Birth of Jaiden (33 page)

“
Be quiet,” the larger one
said just as Victoria was directly in front of him.

She froze.

The little guy continued
to tap his feet and sing quietly.

“
Damn it, you idiot, I
said be quiet.”

“
What.” The little guy
spread his hands out. “Just passing time.”

“
If you keep that up,
Levine or Malcolm will have you for lunch. You know how she hates
messing around while on duty; she likes it quiet.”

Victoria let out the
breath she had been involuntarily holding at the same time the
little guy responded.

“
Dang, dude. I was just
trying to keep busy, this is bo-ring.” He rolled his eyes up for
emphasis.

Victoria left them to
their bickering and crept on.

The archway had led her
into a scene she could have done without seeing.

Malcolm sat on a jeweled
chair on a raised stone platform, his cape wrapped around him, legs
crossed and Jaiden in his arms.

Victoria could see her red
hair and pale face peeking out of her pink blanket. An
old-fashioned bassinet stood somewhat royally beside Malcolm’s
self-proclaimed throne. Victoria fought the urge to run and grab
Jaiden from him.

When she could finally
tear her eyes off of them, she continued to look around the
room.

Victoria’s gut lurched
when she spotted the pool of blood. It was sunken into the ground
like an in-ground pool, only not as big. It was only about the size
of a large hot tub, but nevertheless. It was a damn pool of
blood.

Oh, good god
.

The pool bubbled and moved
as if it was alive. It splashed up and Levine appeared. She flung
her black hair back as she rose out of the pool like a mermaid from
the sea.

Blood dripped off of her
from everywhere. Her bare white skin was tinted pink, darker
droplets fell from her porcelain face and onto her breasts where
more dripped from her large dark nipples.

Gracefully, her hands rose
from the pool and caressed her own breasts.

“
Malcolm,” she said as she
circled her fingers around her nipples, “put that baby down and get
in with me.”

Malcolm looked up from
Jaiden. “My dearest, I am content watching you being
pleasured.”

“
But it’s not the same; I
want you.” She formed her lips into a pout.

Malcolm was never able to
turn down anything that Levine asked of him so he rose while Jaiden
still cried. “Very well, then, I couldn’t live with myself if you
weren’t happy, my love.”

Carefully, he placed
Jaiden into the bassinet and descended the platform.

Levine reached down into
the pool and yanked up hard. Another vampire had been under the
blood pool. She held him by the hair.

“
Get out,” she told him
and flung him toward the edge.

While the blood-covered
vampire scurried off, she swam to the edge to wait for Malcolm, who
was at that moment disrobing his clothes. He left his cape on the
floor along with everything else that he had been
wearing.

Levine watched him
intently, lowered her head and took some of the blood from the pool
into her mouth. Once Malcolm finally stood naked in front of her,
she stood to offer her body to him.

Malcolm slipped into the
blood and wrapped his arms around his woman, pulling her tight
against him. Levine held onto his neck and entwined her legs around
his waist. Slowly, they began a rhythmic motion that sloshed blood
everywhere.

Victoria couldn’t take it
anymore; she covered her ears in a desperate attempt to silence
Jaiden’s screams.

That’s it
. Unable to keep herself from
doing it, Victoria went to her. She looked down at Jaiden and
touched her fingers to Jaiden’s cheek.

Immediately, Jaiden
stopped crying and stared up.

That child can see
me
, she
thought.
I
know she can
.
What a powerful witch she will be, she already is. You will
do great things, little one.

Reluctantly, she pulled her
hand away from Jaiden. It came as a surprise to her that she cared
so much for that baby. A baby that she knew nothing of, only that
she would eventually ensure the survival of mankind.
How could one child
be so powerful, so special?

The loud moans from
Malcolm and Levine tore her from her thoughts. She knew that her
gut couldn’t take anymore so she rushed out doing her best to avert
her gaze from the two naked bodies thrashing about in a blood
bath.

But as she approached the
archway, Jaiden started to cry again. She turned and looked up to
the ceiling to pray. Instead, she had to swallow down a mouthful of
vomit.

Several bodies hung from
ropes by their feet. Dead, their throats slit to let the blood flow
into the pool below them.

Oh God, no!

She fled the room as
quickly and quietly as she could.

35

While Victoria faced the
horrors within the mountain, Alex woke to facing his own. Hunger, a
deep ravenous hunger woke him.

Sure it was a sign that
the night was bound to be a failure, he rolled over in his bunk and
saw Chris spread-eagled on his bunk, covers thrown off, announcing
to anyone around that he had slept in only his boxers.

The slayers all did pretty
much the same thing that they had done when they had entered the
truck. Jackie noticed the movement from his bunk and motioned a cup
of coffee at him.

“
Evening. You want
some?”

“
No.” He rubbed his eyes
with his palms. “No, thank you.”

“
Suit yourself; it’s safe
enough for you to go outside now.”

“
Thanks.”

God. She smelled good. He
could almost taste her sweet blood, pumping freshly through her
veins.

I have to get out of
here!

Alex clutched his stomach
with both hands and launched himself off of the bunk, then rolled
onto his hands and knees.

Unaware that Jackie had
slid her hand discreetly from her coffee cup to her cross bow, Alex
crawled across the floor toward the doors.

“
Alex, Alex!” He could
hear Chris calling his name; only it sounded hollow, as if called
from a long hallway.

“
I have to get out of
here!” He harshly shoved away Christopher’s hands when he tried to
help. “Just stay away,” he growled.

