He walked into the entrance of the looming hotel, now somewhat less impressive as the sun had come up and shown all the crooks and more, distasteful, appearances of the building.
"Kersen..." Growled a deep voice laced with authority to his right. Leader Rakesh, a tall brown haired vampire who had been around for many centuries continued, "...report."
Turning towards the voice the blond looked at the questioning face and for a split second considered lying. Shaking his head at the insubordinate thought he cleared his throat and recalled exactly what had happened from the moment he left the shabby hotel to the moment he returned.
"What exactly are you telling me Kersen?" barked out Rakesh, slamming into the blond with agile speed, spitting out the words as harsh as bullets as he lifted the blond up against the wall by his throat.
Struggling at his abrupt loss of the ground under his feet the blond choked at the fist holding him in the air by his neck and coughed out his reply. "She, ah, flew."
Snarling at the blond Rakesh let go of his hold on the blond and turned smoothly to address the rest of his team, the blond slumped on the floor behind him clutching his bruised neck.
"Bring me the witch." He ground out, the very word witch seeming like a bad odour as a flurry of movement followed this order.
Some minutes later a red head vampire burst into the rooms with a screaming bundle clamped in his arms. Rakesh smiled vindictively and strode towards the vampire and the girl in his arms.
An evil smirk floated across his face as he lifted the girls chin up. Startling brown eyes stared back at him definitely for a minute before white teeth clamped down onto his finger causing him to howl.
"You knew Witch," spat out Rakesh, back handing the girl who had begun punching the vampire who held her once more. "You knew she would be able to change, you did not see it fit to inform us of this information. That particular decision will result in your death." Laughing cruelly he struck out at her, his muscles rippling as he caught her hair in a fist and pulled her head to one side.
"No," the girl shouted, enchanting an ancient rite under her breath as she felt elongated teeth sink into the soft flesh of her neck. "Sier la dominsere etui..."
A blinding flash erupted in the room, white light obscuring everybody's views. The vampires cried out in synchronisation as the light burned into their delicate hunting eyes.
The red head dropped the girl as he too threw a hand up to cover his eyes. Stealing her chance the girl lunged for the exit as an arm clamped around her waist pulling her to the floor. Screaming and kicking at the obstruction of her freedom, bare skin smashed onto the jaw of owner of the arm.
A second white light flashed in the girls view as she felt her soul being pulled from her body somewhat viciously. Crying out she kicked out at the invisible threat, panicking more violently than ever before. On her third kick, her shoe collided with supple human flesh and the white light ceased as her soul floated almost lazily back into her body, a white cable visible for a brief moment. The girl growled in an animalistic way as her captor, the vampire, skidded backwards across the room due to the power behind her desperate kick. Leaping to her feet she ran from the room, not once looking back.
Blinking as the light faded, the blond leant up on his elbows and peered about the room. Gasping at the sight before him he stopped the gurgle of fear erupting from his throat at the very last minute.
His four team mates were rapidly turning to ash in front of his very eyes, Rakesh mummifying due to his age.
Choking at the sight the blond scooted back in fright, what had the witch girl done?
Breathing through his fright he slowly and shakily got to his feet and calmly walked out of the room, half terrified of the girl who had managed to lay death on his complete team in a short matter of minutes, and half relieved for now he would not be murdered as a result of his bad mission.
Closing the door behind himself and on the deaths he made his way to the car park of the hotel. What would he do? The Initiator would soon be after him surely, his entire team had been wiped out.
Walking across the car park he headed towards a red car in a daze. Hot wiring the car he set off out of the exit and along the winding road he had been walking on no matter than an hour ago.
Ebony ran for what seemed like hours, finally reaching the dark little alley and scooting around the puddles. Stopping beneath the fourth room window of a seemingly derelict building she muttered under her breath and moved her hands in a pattern in the air. A blue light shimmered at the window above her and a few moments later a boy with striking blue eyes looked out from the window. This was her last sight as she dropped to the ground, out cold.
"Shit. Ebony." Murmured the boy and jumped from the window down to her. Landing at her side he bundled her into his arms and jumped back up to the window.
He placed her gently on the floor and dated into the hidden room, emerging a few seconds later holding a blue vial. Lifting her head, he put the vial to her lips and pinched her nose so she drank.
