• Chapter Nine-Manotosiel



    I found sleep impossible after Mana left, so I spent the next few hours reading and re-reading Lasarn’s note, trying to make sense of the words. I looked at the wrinkled parchment again, thought I had instantly memorized the message the first time I read them.

    Take care of Mana. She’s
    more important than you
    could possibly imagine.
    -L


    What the hell was he talking about? Important to what? Was Halastor planning something, and needed Mana’s clean soul? I couldn’t bear to think about it. Shoving the note in my back pocket, I laid down and stared at the ceiling. Mana was close enough that I could sense her again, and felt myself relax, letting out the breath I’d held for the last few hours. I didn’t want something to happen to her. She was too much like family to me. The only family I really had anymore…

    I was still staring at the cracking ceiling when Mana walked through the door. She stopped in the middle of the room and studied my confused expression, then let it go and sat on her bed to take off her boots. Leave it to Mana to own hiking boots when we spent the last fifty-something years in New York City.
    “Alright…I give up…what are you stressing about Esa?” she asked, not even looking up from unhooking them from her legs.
    “I’m not stressing. Stressing would indicate some sort of danger or trouble. We are in neither at the moment, so like I said, not stressing.” Obviously she didn’t believe me, because I didn’t believe myself. I didn’t have to look at her to know that she was glaring at me. “Really, not stressing.”
    “Fine, don’t tell me. I suppose I’ll find out when you trust me again,” she muttered and I groaned, putting a pillow over my face.
    “Don’t do the guilt thing. Anything but the guilt thing Manotosiel; it’s really unfair and you know it.”
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about dear Esa. Honestly, how you come up with such notions is beyond me.” I groaned, pushing the pillow against my face as though trying to suffocate myself until she pulled it from my hands. My nails tore through the fabric, and feathers drifted gently through the air until they landed on my skin. I couldn’t help but laugh at the expression on her face.
    “What?” I laughed. She seemed frozen at first, then burst into laughter. Forgetting where she was standing, she fell backwards on her bed, clutching her ribcage. “What?”
    “You…look…like…a…giant…bird!” she wailed, laughing harder when I sat up. I ran my fingers through my hair, and ended up with two hands full of feathers. It was hard to fight the urge to roll my eyes, but I managed.
    “Did you have a nice walk?” I asked, hoping to stop the high pitched laughter she was making. It took a minute, but she finally sat up and took a deep breath.”
    “Yea…it was great. I found some really good escape routes…just in case.” I couldn’t help the look on my face. “What?”
    “Mana, we’re not going to have to do that anymore, I promise.”
    “Esa, come on, you say that every time, and what happens when we think we’ve finally settled somewhere? Hunters show up. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have a plan in case Halastor comes for us again. We can’t fight them.”
    “I never said we’d fight them. We both know that if we tried, we’d get blown straight to hell. I won’t let that happen to you Mana.” I took her fidgeting hands in mine. “I promise you that we will find who did this to you, and we’ll fix it.” She shrugged.
    “And miss the adventure of invincibility? I kinda like being able to fall a hundred stories and walk away without a scratch.” I sighed. “Besides, what would you do without me? I couldn’t possibly leave you to fend for yourself.” I was about to argue when she got that oh-so-familiar expression on her face.
    “The moon’s up…”
    “Mhm, and the vamps are out. You better get your blades…” I nodded, cutting her off before she could lecture me on the dangers.
    “How many?”
    “Five.”
    “Young?”
    “Nothing you shouldn’t be able to handle.”
    “Where?”
    “Seven miles north of the city; at the concert stage that we passed on the way from the airport.”
    “How bad is it going to be?” I flinched when she shuddered from the vision.
    “They want a bloodbath; thinking of crashing the stage…soon.” I had gotten into my gear while she talked. Of course I couldn’t bring my longblade or bow. That would be too obvious, so I settled for my daggers and my magic. How I longed for the days when I could go medieval on an enemy with medieval weapons.
