The Vampire's Requiem II [malexmale]

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Five (Newell)

I stood in the kitchen, surveying the last of the house. We'd managed to strip out everything we were taking with us, including several books from the bookshelf. I double checked the fridge and made sure Xed had taken everything out and put it into a cooler to take with us. It looked abandoned and naked without all of our personal effects.

And it bothered me.

I didn't want to leave. I now knew how Daimonas felt leaving our home in San Francisco. It was like leaving a piece of you behind. I'd gotten attached to our home in London. While the city itself was just like any other city with its good sides and bad sides, the flat had become cozy and comforting. It had been a very long time since I had found a place that gave me that feeling.

I felt a presence enter the room behind me, but didn't need to turn to see who it was. I felt a large rough hand reach out and take mine. Xed came to stand beside me, his eyes searching the house as if he too were debating whether leaving was a good idea or not. Xed gave my hand a sympathetic squeeze that sent butterflies fluttering in my stomach. I wanted to take him back upstairs and repeat last night over and over again until neither of us could walk, but we were running out of time.

Frustration billowed through me at that until I heard a shout from the foyer.

"Somebody's here!" Starling called. Xed and I shared frowns before breaking apart and heading to the front yard where Starling was now standing with Daimonas and Dominik, both of whom had their backs facing Starling.

"What did you do to them?" I asked instantly. Starling looked at me incredulously.

"Why is it always me?"

"Because you're the thorn in everyone's arses." Dominik muttered dryly, folding his arms over his chest. Daimonas surprised me by nodding in agreement. Starling scrunched up his nose, obviously annoyed at being ignored, but that wasn't our problem now. Our problem came rolling up in the form of two London cabs that pulled up on the side of the street.

They were probably Vladimir's people and I prepared myself for a crew that I probably wouldn't even care if they perished.

Emerging from the first cab, much to my surprise, were Peter Rice and Walter Summerfield. They were two of the boys who'd become entangled in the wretched mess in Michigan with the Greys and Zephyra. Peter was also Hunter's naive little brother. He was a young man in his early twenties with light brown haired streaked with auburn, his eyes a hazel-green color. He dressed much like his brother, unfortunately, which meant lots of leather biker clothing.

Walter, on the other hand, was different. His hair had gotten a bit longer, touching his shoulders in dark waves streaked with different shades of brown. His eyes were green and currently behind a pair of black wraparound shades. He wore blue jeans, a green v-neck sweater over a white button up, and a long black coat to his boots.

"He sent you?" I asked honestly as Xed and I went to the end of the drive where we met them. Peter wrinkled his nose, shoving his hands into the pockets of his black leather jacket.

"Nice seeing you again, shortstuff," He grunted, giving me a once over, "Or, rather, not so shortstuff. Man, this is disappointing. I was looking forward to looking down at you." I stuck my nose up at him, annoyed that Vladimir would send humans. Or at least Peter was human. I glanced at Walter, the scent of his halfblood self creeping towards me. He was completely stoic and calm, much more adult-like than when we last met up, but he was still young and part of me, surprisingly, was a bit uncomfortable at sending someone so young out to their death.

"I get this feeling Vladimir sent me all the real special people we've met over the years." I muttered as the next two people stepped out of the cab. My eyes widened and I felt a sudden heat of rage burn my blood. It took everything I had to stay put as Orion came out of the car, with his brother Ollie right behind him.