Chapter Nine - Angelus
Silver bullets didn't kill Vampires the way they would kill a werewolf, but they still hurt like hell.
There were fewer humans in the building than Angelus expected, but that was probably a good thing. With the bullets tearing through his flesh, scorching him like brands of pure fire, if there were any more of them shooting at him he'd probably be overwhelmed. He charged into the hail of silver, grunting as his body was pumped full of the toxin.
A human ran at him with a wooden stake. Angelus caught the man, twisting his arm behind him. A snarl ripped through the Vampire's throat as he used the man as a human shield from the silver bullets that now tore through the dead body.
They didn't care about their own people. They were more dangerous than he anticipated.
Angelus threw aside the corpse as he came on the group of shooters. He tore into them. Despite the red hazing his vision, Rosa's living scent in his nostrils stopped him from killing them all. It would be easy. It would be faster. But even in these circumstances, he couldn’t bring himself to break his unspoken promise to her to avoid violence as best he could. She was alive and well, so he merely rendered first one, then another unconscious and continued along. The burning silver inside him slowed his healing and made him limp, but he ignored the pain.
It was nothing compared to how his heart would break if he wasn't successful here. The humans were fleeing before him now, their shouts interrupted by bursts of gunfire. He smiled. When he first arrived at this building, he wondered if he should have brought Morgan and a few of his guards for backup. It was better this way–more personal. The survivors would know that he wasn't a weakling to be trifled with and they would share the tale of his triumph.
Angelus followed Rosa's scent, his slow-beating heart speeding up as he approached. Her scent was almost overpowering when he finally stopped. He was in a long corridor, perfect for an ambush. Yet, the humans who had been firing at him before were all gone. They had broken off in another direction to lead him away from something, but then they had just abandoned pursuit.
Every fiber of Angelus' being trembled with conflicting desires. He wanted to rush in and find his love, to gather Rosa into his arms and flee this place as quickly as his feet would take him. But it was a trap, and he needed to be careful. It wouldn't help either of them if he tripped a wire or stepped on a mine and blew them both up.
Angelus scanned the corridor. It was empty, bare. He inhaled. There were two humans, male, with Rosa. If he strained his hearing, he could hear their heartbeats. Rosa's was hard and fast, the other two slightly slower, but not by much. She was alive, though.
A man appeared in the doorway. He was an ape of a man, his upper body as muscled as a gorilla's. His pale skin gleamed with sweat, and he gave the King a vicious smile. It wasn't the man who had beaten Rosa. That man had been much more slender. Angelus strode forward, noting the leather armor the man wore and the silver sword in his hand. He came prepared for hand-to-hand combat against a Vampire. With all the silver already riddling his body, Angelus would have a hard time defeating him.
The gorilla man retreated back into the room. The Vampire King narrowed his eyes. What were they planning? To kill her in front of his eyes?
If they hurt her, they will know true pain before their end.
When he stepped into the room, he froze. Rosa was there, all right. A blond man stood behind her, a knife pressed into her neck. Tears were rolling down Rosa's face as she wrapped her arms around her belly. Her hands kneaded her shirt, as though she was fighting not to attack the man that could easily kill her.
"Michael Jones," Angelus greeted, forcing himself to stay cool.
The man's eyes widened. "So you know who I am? It was that slimy Vampire who handed my stepdaughter over to me, wasn't it?" He chuckled. "Yeah, she's my stepdaughter. Did you know that?"
"The traitor told me where to find you, but yes, I already knew who you were."
Angelus moved to one side, keeping an eye on the gorilla with the sword. Jones was perspiring. He hadn't planned on this. It didn't mean he couldn't destroy Angelus' world with a single swipe. Given all the silver in his body, he wouldn't be fast enough to stop him from cutting Rosa's throat.
"Rosa told me about you," the King continued calmly. "And I have to say, if you were under my jurisdiction, you would be dead. There is no excuse for what you did to her mother."
"I don't care about your morals," Jones replied. "But you appear to actually care about my stepdaughter… so either kneel before me so my companion can take off your head, or she dies."
Rosa let out a cry, but there was no hesitation on Angelus' part. He dropped to his knees at once. The gorilla took a step forward, raising the sword.
"No!"
Everything stopped at Rosa's cry. In a single breath, Angelus' eyes met Rosa's. They were wide and wild, desperation and determination warring in them. He realized what she was going to do between the beats of his heart. A wordless scream tore through his throat. As he lurched back to his feet, reaching for the hand that held the knife, Rosa threw herself forward.
The blade sliced neatly into her throat. Red blossomed against her skin as if through a crack in a dam. A single gasp came from Jones. The gorilla exhaled. Both were still alive. Rosa looked in his eyes, pain crossing her features. Each beat of his heart was loud in his ears as she slowly crumpled to the floor, her hand going to the cut in her throat, uselessly trying to stem the flow.
The scream turned into a howl. Jones and his gorilla tried to run, but before they had gone two steps Angelus was on them. He couldn’t see, blinded by red, the smell of Rosa's blood in his nostrils. He grabbed them both, one hand crushing the gorilla's windpipe before discarding the man. He threw Jones to the floor, fangs dripping with the desire to bite, to kill. He snarled and smashed his fist into Jones' face.
A rapid heartbeat from behind him stopped the second blow. Rosa was still alive, but her heart was going so fast he knew she wouldn't stay alive for much longer. It was pumping her blood out of her body. He threw Jones against the wall and rushed back to Rosa's side. Blood continued to flow. The knife wound wasn't deep, but it cut the arteries there. The wound was fatal. He gathered Rosa into his arms, desperate.
"Rosa! Stay with me. Stay with me."
Rosa's normally glowing skin was rapidly losing its color. Angelus held her tighter with one arm, reaching for the fallen knife with the other. There was only one way to save her, but would it take hold in time? A human body could bleed out in sixty seconds. One minute. That was all it took. How long had it already been?
"Angelus." Her voice was weak. "Save our baby. Please. Save her."
"I will," Angelus gasped as he laid her down on the floor. "I'll save both of you. I love you. I love you!"
"I love you."
He stabbed himself in the wrist, dragging it through his flesh. His red-black blood oozed from the wound. He needed to stab deeper, get more blood. Ignoring the pain, he pushed the blade deeper. More blood now. It would have to do. Rosa's eyes were rolling, her lids fluttering. Her heartbeat was slowing.
Angelus bent over her, sinking his teeth into her already wounded neck. The taste of her blood was euphoria, like the decade he had spent with a heroin needle in his arm, only this high was pure joy and the feeling of utter belonging. It was so exquisite he almost forgot to put his wrist to Rosa's mouth. Still gently lapping at the blood pouring from her, he massaged his arm, forcing his blood through her lips.
Her heart stopped and Angelus knew it had failed. But as he withdrew, a howl of pain on his lips, it started again. The beating was stronger. Her scent was changing, the new blood still coming from her wound tinged with death. A Vampire's blood. A Vampire's heartbeat.
Angelus kissed her mouth, tasting his own blood on her lips, then turned his attention to their child. If Rosa's body changed before the baby was out, she would not be born. She would stay inside her mother forever, not alive, not dead. There was only one way to give their daughter a fighting chance.
The King grabbed the knife again and lifted Rosa's shirt. Her belly pulsed and contorted, the baby fighting against her rapidly changing environment. Rosa gasped, the sound of air filling new lungs. He had only seconds before it would be too late.
Angelus whispered a quiet prayer to all the gods he had ever known and made the first cut.