Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
- Tecumseh
No spanking in this chapter.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Evening
Bayou
Erik sniffed the air in his wolf form. The scent of his kin floated over him as well as the smell of the swamp, the fire, and a dead skunk not far off. He was aware of himself in the barest sense. He knew the enemy was out there and that he had to kill them before they killed his people. This was the form in which he was the fastest and the strongest, but had the least control in which to hunt. He howled. And then he ran.
"Davina! Rebekah! Over here," Josh called.
Marcel was setting up a perimeter for the vampires to defend. Some of the Crescents were too old or too young to fight. None of them could change at will. They were strong and would heal in their human forms, but they were no match for whatever these things were.
"Joshua, what happened?" Rebekah said running down to the shack with Davina close behind her.
"There are two unconscious wolves inside, they seemed to go hybrid or something. One attacked a witch inside. Hurry, you guys, you have to help her," Josh exclaimed.
Rebekah and Davina looked at each other. A werewolf bite was lethal to vampires, but usually there wasn't enough left of other species when attacked. They weren't hopeful that they could help.
Rebekah went in the old dilapidated cabin first. She saw the bodies of Aiden and Tommy sprawled unconscious on the floor.
"Josh, let's get them tied up in case they awaken!" Rebekah called out.
Davina ran to Gloria, she was moaning and awake.
"Hi, I'm Davina, a witch. I'm here to help. Can you talk?" Davina asked urgently.
Gloria asserted, "Name's Gloria. Yes, but I don't think I have much time left. I've been poisoned. Unless you have an antidote, I'm a goner."
Davina held her hand, "Let me at least try a healing spell. It may give you more time."
For the first time since she had first left New Orleans, Davina called up the Ancestors, "Elikopte fantômes solitaire mouri, vous reveler..."
If they healed this woman and showed her favor, it would show she was back in their good graces.
"NO! NO! Y'all need to run now," Gloria screamed before black blood poured out of her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. She seemed to melt and was gone.
Rebekah looked horrified, "Let's go. Josh, Davina, let's get Marcel and go!"
But it was too late, the Guerreras were outside and they wanted to have a little chat.
Gabriel Guerrera Correa stood tall and beefy in his three piece striped suit. He looked out of place in the swamp. He was winged by several greasy looking body guards fingering automatic weapons.
Marcel turned to face him, "Let me guess. Francesca's little brother? Now the big cheese since your big sis got taken out the last time our families met."
"Funny you see it that way, Mr. Gerald. A century ago, your family murdered my great-grandfather so vampires could control the docks, our docks, AND the Quarter, the Cauldron and this Bayou. You had no right. We're here to take that all back," Gabriel smirked.
"The thing is that for a century, we've been doing pretty good without your pack of cut-throats running things and skimming from the top. Yeah, that's why your grand daddy got himself killed. He wasn't just cheating my family and the city, he was cheating your own family. His own brother gave him his location," Marcel admitted.
Gabriel's smile faded, "And he was taken care of. No one betrays us, not even our own blood. Speaking of which, where is my son? It seems I need to teach that boy a lesson. I don't know what y'all heard but we have been gathering some unusual allies this last century in a bid to take you down. You know the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
"What do you want, Correa? Or should I say Guerrera? All those year standing in the shadow of your sister. Running your corrupt casinos, but it wasn't enough, was it? Y'all just couldn't leave it all. So we're here, you're here. What the hell do you want?" Marcel demanded.
Rebekah stood by Marcel. Davina and Josh fell behind near the shack. Davina wanted to cast a boundary spell, but she was afraid to. If the Ancestors were angry at her still. It could go bad.
"I just want my children. I don't know what kind of lies you told them. They are all mine. Their mother tried to hide them from me, but as you can see, I have found them. I heard your daddy has my other two, poisoning their minds against me. I don't mean them no harm. They belong with us," Gabriel said with confidence. His men had their guns drawn.
"I'm here," Erik called back in his human form. He had put jeans back on, but was barefooted and shirtless.
"Boy, it's about time. Didn't ya know, we were looking for you...You look like her, your mama. You remember me, don't ya?" Gabriel said quietly.
