The Vengeance of the Vulture
-Chapter Two-
Waking with a start, Rashel inhaled deeply. She looked around the dark bedroom, breathing rapidly.
A shift underneath the covers made her jump, and take a sharp intake of breath.
"What's with all the gasping? You okay, Rashel?" A sleepy voice entered her ears.
Quinn. She was so jumpy tonight… what was going on? Rashel couldn't turn into a pansy! She was a fierce and almighty reformed vampire hunter! Okay, the almighty might have been an exaggeration, but when no one could hear her thinking, what was the point?
Rashel heard Quinn chuckle. Damn, she thought, he can read minds.
Quinn laughed once more, and Rashel felt his arms close in around her.
"Again, are you okay?" he asked softly, kissing her temple.
"I'm fine," she replied. "Just…restless, I guess."
"Well, we're on duty in ten, so nice timing," he said.
Rashel groaned inwardly. She'd forgotten they signed up to guard the mansion at night. With several Wild Powers around, you couldn't be too careful.
I can still hear you, you know. This time, Quinn's voice was in her head.
Rashel smirked. Sorry, she thought, I just hate it when I forget things like this.
I know, Quinn told her. We should really get ready, though.
"Yeah," Rashel sighed, and got up.
Thierry Descouedres had been kind enough to allow the two of them to make a home of his mansion, along with all other soulmate couples they came across. Rashel and Quinn were both experienced fighters, so they had both agreed to protect those that were valuable to Circle Daybreak, an organization for uniting the Night World and humans.
So far, they had acquired the trust of three Wild Powers: Jezebel (Jez) Redfern, a half-vampire, half-human, Delos Redfern, a prince of an underground Night World kingdom, and Iliana Harman, a pure and sweet witch. If Circle Daybreak lost even one of them, the outcome would be disastrous- a world lost to the evil citizens of the Night World.
Clothed entirely in black a few short minutes later, Rashel walked with Quinn towards the mansion's entrance. It was two hours to dawn, when all watches stopped until dusk.
"I'll go to the north end…James should be there," Quinn told her.
"I guess that means I'll take south…where Poppy should be," Rashel replied.
Quinn nodded once before he leaned in, pressing his bottom lip atop of hers in a quick, but sweet, manner.
"Please keep safe," Quinn murmured, never moving his lips from hers.
This was her turn to nod, and she remained there seconds more before smiling a small smile and pushing him away playfully. He returned hers with protective, warm eyes before turning around and heading to the other side of the mansion.
Rashel walked south, ambling and taking her time. She felt like she needed to think, but was unsure of why. The cold air was crisp against her cheeks, and she was glad she'd worn her old vampire hunting scarf.
After a few minutes, she felt the odd sensation of someone watching her.
That can't be, she thought immediately. Thierry had tons of powerful wards and spells on the property…no random person can walk through anymore. Not when the Wild Powers are here.
Rashel shook it off, and finally arrived in the back rose gardens. Poppy sat there, perched on the edge of the gazebo, book in hand. She marked her place and stood up when Rashel spoke. "Good book?"
"I suppose. Rereading it…not as enthralled as the first time," Poppy replied. Her voice held a tired edge…and Rashel could relate. Poppy and James had been given the longest guard tonight. When Rashel and Quinn had taken the four hour shift, she had nearly collapsed on the walk back to the mansion.
At least Poppy hadn't had to move around…with her sensitive vampire hearing, she could sit, read, and relax. The slightest sound around a span of several miles would immediately be heard, and she would be at the source of the noise in minutes. Because Rashel wasn't a vampire, she had to walk around to patrol.
"It actually still surprises me that Quinn allowed you to help guard," Poppy said. "He looked concerned when you offered to help."
"I can take care of myself, and he knows it. Plus, with all of the spells all over the place, I doubt anything is going to get in," Rashel shrugged.
"Yeah. Thierry wouldn't risk anything. And at least you know Quinn cares enough to be concerned. That's definitely a golden soulmate quality." Poppy smiled, then yawned. "I should go find Jamie. Night, Rashel."
"Night, Poppy," Rashel responded.
As Poppy began walking away, Rashel noticed how tired the girl actually must have been. The normal spring in her step was gone- Poppy seemed to be dragging her feet. Her tone suggested exhaustion, not vibrancy and excitement as normal.
Rashel sighed once more. It just wasn't a great night. She began walking once more, only to find her foot hit something on the ground. Glancing down, Rashel found Poppy had dropped her book.
She bent down to pick it up, and began walking towards the mansion. If she didn't take it back inside now, there was no chance of her remembering later.
