Note: So, the title of the chapter sort of gives away the events of the chapter. Why bother reading? Well, hopefully this /finally/ gives you a good insight of how twisted and demented Courtney is.

Through this first draft of Vengeance, Courtney's intentions, to me, seem unclear and just erratic. Like, unbelievable for the story. I think that when I revise, it'll make much more sense when I integrate my original plans for her character that were lost during the composition of this story. Let me know what you think of her character in this chapter please.

Chapter 27 – Torture

.x. Allison

The air around me was heavy and moist. A foul underground stench of water, earth and death filled my nostrils with every intake of air. I figured that I was somewhere below ground, but where for sure I could only speculate.

But, I knew whom I was with. I was absolutely sure of who had kidnapped me, or was responsible for kidnapping me.

My consciousness returned to me the more I registered what was going on around me. I was in the darkness of unconsciousness, but slow and surely, I was recovering. My head pulsed where I was hit, but there was no pain, how odd; perhaps I'd been drugged. It was hard to be sure of anything... I felt something constrict my breathing, it sounded and felt like the strings of a corset of some sort being tied around my middle. Something else prevented my arms from moving. I opened my eyes instantly as I felt a pair of hands grasping my arms, and another set traveling down my sides. The first thing my vision focused on was a lamp in the far corner of the room I was in; there were no exits save for one closed, rotted door. The damp stone floor and earth walls reminded me of a dungeon cell, I certainly felt like a prisoner trapped in the darkness.

I fidgeted as the hands now came down to my hips, the other pair was still holding my body perpendicular by my arms. I turned my neck as my eyes adjusted more and more to the little light in the room; I saw that there was a man binding my arms and holding me up at the same time. The other set of hands that were roaming my body belonged to a woman with her back bent in labor. She was dressing me, apparently; her hands were fixing ruffles on the skirt of a fantastic dress to be nice and even. The woman's movements seemed very precise and unnatural, and the man who held me had an impossible strength. Vampires? Yes, these two must be a couple of Courtney's minions, I concluded. Wait, I was in a nice and fancy dress? I had not been wearing that when I was kidnapped, that meant...

Oh god. These people had stripped and dressed me. These vampires were dressing me up and making me pretty! For what?

Funnily enough, this was not the first time a vampire's minions had dressed me nicely. Was I some sort of doll, or puppet, that vampires of all sorts wanted to dress me up? No, I thought. Why on earth, or in hell for that matter, would Courtney want me to look nice? I was honestly puzzled.

"Where am I? What are you preparing me for?" I asked them both in Catalan. There was no response of any sort from either of them. In fact, they did not even acknowledge I had said anything. They both were zoned into their own little world, doing their job.

I tried something else to get their attention; I kicked to the right of the woman and messed up a bit of the ruffles in the dress she had just perfected, then I tried to struggle in the man's arms and get free of him. His grip tightened so tightly, I thought my arms were going to break under his strength! I cried out and went very still. The woman paused as this went on, then when I had been defeated, she lifelessly went back to work. There was no eye contact, no expression on their faces. I feared that perhaps they were incapable of expression, that they were lifeless after being changed into vampires by Courtney.

I wasn't sure if I should have felt scared. I think I was too puzzled to let the fear of my situation sink in completely. I wondered things like "How long had I been out? What am I being dressed for? Where is Courtney at and what does she have planned for me?"

Finally, the female vampire who was attending my dress had finished and she stood straight. The male released my arms and I stood on my own two feet; I nearly tripped over myself in sheer shock. My first thought was to run, of course, but the male vampire had strategically placed himself between the only door and I. He seemed to growl as I glanced from him to the door over his shoulder, though I don't think he made any sound at all. The male minion wore worn, tatty clothing that suggested he hadn't cleaned up in weeks, he smelled and looked that way as well. His skin, by the light that I saw, was not very pale. At least, not as pale as I'd seen Taylor and Luke's. His skin color was that of mine, actually. A very tan color, deceiving the fact he was a vampire at all.

