Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

Amelia let out an “Eep” when she tripped on a wide crack in the sidewalk. She tore her nose out of her new book to glare vehemently at it. Once she had a good stare down with the crack she immediately went back to devouring her book.

She knew it was bad to read while walking, but she just couldn’t help herself. She had been waiting for the book for so long she just couldn’t wait. Luckily she didn’t need to be conscious of where she walked since she knew the way home like the back of her hand. It was easy enough to let her feet go on autopilot as she got lost in the world of “The Dark Beast.”

She wasn’t able to get too lost, however, when something tugged on her jacket sleeve and pulled her to a stop. Without looking she tried to pull her arm loose, but when she couldn’t she unwillingly lifted her eyes from the page to see what the matter was.

“Oh man,” she groaned. She had brushed against someone’s hedges and a sturdy twig had punctured the thin fabric of the jacket sleeve and was caught in it. What was worse was that her tugging had caused the hole to get bigger and some of the fluff to come out.

“Nicoli is going to be pissed,” she said as she set down the bag of books and coaxed the small branch out of the jacket. “Wait a minute.” She looked down at her torso then groaned again and smacked the book to her forehead.

She had completely forgotten that she was wearing Nicoli’s jacket and hadn’t returned it when they split up. She debated whether or not to go after him to give it back. She really wanted to get home and read her book, but knowing Nicoli he was going to show up to school with no jacket and it was just getting downright cold in the morning.

With a sigh she begrudgingly stuffed her book back into the plastic bag and ran back the way she had come. It would only take a few minutes, she figured. There couldn’t have been too much distance between them unless Nicoli was sprinting. She’d simply catch up to him, give the jacket back, race home and delve back into her book. Easy as pie.

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It didn’t take long for Amelia to draw close to Lakeside Lane since she had been running the whole time. She breathed a sigh of relief when she got there because a stitch was beginning to form in her side. She wasn’t out of shape, but she wasn’t in the best of shape either.

She stopped completely and doubled over to catch her breath when she saw Nicoli down the road. With a hand on her aching side she tried to call out to him.

“N-Nicoli.”

He was too far away to hear her and she was too out of breath to yell any louder. There was a spark of hope when he stopped by a tree. She willed herself to get a move on and hobble in his direction.

The stitch lessened and she was able to walk normally. As she drew closer she noticed that Nicoli seemed to be yelling at something. She deducted that it was some sort of animal and she couldn’t help but chuckle.

“He’s so silly sometimes.”

Her smile didn’t last when a black van silently rolled past her. She stopped cold and it felt like she couldn’t breathe when she stared at it fully. A dark, malicious aura was pulsating from the vehicle, one that she could almost see and feel far too well. The only way such an occurrence could happen was if the van was filled with such creatures that gave off that aura and they all melded into one to create such a beacon.

“Oh God, no,” she whispered when the van stopped right behind Nicoli. Before she could move, before she could yell, the van opened and two set of hands reached out and grabbed him. Her friend disappeared as the van swallowed him whole. When the screeching of tires filled the air Amelia dropped her bags and let out a piercing scream.

“Nicoli! Nicoli!”

She ran. She ran for the van as fast as her feet could carry her. The van made a sharp U-turn and she tried to cut it off, to block its escape, but it was already zooming past her. She was just close enough to reach out and grab onto the side on the back corner. She ran with the van, desperately holding on, determined to save Nicoli from the foul beast.

A pothole caught her foot and her hand slipped from the shiny van as she fell. She rolled a few times and when the world stopped spinning she weakly rose to her hands and knees. There was a great pain in her right leg and ankle, but she ignored it as she looked up to see the van getting further and further away.

“Nicoli!!!”

In a fit of desperation she pulled back her hand and summoned the magic that flowed within her body to it. Blue sparks began dancing around her fingers and licking her palm as they grew in intensity. She had to blow out the tires or short circuit the whole vehicle. She had to do something!

“You okay, Miss?”

Amelia instantly clutched her hand to her body and the sparks snuffed out. She turned and saw two small boys on one of the lawns across from her. They couldn’t be older than five or six and they were staring at her with wide eyes.

“You okay?” one of them asked again.

“Uh, yeah, I’m fine,” Amelia muttered as she clambered to her feet. She didn’t know how much they had seen, but hopefully it wasn’t much. It helped that they were young because if they did see anything and told anyone the person would most likely think the boys had wild imaginations.

