Sulma growled in annoyance as he shifted from foot to foot, trying to better manage the aching erection in his trousers. Beside him he knew Amaa was dealing with a similar situation. Over an hour ago they had both started to sense a spike in Sam’s arousal. It called to them like a siren’s song, and made it difficult to keep track of their targets. It was the only downside of the entire situation, they had decided. And it was only a downside when they needed to focus on something much more treacherous.

“Let’s go home,” Amaa said, stepping back from the edge of the roof they had been spying from for the past couple hours. “These guys are just being obnoxious, but we can’t be sure that they’re the ones that dumped the red head’s body. We can bust them another night.”

Sulma’s gaze threw daggers at his coven brother but he remained silent. He knew without a doubt that he would much rather be at home enjoying the coital activities of their beloved and fellow coven brothers, but there was too much at stake to just call it a night now. After leaving the mansion he and Amaa had hunted quickly, barely taking enough to sustain them for the night and with the recent events of battle and a blooming beloved draining their collective gunnas, it wasn’t long before they went to the morgue. Once there, they were able to move in to the temperature regulated tomb where unclaimed bodies were kept.

After inspecting the body, it was easy to see that the workmanship of the death was crafted by a vampire, and not a human. The police would ultimately decide that the girl was cut into by a knife, or some sort of long bladed weapon, but it wasn’t true. The B on the woman’s chest and the four deep rivers made vertically along her stomach were definitely made by a vampire’s fingernail. The murderer had made the incisions in a way that the wounds would well up slowly enough for him to lap at the blood as it filled the furrows. There was an incision made at her throat by a knife, but the vampire had just put that there for the human investigators. The girl had already been drained before the cut was even made. It would have been a slow, terrifying death, and it made them both want to turn away.

“This is definitely Belal’s work,” Amaa had said. “He has always had a flair for cruelty. Do you remember what he did to those women back in the Jack the Ripper’s days?”

Sulma had grunted in acknowledgement. He and Amaa had not known each other back then, but the destruction of bodies left by the vampire had been made quite a splash in the vampire population. The original Ripper had indeed been a human man, but Belal had tracked him down and drank him dry after victim number two. Belal had simply recreated the killer’s looks and techniques from then on, using the fear of the original killer to explore and destroy the rest of his victims as he had seen fit.

Many vampires had been concerned about the extremely dark murders, but most had simply cheered Belal on, or even idolized him for his ‘creative’ means of murder and destruction. Sulma had remembered it because Belal’s final victim, Mary Jane Kelly, had been his last living relative.

Sulma had been teetering on the fence then, going back and forth with human morals and vampiric blood power. Mary Jane’s murder had landed him firmly on the moral side, and since then he had held a personal grudge against Belal. No one knew this however, not even Amaa.

After they had inspected the body, they each bit into their wrists and let their powerful blood fall over the open wounds. Even if it wouldn’t bring her back to life, it would at least make her scars disappear, and leave her unmarred. It was the only token of peace they had to offer the poor woman.

After they left the morgue they had spent the last several hours searching the city for anyone that could have possibly led them to Belal or his followers. Their search had led them to a rooftop across from a building that now served as a storage unit facility.

Perched atop of their roof, they monitored the front of the building. For the most part, it looked like a row of extremely rundown storage sheds. Only one of the doors was different from the others, and that was only because someone had carved an ancient vampiric symbol into the top left corner of the steel door. The symbol meant blood donors. Basically the shed was used to lure people in so that the vampires could be as messy as they wanted and then would have a very small amount of space to clean up after it over.

Sulma and Amaa both found it repulsive, but tracking the place meant that they were on the right track. They had found it just before 10:30, and now it was nearly two in morning. Sulma knew Amaa was itching for a fight, and the long hours of waiting had only made him more antsy. Sulma knew that Belal had been Amaa’s white whale. Ever since they’d parted ways, Amaa had battled Belal several times, but when it came down to delivering the death blow, he’d never been able to do it. It was a mystery only Amaa knew the answer to, and no matter how many times he was asked he never gave an answer.

“Let’s give it two more hours,” Sulma urged. “You and I both want to get home to Sam, but I know you know that this is more important. Belal has to be up to something horrible.”

Amaa sighed, his head dropping. “I know. I just- I don’t like this. It feels wrong somehow.”

Sulma looked over at Amaa, understanding dawning on him. “You had another one of those Crimson Visions,” he muttered. “That’s pretty rare… even for vampires of beloveds. Usually only witches can glimpse the future like that.”

