House of Pain

Chapter 9: Red Pain

I was mesmerized by that smile. I could have sworn I've seen it before. I couldn't keep my eyes away from those red full lips. If it weren't for Ivy I would have still been standing there staring at her like some puppet. She touched my shoulder and instantly that helped me break the link with the vampire. Her smile grew wider making it look more evil as she gently removed the cloak. I was not the only one who gasped; Trent was surprised to see who stood before us all. She was so nice too! I couldn't remember her name but I definitely knew it was the same woman that had approached Trent and me at Takata's party. I went from surprised to angry, which she seemed to enjoy. She began to walk around the circumference of the circular room. Not knowing what she would do we kept our eyes on her following her every step. Every time she passed by her minion they would coward away from her. They were truly afraid of her!

"You're a vampire?" Trent spoke first.

"Surprise, surprise!" She purred. She touched the amulet on her slender neck. "Thanks to this lovely piece of jewelry I can hide what I am."

That explained how she had made herself look more human. It was not powerful magic since I had the feeling of otherness towards her. That night I hadn't cared much to figure her out.

"Victoria La Fleur," I said remembering her name, "Why kidnap Trent Kalamack?"

"Besides being a lovely specimen? With those beautiful green eyes and soft silveryhair. It would have been enjoyable cuddling with him if he had been awake. Unfortunately my subjects got carried away. What a pity." She said pouting.

I glanced at Trent who seemed surprised. He noticed me looking at him and tried to do his best to stand straight and hide his face behind that mask of his. I could tell he was not too happy about having been in her arms in his unconscious state. In the other hand, she was satisfied with his reaction. The smile she had on her beautiful face was not sweet at all, it was rather menacing. She was enjoying seeing Trent squirm under her scrutiny. I in the other hand was getting frustrated. She was ignoring me by not answering my question.

"Ivy? Is it? Yes, I've heard of you. You are even lovelier in person." Her beautiful face turned ugly for an instant then in a blink of an eye her face was that beautiful mask. "Of course…the one that spoke such words is no longer…with us. What a pity. Unless, of course, a descendant of the Tamwood clan decides to join me?"

Ivy gave her an icy smile, "Like I told my old friend. I have a place I belong to already."

"You never answered my question Vicky." I butted in. I was getting tired of having vampires wanting to enroll Ivy into their little clans.

"The witch wishes to know why I took her boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend!"

She laughed lightly. "Of course. Trying to hide from everyone, even now."

"I'm not hiding anything because it's the truth."

"Very well then, if you say so. But I do wonder, love, why was his scent all over you? I saw you two having so much fun in the dance floor. And if he is not your 'boyfriend', as you say, then why did you leave the party with him?"

I didn't say a word. I was shocked at this revelation. Had she spent her time in the party watching us? If so, didn't she see we were drunk? If we had been sober we would have never danced together let alone leave together! And that night would have never taken place. I looked at her and wondered if she had followed us? She was enjoying this, her mouth curved into a satisfied smirk. I don't know how but I knew she had followed us. Why?

"I wanted to confirm with my senses; my eyes, hearing, and yes even my nose of what happened late that night. Aren't you a lying witch? Tsk, tsk."

Thanks to Vicky the cat was out of the bag. I didn't dare look at Ivy. I didn't tell her the complete truth after I ran out of Ceri's baby shower. I didn't look at anyone; my eyes were still on Victoria. How I loathed her, I wanted to hurt her so bad.

"Don't let her get the best out of you," Ivy whispered, she stood closer to me.

I promised myself that once we were out of here I had to tell Ivy the complete truth. Hopefully she didn't stay mad at me for long, believing that I didn't trust her enough to tell her why I was mad at Trent. I didn't dwell on this for long since Victoria wanted to continue her charade.

"Rachel, love, why do you think I kidnapped him, then?"

"Why don't we stop this dance, it's getting tiresome. Just tell me."

She laughed again, "So demanding! And feisty! No wonder some women are attracted to you." She said glancing at Ivy.

"You kidnapped Mr. Kalamack to take over the brimstone business, right?" David spoke from where he stood with the two Weres by his side and Trent on the other.

"That is an interesting hypothesis. It is."

"That's not right?" I said. For some reason something in my gut told me she was telling the truth. She had not kidnapped Trent to take him out of the brimstone business and making it easy for her to take over. Something else had caused her to do that. "Then what was the reason," I whispered.

She stopped pacing around us once she had completed a full circle and stood where she had started. She looked enraged, almost like she would burst from it. I couldn't keep my eyes away from the full strength of her gaze. If looks could kill I would have definitely been toast.

