Scarlet Night (Limited Edition) (19 page)

She heard his laugh only a moment before he darted out of hiding
and grabbed her by the waist and carried her deeper into the forest and up a hill with her holding onto his shoulders. His laughing carried as he ran with her, scaling the hill on bare feet as though it were nothing. As he planted his next step on a plot of earth, she gasped and cried out as the patch uprooted and he lost his footing. Pulling her into him, they rolled down the small, grassy slope together and finally landed on a patch of wildflowers that coughed pollen and petals into the air with the impact. As the evidence of their fall settled, Isaac, on his back below her, was still laughing.

“What’s so funny
?” she scolded, still breathless from the fall, “We could’ve died!”

“Nah. I know these hills too well to let them kill me,” he smirked up at her, “Besides, I’m not easy to break
.”

She laughed, patting at his broad chest,
“You, good sir, are a
beast
!”

His grin widened as he looked up
at her as his eyes began to glow fiercely and he drew his face closer to hers. “I know I am. And you
love
it!” He caught her lips against his and she gasped softly, before closing her eyes and began kissing him back. She still wasn’t used to the bestial passion in his kiss, which always caught her off guard no matter how prepared she was for it, but it only forced her to match his effort with her own to keep her head on her shoulders. She couldn’t stop herself from succumbing to them each and every time, especially not when there was so much passion and sincerity behind them. She moaned as his hands skimmed her sides and he slowly began to pull away, leaving her lower lip with one final nip to remember him by.

As they fell back to share the view of the clear sky, they allowed themselves to get
lost in their mutual emotions.

K
eith growled, staring at the haphazard batch of mythos sitting before him; a makeshift Council of his own design where he made the rules and called the shots.

And soon enough the
real
thing would be his, as well.

The
table was abuzz with their collective plotting, and the murmurs between neighbors and the occasional rant from the others drew their attention inward as he stood at the head of the table. When they did not take notice of his gesture or silence their witless banter, he sneered. Shaking his head at their insubordination, he raised his arm over his head a moment before bringing his fist down on the table. The surface rocked and all of the eyes in the room widened and honed in on the source as one of the table’s legs gave out and it sagged several inches to one side. As the last of the reverberation and emotional impact dissipated, the group leaned forward in their seats and awaited his plans.

He smirked. That, he noted with an approving nod, was how it
should
be!

After all, h
e
was
their leader!

“We will get nowhere if our efforts are not executed! A plan—no matter
how
perfectly designed—is
nothing
until it is put into action! I need commitment; I
demand
it! And I’m certain that I’m not alone in my desires to see something come of our efforts.”

“Now, there is no doubt in my mind that t
he clan’s moves will come sooner if we are not the first to attack.” He grinned and turned to a marble chess set that adorned a shelf behind him, with a calculated movement, pinched the polished white king and queen pieces between his fingers and inspected them with a coy smirk before setting them on the table in front of the others to get a clear view. “You see, we are all
warriors
here; warriors who are
crippled
by those who would use us as nothing more than fodder!” he stabbed his index finger down at the king piece, “
They
would have you believe that—through their oppression and iron-grip on every detail of your lives—you were something
more
to them; using their condescending language and structurally unsound laws—upheld by a corrupt and biased police force that hide behind the veil of ‘clan-hood’ to justify the unjustifiable!—to control and bind us.” He turned again and scooped up the pawns from the board, “And they would turn us—all of us!—into nothing more than drones!”—he began to roll each pawn across the uneven table’s surface, allowing them to reach the end and fall to the floor—“Nothing more than expendable, faceless drones!” growling, he held up the last pawn and rolled it between his fingers, “They would turn you into nothing more than
pawns
to be shuffled about their battlefields to protect those they deem worthy.” He sneered at the piece and let it slip from his fingers to join the others on the floor. “I’ve
seen
them, my brothers! Seen them first-hand from my cushioned seat amongst their foul ranks, taking up arms against those too weak to defend themselves, and honoring the mundane needs of those who benefit and empower them!

“But now,” he smirked and held his index finger over the king piece on the table, “there has been a shift”—he pulled his finger back, toppling the king and letting it roll off the table and clatter against the pawns—“and the army that would hold us back from claiming our rightful glory is without rule; without direction!”

