Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

“Wow,” Cora breathed in awe as she stared into the bare living room of the Fairbrooke house from the doorway. “I never knew magic could be so…beautiful.”

The four elder Fairbrookes’ stood in the living room in a circle. Each had their eyes closed and their hands clasped in front of them. They were each muttering under their breath and, to anyone else who gazed upon them, looked like they were in prayer. What had Cora so astonished was the circle that was drawn into the hard wood floor that the Fairbrookes’ stood just inside of.

It was a large circle with many intricate, elegant patterns inside it. There were symbols and words that none of the vampires could decipher in a million years. As the Fairbrookes’ chanted the circle glowed with a beautiful, soft violet light and that seemed to intensify as the minutes stretched on. The atmosphere in the room was thick with magic. It was so dense Cora had made the comment that it felt like she could swim through the air. The mystical sensation was only enhanced by little sparkles that floated leisurely in the air, like tiny, shimmering stars.

“What were you expecting?” Amelia asked, standing beside her, with a light smile as she took in Cora’s look of amazement.

“I don’t know, but nothing like this. It’s just so…I don’t even have words.” Cora laughed as she looked down at Amelia. “Now I’m kind of wishing I could have been born a witch.”

“Don’t get too jealous,” Amelia said with a teasing smile.

Amelia felt better than she had before. She hadn’t slept long, but it was enough to soothe her frayed nerves somewhat. Faith had also helped in that regard. Amelia had been a little sad when she woke up to find the little vampire gone, but she knew Faith had to go feed to prepare for what was to come.

She had come down stairs to see the teleportation spell was in full swing and that most of the vampires had returned. She still refused to even acknowledge Ethan’s existence, but found that she was much more at ease with the only other female in the group, Cora. She had already decided that she liked Cora after their short talk previously and was willing to give her every benefit of the doubt and be kind to her.

“So how much longer do you think it will take?” Cora asked.

“I really don’t know. That entire circle has to be brighter than the lights of Vegas and we’ll know it’s ready because it will look like a portal has opened up underneath the casting circle.”

“Really?” Cora asked, sounding more awe-struck by the second.

“Yep, really. I’ve only seen this spell done once before. It was so cool, but they were only teleporting two people at that time so it was much smaller and took only maybe forty to forty-five minutes to do.”

“Forty minutes for two people?” Cora sighed dejectedly. “Then it really will take hours to do to teleport thirteen.”

“…yeah.”

The older Fairbrookes had already been casting the spell for hours. It was hard to say when they had started since the vampires were gone and Amelia and Preston were banished to their rooms, but it had been a while.

“Let’s not get too down, though,” Amelia said, refusing to let her better mood be ruined. “The Magic Well is helping a bunch and will shave a few hours off casting time.”

“How exactly does this Magic Well work? I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Cora asked.

“Well, it’s really just a high concentration of magic that courses through the ground underneath the house…think of it like a pocket that stores magic. Then when we use magic in this house the magic that is in the ground is attracted to it and mixes with the spell that we’re casting and amplifies it. That’s what all of these little glitter specks are,” Amelia said, pointing at the sparkles that filled the air. “It’s magic from the Well.”

“It is?” Cora asked, looking at the miniature star flakes. “I thought that these things were coming from the circle.” She reached up and touched a sparkle with her finger. It popped before dispersing into almost microscopic specks.

“Nope, they’re from the Well. You can see them coming out of the floor.” She gestured to the hard wood floor and, if one looked hard enough, they could make out the glimmering lights coming out of the floorboards.

“I see it,” Cora said. “Can they really make that much of a difference?”

“These little magic specks may not seem like much, but they pack quite a punch. See, watch.” Amelia held out her hand and summoned a small amount of her magic to it. A blue spark crackled to life in her palm and jumped around her fingers like a jumping bean. Several of the sparkles were drawn to the spark like moths to a flame. One by one they melded with Amelia’s magic and it intensified in both color and power until the blue spark erupted into a small flash of light.

“See? The Magic Well is really useful,” Amelia said with a proud grin as she curled her hand into a fist to make sure her magic was snuffed out completely.

“Yes, that’s quite astounding,” Cora said, her joy evident from the demonstration. She looked off towards the other Fairbrookes’ with a whimsical expression. “Witches really are amazing creatures. I couldn’t imagine standing in one spot for hours to cast a spell. I thought it was amazing when your aunt and cousin did so with the scrying, but this is a real testament to a witch’s perseverance.” Her hand gestured to the group of chanting witches’.

“That’s the first thing you have to learn when training to become a witch,” Amelia told her. “Will, concentration, and patience. You need all three in order to perform even the simplest of spells. If you don’t have those then…well, lets just say it’s really easy for something to go wrong.”

Before Cora could make a comment a voice came from the kitchen.

“Amelia! I’m making frozen waffles if you want any!” Preston yelled. He had woken up shortly after Amelia and had been tentatively roaming the house, trying to avoid the vampires.

