Game – Mating Ritual

*Vampire Diaries voice:* "PREVIOUSLY ON ESCAPING CHRISTIAN..."

Elena and Damon-

Wait shit no, wrong characters.

Chelsea had gone looking for Christian in Cuba after meeting up with Christian's Maker's in Brazil: Erinna (the witch) and Constance (one of the First Three vampire's). Joe (the werepanther), Callum, Katherine and Vlad (Dracula) had all come up with a plan with Erinna and Constance to stop The Steinsson's (the people after Chels and Christian.)

After reuniting with a night full of passion and unspoken love in Cuba, Chris found out about Chels' involvement with Erinna and Constance and grew suspicious of why she'd really found him in Cuba. (They have a plan guys, it's ok)

Oh, Vlad and Chris are old mates from back in the day so they had a lil bit of a fight.

Jannika (The daughter of the Steinsson's) found them in Cuba thanks to Chels' plan. And now...

____________________________

The first time I woke up, I couldn't move. My body felt like lead, my chest swallowed by water. I couldn't place where I was. The horse tranquiliser travelling through my system made me feel sick.

I'd twitch when my body would succumb to slumber and every time I did, the nerves in my neck would scream in protest. Although my vision was blurred, I could still hear. The rumble of the airplane beneath my body signified we were on the plane. Another sharp prick to the back of my neck and I was unconscious again.

Time passed and the rumble turned into a smooth vibrate. A clicking sounded a few times before the vehicle nudged into another direction. A car. The voices around me speaking in tongues I couldn't understand. My lids were heavy but as I opened them, the restrictions on my hands became apparent.

My body tensed and ached; who knows how long I hadn't moved – you know, despite clearly being thrown around by these animals. Slowly, my vision cleared and I locked eyes with an unfamiliar man sitting opposite me. He was armed and by his scent, I could tell he was human.

I was still too drugged up to make any move other than blink at him. The car sped up, before halting and parking. As soon as the armed man opened the car door, I knew we weren't in Cuba anymore. It was dusk here in Iceland. The sky was an array of reds and oranges as the sun set further along the horizon.

The cold air brushed against my cheek as he lifted and carried me toward the entrance of a mansion like house. All of the lights were on, subtlety clearly wasn't their thing. There were guards hovering around the gate behind us where we'd undoubtedly entered. It was a house to be admired. Old, however well kept.

I cricked my neck toward the other cars and tried to spot anyone, Christian or Vlad. But I saw no sign of them.

As I was carried through the large front doors, I tried to take in any possible exits for later. The man carrying me kept walking straight through the large living room, the impressive dining room, all the way to the back of the house into a parlour or library of some sort.

Very unceremoniously, he dropped me onto the couch and touched the barrel of his gun strapped to his waist.

"Rude but okay." I murmured croakily, wincing as I sat up.

"You may leave and she was right, it was rude." A deep voice with clear authority dismissed the man from the other side of the room. I narrowed my gaze at the silhouette by the bookcase, the only light a lamp on the desk by the door.

"I apologise for his lack of manners." The figure said as the door closed. "You must be exhausted."

I didn't speak a word. Everything surrounding this man emanated power. The way he slid the book in between the other books, the way he adjusted himself before turning toward me fully and of course, the way he walked.

My eyes finally regained its full inhuman focus and his face came out of distortion. From the resemblance he had to Jannika and the slight crinkle to the corner of his eye, this could only be Andreas. He was too old to be her sibling, the intelligence to his eyes and the knowledge so clearly written behind them. The black of his hair matched his daughter's as well as his pale skin and grey eyes. He was an average sized man, nothing too impressive about his height or weight. But it didn't mean I wasn't afraid.

"May I be the first to welcome you to Reykjavik. My name is Andreas, but you may call me Andre." He spoke, and suddenly offered me his hand. "Please, let me take off your restraints."

I glared at his hand and then at him. "Where are my friends?"

"Alive, if that's what you're asking. I wouldn't harm a hair on either of their valuable heads."

"But you would mine?"

Andre smiled. "You are the most valuable of all right now, Chelsea. Please."

