The Blood Talisman (12 page)

It was Amalia. He had finally found
her. She was curled up on the floor, next to the bed. Her heartbeat
didn’t express fear or love. Her heart seemed to beat nothingness.
He stood there, in wolf form, gazing at her beautiful brown hair as
it cascaded down onto her folded arms. Her golden skin glowed of
healthy radiance but her face told of worry.

The footsteps had reached Selene and
Alex at the doorway. Three men stood behind Selene and her
heartbeat now betrayed fear. Alex took his attention from Amalia
and turned to the men. Two of them immediately changed into wolves
and the third was the man that he had seen in his vision. Selene
backed into the room towards Amalia, gazing at the other two wolves
and Alex. Ram stood in the middle of them all.

“
Alex Jacobs, I presume?
You are a very wanted man,” Ram said.

Alex growled at him and inched closer.
He wanted to rip his head off. The other two wolves jumped forward,
slamming Alex against the wall.

“
I need you to change back,
Alex. We can work this out as men, not animals,” Ram
said.

He motioned at the two wolves holding
him and they changed back to human form, on command, and released
their grip on him. Alex stood there in wolf form. Two nurses came
running down the hall towards them all. They stopped short of Ram
and stood behind him, waiting for directions.

“
We can do this the easy
way, or my staff can prick you with a needle full of calming juice.
Your choice, Alex.”

The sound of Ram’s voice irritated
him. Selene suddenly dashed between the two former wolves. She
grabbed Alex’s wolf abdomen and pushed it gently. He looked down at
her, into her eyes.

“
Change back, Alex. You
found her. It’s going to be okay,” Selene said, making eye
contact.

Alex closed his eyes and changed back
to human form. His bones cracked and his gums bled as he sized back
down to his normal size. Selene’s hands stayed upon him as he
changed. They rested on his shoulders as he reached
completion.

“
There, that’s much
better,” Ram taunted.

He motioned for the nurses to leave
and they followed suit, quickly.

“
Nice trained puppets you
have around here, you bastard,” Alex said, referring to the
departing nurses.

“
Let’s play nice now. Words
can hurt,” Ram responded.

“
Yes, but my fists can hurt
a lot worse,” Alex said as he bolted forwarded. He attempted to
push Selene aside but the two wolves turned human stopped his
advances. Selene turned towards Ram and gave him the evil
eye.

“
Who’s your friend? She’s
proved quite resourceful I expect… for a witch.”

“
I’m not just some witch
you can push around,” Selene warned him.

“
I’m fully aware of that.
You killed my wife. Her name was Ember.”

“
Your wife killed herself.
She was too stupid to know she was drinking a witch.”

“
Not any old witch, though.
Am I right?”

Selene put her hands up to slap him.
He grabbed her wrists, stopping her briefly. Alex jerked free
momentarily from one of the human wolves but they quickly regained
their grasp on him.

“
I wouldn’t do that if I
were you…” Ram said to her. He studied her gaze briefly and turned
his head to face down the hall. “John?” he called out.

John rounded the corner dragging Rose
by her long red hair. Her arms and legs were cuffed together with
cable ties and her mouth was masked with duct tape. Ben was nowhere
to be seen.

“
I caught your sister
coming through the front door, like a vigilante. That much trouble
could be bad for business. She is safe for now. The same cannot be
said for her wolf partner.”

“
You asshole. You’re going
to pay for this,” Selene yelled out at him.

“
No, I’m going to get what
I want from all of you. If I don’t, your sister will
die.”

“
What do you want?” Alex
demanded.

“
I want the blood talisman.
I want me and… my kind… to live forever.” He stared at Selene.
“Your brother will be here tomorrow. I expect a family reunion of
monumental results to occur.”

“
My father would never fall
for your trickery. You’re stupid just like your wife if you believe
that.”

“
I know the truth, you see.
Your brother Sol has been very forthcoming with information.
Undoubtedly he is very pissed at you
and
your sister. He loathes your
father. I guess immortality isn’t everything.”

John turned Rose around so that Selene
could see her face. She had been crying and her right eye was
bruised and there was a cut just above it. Her red hair was matted
with blood and dirt. Her pants were ripped and her shirt was barely
hanging onto her shoulders. The only thing on her that looked okay
were her shoes, although one of her laces was coming
untied.

Selene looked back at Ram. He smirked
at her. He had them all right where he wanted them and it clearly
felt good.

“
I need you and Alex to
follow me. I will make you both as comfortable as you like,” Ram
said.

“
What about me?” a meek
voice said amongst them.

It was Amalia. She glanced over at
Alex, then back at Ram. Alex wanted to grab her up into his arms
but the human wolves tightened their grip once more.

“
Amalia! You will stay with
me for now. I can rejoin you with your husband and his mistress
soon, if you wish,” Ram answered.

“
I am no one’s mistress!”
Selene yelled at him. Her face was as red as Rose’s
hair.

Amalia walked over to Ram and stood
beside him. He wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her
closer to his side. He looked into Alex’s eyes, taunting him.
Amalia picked his arm off of her waist and threw it back to his
side.

“
Wait here with John and
our redheaded prisoner here,” he said, kicking Rose in the
side.

She grimaced in pain and let out a
whimper.

Ram and Amalia walked down the grey
hall and disappeared into another room.

Selene had tears in her eyes. She
remembered the beatings and harassments from her brother Sol when
they were kids. Even though they were girls, Sol never cared how
bad they were hurt physically or emotionally. As their big brother,
he was horrendous. Selene figured that his assistance to Ram was
more punishment for their being born. Inheriting the blood talisman
had always enthralled Sol but the competition from two equally
powerful sisters had always irritated him.