Must be because he's young as a vampire, I thought. I recalled Luke telling me that Courtney's blood wasn't very strong. Perhaps because she changed people into vampires as often as she did, they turned into mindless creatures that were probably easier to control. Not actual 'human-like' beings. I wondered how many little pawns she had running around underground, where ever we were. Anyway, I figured that if these two vampires we fresh into darkness, then they were probably once my people. I silently pitied each of them, no matter what they had done or were going to do.

The laboring female vampire had similar appearances to the male, untidy, unclean. She set a tall, bronze outlined mirror before me and held it into place so that I could see what they had done to me.

I stared upon my self in the mirror under the light I was allowed. The reflection was not the same as the day before, and I couldn't say that I wasn't pleased. My face was pale with powder or fear, I didn't know, my eyes were the same deep, sapphire blue they always had been. But my hair, my hair wasn't the same golden color with whispers of red. It was curly and long and nicely pinned up, but the color was a white blonde; a honeysuckle blonde.

I gasped as I stared at the reflection of myself and saw Courtney. So now she truly was my mirror image. As soon as I'd realized this, I was moved from the mirror and forced to kneel on the cold ground by the male vampire. Cold shackles locked around both of my wrists, their old heaviness already began to cut into my skin. My eyes stared at the heels of a woman a moment later; I followed along her dress design, identical to the dress I wore, until I saw her face. I again, saw my reflection.

"Courtney Vengeance." I whispered bitterly.

"So full of hatred, my child." She replied. Her tone was soft and sweet; but she wasn't kind. Behind her sweet face was a kiss of poison and a mind of evil. Her deep blue eyes narrowed as she stared upon me.

"Rise." She commanded easily. The vampires who had dressed me yanked me up by my arms. I was forced to simply stand before the menace since the shackles around my wrists wouldn't allow me to reach her flesh. I had a brief vision of myself clawing her gorgeous blue eyes out of her head. The chain length of the metal bindings allowed me to barely stand, I was pinned to the floor. I glanced around into the eyes of the three vampires around me and I felt very much like the prey. I bit back my fear and let my hatred seep through.

I stood in suspense as all three vampires stared at me. Only Courtney of the three, however, had the vitality to examine me. Her eyes slid over me like water slides over skin. They tantalized, chilled and soaked over my entire form until her sights were satisfied. All the while all I could hear was my heart beating in my ears.

"A wonderful job in retrieving her," Courtney began in a spoiled him. She praised her little pawns as if I were her property. The male bowed his head to her, she acknowledged him and he stood straight and lifeless again. "And an adequate job in her design." She added to the female minion with a little less praiseworthy. The female also bowed.

"Thank you your majesty." They replied in unison. Majesty, I thought. She had brainwashed her pawns into thinking she was their queen! They obeyed her on a whim, without any thought. My people, her subjects? She certainly had an effect over them. She with all her spoiled, corrupted, beastly attributes.

Courtney moved, a very simply movement; she raised her hand to my cheek. I jerked back, but had no room to go anywhere but to the floor. And there was no way in hell I'd fall to my knees for her of my own will. I was forced to let her cold, disgusting fingertips touch the bottom of my chin, slide down to the base of my neck, follow my collarbones around to my shoulders and then, her hands slid through my hair.

I-, no, my body absolutely loved it when someone gently ran their fingers through its hair. It sent a shiver down my spine and my head fell back in a quick ecstasy. My creamy neck was exposed to the demoness by one simple gesture and I cursed my physical body for that reaction to her.

"I used to love it when Lucas did that to me, also." She told me bitter-sweetly in my ear. My eyes widened in flared anger, but they closed in complete surprise a moment later.

I heard the flesh rip open before I felt anything at all; Courtney had dug her sharp, long fangs into the right side of my neck.

I couldn't suppress a moan. I tried to very hard, but the feel of warm blood flowing from my body and cold lips smoothly caressing the skin and that devilish tongue lapping up every drop... I couldn't help the sultry vibrations that came through my mouth from deep within my chest. It was so much like Luke, so much like the time I gave myself to him... I fully moaned when thinking of this.