Dread settling in the pit of my stomach, I gave him my hands and watched as he pulled a knife from his back pocket. With a quick flick, the cable tie split in two. Andre took the seat opposite me with a small smile stretching across his full lips.

"Is this your first time in Reykjavik?"

"Yes. One of the few places I haven't been." I murmured rubbing a hand to my aching neck. The image of Jannika twisting my head until it cracked flashed across my vision. I flinched at the memory.

"You travel a lot for work?"

"I'm tired," I sighed. "Your daughter broke my neck and I'm thirsty, not a sentence I thought I'd ever say but can we not play games and get on with it?"

Andre exhaled with a shake of his head and eyed me with what looked like intrigue. "I'm just interested to know the girl that stole Christian's attention. The first he's turned since the infamous Florence Huddleston. I want to know why are you so special? A twenty-one-year old graduate that caught Christian's glance seven or eight years ago."

"Because the man was guilty for the girl that wouldn't get to live her life. That's what he told me."

Andre shook his head. "No, it's not just that. Can we speak frankly? This will remain with us of course because I like you, Chelsea; you seem to have... what you American's call spunk or spirit."

He was a peculiar man it seemed. From this first impression, he seemed to give off a fatherly vibe. Someone you could trust with a secret. I wouldn't trust this man with my high school locker combination.

"You and Christian are in a relationship?"

"It's clearly none of your business. We're good friends. Family almost. He's my maker, my blood is his blood. To worship him is akin to breathing." I exaggerated easily.

"I don't believe that." Andre said without a blink. "You have the power to abjure him, don't you?"

What little blood in my veins ran cold. How could he possibly know that when I literally found out a day ago? "Abjure? What does that mean?"

The light behind his eyes flickered with what looked like humour. "Clever thing, aren't you? Maybe you're the most valuable pawn in this game. Abjure is to disown, if you will, your maker. But I'm sure you knew that. We've been watching you, Chelsea. A year after you were reborn, Christian's brother came to us. Told us of your existence. Now, we didn't believe it. We didn't think he would ever make any more vampires after the wreck that was Florence. Send Evangeline our thanks for ridding the world of that evil."

At the mention of Evie's name, my hackles rose.

"We know everything, love. From your family in New York to the little half breeds growing up in Canada. They're in no danger right now."

It didn't guarantee that he'd try anything in the future. If he knew about them it meant he knew where the kids went to school, where they lived, probably where Evie and Amy worked. I clenched my hands into tight fists to control my anger.

"Now, now I'd calm down. As long as you scratch my back I won't have to cut theirs."

"It's pathetic to threaten mothers' and their children."

"It might be. But as I said, you help me, I leave them alone. It isn't like me to hurt women and children."

"What do you want?" I gritted out.

"It's quite easy really. I need you to convince Christian to make a deal with the devil."

"The devil, being you?"

"Surprisingly no. He makes a deal with the devil, compromises with the snake, slaughter the wolf and shake hands with the king and we're square."

Sounded like a cheap fairytale. "What does that mean?"

Andre smiled maliciously. "Christian will understand."

"How do you expect me to convince him if I don't have any context?"

And then he threw his head back and laughed. I watched his throat bob up and down with every cackle, the sound coming from deep within his chest. It really wasn't funny.

"The devil is a Mexican drug lord. The snake is a vampire in British intelligence," Made sense. A snake in British intelligence. "The wolf is an arms dealer in Germany and the king is a witch in Berlin."

"Who is the king?"

Andre simply watched me as he pulled out a packet of cigarettes from his back pocket. "Christian will know."

"Why Christian, why not you?"

"Christian is the first sire of one of The Three's bloodlines. They'll listen to him. Hell, they'd probably listen to you if you weren't so young. You've heard of The First Three?"

"A little bit." I said leaning back on the chair as he blew a puff of smoke toward me. Met one too. "And who's sire are you?"

"Someone not even close to the original three. Although I have a very big influence on our community, what I want wouldn't be possible without Christian."

"I still don't understand what makes you think I can convince him to do this."

"Because I'll hang those half-breeds by their ankles off a cliff if you don't."

The only sound in the room was him taking him last pull of his cigarette. He outted it in the ash tray on the table and sighed. "Come now, we'll be late for dinner. Let's get you cleaned up."

