"Is everything sorted with you two now?" Ethyn squeezed Arianne's hand as they walked. Arianne was unhappy with the situation between her and Draven, which was understandable; he was her best friend. Even though Ethyn didn't like him, what he didn't like more was to see her miserable.
"Sort of, I think we've still got a way to go till we get back to normal. That's if he stops pushing me away." She sighed. "There's something he's keeping from me. He used to tell me everything, and then he just clammed up on me. He hasn't told me anything since."
"He probably has his reasons." He was careful how he spoke to her when they were talking about Draven; the last thing Ethyn wanted was an argument with her. He knew she didn't need that, she needed him. However, despite wanting her to be happy, Ethyn didn't trust him; he came up with too many excuses, and had let her down far too many times lately.
"Hmm, he's just so hard to read now." She smiled sadly. "Thanks, for asking though. I'm still kind of angry at him for shutting me out, but he's a good person really, and you're right, I'm sure he had a good reason for keeping whatever it is from me. Maybe he's planning a surprise or something." She grinned at Ethyn. She always managed to see the good in people and situations, even through the hurt and anger. Ethyn loved her innocence, but sometimes he worried about the vulnerability it gave her.
Ethyn decided not to say anything more, but chuckled quietly to himself. They stopped walking and froze as a loud screech bounced off the walls. As they stood and listened they heard the sound of bins being knocked over, and then what seemed almost like a roar, there was something about the noise that made their hair stand on end. Just cats fighting he told himself, but his brain struggled to find a suitable denial for the next sound, it sounded like someone screaming in pain in an almost animal way. He put his arm round Arianne and pulled her closer, forcing her to carry on walking just that little bit faster. "Just cats." She looked up at him, the fear barely hidden behind her eyes.
"Oh, Bran" Rose's voice was a whisper as she gently probed his arm with her trembling fingertips. "It's broken in at least 4 places." Her fingers deftly combed the rest of his body. There were huge cuts across his chest, and one along his cheek. They looked like claw marks. "Can you find anything to splint his arm with?" She looked at Draven and he nodded, he set off, searching for anything that might help,
"I can help heal his cuts a little, but I daren't mess with the breaks, Alyssa should be able to help with them." Connor held his hands just above Bran's chest and muttered a spell, his face a mask of concentration. Rose watched, holding her breath. Nothing seemed to be happening. "It's not working, they're not healing. They must've got him with silver; it would explain why he still isn't conscious." He said gravely, looking steadily at Rose. She found it hard to look away, she felt herself almost being pulled into the depths of his eyes.
It didn't take long for Draven to return, Rose managed to look away, feeling slightly guilty about her moment with Connor, she blushed and shook her head at Draven's questioning glance. He had managed to find part of an old broom handle and he carefully snapped it into an appropriate size, and handed it to Connor. "What's the damage?"
"We need to get him to a proper healer; I don't know the spell to purge the wound of silver safely." He cursed his lack of knowledge.
Draven searched the area for Alyssa and Mason's minds, but came up empty, so he tried Sophia. This time he was more successful. 'Sophia, we have a problem, Bran has been seriously injured, and we can't get in touch with the other two, we're going to have to move in. We need to know what happened.'
'You can't leave Bran though, what if they come back for him? You'll need to stay with him until we can get him moved to the safe house. We'll start moving round now to see what we can find out. Ryder should be able to find them."
'Don't worry, Rose is staying with him, but we still need someone keeping an eye on the other two.' Sophia was almost shocked at the coldness in Draven's mental voice as he mentioned Arianne and Ethyn. She knew why; he was trying to detach himself, keep his mind on the mission. If Alyssa's group had been taken down, whoever had attacked them was now free to move in on Arianne.
'Hayato will carry on following them at a safe distance but he'll still be close so that he's there if we need him. Hopefully it won't come to that.'
"Are you sure you'll be ok with him while we go and sort this out?" He put his hand on Rose's shoulder.
"Of course. I'll look after him." She smiled reassuringly at him, "Now go!" Her voice was still shaking, and there was still a visible tremor to her hands.
It didn't take them long to find where the attack had happened, both Alyssa and Mason were out cold, covered in various cuts and bruises, fortunately they were not in as bad a shape as Bran. Draven knelt by Alyssa, checking for any further injury, she awoke with a gasp, rasping out one word, "Run!"
He was confused for a moment, trying to find the danger, there didn't seem to be anyone else here, then he heard a cry and a dull thud, he looked around to see Connor sink to the floor. His assailant standing above him, with a maniacal grin and what appeared to be a baton in his hand. Behind Draven, something starting growling, a leopard was approaching from the shadows, he looked around and saw two more figures approaching, one definitely a vampire by his movements. The other two had to be witches. His thought was soon confirmed when he saw one of the approaching figures suddenly light up, and a ball of fire came racing toward him. He managed to duck and roll to the side, the ball careened into the bins behind him which immediately caught fire. He was surrounded, and he needed to check on Connor, he wasn't moving.