Amelia didn’t reply and simply continued to watch her family chant and the light from the circle grow brighter.

“You should probably go eat,” Cora told her.

“I’m not really hungry,” she muttered.

Cora reached up, as if to stroke Amelia’s hair, but her hand stilled and lowered, thinking better of her action.

“Neither was I, but I forced myself to eat to make sure I was one hundred percent ready to help Nicoli. You don’t want a rumbling stomach to give you away when you sneak into the enemy’s camp, do you?” she asked.

Amelia thought over the words then nodded.

“You’re right. That would just suck. I guess I can go choke down at least one waffle.” She turned to go to the kitchen, but before she left she brushed her fingers against the back of Cora’s hand and smiled at her. “Thanks.”

Cora smiled back and lifted her hand just enough so her fingers touched Amelia’s.

“Your welcome.”

Amelia left Cora and went to the kitchen. Preston was at the counter, shoving a couple of Ego Waffles into the toaster. When they were done Amelia prepared hers in good old Amelia fashion. She slathered the waffle in peanut butter then grabbed a whole jalapeño and proceeded to place the hot pepper onto the waffle and roll it.

Preston didn’t question her on this. He had dealt with Amelia’s weird eating habits almost his entire life and nothing she ate made him do a double take.

The two sat in silence as they ate their food and gulped down some coffee.

“Ugh, this stuff is disgusting,” Amelia said. Her nose wrinkled after taking a big slurp of coffee.

“Then why are you drinking it?” Preston asked, nursing his own mug. He was a regular coffee drinker.

“Well, I have to stay awake somehow,” she said as she took another pained sip. “Blergh, how do you drink this every morning?”

“Because, unlike you, I like it. Why don’t you put one of your concoctions into it?”

“Nothing would make this atrocity taste better.”

When plates were almost clean someone stepped into the kitchen. Amelia looked up and her eyes instantly narrowed when she saw the blond haired, teal eyed vampire. He looked tired and unsure of himself. He was rubbing the back of his neck as his eyes strained to pry themselves away from the floor, though Amelia couldn’t give a flying flip about how comfortable he was.

“Hey, Amelia, could I talk with you?” Ethan asked.

“No,” Amelia said flatly, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms.

“I was afraid you would say that. It will only take a second.”

“No.”

“Amelia, please.”

“Hey, she said no,” Preston said, rising to his feet to defend her, though he wasn’t nearly as intimidating as he’d like to be what with his lean frame and obvious height disadvantage.

Ethan’s skittishness ran out fast and a frown set into his face.

“No offense, but I wasn’t speaking to you,” he said.

“And she doesn’t want you speaking to her.”

Ethan disregarded Preston all together and focused on Amelia.

“Amelia, it’s not going to kill you to hear what I have to say, is it?”

“It won’t kill me, but it will kill my last nerve,” she replied.

“I’m trying to be civil.”

“Then be civil and respect her wishes and go,” Preston snapped, seething at being ignored.

“I’m a persistent bastard, Amelia. I’ll stand here all day if I have to,” Ethan said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Amelia rolled her eyes and decided to just get the unpleasant discussion over with.

“Fine. Whatever. I’m assuming you want to talk alone?” she asked and Ethan nodded. “All right, go ahead and go Preston.”

“What? Are you serious?” he demanded, whirling on her.

“Does it look like I’m joking?” she snapped at him. Her good mood that she had fought so hard to get back was completely destroyed. She wanted Faith to come back so she could tattle on Ethan and have Faith beat up her brother.

“…okay. Fine,” Preston said reluctantly. Amelia had taught him well when to know when he wasn’t going to win.

Preston left the kitchen angrily and tried to bump Ethan’s shoulder roughly as he passed. It only ended in him hurting his own shoulder and Ethan not moving an inch.

“So what do you want?” Amelia asked when Preston had left with a whimper. She stood up and took the dirty plates to the sink to wash them.

“I think it’s time to smooth things over between us,” Ethan said, walking over to stand beside her.

“And what makes you think I want to smooth things over with you?” Amelia asked as she turned on the faucet and grabbed the sponge, a bit more tightly than she needed to.

“Oh, I know you don’t want to, but we need to,” Ethan told her.

“And why is that?”

“Because we’re supposed to be working together now.”

“That means nothing. We won’t be working directly together. You’ll be working with your group and I with mine, so it doesn’t matter.” She was scrubbing at the plate furiously and had her eyes focused on the stream of water.

“You seem to be getting along well with Cora, so why won’t you just give me a chance?”

That was it. Amelia threw the plate and sponge down and turned on him.

“Give you a chance!? All of this is happening because of you! Nicoli and I would be safe and sound at school right now if it wasn’t for you. He’d be sitting down with his parents at Thanksgiving without a care in the world if it wasn’t for you.” She jabbed him in the chest with her wet finger repeatedly as she yelled.