No, she was a monster, she was a killer, she was a murderer, no, no, no, no!

A groan this time. I wanted to resist, my body wouldn't comply. I was panting from all of the labor of trying to reject her actions. After her cool lips removed from the wound, the sharp pain my senses delayed made me wince. I was still panting.

"Why deny your body the pleasures it deserves, my child?" Courtney cooed. Her delicate tongue cleaned her lips clean of my red blood. "I'll have to ask Luke who tasted better, I or you, when I present myself to him after your death." I pulsed with anger as she spoke. She had total power and control to anything she so pleased right now. Her smooth, small hand slid down the side of my cheek and she lifted my head up by placing a finger under my chin. "I haven't seen what I look like in over two-hundred and fifty years, Allison. Do you know how difficult that is for me?" Her question was rhetorical and she looked upward. "All I care about is what I look like, is it so hard to ask to simply gaze upon myself as I did when I was mortal?" She was speaking to the heavens now, begging them an explanation. "I've never received an answer to my prayers from any god." She shot back to me, cold distaste in her eyes. "But perhaps they have heard me after all... they've sent me you, and you are supposed to look almost exactly as I am... if that's the case then I can see why Luke took such a liking in you." I growled as she said this. She was treading on dangerous grounds...

"But you know, Luke has class, as I'm sure you've seen. He's never taken anybody who was filthy; he likes his women pure in body and blood, a little more up the aristocratic side of the ladder, not some sort of harlot off the streets. So lets test the love and loyalty of dear Lucas, shall we?"

The very vampires who had dressed me came forward. I was confused for a moment, but after the closest vampire took a hold of the corset and ripped it from my body, the motives were very clear. A ravenous look was in the pit of their eyes; they were practically drooling as their fangs pointed out from their open, hissing mouths.

I felt the shackles cut into my wrists as every bit of fine cloth was ripped from me, leaving me exposed; I shouted many colorful things in several different languages, hoping with some little bit of belief that they would stop if I was hateful enough. I couldn't move from my bindings, though. I wanted this to stop, I wanted out! If I could not save myself then I wanted to be rescued, by anyone! Courtney's orders to her minions overpowered anything I wanted, however.

"Do not kill her. If you do, your life will be next." she warned coldly, narrowing her eyes at the two vampires. So she didn't want me to die like this, violated in every sense? Of course; this devil would have more plans of torture before she would finally end my life. Why did I ever think death would come easily here? The two paused, nodded their heads toward her, and then turned back to me with the hunger that only a vampire had.

A hunger for blood, a hunger to take the life that a mere mortal such as I held. Didn't their mother ever teach them not to play with their food?

I could only tremble and whimper as they closed in, ready to ravish the blood underneath the skin. I bit back a scream as they did just that. Each bite was foreshadowed by a hideous hissing, each bite had it's own searing pain; their mouths were nothing like Luke's or Courtney's, so gentle, so erotic. They bore indignant pain and nothing more. Their wounds they created burned and pulsed with my blood; too soon for me to realize what was happening to me, I blacked out.

The last noise I could distinguish from my own screams and hollow breaths was Courtney's metallic, yet musical laughter. Watching me in such agony truly pleasured her, I knew.

I wasn't quite sure when my consciousness returned. I think that I'd awoken awhile ago, but I was too busy denying the horrible reality of the world to notice. My body shivered, and not from the cold. I was remembering how I had gotten where I was, why I smelled blood in the air. My blood.

The air was still thick, and I was probably in the same room where I had first awoken within, but I couldn't prove that for sure because there was no light this time. There was only me and the darkness. The bleak, unknown, dismal darkness. I coughed; an entire series of different pains ran through my body by the sudden movement.

I was pinned crucifixion-style against the wall. What was left of the dress from before was all I had to cover me. I was like this for a very long while.

