19

Jared's POV

I rarely needed sleep, but tonight I welcomed it. I needed to regain my strength after the fight with that retched Blade. Yes he would become a problem which I needed to end swiftly if I was going to carry out my plan in bringing more reapers into the world to wipe out the vampires. However, this time, she plagued my dreams. Tamara the daywalker I had never met a vampire of true beauty and power.

It had to be the human in her that gave her this specific touch of magnificence. I have seen vampire women both young and old and of course they had a generic vampire beauty. But Tamara was different. I didn't want to kill her. Her brother yes, but her, no. I could tell she was meant for greater things. She is the perfect female being to my male being.

With our DNA mixing, she could give birth to something truly magnificent and powerful. I just had to get her to see things my way and for that to happen, I needed her completely powerless and weak. She would see things my way or watch her entire world burn around her.

Tamara's POV

I had one of my black robes on moving to my door. I paused and glanced back at the bed at Zao who was on his back, eyes shut, head facing the wall. He seemed almost peaceful. Only his chest did not move rhythmically up and down to signal any breathing. Yet still he looked almost like a statue. I opened the door and exited the room knowing all of the vampires in our building were asleep. Lord it would be so easy to kill the annoying ones of this group. I moved down the hall to my brother's room and just gave it a light knock. After a few seconds the door opened and my brother stood there in a robe of his own, parted open some. Behind him, in his bed, was a sleeping Nyssa. Her naked form was covered by his blankets. He cut his eyes back to her and just sighed as we both looked at each other. My eyes told him he was such a hypocrite.

"What?" he asked instead. I guess there was nothing to talk about. Good because that meant I'd hear no comments on the vampire I had in my bed.

"I was going to ask what information you got on the dead reaper we found." I replied.

"You should have been there when Nyssa was showing us what she found about it." he said. I scoffed.

"I'd rather hear it from you." I replied. He sighed and crossed his arms.

"Their blood lust is stronger than that of a normal vampire. They need to feed every few hours now or else their bodies eat themselves. Their hearts are covered by another layer of bone, but it leaves their sides vulnerable. Well you know the rest about them." he said. I nodded slowly crossing my arms.

"Do you think the same thing could happen to Nomak?" I asked. Eric shook his head.

"Hard to say. But sunlight is still on our side. He was wounded by it back at the House of Pain" he said stoically. I nodded slowly.

"So what is our plan?" I asked. It went without saying that the Bloodpack couldn't handle this threat. Their weapons were no match against them, they were hardly a match against Eric and I.

"Whistler and Scud are going to put their heads together and create something to better help our… guests. They should have something made by the end of the week. It'll give us time to get to know these vampires, learn their weaknesses, and prepare for when they become our enemies. Meanwhile, we may have to go into the sewers. We are bound to find a nest." he explained. I nodded slowly knowing his first statement was easily ignorable.

"Yes, but if Nomak is the main carrier killing the nest will only give us little time before he makes more reapers and create a bigger nest." I told.

"Our options are slim unless you and I go out and handle him on our own." he said. I scoffed smirking now.

"So then our next threat would be those who are in this building… some that is." I replied avoiding his stare. His eyes sharpened on me.

"You're not seriously considering making that vampire your… boyfriend are you?" he asked. God that word sounded so weird coming from him. So we were going to have this discussion. I motioned my head inside his room.

"Are you going to make her your girlfriend?" I asked with the same tone of skepticism. God, that sounded weirder coming from me. He sighed heavily and stepped out closing the door behind him.

"Look what we do in our rooms is our business. What I'm doing doesn't involve feelings, what you're doing does. Look I know it's not simple or easy doing what we do. I know you're still a woman with needs and desires for companionship and yeah maybe having a human companion would be boring or maybe scary because we age slower or you wouldn't want to put them in danger. But a vampire mate is not the answer either." he said. I stared at him for once feeling almost heart broken at his words.

"So where do you see yourself in twenty years huh?" I asked, my voice cracking some. He looked up in thought shrugging.

"Still killing vampires with my twin." he said honestly looking down at me. I just stared at him hating this moment of weakness shown between us, but it was also appreciated, because we never really talked about our futures or if those futures still had the other in it. We were living those futures. I guess I should be somewhat happy my brother still saw a future where we were not separated. Slowly I leaned in to him and just placed my cheek to his chest and wrapped my arms under his. He raised his arms and wrapped his arms around my shoulders embracing me tight.

There were no other words discussed in that moment. After we separated, I moved back to my room. Zao was on his side now, his back to me. I removed my robe and just sat down on the end of the bed thinking of the future. Could I have children? I didn't even know. I don't have periods, so maybe I couldn't. Male vampires couldn't have children that much I was sure of. I glanced at Zao wondering if he had a family in his past life. I slowly leaned over and lied down behind him gently letting my hand snake over his side. Without making a sound, he raised his arm and took my hand and gently brought it to his lips and gave my knuckles a gentle kiss before holding my arm to his chest.

I didn't realize I was smiling. I melted into his back and closed my eyes. Eric was right, there was feeling in what we were doing. It was real and I was happy that it was real. When the sun started to go down, I remained on my back staring up at the ceiling until Zao finally awoke. He stirred some and finally rolled onto his side, facing me, his eyes calm and gentle as usual.

"Good evening." he replied. I smiled.

"Evening." I responded and he tilted his head mildly worried.

"You didn't sleep?" he asked. I grinned.

"I sleep at night remember." I replied. He nodded slowly.

"Ah yes that's right." he said. There was a sudden knock on the door and I lifted my head.

"Snowman? Are you in there?" I heard Verlaine's English through the door. We both sat up together and once I pulled my robe back on, I turned and moved to the door and opened it. It was my room, I had nothing to hide. Verlaine still looked stunned to see me standing there, robe mildly open. She looked almost nervous as she looked past me.

"It will be time for us to feed soon." she said quickly. Of course. I had almost forgotten our guests were not like me. Who knows exactly the nature of their hunts were like. But what did it matter, it would mean someone was going to die. Zao stood beside me holding one finger up to Verlaine as if asking her to wait as he gently closed the door. He looked at me now with focused eyes.

"You know what this means." he said and I nodded slowly.

"I do." I replied.

"How do you feel about it?" he asked. I gave him a stressed look, my eyes asking how he could ask me that.

"It doesn't matter how I feel." I responded.

"It does to me." he said. I just stared at him with light eyes.

"You have to eat. Do what you gotta do before my brother finds out." I replied and he nodded. I stepped back so he could finish putting on his black leather pants and black mesh tank. He was getting fully dressed to kill a human? I forced myself to push it from my mind. My arms were crossed as I just looked down for a moment. He approached the door and paused as we both just looked at each other, two hunters with different purposes in life yet still so close to each other. He stepped closer to me, his eyes deepening on my form and I just leaned into him and raised my head so our lips could meet in a deep and passionate kiss. Tonight, some human would die that would not have my protection. This kiss showed that we both knew that and in some way he had my blessing to take this life.

Our lips lingered against each other's for a moment before slowly we moved back giving soft, warm smiles to one another before he left out the door. I just kept my hand on the door knob looking down at the ground before closing the door. Soon we would be hunting for a nest of reapers and we would need everyone at their strongest.