Chapter Thirteen (Alexander)

My eyes widened as I watched Nathan stand there, staring at me.

We just stared at each other before he fell to his knees, parting his lips, only to have blood come seeping past his lips, pouring down his chin. His eyelids fluttered as he smiled faintly, and all I could do was stare at him, my legs trembling.

"Big... brother... please..." Blood bubbled past his lips before he fell to the floor, his eyes still open, but no longer seeing as he gave a final sigh and died. I took a step back, then jerked my head up at the sound of a gentle laugh. My eyes found Newell standing across the room, his hands at his sides. He wore a blue turtleneck under a snow white winter jacket with fluff on the hood and sleeves as well as the drawstrings. A pair of black slacks and boots finished off his attire. If he were a child, it'd be a cute.

But he wasn't a child.

He was a sick murderer and he'd just killed Nathan.

"You killed him." I managed, taking a step back. Newt stared at me blankly now before nodding slowly, as if letting that thought sink into his own mind.

"I did. We had made an agreement, but he broke our contract. It was too bad," He added, coming forward to stand beside Nathan's corpse, staring down at him, "I truly enjoyed his spirit. Young people these days are so energetic. I'm envious." I gritted my teeth, narrowing my eyes at him, clenching my fists as I took a careful step away.

"Where's Slade?" I demanded. Newt blinked, then slowly looked up to lock eyes with me. His blue eyes seemed to flicker for a moment before he smiled lightly.

"If I told you that, this game wouldn't be fun anymore. You have to find him yourself. In the mean time, I'll wait here. I'm expecting a very important guest to arrive within a few minutes." He responded calmly. I stiffened, glaring at him for a moment longer, but Newt didn't speak anymore nor move. Instead of standing around, I whirled the other way and bolted back toward the hallway, running quickly.

I slowed down as I neared Kristophe, who was still cradling Claude close to him. Kristophe's sobs had ceased to pathetic little whimpers as he pressed his cheek to Claude's bloody one. Claude's eyes were closed and his lips parted, but I could still feel that he was alive, but just barely.

"Where's Slade?" I demanded, coming up to them. Kristophe blinked, then lifted his face to look up at me. For a second, I expected him to attack me or scream at me, but his eyes only filled with more tears as he pointed down the hallway. I frowned, hesitating for a moment as Kristophe went back to cradling his brother. I bolted past him, trying not to feel any pity, but it was so hard.

I threw open the door, pausing to flinch at the sudden wave of death that struck my senses. I was in another hallway that was worse off than the one I had just exited. One side was completely barred off by rubble while the other was littered with corpses and concrete. I took a deep breath and began to trek through the rubble, pausing at doors to peer inside rooms.

I walked further down the hallway, about ready to round the corner to another hallway when I smacked into someone. I leapt back, ready to defend myself when Mark threw his arms around me, making me gasp in surprise.

"Alex! You're alive!" Mark exclaimed, hugging me tightly. I blinked for a moment, seeing Storm and Zander standing just a couple feet behind Mark before relief swept through me and I hugged Mark back tightly. We finally broke apart after a moment as Mark scanned me over.

"Where's Slade?" Zander asked me, pausing to bite into his lip. I grimaced, stepping away from them.

"He's not down this hallway. I've been looking since I got out. I take it that hallway is clear?" I asked, earning myself three nods. Zander ran his hands through his hair in frustration before he closed his eyes tightly, gritting his teeth. Mark frowned, scanning the hallway behind me.

"I have a bad feeling that he's somewhere down there, though." He commented, pointing to the blockage at the end of the hallway. I cringed and Zander looked paler as he brushed past us, heading for the rubble. Mark and I shared looks, then quickly followed him with Storm right at our heels.

"Where's Vladimir?" I heard myself ask quietly. Mark frowned.

"He's looking for Newt. He told us to come down this hallway, that we'd meet up with you. How weird. And I thought Slade was psychic." He added with a shrug as we paused in front of the wreckage. Zander scanned it from side to side, up and down before stepping back.

"Zander, we don't know how far this blockage goes on for." Storm told him, frowning as he watched Zander pace in front of the blockage. I frowned, glancing at Storm and Mark, who just watched Zander doubtfully before I took a deep breath and looked at Zander.

"You're a witch, aren't you? There's got to be someway through here." I stated confidently. Storm and Mark looked at me surprised. Zander looked up, blinking for a moment before nodding slowly as he stepped back and held his hands out to the rocks before pausing to glance over his shoulder at us.