After awhile, I couldn't even tell what was injured at that point. My entire body felt heavy, then warm and cold, numb and pained in different areas. My neck was stiff from hanging my head for so long, and my arms were numb since they were raised higher than the rest of my body, perpendicular to my length. I tried moving my fingers every few hours, but even that became a fruitless task. I lost track of time, I tried going to sleep to make the time go by faster in my unconsciousness. But when I did manage to close my restless eyes, it was only a short nap where I had dreams about exactly what I saw when I opened my eyes, so I couldn't tell half the time if I were asleep or awake.

The time spent like this wasn't long but it felt like forever. Regular bodily functions like excretion and fatigue didn't bother me too much, so I guess I was only chained to the wall like that for a day, thirty-six hours at the most. At the end of that time frame, someone had entered the damp cell I was imprisoned inside. Their entrance was alerted by the loud creak of the moving hinges on the door.

It wasn't Courtney.

The silhouette of the person that I could make out from the light in the corridor outside of the room suggested the figure was male. Another male entered behind him, this one with a lit torch that hissed into my eyes; I had to close them for a moment before I could adjust. Pale skin almost shimmered in the fire's light underneath the rags that clothed their bodies; short dark hair flew madly from their skulls and it looked dirty and unkempt. Like cold marble his hands felt as the one without the fire undid the binds and my exhausted body collapsed into the stone build of the first man. These two vampires were older than the two who had violated me before, these two were probably not from my country.

The feeling of his skin reminded me of Luke, but at the same time did not. His hands were smaller, his strength was not as controlled as Lucas' and he couldn't decide where to clasp his hands on my body to contain me. His build was not comfortable to be forced against as he shuffled me away, out of the room and down the corridor. His steps were not measured and perfect like an elder vampire's would be; I could tell just by the way they walked that they were fairly new vampires, but human or not they lacked the quality of free will in their eyes. These two were Courtney's dogs, I could tell that.

I might have asked them where they were taking me, but even if I voiced the question they did not answer. I feared perhaps they were not capable of speech.

The corridor was long and dank and the air was so thick to a point it hurt to breath. They led me to another cell, I soon saw. This one was large, with only one exit, the one that would be locked after I was put inside; and in the very far corner of the room there was a small child. He was shivering, shaking, absolutely terrified. I found myself walking willingly closer to him and the two minions shut me inside the new cell.

This boy hugged his legs in the corner, and when he looked up at me, he gasped and buried his head into his sleeves. I said something to him in a soft tone, the softest and gentlest I could make my voice. I knelled next to him but hesitated to touch him until he realized I wasn't a threat. I told him I wasn't going to hurt him, that I was trapped here by the monsters too.

"She took me from my mommy." the boy replied in Catalan and tears welled in his eyes. I tried to quiet him and drew his form into my bosom. He sobbed for a few minutes and clung to me; he couldn't have been more than four years old... He wiped his tears on what was left of the dress, but I didn't mind.

"I'm scared." he told me. "And tired." He was shaking and his tone was heartbreaking.

"You can use my lap as a pillow and I'll watch over you as you rest." I replied as soothingly as I could make my voice. He sniffed and nodded and rest his head on my legs. The poor thing was still shaking uncontrollably and the only way I could calm him was to rub his back until his shaking stopped and even breaths calmed his pounding chest.

I watched this child and the door for a very long time. I recalled what Luke had said, about how cruel Courtney was and how she didn't care for those of the living. What was she trying to accomplish by bringing an innocent and defenseless child here?

I sat still in the room with this child for a long while, again. I thought over everything in the silence; what I was leaving behind, who would miss me, what they would do without me, what I wished I could have done with my future if I had one beyond this point... Death was natural, was it not? Death's clammy hands claimed every mortal soul, one way or another. I told myself this, but what I did know was that I did not want to die this way. I did not want to die in the hands of a monster, the woman I hated like I'd hated no other.

But there was another soul with me now other than just my own. I felt the child's slow breathing and took a deep breath of the stale dungeon air as my thoughts shifted.

