The Brethren

Part One:

Chapter One:

Alcott Park was stretched before Angelique as she made her way home from a busy night of bar hopping with her friends. She had only moved to Gevaudan a few weeks before and hadn\'t really had time to explore. Her black duster blew in the breeze as she sauntered across the smoothly cut grass of the park. Her three-inch heels sank into the green floor. She licked her full red lips as she thought about the night of fun she had just had. Most of her social circle was made up of guys of all backgrounds.

One of them she had been making out with for most of the bar hopping expedition. A few strands of her long raven black hair hung down over her eyes from the heavy petting he had done.

She pulled the strands of hair out her eyes and tucked them back into the tight ponytail at the back of her head. And that\'s when her sensors alarmed her of a presence in the bushes to her right.

Pulling out what looked like pepper spray from her bag she squinted to see what was in the green mound of bush.

She was actually holding the equal to pepper spray, Garlic spray. She found it worked on everything.

When she convinced herself that there was nothing in the bushes she started to walk towards her intended target.

Her car.

And again her sensors warned her of an ever-present being.

And that\'s when it hit her. She pulled the stake she had stashed beneath her belt and punched it into what seemed to be air.

A grin smothered onto her soft face as she felt the firmness of a body connecting with the wooden knife.

The person seemed to be unaffected by the blow to the stomach as it wrapped its jacket covered arm tightly around her chest.

It brushed her ponytail away from her neck and traced a finger down her neck and towards her collarbone. Angelique tried to struggle free from its firm grip but it just wrapped its arm tighter around her. She shivered, but not from fear and certainly not from the cold.

She felt its cold lips lightly traces her neck.

She had been attacked before but this was different, it felt natural.

As if it wasn\'t going to hurt her.

\"Now that wasn\'t very nice, pet.\" Suddenly her neck snapped back to an upright position when she heard the familiar British accent and nickname.
Pet, where had she heard that before.

The lips touched her neck one last time before she felt the cold unforgettable feel of two teeth about to dig into her neck. She fought the urge to press the delicate skin of her neck onto the two teeth pressed there, to let the blood scent the air and to let him feel her pulse in his mouth. The urge was just too strong for her not to know the person becasue she did not do the nasty with any old stranger.

\"Christian?\" She asked softly.

The fangs retreated and the arm fell from her shoulders. She felt stragely bereft without the contact.

Now that she knew who her attacker was she was afraid to turn around.

She could already picture in her mind the very handsome face and the beautiful curly brown hair of her former friend. She took a needed breath and forced herself to turn around.

In an instant the mental picture disappeared and the face of her attacker appeared in its place.

He still had the disconcerting black eyes and impossibly high cheekbones she remembered but his hair was slicked back and it was a blue-black colour. She could tell from the bewildered look in his eyes that he had no idea whom she was. She was tempted not to tell him and to simple jump his thousand old bones till he called uncle... Or something else.

She pulled her duster off of her left shoulder and revealed the small almost invisible tattoo on her shoulder blade.

\"September?\" He had finally recognized her.

Her shoulders sagged in relief.

She hadn\'t seen Christian for over two hundred years. The last time she had seen him was in the dank and dark alleyways of London, her face pushed into the gritty brick and him molded to his back, fangs inher neck, dick inside her. From the looks of it Christian had left London long ago.

\"So what happened to you living your unlife in London?\" Angelique asked trying not to let on what the vision of past did to things lower then her stomach but higher then her knees.

Christian\'s face fell and he tried to hide the hurt look in his eyes.

\"I don\'t want to talk about it.\" His said turning his head so she couldn\'t see his face. He shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked up dirt with his black leather army boots.

She had hit a sore spot.

Christian pulled out a packet of cigarettes from his own duster and offered one to Angelque.

She excepted one politely, but her hands lingered too long on his skin to be polite.

She brought the cigarette to her mouth and cupped her hands around the flame that Christian placed in front of her, and she batted her eye lashes at him coyly, the thoughts in her mind anything but coy.

\"Are you walking around the park for the fun of it or have you got a place to stay?\" Christian asked taking a long drag of the toxic smoke. Angelque laughed and kicked a stone lying next to her foot.

He looked different but inside he was the same old Christian. A tosser all round.

\"So you still shagging Francseco or have you moved onto more soft things?\" Angelque cringed as she realized that she had hit another sore spot.

Christian\'s face vamped out and his piercing crimson red eyes burned into hers.

\"Come on, I\'ll take you back to my place for…a drink.\" Christian said slinging his arm around her waist, hand slipping up inside her shirt to rub her lighter then paper skin.