"I was once in love," she whispered. All the rage in her face was sucked deep inside some hole and all that was left was complete sadness. That was all she said. Silence crept all over the room all while her eyes seemed to be lost in some memory of her lover. Lost in her thoughts a red tear fell from her eye.

I almost felt rude to ask, almost. It's not like she has been the only one in love in this room. One time or another we've all gone through that. I really wanted to speed this up and get the Turn out of this sewer.

"What does that have to do with this?"

The sadness on her face disappeared, once again covered by pure hatred. "What does this have to do with this? WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO?"

I was feeling stupid for asking now. The last thing I wanted to do was enrage this vampire any further. And if her power was any indication at how her minions' coward in fear from her then I had definitely done a stupid move by angering her. I didn't care thought. I was angry myself.

"You took my only true love! It was your fault he died!"

"What? I took him? I have never met you in my life. How would I take your lover?"

"Don't play games, love!"

"I'm not!" I tried to think of the people I had dated recently. Then it hit me. The only one I cared for so much had died when he was with me. I began to shake my head in denial. It couldn't be. No, it couldn't! Having the courage I looked at Ivy. Did she know that he had dated this red monster? Ivy seemed to be in the same shocked effect because she shook her head.

"Yes, that's right, love. You stole Kisten from me! The only true love of my life. My beautiful Kisten!" She might be a master of hiding her feelings behind a mask but at this very moment she let go of everything and cried in front of us. "My lovely Kisten."

Not being able to hide my own feelings I felt my eyes water. "I loved him too! And it was not my fault he died. Piscary had something to do with his death. Which in case you might care, I'm looking for his murderer and believe me, he will pay for what he did!"

"I know that Piscary was in part responsible for his death but I still blame you for the other part."

"Don't listen to her Rachel." Ivy told me.

"Yeah, Rache. Don't listen to this vampire. She is soured up because after her Kisten had taste," Jenks said from my shoulder.

I felt slightly better knowing my friends still had my back. I looked at her and tried to equal my stare as intense as she had it. "Say what you want about his death. My conscience is clear."

That was partly a lie, because deep down I did feel slightly guilty for his death. I closed my eyes when I remembered seeing him on his bathroom floor. I felt Ivy hold me steady after I felt myself sway. I opened my eyes with tears now falling down. "Then why? Why take Trent. He had nothing to do with Kisten."

"Au contraire, love. Just like you made me suffer by taking my lover away from me I wanted to do the same. I took your lover from you to make you suffer like I am."

I looked at her not believing what I heard. She did all of this out of a jealousy fit? This was a truly a crazy vampire. "You wanted to make me suffer? Let me tell you something. The only thing you've done is making me angry! You got your henchmen to hurt a friend of mine; causing his love of his life to suffer from watching him in the condition he was left. Then you take two of my pack members. To end this, no you did not cause me to suffer by taking my so-called lover. You only caused me to get me mad by hurting my friends."

Victoria La Fleur, she had looked so beautiful in her elegant clothes that night at Takata's party. Now her pitiful self looked horrific and angry. Her cloak was wet at the hemand her dark mascara had run down her smooth ivory skin. Her eyes burned of pure hatred at me.

"If that's the case, I take it you don't mind if I have some fun with Mr. Kalamack?"

She wasn't going to play nice. A promise is a promise. I told Quen I would get Trent out of here and I was not about to let this crazy vampire shred him to pieces. Of course, even if I had not promised Quen to get his boss out of here I still wouldn't let her hurt him. Victoria removed the cloak to reveal a beautiful red sparkling blouse. Red leather pants and knee high military boots. She leaped towards Trent's direction. The instant she did so two things happened. Her fearful minions showed no signs of fear and uncoiled from their crouching position to attack us. The other thing that happened is that I used what little I had of my spindled energy to blast Ms. La Fleur. It didn't send her flying to the wall but it was enough to stop her.

One of the frail looking vampires attacked one of my pack members. She was grabbed and pushed down to her knees. That allowed me to see the third person that had been hiding behind them. It was a young man with blond ruffled hair, slightly shorter than David. He began to shift into his werewolf form to attack the vampire. Both girls took his cue and began to transform as well. The vampire tried to grip her but that wouldn't stop the transformation. This was one way they could have a chance against the vicious vampires. The young guy in his wolf form had light brown fur. He had transformed first and was now using his strong jaws to bite on the vampire's neck and get him off from the still transforming werewolf.

David on the other hand, had the upper hand for not only being a werewolf with experience but he has the focus within him that seemed to give him that extra strength. He did a partial transformation. His amber eyes glowed in the darkness and his teeth were sharper. His hands had grown longer with elongated fingers and nails sharp enough to cut the vampires. Jenks flew to help the young Weres by pixing the thin yet powerful vampires. I noticed he did so with more precise accuracy than when he helped Trent.

