Hope you all are enjoying so far! And I don't know if you're interested, but I do have actors picked out for all my vampires, if you were interested to know who I see playing these parts! Enjoy!

Code Green

Chapter Four: Just Submit

The girls slept in until half an hour before work the next morning, and then each went her separate way and got ready for the day. They met up again at the hotel, and then stayed together until lunch break.

At lunch, to Sapphire's surprise, Whisper found her and requested a chance to talk to her. He then took her by the arm, once they were out of the hotel, and rather eagerly pulled her down several streets.

"What are you up to?" she asked as he dragged her along.

"I just want you to see something," Whisper grinned, and then brought her to a stop in front of a quaint townhouse. "Come on."

He took her hand and then walked right up to one of the houses and opened the front door.

"Wait a minute! We aren't busting in to somebody's house!" Sapphire exclaimed.

"Yes we are. It's my house," Whisper said proudly.

"Your house? Whisper, you bought a house?"

"For me…and Serena."

Sapphire's mouth dropped, and a large smile began to form on her face. She threw her arms around Whisper, startling him, and then began to walk with the house, him asking her questions in every room.

"What do you think?"

"Do you think Serena will like it?"

"What should I do differently in here?"

"Is the tile floor good?"

Sapphire couldn't speak until the whole house had been toured. It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful, and she knew Serena would love it. Tears formed in Sapphire's eyes, and Whisper turned her towards him with concern.

"What is it?" He asked.

"You're too sweet, you know," Sapphire said, holding back her tears. "All this, for Serena. You're perfect for her."

"I'm completely imperfect, but I love her."

"And everyone can see that. She'll love this place, Whisper. Every bit about it, she'll love."

"Thanks. I just wanted you to check it out first. I already bought, but I'm not ready to ask her the question yet."

"She'll say yes," Sapphire smiled. "Now I need to get back to work."

"Sure thing."

Work passed extremely slowly for Sapphire, who was terribly worried for her brother. She still hadn't heard from Jet, and it terrorized her. She was scared to death that he was killed. She nearly jumped at Adrian several times that day, when she saw him walking past, wanting to threaten him into telling her what was happening with Jet, for the vampires had a system of sorts that let them know everything that was going on, especially with the werewolves. She restrained herself, however, and instead got back to her apartment as quickly as she could after work, leaving Serena in Whisper's company.

To her utmost joy, there was a message on the answering machine. She pressed it hard, nearly breaking the button, and then listened as her brother's voice spoke.

"Sapphire, I'm sorry about last night. I was talking to you in my apartment when I was attacked. I had to run, and escaped to Quebec, Canada. Valiris attacked me. Not one of his men, but Valiris himself. He was looking for you, and I'm afraid that he found where you are, from stuff in my apartment. Sapphire, I'm afraid he's headed your way. Please, please call for us if you need us. Love you."

Sapphire slunk to the floor, her hands to her head.

Valiris was on his way to Orlando. She didn't have anyone here to help her, and she wasn't going to call for help. She was the leader of her pack, and as such, she had to protect everyone. It was only right that she should face Val alone, if indeed he was coming.

But brave as those thoughts were, there could be no denying that Sapphire was scared for her life. This was the man that had killed off her family. This was the leader of the vampires, or at least, the one that was a threat. She could distinctly remember him, his multi-colored eyes, his golden hair, and his cruel, cruel smile.

Sapphire remained in her hotel, but as day passed and night arrived, she became terrorized to the point of despair. She was scared, more afraid than she had been in her entire life, and in a panic, she dressed herself in her usual werewolf attire, a white tank top with a dark brown leather jacket thrown over it, fitting her form nicely. She wore a pair of brown leather pants, extremely comfortable and flexible, and a pair of knee high brown leather boots with straps on the outside, perfect for carrying a dagger. Her long hair was left down and wild, and with a surge of adrenaline and fear, Sapphire left her apartment and began to run.

She didn't care what awaited her at the beach. She had to face it and overcome this terror. A fight with Valiris was inevitable, and she needed to be the one to destroy him and protect her family.

The woman ran with frightful speed, leaping over any obstacles in her way and finally reaching the beach. She flung herself to the water, but fell short and landed on her knees in the sand. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she put her hands to her face, crying as she considered all that had happened and what was meant to occur.

Every nightmare she had involved Valiris. His hand, or the hands of his men had caused every scream that echoed in her mind. And he was after her. There was, according to history, no way of escape.