I avoided his touch as I stood up with a deep angry scowl. The double doors to the study opened and I was immediately escorted away into an incredible dining room by two armed men – it seemed all the guards here were armed.

If Andreas was watching from all that time, was I ever alone? Ever not followed because of Christian? This toxic world we live in with bad guys constantly monitoring our behaviour made me wonder whether I was truly independent. With Christian following me from Timbuctoo and beyond... I realised I was never able to escape him. Ever able to escape his influence, his eye, his smile, his laugh...

It seemed escaping Christian was impossible. And now with the way I felt about him?

Christian entered from the other end of the room with murder in his eyes until they met mine.

There was no way on this green earth I could ever think to run from him again.

**

If there was one awkward dinner I could cross off my bucket list it would be this one.

Sitting across from me was Vlad and Christian. Their shirts ripped or holed, blood splattered on both, the hollow thirst mirroring both of their gazes as they watched with pin pricked pupils the scene in front of them. Beside me, Jannika ate her lavish meal with a ghost of a smirk on her face.

On the other side of me was one of Andre's son's, Henrik; his twin, Caesar on the other side of Vlad. Andre of course was sat at the head of the table and the young faced Feisal who I hadn't seen since Cairo stood a few feet in the background.

I glanced down at the duck and what looked like mash potato and baby carrots and then back up to Feisal closely watching me. It wasn't food I hungered for. I glanced at the human guards at the dining room doors and swallowed.

"Forgive me," Andre spoke; Vlad and Christian tensed opposite me. Seeing fear in Christian's eyes made me doubt myself and the plan the sisters had come up with. Well, to be honest I doubted it already. We couldn't go through with the plan without them and Katherine.

"I can see you're all quite thirsty. But for obvious reasons I cannot allow you to regain your strength."

Christian's hollow eyes darted from me to Henrik and then back to Andre.

"You see Christian, I've gone through a lot of trouble to find you. Sent men to and from various places all over the world, following your protégé around, kidnapping her to try to find you. But it's worked to my advantage. Vlad the Impaler is real and alive for that matter."

Vlad as silent as always didn't flinch at his name. He simply picked up his fork and poked it into the duck.

"Vladamir, is there anything you desire?"

Again, he remained silent, his jaw working a new molar and his eyes remaining as impassive as possible.

Andre watched the men with careful eyes, his mouth chewing and swallowing his last bite before placing his knife and fork beside his plate. Jannika looked at her father and then at Vlad with a slight curve to her lips. Henrik, the one sitting beside me was openly staring at me now, his food long forgotten. There was something in his eyes I couldn't quite pin point. Something dangerous. Comparing Caesar to Henrik I felt a lot more on edge about Henrik. There was this air around him that screamed 'danger'.

"There must be something I could do for you?"

Silence.

"Everything comes at a price." Andre cleared his throat and leaned back on his chair. "But we will speak more later I'm sure. For now, let's address the elephant in the room. The reason we have you all here today. Christian, I'm sure you're just impatient to learn why you're here."

"I'm gripping the edge of my seat in excitement."

At least it's nice to see he still has his humour.

Andreas cracked a smile albeit a humourless one. "I need you to make a deal with the devil, Christian."

The room fell thick with tension. Vlad looked between Christian and Andre and then back to me, his shoulders tense like he was ready to stick up for the man in a fight. To think the two of them were punching one another less than forty-eight hours ago.

"You also have to compromise with the snake, slaughter the wolf and shake hands with the king."

"You've finally lost your mind haven't you." Christian growled. "If you believe for one second I'll go through with that-"

"Oh, you will. Because if you don't, I'm sure you'll regret it." Andre looked to me.

Christian registered the evil in his eye and before any of us could react, Feisal had a firm hand on his shoulder bolting him to his seat. "She has nothing to do with any of this, why would you involve her?"

"Because she means something to you, Christian. She has value in this partnership. Without her, you won't do what I'm asking of you. You can try to convince me otherwise, tell me she's nothing more than your protégé but as I said to dear Chelsea, I have been watching her since she was reborn. And so has Fletcher."