Ten minutes later the girl coughed and opened her eyes. "Ari." She smiled.
"Ebony, where the fuck have you been?" the blue eyed boy questioned angrily. Ebony, his witch friend had been missing for three weeks. He had assumed at first she had merely gone off with a conquest from a night out, but when a few days melted into a week and a week into a two he had grew increasingly worried.
She coughed and grinned up at him. "Always the valiant hero ah...?" her grin spread as she continued, "Nice to see you too Ari."
Cocking his eyebrow at her sarcasm and poking her lightly in the arm he smiled slightly. "Where did you go?"
A dark emotion smouldered over the happiness that had been shinning in her eyes at the question. Gritting her teeth together she began her story. "You saw the red head I had pulled on that night?"
"Yeah..." Ari mumbled, confused, waving his hand for her to go on as she stood up.
"We went out the back, and I blacked out. I woke up in a small room, with this round my wrist." Ebony lifted her wrist from her side, stretching it out to the blue eyes boy.
His eyes widening in shock he took her wrist gently in his palms and turned over said limb. Blue and black scars crisscrossed over her wrist under a small golden band that had been secured so tight to her skin that it had cut into the chocolate flesh.
"What the...? I thought these were a myth, but, it can't be..." he stuttered.
"Oh no," she laughed, a slight madness melting into her eyes as she continued, a bitter ring to her voice, "very real I can tell you. I woke up in this small room, this," she shook her wrist still in his gentle grasp, "bound to me, my powers melting away and I could not do a thing." The dark skinned girl spat out the last word in a sudden rush of anger.
Shaking his head slightly at the news Ari folded her wrist into his palms and closed his eyes. Sweat beads formed on his skin as he poured all he had into removing the band. A small click sounded and the gold band dropped to the floor.
Sighing in relief, Ebony sucked in great armfuls of air as she smiled at Ari. "Thank you my tiger." Magic circled in the air, shooting into the outstretched fingers of the girl, her smile glowing as the magic faded from the room.
"What was that?" uttered a small voice, coming from the corner.
Both the blue eyed boy and the witch girl jumped at the small interruption and swivelled to the sound of the voice.
Chocolate eyes widened as Ebony spotted the owner of the voice. "It can't be, but you, you, I thought, you, your alive." She stuttered in her astonishment at seeing Shaya, the girl she had strived to protect for three weeks. Turning to Ari, her mouth dropped as she spoke again. "You really are the valiant hero."
Confusion clouded blue eyes. "What...?"
Dark green eyes smouldered into the mass of brown hair that obscured her view. Sighing impatiently and rolling her eyes to the ceiling Shaya leant further along the desk, dropped her head on her forearm and muttered obscenities in her annoyance.
The mass of brown bounced as the owner shook her head in her urgency. Ebony sighed exasperatedly and threw her hands up in the air, she had been arguing with Ari for a good hour and still had got nowhere. Scowling at the blue eyed boy she began for what felt like the hundredth time to get her point across. "We have to leave. Now."
A black eyebrow shot up in a cynical motion as this order. Glancing over the chocolate skin of Ebony's shoulder the blue eyed boy looked at the slump of human gracing his desk at that present moment in time. He frowned slightly and swung his eyes back to the irritated chocolate ones facing him.
"She wasn't in any position to fulfil anything when she arrived here. I only helped her to annoy the blonde vampire bitch around the corner."
"Hecate, help me. How do I get this through your thick head?" Ebony muttered, her previously tightly reined in annoyance coating each and every syllable as she spoke.
The blue eyed boy merely arranged his face into indifference, knowing this would annoy his friend even more. Sure enough Ebony's scowl deepened and stretched the length of her face at his reaction. She threw her hands in the air again and let out a frustrated growl.
Ari bit back a grin at his friend, for she appeared to be fighting a very thin battle with herself to not stamp her foot like a toddler demanding a biscuit. He silently questioned her with his gaze.
"Just get your stuff ok." Her eyes flashed with meaning.
"Could I possibly be let in on all this considering it is about me?"
Both Ebony and Ari jumped for the second time as Shaya spoke into the charged atmosphere of the room. Roused from their silent conversation Ari leaned around Ebony to study the girl he had helped.