Amaa looked up almost guilty, and nodded his head. “Another gift from Sam,” he said, smiling only briefly. Although Sulma had found out, he hadn’t told the others about Amaa’s new gift yet. He had only one vision prior to the one that was making him antsy, and it had been about two weeks ago.

Sam had been with Aruum, learning to concentrate her healing powers to small things like plants and insects that had been sickened by the fungi. Amaa had been in the library, reading up on the magi when he suddenly stopped seeing words in front of him and started seeing Sam and Aruum. The plant they were working on had healed, but the insect was rejecting her power. He watched it jump from the table to Sam as if he was right beside them, and panicked with them the moment it started trying to burrow itself into the skin of her arm.

Then he blinked, and it was gone. The pages were back, and it was as if he’d dreamed it all. An hour later a painful scream came from the enclosed garden, and he raced in just in time to see Aruum rip the vampiric insect from Sam’s arm.

“Sulma, look,” Amaa pushed, clearly agitated. “I appreciate your concern for this, but we don’t have to do this right now. I’m telling you, we shouldn’t be here right now. We can come back tomorrow. We could-”

“Look,” Sulma interrupted, pointing down to the small alleyway on the left. He had walked over the edge to check the perimeter. On the ground below coming towards the storage sheds were two male vampires, both dressed well and built like statues. They led a group of chattering, barely dressed women up the alley towards the line of storage sheds. They had no idea that the men dressed in fine clothes and spritzed with expensive cologne were actually rotted-out vampires that were about to drink them like a kid drank a juice pouch on a hot summer day. They also didn’t know they were being followed.

Like in true pack hunting fashion, two other male vampires trailed way behind the women, just to make sure none of them got cold feet or sensed the impending danger. They were far enough back so that they could duck and hide if one turned around, but close enough to break a girl’s neck if she actually tried to run.

“Sorry,” Sulma apologized, cracking his knuckles. “Looks like we’re not going to be heading home anytime soon.”

Amaa let out a strangled sound of annoyance as he began to stretch.

“Stupid fucking murderous pieces of shit…” his string of curses went on as Sulma continued to watch them. Just as he expected, the group made a right at the end of the alley, going straight for the marked storage door. When it opened the rhythmic thudding of bass bellowed from the darkened doorway, luring the unsuspecting girls to their death. The glow of a blacklight cast out over the sidewalk, and the sound of laughter could be heard. The girls had no idea that they were about to walk in to their deaths.

“Let’s move,” Sulma said, signaling at Amaa.

“Shall we make a wager?” Amaa asked.

“What in the world for?” Sulma replied, his focus more on the girls walking to their doom than Amaa’s bet.

“Whoever kills the most bad guys gets to be with Sam first?”

Sulma’s gaze moved away from the girls, completely surprised by his coven brother’s suggestion. Still, he found it intriguing.

“All right,” he said, shaking Amaa’s hand. “Deal. But I don’t want to hear you bitching after you lost. Now come on, let’s do this thing so I can claim my winnings.”

Amaa scoffed, but didn’t reply. Together they each placed a foot out in midair. They were about to take the leap down when suddenly, they were yanked back forcibly. A fist, hard as a rock, came brutally across Sulma’s face. It crashed into his nose, breaking the bone and bursting blood vessels there. Beside him he heard Amaa struggling as well, trying to break free from whoever had a hold of him.

Another hand shot forward, but this time Sulma was able to slide around it and grab the assailant by the arm. With the strength of a vampire he lifted the guy and tossed him over the roof’s edge, keeping ahold of the man’s arm firmly as he twisted into a circle. The man screamed wildly in pain as bone, cartilage, and muscle tissue ripped savagely apart from the shoulder. The vampire screamed as every part of his body but his arm went soaring over the edge of the building. Blood sprayed everywhere, but Sulma was already over it, throwing a silver dagger straight into his victim’s head. Not waiting to hear the crash, he turned around to see that the roof was littered with vampires from the House Gormeth. The fight was just beginning, and there were plenty of other body parts to rip apart.

The battle raged hard. With only two against a dozen or so, it took Sulma and Amaa longer than normal to finish the fight. Roughly halfway through, four of them fled after they realized they were fighting to the death, but the others stayed to ultimately pay for their crimes. When Amaa finished killing the final one, they were both in dire need of blood and healing. While Sulma and Amaa had sliced through their opponents with silver bowie knives, their opponents had caught them with several silver knife strikes.