Ethan grabbed her wrist and his expression made her next words die in her throat. His eyes were sharp and hard and she felt they could cut right into her heart.

“Do you think I don’t know that?” he hissed at her. “I know all of this is my fault. If even one hair on his head is hurt I’ll never forgive myself. My insides are already tearing up into shreds for what’s happened and I don’t need you to help me hate myself. I was selfish in bringing Nicoli into this, I know, but it’s done and I will not stop until I get him back. You have to believe that.”

They stared at each other, both willing the other to back down. Amelia yanked her wrist out of Ethan’s grasp and covered a sniffle by turning off the faucet.

“Why did you have to come here?” she muttered. “Why did you have to come here and ruin everything? Why here and why Nicoli? I just don’t get it.”

“I have my reasons for being here and, as for Nicoli…I’m still not even sure why I chose him, but I did and that’s that,” Ethan said.

Amelia was just about to tell him that made no sense when he continued.

“Look, you don’t have to like me. I know I can’t force you to, but we have to at least tolerate each other for Nicoli’s sake.”

“And why’s that?” she asked.

“When we get him back who knows what condition he’s going to be in. He’s going to need all the support we can give him. The last thing he’s going to want to see is us at each other’s throats. Or you at mine, really, since I have no problem with you.”

Amelia stared out the window as she contemplated Ethan’s words. She recognized right away that he was right. Nicoli was going through so much right now. He didn’t need the people he associated with safety to be fighting amongst themselves. She wanted to continue to be childish and keep up her angry attitude towards Ethan, but she had to think of the greater good.

“God, fine!” she finally said. “I guess I’ll be…nicer towards you, but I’m not going to start liking you for any reason. I just don’t want to get Nicoli any more ruffled up than he already is.”

“That sounds good,” Ethan said with a nod and a relieved smile. “We don’t have to be friends, we just have to be allies.”

“Yeeeeeaaah, I guess,” Amelia grumbled. She then turned to Ethan and stuck out her hand. “Come on, let’s make it official.”

They briefly shook hands, making silent agreements to let bygones be bygones. It was going to be hard for Amelia, but she had to see past Ethan’s fault in all this and see him for who he was. He did seem very remorseful and adamant in getting Nicoli back. She just had to keep that in mind.

Ethan left the kitchen to leave Amelia with her thoughts. She finished washing the few dishes there were and as she dried her hands she stared out the window. The morning light flowed in and she stared at the sun that peeked behind light gray clouds. They had to fortify every advantage they had and if that meant working with a man she hated at the moment, she’d do it.

“Everything is going to be okay, Nicoli,” she said, praying he would hear her somehow. “It just has to be.”

************************************************************************

Nicoli peeked through the window from his crouched position on the floor. He swallowed hard. He could clearly see the sun that had risen over the mountains and hung there like a taunting omen. Dimitri hadn’t said exactly when after the sun rose that he’d come get Nicoli, but he supposed anytime afterwards was fair game.

While he had tried to be brave in front of Dimitri, being left alone with his own thoughts had turned that bravery into anxiety. What was Dimitri going to do now that the sun had risen? He really didn’t want to know. To protect himself he had ripped off the curtain rod above the window and held it to him. There was no way he could fight his way out of the house. If he knocked down one vampire there were plenty more to stop him, but he wasn’t going to just let them do whatever it was they were going to do.

He checked the grounds around the house continuously. Where was the clan? It had to of been a couple of hours or more since he saw Gavin. He thought the cavalry would come within the hour, but they hadn’t. He repeated to himself over and over that they were coming, they would save him. He just wished it was soon.

He released a light gasp and froze when he heard the lock of the door turn. Goosebumps erupted over his skin and he shook uncontrollably as the door slowly opened, the creak piercing his core, sounding his doom. He reluctantly turned from the window and he gripped the rod in his hands tighter when he saw who his visitor was.

“So we meet again,” Seth said as he strolled into the room, the twisted smile on his face.

Nicoli felt like he couldn’t breathe. He had been dreading seeing Dimitri, but he never expected to see Seth. He was instantly reminded of what happened. Cruel hands that grazed his skin. Toxic, taunting words whispered into his ear. The weight on top of him, holding him down. No, this was the worst possible scenario that could have happened. Did Dimitri give Seth permission to do what he wanted to Nicoli?

“W-What are you doing here?” Nicoli asked.

Seth chuckled, obviously enjoying the fear he had sparked.

“Dimitri asked me to escort you to him,” he answered simply.

“Why didn’t he come get me himself?”

“You’ll see soon enough. Now let’s go.”

Seth gestured for Nicoli to get up. He did so, but he held the rod, as if ready to swing it at any second and backed up till he was completely against the window. Seth’s smirk widened and a gleam sparked in his eye.

“Oh, please tell me you’re going to resist. That would just make my day.” He readjusted his stance, ready to spring upon Nicoli at a moments notice.

