Hey readers! Just a quick note here before we get on with the chapter. Thank you so, SO much for 10k reads. This is a huge milestone than I never thought I'd reach with my first book, let alone my second. I can't quite express how honored I am that you're here and enjoying my work. 

Anyway, on with the chapter! Don't forget to vote and let me know what you think in the comments!

~

Nolan landed hard, first on a commercial dumpster, then rolled off the covering to the ground. Pain, like nothing he had ever known, tore up and down his body from the bullet lodged in his side. His flesh burned and sizzled like it did in reaction to silver, and it felt like his energy and magic were being sucked away.

He lay still for a few seconds, willing his magic to take over, push out the bullet, and heal the damaged tissue. Nothing happened. Blood soaked his shirt and pants and drained onto the concrete. Shit. Whoever had shot him was using Ancient-killer ammunition. This already fucked situation was only getting worse. What the hell had Khalid gotten him into?

The girl... Kate... She had information about the Organization. He had to get to her. Get them both to safety.

Blocking out the pain, he pushed up onto his hands and knees. He needed to focus. Survive, he told himself. Survive. Get back home. Get back to-

His thoughts were cut off as a fist came out of nowhere, made contact with his jaw, and slammed him back into the street. Stars exploded in front of his eyes, but his instincts quickly took over. He rolled away from the assailant and stumbled to his feet. The world spun dangerously, and he had to close one eye to focus on the male advancing on him. Silver hair and beard from age, blood-red eyes filled with rage, and a distinct aura that he wouldn't forget in a million years. "No fucking way," he spat.

Darius, the youngest son of Eve, pulled his fist back and swung again. He was fast in his old age and strong as hell. Even as Nolan managed to sidestep to avoid the hit, he felt the air rushing past his ear and was pelted by old brick when the wall exploded from the force.

After what felt like an eternity, Nolan's body kicked into high gear. Adrenalin, if not magic, dumped into his system, and the pain in his side vanished. His mind went blank, emptying of everything except one thing. Survive.

Darius swung at him again, and he ducked to avoid it. His new crouching position gave him the leverage to push off and tackle the lycan around the waist, slamming him back against a wall that shuddered under the strain. Pulling back, he then threw Darius across the alley into the opposing wall. "How many times do I have to kill you, Darius?" Nolan snarled, advancing on the sigma. "Eve wasn't this fucking stubborn!"

Darius roared with outrage and kicked out. Nolan wasn't fast enough this time, and his feet were swept out from under him. The next kick was to the bullet wound, sending white-hot spears of pain through him again and reminding him of the devastating injury. "Don't you talk about my mother!" Darius roared and kicked again. "You keep her name out of your filthy mouth!"

Nolan managed to catch the third kick, spin around on his knees, and slammed Darius against the wall once again. Then, keeping his hold on the foot, he brought his own boot down on the Lycan's knee. The joint shattered, and for good measure, Nolan twisted the limb hard to ensure that even the fastest healer wouldn't be able to walk for weeks. Darius screamed in pain, and Nolan was able to stumble back several feet to lean heavily against a wall for support.

Having a chance to breathe, he pulled off his shirt, wadded it up, and pressed hard against the bullet wound, trying to stem the bleeding. With the other hand, he pulled his phone from his back pocket, wincing with every move. But, of course, it was utterly destroyed. Gods damnit. He glared down at Darius writhing on the ground and snapped, "How are you even still alive? It's been five thousand years?"

"You killed my soulmate!" Darius roared with outrage. His body shimmered with magic, but Nolan wasn't worried. If Darius was capable of shifting after all these years, he would have done it when he had the advantage. "You did this to me! You took my family from me!"

Nolan let out a single, humorless laugh. "Double-edged sword, that soulmate shit. A theoretical perfect mate and a magically extended life. An eternity of happiness. Unless they die. Then all you get is misery. I'm actually impressed you managed to live this long without her."

"Not misery," Darius seethed, dragging his mangled leg behind him as he crawled towards the vampire. "Hate! I have lived every night knowing you will pay for what you've done!"

"I knew her a hell of a lot longer than you did, boy! She was no fucking den mother!"

"The blood of my family is on your hands!"

"She brought this on herself!"

"You killed my daughter!" Tears cut through the blood and mud, leaving tracks in their wake. His fangs chattered as he struggled to keep fighting. Finally, his hand closed around Nolan's ankle, his entire body trembling. "She was only five... she was innocent."

Nolan closed his eyes, unable to bear seeing the pain and rage in the face of his old enemy. He could still hear the screaming of the child... the begging... the threats, and promises of revenge... it was the song of his nightmares. It haunted his happiest moments, reminding him that, no matter what good he did in this world, he would burn in hell for what he'd done.