“Miss, you got a boo-boo,” the other said.

She looked down to see her right leg to see her tights were ripped and stained with blood from a deep scrape in her knee. She hissed when she tried to put weight on that leg and her ankle gave a great twinge.

She hardly cared, though, when she looked down the road to see that the van was gone and so was Nicoli. Tears welled in her eyes and she bit back a sob. She had failed to protect Nicoli and now he was gone, possibly forever.

“I can get, Mommy. She can help your boo boo,” one of the boys said.

“No, it’s okay,” Amelia said with a sniffle as she rubbed her face against her arm. “It’s not too bad. I’ll just go home and have my own Mommy fix it.” She forced herself to smile at the boys. Then she limped over to her bags. Her ankle hurt so bad.

She hefted her side bag strap over her shoulder and picked up the bag of books. Then she backtracked once more, leaving Lakeside Lane. She limped the whole way, but she couldn’t let it bother her because she had a long way to travel. She wasn’t heading home. She had a completely different destination in mind.

Her eyes were hard and her mouth set in a firm line. Anyone or anything that crossed her path could have turned to stone under the deadly stare. She didn’t know who had taken Nicoli or why, but she sure as hell knew who could tell her. Who was going to tell her.

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A crash sounded within the clan’s house and voices rose up as a great commotion swept through the clan.

“Ethan, where – Gavin, stop him!” Conrad’s voice yelled as Ethan scrambled out of the living room and dashed for the front door.

Before he could reach the door strong arms encircled him and pulled him back. When he struggled the arms slipped around his own and the hands positioned themselves behind his head in a sort of headlock. No matter how hard Ethan kicked or thrashed he could not shake Gavin off.

“No! Let go! Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong!” Ethan shouted over and over as he was dragged back into the living room.

The others were busy setting the couch back upright and the coffee table lay broken and shattered near the fireplace. When Ethan was forced onto the couch and held there by Gavin everyone shared worried looks as he continued to thrash and shout wildly. Not even Felix’s reassurances could soothe him. Finally Conrad took Gavin’s place and held Ethan’s face between his hands in a firm grip.

“Ethan!” he said sharply and the authority in his voice caused Ethan to jerk and still. “Ethan, look at me.” The teal eyes obeyed as the rest of Ethan’s body sagged. “That’s it. Calm down. What’s wrong?” Conrad asked slowly.

Conrad had called the clan together to prepare for the witch that would come and open the book. She was going to arrive in a couple of days and they needed to be ready. Everything had been fine. Everything had been calm. It was a jolt when Ethan had abruptly doubled over and before anyone could ask what was wrong he had sprung up, throwing everything into chaos.

The look in his son’s eyes had been one of fear, desperation, and wild panic. It had been enough to send shivers down Conrad’s spine. He remembered his son having that look only once before and it was interwoven with memories of pain, tragedy, rage, and betrayal.

“Something’s wrong. Something is really, really wrong,” Ethan said. His eyes were distant and his voice cracked.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Conrad asked again.

“I don’t know. I don’t know!” Ethan cried, shaking his head from Conrad’s grasp and covering his face with his hands.

“Ethan,” Faith said softly, stepping up beside Conrad and taking one of Ethan’s hands in hers. “It’s all right, just calm down. Clear your mind and tell us what happened.”

“I don’t know,” Ethan said again with a shake of his head. He gazed into Faith’s eyes and it was as if her stare soothed every nerve in Ethan’s body. “I don’t know what happened. I was suddenly filled with an overwhelming sense of terror. I was so scared and felt so helpless. I felt it all so strongly, but…they weren’t my feelings.”

Faith’s eyes widened and she placed a hand to her mouth.

“Oh no.”

“If they weren’t your feelings,” Conrad said, a sense of dread was beginning to fill the room. “Then that must mean –”

“They were Nicoli’s,” Gavin finished for him. “The mind link is becoming stronger. That means that not only can Ethan share Nicoli’s thoughts, but also emotions.”

“I’ve felt Nicoli’s emotions before. Trickles of them here and there,” Ethan said as he placed his free hand on his chest and fisted it into his shirt. “But I’ve never felt them this strongly before. I almost couldn’t differentiate them from my own.”

“But if they were Nicoli’s feelings,” Andre said, looking from Conrad to Gavin. “Then what happened for him to experience such raw emotion?”