The manic witch with the baton took that moment to charge at Draven, he pivoted away from, but not enough, it caught his shoulder, the pain blossomed along his nerves, but he managed to grab hold of the witch's wrist. The others started moving in. Draven's eyes turned to molten silver in response to the pain in his shoulder and the fury he felt. He twisted the witch's arm till he dropped the club, but the witch managed to utter a spell and Draven was sent flying backwards. The leopard moved in to pounce. He saw the impending attack and tried to move but the witch held him down with his magic and laughed, it made his features look demonic in the moonlight.
His laughter was cut short when a sleek cougar collided with the leopard mid-pounce, and sent a powerful swipe towards the leopards face. The leopard fell against the wall, but got up again swiftly; the two predators circled each other, and then collided again, in a flurry of claws and teeth. Draven had trouble following it; the movements between the two were so fast. He could not see who had the upper hand, but the cougar had the advantage of size and it was fresh into the fight. He did not have long to concentrate on them, the other witch and vampire had swiftly approached to gain some control over the situation. The witch that held him down was not laughing any more but was still smiling horribly. Draven got his first proper look at the other two figures, the other witch looked fairly young but the power radiating from her was immense, it made his head hurt slightly. No wonder Alyssa and Mason were both down, even though they were such powerful witches themselves.
"Day breakers?" She looked at the vampire standing next to her who nodded in agreement. "Coincidence? I think not." She smiled almost sweetly down at Draven. She made a quick movement with a slender hand, and he flew against the wall, only inches above the flames. "Is this nearly all of you now? I think your kitty cat has nearly been taken care of, and the rest certainly have," she glanced round at the others still lying on the floor. "So that just leaves you then. I think I'll have some fun with you." She started to slowly lower him closer to the flames. "You can struggle if you want; it makes it more interesting for us if you do." She chuckled.
He tried to break free at first, it didn't work. He felt the heat get more intense, his legs felt hot and tingly, pain flared through his body as the flames licked at his legs. Every muscle fought against the power holding him there, inching him deeper into the burning flames. He received his chance to break free a few moments later as Sophia ploughed into the other vampire and began grappling with him. She kicked him and managed to break free of his grip, and pulled a knife from the waistband of her jeans where it had been expertly hidden. She made several strikes at him in quick succession, he stupidly tried to block every one, each time the wood hit his arms and hands it deadened nerves and bruised tissue and bone.
Draven used the female witch's distraction and sent her a mental punch, she rocked back on her feet and he felt the bonds holding him crumble and fall away, he managed to push himself off the wall and away from the fire with minimal singeing. He did not stop for damage control, but ran straight into the witch, pushed her to the ground and surrounded her mind with his and squeezed down, effectively knocking her out.
The cougar also seemed to have control of its tussle; it was now charging towards the crazy witch even though it was clearly limping. The previous opponent now in human form was slumped against the wall, he looked in bad shape. Draven spared no sympathy however, remembering Bran; his lips formed an inaudible snarl.
The witch had managed to pick up the club again, resorting to physical damage rather than his magick. Instead of swinging for the cougar as Draven had expected. He ran. The cougar looked round at Draven for instructions, he was panting, his eyes full of pain, grateful for the short lull in the fighting, but still willing to give chase. Sophia had knocked out her opponent and was binding his wrists and ankles with rope made from bark.
"Are you both okay?" She looked worriedly over at the others.
"Could be worse" Draven turned as he heard the deep voice. The cougar had switched to his human form and was sitting on the floor nursing his ankle. Ryder was covered in blood, but Draven was not entirely sure it was actually all his, as he looked over at the other shifter, he guessed not.
'What has happened? Is the situation under control?' Hayato's voice was cool and clinical in Draven's mind, welcoming in the chaos of the aftermath of the fight.
'Alyssa, Mason and Connor are down, and we've got three of theirs, but the last one ran off.' Draven moved round to check on the others with Sophia.
'Do you want me to carry on following the human couple, or –,' His mental voice was abruptly cut off. Draven wasted no time, he got up and ran.
He traced his steps back until he found the slight scent of her perfume floating on the breeze, just strong enough for his senses to pick up. He kept running. He heard the scream and ran faster; he had to get there in time. The soul mate link tugged him towards the sound as he felt a burst of pain, belonging to her. His muscles screamed in agony but he ignored them. He dreaded what he'd see when he got to her, he tried to think positive, but he was failing. Hayato was there of course, he might have just been distracted; he might still be ok and be protecting her. Why didn't he stay and follow them, why did he have to play hero, the others would have managed without him. It was his job to protect her.He snarled, and pushed himself harder, almost tripping over Hayato's limp form as he ran, but he could not stop, not now. All he could think of was her.