The woman's quiet sniffs turned into sobs, and she curled up in the sand, her knees tight against her stomach, her fists curled up in weak defiance to what just had to happen. She heard the waves rushing against the shore, but instead of being comforting, the sound hurt. It sounded like roaring, like the cries of battle, and Sapphire tried to drown it by throwing her hands to her ears. Her whole body was in pain from worry and sheer terror of what was going to happen.

Quite suddenly, the pain stopped, and Sapphire's crying slowed when she felt something comforting come over her. She tried to locate what was causing it, and found, to her shock, that someone's arms were around her. Her senses were impaired by her grief, and so she sat up slowly and turned her head to see whom it was that held her.

She cried out when she saw Adrian's eyes terribly close to hers, when she felt his breath rush across her face, and she struggled to get up, but he wouldn't let her.

"Let me go!" she cried, fighting with him and getting nowhere.

"Why the sudden panic?" he smirked, holding her even tighter. "You were just fine a minute ago."
"I didn't know it was you! Now release me!"

"Tell me, first, why you were sobbing."

"You should know!" she shouted, jabbing her finger into his chest. "You seem to know everything!"

He tsked, putting his finger to her lips.

"Not everything. Of course, you could share with me…"

"I'm warning you, Adrian. I've been kind up until now," Sapphire began, but her voice caught in her throat when he let his hands slide down her arms and then let one of them run against her left side.

"Tell me what it is that's bothering you," he breathed deeply, his voice almost hypnotic.

"Get your hands off me!" Sapphire squealed, finding that both her wrists were held tightly in one of his hands. "You're hideous!"

"I want to know the truth," he whispered against her ear. "Just tell me the truth…"

"And you might just get yourself that kill you want, or is it a slave?"

"A slave? Now when did I ever say anything about…"

"You don't release me, and you may just get what you want," Sapphire hissed, her eyes glowing eerily. "Remove your arms from my body, Adrian."

He chuckled and shook his head.

"Not this time."

Sapphire growled as he again moved his mouth to her neck, kissing her once before he moved to bite her. He closed his eyes, savoring her smell, savoring the moment, thinking of what her blood would taste like, and then slowly let his fangs sink into… a massive amount of fur.

He choked on the fur and fell back, sputtering madly and trying to get the hair out of his mouth. He didn't have much of a chance to recover. A white mass of wolf was suddenly on top of him, pinning him to the sand, fangs bared and green eyes glowing menacingly.

"Well, if it isn't the wolf," Adrian smiled, and then brought his hand up to grab the scruff of the wolf's neck.

Sapphire was fast, and she flipped off him, landing easily in the sand. She crouched low, the hair on the back of her neck bristling angrily, every fang visible in the moonlight.

"What is all this about, hmm?" Adrian sneered, standing up and stepping towards her, arms outstretched. "My wanting your imprisonment, or Valiris coming to try and take you before I can? I assure you, I will claim you as my own first."

She let out an angry snarl and then flung herself at his throat. He brought his fist hard against her throat as she flew at him, knocking her to the side. She caught his hand in her mouth, and held hard, trying to pull him down with her weight. He used her hold on his hand to his advantage, and brought his free hand across her head. She let out a whimper and then fell to the sand, but then sprang at him again, this time grabbing his shirt collar.

He snarled, baring his teeth, as she began to drag him towards the water, and then lunged at her, grabbing her hard by the throat. She yelped when he nearly knocked her senseless, choking off her airflow, and then whined when he picked her up by her neck. She began running in the air, her paws pushing hard against his chest, pounding against his skin and knocking the air out of him. His hold loosened, and she dropped to the ground. Quickly, she raced behind him and then jumped up onto his back, sending him face first into the water.

He reached back to grab hold of her fur, but she grabbed his sleeve and dragged him into the ocean.

Then began a rather vicious fight. Adrian was powerful in the water, but not powerful enough to match the strength of the werewolf. He began to fight like a wild animal, throwing away all sense, using his claws and teeth like a regular beast. Many times he drew blood from the pure white coat that swam about him, but Sapphire certainly had the advantage. She used her immense weight, as a werewolf, to pull him beneath the surface, and then made it her duty to hold him there.

She had no desire to kill him. Whisper was her friend, and Whisper would be mortified if he found his cousin dead the next morning. Sapphire never had wanted to kill anyone, though she had come terribly close with the death of her family. Now she was just struggling to get a chance to breathe.

