Scarlet Dawn (14 page)

And his eyes…

The familiar silver of Raith’s therion form now occupied the right side of his face…

Then…

“Welcome to this world, Male—”

Zane howled in the sudden recollection of every second of agony he’d endured. Dropping to his knees, his bladder emptied itself and he vomited on himself.

“YOU
FUCKS! YOU SICK FUCKS! LEAVE HIM ALONE, OR I SWEAR I’LL… I’ll… I’ll…”

His eyes widened as more memories came:

The mountain—the fall—and his broken body laying useless at the base…

His friends, the men he’d grown up with before he’d been turned…

Celine…

He’d been taken home?

He’d…

He looked at his hands and saw blood.

“No… No no no! This… this is a dream! Not real! Can’t be…”

You know what we did, Zane! And while your little whore was a tasty starter, we’re still feeling a little puckish.

Zane cried out and pitched around, certain he’d heard…

“Who’s there?”

Silence…

“Dammit! I know you’re there! Come out and—”

And WHAT, limp-dick! You gonna start some shit with the likes of us? Cinch up your leaky cunt and put your balls where they belong, you sniveling fucking shit! There’s fun to be had, and we’re not gonna wipe baby-boy’s ass while he comes to cope!

“
Wh-where’s Celine? Who are yo—”

WE’RE YOU, BITCH! AND YOU’RE US! AND UNTIL WE SQUAT OUT A FRESH SHIT ON WHATEVER OPEN WOUND WE INFLICT IN THE NEXT HOUR, CELINE’S IN HERE WITH US, TOO! NOW GET OUT THERE AND FIND US SOME FUCKING PAIN OR WE’LL BRING OUR OWN RIGHT HERE
; RIGHT NOW!!

No sooner had the threat been uttered than Zane’s body was alive with every ounce of pain the taroe had inflicted on him! His howls of pain shook through ever atom of his body and his right eye ached as his field of vision shifted and warped…

And then he saw the blood-red aura fade into being around him.

“B-but… that can’t be…”

Previous encounters with auric vampires—the mind feeders of their kind—had made it clear that the unseen energy around his body registered as blue…

Blue!

Red was the color of…

“R-Raith?”

Not anymore, sweetheart!

T
he chilled fall winds wrapped around Serena as she walked through the city.

There was so much on her mind.

Too
much on her mind!

After that night, she’d been forcing herself to stay awake in hope of another visit-slash-vision with Zane
; anything that might bring with it any sort of lead to where he might be. After several disappointing nights of ongoing loneliness, however, she’d given up on a repeat performance.

But then, that last night, he’d come to her again.

There were no words—none that she could hear, at least—and the peaceful pale light and calm, loving demeanor had been replaced by a tortured, blood-bathed specter who’s silent cries haunted her room for less than five minutes before his ghost had finally exploded out of existence and left her screaming his name and crying in the middle of her floor.

Zoey had nearly had to put her in an auric-induced coma just to calm her down, and when she’d finally awoken nearly fourteen hours later
she was bogged by a feeling that she’d fought for so long to escape.

Fear.

As the thoughts wrapped her into her own cocoon of solitude, she sensed a strangely familiar auric signature and turned in time to see a shadowed figure crawling up the side of a building. Shaking herself out of her own thoughts, she hurried to follow after them, taking care not to arouse suspicion in the crowded city streets, and keeping her aura out to scan the area in hopes of figuring out who it was.

Finally slipping free of the crowded streets and ducking into an alley—
Why is it always an alley?
She rolled her eyes—calling upon her recently discovered parkour skill set to carry her to the rooftop and spotted Axle crouching on a ledge, a backpack filled to bulging capacity strapped to his shoulders, before leaping to the next rooftop

She frowned at the sight, noticing that both his movements and his aura weren’t what she’d come to expect from him. Scowling at this, she put up an auric shield to mask her scent and any sounds she might make before starting after him, eager to see what it is he was up to.

Though his style seemed more clunky than before—his movement driven by powerful leaps and hardened sprints rather than the previously agility-focused run they’d shared before—there was no mistaking his personal grace as she follow him from building to building until they’d reached the business district.

Where was he going? This wasn't the way to the orphanage…

And where were the others of his group? If this had something to do with a job, wouldn’t they have been with him?

She continued to follow, feeling more concerned than ever.

Where could he be going?

Landing on the rooftop of the new clan’s headquarters, Axle stumbled and paused to catch his breath.

Seeing her chance, Serena dropped down with him, dropping her shields and using the tucked roll she’d learned from him.

“
We going to make this place our thing or something?” She chuckled, starting towards him, “What the hell are you doing, anyway?”

Startled, Axle jumped to face his sudden company, dropping his bag and frowning as he saw her.

“Ser… Serena?” He blinked, his aura coiling tightly over his head before suddenly relaxing and beginning a slow sway over his head. “What are you…?”

“That’s what I’m asking you, bud,” Serena let her voice soften as she stepped forward, “Axle, what’s wrong? You’re acting funny.”

“I-I don’t know,” He shook his head suddenly. “Isn’t this…”—he looked down at the bag and bit his lip—“Isn’t this what I normally do?”

His eyes seemed so lost…

“Where are the others?” Serena bit her lip as she watched him.

“Huh? Others?”

Serena nodded slowly, “Yea. You know, your gang? Your
friends
?”

“I… I don’t know,” he held his head, frowning. “I couldn’t find them after I woke up. I just thought…” More blinking.

“What?” Serena pressed, “What did you think?”

“I… didn’t.” He looked up, looking nervous, “I didn’t think anything of it. I just…” He looked down at the backpack, “Isn’t this what I normally do?”