    Checking to make sure I had everything, I looked at Mana, who still looked dazed.
    “Stay safe; I’ll be back soon,” I said, kissing the top of her head. She didn’t respond, so I put a full protection ward on the room before I left, racing into the woods.

    The concert grounds weren’t hard to find; the music could be heard for miles, and soon I was at the fence surrounding backstage. The place reeked of Vampires, but the sent wasn’t mixed with a fresh kill, so it wasn’t enough to make me gag. It was however, enough to make the humans edgy. Edgy humans lead to things like the Salem Witch Trials. The last thing I needed was edgy humans.
    Jumping the fence was easy enough. Following the vamp’s scent backstage at a rock concert—not so much. Half the audience would have some form of bond to a vampire, even if they didn’t know it. No wonder these vamps had chosen this concert to crash; made it harder to find the bloodsuckers.
    That is…until I caught the fresh scent of a passing vampire. I grinned, my canines elongating. One fabulous bit of being demon-cursed…the ability of shape shifting. It made it so much easier to deal with my prey if they thought I was one of them.
    “Hey! What are you doing back here? Let me see your pass!” I rolled my eyes at the teenager that approached me with a clipboard in his hand. In less than a second, I held up a duplicate pass, and he easily found an alias of mine on his precious list. It was enough to get the pest to leave me alone; not that it helped much now that attention had been drawn to me. I was about to continue looking when I heard another voice.
    “Yes, dear one, what are you doing here?” The second the icy breath hit my neck, I knew I didn’t have to look any further. Glacially cold lips pressed against my neck.
    “Looking for the ones wanting to out us.” The vampire behind me froze for a brief second, then chuckled.
    “And why is that?” His fingers traced along my waist, then took hold of my hips and pulled me against his body, all while his tongue traced along my throat. I shivered, trying to control my repulsed shudder.
    “I want in; it’s about time we show these mortals whose really in charge of things.”Again, he chuckled.
    “Tell me, who do you think you are to demand something like that?” I grinned when he slipped his arm around my neck, his fangs lowering towards my neck.
    “Dasi.” I felt him flinch, and grinned wider when he backed away. I turned to look at the vampire and felt like I had been socked in the stomach. This man was familiar to me in a rather odd way. It took it a second for my mind to piece it together, and when it did, I backed up a few steps. This was James’s elder brother, Edward. This was the man that made my cousin Samantha the ruler of the Vampirian world…
    He shouldn’t be the bloodsucker in front of me. This changed everything. I couldn’t kill him; he was family. I swore under my breath and glared at him.
    “Esa, what are you doing here?” he growled, knowing I would be the only one brave enough to use my mother’s name. I had to get out of here. It wasn’t safe anymore.
    “I could ask you the same thing Edward. Do you know what you’re doing?” I hissed. He growled and I froze when I caught the aura of a much stronger vampire.
    “Oh look fellas, little Eddy found something to play with.” I felt someone grab my arm, and I was flung against a wall; only to be pinned by said wall by my neck. I then saw, for the first time, the face of my attacker. His irises were blood red, his skin pale as snow. A large dark scar split his left eyebrow in half, the scar extending down to his jawline. His left eye was clouded, as though blind, and I realized why he sent a shudder down my spine. Because I had given him that scar several centuries before.
    “How’s it going Gabriel? Long time, no see.” He grinned, his fangs extending in bloodlust.
    “Little Aurelia. This is quite the surprise. I thought you were dead. It’s good to know I’ll be the one to fulfill that rumor.” I glared at him, building up my will for a full shapeshift. It was time to end this before any mortals stepped in.
    “Actually Gabriel, the name is Esasbonel,” I said, my body shimmering as the shapeshift took hold. Gabriel pulled his hand away as though burned, and looked back in my direction; only to look into the golden eyes of a black leopard.
