The stained glass above the throne suddenly shattered, and an immense animal, well over one hundred pounds, with red fur and glistening fangs, leaped through the shattered glass and flew at Valiris. Valiris hissed and then threw the stake towards the animal. Artfully, impossibly, in midair, the animal twisted itself, completely avoiding the stake and never altering its flight. It flung itself full force into Val, knocking him hard to the floor. It then proceeded to bare its immense fangs and lunged for Val's throat.
The shock of such a beast flying through a window was difficult to fathom, but one threatening you with its teeth, like you had done to so many others, was nothing short of outstanding. Val's instincts reacted, however, and he flipped over, knocking the creature off him. The creature didn't so much as yelp, but bounded to its feet and stepped back a short ways, its ears pinned back and its teeth bared and gleaming in the dim lighting. Its eyes were large and almost yellow in color, and the auburn fur on its back was bristling, standing straight up.
"A wolf?" Val asked aloud, surprised that such a creature would have bounded straight through a window that was located right above the ocean.
"Not a wolf," Bartholomew said, eyes wide. "Don't you know a German Shepherd when you see one?"
"By Scott, it's Crimson!" Adrian shouted.
"How'd he get here?" Whisper yelled.
"I didn't want to leave him at home by himself," Drake shrugged.
"Crimson?" Jaden asked, falling to the floor and then crawling towards Angel. He wrapped his arms tightly around her still body, protecting her, and then, exhausted from loss of blood and just plain out weariness, he fainted.
"I don't have a need to be afraid of a German Shepherd," Val snarled, getting off the floor and stalking towards the crouched animal.
"You may not need to be afraid of him," A female voice snarled from one of the corners of the room. "But you can at least respect the others."
Val turned his head and noticed, immediately, that the other vampires were beginning to draw closer to him, in a tight circle, confused. He couldn't see anything, but he could hear the growls and snarls that were coming from the corners of the room, and he watched, awed, as wolves, huge wolves bigger than Crimson, began to circle the group of vampires. They were ugly creatures, crouched low to the ground, their eyes glowing in the darkness.
"They're just a pack of wolves," Val sneered, pushing one of his men away from him and stepping towards Crimson. "Lowly wolves. And I won't be at all surprised (Crimson, is it?) if you can transform."
"It's good you won't be surprised," one of the wolves growled, and immediately, all of them transformed, becoming human-like creatures that weren't as tall as the vampires but were certainly as dangerous. "Just as vampires crave blood, so do we."
"Werewolves!" Christopher shouted, bumping into Drake. "You brought us a pack of werewolves?"
"Don't worry. We side with the lord of the vampires," one of the wolves said, still in his dog form.
Crimson then sprang at one of the vampires, and a vicious brawl began. Teeth and claws flashed dangerously in the dim light as the vampires and werewolves had at each other. They fought with different fighting styles, the werewolves moving with more abrupt tactics, flinging themselves at the vampires in preference to stalking their prey, while the vampires moved with hunter instincts, taking their time and then plunging their teeth into an unprepared victim.
Crimson never once changed out of his dog form, and he never once spoke, convincing Val that the dog was just that, a dog. Extremely loyal to his master, and doomed because of it.
Val flung himself at Crimson, whose furry back was turned to him, and he very nearly stabbed the German Shepherd in the back, when a hand shot out and grabbed his fist. Val snarled and turned his head to see a woman with deep green eyes and long brown hair glaring into his face.
"You touch that dog, and I personally will draw out every last drop of blood in your body," she hissed, standing upright, her long hair falling about her shoulders, which were covered with a brown leather trench coat, the collar upturned.
"Well, if it isn't Sapphire," he smiled, his multi-colored eyes flashing with amusement. "Missed me so much, you had to come back for more, didn't you?" He asked, letting his fingers trip along her chin and then slip down to her collar. He pulled it aside, revealing deep bite marks on her shoulder. "I've certainly left my mark," he smiled, and then lunged for her neck.
Before his teeth could come into contact with her skin, a steel hand grabbed his, twisting it back viciously. Val snarled and then slammed his fist up at Adrian's face. Adrian stepped back, giving Val a chance to kick him hard in the knees, making him fall back. Eyes wide with wildness, Valiris spun around to face Sapphire, and he let out a hiss when she suddenly turned into her wolf form, a large, beautiful white wolf, and jumped up onto his back, her claws embedded in his shoulders. He smiled wickedly and then reached back and grabbed her throat with his muscular hands. She let out a yelp as he pulled her up and over his head and then threw her down hard to ground. She leaped up before he had a chance to pin her down, and then struck him hard across the face, drawing blood with her claws.
