Kristopher stared out into the night, thinking about Sarah, the wonderful beautiful Sarah that he loved so much, these past few weeks without her had been trying to say the least. Nissa was sleeping in an over stuffed arm chair at Kristopher's back, her head buried in the crook of her arm. At her side was an unfinished carving of Nikolas and Kristopher with their arms spread wide; as if they were to fly. Kristopher pressed his face against the window and closed his eye's momentarily, to snap them open again almost instantly.
That sound! What was it? He craned his neck and stared up into the starry night sky, at first he could see nothing, he pressed his face harder still against the glass. Nissa groaned and turned slightly in her sleep, her arm slipped from under her head and over the arm of the chair, she jerked awake, and sat up in the chair. Her eyes flickered over to Kristopher's silhouette in the window, "Hey Kristopher," she whispered hoarsely and stood coming over to her.
"Be quiet!" Kristopher hissed and pressed his ear to the glass, the sound came again, almost instantly. He twisted away from the window and jammed his feet into his boots, then rushed out the door into the night, Nissa was right behind him.
"What on earth is wrong with you?" Nissa hissed quietly grabbing hold of his jacket sleeve, the moment Kristopher had wrenched it from her grasp, someone stepped out of the woods. Kristopher turned toward the intruder and took up a fighter's stance. The intruder was Turquoise Draka, a vampire hunter, who had once been a slave. Kristopher growled and bared his fangs, Nissa did the same.
Turquoise raised her hands in a symbol of peace and to show she had no weapons and stepped lightly out of the shadow of the woods. The sound came again and something passed over the moon, casting its faint shadow momentarily on the ground, Kristopher's eyes snapped up, just in time to see a hawk swoop down, carrying what looked to be a cobra in its talons. It landed lightly a few yards to the left of Kristopher, clicking its beak as the cobra slithered away, in the blink of an eye two people were standing in their place, both raised their hands in the same gesture Turquoise had made.
"What the hell is going on out here?" Yelled a tired looking Nikolas who had just rushed out of the house to join the rest of them, he looked as if he had just gotten out of bed, his long black hair was down and fell over his eye's and he was shirtless. Turquoise raised her eyebrows momentarily and tried to hide a smile. Nikolas brushed his hair out of his face perplexed, and stared coldly at the intruders. "Who the hell are they?"
Kristopher shrugged and stared at the assembly of people before him, he gestured at the newest joining member's of the group, "I know they are shape shifters but who they are, I do not know at the moment." He spun wildly to face Turquoise who had lowered her hands, she stared back at him unfazed, "Turquoise Draka, why are you here?" He spat, "You have a lot of nerve."
"Chill out Kristopher, you know I revoked being a hunter, I'm clean now, I haven't killed a vampire, shape shifter, or anything else for that matter for a couple of years. You know as well as I do, why I'm here." She replied coolly and gazed at Kristopher from beneath dark lashes, "Now you can either fight with us or die at your own will, either way it doesn't bother me."
Kristopher glared at her, but after a moment he finally relaxed, "If you are here to seek refuge, go elsewhere," he hissed, "Hunter or no, you are unwelcome here, refusing to continue in your sickening line of work, doesn't change what you tried to do."
Turquoise lowered her eyes, to the ground, "I pay for that mistake everyday, so why do you still torment me so."
Kristopher spat at her, but didn't say anything else. The night was starting to fade into the dull pink of dawn, he gazed at the sky and cringed, Aubrey still hadn't returned. Someone cleared their throat, he looked around, it was the shape shifters, "Who are you?" He asked them as Nikolas joined him.
The girl, the one who had been a hawk, stepped forward, "I am Danica Shardae." She bowed to him and took the boy's arm, the one who had been the cobra, "And this is my pair bond, Zane Cobriana, we come to form an alliance with you, after the uprising please do not turn us away."
Nikolas scoffed, "And what uprising is this?" He asked the stricken pair of shape shifters, "and since when is it customary for a cobra to take a hawk as its pair bond, I thought your species' were at war?"
Zane stepped forward, "the war between the avian's and the serpiente is over, now there is a new battle that is going to ensue." He stared reproachfully at Kristopher, "The woman that your brother killed, Risika, the vampiress' fledgling's are joining up with the falcon's and are going to wage war against your people and mine." He finished mournfully, "We have no choice, but to unite against them."
Kristopher's surprised expression mirrored Nikolas' this was an interesting change of pace and completely unexpected. At a loss for words the six of them trooped back into the house to discuss what they would do about, their newest problem. War, such a lovely word isn't it.