My Dar Angel

Previously on My Dark Angel:

"If I get hurt tonight..." I started but I was unable to finish.

Louis was on me in an instant, my body pressed against his and his lips roughly on mine. I needed this, I needed him. My arms seized his t-shirt and drew his body closer to mine. If I was going to die tonight, I was going to go knowing that he wanted me. And I was going to leave Louis knowing I wanted him.

My back was pressed against a wall quickly and my left leg was lifted and hooked over his hip. There was no escape from him, our bodies pressed against each other and I growled at him. The sound surprising myself. His lips broke away from mine and he growled playfully back, his fangs dropping down from his lateral incisors.

He panted slightly before his eyes slowly shifted back to green. And his fangs receded. He gave me one lingering kiss on the lips before he pulled away and took my hand leading me down the stairs and into the living room. To await the arrival of Marcus.

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

I heard the subtle knock on the door followed by Marcus strolling in. He was dressed in black leather trousers and a tight fitting t-shirt and a long leather jacket on his shoulders. He inclined his head slightly to me and Louis took my hand tugging me off the sofa.

"Tonight we are going in quickly and efficiently and finding Santiago." Marcus intoned mournfully.

"Why is it that you need me again?" I asked sidling slightly closed to Louis' side.

"You are here to help us locate Santiago." Marcus said with a small grin on his lips.

"He is being held in a compound and having his blood drained to keep him weak." I responded, thinking back to my earlier vision.

"It should not take you long to find his location, we are also awaiting two others to join us." Marcus said inclining his head towards the door.

"Others?" I asked looking at Louis as his own eyes darted to me.

"Members of our blood line are coming to our aid." Marcus said enigmatically, with a strange look in his eyes.

"And who might they be." I asked looking to both Louis and then Marcus in turn.

"The oldest living member of our bloodline Dieter and his second progeny Michael." Marcus responded, his eyes once more darting to the door.

"The oldest?" I asked cocking an eyebrow.

"He is also the oldest vampire still walking, he is around 5450 years old the last time he counted I believe." Marcus said as he almost smiled.

"5450?!" I said looking at him disbelieving my mouth hanging slightly open.

Louis reached up and tapped my my chin with his index finger, smiling as I closed my hanging mouth.

"With him on our side the humans stand no chance." Marcus said grinning sadistically, a cruel glint showing in his eyes.

"When do they arrive?" I asked looking at Marcus, his eyes quickly darting towards the door.

"One of them is already here." a deep voice said from outside the front door, before the doorknob turned, and a moment later a tall man stepped through. My eyes honed in on him and scanned his face quickly, he had a thin goatee covering his chin and upper lip, his hair was brown with grey streaks running through it, and his eyes were hazel that seemed to shine in the light of the room. . He looked to be in his late 30's to early 40's, which when he was born must have been considered old age over 5000 years ago.

Both Marcus and knelt before him their heads bowed in what seemed to be reverence.

"Children." the man said his voice full of mock chastisement

"You make me feel like an old man."

Louis and Marcus rose and their eyes glanced at Dieter

"It is good to see you again." Dieter began his lips pulling back over his shining white teeth, his eyes darting from Louis to Marcus. They then settled on me and I felt myself twitch slightly.

"I do not believe we have met." Dieter said stepping towards me his hand outstretched..

I reached out and shook his hand jerking slightly in surprise. His hand was hot, warmer even than my own and I was the human. His other hand lightly cupped our hands and shook them before he inhaled slightly.

His eyebrow cocked in surprise before he asked

"You scent seems familiar although I am certain we have not met."

He straightened slightly before turning back to the door, a moment later a man moved too quickly into the room. He looked younger than Dieter around mid 20's, he had brown eyes, an olive complexion and dark brown hair that swept gracefully over his forehead. His cheekbones were high on his face, with a square jaw and was just shorter than me by an inch or so.

"You are correct Dieter, he does smell familiar." (I'm assuming his name was Michael) said.

"I can however identify it better than you I believe, think of Zachariah." he finished enigmatically.

"The Faerie?" Dieter said his eyes widening as he again glanced at me.