Nicoli held out the rod and put on his best warrior face.

“Don’t come near me,” he ordered, trying to ignore his racing heart that was making his chest hurt.

“Try and stop me.” Seth vanished.

Nicoli panicked. He had started a fight with the most dangerous vampire he had ever met and all he had to protect himself with was a curtain rod. In a wild frenzy he swung out in front of him, desperate to at least clip his unseen enemy. He struck air and his world twisted as he was grabbed and thrown across the room. His weapon was lost in flight and he screamed as he landed on the bed and rolled off from the momentum.

When he stilled on the floor his vision spun. He slowly tried to push himself up, but his limbs would not cooperate. Everything froze when a chuckle permeated the room.

“Little Nic. Let’s play.”

Nicoli could see Seth’s feet under the bed and he could see them closing in on his location. As fast as he could he scurried under the bed. He just reached the middle when Seth’s feet rounded to the side he had been on.

“How cute. You think you can hide from me.”

Nicoli shrieked as the bed was toppled over like it was nothing. He was airborne a second time as his ankle was grabbed and he was whipped through the air. His body met wall with a sickening crack and he fell to the floor.

He was disoriented. He was in pain. He was just able to lift his head to see Seth’s form come towards him. He couldn’t breathe. He had to escape. The bathroom door was beside him, wide open, exuding safety. He desperately scrambled into it, slamming the door behind him.

After the lock was set he rested his back against the door. He clutched at his chest. It was so tight and his heart was beating so fast. There was no time to draw in breath; his heart would only beat it out as swiftly as he drew it in. He whimpered when there was a tapping above his head.

“Niiiiiiiiiicccooolllii. Do you really think you can hide in there for long?”

Nicoli hurried away from the door. He looked around wildly. He was trapped. Trapped like an animal. Seth would burst in any second and…then what? Would he die? Would Seth kill him right then and there? Tear him apart piece by piece with that sick smile in place?

He tore through the bathroom, opening cabinets, searching the bathtub, even around the toilet. There was nothing to defend himself with. He was helpless and alone. Even with that thought he continued to search as Seth kept up with his mocking tap tap tapping.

He froze when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to face himself. His reflection stared back at him with pale skin, wide eyes, and a look of utter desperation. He then looked past his reflection to the mirror as a whole.

A harder tap snapped him out of his revere and he flew to the mirror. With no regard to himself he brought his fist up and smashed it into the reflective glass. Pain rippled through his fingers, knuckles and traveled up his arm. He ignored it as he pulled his fist back and did it again.

He continued to hit the mirror over and over. Even when his knuckles split open and the glass was painted crimson. The wound was nothing compared to what awaited him outside the door.

“…what are you doing in there?” Seth asked through the barrier.

Nicoli’s only reply was the slamming of his fist into the mirror that began to crack and break from the force of the blows. When they riddled the entire pane Nicoli clawed at the broken pieces, ripping them from their base and shredding his fingers. He didn’t stop until he was able to extract a piece of glass that was nearly as long as his forearm.

With it in hand he faced the door and braced himself. He held the giant mirror shard tightly with both hands. He could feel the sharp edges cutting into his palms and the mirror was coated with blood, but he was oblivious to the pain. He focused everything he had on the door, every muscle taunt and ready.

“Oh, Niccie, you did something naughty, didn’t you? I can tell. It’s time to come out,” Seth said.

Nicoli had tunnel vision as he stared at the door. The lock undoing itself sounded like an gunshot in his ears. He wasn’t going to die. Everything inside him told him to fight. Fight. Fight!

The door swung open and the moment Seth’s face came into view Nicoli lunged with a primal cry. He rammed into Seth with all of his might. The mirror piece jerked in his hand, meeting resistance, before sinking into helpless flesh.

Seth made a peculiar noise. It was one of surprise mixed with a gurgle and a delayed cry. The giant main tumbled over, taking the mirror shard with him. Nicoli wasted no time in fleeing the room. He ran blindly. He had no idea where he was going, but he just knew he had to run.

He fled down hallway after hallway, twisting and turning along with them. The stairs had to be somewhere. Once he was down the stairs he would find the door out of the building and head for the town. Someone would have to help him.

As he rounded another hallway he slammed into something. Hard. He fell back and crashed to the floor.

“What the fuck?” a voice said. One that was oddly familiar.

Nicoli looked up to see a man he had never seen before standing in front of him. The first thing that broke through his panic hazed mind was that the man had a lot of metal in his face. Blue eyes stared at him in bewilderment.

“The hell are you doing out of your room?” the man asked. “And why are you…?” The man trailed off as he stared at Nicoli’s hands.

He looked down at his hands, they were stained red and they were gashed heavily, more so than he realized since he felt nothing but adrenaline. The blood was soaking into the carpet around him and he stared at it in amazement. There was so much of it.