What I also knew was that if I was destined to not make it out of here alive, I didn't want this child's life to end before it was time. He was so young, with lesser years than I had on my hands right now. If one of the two of us had to die, I would rather it'd be me than this child. It didn't matter that I held a more valued position in society than he, it didn't matter he was simply a common child and I the queen; if he died, it wouldn't be as big of a deal than if my life was taken, but that didn't matter either. My fingers softly stroked the boy's back in comfort and he shifted his head on my legs. The smallest sound escaped him and I knew he felt safe in his dreaming. Perhaps it was my strong desire to protect my people, or maybe it was a woman's duty to be a mother and protect any and every child.

I thought of Lucy and the baby that was forming within her womb. What if she had been in my place right now? Assuming she was safe, back at the palace. If Lucy was here, suffering as I was suffering and death took her as I figured it would me, I wasn't sure if I would ever forgive myself. If that had been the case, it would have been two friends I let the she-demon take from me, and their innocent child.

I silently vowed in the darkness I would protect this innocents life with my own.

I managed to nod off while holding the little boy, but I jumped awake as soon as I heard the violent creaking of the door opening after being unlocked. The same two vampires from before quickly entered, one with a torch in his hand. The little boy had awoken as well and panicked as the freer one grabbed the two of us and yanked us up and out of the cell. I gripped the small child and he clung to me as well as we walked. In these fearful and desperate times, each other was all we had.

The two vampires pushed and shoved us down another very long corridor. I began to realize as we went exactly where we were underground. These passages and tunnels were the old escape routes out of the palace back when it was a castle. If the royal family was ever attacked, there was a clear passage underground that led to the safety of the mountains. Back in WWII, however, several prisoner cells were added when the underground passages were turned into a location for military interrogation and enemy-keeping. I'd never been in these tunnels before because they had long been abandoned since then because they were considered unstable and useless. The tunnels were a perfect place for Courtney to hide, however. It was probably how she was able to get unto the palace grounds and so close to me in the palace walls without being detected earlier.

Our group reached its destination as the boy and I entered into a room with a taller ceiling than all of the others. Lamps were placed so that the entire room was lit. Even though it had stone floors and earth walls that smelled of death, paintings were set on the walls, carpets set over the stone, a few decorative sofas and tables were placed over the carpet here and there. The room looked like a nice, underground bedroom for royalty, and on the other side of the room lounging carelessly and extravagantly on one of the couches was my mirror image. Her deep blue eyes that told her true character of evil were hidden behind the gorgeous honeysuckle curls as she looked down at the female vampire I'd seen before. The underling was bent over, gracing Courtney with a foot massage.

"That's enough." Courtney commanded. Her blue eyes narrowed with cruelty and ungratefulness until the woman bowed and retreated to another part of the room to tend to something else. The royal vampiress stood, acting as queen of her own domain. There was a lovely jaguar fur draped over her smooth shoulders that drug on the floor as she walked closer to the child and I. I felt the child step closer and cling to my leg. I tightened my grip on him, but not enough to harm him, just enough to give him a sense of security.

I expected her to say something. Perhaps explain why her minions had brought the boy and I here.

She simply stared upon me, without expression. She looked over the boy, and how I was protecting him physically. Then, she smirked with a despicable glint in her eye and snapped her fingers. The two minion vampires behind me grabbed both me and the boy and then attempted to pull us apart.

"No!"

I instantly understood why Courtney had taken the child and given me the same cell as he. She wanted me to take pity on him, to become attached to the boy to a point that I would feel a deep remorse and strong hurt when she killed him right before me! I held unto the boy and fought off the vampires as best as I could, but it was useless. I was powerless to stop their fingers from peeling my grasp off of the child and keep them from giving his shaking, fearful form to Courtney. I was shouting, he was crying; Courtney laughing. The two vampires who had taken the boy from me held me by the arms and all I could do was watch his execution.

Her beautiful but wicked smile turned to a vicious snarl as she opened her mouth and pointed her fangs right over the boy's neck. Mercilessly she ripped into him, taking no pity on him as I did, not giving him a chance to live as I wanted to. The child's cries turned to a gargling choking as I knew blood had began to fill him from the inside as well as being drawn by the vampiress. Soon his delicate body had gone limp and he made no noise whatsoever.