His aura tightened into a coil again and bobbed angrily over his head. Groaning, he blinked against what Serena could only guess was the worst headache he’d ever had and finally took a step towards her. Something HAD happened to him and she was more concerned than before as she stepped towards him.

“Axle, you should come with me,” she placed her hand on his shoulder and he jumped a bit at the contact before taking a deep breath and turning to face her.

“Where?” Axle frowned, biting his lip, “Where would you take me? Your clan
is
after me…”

“Well, you’re coming with me anyway,” Serena smiled warmly. “It’s going to be safer for you anyway.”

“Safer… A-are you sure?” He shook his head, looking slightly dazed as he took a deep breath again.

“Sure I’m sure. Now come on, man; you look like
alv shit,” Serena frowned.

“Thanks… I guess.” He blushed at her comment.

“Hey? You like bikes?” Serena smirked.

“What?” He blinked.

Serena rolled her eyes, “Come on, doofus.”

The two of them made their way off the rooftop, heading back towards where Serena had first spotted him and returning to where she’d parked her motorcycle.

“Is this yours?” Axle blushed, turning to her and smirking slightly, “Why am I not surprised?”

“Oh my… is that a glimmer of your trademark wit?” Serena teased, “Careful with that; the dead-eyed
doofus police might come and get you. Now get on.”

Her playful banter seemed to break past some of the haze that had crippled him earlier, and he smiled as he looked back at the bike and ran his hand across the electric-purple paint job. “It suits you,” he smiled slightly, “beautiful and streamlined, but deadly.”

Serena blushed and quickly moved to the bike, straddling it and starting it up as she turned to him. “Flattery only gets you halfway there! Now,” she smirked once more at him as she moved forward in the seat. “Hop on!”

Axle nodded and climbed on behind her.

“Make sure you secure your backpack,” Serena called over her shoulder. “We don’t need a bunch of Benjamins littering the street. That’s a good way to get bad attention.”

Axle’s aura tightened again. “Backpack?”

“Yea. Remember? That bloated thing
filled
with money that you were—tell me you didn’t leave it on the damn roof!” Serena groaned.

Axle blushed and started stammering.

“Whatever. Don’t even worry about it,” Serena shook her head as she started off down the road. “Happy night for those assholes, I guess.”

“Sorry…” Axle finally offered, securing himself by wrapping his arms around her waist.

Feeling a flood of warmth from the contact a familiar feeling fluttered in her lower belly, Serena bit her lip against a wave of guilt and forced herself to shake the partially-formed thoughts in her head from existence. “No worries,” she shrugged, “You can just work it off as my personal slave. So did you get lost back there? The orphanage is
East
from here, remember?”

“The orphanage…” Axle’s aura flared with recollection, “I guess I just got a little turned around. I… I mean, I think I actually
forgot
where I was taking it…” Another auric shift returned him to the tightened coil, “What’s wrong with me?”

“I’m not sure,” Serena admitted over her shoulder, “But I am going to get to the bottom of it all once we’re back at the Vail Clan!”

Axle’s arms tightened around her waist, and another flood of heat struck her as she felt his lean-yet-muscled body press against her back.

“Thanks again for helping me, Serena,” Axle said as they stepped off the motorcycle after she parked it at the clan’s headquarters. “If you hadn’t showed up when you did, I’m not sure where I might have ended up.”

“Don’t mention it.” Serena looked over, “And I mean that
literally
! My colleagues here are going to have enough trust issues with you
without
you going on about how I found you running around downtown aimlessly lost in la-la land with who-knows-how-much cash.
That
nugget of information stays between us,
capisce
?”

Axle nodded.

They headed inside the clan and Serena frowned as Zoey hurried over to the two of them, shaking her head more and more viciously with each step.

“Are you out of your mind, Serena? I mean
, have you
legitimately
lost it? What is
he
doing here?” She frowned, “He’s not exactly on The Council’s good side, and
him
walking around freely
here
is a very, very fast way to put
us
in equally bad standings!”

“Zoey, this is a matter of that trust thing we talked about. He’s staying here, and I need you to keep that
quiet
around the others. He doesn’t know where the rest of his gang is and something is up with his head.” Serena frowned, “Please, Zoey, I need you to help me with this.”

Zoey sighed, “Well, about that…”

Serena frowned, “I don’t like that tone. What is it now?”

“One of our warriors found one of his gang member’s behind a casino.” She shook her head, “It wasn’t a pretty sight, either. The body had been mutilated.”

“What?” Axle frowned, his body beginning to shake with rage, “Who would do that?”

“Calm down! Even you admitted that it was weird that they were missing, there’s no point in going
batshit about what you must have suspected now,” Serena frowned. “Well that settles it, Zoe; something is
definitely
going on here. I don’t care what the new clan’s methods might be, leaving butchered mythos bodies—rogue criminals or not—in potential sight of human onlookers is
not
how things are done. Has The Council been notified about this?”

“Of course,” Zoey nodded.

Serena smirked, “Did you throw the newbies under the bus to them?”

Zoey smirked, “I might’ve mentioned their ‘incompetence’ and ‘irresponsibility’ in passing.”

Serena smirked, “Girl, I could
kiss
you! Good job! Now, as for this lug here,” she nodded towards Axle, “somebody’s been doing some
serious
tinkering in his head. If we keep him here then we can be sure that he’ll be safe from whoever did this. Pardon my paranoia, but I don’t think our new allies in that other clan are as clean as The Council would like to believe.”

Zoey frowned, “Do you realize that in all my years as a warrior with the Vail Clan I’ve
never
gone against a single authority figure? Then you take up the role as leader and in only a few short months I’m impaling Council members with parking meters and engaged in conspiracy theories about a group that, on any other day, we
should
be thanking for their support.”