aside to quickly inspect the wounds. "How long ago did this happen?"

"No longer than a half an hour," I answered back truthfully and watched two more men in white running through the hall towards us followed by another nurse. The doctor gave his colleagues quick, short instructions as chaos erupted. The nurse now also pushed Max harshly aside to move the stretcher forward into one of the trauma rooms. Beth and I were able to enter the room, but somehow it seemed suddenly as if we weren't existing any longer. The disorder and tension around Mick was telling me that his state was alarming and I suddenly felt so useless and out of place; I hadn't felt that way for a long time.

I almost jumped when the doctor talked to me again over his shoulder. "What's his blood type?"

"AO negative," I said quickly and Beth's gaze shot to me. She looked at me with an open mouth but didn't get anything out.

I could tell that the doctor wasn't very happy about this answer. "Get everything we still have," he said to one of the nurses. "And call the other hospitals nearby. Maybe they can accommodate with donated blood of this type…"

"I've got the same blood type!" burst out of Beth. "Take my blood!"

The doctor stared at her in surprise for a moment then he nodded quickly and gave one of the nurses a nod. She grabbed Beth's arm and pulled her along, although Beth didn't really want to leave Mick's side despite her offer. She searched my gaze and I just nodded. Beth understood without words that I would stay at Mick's side as long as possible and with that comforting thought she left the room without further resistance.

I breathed in deeply and tried to extinguish the numb feeling in my inside penetrating up from below which was so much stronger now, but there was nothing to do anymore. I persuaded myself that the doctors could really help Mick; that they would save him no matter how bad his injuries were. They had attached him to an instrument which was helping him to breathe and through a drip he got a solution which combined with the other infusions he had been given probably was supposed to stabilize his circular flow so they would be able to operate on him.

The doctors worked quickly and concentrated but one could tell that they were also burdened by strong tension and were expecting the worst any time. Again and again they cast concerned looks at the instruments with which they were able to check Mick's bodily functions. I tried to follow the hectic exchange between the doctors but through all those technical terms my head soon began to buzz.

"Did he take drugs?" suddenly a doctor addressed to me again. He had just looked into Mick's eyes with a light and now looked much more worried than before.

"I… I think, someone given him something," I explained. "Strong tranquilizers or something…" I hadn't thought about it anymore….

"Why didn't you tell that in the first place?!" he snarled at me and instantly gave short commands to the other ones. But yet the next moment the instruments around Mick began to beep alarmingly.

"Cardiac shock" and "ventricular fibrillation" were the only words I understood half way but the rest was totally lost in the general panic which was erupting all at once. One of the doctors pulled up a defibrillator and suddenly a nurse was standing in front of me, looking at me apologetically. "I'm so sorry," she said and opened the door, while my gaze was still pinned to the quickly working doctors and Mick's lifeless shape.

"Unfortunately you now have to wait outside." Her hands pressed against my chest and like in trance I let her push me out of the room, while I could hear my heart beating up into my ears. Only when the door closed in front of my nose did the realization dawn on me that we hadn't found Mick truly alive. It was easily possible that fate was taking him away from us yet again, ripping him out of our hands before we were able to truly grab him. The iron claw was back again and not only clutched at my heart but also squashed my innards painfully.

It was Max' loud voice that brought me back to reality by calling my name. He was standing at the registration desk, holding a telephone in one hand and trying at the same time to stop the nurse in front of him from grasping it without hurting her.

"If you don't hand the telephone back to me immediately I'll be forced to call security," she threatened, her voice almost cracking with rage.

I walked to them frowning and gave Max a questioning glance.

"The lady wants to call the police," he explained, looking at me insistently.

"Oh, yeah," I uttered instantly and gave her my most charming smile. "Of course you have to do that, when somebody with gunshot wounds is hospitalized."

"Exactly!" she retorted, still furious, but her voice yet sounded a bit softer.

"But… there are a few things concerning my friend and our work you don't know," I went on, "and unfortunately I can't let you in on them. But they call for not letting you inform the police for now…"

"Listen, that's…"

I didn't hear her out but gently laid a hand on her shoulder and looked at her urgently. "I not talking about not calling the police at all," I explained quickly. "It's just a delay of a few hours. Just until my friend has come through it all a bit…"

"I can't do that," she replied, but her voice was now softer and more amenable. "I could lose my job if I don't call…"

My gaze captured her hand, the golden ring that adorned her ring finger. "You're married, right?" I asked but didn't wait for an answer. "You certainly have children…"

"One daughter, but…"

Now I got her! There was one thing in this world you could always get your way with…

"How much money do you earn in this job?" I asked her gently. "Not much, right?"