He continued "Now this must be something more than a coincidence." he finished his eyes roaming over my face.

"Brother?" Dieter asked turning to Michael.

"I'd say cousin more like, that would account for the difference in appearance." Michael stated factually.

"What are you talking about?" I asked looking at both Michael and Dieter.

"We believe we have met your cousin, Oscar." Michael said grinning at me.

"Right, now I'm confused. How in the hell do you know my cousin?" I said shaking my head.

"It is of no matter, the problem at hand is to find Santiago." Michael said grinning at me

"We are here as your power sources to power your spell to find Santiago." Dieter continued running a hand lightly stroking his beard.

"I need my bag." I said looking at Louis

He nodded and moved at preternatuatural speed, returning a second or so later with my bag in hand. I took it from him and pulled out my spell book, the one my mother had given me this morning. I prayed that there would at least be some form of locator spell in here.

The book was 20cm long, 10cm wide and around 5cm thick. This may take some time, if I had to search through the whole book to find a spell to search for Santiago. Well hopefully magic could help me find what I needed. I placed the book on the table and placed a hand on the cover before saying

"Scearplic galdor." I said allowing a small trickle of power to flow out through my hand, I pulled away slightly from the book and it flickered open landing on a seemingly random page. I picked up the book and quickly skim read the page.

It seemed a relatively simple spell, it did however require a few herbs, blood from someone related to the lost one, and a map. Louis stood next to me and smiled slightly at me, I looked to Marcus and listed a few herbs I would need for the spell

"I need a map, a knife, a quartz crystal, sage, nutmeg and hickory." I said looking to him

"I assumed as much." Marcus said reaching into one of the pockets on his coat and pulling out a long silver knife and the herbs I needed.

"Anyone have any quartz?" Marcus asked looking to Louis, Michael and Dieter

Dieter nodded and reached up to his neck pulling at the chord around his neck. On the end of which was a sharply cut quartz crystal. Louis moved into the kitchen and returned with a map of London which he spread out onto the table. Now it was my turn to do something, I walked into the kitchen and returned with a wine glass.

Marcus placed the knife and the sage on top of the map and Dieter placed the quartz crystal next to them as well.

"The spell will work best if I have blood from each of you." I said picking up the knife and wine glass my hands shaking slightly as I handed it first to Louis.

Each of the vampires slid the knife across their wrists in turn and allowed a steady stream of their blood to drip into the wine glass. Each of their ages seemed to be shown in the time it took them to heal the cut. With Dieter the only thing that seemed to show that he was cutting himself at all was the blood that dripped into the glass.

Each of them had added blood to the glass, however Dieter seemed to have been the main contributor. I began to notice a trend, the older vampires gave more blood than the younger. The glass was now half full with thick deep red blood.

Once they had all added their blood to the glass, I took it from them and after being handed a lighter by Macus I lit the sage and scattered the cinnamon and hickory across the map. I then placed the glass on the table and dipped the quartz crystal into it. The blood clung to the crystal and I held it by the black chord.

I picked up the sage in my other hand and wafted the smoke towards the map. I looked over towards my spell book and began to read the spell.

"Blód þone cnéorissa, ábeþecian ánwealda hwa sy ofhende."

I said swinging the crystal lightly in a circle. The blood dripped onto the map but instead of splattering it hovered over the paper collecting together.

I continued reading from the book, noticing the steady drain in my strength

"Blód tócíge blód ond be þes blód ástýre mé æt sé hwa sy ofhende." I said my power flowing into the spell as the growing puddle of blood slowly began to creep across the page. It shifted across the page, creeping further and further westward across the map of the city. The spell was finished and I felt my strength ebb slightly, the blood puddle began to shrunk until it was a single droplet over a single area of the city.

I slumped backwards threatening to fall, Louis moved impossibly quickly behind me and supported me. I turned in his arms and moved my arms around Louis' waist. He gripped me to him, holding me up easily.

"Sorry that took more out of me than I...thought..." I said my vision blackening slightly.

My legs gave up beneath me and Louis quickly moved down and swooped me up into his arms. "You need blood." Louis said without hesitation.

