Chapter Seven~

I held onto her possessively, protectively pulling her in back of me and narrowly missing the young vampires extended hand and sharp desire-filled teeth. She was a precious jewel to me, and I would have preferred leaving her again, this time forever, then holding her dead in my arms. My eyes widened; I could see vampires at all sides of us. From first glance I counted ten total, some men and some woman, but all held the same agelessly jaded vampire face. Their blood-lust was revealed in their eyes, but the abjection of their mission, whether it was to take Danica alive to Jeshickah or kill her, I couldn't be sure.

Every vampire that approached us wore pure black, tightly worn black shirts that glimmered with the shape and contact of the men's well-built chest muscles and arms while emphasizing every woman's ageless, sizable breasts. Their hair was silky and long, some straight as ribbons and others curled with great detail; each individual curl was a masterpiece.

"That is the Shardae!" one of the vampire men shouted, pointing his pale finger in our direction. The motion caused all of the others to quicken their pace coming toward us.

I looked back to the car; it was at least ten feet away, and there would be no time to get the weapons in the back before they reached us. Danica grabbed onto my shoulder, an action that told me that she was afraid, but at the same time I knew that she would fight if she had to.

"Shardae!" a female vampire said, mocking the other man's voice. She was young with ruby red lips. "Fancy meeting you here." I tightened my grip around Danica's waist, the gesture was protective, and I could tell that the female vampire was not expecting me, or my protective nature to be at her side. The vampire looked into my eyes, fierce light orbs of pale green that would have held me hypnotically had I not looked away when I did. "Interesting," she smirked, lifting her hand up and brushing it lightly across my cheek. I hastily bated it away, her touch ice cold. "And who might you be?"

"He is Zane Cobriana, leader and king of the long dead Serpiente nation!" I heard a scratching on the ceiling of the parking garage, which caused me to look up. It was almost like boots dragging on coarse floor. My mouth opened slightly as my vision beheld a strikingly tall vampire that stood grachesly out amongst the others. He was standing on the ceiling, his thick black boots scrapping against the high top as he walked toward us. His form was magnanimous, his face belonging on a seventeenth century portrait, but his wardrobe suggested twenty-first century Goth. When he was a few feet away from us, he curled his torso to his knees and jumped, flipping his body flawlessly until he landed up right on the ground before us. Across his bare chest he wore a chain mail shirt, and the force of his jump sent them jingling as he strutted towards Danica and I, the other vampires easily parting to accommodate his path.

"Zane Cobriana!" he said again, as though my name were a litany to him.

"Who are you?" I shouted; I could tell that this vampire had immense strength, and I doubted if I would be able to win in combat against him, though perhaps if he grew to fear me before a confrontation I would have some kind of leverage.

He smiled, showing pearly white teeth behind full pink lips: "My name is Theron Sero, and I've heard many things about you," he hesitated, his eyes glazing over to Danica and then back to me, "Your Highness." His words caught me off guard slightly; no one had addressed me as king in enough years that I couldn't even fathom when the last time was. "I have no quarrel with you," he began, "and you're free to go. My business is with Shardae!"

Shardae! I grasped at his words to her, and I knew that most of the world knew Danica as simply Shardae and only the few people that she considered to be friends and family were allowed to call her Danica. I guessed that Danica and this Theron were not on good terms.

"If you have quarrel with Danica, then you have quarrel with me!" I saw Theron and the other vampires narrow their vision on me. I could feel Danica's gaze behind me. They were all shocked, not expecting my admission of guilt. For guilty I was if I openly sided with their enemy.

Theron looked displaced; I don't know how it was possible or why but I could tell that he admired me slightly, and that he was saddened and had not expected my words.

"Very well!" yelled the female vampire from before, her eyes hovering over my body as if thinking of what she could do to it.

"Very well!" Theron mimicked and with the gesture of his hand the ten vampires lying in wait came at us. Their unnatural strength mounted, and their fangs ready to sink into our flesh and suck the very life from our bones.

Danica and I both assumed the fighting position, and I was amazed as I watched out of the corner of my eye at how much her skills at fighting had improved. Danica and I fought our hardest, but we were greatly outnumbered and were quickly taken over. Two vampires restrained me forcefully, holding my arms at my sides high enough to knock them out of alignment if I should move the slightest bit incorrectly. I didn't care though, I could clearly see from where I was restrained that two more vampires had Danica restrained in much the same way, and the female vampire that spoke to me before was preparing to sink her teeth into Danica's neck. "Leave her alone!" I commanded, my voice easily taking on the presence of the king that it once had been attached to.

"I'll kill you if you touch her!"

I caught a quick glance from Danica, her eyes furrowed and swelling as though she wanted to cry out and confess. Her nature became that of a dieing woman on her deathbed. I wanted to reach out to her, hold her in my arms once more and tell her everything that I had done had been a mistake. I should have stayed, or come back sooner when our world was destroyed. I should have searched her out, and then, if I had, I could be at the brink of death with her, and perhaps it wouldn't be so bad for the both of us now. Her chest was rising and falling violently as she helplessly squirmed her slim body to get away from the clutches of the deadly vampire coming after her.

"Leave her!" Theron spoke. He had been standing watching the fight and our capture from a few feet away this whole time. He stood, his arms crossed, contemplating the situation with one of his hands rolled into a ball and supporting his chin. "Jeshickah wants her alive!"

"And what about him?" the vampire woman asked quickly, her blood-lust turning from Danica to me in a matter of seconds.

"Bring him too; we might find use for him yet."

I tried to free myself, twisting and curling my arms in the hope that I would get away from my captors' clutches. It was useless, and I quickly felt a clenched fist punch its bony potency into the side of my face. My body collapsed, and my limbs became lifeless under the force of the unnatural blow. A regular punch was one thing, but a vampire's punch was like drinking poison, the pain coursing through you until you felt it everywhere, and it debilitated you.

Through half open eyelids I watched the same man who had punched me approach Danica, and helplessly I watched as he did the same to her. "Don't," I chocked, blood pouring from my mouth as I tired to speak.

"Get the cars!" I heard Theron order, but my eyes were closed and I couldn't see whom he was talking to.

The next few minutes were hazy as I weaved in and out of conciseness. I remember being released and feeling the cold cement floor against my face, the chill welcoming against my bruised and bloodied features. I felt hands on me a few seconds latter, and clammy fingers interlaced rope around my wrists and ankles, binding me into stillness. I then felt something fall next to me and through my half-awake, half-asleep state I realized that it was Danica, suffering from the same fate as I was, the sting of the unusual vampires blow incapacitating us both. I heard the squeal of cars making sharp turns next. Theron's cars.

I felt my body being lifted up, then forcefully shoved into the car. Soft leather was felt beneath my unresponsive form. I felt Danica there, too, her body leaning up against mine, helpless as I was. The last thing that I remember was Theron saying: "Sedate them both."