Blood and Love

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Sean's Story X—The story unfolds

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The vampire grabbed hold of my collar and pulled me closer to him. I struggle to escape. I tried to hurt him, but my attempts were feeble against his physique. He grasped my shoulders in an iron grip and pushed me against the wall. The sheer force of the blow made me see stars. However, he didn't stop at that. He pulled me towards himself and banged me yet again against the wall. This time my back got arched and the back of my head hit the wall. I felt a trickle of blood making its way from the fresh wound. I felt dizzy now. The world around me was blurring now; moving in and out of focus. The distinct features of my attacker were now a mere outline as I struggled to hold on to the fast losing strands of consciousness.

All of a sudden the door to the living room banged open. In my dizzy state I heard two pairs of hasty footsteps making their way into the room. I couldn't make out who they were. I tried to recognise but all I saw were two blurred figures, one of them male while the other a familiar female. I heard a familiar female voice shout out what seemed some spell.

"Per virutem naturae I praecipio tibi ut vacent."

All of a sudden the vampire's grip on me loosened and as I fell to the floor I saw him being thrown against one of the cabinets. I heard running and a male was on my side helping me to get up. With great effort I finally started gaining sense of my surroundings as I recognized Daniel bent over me. Taking in his presence I moved my eyes to the other person I had heard. This couldn't be happening. I got the shock of my life. Rebecca was standing at the entrance looking at the vampire murmuring something. However, I didn't get to think about it more because the vampire sprung from the floor and made a swift motion towards Rebecca.

"Rebecca! Look out!" I shouted. However, she didn't need the warning. She stood calm and alert and immediately started speaking something viciously and energetically.

"Per virtutem collocetur in minibus meis, I maledicentibueis vobis, et ad doloris luctu!"

As her chanting of the words finished, the vampire recoiled as if in great pain and agony. He fell back a step or two and then fell on the floor writhing and screaming in sheer pain. His screams seemed to shake my disturbed nerves and I put my hands on my ears, trying to shut them out. I saw Aaron and Stefan stirring as the loud screams brought them to consciousness. But, I had to see how Evan was. I quickly got up and rushed to his lifeless form. Dread and fear pulsed through me as I reached him. With my heart racing I bent down and turned him. I saw a stake buried deep into his chest . I cried in horror at the stake. Daniel was by my side in a split second. He started examining Evan. Finally, he let out a sigh of relief.

"He'll be fine. The bastard missed the heart. The stake passed side to it. Here, I'll pull it out." With that he pulled the stake out of Evan who immediately screamed and started breathing deeply.

"He'll be fine but weak. He has lost a lot of blood." Daniel consoled me.

I sighed and started crying in relief. Aaron came up behind me and squeezed my shoulders. Daniel helped to get Evan up and into the sofa. We now turned to the screaming vampire. Rebecca was still chanting and he continued to writhe and scream. Stefan stood in the opposite direction to us watching the scene in immense horror.

"What the hell is this?" He shouted in horror.

"Relax Stefan." I tried to console him. "We'll tell you in a short while."

Daniel turned to Rebecca and signalled her to stop the magic. He then turned to the bleeding vampire.

"What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

The vampire looked at Daniel and spat at him. Rebecca chanted again and he started screaming. Aaron recognised him and spoke.

"Hey! This guy came to deliver the pizza and I let him in."

"That's why my spell broke. The owner allowed the vampire to enter. My spell can't bind him. Plus, Sean's protection charm was connected to the residence charm. So both of them broke."

Daniel listened to her intently and nodded his head. He turned to the vampire and shot another question.

"Don't test our patience. You are outnumbered and we have every reason to kill you. So talk now. Who sent you? Who else knows about Sean? Do the Noctimonstra know about him?"

"Fuck you, Damien! I am not telling you anything!" The vampire scowled at Daniel with a sneer. All of a sudden he jumped up and attacked Stefan. Before we could realize he had buried his fangs into Stefan's neck. Stefan screamed in pain as the vampire sucked his blood roughly. In another second he grabbed Stefan's head and banged his head against the wall. Stefan fell to the floor and remained still. I shouted in fear while Rebecca lost all control and shouted in sheer anger, sorrow and vehemence.

"Invoco virtus pretium lore maledicire monstrum annihiliate et cor ejus!"

The vampire instantly clutched his chest and a fierce gurgling sound issued from his mouth as blood and foam made their way out it and his nose. He screamed in pain with his heart slowly decaying within him. Slowly, the decay in the heart took over his frame as his flesh decayed and fell. It was a gory, horrendous sight as the vampire decayed into a mass of bones and finally nothingness. Rebecca looked vicious and furious as she saw the vampire's annihilation brought about by her. I rushed to Stefan's lifeless form. I reached to check his pulse. There was no pulse. His heart was not beating. Desperation, frustration and hopelessness seized me as I hit hard on his chest with the hope of making his heart beat. I tried resuscitation, but it didn't work. Tears were streaming from my eyes as I tried all I could to make my best friend speak to me, to open his eyes and smile back to me.

"Stefan! Stefan please get up!" I cried in sorrow, fervently trying to wake him from his eternal slumber. "You can't leave me here. Stefan, you have to get up! Please don't leave me. I love you, Stefan. You can't leave your best friend alone! Please wake up! Please get up! Please! Please! Please!" Speech failed me as my throat filled with emotions. I broke down into tears crying hysterically. Rebecca bent down and hugged me. She was crying too. Daniel moved ahead and examined Stefan's dead body.