Alex grabbed the door
handle and rammed it upward, flinging the rolling door up with so
much force that everything in the semi shook like it was an
earthquake. Jackie and the other slayers ran about and tried to
recover their fallen belongings. Alex jumped out of the truck and
ran into the trees.

Nothing, absolutely
nothing could compare to that kind of hunger. Alex knew what could
happen; he knew it and he knew that soon he would be unable to stop
it from happening.

“
Alex!” It was Chris,
behind him.

“
Go away, get away from
me.”

“
Alex, you need
me.”

“
No! I don’t need anyone.
Get the hell away from me!”

“
Alex, you won’t hurt me.”
Chris slowly came to him and held out his bare arm. “You don’t need
to hurt me. I want to help you, take my blood.”

Alex snapped his head
toward Chris, brutally grabbed him and dragged him forward. No
discussion, no words, only a hiss of pain when Alex lifted
Christopher’s arm to his lips and pierced his wrist. Just like the
first time, the only other time he had drunk from Chris, he did not
fight him. Chris gave himself willingly.

With a moan of
satisfaction, before he could stop, Alex found himself drowning in
Chris’s memories. He saw Chris as a child, running fast through the
streets of the small town in which he had grown up. There was Chris
in high school, in a suit and tie, bearing the crown of the
homecoming king. Then Chris with Marissa, his first and only love
of his life; they sat basking in the sunshine, side by side on a
large rock along a slowly moving river. Marissa giggling and
adjusting her bikini as Chris tugged at the straps.

Then, with a flash, he saw
Chris staring down at Marissa’s coffin, watching her in death, with
tears in his eyes. He saw himself with Chris, Chris begging him to
make him immortal.

“
Let go, Alex.
Alex!”

Reality slapped at him
and, with a large gasp, he released Chris’s arm.

Chris pushed Alex so that he
fell down onto his butt. “Damn, Alex, I know you were hungry but
did you have to try to
kill
me.”

Ashamed, Alex scooted away
from Chris. “Sorry I…”

“
Don’t worry.”

He extended his arm and
let Alex grasp it. Chris yanked him up to a standing
position.

“
Well, if you’re all good,
then.” He glanced back at the semi. “I’m going to go get dressed.”
And he was gone.

Alex turned the opposite
way. He hadn’t gotten very far when he heard voices. After only a
few seconds of listening, he realized that he was overhearing a not
so hushed argument between Damion and Danielle.

“
She isn’t back yet. I am
going after her.”

“
No, Damion, we go as a
unit. We would know if Victoria wasn’t ok.”

“
I don’t care; you know as
well as I do that she wouldn’t risk using her telepathy so I don’t
give a damn.”

“
Damion!” The shock
saturating Danielle’s voice was crystal clear.

Alex inched closer until
he could see them. Danielle stood facing Damion, her body straight
and her long black hair floating around her face.

“
How dare you, Damion
Snow! You truly are a demon; I can’t believe you would put all of
our troops at risk for one, even if it is Victoria. You are
supposed to be the one that strives to lead us all in battle, not
the one that makes rash decisions.”

Alex watched Damion take
two steps forward until he stood almost nose to nose with her.
Danielle did not retreat; she stood her ground.

“
Danielle, I may be a demon, I
may also be a leader for the good guys,
but
I did not choose this as my afterlife.
Victoria is one of the few mortals left who sit upon our great
council. I won’t let her perish within this mountain.” He gestured
wildly with his arms.

This time, it was Danielle who
stepped forward till they
were
nose to nose. “Well then, nor shall I, but
we
will
not
move
until she returns, for she is key to our victory.”

Then, to his amazement, he
watched Damion lift his hand and move Danielle’s wind-blown hair
out of her eyes, letting his fingers lightly caress her pale
cheek.

Astonished, he kept his
eyes glued to Danielle who responded as a woman would, not how he
would have expected an angel to react. She tilted her head to the
left so that their noses broke contact and their lips
met.

He continued to watch as
he quietly backed away. Danielle’s arms moved around Damion’s
shoulders.

When Alex finally found
the will to turn around, he realized that the hunger pangs that had
hurt him so badly were still there, or it was some other kind of
hurt. To help him think, he bent and picked up a couple of twigs
off the ground to play with.

Could an angel and a dark
angel be together? Were they truly bound to the earth so
permanently that God would find this all right?

There were so many
questions he was just dying to ask but Damion was still, after all,
a demon, as Danielle had said. How long had this been a
secret?

What do I care, anyway, it
is Danielle, out of all of us, who deserves love. Why shouldn’t she
have it?

“
She’s here!” someone
shouted. Alex threw down the twigs and sped toward the gathering
crowd. However, he quickly skidded to a stop when he saw Victoria
lying naked and shivering on the forest floor. She had obviously
been too preoccupied to remember her clothes.

“
What happened to her?”
Alex heard someone ask while one of the slayers threw a blanket
over her.

Alex felt like his mind
was spinning out of control. It was one thing after another that
evening; was it a sign?

Corrine pushed her way
through the crowd toward Victoria. Everyone watched intently as
Corrine knelt beside her and proceeded to perform what looked like
taking her vitals. After a few moments, Corrine lifter her head
up.

“
She’s going to be ok,”
she announced loudly. “She’s overworked is all; it looks like she
has used an enormous amount of power throughout the
night.”

Alex ignored the murmuring
crowd and moved to kneel down beside Corrine.

“
Is she really going to be
ok?” he asked her.