"Might want to step back." He warned. We nodded and withdrew a few feet before Zander turned back to the blockage, taking a deep breath.

"Remove this obstacle. Please make it possible. Goddess and God Divine, I ask you to help me. Get this all free." He began to murmur over and over again under his breath, furrowing his brow in concentration. The rocks trembled and shuddered. The whole hallway began to shudder some more before some of the rocks to the left tumbled out of place. The whole structure moved, but the hole was big enough for us to get through.

"Storm, you and Mark should stay here," I advised as Zander went for the new entrance, pausing to glance back at me, "Let Zander and I go ahead. When we get out, we'll make a run for it." Storm frowned for a moment, then nodded slowly as Mark began to complain. Storm held him back and nodded to me before I nodded back and whipped around, quickly following Zander through the entrance. We ducked and squeezed past plates of concrete before tumbling out on the other side.

Most of the doors were blocked and some of the hallway was still crushed as if someone had taken a giant fist to it.

"How did all this happen?" I asked Zander as we tore open doors to peer inside. Zander glanced at me as he closed a door.

"Vladimir. I have no idea what he did. All we did was get out of the car, look at the building for about two seconds before there were spontaneous explosions. Then he says Now that we've knocked, it's time to come in. Then he just totally disappeared on us. But whatever. He can kill whoever he wants. I just want Slade back." He muttered, his cheeks pink. I glanced at him sympathetically, looking away for a moment before looking back at him.

"You need to tell Slade how you feel already." I said at last. Zander blushed harder, clearing his throat and just giving a short nod, making me raise an eyebrow. I went to speak, but there was another loud explosion and the structure shook. We ducked down, covering our heads as bits of concrete fell to the floor. We glanced back at the blockage behind us, but it had somehow managed to stay somewhat stable.

"This is the last room down here," I told Zander as I approached it, "If he's not here, we have to go back and look in the other rooms." I did my best to ignore Zander's pained look as I turned back to the door. I would've sighed in relief to see Slade, but he seemed to be in too much pain.

His arms were drawn up painfully behind his back with a black cord that connected to the ceiling. He was kneeling on the floor, his tongue pierced to something metal on the wall. Tears were streaking down his face, his hair a mess and dirt smudged on his cheeks. He was only wearing the white button up shirt from his tuxedo.

"Slade!" Zander managed and pushed past me into the room. I winced, rushing in behind him so we were on either side of Slade, who tried to speak, but only whimpered as the piercing dug into his tongue.

"We need to be careful," I told Zander as I studied the piercing that kept Slade's tongue out of his mouth, "Are there any spells you know that'll work?" Zander seemed to be trying to wrack his brain for some, but he was too distracted by the tears sliding down Slade's face as he whimpered, trying to tilt his head without pulling on his tongue, but it was no use. Every time Slade moved his head slightly, it moved his tongue. I grimaced at the blood that dripped to the concrete floor below him, then took a deep breath.

I reached out and touched the metal plate that was pierced through his tongue. I peered under it, making a face of disgust. The plate was not only nailed to the wall, but through Slade's tongue as well. The nail was screwed in with a hex nut. I grimaced and reached up, ready to unscrew it. Slade screamed for a second, then cringed, squeezing his eyes shut as he whimpered and sniffled.

"What're you doing to him?" Zander asked in a panic.

"I'm trying to get the nail out. You need to distract him, Zander. Make him focus on you... And if I were you, I'd take this chance to tell Slade your secret." I hissed, making Zander blink. Slade blinked past his tears, peering past his hair at Zander, who stared at me for a moment longer before looking at Slade for the longest time. He forced a smile, reaching out to touch Slade's hair.

"I... have something I ought to tell you, Slade..." He began. I left him to do his confessing as I began to carefully unscrew the nut, letting it fall to the floor with a little ping. Slade was crying a little more, whimpering, but he was smiling at the same time as Zander stroked his hair.

"I love you, Slade. Every part of you. Your ridiculous hair and clothes and your psychic powers and your eyes. I love your laugh and the way you say fing instead of thing. I love hearing you talk about stupid things in your sleep. Like the other night when you were talking about building a house under the ocean and how pretty it would be." Zander managed. I smiled lightly, then managed to pull the piercing out, making Slade cringe and gasp in pain.

Zander finally managed to wrap his arms around Slade, who was breathing hard as blood dribbled past his lips and down his chin.

