Rideten, Present TimeTalen paused in the doorway as a pair of Van Helsing soldiers passed through the hallway beyond. They did not look his way as they passed by the open door. If they had they might have noticed the two bodies that he held by the collars of their uniform and the destruction of the security monitoring room behind him, the third guard on duty lodged still through one of the screens.He was prepared to kill them should even a stray glance fall his way, and yet neither did, deep in a conversation between them about a girl one of them was going to hook up with their shift ended.Talen watched them go, mildly amused, noting that they took the stairs up to the next level. He’d be joining them up there soon enough, but for now their death had been delayed by their inattention to their duty.Once they were gone, he crossed the hallway to the little janitorial closet that he'd located and added the two bodies he held to the pile growing between the shelves of cleaning product
Rideten, Present TimeThe final door at the end of the hall opened onto a balcony overlooking a church. If they followed the balcony around, they would come to the church organ, or the minstrels gallery where the choir would sing, their voices soaring over the congregation.The church was well lit, the pews glowing with soft foot-level lighting, and sconces set against the ancient stone walls to pick up the hand tooling marks left by the stone masons of old. The light was not kind to Heath or herself, Aislen thought wryly. Hybrid night vision didn’t have a lot of color distinction, and things tended to be more different shades of grey, so the splatter over their faces, in Heath’s hair, and across their clothing and arms, had been softened by its grey-tones. In the light, they were walking blood-baths dripping gore onto the well-worn floorboards.Heath’s top was grey, and the blood showed as darker patches that could be sweat. Hers (well, Rhett’s, though she was considering his wardrob
Rideton, Present DayTalen pulled the chair over and straddled it, crossing his arms over the back. “Who was it that you were talking to just before?”The Van Helsing’s skin had blanched, and his eyes appeared sunken from the pain of three broken limbs. Talen was impressed that the man was still conscious and fighting for survival. Dragging himself across the floor to the wall had done his compound fracture no favors, and the air was filled with the scent of blood.“Stop looking at me like that,” the man rasped.Talen realized that he was hungry. It had been a night filled with activity after all, and due to the need for quiet and speed, he had refrained from drinking from those he killed, using brute force and breaking necks, instead. “My apologies,” his grin said the opposite of his words, revealing his elongated teeth. “I haven’t eaten recently.”“Fuck,” the man half whimpered the word, his face screwing up in despair.“Don’t worry,” Talen purred the words. “You’re not exactly to m
Rideton, Present Time Other than the movie-watching werewolves, their floor was pretty clear. Which was a good thing, Rhett decided, because Cameron was still off after vomiting. He needed a good feed to make up for what he’d lost and put the color back into his cheeks. “It’s no different,” Rhett tried to encourage his mate to feel better about the massacre. “To chopping the head off a chicken, or slaughtering a lamb, or even taking down a deer on a run.” “Yeah, it is different,” Cameron wasn’t buying it. “And it’s different to what we did at Havermouth, too, because these people are just… peopling. They’re not soldiering.” “They could be soldiering, though, and that’s the point,” Rhett told him. “That they’re not soldiering at the moment, doesn’t mean that they aren’t still soldiers.” “Plus, the butcher kills the lambs and chickens,” Cameron added under his breath as he pressed his ear against a door. “Lots of people in here,” he said softly. “But… Someone’s crying. A kid. I don’
Rideten, Present TimeThe werewolf soldiers divided their ranks, many following Talen, and the others organizing the werewolf refugees. As he stepped out the door, Aislen saw Rhett cast a final look over his shoulder at the chaos inside, their eyes meeting. Rhett was pissed. Aislen couldn't blame him. It had been tough on him and Cameron to slaughter their way through the Van Helsings and here she was bestowing mercy on these three for no other reason than that it felt right to do.Aislen waited until Talen and Rhett had stepped out into the hallway. “Keys?”"Here," Cameron handed her the keys, but his eyes were on the door and his mind was on Rhett, and how pissed their mate seemed about her inexplicable act of mercy. "I hope you know what you're doing. I am going after Talen and Rhett." Before she could respond, he weaved his way through the refugees and disappeared out the door."Shit," she said under her breath. Cameron hadn’t reacted with irritable anger like Rhett had, but rathe
Rideten, Present TimeAbigail had released most of the werewolf females from the torture chamber by the time Meguitte returned. She stood in the doorway and considered the prisons that remained. The male werewolves and humans brought from the house where they had taken Bianca and June occupied the cages whilst the two female police officer werewolves remained chained to the wall.“Where do you want her?” Connery gestured to June. He had already secured Bianca to the torture table.“Put her on the wall, thank you,” Meguitte approached Bianca. Strands of cobweb remained clinging to Bianca’s clothing and skin although Connery had peeled away the majority in order to free Bianca’s limbs to secure them to the table. She reached over and held out her hand, allowing a little spider to scurry up her palm. She transferred it to a corner, where it would not be hurt.“You have wards on you, strong ones,” she said to Bianca. “Not placed by you, I am thinking. Wards are an interesting magic. They