\"Ok Christian, but only one!\" She replied dropping the cigarette butt on the ground and putting it out with the heel of her shoe, the spark extinguished as quickly as that. Nicely ironic, Angelique thought.

\"We\'ll see and the names Thorn now.\"




Selenity watched with curious eyes as the two vampires walked out of sight. Feeling the bulge of her stake in her belt loop, the slayer followed the unknowing victims.
To a mere on looker the two people would just seem like a romancing couple taking a walk.

But to the very experienced slayer they were vultures waiting to pounce on any unsuspecting mortal... Or maybe onto eachother, from the way they were looking at each other.

Walking slowly through the shadows, Selenity followed the couple to her car before losing them as they drove away.

Taking out her mobile, she dialed her co-worker, Eve\'s, number.

\"Hullo?\"

Came Eve\'s voice through the mobile.

\"Hey Eve, got two new ones down at the park. Numberplate is 174-FMT. Run a scan for me and see where they are going.\"

She said briskly before hanging up.



\"Love you too.\"

Eve\'s voice replied at the hang up tone. Sarcasm dripping from every word.

\"Ok, where are these two going, sure Selenity I can do that. That\'s what I\'m paid to do, oh wait, I don\'t get paid!\"

Eve\'s voice rang out across the warehouse they rented as an office. Scanning the streets from satellite views of the town, Eve continued to talk to herself about that she needs new friends.

Finding the car parked outside a karioke club, Eve thought it was rather peculiar. Picking up the phone, Eve dialed up Selenity\'s mobile number.

\"Hey, they are at Henrys Bar, six blocks north of you. It\'s a karioke bar.\"

This time it was Eve\'s turn to hang up on Selenity.




\"So she finally got the hang of it.\"

Said Selenity with a twisted smile. Taking out her stake, she walked silently but with urgency towards the crowded karioke bar.

As she arrived, the bouncer looker her up and down, saw the long black leather coat and red shirt and told her to Piss off.

So she bounced him, so to speak.

Walking in, she noticed immediately that the bar was packed and the music was horrible. Making a beeline to the bar, she ordered a horrible tasting margarita and sat down to see why this place was so popular.

As soon as she sat down, someone tapped her on the shoulder.

Turing around slowly, she sensed that it was a vampire.

\"Yes?\"

She asked in artificial sweetness. Seeing the bulky, dark skinned vampire before her. He was new to this area as well as the couple before.

\"Just thought that I would tell you that the bouncer needs six stitches above his left eye.\"

He said to Selenity as well as the barkeeper.

\"And pass me one of those killer whiskey\'s.\"

He added pulling out his wallet and handing some bills to the keep. Pulling up a stool from near by, he sat next to her and started chatting, Selenity wasn\'t listening, she was scanning the crowd for the two she saw before, but only found the girl.

\"And so that\'s how I got here, in a small town in France. So how came you came to live in this speck on the map?\"

He had finally finished; she even outwardly looked to the roof for help. No answer, per usual.

\"Born and bred here, looks can be deceiving, watch what you call speck on the map, the people may have a reason for keeping it that way.\"

She said, taking her eyes off the dancing girl and looking at the dark beauty.

He was a good one, The Institute would love this one, big, like he would take lots of test and still be good for more. And maybe other things.

He looked at Selenity with gleaming eyes. He had known that she was the town slayer, and was just playing with her, because he could. Rule 34, part b said that all minor slayers were not to kill in public. That made pickings slim.

He was looking at her like a child at a candy store.

Immature prick, was all that ran through her mind, that and the fact that this guy was muscular, so he had to be eating regularly.

\"Leave me alone or I will have to take something off you that won’t grow back.\"

She said in a whisper, barely audile for him to hear, thinking just how much she wanted to leave sain body part on and do things that even a vampire might frown upon.

With a crooked smile, the dark man stalked off without a glance backwards.

Scanning the crowd again, she spotted her courtier dancing with the woman she was watching before. She still hadn\'t found the dark haired vampire in the crowd. Looking up at the stage, she saw the barkeeper walk out and take the microphone, announcing the new singer.

\"And now, who you have all been waiting for, Christian, with Bad to the Bone by Z Z Top.\"

And out walked the midnight black, took up the mike and began the song to a wild crowd.

Selenity rolled her eyes, and asked the attendant to pass her a whiskey.

\"That was Jay, Don\'t mind him, I think he was dropped when he was born... but you didn\'t come here to listen to him, did you?\"

He asked with a grin. She felt like she was on show for some reason.