He was brought out of his astonishment when the man took a step forward. He looked up and his eyes widened. The man was definitely a vampire if the fangs that were bared at him gave him anything to go by. It was the man’s eyes that startled him.

They were completely blank. No pupils or irises, just a complete, hazy white. He had never seen anything like it. His awe was disrupted by the feral growl the man produced. It was then he realized how animalistic the man appeared and he wasn’t just any animal. He was a predator.

Nicoli screamed and clambered to his feet just as the man lunged at him. He ran the way he had come, but before he could even round the corner and figure appeared and he was slammed into a wall for the second time.

He crumbled to the ground and this time he had no energy to get up. He had used everything he had. He was done for.

The light was blocked out as someone loomed over him and he opened his eyes. His vision was extremely blurred, but by the incredible stature of the person he knew it was Seth.

“You’re going to pay for that you little…Van, what are you –”

There were now two distorted figures in Nicoli’s line of sight and they began to grapple with each other. He blinked his eyes repeatedly to clear his vision and he was just in time to see Seth throw Metal Face, or Van, as Seth had said, down the hall where Nicoli had bumped into him.

Van immediately flipped back to his feet, the same crazed, wild look about him. Nicoli thought he would go for Seth, but instead the vampire made another leap at him. All he could muster was a flinch. There was nothing more he could do.

Van was stopped in mid jump by a swift foot to the face by Seth. The hostile vampire was sent flying once more and landed in the same area.

“Get a hold of yourself, you pathetic whelp,” Seth hissed. The playful air about him was completely gone, replaced by irritation and displeasure.

Nicoli watched in fascination as Van lifted his head with a groan and his eyes were back to normal.

“Holy hell. What the fuck just happened?” he asked, placing a hand on his head. He looked up to Seth and his eyes widened. “D-Dude! You have something sticking out of your stomach!”

Seth scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Really, I hadn’t noticed.”

Nicoli regained enough strength to prop himself on an elbow. When the hallway stopped spinning he focused on what had Van so spooked. His mouth fell open. Sticking out of Seth’s stomach was the long, jagged piece of mirror. Seth faced Van, giving Nicoli a perfect look at his own blood stand reflection.

Nicoli couldn’t believe it. Had he actually done that? Did he really stab someone? If Seth had been human Nicoli would have killed him for sure. Just the thought made his stomach roil and the taste of bile appear in his mouth.

The nausea didn’t pass when Seth took hold of the mirror shard. A horrific squelch assaulted Nicoli’s ears as the mirror was removed from flesh and discarded.

“Man, you’re covered in blood,” Van said and his voice sounded strained.

Nicoli could see Van’s face twitching and he was gritting his teeth. It was then Van noticed that he was sitting in the blood Nicoli had spilt when he had first fallen. His face twisted and he put his hands on his head. It appeared as if he were fighting something as his body began to shudder. Nicoli gasped when his pupils began to fade in and out.

“Tsk, you’re so worthless,” Seth said. He went to Van in just a few strides. He fisted a hand in Van’s shirt as the other rose in the air. Nicoli flinched as the fist came down on Van’s face. Seth repeated the action multiple times until Van’s body went completely slack. Nicoli watched as Seth tossed the unconscious Van against a wall and out of the way.

“I have no idea why Dimitri is so enamored with you,” Seth spat, giving Van’s gut a swift kick.

Nicoli cowered and whimpered when Seth turned toward him, his eyes narrowed into slits.

“Your turn.”

Some of Nicoli’s strength was sparked and he crawled away with bloody hands. If Seth could knock out someone of his own family with little remorse there was no telling what he was going to do to Nicoli.

“No!” Nicoli screeched and dug his fingers into the carpet when his ankle was grabbed and he was yanked back. He was rolled over onto his back and his feet were raised into the air. He stared into Seth’s black eyes as he loomed over Nicoli.

“You are lucky that Dimitri has plans for you,” Seth hissed. “Or pulling a little stunt like that would have cost you our life…and quite a few other things beforehand.”

Nicoli could offer no rebuttal. There were things he could have said. Something along the lines of Seth not being able to take what he dished out, but Nicoli’s throat had closed. Fear making him silent.

With a final snort through his nose Seth turned and dragged Nicoli through the hallway, past Van’s seemingly lifeless form. There was so much blood running down Van’s face.

Van was the least of Nicoli’s concerns. He was being dragged by his feet to God only knew where by a psychopathic serial killer, who he had seriously pissed off. Nicoli frantically twisted and turned his body, kicking his feet to try and free them. He tried to roll over and slow the progress with his hands, digging into the carpet desperately.

A trail of blood stained the fibers that Nicoli clawed at. The carpet felt like thousands of needles in his open wounds, but he didn’t care. He had to make this stop. He just had to!

“Better be prepared,” Seth told him over a slim shoulder. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride down.” He threw his head back and laughed, pulling Nicoli with more vigor.