Slowly, pulled his foot free and took his gun from its holster. Unlike his phone, the weapon had somehow survived the fall and the lashing he took. "For what it's worth, I am sorry it had to happen this way," he grunted, straightening and aiming the weapon at Darius's head. "But Eve made it plenty clear in the beginning. It was me or her."

He fired once, then once more, and the wolf went limp. Nolan kept the gun aimed at the body for a few seconds before lowering it. One more dead sigma. One more name for his black book of sins. One step closer to eradicating Eve's entire bloodline.

A sudden, overwhelming weight crashed into his chest. Another face, another life carved into what remained of his soul. How did it get like this? Why did it always come down to this?! Why couldn't he make it fucking stop?!

"NO!"

Instinct had him raising the weapon in the direction of the scream, but Kate didn't notice. Instead, she ran down the alley and dropped to her knees at the body. She took his face in her shaking hands to turn his eyes up to hers.

"No, no, no," she whimpered, tears streaming down her face and her whole body shaking. "Please... No, Darius, you can't... Not you... I can't lose you too..."

When he didn't answer, she threw her head back and screamed into the night. Nolan lowered the weapon again and closed his eyes. Another family lost because of him. She was never going to cooperate with him now. "I'm sorry," he breathed. "I'm so, so sorry, Kate."

"Not yet!" demonic magic slammed into his chest, making him gasp and look at her again. The gold of her irises spread over the cornea and pupil. Her skin started to darken and looked less corporeal by the second. "You're not sorry until I say you are!"

A black shape came out of the shadows and hurled itself at him. Before he could recognize it as another demon, an armored, clawed hand wrapped around his throat, lifted him off the ground, and crushed him back against the wall. The other clawed hand slashed forward, aiming for his heart. Nolan closed his eyes, convinced this was where he was going to die.

Except the demon's attack bounced off his chest and was blasted back with a shriek. He collapsed again, and a scream of his own tore from his throat as the bullet in his side tore deeper into his abdomen. He struggled to sit up and lean against the wall again. He didn't know where his shirt went, so he clasped his hand over the bullet wound. How was it still bleeding? It was taking everything he had to keep from passing out.

Kate narrowed her eyes, and the swirling of her skin slowed. A slow, hesitant hand reached out and touched Nolan's arm. Power flowed into him again, but it felt different. Less brute force, more careful contemplation. It slipped off him like oil on water, and suddenly her curiosity darkened, and she scowled. "Of course, Charlie's your soulmate," she spat bitterly.

Nolan went still, staring at her, his jaw slack. What did she just say? Rhia was his... no... she couldn't be. After all this time... after twenty thousand years? Was that why she was always at the forefront of his mind? Why he ached to be around her? Why it damn near killed him to say goodbye every time she had to leave and he couldn't go with her? No... he felt that with Valentina, with Rebekah, with Iset!

He watched the little demon, unsure what to expect from her anymore. Her eyes narrowed further, reaching deeper with her magic, and Nolan opened himself to her. A desperate mix of curiosity and a need for confirmation allowed himself to be momentarily vulnerable to someone who had every reason to want him dead. Their eyes met, and there was neither fear nor hostility in her eyes for the first time. "What... are you?" she asked in a low whisper.

Nolan had no idea what she meant, so he shook his head. "I'm just a vampire."

A solid minute of silence passed between them. The way she looked at him made him question the honesty of his answer, then cursed himself for doing so. Just a vampire. They were the words he'd chanted in his head for thousands of years.

Just a vampire. Nothing more.

Except I used to be.

Her eyes flicked away towards the end of the alley, and he turned his head to follow her gaze. A massive male stood at the entrance of the alley. His wide, blood-red eyes were fixed on Darius's body while a shaking hand held a phone to his ear. Then, slowly, his eyes slid up to Nolan's. "Darius is dead," he said in a low snarl. "Do it now."

He tossed the phone aside, opened his mouth, and roared. Magic rippled across his body and pulsed down the alley. The shift took over, and in a matter of seconds, the true form of the werewolf king blockaded the way out to the main street. "Aarón-"

Nolan knew what was coming before Kate could finish speaking. Whatever relationship she had with the lycans did not matter at this moment. Guerrero was overtaken by blind rage. If she got in the way, he would kill her too. Summoning what strength he had left, he shoved Kate hard across the alley behind the dumpster just before Aarón smashed into him with the full force of his power.