"NO!" I screamed, over and over again. I shouted many things. "I'll kill you, I'll destroy you!" and maybe "You monster, demon with no soul!" Many incoherent things that were not with my usual speech and beliefs. My voice began to break and go hoarse and then I began to cry. I was so weak, so useless to that helpless little boy. My strength could not overcome the two who held my arms, but I fought to a point I felt as if my limbs would rip from their sockets. The child had paled to death, by that time. I hung my head in defeat and the two minions released me and I sunk to the ground and buried my head into my arms and sulked for several minutes.

"The queen should have a little more dignity." I heard Courtney say.

My tears stopped then, and I raised my head and lifted my body from the ground. I still had strength enough to do that much. I glanced at the body of that innocent boy, whom Courtney had discarded on the ground, and I felt a sadness in my heart that was stabbed with a hot iron of hate for Courtney. Fire was in my eyes as I glared upon her.

"Let me bury the child." I told her in a quiet, but harsh tone. I couldn't let the innocents corpse rot here with her. I had to give him a proper burial, if it was the last thing I would do. I knew we were underneath the cemetery; the reason no one had discovered Courtney and her minions in these old and forgotten underground rooms.

"After dinner time." She replied venomously. She snapped both of her fingers and narrowed her eyes to something behind me. I turned around to meet both of her minion's fangs, and before I had a second to scream, those fangs pierced each side of my neck with an unmistakable fervor that was blood lust. I brought my arms up to fight but they each grabbed a limb and forced me to the ground. Stop, I thought, I pleaded, I screamed it as loud as I could. They stole the blood and when I thought they had finished, they simply jabbed their fangs into another part of my flesh. It was not the orgasmic feeling Luke was able to produce when I offered myself to him; this was pain and obliteration and nothing more.

This went on until I felt I was falling into a deep sleep I couldn't fight to stay awake from, even as I felt the pain. "Stop." I heard the vampiress say. On her command the lips of the two vampires had removed and I had fallen motionless on the ground, the only sign of life still in me was my chest, heaving up and down and my pounding heart, causing blood to drizzle from the fresh wounds.

"I have to feed my pets, you understand." she told me with a certain smug, vileness. "When she's able to stand again, let her take the child's body to the cemetery, to the hole I had you dig for her. Then next to it, dig a new one and when she's finished with her task, bury her in the coffin you retrieved, very much alive." Courtney ordered them.

"Yes your majesty." They said in unison and bent their bodies to a bow.

To be buried alive... That was a terrifying experience I could only have nightmares about and still not know the horror. My thoughts swirled over what had happened and what would happen...

.x. Lucas

The night was cold, wet, dreary. How improbable, because the chances of it ever storming this hard in a country surrounded by a natural barrier such as mountains, and of course on the one night when a clear sky with a bright moon would do nothing but aid me. The weather turned the rocky terrain of this slope into mud under my feet, no matter how quick they were moving over the earth. The water poured merciless and restlessly, the wind howled like a thousand wolves and seemed to always flow against me, but not even the biggest storm would stop me in my search for her tonight.

I looked behind every door in the city, within the deepest parts of the woods, and inside every crevice cut into the mountain-side near the site of the kidnapping.

Courtney, or even Courtney's minions, couldn't have gotten far. I had only been gone a little while, after all, an hour tops... Halling was supposed to be watching her, Halling let this happen!

I had looked everywhere. Literally everywhere, twice. And since it was raining, I couldn't pick up a blasted scent to give me a lead, a hint...anything! I had nothing else to do to vent this frustration, this uselessness; I guess a good ass-kicking on Halling's part would satisfy the need to vent before I did something rash like burn the entire city to cinders to draw Courtney out. Wait, where was Halling? Surely he had to be doing something in aiding the search for Allison; this was his fault, after all. I would never forgive him if anything were to happen to her, if I were too late...

No! Don't think like that, I snapped at myself. Halling, wherever he was; maybe he had a lead or a hint to where Courtney might be holding Allison hostage...

I traveled down the mountainside, on the east side of the castle, to the little cottage where Halling instructed Julie to stay in order not to draw suspicions to herself. If she were there, she would know where he was.