Nicoli stopped his vain attempt at tearing up the carpet and lifted his head. He wished he hadn’t. The hallway continued on to another hallway, but a part of the wall disappeared into open space, a railing connecting one wall to another only there was two parts of the railing missing, leading down towards…staircases.

“Oh, God. Please, no! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” He knew apologies were worthless to Seth, but they poured out anyways as he went back to twisting and attacking the carpet.

He abandoned the carpet when Seth reached the first set of stairs. Instead he curled forward, toward his stomach and covered his head with his arms. That’s the only thought that processed. He had to protect his head.

He felt it when the ground ran out and he gasped when he fell a little ways. The surprise fled as his back connected with the edge of the first step. It rammed into his spine and sent a hot wave of pain through his back. Before the ache could even begin to fade he was hit by the next step and the next and the next.

Cries of agony filled the air and Nicoli didn’t even realize they were his own. It lasted forever. Slide. Bang. Slide. Bang. The pain was so intense it eventually numbed into an ethereal sensation. One he could never explain. There had to have been a thousand steps. It was never ending. Then everything stilled.

It took several seconds for him to realize that they were off the steps, still feeling them plowing into his back. When it registered his body went lax. His breathing was labored and he let out soft whimpers with each breath.

His legs were bent down till they pressed against his chest. A hand grabbed his face and shook his head a little.

“Open your eyes,” Seth’s voice commanded. Another shake when Nicoli didn’t. “Open them!”

Nicoli did so with a groan and was met with a sinister grin.

“That’s better,” Seth cooed. “Mmm your look of pain is mesmerizing. I’m going to get so much pleasure out of what’s going to come next.”

“W-What –”

Seth’s finger pressed against Nicoli’s lips.

“Shh don’t speak. Save that voice. Besides.” Seth’s smirk widened. “We wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise, would we?” The question must have been rhetorical because Seth began dragging Nicoli by his feet again without waiting for a reply.

The fight had been literally knocked out of Nicoli. He laid back and simply let himself be pulled along, the pain still rippling over his back. The floor texture had changed. There was no more carpet, but something sleek and hard. His back made a squeaking sound against it as he was towed.

When Seth came to a stop there was the sound of a door opening. Nicoli forced his eyes opening. As much as he didn’t want to he had to see what was happening. His eyes widened. He room beyond the door was pitch black, an endless, bottomless black like Seth’s eyes.

A jolt of panic shot through Nicoli and the pain in his back amplified as he watch Seth begin to enter and step down. That meant only one thing. Stairs.

“No. Not again! Please! Please, no!” he screamed. Once again the fear made him move and he tried to claw away from the door and away from Seth’s grip. His bloody hands slipped and slid across the floor as Seth yanked him closer.

“I told you not to waste that pretty voice of yours. Now come on.” Seth pulled him closer and closer to the edge.

“Seth,” a voice said from deep within the darkness. Dimitri.

Seth froze and even flinched.

“Yes, Master?” he asked, turning to look down into the abyss.

“Bring him down gently, please.”

Seth huffed and grumbled. Nicoli yelped as Seth grabbed his shirt and hefted him up. Next thing he knew he was dangling over Seth’s shoulder and descended into the darkness backwards. He was just noticing how uncomfortable Seth’s shoulder was as it jabbed into his stomach when Seth reached the floor and he was dropped.

Nicoli groaned as he curled up on his side. The ground was now rough and cold. Cement. A light turned on above him and he closed his eyes against it.

“My, my, now just what happened?”

Nicoli squinted against the light and saw Dimitri standing over him, his face cast in shadows.

“I’m embarrassed to say that he…surprised me,” Seth said, standing close to Dimitri’s side. “Shattered the mirror in the bathroom and stabbed me with it.” His hand went to his blood soaked stomach and to the hole now in his jacket. The wound that was underneath had undoubtedly already healed. “Needless to say I lost my temper.”

There was a giggle somewhere behind Nicoli. It was definitely from a female, but not the one he had met.

“Wow, the great, scary Seth was taken off guard by a little human boy?” the woman said. “Wish I could have seen it with my own eyes.”

“It’s not that amusing,” Seth growled, glaring in the direction of the voice.

“It just goes to show that you need to learn when to be serious and not play around all the time,” another woman said. Nicoli recognized that voice. Ira. “Next time you’ll be lucky if you only get stabbed.”

Nicoli rolled over slightly enough to see the two women standing behind him. He recognized Ira’s silhouette, but the other woman was completely foreign. He couldn’t see her at all thanks to the light directly above him.

“You really want to lecture me right now, Woman? Better be careful or I’ll –”

“You’ll do nothing, Seth,” Dimitri intervened before a whole argument escalated. “You two need to learn to put petty differences aside.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Yes, Master,” they said.

“Oh,” Seth then said. “Speaking of petty things you may want to go check on that little boy of yours. While dealing with this brat I had to…subdue him.”