“Something horrible,” Ethan said, rising to his feet again. “Something’s happened to Nicoli. We have to go find him.”

“Let’s not be hasty,” Conrad said, trying to coax his child to sit back down. A suspicion of what could have happened to the boy was forming in his mind and he wished beyond anything that he was wrong. He held onto the possibility Omen had slumped out of the shadows to try again.

“Conrad, I heard him call out to me!” Ethan snapped. “I almost didn’t hear it through the swell of emotions, but he did. He’s in some sort of trouble. We have to go find him.”

“Can you talk to him?” Cora asked. Worry was now written all over her face and she placed her hand over Andre’s when he touched her shoulder reassuringly.

“I…I don’t think so.”

“Well, if you’re not certain then try,” Felix told him, pointing out the obvious.

Ethan took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. Everyone waited anxiously and the tension in the room increased when he furrowed his brows and shook his head.

“No, he’s not answering. There’s only one reason why he wouldn’t.”

Cora gripped Andre’s hand tighter.

“You don’t mean that he’s–that he–”

“No,” Gavin interrupted her. “If Nicoli were dead Ethan would know. He would feel the severing of the link that would ultimately occur if Nicoli had passed on. Ethan means that the reason Nicoli is not responding is because he is most likely no longer conscious.”

“Exactly. We have to go find him,” Ethan said.

“I know you’re worried,” Conrad said calmly, putting his hands on Ethan’s shoulders. “But let’s not barge into the unknown. That is how someone is going to get hurt. That doesn’t mean we will be doing nothing,” he said before Ethan could accuse him of such a thing. “We will all take the preparations we need to then split up into small groups to go find the boy…Gavin, what is wrong?”

Gavin’s head had sharply turned to the entry way and it appeared every muscle in his body had tensed.

“The air. It’s shifted.”

At first no one knew what he meant, but soon they all felt it. The air was getting thicker and felt like it was starting to crackle with energy. It was the tingling sensation one could feel from an approaching storm, but this was one storm that none of them were ready for.

It sounded like an explosion went off and everyone jumped from the doorway when the front door flew past it and crashed into the staircase. No one moved, too stunned by what just happened, when a girl with red hair and a fiery glare appeared.

“Amelia?” Ethan said in confusion, attracting looks of bewilderment from the others.

Her eyes hardened when they focused on Ethan and her features twisted into that of rage and fury.

“You,” she said her voice low and deadly. Blue energy leapt from her skin and circled her, causing her hair and clothes to move from the current. “What did you do!?” she screamed, holding out her hand. The blue sparks collected in the outstretched hand and it blasted out in a beam.

Cries erupted in the air as Ethan was hit full in the chest and sent hurdling across the room. He hit the wall and fell to the floor, but he didn’t get up. His body shook and convulsed with the lingering sparks dancing around him.

Amelia advanced, lifting both hands to attack this time, but she didn’t get far. Gavin stepped in her way and with one wave of his hand the young girl was sent careening into the air and was slammed into the opposite wall from Ethan. She struggled to get up, but Gavin wasn’t done. He held her there mentally and then he wrapped his mental energy around her throat and squeezed.

Amelia’s eyes bulged and she began to gasp and choke as her lungs were denied air.

“Gavin, no!” Faith exclaimed, grabbing onto his arm and pulling on it, trying to get him to stop. “Don’t hurt her. She’s a Fairbrooke.”

“A Fairbrooke?” Conrad said. He knew the magnitude that name carried and if the girl was harmed by one of his own then it spelled disaster for them. “Gavin, that’s enough,” he ordered.

Gavin nodded and released his hold on her throat, but kept her pinned against the wall. She was left gasping and coughing as she fought for air. When she had recovered somewhat she began to fight against her invisible bonds and didn’t give up even though it was futile.

“Let go! Let go!” she screamed as she struggled and kicked, seemingly unaware of the blood she was now flinging from her knee. “It’s your fault! Everything is your fault!”

“Can someone please explain to me what she’s going on about?” Andre asked as he, Cora, and Felix helped Ethan to his feet.

“Shouldn’t I be the one to ask that? I’m the one that got zapped,” Ethan said weakly. He still didn’t have full use of his limbs and had to put most of his body weight on Andre.

Faith calmly walked over to Amelia and went down on her knees beside the girl.