“I think my ribs are broken,” Amaa seethed through gritted teeth, sliding down to the roof’s floor. “Like, more broken than could possibly be broken. That kind of broken.” He groaned again, and pulled a small tin flask from his pocket.

“You drink booze now?” Sulma asked, pushing his dislocated right shoulder back into place.

“Shit. Human or not that still hurts like a bitch to put back in place.” He rolled his shoulder, testing out his handiwork.

“It’s blood,” Amaa admitted, finishing his first swallow. “Fresh from earlier. Kind of had an inkling that I’d better be safe than sorry.” He took another swig, then offered it to Sulma.

Still panting from the fight, he limped the few feet over to Amaa, took the flask, and downed a mouthful of its contents. Even just the small mouthful was enough to kick his more serious injuries into healing mode. He felt his bones begin to seal back together in their usual painstaking manner, only slightly faster.

“That was brutal,” Sulma said, wiping his mouth. “They must have known we were here. How the hell did they know we were here?”

Amaa shook his head slowly, staring off in particular direction. “Belal’s a disgusting creature,” he told him, “but he’s not stupid. He likes to set elaborate traps and watch his prey suffer long and hard.” He went silent for a moment, as if realizing something.

“What is it?” Sulma asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. “What do you see?”

“We have to move,” Amaa said, wincing as he pulled himself up to his feet. “We have to get back to the mansion as quickly as possible. This was a trap. Not for us, but for Sam. They’re going to attack our home base.”

Sulma shook his head, “they can’t step foot on the property,” he said in an attempt of comfort. “You put up the safeguards yourself, you know how powerful they are. It can keep them out.”

“I’m telling you!” Amaa shot back, looking panicked. “He figured a way around them. We have to go. Now.”

“All right,” Sulma nodded, feeling a dull aching begin within his heart, spreading through his stomach and up to his mind. He moved to help Amaa to the edge of the roof, when suddenly his heart began to race. A blood sweat erupted over his entire body and for the first time in his existence as a vampire, he doubled over as if he was going to be sick. Nausea and pain racked through him as bursts of red and streaks of pain laced through his vision and brain. His head felt as if it had been split open by a dull axe.

“Amaa,” he groaned. It was so hard to lift his head, but when he did spot Amaa, and quickly realized as he looked over at him, that he was struggling with the same thing.

“I told you,” Amaa gasped, wiping a vomit of human food and blood away from his lips with his sleeve.”

“We have to go,” Sulma said through gritted teeth. He forced himself to stand, even though every part of him begged him not to, and reached for Amaa. Together they jumped off the roof and headed towards the direction of the mansion. Amaa had been right, something was terribly wrong.”

In the darkened suite of rooms, Sam had laid relaxed and sated between the arms of Taas and Aruum. Aruum had curled around her back, his hands wrapped around her waist while his head rested on her shoulder. His fingertips were tracing patterns over her back, moving softly. Sam’s head was resting atop Taas’s chiseled chest, who laid flat on the bed with a hand stroking her hair. Sam was fast asleep, her body recovering from the intense coital pleasures they had participated in several times throughout the evening. As one, they had curled up together in the aftermath of it to watch Sam sleep.

Over Sam’s sleeping figure, Taas turned to look at Aruum.

“What time is it?” He asked.

Aruum lifted his head and looked towards the window. The waning moon was in the west. He furrowed his brow in concern, suddenly feeling on edge. With all of their fun, they had lost track of time.

“Late,” he whispered, “nearly four in the morning. Where are Sulma and Amaa? They should have been home by two at the latest.”

Moving as gently as he could, he removed a sleeping Sam from his chest, and went over to the window. The scene displayed before him appeared perfectly normal. It was a clear, peaceful night. Nothing at all seemed out of the ordinary, but a sense of dread had started to fill him.

“Something isn’t right,” he whispered, turning to look back at Aruum. He was already up, had gone to their rooms, and retrieved clothes for them by the time Taas had turned to look at him. He took the pants and t-shirt from him and they both dressed quickly. As they did so, Sam awoke from her sleep.

“I don’t feel well,” she gasped, holding her stomach. “Where are Sulma and Amaa?”

“We don’t know,” Aruum admitted, “but they should have been home by now. We were roused by the same feeling in our stomachs.” Sam sat up in bed and scanned the room. They weren’t quite sure what she was looking for, but when she finished she turned her gaze back to them.

