Birth of Jaiden (34 page)

Corrine turned her head
toward him. “Yes, she really is; I just don’t know how long it’s
going to take her to be ok enough to help us.” She looked deep into
his eyes. “We can’t do this without her.”

Alex put his arm on
Corrine’s shoulder. “I know, but right now, we need to worry about
getting her onto a bed and getting her some food or
something.”

Corrine shook her head to
clear it. “Yes, yes, of course.”

Michael and another one of
the slayers showed up behind them.

“
We can move her to one of
the trucks. This here is Josh; he’s our Doc.”

Corrine moved her large mane of
hair over her shoulder and nodded to them. “Thank you, just what we
need. But, please,
please,
tell us as soon as she is strong enough to work with
us.”

Alex helped Josh and
Michael lift Victoria’s limp body onto a stretcher.

“
Don’t worry, Corrine,”
Michael told her. “We will do our best to get her conscious and
healthy as soon as possible.”

“
Thank you,
again.”

Michael nodded at Alex.
“Walk with us.”

Alex nodded back at him.
“All right.”

As they walked through the
trees, Michael and Josh carried the stretcher while Alex walked
beside them, keeping Victoria stable. After a few moments of
complete silence, Michael finally spoke.

“
So, Alex, are you all
right now? I heard you had a bit of an episode a little while
ago.”

Damn it,
Alex thought.
Why did this have
to happen today? These guys need to trust me and now it’s going
downhill.

“
Whatever happened with me back
there,” Alex told him, “you should never fear me; I have no
intention of hurting any of you.”

Michael nodded. “Yeah,
that may be true, but sometimes it’s not up to you.” He moved his
gaze over to Alex. “You and I both know that.”

Alex felt that he could be
honest with Michael. “Yes, yes, that is true. But, none of my
council would ever let me hurt anyone. They know of my hunger, I
know of my hunger and I loathe each time I need to sate
it.”

“
Alex, I believe you; I
have no reason not to believe you.” That time when Alex met
Michael’s gaze, he saw loyalty and ice. “However, if you hurt any
of mine, I will see your blood on my blade without a second
thought.”

Alex nodded, for he felt
the same way. “Agreed.”

They had arrived at the
semi and were in the process of hefting Victoria up into it when
she woke.

“
What in god’s name is
going on? Why am I still naked?”

Alex leaned in over her.
“Hi there.”

“
Shut up, idiot. Why
couldn’t any of you fools get me something to wear besides this
blanket? It’s not as if I haven’t made a big enough spectacle as it
is.”

Alex grinned. “There’s the
Victoria that we know and love.”

Victoria grunted. “Didn’t
I tell you to shut up?”

Michael came to Alex’s
rescue. “Don’t worry, Victoria, we got you some clothes in here,
and we are going to get you all taken care of and good as
new.”

Victoria rolled her eyes
upward and moaned. “Oh, now I feel soooo much better.”

Then, she passed out
again.

Alex laughed and looked over at
Michael. “Leave it up to
her
to wake up just long enough to
complain.”

Michael and Josh both
burst into laughter.

Through the entire
conversation, Josh had been getting out an IV bag and preparing to
insert it into her arm.

“
I don’t know how you guys
put up with that all the time,” he told Alex.

“
You just have to have a
good sense of humor and let it slide off.”

Josh nodded. “I
bet.”

Alex took his time to look
around the semi. It wasn’t the same one that he had been in before.
That one had a little corner set up for Josh’s medical stuff and
there were, like in the other, several bunks for them to sleep in.
That semi, though, had an entire wall covered in
weapons.

“
Wow,” Alex said as his
gaze slid over the large variety of guns, crossbows, and
swords.

Michael acknowledged it
with appreciation. “Yup, we like to spice it up.”

Alex went to the wall and
removed a long sword. The silver gleamed brightly against the light
inside the truck; the emerald jeweled hilt gave it beauty to match
the silver that spun around the handle.

Alex felt power when he
lifted it. “Where did you get this?”

“
From Malcolm”

“
What?”

“
From Malcolm.” Michael
held out his hand for the sword and Alex gave it to him. “Six years
ago, we finally found Malcolm and it was a terrific battle. I
pinned him to the ground with several bolts, all of which had
missed his heart, and then, I took this sword from him. I took the
sword and his lady sliced me almost clean through with
hers.”

Michael lifted his plain
white tee shirt to show off his scar by his stomach.

Since the sword had left
Alex’s hand, he wanted it back; he wanted to hold it again. “It
feels so powerful.”

“
I know.”

“
Do you know
why?”

“
That, I don’t know. I
wish I did, though.” When he turned to put the sword back on the
wall, the door rolled open again and Deanna appeared with
Danielle.

Earlier, he had failed to
notice that Danielle wasn’t wearing her usual pretty clothes. That
night, she was wearing black jeans covered to the knee by black
cowboy boots. Her top half sported a burgundy vest, buttoned up the
front all the way over her breasts so that one had only a glimpse
of her cleavage.
Why is she wearing that
? He felt like so much had changed with
her that night, like he didn’t even know her at all.

“
What’s going on?” he
asked

“
Danielle is going to help
Victoria,” Deanna explained as Danielle sat next to
Victoria.

“
Danielle,” Alex asked.
“What’s wrong?”

She took Victoria’s
wrinkled hands into her own and shook her head. “I’m not supposed
to do this; I don’t even know if I will be able to.” She sighed and
bowed her head into Victoria’s hand. “But, I must try; we need to
move tonight and she is our only chance.”