Reaching behind him with his aura, he retrieved one of the white knights and let it sweep once over the heads of his audience before it landed beside the still-standing queen piece, “And all that stands between us and that glory is an ignorant queen and a broken knight.” Again, he reached out with his aura, snatching up the remaining game pieces and letting them orbit his body as he jabbed an accusatory finger at the others, “And you
choose
to let this moment—this moment that you’ve waited your entire
lives
for!—be nothing more than pretty words on a sheet of paper that you call a
plan
that you’re too afraid to put into action? And for what? So that you can
remain
their pawns? So that the comfort of ignorance can remain and the fear of change can be avoided?

“Gentlemen,” he let the word slip from his tongue like a vulgar, oily thing, “it is time to free yourselves from
their tyranny; to stop playing along with their silly games.” The floating pieces fell, one-by-one, from the air until only a white rook and a black knight remained. As the others watched, he took these into his palm and smirked. “In their weakened state, we can
take
their castle as our own”—he slammed the rook down in front of him—“and you can finally be free of your lives as pawns”—he held up the black knight and nodded slowly at it—“and claim the ‘warrior’ title that’s always been yours!”

With that, he slammed the knight between the white queen and knight, letting both collapse and roll off of the table, leaving only the black knight and the white rook standing. The others stared for a moment, taking in the sight of the
coal-black horse that stared angrily at the bone-white castle set out in front of it, and their grins widened.

Seeing that he’d made his point, Keith smiled and sat down, steepling his fingers in front of him. “Check
mate.”

“What do you propose we do next then
?” An older vampire leaned forward, “Like you’ve said, The Council
is
starting to get wind of our motives.”

“You leave that to me.
” Keith bowed his head once, “Don’t worry about that detail. The clan and The Council will not be an issue anymore. On that you have my word. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he stood and started for the door, “I have other business to attend to.”

With that, he disappeared from the group
, jumping into overdrive and seeking out his next target. Finally, sensing he was close, he allowed himself to drop out of his superhuman speed and came to stand in the forest. The overpowering stench of body odor and wet animal fur assaulted his senses and he sneered at the smell of the Therions. They
really
were just a bunch of beasts; only slightly more clever than the pathetic creatures they shared the features of. Still, they served their purposes.

Even if they weren’t fully aware of what that purpose was.

He sensed the pack’s leader as he stepped towards him from the side and he smirked. “Having fun, Isaac?” he glanced over and shook his head, clucking his tongue, “My my… a
vampire
, eh? Is she as good as she looks?”

“Leave her out of thi
s!” He snarled, stepping towards him before adding, “And leave
us
out of this.”

“Oh no, my friend! I am
far
from being done with you and yours! You see, The Council has put a call out on the Clan of Vail. It seems that those of my blood are lacking in family values, and I need your pack to take them out. All of them.” He smirked, “
including
your little auric girlfriend.”

Isaac snarl
ed and shook his head, clenching his fists and preparing to attack, “My pack has done plenty for The Council! We will have no more of your orders!” He growled again as his skin started shifting in his anger as he advanced another step.

“I
’m not presenting this as a choice, therion! This is a
command
, and if you refuse a command from The Council—
The
Council that
you’re
sworn to obey—then your pack will suffer the consequences of your decision.” Isaac roared and lunged at Keith, who laughed and dodged the attack before pinning the therion against a nearby tree and extending his fangs.

“
I would like nothing more than a reason, dog! Give me that reason, and I will do this my way, by killing you and
taking
your pack by force! It was a courtesy to ask you nicely, but clearly my hospitality is not appreciated. If you still want to defy us, I ask that you not waste any more of my time. I am, after all, in the middle of planning my next move.”

“Th-then mo… move… to Hell!”

Keith tightened his grip, “Care to repeat that?” he snarled, “I will not ask again, Isaac! Either you obey or you die! Now are you going to do as I say?”

“Y-yes…
” Isaac growled in defeat, still struggling to breath past Keith’s grip.

“Good dog.”
Keith stepped back and let him drop, “You earned yourself a biscuit!” he snickered at his own joke and turned away, “
Au revoir
, Rover!”