“Something’s wrong,” she told them. Ignoring her stomach ache, which she realized now was a warning and not a malady, she got out of bed and walked into her closet. She came out a few moments later dressed in hiking boots, jeans, and a snug long-sleeved v neck t-shirt. Swooping her long hair up in her hands, she fashioned it into a high ponytail to keep it out of her face. She was nearly finished when she suddenly froze.

“Did you hear that?” She asked, her voice lower than a whisper. It had been the faintest of sounds, nothing more than a whisper of a breeze, but it hadn’t come from outside.

They all strained to listen for it again, and they all jumped when the sound of breaking glass filled the quiet. Immediately Taas was by the door, his ear pressed against the wood as Aruum held Sam, who was shaking, but mostly calm. Holding a finger up to his lips, Taas urged them to stay in the room quietly.

Sam shook her head no vehemently. Don’t go, she mouthed, trying to move away from Aruum’s arms. He held her tighter, refusing to let her go after Taas as he opened the door and exited the room. They heard the faint sound of the lock sliding into place behind him, and then he was gone. As soon as he left, Aruum turned Sam in his arms so that she was facing him.

“You have to trust us” he whispered, kissing her ear. “We can’t fight properly if we’re worried about you in the back of our minds, understand?”

She nodded, drawing in a deep breath to steady her nerves. This was it. This was the danger she and Amaa had been sensing, and she was prepared for it. She just had to remain calm.

“Good girl,” Aruum whispered. He placed a hand on each of her cheeks and kissed her passionately.

It was then that a thundering crash came from the hallway, breaking the kiss.

“Put your pendant on,” Aruum told her, talking normally now. She did so immediately, making sure it was secured before pulling a black leather jacket on.

“Do you remember where we found each other in the woods the first time?” He asked, his eyes dancing back and forth from her eyes to the bedroom door. They could hear Taas fighting with someone rather clearly now, and they were coming closer with every second.

“Yes,” she urged, “what about it?”

“It’s where the fungi is the thickest. Its odor will mask yours. There’s a fallen tree broken over top of a pile of rocks. There’s an old bobcat den there. I want you to hide there until I come for you. Do not, I repeat do not come out, even if you hear my voice. Wait until you can see that it is me before you come out.”

Sam nodded, and he pulled her into his arms for a fierce embrace.

“The far left window opens like a balcony door. Use the vines to climb down and run into the forest. I’ll come find you when this is all done.”

Aruum knew he should have said goodbye, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. This was not an end, but merely a pause, he told himself. Turning away from her, he left the room to save his brother.

A roar, very much like that of a bear came from the hallway, pushing Sam to move into action. Her heart pounded like a drum as she flew for the curtains, brushing them aside to find the secret latch. Something hard crashed her bedroom door, followed by a low groan.

Her heart clenched painfully, knowing it to be one of her beloveds. The latch stuck at first, rusted from lack of use, but then the door finally opened, and she moved swiftly out to the balcony and over the railing to the veins that would take her to the yard below. Trusting that Aruum would know that the vines would hold her, she began her descent. Twice she pricked her hands on the thorns from the roses, but she barely even noticed.

As soon as her feet hit the ground she took off at a dead run towards the trees. Behind her, an explosion of blood red fire barreled out of one of the mansion windows. It made her feel relieved, if only slightly. If Taas was still strong enough to be throwing Red Fyre, that meant that he may be down, but he was nowhere near out.

Once she hit the tree line she made a sharp left, veering off the normal footpath that was there and heading towards the fungi. She was moving so fast that when an arm suddenly shot out from a tree, it clotheslined her so hard that it slammed her backwards into the ground. She cursed, but scrambled to her feet. Only to be knocked down hard again. This time with a closed fist to her left cheekbone. Her soft flesh impacted sharply with the strong bone of a person’s knuckles, and she saw stars as she once more hit the ground. Something wet slid down her cheek, and she knew it was her own blood. Not willing to give up, she attempted to get up once more, but a hand clamped tightly around her nose and mouth, cutting off her scream and her breath.

She began to struggle wildly, her now sharp nails raking down her assailant’s hands in an effort to get them away from her face. She couldn’t draw a single breath, and with how quickly her heart was beating, she knew she only had a short amount of time before she lost consciousness. The man that grabbed suddenly gave her a hard jerk, sending her back up against his chest.

“That was almost too easy,” her assailant chuckled into her ear. She felt his free hand smooth down her struggling body, causing her to shudder with disgust. As he did so, his fingers squeezed over her breasts and between her legs, making her shudder in revulsion and fear.

“Don’t be rude,” he scolded, biting her ear painfully.