Rashel once again felt that someone was watching her. She became a bit paranoid. What could have entered the wards?
KNOCK IT OFF, GIRL! She told herself. VAMPIRE. HUNTER. You can take care of yourself.
Rashel looked down at the book in her hands as she walked. The Hunger Games. Rashel had read them…good books, dystopian future. At least it wasn't Twilight.
She looked up, to see she was at the side of the mansion.
Just as she was about to turn the corner to the front of the mansion, a strong force pushed her backwards, thrusting her against the wall of the mansion.
Strong hands grasped her, holding tight around her neck. Vampire, she confirmed. She relaxed, letting all tension out of her body. She slipped her left hand into her back pocket, where a small stake was ready for use.
She looked up into its eyes and smiled daringly. A look of confusion flashed across the vamp's face…causing just enough unawareness for Rashel to remove the stake from her pocket.
Within seconds, she had grasped the smooth handle and, with deadly precision, stabbed the vampire in the hand that was holding her neck.
The vampire screamed with pain and pulled its hand away from Rashel. She herself took no time in running around the vampire-who, she noticed, was male-towards the front of the mansion.
Her effort, however, did not pull through. The vampire quickly caught up to her, just as she started up the first of the steps to the mansion's front door.
He clapped a hand over her mouth, and she tasted the rich blood. It had been the one she'd stabbed. Refusing to swallow any of it, Rashel struggled.
The vampire dragged her away easily, into a patch of nearby trees. He roughly slammed her against a tree, and released his hand from her mouth, using it instead to pin her to the tree.
Rashel spat the blood that had run into her mouth at his face. "If you want me for sex, sorry. I'm not a guy, and you're obviously the gayest vampire in existence."
The vampire's eyes grew very wide, and his face grew close to Rashel's. He snarled. "You should shut up now. Unless you want me to hurt you, I wouldn't say another word."
"Trying to be intimidating? Save it for a male brothel, gayboy," She remarked.
The vampire growled fiercely, and applied extreme pressure to Rashel's left arm. One wrong move, and he would break it.
"You've already ruined things once…I can't afford to let that happen again," he said, and looked into her eyes. He glared, and Rashel felt ice feel her body, freezing her. Everything slowly began to grow black.
She had just enough time before blacking out for her thoughts to register. Azarius. She thought. He was at the first bloodfeast. Why is he back?
Rashel woke up, her head feeling as if it had burst. What was going on?
She was laying on…grass? The forest she and Azarius had been in had had a blanket of pine needles covering the ground. Azarius.
Rashel stood up quickly, making her head pound even harder.
Off into the distance, she could see the sunset. Beautiful variations of red, pink, and orange painted the sky. They danced across it in swirls of monochromatic values around the sun itself, and wild variations in the surrounding pieces of sky.
Rashel looked to her left, to see a flat area of land below her, blooming with colorful flowers. She realized she was on a hill, rising up from the blanket of purples, yellows, and reds.
Walking up the hill were a small girl and a woman. They both had equally dark hair, and vibrant green eyes. The girl was holding a purple tulip, the woman holding a blue blanket.
Looking at stars on the hill. 1998, Rashel thought. The memory was slowly coming back to her.
Once a month, Rashel and her mother would venture out into the country, to a certain hill where wild tulips bloomed. They would carry a blue blanket to the top of the hill, stopping every few feet so Rashel could look at the flowers. Before they reached the top, she always chose the perfect purple tulip. At the end of the night, when the two returned home, she would give it to her mother, to press and keep along with the other tulips they had collected.
Once they reached the top of the hill, Rashel would carefully place the tulip out of the way, so it wouldn't be crushed. Meanwhile, her mother would smooth out the blanket over the soft grass.
The two would lie down together and watch the sunset, and Rashel's mother would tell her stories and fairytales. When the stars came out, they would name constellations and would make up their own until Rashel fell asleep. Then her mother would carry her daughter, the purple tulip, and the blue blanket back to the car. By the time they reached home, Rashel would be wide awake, and holding the tulip.
Rashel watched the vision of herself and her mother as they stopped, and as the younger Rashel picked a tulip from the ground. Just as she remembered, it was a deep royal purple, with a lengthy light green stem. She stood at the top of the hill, wondering why they hadn't noticed her.
As the images of this memory drew closer, Rashel watched as her mother looked up to the top of the hill, but had no reaction upon seeing an older version of her daughter.
Why can't she see me? Rashel asked herself. "Mom?" she asked aloud. "Mom! Can you see me?"
