Mason got to his feet, helping Harley up with him. She frowned as the wound on her head began to throb, but forced herself to ignore it as she gathered up her best weapons and changed into attire suitable for battle; a black vest top with a belt that could hold many weapons, and black leggings that had hidden compartments for smaller weapons, and boots on her feet that hid slender knives at the side of the treads. He gave a wry smile as she reappeared from her bedroom, trying his best to believe that the night wouldn't end in a bloodbath. She didn't return the smile, and reached for the door handle, surprised when he reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the door.Harley gave him a questioning look, but before she could verbally ask him, the door was kicked open with a force that almost knocked it off its hinges. Mason stared past her, glaring at the person standing in the doorway; Julian. Though he was barely recognisable as the vampire he'd always known. His face ha
Four Weeks Ago…His hands tucked into his pockets, Mason continued down the sidewalk until he reached the house that, for many years now, he had been calling home. Sliding in through the front door, he turned around and sighed in frustration as he saw Julian sitting with his legs folded and his stare fixed on the door. The night had already been the worst of his life, and coming back to deal with this did nothing to lift his spirits. He could barely think straight; all he could think about was her."Ah, and so the soldier returns from battle alone." Julian greeted him. "Could it be that Demitri got his hooks into her… or did you finally come to your senses?""Don't!" "Come on, dude. I'm not trying to fight you… besides, I'm- I'm done with Demitri.""What?""You heard me.""Yeah, but why?" Mason asked, confused."He stopped by after you left the apartment, removed the vervain bullets that you put in me; thank you for that, and when he started on how I failed orders I told him that I c
Mason's head was spinning with a thousand thoughts. He was almost certain that he'd misunderstood what she was saying. There was no chance that Harley would ever ask for such a thing, and by now he thought he'd made it obvious that he had no intention of ruining her. Yet here they were; standing in the middle of the cemetery in the dead of night, having this conversation that he never thought would see the light of day. He pinched the bridge of his nose in between his finger and thumb, then looked back at her. "Change you?... Harley, are you saying what I think you're saying?""I don't know what you're thinking right now, so I can't say.""Because the way I heard it was that you want me to make you a vampire.""That's exactly what I'm saying.""No way!" He protested. "I- I refuse to burden your soul with this curse. I could never forgive myself if I ruined you."Harley gasped at his words. She hadn't been expecting him to protest against her request. It was inevitable that their love
Harley slipped quietly through the front door of the apartment, and closed it behind her with as little noise as possible. Though by the time she turned around, Zander was already standing before her. She cursed under her breath, gave him a fake smile and made a break for her room only for him to step directly in her path. With little choice she forced her gaze upon him, trying to ignore his cold expression by focusing on the grey colour of his messy hair. She bit her lip and forced back the words that she wanted to say, knowing that lighting another fire under him would do no good."Is-" She cleared her throat. "Is there something you need to say?"Zander folded his arms across his chest and quirked an eyebrow at her as he stepped aside. She eyed the short and narrow hallway that led to her bedroom, but remained where she was standing and only adjusted slightly so that he was in her line of vision once again. He stared down at her from beneath hooded eyes, and she didn't tear her eye
The echo of a gunshot caused Julian to stop in his tracks. He'd not long left the harbour, and wanted nothing to do with the tension between Mason and Zander. Despite this, he found himself unable to continue forward, and turned around; racing back to the harbour, and reaching it within seconds. He stopped as he reached the edge of the shadows, knowing he'd be dead if Zander saw him. He ducked down behind the worn down building, and peered out at the scene before him.Mason was lying motionless on the floor, paralysed from what he guessed were vervain bullets, but Zander was nowhere to be seen. Julian's eyes drifted past Mason, over to Harley, who was kneeling down with a shell shocked expression on her face. He followed the line of her stare down to the ground, and discovered why Zander was missing. The middle aged man was slumped down by a wall, and by the sound of his breathing and his uneven heart, Julian could tell he didn't have long. His eyes wandered over to Demitri, who was s
Racing up the two flights of stairs towards the apartment on the third floor, Harley stopped abruptly when she reached the door, causing Mason to almost run into her and Julian to skid on the slippery floor as he avoided crashing into them. She inspected the door closely, and her suspicions were confirmed. "Why have we stopped? We need to get to those vials before-" Mason began, but she was quick to interrupt. "The catch of the door has been busted open." "Okay, so someone has been here, and it's highly likely that it was Demitri. But that doesn't mean he's found the vials or anything, for now we should stay calm and investigate further." He attempted to reassure her. "Julian, thoughts?"Julian pushed himself up from leaning against the wall opposite and rolled his eyes. "If Demitri has been here then he most likely was able to sniff out those vials of blood and get his hands on them." He answered. "In which case, we're all screwed. You, me, Harley, and every other clueless sod in
Memories of the previous night flooded Harley's mind as she was pulled into awake by the strong rays of sunlight that leaked through the windows; being out in the city, experiencing things that she'd thought impossible, dancing with Mason underneath the Brooklyn bridge. She could still feel his hands entangled in her hair, her legs around his waist, and the trail of kisses from her neck to her lips, phantoms of the way their evening had ended. She opened her eyes, bringing her hand up to shield them from the sunlight, and tilted her head up as they adjusted to see Mason laying awake, his arms still wrapped around her figure."I thought vampires didn't sleep?" She muttered amid a yawn.He grinned. "We don't." "Have you been laid there the whole night?""Pretty much, but before you protest that I shouldn't have, I wanted to. You fell asleep pretty quickly after everything and I didn't want to risk disturbing you."A sleepy smile crept onto her face and she gently moved his head down to
Harley exhaled deeply and crept silently down the stairs and sauntered across the hallway, into the front room. Mason, having heard her footsteps, stepped away from the window and turned around as she approached him. "What is it?" She bit down on her lower lip, hesitating over what she wanted to say. "N- nothing." She closed her eyes with a sigh. "It's just… are we sure that ambushing Demitri is the right call?"Mason's eyebrows pulled together in a frown, indicating that he was rethinking the decision himself. He took another step forward, so that they were mere inches away from one another and his hands found their way around her waist. "Honestly, I don't know… but it's the best that I've got." "Yet you don't seem too excited about going toe to toe with him." She pointed out.At some point during those few seconds, her eyes had caught his own and he knew better than to lie about how he really felt about their plan. He kept his eyes locked on hers, and gave the closest thing to a