Scarlet Night (Limited Edition) (35 page)

Damiano’s posture straightened and his voice shifted to one of authority,
“Keith Vailean, for your deceit against The Council and your crimes against the Mythos community I, Damiano Moratti—fifth chair of The Council—with the unanimous written-and-spoken consent of the other chairs, do place you under formal Council arrest. All rights and privileges bestowed by your superiors are hereby stricken and all benefits and protections offered by your comrades are hereby revoked. For the severity of your crimes you will be denied trial and bail and none, with the exception of the unanimous consent of all Council chairs, will be permitted to cease or alter the conditions of your punishment. Do you understand and acknowledge?”

Keith narrowed his eyes and let loose a series of muffled grunts and whines from behind his surgically-attached mask.

Damiano smirked and nodded, “I will take that as a ‘yes’.” He nodded to the aurics, “See that he’s secured before you leave and be sure that there’s a holding tank and a fully-equipped surgical team waiting for him in Rome; the others will want to put him on display immediately!” he glared at Keith as they dragged him away, “This will not be pleasant. I promise.”

As Keith was dragged away by the aurics, Damiano adjusted his jacket and turned to the others, his bright smile and sunny demeanor suddenly returning. “Again, my friends, I thank you for calling this situation to our—”

“
Save her! WE
KNOW
YOU
CAN
!”
Maledictus
growled as he stood and glared at him.

Nikki frowned, “
Maledictus
!”

“
Maledictus
?” Damiano smirked and nodded, “Ah yes! The
maledetto
! Gregori’s warrior; the one with the Taroe curse, yes?” He nodded at the beast before him as though he approved, “Impressive. A tad excessive, I must say, but it has appeared to gotten the job done.”

Maledictus
snarled and bared his teeth, “
We will not let you leave until—
”

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Damiano took a step towards him and sneered, “You’ll
let
us leave? Is that what I’m to gather from this exchange?” He shook his head, “No.
We
do not answer to the demands of
any
, and certainly not to those of violence made by those who
serve
us!”

Maledictus
roared, “
WE SERVE NOONE!
”

Damiano smirked, “Then there’s nothing to d
iscuss,” he turned to walk away.

Raving from the response,
Maledictus
lunged at the Italian vampire.

“
Maledictus
! No!” Nikki’s eyes widened.

“Zane!” Zoey started forward
but was thrown back by Damiano’s yellow aura.

In a flash of movement and light,
Maledictus
was thrown off his feet and brought to his back; an auric bind fastening about his throat and tightening until his gasps were choked and rasped. As the beast’s kicking feet were tethered in the same fashion, Damiano appeared over him. Catching
Maledictus
’ arm in mid-swipe and breaking it over his knee, Damiano drove the heel of his foot into the beast’s chest over its heart. As
Maledictus
cried out in agony, he wrapped him in his aura and immobilized his body as his right hand gripped him at the chin and began to drain his life-force.

Nikki shivered as the air went cold, staring in shock at the display.

“N-no!” Zoey whimpered.

Whimpering,
Maledictus
’ body began to shift and deflate as he transformed back into Zane.

“P-p-please…” Zane whimpered, looking up at the Italian vampire. “Please don’t let her die…”

Damiano frowned, glaring down at him. “If I extend to you this favor—
if
I grant you your request—do you
swear
to The Council to control the thing inside you?”

Zane grimaced as the final steps of the transformation sent an agonized wave
through his body. Stifling the cries of pain, he nodded, “Y-yes! I do! Just save her!”

Damiano smiled and stood, turning away from him and stepping over to Serena and bowing his head to Zoey, “If you’ll pardon me, miss.”

Zoey blushed and stepped aside.

Staring down at her, Damiano cocked his head, peering at the gaping wound in her stomach before letting his aura out and scanning her body for any other signs of damage.
“
Tale dramma
...” he sighed, “Cursed-boy! Here!”

Zane groaned, still recovering from Damiano’s beating, and hurried beside him, “Wh-what is it? Will she—”

“You love the girl, yes?”

Zane stared, stunned, “I... I do, yes.”

Damiano nodded, “That would explain the idiocy.”

Zane bit his lip, “What do you—”

A sharp slap connected with the back of Zane’s head, “Blood! The girl needs blood! Idiot!” Damiano shook his head, “If you can’t use your
brain
for her, at least open a vein for her!”

“She…” Zane looked down at Serena, “She’s going to be okay?”

Damiano sighed, “Not if you keep whimpering over her like an idiot! Will you give the girl what she needs and stop waiting for the forest to break out into song? Idiot! This is not a cartoon!” He stood and turned, “And this doesn’t change our agreement, boy. Just because you’re an idiot doesn’t make me a fool!”