"If I might make a suggestion" Michael said stepping forwards. He moved towards the table and picked up the wine glass on the table. "I for one give my consent." Michael said.

"Very well." Marcus said, however he did not sound all too happy, this was confirmed by his next sentence.

"I would just like to make the point that I am only doing this because he spent his strength in the search for my maker." Marcus continued his eyes darting over me.

"I would be honoured to give my blood." Dieter said smiling.

Michael began to hand me the glass but before he did so he warned.

"Prepare yourself James, few mortals ever taste blood as old as mine, Dieters however has only ever been tasted by those he has made, you should be honoured." Michael said quietly.

My hand shook slightly as I took the half full glass and guided it towards my lips. I felt a slight twinge of guilt that I was drinking blood other than Louis' but when I looked at him he nodded at me.

The glass reached my lips and I tipped it back, my eyes following the dark liquid as it slid across the glass, unerringly seeking my lips. The blood hit my lips and the moment it hit my tongue I groaned. The moment is flowed down my throat my veins filled with pure raw energy. I felt like a god. The blood was pure strength, pure power, a combination of the blood of four vampires, all of it flowing into my own veins. It strengthened my senses, it was like strength, power, magic and life all rolled into one.

My mind sped through a million different thoughts, my mind going into overdrive as more of the blood slid down my throat, yet still more blood flowed. My body rejoiced as it slid into my body, it was power and perfection. The cup ran dry and my eyes flew open and I looked up at Louis. Louis lowered me to my feet and I looked up at the other vampires in the room. I was high as a kite and felt impossible levels of power running through my body.

I raised a hand and sparks of blue energy ran across my fingers, I felt impossibly powerful. Unfortunately the secondary effect of the blood began to kick in and I reached back and grasped Louis' arm.

"Soon James, soon." he said leaning forward to kiss my forehead.

"May I suggest we leave while the night is still young?" Marcus said cocking an eyebrow slightly

I nodded quickly my mind spinning and my senses buzzing. The front door swung open just by my eyes running over it and I was lifted into Dieter's arms quicker than I could see. I quickly assumed that this was so Louis would not slow the group down by carrying my weight, and since Dieter was the eldest I assumed my weight would be inconsequential to him. It was strange how my thoughts seemed to race faster to conclusions almost as fast as I could consider the problems.

And then we were gone, and I seemed to be moving faster than I could make out what was around me. Within what seemed like a short space of time we had arrived, or at least were near to our target. Dieter slowed and lowered me to the floor in the middle of a deserted street and the other vampires appeared behind us soon after.

Dieter inhaled slightly and shuddered a fraction, I could sense something as well. An unnatural chill hung in the air, a shiver down my spine and I felt the urge to leave. It was a charm or spell of some sort, it hung in the air like mist the further we moved the thicker it would seem to become. We moved slowly along the street and I led the way, in my current state I didn't even need to speak to cast magic it seemed. My very will was being projected into the world, and I willed the spell around us to lessen and it did. Louis joined me at my side and reached out to take my hand, rubbing soothing circles there that did more than calm me down.

Dieter turned to me his eyes glinting slightly in the dim lightening

"The position on the map relates to this area, however it is an area of at least two miles I would suggest we use the quartz crystal to find Santiago from here." Dieter finished handing it to me

I gripped the chord of the crystal lightly, allowing a trickle of magic to drip into the crystal. The quartz crystal began to glow ever so slightly before rising so that the chord was no longer taut and pointed itself away from my body.

As I turned the intensity to which the crystal glowed changed, and I led us down the street towards the hunter base. My eyes shifted towards the direction of the crystal and I led the vampires trailing behind me.

"Here." I said leading the vampires down an alley way towards what appeared to be a plain brick wall.

I stopped the flow of magic towards the crystal and snapped my fingers. A small spark of magic erupted as I did so and the charm surrounding the wall vanished. For those who called themselves Hunters, they did seem to enjoy using magic.

The steel door hidden behind the charm looked solid enough but a look back at Marcus was all it took for him to punch through steel door and yank it from its hinges. As soon as he had done so, the sound of an echoing alarm sounded from inside the passageway. I turned to Louis and pulled his face towards mine, planting a quick kiss on his lips before turning back towards the doorway.