The world spun as they somersaulted further into the back streets. Talons dug into his flesh. Fangs closed around his shoulder, and there was a slight yet distinct click as his jaws locked. Shit. Nolan scrabbled to get his feet under him and keep them moving and rolling. The moment the wolf got any leverage, he would shake Nolan like a ragdoll and rip him apart.

His gun was gone, torn out of his grip when that other demon attacked. He hadn't brought any other weapons with him, believing that this was a simple check-in. So, he aimed for a wall and slammed Aarón's head into it. Then again, and again. Somehow, his fingers closed around a brick, and as they exploded into another street, he hit Aarón as hard as he could at the base of his jaw.

With a yelp, the lycan released him, and he tumbled a few meters away before managing to get shakily to his feet. His vision blurred from blood loss, the several beatings, and now blood dripped into his eyes. Aarón rose on his hind legs, ten feet of bulging muscles and a mouth full of razor teeth. Claws flexed in rage, but he didn't attack again right away.

A crowd of bystanders stared at the two, half of them frantically pulling out their phones to start recording, while the rest were either stunned into silence or started rushing away to avoid getting in the way. "Oh, my gods," he heard someone gasp from the crowd, and he allowed the brief second to glance at the small group of vampires on the sidewalk. "Is that... the Lord Wes?"

"Holy shit is he okay?" asked another.

Nolan didn't know who they were, and honestly, he didn't really care. They were vampires, they recognized him, and they probably had cellphones. "You," he barked, digging his wallet out of his back pocket, flinging it in their direction, and keeping his eyes on Aarón this time. "There's a card for Krista Williams, my personal assistant. Call her. Tell her where we are. Tell her to bring everyone."

Aarón started laughing, a rough, harsh laugh that sounded like he was chewing rocks. Halfway down to picking up the wallet, the other vampire froze in fear. "I have waited a long time for this," he said and started a slow pace, stalking towards Nolan. "My entire family, my pack, my culture has been waiting for this moment."

This was not good. Nolan could hear the other vampire stuttering and stammering as they tried to give the street names and explain the problem to Krista. But, even if there was no argument, even if Krista took the call to Constantine and the king acted immediately, it would still be half an hour at the very least before the cavalry arrived. So he needed to survive that long.

That was going to be harder than it sounded. Every bit of him hurt. The bullet continued to suck at his magic. His fangs wouldn't even descend anymore. It was hard to keep breathing steadily, and his legs shook, and all he was doing was keeping himself upright. Whenever he moved to keep the lycan either in his sights or at a safe distance, his vision darkened at the edges.

No weapons, badly injured, and completely alone. In short... he was fucked.

Yet, the lycan wasn't attacking. Instead, Aarón circled him slowly, a gleam in his glowing eyes as if waiting for something. That something came sooner than Nolan expected. "My lord!" the bystander called out in a panic.

They turned their phone on speaker, cranked up the volume, and raised it over their head so he could hear Krista's voice. "Nolan! Constantine isn't here! He went with the shifters to present the deal to the Alpha King. He's turned off his phone, and I can't get through to the other counselors!"

"Get one of the generals," Nolan called, fighting to keep his voice from shaking too much. "Emergency extraction does not need Constantine's approval."

He stumbled back half a step, almost losing consciousness right then and there. Aarón continued to circle, maintaining his distance with that same look in his eyes. Why, though? Surely, he could see that Nolan was in no position to defend himself. So why wasn't he attacking?

"Oh, gods," Krista's voice cracked over the phone. "Nolan... It's Cameron. He's in trouble..."

That caught his attention, and he forgot about his pain for a moment. Then Aarón started to laugh again, drowning out whatever Krista was trying to say next. "Cameron and Ethan Wes: Los Angeles, United States of America. Valentina Wes: Bran, Romania."

Cold terror trickled through his spine as Aarón continued.

"Bastian Wes: Calgary, Canada. Sybil Wes: St. Petersburg, Russia. Gerold Müller; Munich, Germany. Asumi Sato: Kyoto, Japan."

"What is this?" Nolan hissed through his gritted teeth, though he knew precisely what the lycan was doing.

"You hunted my bloodline. You stripped Darius of everything he had to live for. You made a mockery of my ancestor. I am merely returning the favor." Aarón's eyes gleamed victoriously. "Every one of your descendants. Every single one. You have been around a long time, Wes. It took years to find them all. Years to put everything in place."

"Krista!" Nolan turned to the other vampire holding the phone, terror overwhelming the rest of his senses. "Get-"

Aarón shot forward and wrapped his claws around Nolan's throat. He was lifted off his feet and slammed headfirst into the concrete. Burning red eyes and a mouth full of dripping, triangular teeth swam before his eyes. Hot breath washed across his face, along with a deadly promise. "I'm going to wipe your bloodline off the fucking map!"