She stumbled. "Why do you ask?"

Of course she would first play indignant – but it wouldn't work, I was dead certain about that. So I reached into the inner pocket of my jacket and pulled out my check book. I heard her gasping for air with resentment and I quickly grabbed both her shoulders.

"Just listen to me before you get angry," I told her and looked into her eyes urgently.

"This isn't about bribing somebody for camouflaging a crime or something. The crime has already happened… to my friend and this is about his life! All I want to do for now is save his life! And I need time for that! I don't ask you not to do your job. I just ask you to do it later – just later!"

She was swallowing heavily and I could see how hard her brain was working.

"I know you have to sustain a family," I went on, "and you need this job – and therefore I'm giving some security in case you get into trouble owing to your generous act."

I let go of her and leant onto the reception counter to write the check. I knew for sure she would wait. She would wait for she wanted to see how much my friend was worth for me, to see what she would miss out on, when she was deciding upon her own overdrawn values and attitudes of morality.

"If you really lose your job this will protect you and your family financially for a long period of time," I said quietly and pushed the check over to her. The nurse uttered an unbelieving gasp and her hand shot to her mouth,

"That… I can't… I…," she stammered and besides all her moral scruples I could see the human greed flaming up in her eyes. Money could make life so much easier…

"You can," I said firmly, folded the check, took her hand and pressed the precious paper into her sweaty fingers. "Just give us a little bit of time…"

For a moment I could see her conscience fighting bravely with her greed but then she finally nodded and turned her back on us a bit embarrassed to go on with her work at the reception counter.

For the umpteenth time this day I took a deep breath and then looked at Max. With one gaze I made it clear to him that he ought to come with me so we could speak freely with each other.

"That was close," he said when we were far enough away from the nurse.

I just nodded and nervously skimmed my hand across my face. "I don't know if Mick will survive all this – but nevertheless we urgently have to handle everything else."

"According to Phil the watchmen in the control room were dead," Max reported with hushed voice. "It'll take some time before someone discovers the massacre there below."

"It mustn't be discovered," I said sternly and Max understood instantly.

"We'll take care of it," he replied as he started to turn from me. But I seized his arm.

"I need the helicopter. They certainly have a landing spot on the roof here. It has to be here no later than three hours."

Max' look showed me that my motives for that instruction wasn't clear to him but he was used to not asking questions. So he reacted again with a short nod and this time I let him go.

My heart took a leap when the doors of the trauma room opened and Mick was hurriedly moved out of it still surrounded by worried doctors and nurses. I instantly began to move and followed them but the doctor who had seen Mick first raised a hand in protest and stayed with me while the others went on with Mick.

"We were able to stop his bleeding and stabilize him for now," he explained swiftly, "but he must be operated on. It's possible that there is more internal bleeding and his lungs are very battered."

I nodded understandingly while my guts were twisting again.

The doctor inhaled deeply. Apparently he now got to one part of his job he didn't really like to do – the one as the bearer of bad news.

"I'll be honest with you," he said seriously. "Your friend has lost so much blood over a long period of time –his state is very critical. The bullets have caused damages in his body which aren't yet really foreseeable to their whole extent – but what we know so far is alarming. I can't promise that he'll survive that operation."

Again I just nodded for I knew even if I was trying to I wouldn't get out a word. For a moment the doctor looked at me sadly then he turned and disappeared behind the next door.

This time it was difficult for me to gather myself enough so that I was able to move at all. The fear for Mick was pressing on my whole body like a ton of weight. But I had to move! There was so much to be done. Life wasn't waiting. Time was going on, was ticking like a bomb beneath the feet of the ones who weren't able to block out and forget. So I squared my shoulders and inhaled deeply and shakily. There was a plan which needed to be developed to ensure the survival of us all at least for the next 24 hours. We had declared war on the Legion, had harmed them deeply. It was just a question of time when they would find out where we were.