"Out of my way." I said to Marcus as I stepped through the doorway and into the heart of the hunters den.

The lights in the corridor were dim and reflected off the steel walls of the corridor and the heavy doors at the far end of the corridor opened and out ran the first wave.

"bealucwealm." I said allowing power to flow through my words, the first two hunters immediately dropped and the three behind raised their weapons. Before I could even utter a word, two blurs ran past me and faster than the humans could react Dieter and Michael had slammed their heads into the walls almost in unison.

The third human staggered backwards and I felt an evil giggle slide up my throat as I allowed my power to flow out through my finger tips, wordlessly bending the humans mind and his own gun pressed against his chin. He whimpered and with I made a motion of my finger pulling a trigger and his own did the same. The bullet tore up through his skull, emerging through his helmet with pieces of brain matter and blood staining the ceiling.

Louis came up behind me and wrapped an arm around my waistband

"Let's hurry James." He whispered lightly kissing my ear

We moved towards the elevator at the back of the corridor and descended to the lowest level of the complex uninterrupted. As the doors opened I mumbled a single word

"Bordrand." an instant before the gunfire started, as the Hunters unloaded a hail of bullets towards us.

"Naughty naughty." I said laughing slightly, power flowing through my blood and lingering on each word.

The shots fell to the floor before a single one reached the lift. Then they reloaded. Well, I mean they tried, they might have even managed to if I hadn't made my move.

"Astyrung æðm." I said raising my hand and slamming my fist shut.

"I like his style." Marcus said appreciatively to Michael behind me as the Hunters froze on the spot, and clutched their throats unable to draw in breath. The very air around them refusing to enter them. Nature bent itself to my will, and my closed fist prevented their very breath, I held my hand up until each of them had collapsed before releasing them.

We passed into the next corridor before the vampires following spread out around me.

"Each of us follow a separate path to find Santiago, Marcus go with Louis, Michael take the other path. James you come with me, when you find Santiago get him out of here first." Dieter said

I gave one last look towards Louis before following Dieter down the hallway to the left.

As we neared the end of the corridor a second alarm began to sound, and Dieter rolled his neck and I saw his fangs drop. A few seconds later I understood why, as a hunter rounded the corner. Dieter moved faster than lightning, snapping his victims neck and moving on to the rest. He moved like a god, his hands like striking snakes as he dealt with seven other hunters that rounded the corner in similar time. It was then that I realised how terrible an enemy that Dieter would be, but also, how great an ally he was, so willing to risk himself for his bloodline.

I felt my own blood like fire in my veins, the level of power slowly rising as the blood from the vampires took a greater hold on my system. A hunter rounded the corner and I thrust my hand out and my mind reached out and felt his heart. My fingers tightened around it, and he stuttered and froze on the spot. I closed my fist and he folded over himself before falling to his knees on the floor.

My attention had been so focused on him that I hadn't noticed I had fallen behind Dieter. As I rounded the corner I saw him standing at the end of the corridor dealing with three hunters in quick succession. The gun one held fired, Dieters hand shot out and snapped his wrist, but the rounds fired.

I froze, and my eyes darted down and a bubble of laughter escaped my shocked lips. The blood spread across my shirt and pooled on the floor. I clamped a hand over the wound and staggered backwards against the wall behind me, Dieter was next to me in less than a second and supported me.

"Ágíeman." I stuttered and screamed as my power flowed out through my hand and over the wound.

"I'll be fine Dieter, just give me a minute for the magic to work." I panted as I felt my flesh slowly knitted itself back together, and pushed up the wall. Noticing the blood smear behind me on the wall and leaned on Dieter as we moved down the corridor.

"Ok, next time I need to prepare for getting shot." I said as we rounded another corner

As I felt the wound close completely I tested my own ability to stand and checked the wound. Raised and red but still healing slowly, I nodded to Dieter and we continued to move down the corridor and my mind reached out, trying to sense the presence of anything other than Human. Searching for Santiago among the rooms ahead.