When I arrived, I found candlelight in the window. Somebody was home.

Anger overwhelmed me, beyond fury and hate, when I opened the door to the cottage and saw Taylor giving Julie a sweet kiss to the neck. Not because of their romance, but because of his lack of concern for the situation he caused. He was supposed to be helping me look for Allison. He was the one who failed in his duty and allowed her to be kidnapped in the first place! Yet, he was here, sucking neck with his mate. Words could not express the rage I wanted to release on him now.

Julie's emerald eyes found my form just in the knick of time; she moved out of my way just an instant before I was going to grab her and throw her across the room. This left all of my attention for Taylor.

"HOW DARE YOU LEAVE HER ALONE." I shouted. My clenched fist found his side. The force I exerted slammed him against the desk to his left and his head hit the corner. Blood spilled from his temple. Julie gasped in the background; I let out a warning growl when she dared to move an inch.

"No, go now!" Taylor commanded her, throwing his arm toward the door while he staggered to get up again. This time the coal eyes were ready and full of a mocking fire. This was a man's fight, from duty versus personal achievements.

I heard Julie do as she was told and the door I had nearly knocked down on my way in was closed behind her.

I bared my teeth and watched Halling's thick, black eyes stare into me. The immortal blood leaking from his temple highlighted my eyes to burgundy; I stared him down until he took a step back. Halling knew I was stronger than him, he knew what I was capable of doing to him. The only reason for him to be so calm and not fleeing with his life right now was because Allison was still alive...

Or that was just my mind over-thinking the situation. Her blood could be raining from the sky somewhere and I wouldn't have known it because only water filled my nostrils when I inhaled.

"You know what Courtney is capable of, you knew Allison would have been taken!" I snapped. My blood was boiling with fire, my fingers were ready to tear him apart. How dare he, how dare he... "You left her on her own on purpose, didn't you?! DIDN'T YOU!"

No response. He cracked his neck and the bleeding from his head stopped; healed. His nonchalant attitude infuriated me further! It made me want to make him bleed even more. Without taking eyes from each other, I darted forward. He attempted to maneuver under my left side; I brought my foot up into his gut, grabbed his overcoat and flung his body against the fireplace. Burning bright with logs and hissing with live cinders, his white body made them explode when he met them. I relished in his cry as the flames licked his hands and cheeks, embracing him as a lover would. But the flames were a poison to vampires, almost equal to the pain given by the suns rays. I found sick satisfaction in watching him jump around, strip off his coat and beat himself with it in an attempt to douse the fire sticking to his skin like bees to honey. I waited until he succeeded and the burn marks were mostly gone before I continued my beating.

"Was this part of whatever sick plan you have for her and I? Did you leave her unprotected on purpose so that Courtney V would take her, kill her, and then I would channel this anger into her destruction, like you've wanted me to do since the first moment you knew I was linked to her? Is that what your sick mind has been concocting all this time!"

He was not silent this time. The dark haired vampire stood straight and met my burning gaze. "I will not lie; that is a variation I saw possible." If he had nothing else to say, I would have ripped him apart then and there. "Such strong emotion being driven into this conversation only proves me right."

As soon as he said this, he moved out of my range. He knew that would have snapped a vessel in me; I wanted to tear his mocking tone from his throat! He appeared behind me, but I had anticipated his action and spun on heel and reached directly behind me. My finger tips found his neck and I squeezed that place so he would not move again. I took pleasure in seeing his face ready to contort with the pain I could give him.

"But no," he continued in a strained breath, "getting Allison killed was not part of the plan in the beginning... Allison is a rather pleasant and strong, even beautiful soul and I would regret being the indirect cause of her death." His words faded for a moment as he traveled into thought. He quickly snapped back unto the subject as I shifted my claws into his skin. "But if Courtney's destruction is the end result, so be it. You're the type who would avenge a lost lover, are you not?" He cocked a dark brow.