Rideten, Present TimeThe three brothers left immediately after Aislen declared Noah healed. Only Devon paused in the doorway, looking back at the now quiet room of empty cages. “Thank you,” he said to her and left before she could frame a response.“Cameron killed a teenage girl who was watching cat videos, and accidentally tore the jaw off another guy,” Aislen turned to Heath. “And chucked his guts up. That’s why Rhett is mad. Before you ask. That’s what the attitude was about. He felt it was unfair to give the brothers mercy.”“He wasn’t wrong,” Heath replied. “But he might be happier to know you set them up as spies. They will go back; you know that don’t you? They’re going to walk out of here, find the nearest group of Van Helsings, maybe another place they’re staying, and bring them back here to kill us.”“Maybe,” Aislen replied. “Maybe not. I’m hopeful not.”“If you believed that, you wouldn’t have fucked with their brains like that,” he pointed out striding to the door and pee
Rideten, Present Time“I’m so sick of this place,” Rhett muttered to Cameron as they walked through the werewolf bunker. He saw Victor leaning over a monitor look up and his expression darken. “Here we go,” Rhett sighed and saw Heath slide him a look out of the corner of his eye in warning.“What that actual fuck?” Victor greeted them his wolf flashing into his eyes. “What are you doing?”“Showing you up?” Aislen smiled sweetly, and Rhett smothered his grin. He enjoyed Aislen’s spit and fire when it wasn’t pointed his way. “Cam,” she glanced over her shoulder at their red-haired mate. “Victor’s people are going to give us a room for what’s left of the night. We can wash off and grab a few hours of sleep before he sends us with an escort to meet up with the group and the reporters. Why don’t you take Rhett and the bags, and you can use the shower first, whilst we let Victor lecture us,” she bared her teeth at Victor in something that was the opposite to a smile and exposed her newly va
Rideten, Present Time Aislen was jolted awake when Talen shot out of the bed to the door. She was nicely nuzzled into Heath and Talen had been a warm spot against her back, his sudden moving causing a draught that was quickly filled when Cameron rolled over and snuggled up. She could hear Talen’s voice through the open door, and the reply of other voices on the other side. Cameron’s hand cupped her breast and his cock nudged against her arse. He rocked his hips suggestively, still mostly asleep. Heath tensed. “Fuck.” “- leave in fifteen,” a woman spoke crisply and in a tone that said there would be no compromise. “Victor’s orders.” “No,” Aislen pressed her face into Heath’s ribs. “Nonononono.” “It’s retaliation,” he decided. “For last night.” “It’s mean,” she grumbled. “Cruel.” “No sex?” Cameron sat up. “That’s not fair.” “You had sex last night. Good sex too, from the holes you left in the covers,” Heath pointed out. “It was good sex,” Cameron was smug. He nudged Rhett. “Hey
Havermouth, Present Time Embroidering living human flesh was somewhat harder than Meguitte had anticipated, but the challenge was very absorbing. Midway through the first flower, she realized that she wanted the knots required every stitch to cluster at the center, so she snipped and undid what she had started, much to Bianca’s distress. Meguitte was tempted to stem the witch’s complaints by explaining that it was becoming obvious that the stitches were not causing enough pain to override the wards, and her choices had become doing greater, potentially maiming, harm, or being patient and hoping that a lot of small agony would eventually become enough. The second attempt turned out better, and by the time she had completed the third flower and created a stem to connect the three, she was quite proud of her efforts. The blood kept getting in the way of her design, however, and she paused a moment to suck her fingertips. “I do believe I understand Mercy’s aversion to magical blood,” s
Rideten, Present Time The water was all but cold, but Talen had bathed in worse – recently, in fact, during the troubles in Havermouth. He scrubbed himself with a washcloth, rubbing away the sticky blood. A rhythmic thudding started against the wall behind him, causing him to pause and grin. It sounded like Cameron was putting some force into it, he thought amused and absently reached down to cup his cock, already hard at the thought. He turned off the water, deciding to join them. As he briskly dried himself, his phone began to ring from where he had set it on the vanity. Fatima’s number flashed onto the screen. He raised his eyebrows and answered it. “Fatima.” “Talen,” she was breathless and her voice tense. “They did it. They actually did it. Jules is alive.” Talen almost dropped the phone in surprise. “He is?” “Yes. He’s not quite… He’s very disorientated, but Harry’s looking after him. But he’s alive.” Talen braced his palm against the cold stone of the vanity, relief floodi