\"I don\'t know what you mean.\"

Selenity replied, her mind didn\'t understand, but she thought it was a good opportunity to get some know how on this auspicious bar.

\"Well, tonight, dinner is on the house, will you be here to join us? Christian will be here, and \'annoying guy\' as well. We call it a special occasion, seein\' as all new people are coming to the bar.\"

Explained the attendant.

\"Well in that case, I had better come.\"

Selenity replied, a wide, cheesy grin crossing her face. The attendant looking suspiciously at her, he guessed that Selenity wouldn\'t understand the matter. But she did, and went outside to call for backup.

Dialing the number, she saw a reflection on the glass of her phone, she held up the mobile and turned around to find the raven haired singer in her face. Holding up her hand to keep him silent, she started talking to Eve:

\"Yeah, I got to that place you recommended...yeah, its great. Bars lousy though.\"

Laughing she pressed the panic button on the bottom of the phone and waited for an answer.

\"Yeah, are you gonna come keep me company, their having some after party and the keep said I could join.\"

That\'s it, that\'s it, keep it nice and natural, simple, let her know all the facts, Selenity thought with panic.

Saying a lengthy good bye, she finally hung up and looked curiously at the man before her.

\"You spend to much time on the phone, I almost walked away.\"

He said, no humor in his voice, just plain hard facts.

\"Wow, you need to lighten up, Christian. You sound so old.\"

Making sure she still had the stake in her belt.

\"The name is Thorn. Did you like my song?\"

He asked.

\"I thought this place was a joke until I heard you get up and sing. Are you going back inside now, because it\'s kind of cold out here.\"

Stating that, she walked to the door and looked menacingly at the bouncer who was holding a hand to his head.

Getting back inside, she found everyone sitting at three tables hastily pushed together.

\"Hope you don\'t mind but my friend is coming as well, seeing as she recommended the place.\"

Selenity said pulling up her chair.

\"More the merrier.\" the barkeep said, looking mischievously at Selenity and flashing her a grin, he handed out shots.

\"The game is, ‘I have never’, you say something, and if you have done it, you must drink your shot, everyone must play, and answer truthfully.\"

The raven haired beauty said as she stood up to explain the rules and Eve walked through the door, looking quite flustered, but still her outrageous self.

Quickly pulling up a chair she sat down and took her glass.

\"To start off, I have never broken the law.\"

And at that everyone drained his or her glasses. Pouring more, it moved on to the next person, that until it got to Eve, everyone was quite drunk by that time,
\"I have never hacked into a police site and gave someone a police record.\"

Drinking from her glass, she looked around the group, who was staring at her with amazement. Or maybe they were all just too drunk to understand.

\"I\'m sick of this game.\"

Said a girl from down the end of the table. She looked bored as hell and horny to boot, she sat there a while before getting up and walking over to Thorn and grabbing his hand.

She pulled him to the middle of the dance floor, and dropping his hand she walked over to the jukebox, picked a song and danced her way over to him.

Angelique looked menacingly over at the couple dancing. Her perfectly manicured nails beating on the table top as she watched them swirl and flush around the dance floor.

Then, quickly picking a bottle of discarded Jack Daniels, she dragged her chair over to Selenity. With Selenity watching her every move, she started to pour herself and Selenity a tall glass.

\"Hi.\"

She said depravedly. Looking her squarely in the eyes, Selenity tried to smile warmly, but must have only got to Luke Warm because Angelique looked even more depressed afterward.

\"Look, don\'t worry about it, if he\'s not going to pay you attention, then he\'s not worth it.\"

She said as she got out the big guns and smiled whole-heartedly. Besides, she thought, even vampires ache.

As if on queue, or something like that, Eve quietly passed out, then she knew she was in trouble, she had no back up.

\"I had better get her home, she has a lot of research to do tomorrow.\"

Selenity said, looking disgustedly at Eve.

\"She never could hold her alcohol.\"

As she walked slowly over to the passed out person she called a friend; Jay noticed and walked over to her before Selenity could get there. Picking her up like a rag doll, he carefully woke her up by blowing in her ear.

\"Okay, sleepy head, time to get up.\"

Making a sound almost like whimpering, Eve opened her eyes and looked up at her supporter.

\"Hi.\"

She said weakly. While regaining her footing, she looked imploringly up at Selenity across the table. And Jay steered her off to a small round table that he was occupying before he stood to wake my friend.

\"Well, I guess I\'m staying.\"

She said in mock cheerfulness. Angelique heard this and looked sarcastically at me before rolling her eyes at Thorn and the mousy looking girl he was dancing with.