"I am." I snarled at him, my claws on my other hand giving into his chest now, over his heart. It almost delighted me to see his face twist in discomfort, my claws dug deeper and he writhed in pain against my grip. I contemplated ripping open his rib cage and claiming the cold, un-beating prize that rested within. I frowned and decided against it.

I released his chest and delivered a sharp punch to his left cheek. I heard the crack of the bone and he fell to the floor more than easily with the amount of force I put into that. I loomed over him darkly for several seconds; until his cheek bones healed with a few cricks, and he stumbled to stand and face me again. A sick grin was on his face which exposed his smaller white fangs; black hair messily hung over his eyes as he held his chin and clutched the desk beside him for balance.

"How about instead of beating me to a pulp, you go and look for her again!" he shouted. The black eyes flared with a formidable amount of competition now.

I was about to throw one more, anger-adrenaline-guilty fueled punch at his pompous white face when lightening struck outside and lit up a movement on the other side of the room. For just a moment my eyes flickered up to the distraction; the door had opened, and in the arms of Julie was a mud-coated, bleeding, drained, wet, exhausted, bruised, crying and broken woman.

Allison.

I abandoned my scrap with Halling and took Allison from the vampiress' arms before another droplet of rain could hit the ground outside. Her delicate heart was beating, thank God, but it was weak. A small sigh coated with discomfort and pain fell from her parted lips as I cradled her body close to mine. A tear ran down her cheek and cleared away the grime that had collected there. Wounds were on her arms, legs, bare chest, neck...

I darted away into the storm, toward the city, before the anger and remorse had time to soak in and I did something very, very rash. Something that Taylor and the Grand Council would kill me for; like destroy the entire kingdom in search of Courtney, expose myself in the process.

But right now, I needed to get Allison to the hospital. My number one priority was getting her into the hands of someone who would save her and give her a chance to recover... get her away from me since the blood was so enticing- no! Think of her, only her well being!

.x. Allison

Thunder crashed somewhere in the distance; Luke was moving so fast through the rain, I cradled in his arms, that I didn't feel the cold rain hitting my skin. How ever did I manage to escape? I recalled Courtney's minions taking me to the graveyard to allow me to bury the child and then bury me alive; after I had buried the child, I used the shovel to hit one of them, then ran when the attempt to knock out the vampire failed and I screamed bloody murder. I remembered a woman with orange hair showing up in just the right moment to rescue me. I realized the woman was Julie, and she had arrived to save me right after the minions had caught up with me, beaten me into ground and had began to tear into my flesh... Recalling the event was horrific enough to bring me to tears.

I was safe now, I knew. I knew the touch that was around me. I knew the security I felt in this touch. Everything was going to be okay, I knew, because of this touch alone. I wanted to look up to my protector, at his beautiful face, but the sting of the cold in my eyes prevented me from doing this.

I knew when he was with anyone else, he was the most terrifying kind of hunter imaginable. But when he was with me; when he locked his eyes with mine and he touched his cold finger tips to my warm skin, he was...

Just thinking about the word I wanted to use made me want to swell up and cry. Human.

I realized, finally, after all we had been through and faced; I realized that I truly loved a vampire. I loved him so much I wanted to die; and quite frankly, that's what it would take for us to be together.

"Is it okay if I want to give you the world on a golden plate?"

"I've always wanted you. It was hard not to just take you in the first moment I realized who you really were."

"I wanted her as a companion and I knew I couldn't have her if she were human."

He paused when my body racked with tears. The rain seemed to fall harder as I choked back uneven sobs.

"Don't cry, please, we're almost to the hospital." He begged of me, before resuming the impossible vampire speed again.

"No, it's not that..." I choked out, tasting salty tears and rain water with the dirt on my face mixed with blood. "Luke, I-"

"Don't you dare start saying your goodbyes, Allison." He shot at me inspirationally. "You can tell me after you've been cleaned up and you've recovered." He added more tenderly. I sobbed when the words I wanted to say were taken back into my lungs as I choked on tears and blood. "Please, hold on for me."

Entering the hospital and being rushed away into immediate care was all a blur of white lights and urgent voices. I don't believe Luke ever left my side within that blur.