~

Cameron curled into himself on the bed, gritting his teeth and fighting the scream bubbling at the base of his throat. Sweat trickled down his face and neck and dripped into the already soaking sheets. He could still feel it. The searing heat. The devastating magic. The pain... oh gods, the pain!

His fingers dug into the stump that was what remained of his left arm. The doctors called it phantom pain. That over time, it would get better. They said medications would only go so far to help, and the solution lay in physical, emotional, and magical therapy. It was easy for them to spew that garbage. They weren't the ones whose nightmares were haunted by a two-hundred-foot golden bastard of a dragon.

He looked at the clock. Only three in the afternoon. Shit.

A whimper passed his lips as he reached for his phone. It was nearly impossible to tap in his passcode and the phone number when his hands were shaking so bad. "Ethel Powell speaking, how can I help you?"

He had no way of confirming it, but he was sure that his elven partner's magic came through the phone. The mere sound of it was soothing to him. "It's me," he grunted, skipping any pleasantries. "I'm not going to make it into the office tonight."

"Bad pain day?" she asked sadly.

Bad everything day, was what he wanted to tell her. "Yeah," was what he finally answered, gritting his teeth again. "I can work from home."

"I'll stop by with your case files and take Ethan to daycare."

"No, don't worry about it, Ethel. You've done so much for us already. Go home to your own family."

"Cameron Wes, did you not say we were family after I left my first husband?"

"You're such a lawyer," he managed a strained laugh. His phone beeped, alerting him of another call, and he glanced at the caller ID. "I have to go. Val's trying to call."

"I'll stop by in a few hours. Don't get up. I'll let myself in."

"Thank you, Ethel." He ended the first call and sucked in a breath to calm himself down before answering the next. He so rarely got to talk to her these days. What with being on the other side of the world from each other and her strict schedule of what essentially came down to royalty classes, they never seemed to find the time. He didn't want her to be worried about him on the rare occasion he actually got her on the phone. "Hey, honey. How-"

"Dad!" her terrified scream cut over him. "Dad! Help!"

"Val?!" suddenly awake, he sat straight up in the bed. "What's going on?"

"I- I don't know. The castle was... We're being attacked!"

"Get to the guards!"

"They're dead! They're all... oh my god..."

"Val, I know you're scared, honey, but I need you to take a breath for me. Try to calm down." Cameron leaped out of bed and ran down the stairs to the kitchen, where he still had a landline. He could hear Val sucking in desperate gasps of air. Tucking his cellphone between his ear and shoulder, he took the second phone and started dialing. "Okay, Val, talk to me. Where are you?"

"I... I'm not sure," she gasped. "I just ran into the woods when I saw how many there were."

"Do you know who they are?"

"I don't even know what they are! They... they looked like vampires but... but there's something wrong with them! It's like they're blood starved or something! They just started feeding on everyone!"

"Okay, just hold tight," he cursed, dropping the cellphone when he tried to maneuver the second phone to his other ear.

"Merci d'avoir a-"

"Put me through to Nolan Wes's office!" he shouted over the woman's scripted greeting. "This is Cameron Wes, his son, it's an emergency!"

He heard screaming coming from the dropped cellphone. "They found me! Daddy! Help-"

Before he could even pick up the cell phone, the line went dead. "Get me, Nolan, now!"

In his panic, he didn't sense the intruder until it was almost too late. He dove to the ground, hearing the whistle of something just past his ear. He didn't bother waiting to see who it was. Instead, as he twisted on the ground, his shade came forward in a rush of power. To everyone else, the world around them went pitch black. To him, everything sharpened to high definition.

It didn't matter that he only had one arm with this power. He screamed, the sound piercing the attacker's eardrums and paralyzing them. Then, he ripped the knife from their hand and slammed it into their jaw and up through their skull.

Shots rang out, and glass exploded behind him. Cameron felt the burning of the unforgiving California sun and rushed to the safety of the dark stairwell. Ethan was crying upstairs, and he stumbled up the incline towards his bedroom. He shoved the dresser against the door and hoisted the toddler out of the crib before collapsing in the corner. If the window broke, the sun couldn't reach them. But they were fully exposed if someone came through that door. "Daddy's all wet," Ethan whispered quietly in his ear.

Cameron could feel the pain in his leg now and smell the burning of silver. Gods, it hurt. "It's okay, buddy," he whispered, rubbing his back. "Daddy's okay... We're going to be okay..."