Zane blushed, quickly biting into his wrist and beginning to feed it to Serena. At first the flow merely welled in her mouth, the excess beginning to spill past her parted lips and rolling down her cheek. As the crimson trail reached a vertical drop from her jaw, it began a steady drip to the ground and Zane started to turn so that he could call to Damiano to return.

A choked gurgle sounded from Serena and the blood in her mouth was abruptly swallowed before she heaved and her eyes shot open, “N-need more!”

“Serena?” Zane turned to her.

Serena coughed and licked some of the blood from her lips, “The one and only, baby.” Her breathing began to steady as she lifted her purple eyes to Zane’s wide and disbelieving own. “So… did we win?”

Zane, despite the situation, couldn’t hold back the laugh. “Yea, hon. We won. Keith’s on his way to being a Mythos Pay-Per-View torture special.”

“Oh good,” Serena sat up, grimacing as her still-healing stomach was forced to work, “I hope they put a cherry-bomb up his ass. Come to think of it, that sounds too—”

“SERENA!” Zoey’s shrill voice chimed a split second before she collided with her, “GLOMP!”

“Ow! Bitch!” Serena groaned as she was knocked over under the playful assault, “New rule; abdominal wound CLOSED before GLOMPING ensues!”

Zoey giggled, “Deal!”

Nikki smiled as she stepped over, “Okay! I’ve gotten things all patched up with The Council.” She glanced at Zane before addressing the others, “They said that, while they have to keep a watch on all Vail activity for the next few months—‘protocol’ as Damiano put it—it looks like you’re all otherwise in the clear.”

Serena frowned, noticing the way she watched Zane
with envy in her eyes and bit her lip. This girl had some sort of attachment to Zane that she couldn’t place. Though she could see it wasn’t love, it certainly wasn’t hate, either.

She knew that her being a Taroe already made her on Zane’s bad side. She wanted to be nice to her though; she had brought Zane back to her before the fight. She smiled over at Nikki and nodded warmly.

“We should get back. She’s right.” She said.

“Will you be ok walking?” Zane looked down at her and after a second thought; he lifted her against him and began to walk through the forest back to their home.

“You don’t need to carry me, Zane.” Serena pouted and blushed, enjoying the feeling of his chest against her.

“You like it. Don’t deny i
t,” he smirked, his fangs extending as he looked at her. She could sense the attraction growing between them as they walked forward. She felt another blush creep up her cheeks and frowned. She was never this bashful against anyone before.

“You going to tie me to those train tracks yet
, Snidely?” She smirked, the memory of their first meeting playing through her head.

“Only if you like it that way,” he grinned
.

“
D
o you remember when we first met?” Zane asked, staring at the ceiling of their underground base.

“Of course I do. How could I ever forget?” she answered, smirking,
“I beat the shit out of you.”

Laughing, he slapped a palm over his face and shook
his head, “You know what? On second thought, I’m not sure I want to finish this thought.”

Serena giggled and shook her head, putting her hand on his chest, “No! You can’t just leave me hanging like that!”

“Sure I can!” he smirked, “What are you going to do about it?”

She glared, “I can beat the shit out of you
again
!” she jabbed him in the shoulder.

“Ow!” he looked over, “Oh
that’s
it!” He laughed as he rolled on top of her and playfully pinned her down, smiling down at her as she giggled under his hold and he nodded, “Yea… you were just as stunning that night as you are now. Even in the beginning, even though I was such a hopeless dick, I saw something in you.”

“But, though I had felt something even then, I knew—I could just
tell
—you were desperately in love with someone else. That night, when Devon took my body so that he could have you, I watched you from the back of my own mind—sharing the view with the beast as we both watched you and fell for you—and the emotions and passion and energy in your face gave us hope that, maybe, neither of us had to live as what we were expected to; I didn’t have to be the cursed jerk waiting to fade away. But then, after all was said and done, I was afraid. Though I didn’t fight it—I mean, how could I?—I still knew I had no chance. But, now he’s gone and it’s just me and…” Zane sighed and frowned, “Serena, I want you to know that… fuck! I don’t know how to say this!”

“Zane...what are you trying to say? You
’re rambling.” She frowned, “What is it? You know you can tell me anything.”

Zane frowned and looked over at her
as she ran her left hand over his face for a moment. As she smiled and withdrew her hand, he spotted the glistening ring that she wore on her left hand—Devon’s ring—and narrowed his eyes at it. He knew she was over her long-dead lover and had moved on, but seeing the wedding band still wrapped around the ring finger of her left hand made him think that maybe she wasn’t ready for what he had in mind. Sighing, he forced a smile and kissed her hand.

“I just… I never thought I’d be in this position. I never thought anything would change for me. And, though I know you can step out into the world and have
anybody
you set your eyes on, I just wanted to tell you that I won’t ever have eyes for anyone else. I love you, Serena.”

Serena blushed, staring at him for a long moment—her eyes shimmering as they read the sincerity in his face—before she
leaned her head against his strong chest and sighed softly.