"I think so, but I thought you was dead. You come to the motel one time and tried to make momma leave with you," Erik asked confused.
"That was my brother, you uncle. We can talk about that later. Now, if you'll excuse us, folks. I'll take my boy and be going. We'll get that hair cut right and you'll be lookin' fine," Gabriel smiled holding out his arm.
Marcel started. Surely, Eric wouldn't leave with this thug. The guns were turned on the Crescents who were slowly gathering around. Erik looked at Marcel from 20 feet away and whispered, "I'll turn hybrid in the car. Get the wolves away."
Marcel and Rebekah understood. Erik let himself be led away into a black SUV. Marcel whispered to Davina, "We're going to attack once they get their guns off the wolves. Either cast a boundary spell or go to the car. Josh, will stay with you."
"Okay, Dad," Davina agreed taking Josh's hand.
The Guerrera body guards seemed to disperse as Erik got into the car. The SUVs windows were tinted, so no one could see in, but the SUV rocked from side to side. There was a howl. The Guerrera body guards started shooting into the Crescent wolves in human form, but they ran. A few were hit, but they healed.
From the edge of the swamp, Rebekah's Original vampire senses told her something inhuman was there. Lurking.
"Marcel, over there," she indicated. A pack of wolves broke through the tree line.
"Those aren't regular wolves. I'm going to let Erik out," Marcel said vamping to the SUV and letting Erik out in his wolf form. The head of Gabriel Guerrera Correa rolled out. Eyes staring ahead.
Erik jumped out in wolf form and howled. The battle began. The Guerrera wolves had orange eyes and sharp teeth. They jumped further and higher than any werewolf was able to. They were also larger than even Erik.
From the behind the shack, Marcel's vampires descended. They had weapons and knives to defend and attack against the unnaturally huge wolves.
"Marcel, it's not enough. Davina, cast that spell!" Rebekah cried, as she vamped over to the shack to fight some wolves herself.
Marcel shouted orders to his guys and blood was shed, but Rebekah was right, they were outnumbered.
Ollie and Jackson staggered into the thick mud and hid.
"What in the devil?" Ollie cried.
"It's got to be the Guerrera's. They made themselves into hybrids! They must have poisoned Aiden and Tommy," Jackson cursed.
"Come on, we got to give as good as we got. Those bastards won't know what hit them," Ollie thundered.
They leaped from the bush to join the battle.
"Hold on, I'm going to go check on Aiden and Tommy. Wait for me, Ollie," Jackson pleaded.
Jackson crawled into the shack prone and found his friends tied up, but coming to. Aiden and Tommy were in their human forms again.
"Aiden, man, wake up. We're getting attacked," Jackson hissed.
"What? What's going on? What happened? Untie us. I can help," Aiden promised.
"Are you sure, man? You're on our side, right. Can you control this thing they done to you?" Jackson asked.
"Yeah, I think I can. The venom they shot us up with seems to be through our systems. I think I can still turn though. Let me try," Aiden said through gritted teeth.
"We need you, man. We're losing out there," Jackson despaired.
Marcel dodged the sharp teeth of the beast barely in time. He knew if he got bitten and tagged with werewolf venom, Klaus' blood could cure him. But Klaus could not stop him from getting his heart ripped out or torn to shreds. He watched as several of his nightwalkers were bitten and fell. Marcel kept fighting. He could not say how many hybrid Guerreras there were. They moved almost too fast for vampire eyes to see. Dodging them took every bit of his agility.
Erik was ferocious and fearsome to behold. His fur, though matted with blood, was a light gray and he was almost as big as the Guerreras. His eyes were yellow. But a wolf fights better in a pack.
Aiden and Tommy joined and began to destroy the Guerrera hybrid together with Erik. Ollie hadn't waited for Jackson and was about to be ripped apart by a large black wolf, when they saved him, but barely.
"Look, the new hybrids are helping!" Davina yelped to Josh.
"We need to go!" Josh said dragging Davina.
"No, I have an idea. Help me get to the shack," Davina demanded.
Josh rolled his eyes, but Davina would not take no for an answer.
Even with Erik, Aiden, Tommy, Marcel, Rebekah, and the vampires fighting valiantly, they were no match for the supercharged Guerrera hybrids. Something was wrong. They were too strong, too powerful.