Nicoli felt the air instantly thicken with hostility and Ira took a couple threatening steps towards Seth.

“If you laid one hand on him –”

“Actually, I laid several,” Seth said, satisfaction clear in his voice. “What with mine and Nicoli’s bloodied state he lost control. It was either let him tear the boy apart in a wild frenzy or stop him completely. What would you have had me do?”

Nicoli could actually feel Ira seething. It undoubtedly took all of her self control not to fly at Seth and rip his face off. He mentally urged the defacing. Instead Ira turned to Dimitri.

“Dimitri –”

“I understand. Go to him, make sure he’s okay,” Dimitri told her.

Ira was quick to run up the stairs and leave the basement.

“Seth,” Dimitri said, the name mixed with a sigh.

“What? I did it for a good reason, not just my own pleasure.”

Nicoli had been ignored up to this point and was glad for it. He would rather stay curled up on the ground with his throbbing back and stinging hands. The disregard of his presence, however, would not last. He winced and curled up tighter when Dimitri looked down at him.

“Well, as we wait for Ira to return we’ll get things started.”

Nicoli scuttled back as best he could when Dimitri knelt down beside him. He couldn’t move far and bumped into the other woman. This allowed Dimitri to grab his wrist and pull him back in.

“My goodness look at what you’ve done to your hands,” Dimitri said as he looked over every cut, scratch and gash. “You’re lucky you didn’t sever something important.”

Nicoli tried to pull his hand free, but Dimitri would not relent. Dimitri held on with the littlest effort than looked up at the woman behind Nicoli.

“Lillian, could you get him to stand, please?”

The new woman, Lillian, grabbed Nicoli by the back of his shirt and hoisted him to his feet. Before he could even try to struggle Lillian put her arms around him, keeping a strong hold on his arms so that they were forced to stick out towards Dimitri.

“Don’t worry, cutie. Just sit tight and Father will fix you right up,” she whispered into his ear.

And Dimitri did. Using his powerful vampire blood he healed the mutilation Nicoli had inflicted on himself. Nicoli hadn’t realized how much his hands hurt until the pain left him. When Dimitri was done he flexed his fingers and found them fully functional and pain free.

“Now, Nicoli, this is going to be very important,” Dimitri said and Nicoli took the focus off his hands to look up at him. “I may have just healed you, but your pain is only beginning if you still refuse me.” Dimitri crooked a finger under Nicoli’s chin and that kind smile was back. “Just tell me what you know about my brother and I won’t do anything to you. If you still resist me, I will be forced to put you through the worst experience in your young life.”

Nicoli tried to suppress a shudder as he jerked his head away from Dimitri’s hand. He was too tired to throw off the woman and let her be. Her slender arms were still around him and she was even twirling a lock of his hair around her finger. A peculiar one.

“Why are you still pretending to be nice?” Nicoli asked, his voice low and worn. “You already shattered that image earlier. Anything you say now I know will be a lie.” He stared Dimitri in the eye with as much defiance as possible. “So, go ahead, do what you will. My lips are sealed.”

Nicoli knew whatever was going to happen would be inevitable. He had already fought so hard and lost against Seth. Against three vampires, four if Ira came back, he could do nothing. There was one thing he kept locked in his mind. Ethan and the clan were coming. That was a fact that he knew for certain. Along with that thought he knew that if he told Dimitri anything he would most likely be killed right away. If he said nothing the longer he would live and the more time he gave the clan to come get him. It was all that simple. He just prayed he could take whatever it was Dimitri was going to do to him.

“How sad,” Dimitri said with great pity. “I admire your courage, but in this instance it is misplaced. All right, prepare him.” Dimitri stepped back and Seth took his place with a look of pure, vile mirth.

Nicoli now struggled against Lillian, but she held him tight.

“Ah, ah, don’t make this any harder,” she said. “I know Seth’s a big, scary lunatic, but that’s no reason to act like a spooked fawn.” She placed a kiss on his cheek as Seth’s hands went to the front of Nicoli’s shirt.

Nicoli gasped and pushed back into Lillian as the shirt was ripped open, the buttons flying every which way. He knew what was going to happen now. He was going to be raped. Dimitri was going to let Seth finish what he had started.

Lillian and Seth both worked on stripping the shirt from Nicoli’s body and tossing it off to the side.

“I hope you weren’t fond of that shirt, Dad,” Lillian said as she made Nicoli stick his arms out again.

“Not very,” Dimitri said with a shrug as he watched his children work.

Nicoli stared as Seth retrieved some rope from nearby and began binding his wrists together. He figured that would be unnecessary given that, even with hands free, he could do nothing against them.

“Pull back that lovely hair of his. I don’t want to ruin it,” Dimitri told them.

“I have a tie right here.”

Nicoli flinched as the woman’s arms left him and her fingers combed through his hair. He would have fought at that point, but Seth still had a tight grip on his bound wrists. He tried to look anywhere but at Seth because he didn’t want to see that sick smile anymore.