“
You don’t have to. She
woke up earlier so we know that she’s going to be ok.”

Obviously frustrated,
Danielle’s brown eyes met Alex’s blue ones. “Alex, we don’t have
the time to wait. I need to give her the strength now.”

“
Ok.” He would agree with
almost anything Danielle wanted, eventually. “If that’s what you
really want.”

“
It is.”

Danielle stood over
Victoria. Her eyes fluttered closed in concentration and she held
both of her hands palms down over Victoria. She moved them slowly
about an inch above making contact. It was a deep and silent moment
before a light began to come from within Danielle. She was glowing,
a white light, just how you would assume an angel would
glow.

The light filled her body
and seeped out; it created the most beautiful aura that Alex had
ever seen. Moving her hands which were now almost transparent, she
made contact with Victoria.

Victoria convulsed and her
chest lurched upward. Alex watched as her eyes popped open and she
inhaled with a deep gasp. Her body relaxed but her eyes stayed
open.

Danielle’s light began to
fade. Unlike a witch, such as Victoria, her body did not become
weak when she used her power. Alex went to Danielle and put his arm
over her shoulder. She was an angel healer and his best friend, and
he loved her for that.

Danielle grasped
Victoria’s hand. “Are you ready?”

Victoria nodded. Her voice
was only a gravely whisper when she spoke. “Do we still have
time?”

“
Yes.” Danielle released
her wrinkled hand. “We do, but we must move quickly.”

They all moved quickly and
gathered the members of the council and the slayers which they
needed and met in a clearing in the woods.

They were all there. Alex
watched them all joining hands. The injured, the weak, the strong,
the powerful, they formed a large circle of bravery.

Alex took Danielle’s hand
in one of his and Christopher’s in the other. The circle was
relaxed. Victoria, now fully charged and fully clothed, knew what
she had to do. Her hands were joined with Deanna and
Jeremiah.

Alex closed his eyes, as
did the entire circle. The power flowed through them. Victoria
remembered with video camera imagery what she had seen the day
before, what she had felt within the mountain. Her memories passed
from one hand to another, from one mind to another.

It was terrible. Alex
could barely handle seeing Jaiden being cared for the way that
Victoria had seen her. He wanted her out of there with a fierce
passion that bordered on being equal to his anger when his family
had been slaughtered.

Their circle closed when
Victoria lost control of her thoughts; it was the same moment that
she had run from the sight of the bodies hanging from the
ceiling.

It was all
gone.

“
Was it enough?” she
asked

“
Yes,” Michael told her
and he marched away, followed by his slayers. Alex knew they were
going to immediately prepare for the infiltration of the mountain.
Sunrise was upon them shortly.

Damion spoke before the
rest of them could part. “Since it’s only the council here now, I
want us to have one last meeting of the minds before we do
this.”

They all
nodded.

“
First, this may be the last we
see of any one of us. We need to be as one together inside. Levine
can sense us, so can Malcolm, but Levine is more in tune to things
out of the ordinary. She is powerful and we have all seen
it.
Do
not
let her
sense you.”

Danielle focused her eyes
on the starlit sky. “Do not for one minute forget the life at stake
inside there. We go in and plant the bombs, we save Jaiden, Stewart
and Isabella if we can, then get out. Got it?”

She lowered her eyes to
meet every one of theirs.

There was a variety of
nods and agreements.

“
Well then,” Alex said.
“Let’s go see what the valiant slayers would like us to
do.”

They found the slayers
back at their semis. Again, Alex was stuck with a romantic view of
the brutal fighters. Everything they wore was either black or dark
grey. The women all wore sexy black tops and snug pants but not the
disgusting painted type that women in the movies wore. The men were
either shirtless or in tank tops as well. They all had weapons
strapped in every possible place of their bodies. Guns, crossbows,
those UV flashlights, bandoliers on some, backpacks for others, it
was endless.

Alex watched intently.
They were focused on the mission, they were bred for battle, they
trained every day, they had only mortal powers yet they were better
than an army of powerful beings.

He heard footsteps behind
him. It was Deanna. He waited for her to approach and quietly asked
her, “Will you make it through this?”

She actually snorted at him.
“Of course I’m going to make it through this.” She paused. “You
know, Alex, its hard sometimes…being a good person, because I get
angry and I am human.
You
, now, you know what it feels like to spill blood,
to
want
to spill blood, and you hate yourself for it.”

Alex nodded. It was all
true.

She continued, “Well,
sometimes, even a human being wonders what it would be like to
kill. Human nature is to be angry and to want to hurt. And I feel
that way a lot. I train myself to hurt, to kill if I have to, and I
never have. And tonight, even though these are not humans, I
am
going to
kill.”

“
Yes.”

“
And I am excited about
it.”

Alex finally turned his
head to look at her. She looked radiant; her hair was pulled back
into two French braids in the back of her head, with a black beanie
cap covering her bright red hair. She wore slightly baggy black
jeans and a dark brown turtleneck sweater.

He thought briefly about
changing his outfit. Then, he changed gears back to her. “You will
be great.”

He took her head in his
palms; she looked up at him and he kissed her forehead.

Alex knew he did not have
time to talk to every member of the council before they went in;
time was running short. He did go change his outfit, though, and he
had to have his coat, his vampire coat. Before he donned it, he
strapped on his shoulder holster and two forty-five pistols. Like
guns would do any good with vampires. He adjusted his own sword
close at his hips till it was a snug fit and hidden beneath his
coat. He took a final moment to himself, closed his eyes and
prepared for the killing he would have to do throughout the
night.