"I th-ound 'eally th-upid 'ight now, buh I loth you th-oo." Slade mumbled, his tongue sticking out. Zander squeezed him tightly, then sat back and let me undo the cord around Slade's arms. In the mean time, Zander had ripped his sleeve off and was dabbing at Slade's tongue.

"Don't talk anymore," Zander said softly, brushing the hair back from Slade's face as he dabbed at his tongue, "Wait until we can get this fixed, all right?" Slade just nodded, then winced as I managed to undo the cords around his wrists so he slumped forward against Zander, hugging him tightly. We helped him to his feet before emerging into the hallway.

"What now?" Zander asked, glancing up and down the hallways before we headed for the hole in the blockage.

"We run. As fast as we can. We need to get away from here." I muttered, glancing around at the rubble. Zander nodded in understanding and we continued to the blockage until we managed to squeeze through the hole. By this time, Zander lifted Slade into his arms to carry him with ease.

"Where do you think your father is?" I asked Storm as we made our way back down the hallway, only to pause when we heard shouting. Storm and I shared looks before Storm hissed to the others and we ducked into a nearby room, hiding in the shadows as two groups met in the hallway.

 "The human and the pureblood are gone," A woman's voice muttered bitterly, "And Kristophe is out of commission. He won't leave his brother and I'm not about to seperate him. I value my life." There were some murmurs of agreement before a familiar voice scoffed.

"Whatever," Stanislav's Russian-accented voice retorted, "We don't need the help of a pureblood. We need to split up. All ye from group four head over to the west wing while the others go east. I'll wait here when ye return with information. Now go!" We heard footsteps fleeing the sight, but stayed in our hiding places.

I peered out from behind the doorframe to see Stanislav standing in the middle of the hallway. He was wearing a turtleneck under a furry vest and leather pants, a whip and several guns hooked into his belt. His brown hair was pulled into a short ponytail, stubble coating the lower half of his face. A smile creased the corners of his gray eyes.

"Here little pureblood," He crooned, making my eyes widen as I ducked back against Mark, who winced and grabbed onto my arms, "Come out wherever you are. I can smell ye. Ye have nowhere to run with me waiting right here." I cringed and started to get up, but Storm bolted out in front of me before I could so he was standing outside the doorway. I heard a low whistle as Stanislav chuckled after, his bulking black boots crunching concrete as he stepped forward a couple feet.

"Well, ye weren't the pureblood I was looking for, but I smelled ye. Such a strong scent. It makes me hungry." Stanislav smirked wickedly, resting his hand on the handle of his leather whip. Storm narrowed his eyes, clenching his fists.

"You're a halfblood. You don't stand a chance against me. Either you can leave and live for a couple more hours or you can fight me and die instantly." He threatened. Stanislav shivered as he gripped his whip tightly, then swung it out so it snapped in the air in front of Storm's face. Storm winced and just growled low in his throat as Stanislav grinned.

"I love it when ye purebloods talk like that. Ye talk like yer tough shit, but yer just like me. Except for the fact that I'm stronger, and older. I know just where to get ye so yer on yer knees in front of me, begging for mercy." Stanislav teased, then flung the whip out. Storm instantly threw his arm up to block it from hitting his face, but the whip swung around his wrist. Stanislav flicked his tongue over his lips and jerked hard, making Storm stumble forward.

"No!" Mark managed, trying to heave himself to his feet, but I pushed him back so he fell against Zander, who winced as he tried to balance Slade in his arms. I whirled on them, glaring.

"You guys need to run, now. I'll take care of these two.  Mark, you need to stay with Zander and Slade. Protect them on the way out." I ordered. Mark glared at me for a moment, then reluctantly rose to his feet as I whirled around and bolted out of my hiding spot so I was beside Storm, who glared at me.

"I came out here so you guys could get away, what do you think you're doing?" He demanded as I reached out and ripped the whip off his arm, throwing it to the ground. Stanislav smirked, snapping his whip in the air freely, making me wince and face him.

"That's the pureblood I was looking for. I couldn't get ye out of my head after Kristophe brought you in. I'm glad I could get to ye before that pathetic human." He added, letting his whip swirl across the concrete. I clenched my fists, feeling Mark emerge from the room behind me with Zander and Slade, preparing to make a run for it.

"Go!" I ordered. Mark obeyed and bolted.

"Ah, ah, ah. Not this time." Stanislav smirked, then swung the whip out at Mark, but I dove in front of it and gasped as the leather whip sliced into my cheek with enough force to knock me to the ground. I panted hard, feeling my cheek scream in pain. I reached up, touching the cut in my cheek, wincing as blood oozed down my cheek. I looked up, glaring as Stanislav narrowed his eyes, flicking his whip closer to himself.