When Lillian was done he was left shirtless, wrists tied and his hair pulled back. Now he was highly uncertain of what was going to happen. He was further perplexed when Dimitri took off his vest and rolled up the sleeves of the shirt underneath.

“All right, hang him up.”

Nicoli’s eyes widened. Hang him up? What was that supposed to mean? He soon found out when he was being pushed and pulled back. When they stopped him he looked up and a cold sweat formed over his skin. Right above him, hanging from the ceiling, was a gigantic hook, resembling the ones used in meat lockers.

Nicoli thrashed and tried to push Seth away when he was grabbed and lifted up. Seth was really the only one tall enough to get Nicoli up high enough to slip the hook between his bound wrists.

When he was released there was instant strain in his arms and shoulders. The rope held and his toes hung over an inch from the ground. He had never felt so vulnerable in his life than right then. Hanging in the middle of the basement as the other three stared on, pleased with their work.

“W-What the hell are you going to do?” he asked and he hated the fear he heard in his voice.

“You’ll see,” Dimitri said. He nodded to Seth, who moved off to a part of the room that the light didn’t reach. When he returned he held a long, thin box and presented it to Dimitri as if it were some sort of prize. Dimitri flashed a smile at Nicoli before opening the box. Nicoli couldn’t see what was inside, Dimitri blocking his view, but when the clan leader turned Nicoli felt all the blood drain from his face.

In Dimitri’s hands laid a long, lethal leather whip. It was coiled around one hand so Nicoli had no idea how long it actually was, but its reach must have been far. As Dimitri walked towards him his eyes never left the weapon.

“I see I have your full attention now,” Dimitri said. “I’ll have you know I am very skilled with this. Back in the old days, when I was human, I was in my fair share of battles. I could wield a whip with as much skill as I could a sword. I know how to inflict minimal pain and maximum pain. With that knowledge, will you still keep your lips locked?”

Nicoli tore his eyes from the whip to Dimitri’s face. A soft smile upturned Dimitri’s lips, but there was something sinister underneath it. A sinister power Dimitri would have no problem bringing out.

For the first time the fear ebbed and the old anger flared. Nicoli was tired of seeing the two faces Dimitri switched between. The merciful saint and the twisted devil. He was going to make Dimitri stick to one face, even if it killed him.

Not knowing where the suicidal bravery came from, Nicoli sucked in a deep breath, drawing all the saliva in his mouth into one pool then released it in a swift shot. His projectile hit Dimitri square between the eyes and the leader jerked in surprise and blinked as the spit trailed down his face.

“Fuck you,” Nicoli snarled.

Nicoli didn’t hear Lillian gasp, or see the look of horror on her face, but he was well aware of the wrath the enveloped Seth as he rushed forward.

“Why you insolent little –”

Dimitri stopped the furious Seth with the hand that held the whip.

“It’s quite all right, Seth,” Dimitri assured him as he wiped his face with the rolled up sleeve of his other arm. “He’s just making his point quite clear. I can respect that.”

“But, Master!”

“Hush now,” Dimitri order. He turned to Nicoli and the sinister smile returned, but far more revealing this time. “Such spirit you have,” he said as he moved forward until he was hardly an inch from Nicoli. “I can see why Ethan likes you so much.”

Dimitri took the whip that was still coiled around his hand and ran the handle down Nicoli’s chest. Nicoli shudder and was tempted to spit a second time, but resisted. There was no telling if even Dimitri could hold Seth back with another offense.

Nicoli’s sides seized and twitched when the handle slid across one as Dimitri slowly walked around till he was behind Nicoli. The handle traced the length of his spine then back up. Nicoli remained tense when it went away.

His ears pricked when a new sound reached them. It was the sound of something falling to the floor. Then something swished around and around, barely touching the floor. It was the whip.

“I hope you are prepared for what is about to happen. I’m quite certain you have never experienced something to this degree in your young life. It won’t be pleasant.”

Nicoli shrieked as there was a crack near his left shoulder and a whoosh of air against his skin. There was no pain because the whip did not connect with his flesh. He let out shuddering breaths and it felt like tiny ants were crawling all over his skin.

Seth laughed and Lillian had positioned herself at the bottom of the stairs, watching with rapt attention.

“Sorry, I’m a tease, I know,” Dimitri’s voice said playfully. “This one won’t be a test. Be ready.”

Nicoli clenched his hands until the nails bit into palms. With eyes closed he took a deep breath. He would endure. He had to endure. He repeated to himself that talking meant death and silence meant time. It became his mantra as he heard the tail of the whip twirl against the floor, like a ballet dancer practicing her pirouettes.

The moment was shattered by the whip slicing through the air. A deafening crack sounded and was drowned out by a scream that reverberated throughout the entire mansion.

===============================Ch. 54 End