“Amelia. Amelia, calm down. Everything is going to be okay. Calm down before you hurt yourself,” she said softly.

Her sweet, gentle voice had a sedative effect on Amelia and she slowly stopped her fighting till she was completely still. She then began to cry and sob uncontrollably.

“No, it’s not going to be okay. He must be so scared and alone,” she said through watery sniffles.

Faith cast a worried glance to the others, the word “He” putting them all on edge.

“Are you talking about Nicoli?” Faith asked and received a nod. “What happened, Amelia?” She waved at Gavin to release his hold on Amelia, who was very reluctant, but did so after Conrad nodded in approval.

With her arms free Amelia covered her face with her hands and curled over her knees, crying harder.

“He-He.” She swallowed and let out a biting sob. “He’s been kidnapped!”

By the chill that incased the room it was apparent no one was expecting that answer. Ethan was the most shocked by this news and he pulled away from Andre, stumbling a bit.

“Kidnapped? By who?” he asked earnestly.

Amelia pulled her hands away from her face and her sobs quieted down enough for her to glare at Ethan.

“How should I know? Why do you think I’m here? I came to make you tell me because this is all your fault!”

Ethan winced and seemed to take the statement to heart.

“My…fault?”

Felix looked from Amelia to Ethan. He glowered at her before appearing right before her.

“Don’t you dare talk to Ethan like that,” he snapped.

“I’ll talk to him anyway I want to! Nicoli got snatched right off the street because of you people. Now get out of my face!” she yelled at him, not phased at all that she was screaming at a ghost. Her anger had dried up her tears and the two had a heated staring contest.

“Felix, please. You’re not helping anything,” Faith said in exasperation.

Felix huffed at Amelia before drawing back and she just turned her nose up at him.

“It must be Omen again,” Conrad said, getting back to the matter at hand. “He’s been quiet for far too long.”

“It can’t be,” Andre was quick to quip. “He’s already gone for Nicoli once. He wouldn’t be stupid enough to do it again.”

“God, you need to stop defending that guy,” Felix said with a disgruntled sigh. “That vampire hunter is whacked in the brain. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

Before Andre could give a rebuttal Amelia drew back everyone’s attention.

“What are you guys talking about?” she cried out. “The people that took Nicoli weren’t vampire hunters.”

“Are you sure?” Faith asked.

“Of course I am. I saw their auras. I know exactly what they are. The bastards were vampires just like you!”

There were gasps and wild, frantic eyes from the clan. Each looked from one to the other, as if begging for a reason why this wouldn’t or couldn’t be true.

“No,” Ethan whispered with a shake of his head. “No, it can’t be. That’s impossible. Father –” He stopped when he turned to Conrad.

Conrad had paled considerably, resembling that of pure ivory. His hands were shaking followed by his entire body and he looked like he would drop any second. His throat had closed but he was able to utter one word.

“Dimitri.”

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Nicoli groaned and screwed his eyes up tighter as he returned to consciousness. He blinked his eyes open for a moment, but closed them just as quickly. They still felt so heavy. He rolled over onto his side and snuggled into the pillow. He didn’t remember his pillow ever being so soft or the bed feeling so heavenly for that matter. He felt like he was lying on a cloud and the smell of fresh laundry tickled his nose. Did his mother get new blankets and sheets without telling him?

He was so comfortable he was bound and determined to go right back to sleep. What was curious was that he didn’t remember ever going to sleep. Had he been so tired that he crashed into bed without even knowing it? No, that didn’t seem likely. He didn’t even remember making it home.

Then memories began coming back to him. They were fuzzy at first. As if he were trying to remember a dream that eluded him, but soon they became clearer. There was a squirrel and a black van. He saw his own reflection for a moment before there was complete darkness. The last thing he remembered seeing clearly were a pair of honey brown eyes. Then all went black. The longer he thought over these peculiar events the more he realized that it hadn’t been a dream.

His eyes snapped open and he shot upright. After a quick once over of his surroundings he knew for certain that what he experienced wasn’t a dream. He was in a room he had never seen before. It was of pretty good size. His room was maybe half as big. The walls were covered in light blue and white stripped wallpaper and white molding decorated the creases in the ceiling.

He was lying on a four poster canopy bed that was draped in the softest, white down comforter he had ever felt. The only other piece of furniture in the expansive room was a small bedside table with long, curvy table legs. On top of it was a glass of water. It was very appealing at the moment. His throat felt scratchy and sore, but he was not going to be soothed by some simple water.