    *How about you hold still and I’ll put a few more scars on your face.* I watched him shudder and back away, which caused a growl to issue itself from my throat. *Coward.*
    “Holy s**t, a cursed hunter! Gabriel, dude, let’s get out of here. It’s not worth it.” I was only vaguely aware that three others had joined the party, all weaker than Gabriel. This was going to be easy…
    The demon was in control now, and so I couldn’t stop as my massive paws began moving me forward. Gabriel was still backing away, toward the stage. I growled, seeing the humans on the other side of the partition that had no clue what was going on just a few feet away.
    I lunged, pushing Gabriel on his back. This was too much like the last time I had fought him. Only I had been the one with the pleading fear in my eyes as he easily pinned me, lowering his lips to my warm, living flesh.
    My long-forgotten humanity was screaming at me, trying to break free of the cage the demon has pushed it into when I was cursed. I held back, my dagger-like teeth just a hair from his icy skin. I felt his rock-hard chest beneath my paws; felt my claws glance harmlessly through his shirt, tearing it to shreds.
    I couldn’t do this; not tonight. Bounding over him, I quickly fazed back to my normal form and looked at Gabriel, who was already on his feet, staring at me in disbelief, as were the others.
    “Get out of here,” I murmured. Gabriel kept his eyes on me while the others looked at each other, not sure what to do.
    “Are you serious?” Edward asked in shock. I carefully gave him a quick glance, then stared at Gabriel.
    “I’m as serious as I can be. Get out of here, now. I won’t give you another chance at this.” Gabriel’s eyes went wide when he saw the burning fire in my own, and he nodded to the others, who fled. Edward just shook his head when Gabriel looked his way, but watched him flee before standing in front of me.
    “Why didn’t you just kill him? It would have been easy…” I shook my head, cutting off his questions.
    “Edward, get away from me; I don’t want to hurt you.” I took a step back when he came towards me, and he stopped. I sighed, sitting down on a nearby crate; holding my throbbing head in my hands.
    "Maybe I should take you home; Sam would murder me if I left you to fend for yourself.” I carefully shook my head.
    “No, I’ll be fine. Just stay away from me. I’m still trying to calm down,” I said, holding my hand up when he tried to come closer. He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets, sitting so close to me that I could feel the cold radiate from his flesh. I shivered, the demon growling like a caged animal.
    “I’m not leaving until you do. It’s the least I can do after you let the others go like that. I know it was hard for you.”
    “I didn’t do it for them. I did it because I didn’t feel like up the mess it would have been. You’d be surprised how big a mess I’d have made…destroying five vampires.” Edward froze, looking at me curiously.
    “Five? I see…you spared them to spare me.” He was silent for a moment, looking at his folded hands in his lap. “Thank you Esa.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek, and I shuddered, holding the demon just enough that I didn’t attack Edward where he sat. My nails dug into my palms, and black blood dripped from the wounds. Seeing the blood, he slid a few inches away. “Sorry; probably not the greatest idea in the world. Come on; let’s get you back to where you came from.”I watched as he stood up and offered me his hand. When I didn’t make a move to get up, he rolled his eyes and scooped me up into his arms. I was instantly chilled to the point that my teeth chattered. I felt that I would never get used to how cold vampires were.
    “Put…me…down,” I growled. He flashed me a toothy grin and took a running leap over the fence, following me scent through the woods. As much as I struggled to break free, he only held me tighter until I finally gave up, shivering against the cold. I found it odd that my abnormally warm skin did nothing to affect him.
    In shorter time than it took me, we were back at the motel, and he finally let me stand on my own feet.
    I checked the ward I’d left before lowering it and walking into the room with Edward in tow. Mana was sitting at the far end of the room in the window frame, hugging her knees to her chest. She turned to look at us when we entered, and her eyes went wide; flashing from me, to Edward, and back.