“You’re going to run out of air very soon,” the man warned, tightening his grip. “Either you calm down right now or you pass out in less than thirty seconds.”

In response Sam struggled more, her hands flying behind her for the vampire’s face. She scratched and pushed her palms against his face, trying to hit him. Suddenly he roared in pain, and pushed her away from him. The shove sent her sprawling several feet away from him as he doubled over, holding his face as if in great pain.

Sam dragged fresh air into her lungs, her body weak from the lack of oxygen. Already she started to run away, but she was so dizzy that she could only stumble a few feet at a time before having to lean up against a tree. The man’s angered screams filled the forest as she risked a moment to look down at her hands to see what she could have possibly done to hurt him so bad.

It was then that she saw the tiny wounds from the thorns. There must have been several more, and deeper than she had realized because both of her hands were covered in her blood. “So that’s what happened,” she whispered. Risking another precious moment, she turned to look behind her. Smoke was still rising from the vampires face even as he rolled around the ground, trying to wipe the blood way. It was burning him like acid, eating away flesh and tissue and burrowing down to the bone.

Realizing she had her head start back, she took off running again, this time zigzagging through the trees and picking up rocks and sticks and throwing them in various directions to confuse her attacker. Far behind her, she could hear him crashing through the brush, looking for her with a newfound taste of vengeance.

“Beloved!” He roared, not bothering trying to be stealthy anymore. “Come out come out, wherever you are!” He picked up a boulder the size of an easy boy recliner, lifted it over his head, and hurled it towards her.

Not knowing what he had done, Sam ducked down a gulley and into a hollowed out tree trunk. Immediately she began to rub her arms with the wet dirt beneath her, hoping to hide her scent. Suddenly, the forest went quiet. Not even a sound from the insects could be heard, but then she caught something. A whooshing sound that was eerily similar to the sound of a descending missile.

Sam’s hands wrapped tightly around her mouth to choke back a scream as the large boulder came crashing down, landing a mere foot away from where she was hiding. The boulder splintered the log she was hiding in, crumbling it to pieces so that she was completely exposed. She desperately wanted to run, but waited a minute, then two. Her ears strained to pick up more sounds, but she found nothing. Had he given up? Slowly, she began to uncurl her body, moving only one muscle at a time as she did so. In her head, she started to form a new plan. She had decided she would still try to go to Aruum’s spot, she would just travel much slower. She’d coat herself in more moist earth and move from tree to tree in camouflage.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden quake that shook the very earth beneath her. At first, she thought it was a quake. They were rare on the east coast, but not unheard of. Then, when trees around her were suddenly ripped up by their roots and tossed towards her, she realized nothing natural had caused the tremors.

“That was a very good trick you had back there,” a voice said, coming through the trees.

“Beloveds are clever, but none that I’ve met ever actually hurt themselves to ultimately protect themselves. Cutting your hands so that they would bleed on me, now that was genius.”

Sam hadn’t cut her hands on the thorns on purpose, but if he thought she had, she wasn’t going to correct him. Still, she knew the time for running was over. He had her now, and the best thing she could do was not turn her back.

“Are you who I think you are?” She asked, her eyes looking over the darkened forest. She didn’t have much to fight with physically, but if she kept him occupied, then perhaps it would give Taas and Aruum time to find her.

“That depends,” the voice replied, sounding much closer now. “Who do you think I am?”

“Jesus?” She asked, stalling. Her head whipped around wildly, looking for any movement.

His crippled laughter came out of the trees as his body did, moving towards her slowly in a terrifying manner.

“Now I know you’re smarter than this, Sam,” he told her, shaking his head back and forth.

“I think you know exactly who I am.”

A ripple of terror moved through Sam as Belal came closer. He moved in odd, jerky movements, not at all fast and smooth like before. Something was wrong with him.

“I can awaken others,” she told him, taking a step backwards. “For you and your coven. I can awaken another beloved, and she can save you.”

The offer actually made him pause, but only for a moment.

“That’s impossible,” he told her, moving towards her again. “No one has ever been able to do that, not even the very first beloved.”

She could see his face now. It was scarred horribly and covered in fresh pus bubbles.

“Yeah well, none of the other beloveds were me,” she told him.

What was a few feet between them shortened to mere inches in an instant. The tall, foul smelling Belal was directly in front of her, staring down with eyes that shone with a mixture of fury and insanity.

“You’re going to pay for this,” he told her, his fingers curling slowly around her neck.

“And so is your precious coven.”