She reached down to Rose and John
caught her by the arm.

“
What do you think you are
doing?” John asked.

“
I’m making sure my sister
is okay, you pawn,” she answered.

John’s hand began to burn as if he
were touching a hot pan. He jerked his hand back in pain and Selene
leant all the way down to Rose. She rubbed the tears away from
Rose’s eyes and pushed her red, wavy hair behind both of her ears.
She stroked her cheeks with her hands and looked deep into her
eyes, attempting to read her thoughts. Rose had mastered the skill
years ago but Selene had never taken the time to learn it. She
concentrated hard enough to give herself a headache. She closed her
eyes and thought of Rose and Ben. The first time they all met each
other. They were running from another set of vampires who were
trying to kill their father and Rose had literally run into Ben as
he was changing into wolf.

Selene always joked that it was love
at first bang but Rose hated when she said that because it sounded
too sexual. Her thoughts began to blur and she was in Rose’s mind,
reading her memories instead of her thoughts.

Ben was ripping through the security
team at the front door like they were paper. Ripping their necks
out and taking their heads clean off their bodies. Selene felt
uncomfortable reading her sister’s mind but she wanted to learn
what became of Ben. Rose was freezing nurses and doctors where they
stood. It was a scene of destruction. Then the bullet that stopped
them all came. It traveled past Rose, slamming right into Ben’s
forehead. His body dropped to the floor and Rose screamed, running
over to him. John held the smoking gun and placed it to the back of
Rose’s head.

“
We have your sister.” It
sounded like he was talking through water.

Rose complied by putting her hands
behind her back. A couple of faceless men tied them up and she
walked away from Ben, staring back at him and crying hysterically.
John hit her over the head with the butt of the handgun and the
memory ended.

Selene opened her eyes to Rose. Anger
permeated from her eyes. She wanted to rip out John’s throat in the
same manner that Ben had ripped up security. Selene was slightly
proud of herself for being able to read Rose’s memories and,
somewhat, her thoughts.

John jerked Rose up off the floor and
walked away with her. Rose looked back at Selene as he dragged her
along. They disappeared down a corridor and soon only Selene and
Alex were left, together with the two guys holding him against the
wall.

Selene strolled casually over to the
two men. They looked at her anxiously.

“
No funny business here,
witch,” one of the men snapped.

“
I can’t hurt you… unless
you drink my blood or eat my flesh. And that would hurt
you
a lot more than me.
You should be by my side, not against me,” Selene said to them
both.

“
Not trying to sway my
help, are you now?” Ram spoke out from behind her.

He had returned with a white towel in
hand. He wiped his hands on it in the same manner a surgeon would
after washing his hands after surgery. The white towel had a tinge
of bloody water on parts of it. Alex’s attention became perked. He
worried that something tragic had happened to her.

“
Where’s my wife?” Alex
yelled out.

“
She’s where she needs to
be,” Ram said in a very matter-of-fact tone. “Selene, Mr. Jacobs,
please follow me to your holding area.”

Ram waved his hand towards a set of
doors further down the corridor. The two men guarding Alex loosened
their grip and he pushed their hands off of his shoulders. All
three of them stood there, shirtless. Selene didn’t mind their
near-nakedness.

Alex took her hand and softly
whispered into her ear, “Are you all right?”

She nodded yes and leaned her face
against his to feel the warmth from his cheek. His facial hair had
become stubbly again and she winced slightly from the sharp brown
points.

“
Not his mistress, huh?”
Ram asked Selene.

Alex walked over to Ram and punched
him across the jaw. He picked himself back up and rubbed his cheek,
chuckling at Alex. Ram then grabbed him by the throat and slammed
him against the wall. Alex struggled to contain the wolf. He
started to lose consciousness as Ram tightened his grip and it
helped to keep him from changing.

“
I will rip your throat
out, wolf. Then I’ll bed your wife and have your mistress killed.
Don’t tempt me,” Ram snarled at him as he released his grip and
Alex fell to the floor.

He clutched his neck and coughed.
Selene hurried over to him and rubbed his back, comforting
him.

“
Now, if you two will
kindly follow, I will show you where you will stay for the night,”
Ram said as he straightened his shirt down and rolled his sleeves
back down to his wrists.

Alex and Selene complied, reluctantly.
She helped him up from the floor and walked, her arm around his
waist. Ram unlocked the doors and walked in ahead of
them.

“
I’m sure you’re both
hungry and tired. I will have some food sent up and some spirits,”
Ram said.

Selene helped Alex onto the oversized
king bed. The posts on it reached high to the vaulted ceiling. The
bedspread was a burgundy and golden velvet ensemble. There were
neither pictures in the room nor any windows, only vases of fake
yellow flowers that sat tall on huge tables and gothic dressers.
The walls were beige. The entire room was decorated to feel like
home but failed to convince Selene. She wished she could be home
with him.

She looked back at Ram and the two
shirtless men standing with him at the door. She had never felt
more disgusted at any vampire. Her family had had plenty of run-ins
with vampires wanting immortality over the years but none as
sadistic as Ram. She didn’t understand how one vampire could turn
so many wolves to his side. She also wondered what role her brother
Sol played in all of it. Maybe he was just tired of living the
immortal life in their father’s shadow. Maybe he was playing both
sides to diminish all immortals and supernatural creatures. She
would have to wait until morning to find out where Sol’s
allegiances lay.

Ram and his henchmen left the room. He
locked the door behind him then dismissed the two wolves. He
reached into his pocket and took his cell phone from it. After
dialing a few numbers it rang up to the kitchen on the next floor
up.