Rideten, Present Time Aislen grinned. “Is that right, Mr Wolf?” She purred stalking him over to the bed. “If I get it, I get to do whatever I like with it?” Cameron’s lips curled in a smirk. “No. But I will do something you like with it.” “Promises, promises,” she lunged for him, and he sidestepped so that she landed face-down on the mattress, before pinning her there with his body, his hands slowly drawing her hands up and holding them down to either side of her head whilst he nuzzled under the tangled sprawl of her wet curls to nibble along her shoulder and neck as her giggles gave way to soft moans as she closed her eyes and surrendered to his seduction. He nudged her legs apart and her knees onto the edge of the mattress, lifting her hips from the mattress so that he could rub his cock against her cunt in a slow, hot tease whilst his teeth pricked little bloodspots along her neck, his tongue soothing away the little sting each time as it captured the droplets. She could feel t
Havermouth, Present Time Tears streamed down Harry‘s face as they rose to their feet. They ran their hands over the lush hide of the weredragon. It was precisely the colour of Jules’ hair. Harry draped their body over the dragon’s chest, pressing their ear to the hide, celebrating the steady beat and rise and fall of the ribs. Alive. Gloriously alive. And they could feel the tie of their mate bond twining them together. With their eyes closed, Jules was a glow within the darkness. “Oh Jules, Jules, Jules…” They wept the words, stroking and luxuriating in the living creature that surrounded them with its bulk. It did not matter in the slightest that this Jules was not as Jules had been before… Harry’s most fervent wish had been granted and they had their mate back. “I knew it,” they whispered pressing kisses into the fur as they moved along the length of the dragon towards its head. “I knew that you were not gone.” They stroked over the dragon’s snout and pressed a kiss between his n
Havermouth, Present TimeHarry did not know how long they had been tending to Jules in the small cold room. Time had lost any meaning as the room had no natural light. They fed when Fatima brought them blood, or one of the ancients descended the stairs in order to donate. And then they would patiently drip blood into Jules’ slack mouth, watching for a sign that he had swallowed, before unbandaging the ruin of Jules’ hand, examining the wound for signs of healing before coating it again with blood and carefully, tenderly re-wrapping it.Jules was not dead. They were certain of it. Although he did not breathe, did not swallow, and his heart did not beat, Harry was certain that they sensed a spark of life within him, that they would know if the body that they held was nothing but flesh.They had, after all, handled many dead bodies in their long, long life.And the hand wound... It looked better. They could not precisely say how it was so - it was still a mess of bone and meat, and the b
Rideten, Present Time“Oh gawd, so good,” Aislen moaned as she squeezed in between Rhett and Cameron. “I so need to get this blood off my skin. It’s beginning to itch. Tsk, look at you two,” she added taking the washcloth from Rhett’s hand and tugging him down so that she could scrub the blood from his face. “You even have some in your ears. How do you get blood in your ears?”“Beats me,” Rhett’s hands gripped her hips, and his thumbs stroked her skin suggestively. “I have some blood lower down,” he smoldered. “Cameron was just offering to lick it off for me when you came in and gave us a better idea.”“Oh?” Aislen knew precisely what they had in their dirty, dirty minds - basically the same plan with slight variations between the two men. But she wasn’t going to make it easy on them. “Come here,” she scrubbed at Cameron’s face with the cloth. “Good enough,” she decided and handed it to him. “Do me whilst I rinse my hair out.”“Do you, or do you?” Cameron teased as he and Rhett shifte
Rideten, Present TimeSamuel’s wing sails caught the air with a whoomp. The guard heard it, looking up in astonishment a moment before Samuel seized him. In the old days, Samuel thought ruefully as he carried the struggling man up into the air again, he would have just let the man go and let gravity take care of the rest. However stealth was required in the current situation and now that he had the man, he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with him, other than sate his thirst.It had to be something that wouldn’t be noticed immediately, Samuel concluded as he sank his teeth into the struggling guard’s neck. Whatever he did with him needed to have a visual impact, as the Emissary had been clear that part of the reason for the attack was psychological - to show the enemy that they weren’t even safe in their own headquarters.He saw a flash from the corner of his eye as Ember spread her wings, slowing her descent as she targeted another guard - but only slowing enough to prevent her from i
Rideten, Present Time“And here I thought you’d achieved the most outrageously jaw-dropping appearance the last time you walked into my bunker Mr Gale,” Victor observed dryly as he closed the meeting room door behind them. “Look at you,” he added gesturing at the three of them.Heath slid a look at each of his mates. Talen raised his eyebrows. Of them all, their vampire hybrid mate had escaped the massacre with only a few blood splatters in his beard. Seeing Heath’s look, he raised his hands to show that they were as bloody as Heath’s own, which made Heath feel better. He scratched at his jaw feeling blood flake away under his nail.“This is what war looks like,” Aislen replied snidely. “Something you might find unfamiliar from a bunker, Victor, but true nonetheless.”Victor shook his head as he crossed to a cupboard and pulled out a decanter. “Whiskey?” He offered them.“I will,” Talen said.“Not us,” Heath declined regretfully. Whiskey would have gone down well after the night in th