"Oh, yes my brother," He jolted his shoulder out of Feisal's hand. "Is he here, I'd love to give him a hug."

"Bringing him into the room won't solve anything, will it?"

Christian's eyes grew darker. "It might."

"Come now, you can't blame Fletcher for this? This was your fault. After all, who would be dumb enough to involve themselves with the Kray's?"

The empty veins on his neck started to tremble against his skin. I always hated seeing Christian angry and now wasn't any different. "Let me see my brother."

Andre and Christian stared at one another for what seemed like forever. Feisal stood on guard beside his chair with vigilant eyes.

After a moment, Andre finally blinked and threw a hand gesture to his guards at the door. Dante opened the doors with a small smile and winked at me. Dick.

Behind him entered a man I'd never dreamed of seeing. Fletcher Beaumont looked like the younger version of Christian but he was a little skinnier, a little shorter. There was an erratic look to his greyish blue eyes which darted straight toward his brother. Who knew how long it had been since they last saw each other. Maybe it was the night Christian found him tangled with the love of his life on his living room floor. I wasn't sure.

But judging by the way Christian escaped Feisal's efforts to stop him and punched Fletcher so hard, even I felt the force of it, it probably had been that long. Before any of the men could wrench him off, he threw another three or four to Fletchers face. The sound of his fist connecting to bone made me cringe but the sounds were soon interrupted by Andre's men pulling him away.

"And what did that solve? You've ruined my carpet and he's still bleeding out. Caesar and Henrik, take them to the other side of the house and Feisal take Vlad to my study. I'm sure Chelsea will change your mind, Christian."

Henrik grabbed my arm and Caesar Christian's and led us across the house. They pushed us into a room – like the study from earlier but smaller – and shut the door. Christian sat on the couch with his head in his busted hands, his body shaking with anger, his breathing irregular and shallow.

The silence was deafening almost. I couldn't hear anything outside the room, only the harsh intake of Christian's breath.

Very carefully as if approaching a wild animal, I took slow steps toward him. "Christian,"

He didn't speak. Not even as I settled beside him and pulled a hand away from him face. He wasn't crying, he didn't look in anyway upset. He looked furious but completely defeated. I could only imagine what he could be feeling after seeing his brother. His own flesh and blood had betrayed him. Sold him out for a favour. No matter what their difference in the past may have been it would still hurt.

"Don't give up yet." I murmured glancing around the study. We still had one more failsafe and that was the witches plan. I spotted a piece of paper and pen on the edge of the desk, grabbed it and started writing just in case anyone was listening.

After a minute, I walked back to Christian and placed it in his hand. His eyes scanned over the piece of paper with quick eyes. Then he read it again. And one more time.

Then he smiled. A true, genuine one that warmed my heart. "This was the plan all along." He murmured so low under his breath only a vampire with advanced hearing would be able to hear him.

"I knew you'd stop trusting me after you saw me with Erinna but I had to stay hopeful. It was the only way you could be rid of them for good this time. Without anyway of them coming back."

The paper read: 'Katherine and Evie said you can't kill this amount of power, and they're right you can't. But we can pause it. Stop it for good. Everyone's here Christian, if they can perform a spell then they'll have to live frozen in this fortress forever. The place'll be wiped from the map, it'll be like the Steinsson's never existed. Erinna and Kate have a full proof plan. She is the strongest witch ever to exist and she's been training Kate.'

He took the pen from my hands, scribbled over the message and ripped it up. "I don't see how this could work."

"It will." It had to. "They'll find us. I'm so sorry this had to happen this way."

I laced my fingers through his and felt my heart ease when he squeezed. "Do you trust them?"

"I do." I nodded. "Which is why you have to trust me when I say you have to do what Andreas says."

Christian's eyes darkened and he shook his head. "You don't understand what the man is planning, Chels. To do those things... he'll start wars, he'll rule the supernatural and the human world."

"What is he asking? He told me who was who but not really."