"That was a stupid move. I wanted ye unharmed, but if you insist on being a masochist, fine. So be it. I like it rough anyway." He added, his grin ripping across his face as he swung the whip out at me again. I winced and ducked back, only to have Storm step in front of me, catching the whip in his hand and jerking hard. Stanislav hissed past clenched teeth, baring his fangs as the whip ripped from his hand, turning it red.

Storm threw the whip against one of the walls, baring his fangs at Stanislav threateningly. I went still, almost afraid to shiver from the power that rippled off Storm in waves. It was nearly similiar to the one I felt around Vladimir, and that scared me more than the actual power.

"If anyone's made a stupid move, it's you," Storm sneered, taking a step toward Stanislav, who glared in return, "You've just attacked a high ranking pureblood. And by order of the Court of Seven, I hereby sentence you to an immediate execution. By my hand." Stanislav smirked, but he still looked pretty pissed.

"Like I said, cocky sons of bitches." He threw back, then lunged at Storm, who ducked to the side. I took my chance and scrambled to my feet, leaping away from Stanislav, who paused as if he didn't know whether to attack Storm or myself. That one pause was the perfect opening for Storm to attack.

Storm lunged forward and caught Stanislav around the waist and threw him hard to the ground. Stanislav snarled, baring his teeth in Storm's face, reaching up to grab Storm by the throat, but Storm bit hard into his wrist and began to drink his blood. My eyes widened. Stanislav screamed in frustration, thrashing around just like any human would if they were bitten.

Stanislav managed to wedge his knee between Storm and himself and shoved it hard into Storm's gut. Storm choked, hissing as he stumbled back, blood dripping from his lips. Stanislav whipped around onto his feet and went to attack him, but I took my chance and slid across the floor, kicking him hard behind the knees. Stanislav barked out in pain, collapsing to his knees, whirling around to grab me, but Storm came up behind him and caught him by the head and twisted hard.

Crack!

I winced, slowly rising to my feet as Stanislav gave a little whimper and hit the floor, breathing hard, his neck broken at a painful angle. Storm jerked his head up to glare at me.

"Drink, Alexander. While he's out of commission." He ordered. I stiffened, taking a little step back, but Storm caught me by the elbow.

"If you don't, he'll just regenerate and heal. You need to--"

"Why me? Why not you?"

"Because I'm not low on energy. Your movements are slower. You're losing your energy and the only way to get it back is to drink. Do it now or you won't be able to save anyone this time." Storm snapped angrily, jerking me down by Stanislav, who was writhing desperately as if that would heal him faster. I grimaced, then dropped to my knees and grabbed Stanislav's wrist.

He hissed at me, trying to lift his head, but Storm slammed his foot down on his head, pinning him down before I bit into Stanislav's wrist. I drank deeply, despite the sour taste to his blood. It was metallic and human, not as sweet and fulfilling as as pureblood's, but enough that it should keep me sustained until we got somewhere safe.

Stanislav hissed and writhed, opening his mouth in a silent scream to bare his fangs before he choked, panting hard. His face was becoming pale and his thrashing ceased until he went entirely still.

My head spun as I managed to let go, taking a few steps back. My senses instantly became stronger, making me wince and grab the sides of my head. There was a loud thump from my heart as it began to pump the blood through my system. I could hear Mark, Zander, and Slade scrambling to get away down the hallway. I could hear Storm's heart beating in his chest.

I could hear Kristophe just down the hallway still mourning his brother. I could hear the sound of someone walking toward the main hall. I could feel the icy cold winter wind that blew into the hallways. I could feel the sting of the wound in my cheek as it slowly began to heal. In fact, all my wounds were quickly being healed.

My fangs throbbed and I parted my lips to let them feel the air before my vision shifted and instantly became sharper. Colors were more pronounced, clearer.

"Whoa." I managed, stumbling for a second before Storm caught me by the elbows, frowning.

"Alexander, listen to me. I need you to go with Mark and the others. I need to find my father--"

"No," I interrupted quickly, looking up at him, "I need to go with you too. I need to know something and your father's the only one who can tell me." Storm glared at me for the longest time before he groaned and nodded reluctantly, grabbing my hand.

"Come on, then. He's got to be wherever Newell is." He ordered. I nodded, tugging him toward the main hall.

"And I know just where that is! Come on!"