“Oh, this is not good,” he muttered as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. The second he rose to his feet, however, he hissed and plopped back down. His ankles were aching horribly. He pulled up his pant leg to see what the problem was.

“What the fuck?”

A dark bruise wrapped all the ways around his ankle and, what made it more bizarre, the bruise was in the shape of fingers. When he checked his other ankle he found the same thing. The fuzzy memory returned and he remembered what, he guessed, was a man grabbing his legs. He also remembered breaking the guy’s nose. That made him feel a little better.

“Where the hell is my other shoe?” While examining his ankles he noticed his left shoe was missing. It must have come off when he was struggling. It mattered little. Missing footwear was the least of his problems.

He carefully got to his feet, ignoring the throb that came with putting pressure on them. He kept breathing in deeply, forcing himself not to panic. He wouldn’t be any help to himself if he lost his head now. He spied a window on the other side of the room and made his way towards it. If he could get a sense of where he was he could tell Ethan and be saved in no time.

He pulled the curtain out of the way and looked out to the world beyond the blue room. The room was stationed on the second storey of wherever he was and it appeared to be secluded on top of a hill. Down below he could see a small town that looked like Whixton, surrounded by dense forests just like Whixton. The only problem he could see was that it wasn’t Whixton.

His throat tightened and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He wasn’t in Whixton anymore. He had no idea where he was or who had brought him there for that matter. His brows furrowed and he let out an irritated growl. Actually, he had a pretty good idea who could possibly be the who.

“Fucking, Omen,” he growled. Leave it to the vampire hunter to pull something like this. “So much for Ethan’s assurance that he wouldn’t do something like this again,” he said as he left the window and wandered around the room. He was at least relieved that Omen hadn’t targeted his family again. He just went right to the point and grabbed Nicoli right off the street.

If it was Omen, and Nicoli was sure it was, then who had been the people in the van? Was the vampire hunter teaming up with others now? It seemed odd, but there was no one else he could think of that would do this.

Nicoli decided he shouldn’t dawdle anymore and alert Ethan to what had happened. The sooner he did the sooner Ethan could come in, kick butt, take names, and get him the hell out of there.

He took in a deep breath to calm his thoughts and heart that had been trying to beat erratically the whole time. His eyes closed and he reached through the linked to contact the one who would be his savior…again.

“Ethan.”

Nicoli cried out and was ripped from his attempt at communication when an electrical surge coursed through his body, beginning from his neck. When it subsided he gasped and hunched over. He clutched at his throat and when the pain ebbed he realized that something was around his neck. It felt like some sort of collar.

“What the fuck did he do?” he croaked, trying to pull it off, but he couldn’t.

He gazed around the room, trying to find any sort of reflective surface to see the collar. That’s when he spotted the two doors. One was the door out of the room to the rest of the house, but the other door was open and he could just make out a bathtub in the darkened, adjacent room. A bathroom.

He sped over to it and turned on the light once he entered. He didn’t really feel the need to study the little room any. It was a bathroom. It had a bathtub, toilet, and sink. The only thing he cared about was the mirror.

He lifted his chin to get a better look at the collar. It was simple enough, just a strap of black material, but resting on the side of his throat, connected to the collar, was a small black box. After poking and prodding at it he deducted that that was where the shock had come from. He couldn’t believe it. Omen had put a shock collar on him!

“That fucking bastard. I am so going to smash his face in,” Nicoli grumbled as he tried to break the strap to get it off, but he wasn’t strong enough.

It obviously wasn’t any normal shock collar either. He hadn’t even known it was there until he had tried to contact Ethan. Was that possible, though? How could the collar react like that when he attempted to speak through the link? There was only one way to find out if his theory was true.

He gripped the sink tightly and closed his eyes. He counted to three then tried again.

“Ethan.”

Nicoli gritted his teeth and his knuckles turned white from gripping the sink hard when another shock ran through his body. He stomped his foot and shook out his body after it was done running its course.

“Fuck that hurts.”

It was true. The collar only went off when he attempted to speak mentally to Ethan. That raised another question. How did Omen find out about the mind link? After his last encounter with the hunter it was evident he wasn’t aware of the bond. Had he somehow figured it out?