"Marcel, we can't win against them. We need to get everyone out of here," Rebekah stated.
"But if we run, they will chase us!" Marcel lamented.
Rebekah looked around, she grabbed one hybrid and threw it into the fire. It burned and then got up and attacked a young vampire. She stopped to stare for a moment and another hybrid bit her side.
Erik rammed into it and together with Aiden and Tommy, they ripped out it's throat.
"Rebekah, are you okay?" Marcel yelled fighting a hybrid along with two of his guys.
"Not really, love. Be careful over there!" Rebekah said holding her side a second.
"Mom, over here. It's safe," Davina said from the doorway of the shack. Josh vamped in all the bodies of the injuries and they patched them up with his blood and strips of the quilt that had been on the bed.
Rebekah came over and they put her on the bed. The venom was strong and she was starting to hallucinate.
"I thought Daddy told you to protect yourself? What are you doing here? Joshua, fetch my bag, I think it is time to...," Rebekah said before passing out.
Josh cringed and patted Davina on the shoulder, "When she gets better, you're a dead woman."
"I don't care. Let me try a purifying spell, maybe that will help," Davina said laying her hands on Rebekah's bite. Rebekah did wake up and was able to sit up.
"Are you alright, love?" Rebekah said gently. She stood up barely.
There was another slew of fighting and the vampires were on the verge of being overpowered when the clearing was filled with bursts of fire and smoke. Crossbow bolts filled the bodies of the hybrids suddenly. Marcel and Josh covered Erik, Aiden, and Tommy and protected them from getting shot.
Rebekah staggered to the door of the cabin and said, "What's happening?"
Father Kieran came out, "The Factions have come to your aid, Marcel. The humans, witches, and unattached vampires of New Orleans are here. We will help you fight these bastards!"
The witches from all nine covens chanted spells to hold the huge hybrid wolves with orange eyes still. The humans and vampires chained them up as they lay paralyzed and helpless. The wolves helped round up any straggler hybrids and Guerrera lackeys. They piled the dead in a pyre. The wounded were taken into the shed for Davina and Josh to tend to.
Erik, Aiden, and Tommy finally turned back into their human forms. They found their clothes and changed back. A few humans let them feed off of them. The other wounded were recovering. The dead vamps and wolves were laid out in front of the water. Mary and Eve had ushered the wolves unable to fight to hide in the Bayou. No one knew this swamp better than the Crescents, but now they were taking to take account of the attack.
Marcel was worried about Rebekah, she was delirious. He remembered when Klaus had nipped Kol in 1913 or so at the Compound. He had lost it for a few days as an Original couldn't die from the venom. However, her wound was not healing. That was unusual, and terrifying.
"Father, thanks for coming. You saved us. We were almost goners. We didn't know that the Guerrera's had figured out how to turn hybrid. It seems impossible," Marcel said. He marched over to the SUV where Gabriel Guerrera Correa's body was still n the backseat. In the trunk, Marcel found a suitcase. It was locked. The key was on Correa's body around his neck on a chain.
"What's that?" Father K. asked.
"A key," Marcel replied popping open the suitcase. There were vials of amber liquid with writing on them. Under the vials were syriges
The writing said "Property of the Augustine Society."
Erik stumbled over to Marcel, "Is that a cure?"
"I hope so, kiddo. Hey, you did pretty good out there! Get some blood?" Marcel said putting his arm around the young hybrid.
"Yes, sir. I reckon I drank a good bit. But you know this man, whoever the hell he was, he weren't my daddy," Erik scoffed, tapping the head with his boot.
"Oh yeah?" Marcel asked in confusion.
"No, my real daddy is in Mystic Falls. We best call him now," Erik said sincerely.
"You are right, little brother. He's been very eager to know what he missed. Also, maybe he knows something about this Augustine Society? Here, you talk first," Marcel said giving Erik the phone after grabbing his head and leaning down to kiss him on the forehead.
They had to figure out what to do with the chained up wolves and if they should give Rebekah and the others bitten this cure. But for now, they were alive, which was in contrast to the dead, ready to be burned.