Several minutes passed of punching and biting, before Adrian stopped moving. Sapphire used her teeth to grab him by the back of his neck and pull him to shore. She drew a small amount of blood, but she didn't even think about it as she pulled the vampire up onto the beach. She turned back into her human form, now fully soaked through and breathless, and then flipped Adrian over so she could see his face.

He wasn't breathing.

She panicked, moving aside his tattered shirt and putting her ear to his chest. She didn't hear anything, and her breathing quickened. She couldn't have killed him! She only had him under long enough to knock him out! What…?

A hand suddenly grabbed the back of her neck, and with a cry, she was pulled down, hard, falling onto Adrian. She screamed in rage as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, shoving his mouth against her neck.

"Vampires don't have heartbeats," he smirked against her skin.

"Of course not! You're ruthless! You don't have hearts!" she cried, trying to push herself off, but he wouldn't let her. In a rage, she brought her nails to his neck and dragged them down his skin.

He hissed between his teeth and flipped her over, still clutching her to him, and she continued their fight, though in human form and at a distinct disadvantage.

He wasn't trying anything except to sink his fangs into her neck. He struggled, opening his mouth and surging towards her throat, but with every attempt, he either ended up with her hair in his mouth, or, even worse for her, drawing blood from her ear.

Blood trickled down her cheek as she kept flipping over, hoping that, the more times they rolled, the less chance he would get to bite her. She could just keep them moving, perhaps long enough to loosen his hold and escape.

Images of Jet being chased by Valiris plagued Sapphire's mind as she fought, somewhat hindering her defense. She started crying when Adrian's teeth kept connecting with her ear. She could feel blood matting against her hair and face, dripping from her left ear. She wouldn't give up, though.

Around and around they went, flipping across the sand, rolling down towards the water. Sapphire struggled to turn back into her wolf form, but she was becoming too weak. The vampire's quick movements and his sheer strength were tiring her. She was only a woman now, with great fighting skills, but she was much lighter than he was, and didn't have quite the muscles he did.

There was one thing, she suddenly thought, that she could do.

Quickly, while flipping over again, this time to land beneath him, she let her right hand slip down to her boot where she had kept one of her daggers. It was hidden in the straps, and she grabbed hold of the hilt. She let out a cry when Adrian's hand found hers, slipping along her arm to get there, and then wrapped her hand around her dagger and drew it for her.

"No!" she screamed as he brought her hand towards her own throat and held the dagger there.

"Stop," he snarled, eyes glowing in the darkness, full of fury and hunger. "You are already a slave, so give in."

"I am not a slave!" she shouted, baring her teeth as she struggled to keep his and her hands away from her neck.

"You are enslaved to your fears. There is no greater enslavement than that," he hissed, bringing the blade against her throat. "Now stop, before I have to kill you."

Quite violently, she felt her body quivering. Her muscles were exhausted, and she was tired. She couldn't fight anymore, and so she let her body go still. She gazed into his eyes, above the dagger blade, her eyes shining with terror, his with dominance and blood lust.

She opened her mouth to say something, anything, and felt blood trickle onto her lips, her own blood, streaming across from her ear.

He snarled and moved his mouth to her face, the dagger held precariously against her skin, trapping her one hand from doing anything. Her breath caught in her throat, her breathing coming as great gusts of air through her mouth, as his lips traced a trail from her top lip to the cuts themselves, on her ear. His mouth tasted her blood, and he closed his eyes in bliss, drinking up every drop that dripped from her bloody ear.

He spent some time there, at the tip of her ear, cleaning her wound and letting it dry beneath his touch. The whole time, she trembled, scared out of her mind. In the midst of that terror, she was trying desperately to come up with some way to get him away, to stop him.

She found, as he touched her, that her eyes began to drift closed. Even in such terror, in such cold panic, there was something about being held, about being tight in someone's arms, which made her drowsy and nearly put her to sleep. After all the horrifying experiences of the past few days, her tired mind just couldn't bear much more.

Adrian smiled against her ear, as he felt her sink down more in the sand, and used his free hand to stroke her cheek as her head tilted back, fully exposing her neck to him. The wind whispered across her lips, soothing her further, and he moved his hand away from her throat, taking her hand with it so that the dagger was no longer pressed against her.

She was almost asleep. It amazed him that she could have fought so hard and was terrorized, and yet now, she was sedate and calm. He recalled how the werewolves were family creatures, needing each other, the warmth and security of being with someone else. Sapphire had been a loner for years. For an excruciatingly painful amount of time, she had been a straggler, alone.

And he understood how she felt.