The woman seemed to hear nothing, and instead finished the ascent to the top of the hill. The younger Rashel closely followed…and walked directly through the older Rashel as she went to set her tulip in a safe spot.
"Mom! Mom, what's going on? Why can't year hear me?" Rashel asked, frantically.
Suddenly, the colorful sky toned down to overcast shades of grey. A dark and impending force rushed towards her mother from the bottom of the hill.
Both the older and younger Rashel shrieked simultaneously. "NO!"
The force took her mother by the shoulders, and bit into her neck.
Older Rashel ran toward her, one arm outstretched.
The figure looked up, detaching its teeth-no, fangs-from her mother's neck.
Azarius. His chocolate eyes and death glare gave it away. He smiled devilishly at Rashel, challenging her to intervene. He lowered his lips to her mother's neck, and kissed it.
Then he looked up into Rashel's eyes as he snapped her neck.
Rashel watched it all unfold: Azarius running away, her mother crumpling to the ground. Young Rashel was nowhere in sight.
She fell to her knees, sobbing. Not again, she thought. I can't do this again.
The sharp snap of her arm breaking brought Rashel back to reality. "Arrrgh!" She screamed, more out of anger than pain. Going through that memory, with a different ending…it was too much.
Rashel swiped in the air, desperately hoping to feebly smack Azarius.
She looked around, her head swiveling just in time to catch Azarius falling to the ground. Looking down, she saw a stake had been shoved through his back, directly into his heart from behind with deadly accuracy.
A figure straightened, breathing rapidly. Rashel immediately knew who it was, recognizing the build. "Steve?" She asked.
He immediately rushed to her side, inspecting her arm. "Broken," he whispered. "I didn't get here fast enough. It's broken."
"It's fine," Rashel said, pulling her arm back and wincing. "What are you even doing here?"
"Saving your ass, I suppose," Steve remarked, looking at Azarius' weathered body with disgust. Looking into Rashel's eyes, he spoke again, more gently. He moved toward her, advancing slowly. "I came to talk to you…hoping you could help. Heard you'd found Circle Daybreak."
"Yeah, I did. Well, Quinn and I did."
"Who's Quinn?" Steve asked this cautiously, tilting his head slightly from confusion.
"Quinn is…my soulmate. On the last mission…when I tried to overthrow the first bloodfeast and kill all of the vampires…he was helping."
"You think your soulmate is a vampire who was helping run a bloodfeast?" Steve was yelling now. "What the hell has gotten into you, Rashel? Ever since we broke up, you've gone…crazy!"
Rashel felt her eyes widen, then narrow. She glared at Steve, willing him to shut up.
Before she could say anything, however, and low and dangerous voice emerged from behind a nearby tree, its owner walking slowly towards the two. "What's going on?"
"Quinn." Rashel said his name softly. How much had he heard? She immediately felt stupid for asking herself that. He was a vampire—he'd surely heard the entire conversation.
Quinn glanced at her arm, and then Azarius. He finally settled his gaze on Steve. "Who," he asked, voice low, "Is this?"
"I'm Steve." Steve spoke, voice equally as serious.
"You may want to explain how you got in the wards, and why you're here at this very place, talking to my soulmate," Quinn warned.
"What wards?" Steve asked.
Rashel and Quinn looked at each other immediately.
"Get back inside. Both of you. Now." Quinn spoke, tone level. "Rashel- find Morgead, James, Thierry, and Ash. Get them to meet me out here, where we are now. Then find Thea. Get your arm taken care of." He spoke to Rashel directly, ignoring Steve entirely. "Go."
Rashel knew the situation was serious- no wards over the mansion meant three Wild Powers unprotected. She ran, ignoring the pain in her arm. Steve followed closely.
She pulled the front door open with her right arm, and burst into the front room. "Morgead! James!"
Within seconds, Morgead appeared, Jez at his side. "What?" he asked, alert.
"What's going on?" a sleepy James mumbled, entering the room.
"The wards are down. Get Thierry and Ash, and then go to the east wall of the mansion. Quinn is waiting."
James, more awake now, and Morgead ran off, leaving Rashel alone with Steve.
"What's your problem?" she asked, her voice edgy. "Just because we broke up means I'm crazy? I don't think so." She pushed past him, heading towards the stairway. "Thea!" she called up.
"No! It's not that we broke up, it's that you think you're in love with a vampire!"
Rashel whirled, advancing towards Steve quickly. "I don't have time for this right now. I kind of have a broken arm that hurts like hell, in case you haven't noticed. And I don't think I love him. I know I do."
She turned, feet pounding up the stairs.