Victoria got up; her wet hair looked like it was dripping blood. She glanced around the room. It turned out she was looking for me. She locked her gaze with mine as she stalked towards me. Ivy finished a double kick on a vampire and moved to stand before me. "I got this," she told me.

"No! I want the witch! Get out of my way Tamwood!"

"From someone that knew Kisten really well I hadn't realized he had done some silly things like get with the likes of you. But you know, I'm glad that in the end he finally was smart enough to be with someone who cared so much for him and he did the same for her."

"Ivy, don't make her angrier." I said behind her. Besides that was my job I always ended up making things worse.

"I see you wish to take your friend's fate as well, then so be it."

They clashed into each other as fists and kicks were thrown and blocked from either one. I was impressed at the speed they were going at it. Victoria slowly increased her speed. In a swift move Ivy grabbed Victoria's amulet and yanked it from her. The glamour that made her look human disappeared. Her already ivory skin looked translucent with a hint of grayness to it. Small thin veins were visible from her temples and on her arms.

I went to stand by Trent who still had my gun. He had it aimed at the vampires who were at the moment busy with David and the three other Weres. One of the vampires managed to sneak behind Ivy and he was about to grab her. Not while I'm here. I yanked my splat gun from Trent, who scolded me in the process, and then I pressed the trigger when I aimed towards the vampire.

"This can't be happening!" I said as I tried the trigger once again. The Turn with this! It was empty.

I tugged the splat gun on the back of my jeans and without thinking twice about it I ran to help Ivy. I didn't know what I would do about the vampire who was trying to gnaw on her neck. I didn't get the chance to figure that out because I was held back. I felt someone's grip on my arm. I turned around expecting to see a vampire instead it was Trent who had stopped me.

"Hold on!" he said.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm trying to help you!"

"Well stopping me will not help me. You are only letting my friend get hurt."

"Will you stop trying to get away from me? Rachel, I said I'm trying to help you!"

"How will you help me? Huh? You are injured, you don't know how to fight, and that's why you have Quen and tall freak."

"I will tell you, I just don't want to shout it to the world!"

I stopped fighting him and went towards him to see what his big idea was all about. Besides, it's not like they wouldn't be able to hear him anyway. I needed to remind him that vampires and Weres have a keen sense of hearing.

"I've noticed that the energy you used from ley lines has been effective against the vampires. Even with Victoria."

"I've noticed that too. Only problem is that I don't have any more spindled energy and we are in an area where I can't gather energy."

"You seem to forget that I have a familiar. I could gather my energy through there and transfer it to you."

I looked at those green eyes and wondered if they had hit him really hard in that elf head of his? I had to admit, Trent had come up with an excellent plan. Not that I would tell him that since it would go to his head. This would definitely work even if I were surprised that Trent was helping me. If we were going to do this we had to do this now. I glanced at Ivy and she had managed to remove the vampire that had been at her back. But she wouldn't be able to keep at it any longer.

I wanted to ask him why he was doing this. The answer was probably that he wanted to leave this place. I know I did. "Fine, let's do this."

In order for this to work we had to have skin contact with one another. He unbuttoned his sleeves and pulled them back. I was standing before him when he grabbed my forearms first; I did the same after a few seconds. Trent closed his eyes; I figured it was his way to concentrate while he had contact with his familiar. Meanwhile I looked around us hoping we didn't get attacked by a vampire. Good thing David noticed that we were up to something and kept them away from us. Even Ivy tried to keep Vicky away from us. Jenks in the other hand had changed targets and was trying to pix the big bad red head. No not me, the evil vampire.

I knew by the sudden jolt in my forearm, where Trent held me, that he had started transferring ley line energy. I hadn't meant to, but as a reaction I gripped his forearm tighter. Immediately I looked up to see if he had reacted to my grip. Either he didn't feel it or he ignored it since his face continued to be serene as he concentrated. Instead of looking elsewhere I looked at his face and felt gratitude towards him. Here he was helping me. Who would've known? I don't know why, but I kept looking at his calm and handsome face. He must've felt me looking at him because he opened those forest green eyes. I didn't look away but I held my breath as we locked our gazes. I wanted to look away but I couldn't. I don't know if it was the ley line energy or if it was the intense stare but I felt my entire body grow warm and full of energy.

"Do you think you have enough," Trent spoke suddenly.

"A little bit more."