At the moment Nicoli didn’t care. He wasn’t scared or panicky anymore. He was pissed. He stormed out of the bathroom and made his way to the other door. It was locked, naturally, but that didn’t stop him from pounding on it with his fists.

“Omen! Let me out of here, you fucker! The hell is the matter with you, you psychotic nut!? I am going to hit you so hard it’ll smack that stupid goatee right off your face! Do you hear me!? Omen!”

He continued to hit and kick the door with his shoed foot, even when his hands started to sting. He abruptly stopped when he thought he heard something. It sounded like someone talking. To hear better he pressed his ear against the door. Nothing.

He was just about to pull away when he heard receding footsteps growing softer and softer.

“Omen! Get back here and let me out!” he yelled when the footsteps faded completely. He gave the door one last kick before going back to the room. He paced back and forth furiously. The footsteps had to of belonged to Omen, or possibly to one of the mysterious people helping him. Maybe they had gone to get Omen. That meant that the bastard would be showing up any second.

Nicoli began searching the room for some sort of weapon. If Omen was coming back then he wasn’t going down without a fight. The room was bare so there was nothing to search through. The bathroom was just as empty, only offering him towels and unless he somehow managed to get one around Omen’s neck and strangle him they weren’t going to be much help.

He came back to the main room and spied the bedside table. The piece of furniture was mostly leg, the actual table part not being that thick. It gave him a brilliant idea. He grabbed the glass of water from the top. He eyes it for a second, feeling just how thirsty he was, but quickly went into the bathroom and dumped it down the sink and left the glass there. It was most likely poisoned or drugged.

With that out of the way he turned the table upside down. He held a couple of the other legs to keep it still and balance him then began kicking one of the free legs. It took a few tries, but soon the splintering of wood sounded and the leg loosened enough for him to wrench it from the base.

He held his new weapon in his hands, getting the feel of it, and swung it a couple of times. One good whack and he may have a chance to knock Omen out cold, or at least disorient him. Then Nicoli would make a break for it. He didn’t know how many accomplices Omen had, or where they were in the building, but that was a bridge he would cross when he got there.

With weapon in tow Nicoli positioned himself at the wall that lead to the door. Since the bathroom was there the wall was raised outwards from the main doorway, so it created a very small hallway effect and a blind spot. The perfect place to get the jump on Omen.

He held the table leg in both hands and left it lowered. No point in tiring out his arms till the time of action. The minutes ticked by one after the other, but Nicoli didn’t move and hardly breathed. His ears strained to every miscellaneous noise the house made; a creak here, a drip from the faucet there, and the thudding of his heart.

His breath hitched when he heard soft footsteps outside the door. For a moment he thought he imagined it, but a knock proved him right and made him jump. It seemed odd that Omen would knock, but he didn’t care.

Nicoli lifted the wooden leg like he would a bat and was ready to swing. A trail of sweat ran down his cheek and he swallowed hard when he heard the doorknob jiggle and unlock.

“Batter up, Fucker,” Nicoli whispered before the door swung open.

His chest hurt from how hard his heart was beating and he used all his strength not to swing too early. One foot step, two foot steps, and then the makeshift bat swung through the air, intending to bash in the skull of his jailer. It never made it.

Nicoli gasped as his weapon was stop short by a hand that grabbed it like it was nothing. He was left staring into grey eyes that were the color of dark, stormy rain clouds and held a strangely soft gaze.

“Well, I’m glad to see you are up and about,” said the owner of the eyes.

Nicoli instantly let go of his bat and backed away. Everything was wrong. It was supposed to be cold, heartless green and gold eyes staring at him and a gruff harsh voice speaking to him and a big hulking man standing in front of him. Instead it was a man not much taller than himself with kind grey eyes and a soft, soothing voice. This was all so very wrong.

“Y-You’re not Omen,” Nicoli stuttered as he slowly continued to back away.

“No, I’m not,” the man said with an easy smile. “Is that who you were expecting? I’m sorry to disappoint you so.” The eyes went to the table leg still in his hand. “Nice swing, by the way. I’m lucky I have such swift reflexes.”

To Nicoli’s horror the man crushed the table leg with only his hand, snapping it in two, and it fell in pieces on the floor. Not only was this man not Omen, but it was clear he wasn’t human either.

There was a thunk as the man entered the room more and Nicoli noticed for the first time that the man was carrying a cane in his other hand. The shaft was a polished black and the top was crafted from metal into a wolfs head.