He eased himself off her, giving her a little more breathing room, and then laced his fingers through her damp hair as he lowered his lips to her neck. He breathed in her scent, that gorgeous Freesia fragrance, and then kissed her skin, nearly ivory in the moonlight. He felt her blood flow beneath his mouth, and his pupils dilated at the scent. That delicious, overwhelming, heavenly scent of power…

"Vampire," Sapphire whispered, stirring slightly and opening her eyes to gaze into his. "You try to bite, and I will kill you."

"Feigning sleep, are you?"

"I'm tired. I'm tired of running," she murmured, "but I won't let you hurt me or claim me."

"I truly am frightened. Merciful heavens, spare me," he sneered.

Faster than he could have expected, she wrenched the dagger out of his hands, leaped to her feet, and then brought the dagger across his cheek. Blood immediately began to seep from his cut, and he screamed in fury. He lunged at her, reaching for her neck, but she dodged low and then turned back, once again, into her wolf form.

Whisper stepped out of the car and then walked over to Serena's door and opened it for her. Their dinner had been perfectly wonderful, and he had decided to take her to the beach for a stroll, as the weather was perfect and he thought it would be a quiet place.

And all was quiet, until they actually stepped onto the sand…

"What is going on?" Serena gasped, grabbing his arm when the sound of roaring and hissing reached their ears.

"Sounds like a fight," Whisper said, taking her shoulder and turning her back towards the car.

"No! Wait! Someone might need help!"

"Not our help," Whisper said firmly.

"Is that a…dog? My goodness, Whisper! That man's getting mauled!"

"And we don't want to get involved in that," Whisper said more seriously, trying to get her back to the car.

"Should we call for help?"

Whisper stopped walking and listened carefully, his keen ears picking up on the sound of a severe struggle in the sand. Pained howling suddenly pierced the air, and he grabbed Serena's hand and started running back towards the car.

"Yes! Call help!" he ordered, and her cell phone was out of her pocket before they jumped back into the safety of Whisper's vehicle.

Serena called for help and then closed her phone and looked over worriedly at Whisper.

"What do you think is going on over there?"

"Sounds like what you said. A guy's getting mauled by a dog." "Or maybe the dog's the one getting mauled."

"That's really creepy," Serena shuddered.

"Hey, we're in the car, and the police are on their way," Whisper said soothingly, pulling her close to him. "We'll be fine."

"But what about the man?"

Really, at that moment, there should have been more concern for the dog.

Sapphire wanted to stop fighting. Her only goal now was to escape and run. But every time she turned, Adrian was there, countering her, blocking her escape. Never in her life had she been in such a difficult situation. She let her mind go, and fought as a completely wild animal, trying to match the way he was fighting. But the vampires truly were the stronger of the two creatures, and try as she might, she could not escape.

Adrian managed to hit her hard against the head, physically throwing her to the side and making her howl in pain. She scrambled to get back to her feet, but he was fast, terribly so, and he wouldn't let her up. He grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and held her down, pinned to the sand, unable to move at all. He raised his fist to punch her, hoping to scare her into turning back into a human, but the sudden wail of sirens and flashes of light made his hand freeze in the air.

He let go of the wolf and then raced away, too fast for anyone to see.

Sapphire struggled to her feet, swaying on her legs once she got up, and then blinked several times when she saw the police headed towards her. Their flashlights beamed painfully into her eyes, making her eyes look fully yellow in the lighting. She started running, to get out of the light, and raced towards the parking lot.

Whisper and Serena, still safe and sound in the car, gasped when they saw the enormous white dog headed their way.

"She's going to jump the car!" Serena gasped.

"No she's not! She can't! How would she?" Whisper added.

"Whisper!" Serena shrieked.

"Oh my goodness!"

The huge dog bounded onto the front hood of the car and then soared right over the roof, landing on the other side. Both occupants of the vehicle turned to watch the wolf galloping off, full speed and out of sight.

"That was a wolf," Serena said firmly when the dog was gone.

"No kidding," Whisper breathed.

"Did you see her ear?" Serena asked, sitting back and taking a deep breath of air.

"What about it?"

"It looked like it was nearly shredded, and she was matted with blood. Now, if she had been attacking the person…would she have been such a mess?"

"One of the mysteries of the world, Serena," Whisper sighed, starting the car and turning to look at her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Serena nodded. "I just have this funny feeling…"

"What?" Whisper asked, concerned.

"What if that wolf was going one hundred two miles-per-hour?"