    “Chill Mana, he’s a friend,” I said, taking in her fearful expression. Carefully, slowly, she climbed down from the window and walked to where we stood. I wondered what was going through her mind as she stared intently at him, but unlike dear Mana, I couldn’t just walk in and out of people’s minds on a whim…
    I shuddered as I was suddenly struck by one of my earlier memories; how it used to infuriate me when Lasarn would barge in and out of my mind and my life. I pushed it away defiantly, not wanting to deal with that right now. It was a moment before I realized Mana was communicating with me.
    *If he’s going to be here with us, I suggest we keep an eye on him.* She and Edward’s gaze still hadn’t broken, and I wondered how long they would stand there and glare at each other like that. *I don’t trust him.*
    *Well I do, so get used to it. He’s not going to be here long, I promise.*
    *You and your promises can rot in hell for all I care. If he’s here, then I’m not.* I stared in shock at the sudden change in Mana’s attitude as she stormed out of the room, grabbing her hiking boots on the way out.
    “What the hell is her problem?” Edward asked, looking at me, but all I could do was shrug.
    “I don’t know, I’ve never seen her act like that before.”
    “Oh well.” He shrugged, stepping closer, looking strangely at me. Alarms went off in my mind, and I stepped back.
    “What?” I asked cautiously, my back coming up against the wall. He grinned, taking my face in his hands. I tried to push him away, but he was stronger. He leaned in closer, and I could feel his cold breath on my lips. He hesitated for just a moment, then pressed his lips to mine, gently at first, then with more force, pinning me to the wall. Despite my struggling, he didn’t move away. It wasn’t until I sunk my nails into his skin that he finally backed away, howling in pain. He fell to his knees, clutching his side, his breathing shall and his eyes glowing in anger.
    “Touch me again, and I’ll do worse,” I growled, my vision going red around the edges with bloodlust. Edward just glared up at me. My hand went to his throat, my nails barely touching his skin, and he flinched.
    “I’m sorry,” he growled, and I pushed him away, letting go. I was about to tell him to leave when there was a light knock on the door, followed by two figures shuffling into the dark room. They froze. The breath was knocked from my lungs when I saw who it was.
    “Lasarn,” I breathed, running into his open arms. He held me tight, and for the first time in over six hundred years, I felt like I was at home. The other two in the room didn’t exist; my world was whole again. He chuckled.
    “I told you I would find you.” I laughed, wiping away the tears that had run down my cheeks. He kissed me, letting his arms slide down to my waist before he turned to the others, who were staring at each other in shock.
    “Sultana? I thought you were…”
    “I thought the same of you…yet I find you here with this hunter,” she spat, and I couldn’t help the smirk on my face.
    “She’s my brother’s wife’s cousin. She helped me get out of something with Gabriel.
    “Only because James would have killed me otherwise; I can’t let family get slaughtered.” I glared and saw him grimace at my phrasing. Lasarn looked confused, and tightened his arms around my waist. I grinned and gave him a reassuring kiss.
    “Ok, so how do y’all know each other?” Damn, that accent was already wearing on me.
    “He’s my husband,” she hissed.
    “See, now that clears things up a bit. So, what are you doing with my husband?” Sultana looked at me with apologetic eyes.
    “He saved me from Halastor. I’ve been his…”she shuddered, “prisoner…for the last century or so.’ Edward stood up and held her, a devastatingly murderous glow in his eyes.
    “I’ll destroy him,” he growled. Again, I felt Lasarn's arms tighten around me.
    “I know exactly how you feel.” Edward sighed.
    “This isn’t easy for me to say, considering everything, but …thank you Lasarn; you’ve no idea what I owe you and Esa after tonight.”
    “Consider us even. You were the one that helped me find her after all.” Edward nodded briefly before looking back at his wife.
    “Let’s go home.” Sultana gave a genuine smile and took his hand before they left. I leaned against Lasarn, my eyelids drooping. Shape shifting always took a lot out of me. He smiled, kissing my forehead before picking me up and carrying me to the bed. My eyes closed as soon as my head hit the pillow, and I smiled when I felt his arms wrap around me moments later, then sleep took over.