"The devil is a kingpin drug lord. A deal with him means Andreas is selling his – or in this case my – soul for any use he wants. In exchange for that Andreas will have full access to his merchandise. The snake in British intelligence controls who's on the most wanted list across the world. Andreas will have the devil's name deleted from it which would mean drugs could be shipped out without anybody noticing it. Andreas wants me to kill the wolf, an arms dealer. That means Andre becomes the most sought out weapons trader in the world. And," Christian swallowed. "To shake hands with the king in Berlin. Next to Erinna he isn't powerful at all not even close but the world doesn't know she exists so he is dubbed the most powerful. Andre wants to have him by his side."

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat.

"He will become the most powerful vampire, Chelsea. I can't agree to this."

"It's the only way we can get out of this house. How else would we get a hold of Katherine?" I said reluctantly. He was right, to agree to this would be sentencing ourselves to death. But we had no other choice. Cal, Joe and the witches couldn't storm in here without help. And we didn't know whether they were coming anyway. We needed to get out or somehow get into contact with them without causing suspicion.

The door to the study started to open; Christian threw the ripped pieces into the bin with vampire speed and was beside me in an instant. Henrik entered, his eyes landing on me. The sick fascination in his eyes made my blood run cold.

"An hour with me and you won't be thinking about him anymore," He spoke with his heavily accented voice. Two men entered behind him – vampires – and grabbed hold of Christian's arms. "Come willingly love, and there won't be any trouble."

"Henrik, I said leave her out of this."

"That's no fun, is it? One question Chelsea, have you ever heard of venipuncture?"

As if he'd spoken a trigger word, Christian tried jolting out of their hold. Christian was obviously ten times stronger than them on a normal day, but right now – with him so hungry – he could just about take them.

"Don't you dare." Christian hissed.

Before I could protest, Henrik was leading me out, Christian's shouts of disapproval followed us all the way down the hall. I didn't have a clue what venipuncture was but judging by Christian's anger, it wasn't good.

And from Henrik's smile I knew it wasn't good. He led me into a garage, the only things were a table and a metal chair. But as he dragged me closer to the chair I noticed the restraints on the arms and legs and the way it was bolted to the ground. And as we passed the table I noticed the blood bags and the needles.

Shit. Venipuncture. It must mean-

"You're the second sire from one of the first's bloodline." Henrik said pushing me to the chair and fastening my hands and legs with vampire speed. The chains tightened unbearably on my forearms and wrists when I yanked at them. I winced as it broke skin and held my tongue. "One of the First vampire's created Christian and then he created you. It would have been better if it was Christian's blood but how else would we coax Christian into doing what my father wants?"

"How would this convince him?" I gritted as he turned and grabbed the needle.

"The sight of you dying should give him the right kick he needs." He smirked, bending in front of me. "Your blood is valuable, love," His fingers felt for a vein in the crook of my arm before he stuck the needle in without much of a warning. The tube connecting the needle to the bag filled and started crawling its way into it. "I'll drain you dry if my father requires it. In an hour or two, Christian will be escorted in and he'll have to make his choice. Do as my father has asked or watch the last drop of your blood make its way into one of these blood bags."

He did the same with the other arm and rolled over two stands to hang the bags off. He lowered the hook with a small chuckle and said, "Your blood will trade for thousands a vile."

"Why not trade Fletcher's blood? He's the same as me, the second sire."

He laughed. "Fletcher is a coward. Nobody would want to be sired by him."

Henrik left and returned twenty minutes later to swap the bags over. And then another twenty minutes later he did the same. Slowly, I could feel my strength and energy wane as bag after bag was placed on the table.

How could we possibly survive this? No, how could I? Even from the complexion on my skin I could tell I was growing paler.

I must have been coming in and out of consciousness when a gust of wind entered through the cracks of the garage door. I smelt something. It was a peculiar scent, not my blood or any other humans but something else. Something supernatural.

I smiled weakly. Werepanther's. And more than one.

___________________

omg its me Misguided. That girl that made the sink into me series that's been missing from wattpad for like ten years.

There's four chaps left I think, so it's all lined up and i've started writing the next chap.

ALSO FOR YOU WRITERS OUT THERE!

Watch this space, I have a brilliant opportunity for you guys to get your writing out there! Apologies for the late update, I've had so much going on and I'm not the same person I was from back in September. I've gone through love, loss and more but alas, you'll find out more soon.