As the fight commenced, yelps and hisses filling the room, more and more wolves flooded the building, overcoming the vampires by sheer number. The vampires, seeing they were outnumbered, quickly began to disappear, taking to flight rather than fighting. They hadn't come prepared to meet with rivals that they hadn't seen in centuries. The fighting didn't stop until Val himself leaped out one of the windows, muttering threats as he did so, and then disappeared from view.
"Well, that was nasty," one of the wolves said, sitting down next to the unconscious Jaden and licking his bloody paws.
"Why did you come to our aid? Werewolves are our sworn enemies," Baron said, kneeling down next to Jaden and picking up his limp body.
"There are medics waiting on the roof to take them to help," Sapphire spoke, back in her human form, moving over to Adrian, who was lying on his back, blood dripping from his chin. She offered him her hand and then pulled him up. As soon as he was on his feet, she growled and put her hands to the back of his neck as she pressed her lips to the blood on his chin.
"Of course, this one will have to be cut loose," one of the wolves said, getting up from the floor and moving towards Angel. He leaped into the air, suddenly, and threw his huge body against the chains. They snapped off the wall, and Whisper quickly grabbed the girl and picked her up before she could hit the ground.
"This looks really bad. She's not breathing," he said worriedly, putting his head to her chest.
"Medics are on the roof," Sapphire reiterated, closing her eyes when Adrian cleaned up a cut on her hand.
"Jaden's not breathing either," Christopher said, bending over Jaden and picking up his limp body. "We'd better hurry. Do the medics know what happened in here?"
"No," one of the wolves said, changing into a muscular, blonde-haired man. "They were called here by the one who sent for us."
"Who was that?" Adrian demanded, moving his mouth from Sapphire's hand and walking towards the other vampires.
"That person desires to remain anonymous," the male werewolf said.
The battle was abruptly forgotten as Jaden and Angel were rushed into the medevac helicopters and were taken, by air ambulance, to the hospital in London. They were both immediately put in the emergency room, and the doctors began emergency procedures to rescue them. Jaden was little more than a bloodied mass of human when they lay him out to begin surgical procedure on him. So much had to be done to disinfect his wounds, close them up, and keep him unconscious while at the same time keeping him breathing.
Angel was by far the saddest, most amazing thing any of the doctors had ever seen. They couldn't comprehend how such a woman could have managed to have such a large, horrifying gash on her neck. She was bleeding profusely, and the doctors were worried terribly that they wouldn't be able to stop the bleeding and close up the wound. Val's feeding had greatly opened up Jaden's original incision, and the doctors were in full panic mode as they fought to stop the bleeding and close up the immense gash. They had no need to put her into a coma, as they had to do with Jaden. She was already in one. It took several efforts to get her breathing again, and her heartbeat was irregular. Her clothes were soaked in blood, and her shirt was completely in the way of the skillful hands that worked over her. The tattered, bloodstained fabric was quickly removed. The blood was cleaned off her skin once the cut was closed, and her chest was wrapped in bandages, so the doctors still had complete access to her neck while at the same time giving her some decency.
As soon as both she and Jaden were as cleaned up and sewn up as they were going to get, both were brought into an Intensive Care Unit, and they were immediately hooked up to more blood transfusions and oxygen masks. A doctor was to remain with them at all times, watching them carefully.
The good doctors were puzzled over every bit of what had happened. Angel's gash had been inhuman, and Jaden's cuts and broken body were horrific, to say the least. What had these two been through?
The physicians were also amazed to find that, through all the surgeries and emergency work, they couldn't disengage Jaden's arms from around Angel's waist. He held her tightly, and any attempt they made to separate the two only made him pull her closer. It was touching to see, and yet so bittersweet. No one in the hospital believed Angel had much hope of surviving. She had lost so much blood, and with all she had been through, she had blood clots throughout her body, though no one knew the extent of their damage.
One of the nurses told Sapphire, Adrian, and Whisper this news when they arrived, and downfallen, the vampires and werewolf left the hospital, looking for someplace to stay.
Angel's father arrived at the hospital as soon as possible, and he wailed when he saw what his beautiful daughter had gone through and was going through. She was ashen in color, her breathing was irregular, her heart rate slow, and she was hooked up to so many transfusions, so many wires and tubes, that it frightened the poor man. He refused to leave her, and he would have stayed at her side for as long as she was in the hospital, but Sapphire found him, and sympathizing with him, she encouraged him successfully to get out of the hospital. He would be informed as soon as Angel awoke, but for now, it would only pain him to see his daughter in such critical condition.