"He's undead!" Daniel declared.

I looked at Daniel in disbelief. "He's alive! Stefan's alive! But, his pulse isn't working. How do you know?"

Rebecca shook her head and faltered backwards. "No, Dan! This can't be happening."

"It is, Rebecca." Daniel looked at her gravely.

"What are you talking about?" I intervened in desperation.

Daniel sighed and turned to me. "Listen to me carefully Sean. That vampire has turned Stefan. He's undead now. That means he's turning into a vampire- a Noctimonstra to be precise."

I stared at Daniel and then Stefan in disbelief and horror. How could this be happening? Oh my god! My worst nightmares were being realized right in front of my eyes.

"No! This cannot be! We have to stop this! You have to stop this! There has to be a way!" I turned to Rebecca. "You do something. You have some powers. Like you killed that vampire, can't you save Stefan?"

"I'm sorry Sean." Rebecca looked at me in despair. "As much as I want to help him I can't. I'm a witch Sean but I have a limit to my powers. I can't help him."

I shouted in agony and dejection. Nothing could be done. I stared at the now limp form of Stefan. His life had been ruined because of me.

"Don't think that Sean." Evan's weak voice came up from behind me. Putting a hand on his wounded chest and wincing in ain he sat up straight. "You are not responsible for anything. If anyone's responsible it is the Noctimonstra and they'll pay for it."

"But why the hell are they after my life? What the hell do they want?"

Evan looked at me in sorrow and pity. He cast a questioning glance at Daniel who nodded his head. Evan turned to me and spoke.

"Okay Sean, I want you to listen very carefully. The Noctimonstra are looking for you. We don't know why. But, it cannot be anything good. The Sanguinatus are determined to kill you so that the Noctimonstra can't fine you and do whatever they want. However, I fought with them and vowed to keep you safe and protected from the monsters. No one knows where you are. I don't know how Ruth and this guy found out. But, one thing's certain. There's someone else who's looking for you. He may be a Noctimonstra or a Sanguinatus. But, whoever it is, is doing it hidden from both the vampire clan heads. That's our theory."

I gulped trying to comprehend the enormity and complexity of whatever Evan had just told me. This entire aspect of being searched for gave rise to a fear in me. A feeling of being vulnerable and unsafe crept over me. I was reminded of my nightmares wherein I used to be escaping from the unknown. Had those been a signal? A premonition?

There were tons of questions raging in my mind. "But how did you get Rebecca? Plus, who are you Rebecca?"

Evan continued to answer my questions. "When I first came to town, on the first day of school, Rebecca had followed me to the forest and overheard my conversation with Daniel regarding you and the danger you were in. We found her eavesdropping and were about to erase her memory. However, she revealed to us that she was a witch and could assist us."

Rebecca joined in the answering. "Sean, I haven't told you this but my maternal lineage goes back to the old Salem days of witch burning. One of the few lineages that survived, I am a part of it. I discovered my powers at the age of thirteen and have been developing them ever since. We witches are guardians of nature and equilibrium. The oldest witch was the one who performed Mortui's ritual for Lucifer. She was a part of the vampire initiation process and so all her descendants had the power to slay supernatural elements and maintain the life on earth."

This overwhelming information was too much to handle. I grabbed a seat and settled down trying to get everything into my system. The situations now made sense to me. However, Stefan was the one who's thoughts were continuously perturbing me.

"What will happen in his turning?" I addressed the question to Daniel.

"He'll change in the physical portrayal. His features will become pronounced, the bad ones eliminated and the good ones more prominent. Fangs will emerge and so will the thirst for blood. He'll have to feed on someone. I don't know whether the Noctimonstra killer instinct is inborn or he'll have discretion in his choices. Also, he cannot step into the sun anymore."

"No! You can't make him a night predator. There has to be a way to allow him to move in the sun." I addressed the last statement to Rebecca.

"Well, there is no permanent way of doing that. The division between the two clans rests on this important attribute of sun and moon traversing which determines the powers and the regimes. All I can do is provide a charm so that he can move out when the intensity of the sun isn't very high. When the sun is at its peak, Stefan will have to stay within. That's all I can do."

"I don't have any issues with that." I concluded.

"So, what should we do now?" Aaron questioned.

"Let's shift him to my bedroom. And Aaron and Daniel, please clear up the room. Amanda will be back in the morning. She need not know about this." I suggested.

"Very well. Aaron and I will do the clearing. Evan will accompany you in taking care of Stefan. We can't leave you alone with him. And Rebecca you go back and re-construct all enchantments on this place." Daniel made the decisions.

As we all set to our respective jobs, I thought of what had happened tonight. The unpredictable nature of life had shaken the very roots of my existence. My best friend had confessed his love for me. My lover and my dearest friend had fought for me. I had almost lost u best friend. Stefan and Evan had almost died tonight for me. I had endangered so many lives. Rebecca had been trying to protect me all along. Why was my life so complicated? What was to come the next moment, the sheer unpredictability of this existence had raised several unnerving doubts and queries that were to shape many lives ahead.

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