Her black hair was tousled every which way from sleep, her demure figure no longer hunched over his desk but sitting up and alert. Pale skin encased two bright emerald orbs, presently staring defiantly at him. Impatience lurked in the green eyes as Ari continued to asses Shaya.
Pursing her lips as she spoke Shaya addressed Ebony, "What you said earlier, about me being the one, what were you on about?"
Doing an amazing impression of a deer caught in head lights Ebony choked slightly and paled at the reference to the earlier conversation her and Ari had shared. "I, um, it was nothing."
Shaya's eyes hardened at the girl.
A crunch of stone under foot made the blond jump in shock. Clasping his chest as a rat jumped from a pile of rubble he tried to calm his heartbeat. It was no one.
He scowled at himself. The Initiator would have disposed of him already if that had been the intended plan. He had to calm himself and think.
He glanced down at the thin band of Oak string tied around his left wrist. An insubordinate thought floated through his mind for the second time that night, if he could just be rid of this chain to the Initiator he would be free, but how to do it?
Caught up in his fanatical escape dream a sudden realization swooped down on him like a bird of prey on a rabbit. He gasped in utter shock and frantically twisted his wrist every which way to view every possible section of the band that graced his skin. The band was no longer a light brown but a midnight charcoal black.
His eyes widened to the size of sauces at the sight alone.
He had seen few of the many bodies that wore a black band, but the memory of these few scared him more than anything had done in his life. The Initiator had 'disposed' of them before they created trouble and as a result the bands that circled their wrists had turned black and withered, like the soul they had once encased in the twines of the wood strings.
Primal horror and confusion swamped him. There was no logical explanation. Black bands only looped the wrist of the 'disposed', currently all the remainders of his team that the witch had killed wore black bands, everyone who wore a band would have known that. Yet he himself now supported a black band and was still standing, frowning and shaking or not, still standing.
"What the...?" he uttered, blinking in total shock the blond slumped to the ground next to his stolen car and reached his hand to push aside his shirt to reveal a spot just below the edge of his collar bone near his left shoulder. A small but crystal clear scar darted across his skin, the various lines joining to create a minute flame. He sighed, relaxing slightly at this somewhat comforting sight. His Initiator scar all the Resistance wore was still as it had been since his birth into the system, not disfigured like some he had seen on those who wore black bands.
This, however, only made the situation more confusing. Every Resistance vampire wore the wooden string band that was tied to the Initiator, alerting him of your death and that appeared at your birth into the Resistance, as did the scar. The scar was told to be your 'property' and did not connect you with the Initiator, but was merely a tool used to identify you, in death or life. When a Resistance vampire died the scar would remain intact beneath the pile of dust that all vampires burned up into if they were young, and the scar would appear on a silver disc, alerting the next team as it had been for centuries of your death, and thus the need for a replacement.
Cold and cruel, but effective in watching numbers.
The blonds brow furrowed deeper into a frown at his scar as he watched it waiting hesitantly to feel excruciating pain as he was 'disposed' of. Wincing for some time he eventually let out a deep breath he hadn't even realised he had been holding and let go of the hold on his shirt. The fabric fell neatly back into place, hiding the somewhat beautiful scar, ugly only at the fact that it was that intricate a scar.
Why then had his band melted into black indicating his death, yet he was still breathing and feeling like he had done before? Shaking his head at all this he fingered his scar through his shirt as habit had drummed into him and thought.
He was alive, yet his band had told the Initiator that he had died, presumably along with the rest of his team, as the inevitable new team would discover in recovering the disks of the last.
Yet his would not be there to recover.
Two components were needed to gratify his escape and one could not be possibly given to the Resistance. He could not give them the second essentail component without eluding the point of escaping the system in the initial place as he would have to die to accomplish this second component.
He was free, yet only seemed to have been granted a larger cage in which to fly.
A/N: So this is the last of my bunching previous chapters together, I hope nobody got confused or does have any problems with the new chapter length and I should have chapter 4 posted on Sunday night (which to those confused is technically chapters 7 and 8)!
Love to all, keep reviewing if you read and enjoy my fic, PLEASE even if it is just to say, 'Hi, I follow your story and I like it.' Thats still great news to know!
Reviews have become my food... AmbrosiaBunny x