Looking back to the beautiful face of Jay she noticed everyone was set up, if she resisted, Jay had Eve. And if she managed to get Eve away, Angelique doubled her as security. And to make it worse, Thorn had a hostage as well. Looking around at the scattered group of others she didn\'t know the names of, Selenity noticed that it was paired off, mortal to immortal.

This cannot get any worse, she thought bitterly. Looking around again, she noticed a weak spot, Angelique was at a disadvantage as she was between Selenity and Jay.
If I can get at Angelique, Thorn will tell Jay to let Eve go because he wouldn\'t want his precious hurt. Perfect. And so, Selenity casually strolled over to Angelique as if she just wanted to talk. When she reached her supposed captor she said almost to herself,

\"Don\'t they make a good couple.\"

She said nodding towards Jay, as Angelique turned to study Jay and Eve, Selenity grabbed her around the neck and stuck her elbow in her back, if she moved, Selenity could easily break her back, and Angelique knew it. So keeping very still, Angelique started to speak.

\"Thorn, you testosterone driven idiot, I would most likely forgive you if you get me out of this.\"

Thorn looked uninterested until he noticed what sort of position his vampire friend was in.

\"Well what the hell happened.\"

He said in an irritated voice, then noticing where Selenity\'s elbow was, he stopped dancing and held up his hands in mock surrender. Digging her thumbnail deep into Angelique\'s skin, Selenity successfully drew enough blood to make him take her seriously.

Smiling wickedly, Jay looked from one to the other before seeming to decide on something. Looking at Thorn, Selenity made the choices clear. Die, Have a close one killed or give up.

\"Alright, alright, you got us slayer. What are the conditions?\"

Jay asked almost lazily, or maybe it was a defeated tone, who knows? Making up her mind, Selenity decided to ask for release, and for safety reasons, Jay would accompany her in her car until they got to The Institute. And after her victory, she made her way out to the car with her friend and a vampire for company.

\"Well that was a close call, wait till the Institute see this one.\"

Eve said in a singsong voice, as she nodded to Jay in the back seat.

With his eyes brightening, Jay started to sing to the song on the radio. This vampire was beautiful with dark hair that never seemed to be in the same place twice, and dark blue eyes that stood out dramatically against his dark skin.

\"So how did you get such dark skin if you don\'t go into the sun, Jay?\"

Eve asked curiously, pausing in mid note he looked to Eve with dreamy eyes.

\"I was born like this. I\'m from African.\"

\"Wow.\"

Eve said with rapture. Looking in the rear view mirror she started to laugh. It was a very happy laugh, and with rosy cheeks, she turned around to look at Jay again.

\"I forgot that vampires don\'t have reflection\'s.\"

She said before laughing merrily again.

\"Eve, your drunk and you better sober up to because Noel won\'t be happy.\"

Selenity said, cheering up at the thought of seeing that old doctor that worked for the institute again.




Arriving quietly Selenity put on the hand brake as Eve got out of the car. Much more sober that she was before. Opening that back door, Selenity grabbed jay by the collar and the arm and dragged him out and towards the front door.

Opening the door to the lobby of the institute, Eve startled the receptionist by walking up and barking orders around like she was Hitler\'s dog. After requesting a room for Jay the three of them strolled off towards the testing rooms.

Long corridors filled with laboratories and offices spread throughout the facility and Eve, Selenity and their new friend stopped into a few to say hi to old friends.
Once reaching testing lab 7, they walked into a room full of calamity. It seemed that a vampire had escaped by the air ducks and was now on it way to freedom.

Yeah right, Selenity thought with a bit of a smile adorning her face.

\"I hope that smile is for me.\"

Said a familiar voice from behind her. Swirling around, Selenity forgot her prisoner for a second as she ran towards a small figure by the door.

\"Noel!\"

She cried in delight. Her old friend Noel was the reason for her becoming a slayer; he was her most trusted servant, wise trainer and her loved friend.

\"Hello cupcake.\"

He said in his richly deep voice that sent shivers down her spine as she hugged her dear friend.

\"Noel, this is Jay. Be nice to this one, he might know a lot about all the recent deaths.\"

Smiling warmly, he walked over to Jay and held out his hand in introduction.

\"Hello, Jay, I\'m Doctor Noel. If there is anything you need while staying here then please feel free to ask me. I apologize for my friend\'s behavior, if she has hurt you in anyway at all then you shall be revenged.\"

Charming, as always, was all that ran swiftly through Selenity\'s mind as Jay was lead off towards a clear box that would be his room for the rest of his life. It was quite sad the way Jay trusted Noel; but then again, Noel had that effect on people.