“Ah, are you admiring my cherished possession?” the man asked, lifting it slightly for Nicoli to have a better look. “I don’t need it anymore. Haven’t for a very long time, but I’ve come to find that I am a very sentimental man,” he said as he used the wolf head to wipe a strand of his glossy black hair from his face.

Nicoli was hardly listening. His mind was going into full throttle, trying to sort out this confusing conundrum that was twisting and knotting itself in front of him. All thoughts of the mysterious man left him when another strange man came into the room after the other.

The first man had shocked and confused him the other one, however, struck nothing but cold fear into him. This man was tall, a giant even. He had to be just a few inches off from being seven feet tall and dead straight black hair fell all the way to his waist in stringy strands. The man was thin as he was tall. What little flesh he had was the only thing saving him from resembling that of a skeleton.

It wasn’t the bizarre structure of the man that stood patiently behind the first that scared Nicoli, no. It was his deep black eyes. They were vicious, hollow and wild and the grin that spread across his face as he studied Nicoli was animalistic at best.

He looked from one to the other, to the calm, charming man to the terrifying, fierce one. Everything was spiraling out of control. His blood was rushing so fast in his veins and his heart beating so frantically spots were forming in his vision.

“Are you quite all right, child?” the first man asked when Nicoli felt like he was going to collapse. “You look ill.”

“Who are you?” Nicoli managed to ask. He had no idea who these people were or why they would take him. None of it made sense and he needed to know.

“Oh, I’m sorry, how terribly rude of me not to introduce myself or my associate. This is my child Seth Sylvain,” the man said, gesturing to the man beside him before giving a full show of bowing to Nicoli. “And my name is Dimitri Areli.”

Everything came crashing around Nicoli and his blood turned to ice. No, it couldn’t be. The man standing before him couldn’t be Dimitri. Not the man who had killed his own brother and two members of his vampire family. Not the man that had been the cause of Felix’s death and certainly not the man that filled Ethan and the others with so much grief.

Fear swelled up within him and he forgot himself. Forgetting his situation or what was around his throat he screamed for the one person that could help him.

“Ethan!!!”

A powerful surge swept through his body, stronger than the previous two, and he instantly dropped to the floor from the pain. His limbs twitched sporadically as the shocks faded away and he whimpered pitifully. Through his haze of pain he heard Dimitri speak.

“Well, I’m glad my idle suspicion has been fully confirmed now. Though that looks far more painful than I thought it would be.”

“He screams beautifully, though,” said the other man Seth.

“You get pleasure out of the littlest things in life,” Dimitri replied affectionately.

Footsteps vibrated through the floorboard to Nicoli’s ear. They stopped beside him and he was carefully rolled over onto his back. His vision refocused to find Dimitri leaning over him and he flinched when his hair was gently wiped from his face.

“I suggest you not try that again,” Dimitri said softly as he continued to run his fingers through Nicoli’s hair. “Unless you’re a glutton for punishment, of course.”

“What…is this?” Nicoli asked, his voice raspy and his hand shook uncontrollably as he reached up and touched the collar.

“Let’s call it a necessary precaution,” Dimitri told him. “It’s a specific kind of shock collar that only shocks the wearer when a certain function of the brain activates, which, in case you haven’t noticed, is when you try and speak through the mind link that you’ve been blessed with. The harder you try to speak mentally, the stronger the shock will be, as you’ve just experienced. Now, I’ve been dying to know, it’s Ethan you’re linked to, isn’t it? I’ve been debating about it with my child Ira. She’s convinced you’re linked to Gavin, but I know that man would never let his guard down enough to let anyone know him that well, let alone let someone be connected to him so…intimately, let’s say.”

Nicoli hardly paid any attention to Dimitri’s prattle. He was too struck by the notion that Dimitri knew about the mind link. How was that possible?

“How…” Nicoli didn’t finish his sentence because he went into a coughing fit. His throat was too dry and over stimulated from the shocks to continue working.

“Go get him some water,” Dimitri ordered Seth. More footsteps sounded and rushing water came from the bathroom.

“Here, Master, he didn’t drink the first glass,” Seth said when he returned and handed the glass from before to Dimitri.

“A paranoid little thing, aren’t you? Can’t say that I blame you,” Dimitri said with that soft smile again. With one arm he was able to scoop up Nicoli into a sitting position. “Oh, come now. Don’t be difficult,” he chided when Nicoli struggled. “You’ll feel better, I promise.”