This time I closed my eyes. I began to gather the energy and store it in my mind. I wanted it to be all bunched together into a tight ball. I was nearing the point where I couldn't hold any more. This had to work. If I used it all towards Vicky we would be able to get rid of her. I opened my eyes when I heard someone's grunt nearby. The first thing I noticed was Vicky with a deep gash on the side of her face. I wondered if Ivy was responsible for Vicky's makeover. I realized it had been David who was now slowly getting up from the ground, he groaned in pain as he got up. Ivy stopped herself from running to David and check on him. Instead she kept her stance before Vicky. I felt my mind reach the threshold and knew it was time. I let go of Trent and looked directly at Vicky.

"Oh Vicky! I have something for you."

"Vicky? You insolent witch! I, Victoria La Fleur, will teach you wretched witch some manners!"

"Ivy now would be a good time for you to move out of the way!"

Knowing that I had something up my sleeves she did as I asked her to. I raised both my arms leveled at my chest then I raised my hands so my palms were showing. In a blink of an eye all the energy stored within me rushed out from my hands. The invisible blast knockedher into and through the stoned wall.

"Whoa! That must've hurt!" Jenks said falling down to my side.

I didn't realize I was being held by Trent. At one point during the release of the energy my legs had felt wobbly and I knew for sure I was going to drop to the floor. I was kept on my two feet thanks to Trent. Ivy walked towards the huge hole that I helped create. Through the rubble she looked to see if there was anything left of Victoria La Fleur. Too tired to move I stood there with Trent's help. David walked towards me and smiled, he was still in partial transformation that his smile as sweet as it was looked out of place with the sharp teeth. He must have noticed my look since he stopped smiling. He didn't walk any further only to transform his body into his human form. Within the dark shadows his eyes still shimmered in that amber color.

"You did good. But we will need to get out of here as soon as possible. The three wolves are still young and they will need to rest after they change back," David said.

I nodded. It was the only thing I could do. I was too tired to speak. I looked up when Ivy emerged from the opening.

"Well, she is not going to be bothering anyone else."

"Are you certain?" Trent asked her.

She looked annoyed at his comment. "Of course I'm sure. She was already part of the undead. And thanks to that blast she won't be walking up, since she was-"

"Blown to smithereens! She is in itty bitty pieces!" Jenks yelled. I never noticed the pixie fly towards the open hole.

"Yes, to put it bluntly that's what's left of her." Ivy confirmed.

I glanced down at Trent who had bent down as if he was going to hurl. "Trent if you throw up on me I will kick your butt…when I have the energy."

"I'm not going to vomit, Morgan. I'm still in pain and I can't stand any longer."

Relieved that it was finally over I looked around me. The werewolves had done a gruesome job. The now dead vampires had deep gashes on their backs, chest, and face. The murky water was now red with their blood. I was either desensitized by the smell because at this point I couldn't smell the sewer water and the decay of the corpses down in the tunnels.

"Yeah, let's get out of here," I finally said.

I took a step away from Trent, in doing so I felt my knees buckle beneath me. The energy I borrowed from Trent had taken a toll on me. If it weren't for Ivy I would have fallen in the now bloodied sewer water. Ivy moved to stand between Trent and myself to help us out of here. I have to hand it to her for willing to help Trent and that he was willing to take her helping hand.

The three werewolves remained in their wolf form. Knowing about them through David, young werewolves need to rest for hours after a transformation. They had to wait to transform into their human form once we were out of the sewer. Otherwise it would be difficult to have David carrying all of them. Without uttering another word we moved towards the exit. Once on the move no one dared to give the place a last glance. Even as we went through the tunnel, the corpses hanging on either side were ignored. We all wanted out of this place. The two torches Elizabeta had lit up were still blazingtheir orange light.

Her sprawled body caught my eye. She lay there with a surprised look on her face. I wonder which one had surprised her to her death. Guilt rushed through me, leaving me feeling cold. I should have stopped running towards that tunnel and should have gone back to help Ivy. One quick glance at her face and I knew she was not mad at me. She had smiled after that ordeal. A smile concealed in the shadows of this underground lair. She wanted to hide how content she was that it had been David who had helped her. Taking another glance to my left I got a good look at Ivy and David. I tried to hide my smile but Ivy caught it. I saw her eyes cast downward to Trent. She probably thought I was doing it for Trent. I didn't care at the moment. Because I was thinking that they made a cute couple. Finally, we were almost out of this place once and for all. We went up the two sets of stairs and were in the room we started from.

"Now what? Should we blast through the black door and walk out like this in front of the partygoers? I'm too tired to try to go through the vent again." I said. I could use a nice long nap right about now.

"Or we can check if any of these doors lead to the back of the building and take one of the vans parked outside." Jenks said from my shoulder.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I'm good like that."

"He overheard the two guards talking," Ivy said, giving a light kick at the sleeping witches on the floor.

"That would definitely work." I said.

To be continued…