~

"That was the worst gods-damned movie I have ever seen!" Nadia roared with laughter, clutching her stomach.

"What are you talking about?" Sybil joined her in laughing. "Honest Abe made a fantastic vampire hunter!"

"It's not accurate!"

"Who cares about accuracy? I just wanted some good old-fashioned American Hollywood fun."

The doorbell rang in the other room, and Sybil left her girlfriend writhing on the floor, laughing. Once out of sight, she opened the security app on her phone to see who was at her door. Nadia was already uncomfortable with dating someone from the Counsel public relations office. She would lose her mind if she knew Sybil had cameras everywhere.

It's not paranoia if they're really coming after you, she thought for the thousandth time as her mind went to her father in France. She had been aware of the target on her back for decades. Bastian, their late mother, and Nolan had explained it to her. He was a powerful vampire, not just within the vampiric kingdom but also within the Counsel. She had been fending off assassins since witch-hunting was considered 'just another Tuesday', and Bastian had been doing it for a lot longer.

Sybil stopped in the middle of the kitchen, squinting at the image. Two men stood at her door. Their overcoats in summer and how they carried themselves made it obvious they were carrying weapons. "Nadi," she called quietly, turning to go back. "Get your stuff. We need to-"

Nadia was already there, a revolver raised and pointed at Sybil's head. "Need to what, babe?" she asked with a cool smile.

"This whole time?" Sybil felt her father's famous calm overtake the panic and the hurt. Then, a second later, his even more renowned temper caught up. She had never felt murderous before. But now, she was ready to rip that woman's head off and use it to beat in the skulls of the two grunts outside.

"Yep. But if it makes you feel any better, this isn't personal. I actually kind of like you. Shit taste in movies, though."

"It sure feels personal with a gun to my head," she pressed her thumb into the panic button on her phone that would send a signal to the local Counsel embassy.

"Yeah, I guess it would. Okay, it is a little personal, just not against you. It's your dad. He pissed off the wrong people, so now we're killing his kids. Him too. He's probably six feet underground by now."

Sybil burst out laughing before giving Nadia an almost pitying look. "You have no idea what you're doing, Nadia. My father can't be killed, he's too stubborn. So, when you finally grow the balls to shoot me, you had better run fast. Because he will find you, and when he does, he is going to skin you alive."

~

Bastian looked between the three vampires carrying heavy wrenches. It took zero stretch of the imagination to wonder what they were doing here. He got the alert text from Sybil's home alarm system. Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten a chance to call Cameron or Nolan, but he could only assume they were in trouble too.

They didn't waste any time talking. The three vampires rushed him, like the young idiots they were, without taking any consideration of their surroundings or their opponent. Twisting, Bastian dodged the first attacker and shoved him straight through the helicopter. The second one took an elbow to the face and stumbled into the tail rotor. Though unmoving, there was an ominous crack, and the male collapsed unconscious.

The third was smart and aimed low. There was a sickening pop, and a crunch as Bastian's knee was crushed. Then he took a blow to the face that sent him flying across the hangar. Blood filled his mouth, and he struggled to roll onto his stomach to let it pour onto the floor before he choked. Broken jaw. Broken knee. He'd had worse before.

Slowly, he got up to balance his weight on his undamaged leg. The third vampire was advancing on him, tossing his wrench and catching it again like it didn't weigh a thing. The first was coming back around, spitting curses and following his companion.

The timing wasn't perfect, but he couldn't wait for them both to be in a good position. He slammed his fist on the big red hangar door button beside him. The well-oiled doors flew open faster than was ever considered safe. If he made it out of this alive, he would catch hell from the maintenance crew.

Luckily, there was a break in the clouds, and mid-afternoon sun poured into the hangar. The third assailant burst into flames screaming in pain and flailing around uselessly. The first one managed to get back into the shadows before it hit him, and Bastian limped back into the office and locked the door. An alarm sounded a few seconds later, and the fire suppression system kicked in. Thick curtains of foam rained down from the rafters, quickly expanding and pouring out of the open doors.

Collapsing into a chair, he angled his head so he wouldn't choke on his blood. Now, the pain was starting to kick in, and it took everything he had not to touch either broken body parts. Wait for the professionals. The fire alarm would alert emergency services, and both the fire department and EMS would make the airfield a priority.

One of the heavy wrenches came flying through the office window, showering Bastian with glass and nearly hitting him in the head again. The first vampire was pacing the line between shade and sun. If the clouds decided to take over the sky again, they would cross the distance in the blink of an eye.

I'm getting too old for this...

~