The mental anguish made David begin to swim up through the haze of unconsciousness. He heard faint screams, roaring, yells… the sounds of chaos. At first he couldn't figure out where he was but slowly his mind, churning away, came to.
Ruby was screaming for him. Though their blood bond.
"I'm here, Ruby." Grappling around, vision still fuzzy, David found himself in a bed in the cave. He was bandaged and bruised, but beginning to heal already. Everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours rushed over him like a tub of cold water. "RUBY!"
David leapt from the bed just as Paul and a rather large member of the Bloods gang crashed through the doorway. It was an all-out fight, vampire on vampire. Paul was soaked head to toe in blood spatter; the other vampire was taking a beating but clearly wasn't going down as fast as Paul was hoping.
Roaring, David jumped up on the back of the Blood, talons out and instantly slashing across the front of the other vampire's throat. Choking on his own blood, surprise in his eyes, the vampire went down as David leapt away.
"We need stakes." David broke the chair, wrenching off a leg and ramming it into the center of the dying vampire's chest. "It's the only way to make sure they won't reanimate on us." Pulling off the other three legs, he handed one to Paul. "Where are the others?"
"Dwayne's in the main room, last I knew." Paul rubbed the blood from his face with the back of his forearm. It didn't do much good, seeing as he was soaked. A swath of crimson made him look as if he'd put on war paint. "Marko was protecting Ruby."
"Go, help Dwayne. NOW!" David rushed past Paul, high-tailing it in the direction of his childer.
When he got to Marko's room, the air was punctuated by a piercing scream. David rushed in, makeshift stake held in front of him. But the scene was not what he expected.
Ruby was still in bed, in full fang and talons out, trying to sense what was going on despite being blinded. Marko was on the floor, on top of another Blood vampire, ripping out the other male's throat. Problem was the Blood vampire had his talons sunk into Marko's left side and wasn't going down without a fight.
"Move!" David rushed towards them as Marko jumped as best he could out of the way. David plunged the stake directly into the vampire's chest, watching as the other seized up and screamed, finding final death swiftly descending.
"Marko!" Ruby managed to latch onto his movement and landed beside the wounded Lost Boy.
"I'm okay Ruby." He smiled weakly at her, stroking her cheek as she looked over the damages.
David roared, kicking the dead Blood gang member savagely in the ribs. A sickening crack sounded through the small room. "This wasn't supposed to happen! Is this what you saw, Ruby?" His tone was more accusing then he had meant it to be.
"Yes." Ruby's reply was small and quiet as she bit her wrist, rubbing her own blood on Marko's wounds to speed the healing. David dropped the chair leg he held, shoulders sagging.
"I set us up. I brought us right into their trap. If we all die tonight it's utterly my fault."
"Dude, no." Marko frowned. "You didn't know. And even if Ruby had a vision about it, it's not her fault. Sometimes you can't control the future. She was right not to say anything."
"I could have prevented this!"
"No you couldn't have, David." Ruby shook her head, rising slowly. She held her hands out in front of her, trying to stumble her way towards David. Taking her hand David helped her stand across from him. "They wanted revenge, at any cost. If not here somewhere else."
Cupping her cheek gently David nodded resignedly. "I'm sorry sweetheart."
"We're not dead yet." Marko got to his feet, breaking the legs off the two chairs in his room. He handed two to David, taking two himself and handed the rest to Ruby.
"You're right." David clasped his pack brother's shoulder. "Thank you, Marko."
Together, the three of them dashed out of Marko's room, up the main tunnel and towards the main part of the cave. Ruby brought up the end, able to pick her way through the tunnel by memory.
"Stay behind us in the tunnel." David ordered her with a command through their blood bond. He felt her struggle against it but she stayed put as he and Marko charged into the fray.
There were maybe six Bloods left. Dwayne and Paul had held their own quite well and with the edition of Marko and David the tide seemed to be turning in the favor of the Lost Boys.
