Vicious Vengeance {BxB}

Blood Trail: Leo POV

I watched Ciara sleep in her crib. My eyes couldn't help but drift to the tuft of silver hair. I could almost feel the sensation of my baby's hair as I tucked it behind his ear. Sighing quietly, I walked back to the hospital bed. My leg bounced as I glanced at the clock. It was slowly edging towards 10:00 pm and I wanted Queen's preparations to be completed just a bit quicker. Just as the second hand reached the 12 while the hour hand firmly planted itself on the 10, the door opened with a gentle click. I met my dad's gaze as I stood up in anticipation,

"Is he ready?"

He nodded,

"I'll stay here with Ciara since Queen needs you to be there in order for the technique to work."

I nodded,

"Where is he?"

"He's in one of the training circles at the back of the house."

I took a breath before giving a resolute nod and heading up the stairs. I knew I was walking, but it only felt like the world was passing me by instead of my body actually moving through it; like the world was passing me by while I had yet to progress. It only got worse the longer I was away from my baby. As I walked to the backyard I easily saw Queen's silver hair against the night forest background. He wasn't focused on me, though I was sure that he knew I was approaching him. He was currently kneeling on the ground, his hands moving in writing-like motions. When I finally reached him, I caught sight of what he was doing. The training circle had been turned into an intricate seal-looking thing. Its border contained a strange writing; or, at least, it looked like writing. I stared hard, trying to figure out the language while Queen finished up. The longer I look at the careful script, the more I was sure that I'd never seen it before in any capacity.

"It's called Maou."

The calm voice drew my attention to Queen. I could see the worry in the back of his eyes, the beginnings of circles trying to form beneath them. I raised a brow in question and Queen walked around the seal with an intensive gaze,

"The writing that you see here. It's called Maou. At one point, though, it was an integral part of Vampyre culture. You can consider it a dead language as its only use these days is for Blood Arts. Now, I'm not sure what your father explained to you, but I'll just explain everything, alright.

I nodded as he stood and turned to me from the other side of the circle,

"Like I said, Maou is used for Blood Art. The specific Blood Art that I'm going to use is Vy Sanquae or, roughly, Blood Trail. It won't give an exact location, but it will be within about a 25 to 50-mile radius of it. From there, we will be able to check for suspicious frequent movement, heavy scent trails and so on. Now, I'm warning you, Blood Arts are called that for a reason. I won't, I shouldn't, be in any danger despite how it will look, so stay calm and don't move. I need you to stay at the center of the circle until the location is pinpointed because you are the center point, the strongest connection to Little Blue. If you move beforehand, the seal will shatter and there will most likely be some sort of backlash, though I can only imagine what it could be. Do you have any questions before we begin?"

I shook my head,

"So you simply need me to stand at the center?"

Queen nodded,

"And no matter what you see, do not move until I give you the okay."

I nodded and walked to the center of the seal. Once Queen was sure that I was at the center, he lengthened his index finger's nail into a sharp, black talon. Before I realized what happened, there was a red line across the width of his pale palm. His eyes flashed briefly in a bright red before returning to their normal dual colors. After a breath, he laid the palm, which was starting to bleed, on the part of the circle's border that was directly in front of me. In the next second, his blood became to follow the entirety of the markings quickly with unnaturally smooth movements. His blood filled every line and, as I looked around, I realized the sheer amount of his own blood that he was using, a prick of worry starting to blossom in my chest. Submissive vampires naturally had less blood than their dominant mates and relied on feeding on them to stave off starvation after mating. What if overextended himself? He could end up in deep hibernation as the best-case scenario. And the worst...

I focused back on Queen as his breathing became strained, my brows furrowing. His skin had become excessively pale. He looked like an apparition, and if I focused on his face, I could make out the veins that lay beneath the skin. As if he could already sense my concern, he looked towards me, his glowing eyes meeting mine with a calm, reassuring gaze despite his current condition,

"I'm okay, despite how I probably look right now, which must be concerning considering your aura at the moment. Regardless of how things look, stay calm, okay? I'll be alright, regardless. I promise."

I started to nod, but went with a verbal response to be safe,

"Okay."

He nodded and closed his eyes, taking a breath before speaking in a whisper that seemed to fill the entire area around us,

"Ynciypou."

The seal below me glowed brightly and a quiet, almost inaudible, whine escaped Queen's throat. Before I could ask if he was okay, intricate red markings that looked similar to the Maou burned their way up his arm. The subtle scent of burning meat entered the air, twisting my stomach slightly. They continued up his arm and burned through his shirt, revealing more markings appearing on his chest.

And then a pain-filled scream left his lips.