Nicoli was far too weak to put up much of a fight. All he could do was put his hands on Dimitri’s arm and pathetically try and push it away. It was useless. The glass rim found its way to his lips and when the first splash of deliciously cold water hit them he sucked it down greedily.

“That’s a good boy,” Dimitri said encouragingly, allowing Nicoli a good few gulps before pulling the glass away. “Feel better?”

Nicoli disregarded the question. It was false concern, it had to be, and he wasn’t going to fall for it.

“How did you know…about the mind link?” he asked. His voice was still wheezy, but he could speak easier now.

“Ah, that. Well, I didn’t officially know until now. I just had a hunch,” Dimitri told him, setting the glass down, but not releasing Nicoli from his arms. “Let’s just say my brother is highly predictable. He wouldn’t let a little human even come near his clan unless he had some guarantee that you wouldn’t be a liability and the mind link is one of the best ways to ensure that. I was lucky I had that thought, too, or else my other children never would have been able to subdue you earlier and all of my plans would have been ruined if you had warned anyone of what was happening.”

Nicoli vaguely remembered how he had found himself passed out. One of the people in the van had put something over his mouth and he realized it must have been a chloroform soaked rag. It was such a tired, old movie cliché that Nicoli didn’t think it was something people actually used in the real world. The chloroform was the least interesting of what Dimitri had said. The very last part was what had his skin prickling.

“Plans? What are you going to do to me? Why did you bring me here?” he asked and he couldn’t stop the tremble in his voice. He attempted to free himself from Dimitri’s arms, but he was only held tighter for his efforts. He shrunk back when a hand was placed on his face and his head was tilted so he was forced to look at Dimitri.

“Oh, I only want to ask you about a few, minor details. I haven’t seen my brother in a long time and I’d like to be brought up to date on how he is doing, but that can wait till later. That last shock took quite a bit out of you and I’d rather you rest and get your strength back before I bother you.”

To Nicoli’s bewilderment he was tenderly wrapped in Dimitri’s arms and lifted from the floor. He was airborne for only a few seconds before being laid gently down on the bed. Dimitri then sat down beside him and he fidgeted when that hand was back in his hair. He damned his sapped strength for preventing him from getting away from those delicate, long fingers.

“I want you to rest now,” Dimitri said, those soft eyes gazing into his. “One of my children will bring you something to eat in a short while to help you get your energy back. I am sorry for having to put such a horrid device on you. Understand it is a necessary evil on my part.”

“Stop touching me,” was all Nicoli was willing to bite out and when he feebly pushed the hand away it stayed away.

Dimitri placed his hands in his lap and studied Nicoli for a moment, making him uncomfortable. Dimitri then placed his arm on Nicoli’s other side and leaned over him, making him try and disappear into the mattress.

“I don’t know how much you’ve heard about me, Nicoli, but I want you to know one thing. If you assist me and make this easy for all of us your visit here will be very short and you will be back home before you know it. You will never see me again and you can pretend as though I never even existed. Just keep that in mind,” he said and lightly ran his fingers along Nicoli’s cheek before getting up.

Nicoli watched as both men made to exit the room. He shivered when the man Seth turned and gave him a terrible, sickening grin, followed by a cruel chuckle. Then they were gone and the thunking of the cane and the door locking were the last marks of their visit.

He rolled over onto his side and curled into a ball, wrapping his arms around himself. How could this have happened? He had heard such horrible things about Dimitri, but he never imagined that he would actually meet the man face to face, let alone be captured and be held hostage by him.

What made the situation all the more terrifying was that he didn’t understand Dimitri at all. He went against everything that made a bad guy, well, a bad guy. The creepy man Seth filled the criteria perfectly, but Dimitri had Nicoli confused. He was considerate, remorseful and just down right…kind. Nothing like Nicoli had pictured.

He whimpered as his fingers strayed to the collar. He fought the tears that filled his eyes. What was he going to do now? He was alone and helpless. How long would it take Ethan and the others to realize he was missing? How long would it take them to find him? What was Dimitri going to do to him in that time? It all seemed so hopeless.

He buried his face into his pillow and his body shook with a soft sob he wasn’t able to hold back.

“Ethan, help me.”

===============================Ch. 46 End