chapter 213

Thaddeus POV

Orion and I used the bond, letting it pull us in her direction but the closer we got to the city,

the more nervous I became. Stopping at the end of a residential street, I was a little shocked

because most hunters tried to remain away from the public. I knew this man was no longer a hunter

being he was now a vampire but he still worked for them and I was finding it unnerving when I

realised anything that goes down here can directly affect the public making me wonder if that was

his plan. I have tried to remain out of the public eye now but to get them back I was being thrown

directly into it. We stop at the intersection. This side of the city was a little run down and mostly

consisted of government housing.

There were burnt out cars and houses in the street as we warily walked down it. The place

looked abandoned, the houses empty and those that remained intact were boarded up with

plywood. Not a person in sight as we walked down the centre of the road.

“Something doesn't feel right,” Orion says, stating the obvious.

“Why is this street empty?” He asks, looking around at the houses and street that were usually

full. This was a bad area so it made it more alarming that people couldn't be seen anywhere,

walking over to the sidewalk. I walked up to a white rundown weatherboard house, its paint was

peeling but there was an old car in the driveway indicating someone was home. As I approached

though, the stench of death hit me. The curtains were drawn as I approached the doorway and I

peered into the window beside the door which looked into a living room. Only then did I see three

bodies drained of blood laying on the green carpet. A man and a woman laid on the floor in a

decomposing state. Their skin black in parts signally they had been dead for quite awhile. An elderly

man sat in the armchair facing the TV also with his throat torn out his vacant faded eyes staring at

the wall vacantly as his body slumped to the side.

“Check the other houses that aren't boarded up” I tell Orion as I turn back to him. He looks over

my shoulder into the house before looking away and darts off. I walk back down the driveway to the

road looking around and watching as Orion goes from house to house before coming back to me.

One house stood at the end of the cauldersac. Its lawns mowed and the house was definitely the

most maintained and was made of brick and also the largest in the street. The rest of the houses

however the lawns were waist high, rubbish strewn across the yards and it was eerily silent.

Orion stops next to me but I Knew what he was going to say before he said it.

“The entire street's occupants are dead, even the children” Orion says, not hiding his dugust. I

growl threateningly.

“He used the street as his feeding grounds" I tell Orion, my anger bubbling. There is no need to

kill people for blood, we had blood banks and those willing to be fed on these days to stop this

from happening. I was more shocked my council members hadn't picked this up, how this has gone

unnoticed that an entire street has suddenly gone quiet and no missing persons reports had been

filed for these people.

My eyes fall back on the house at the end of the street, the pull wanting me to go in its

direction. Urging me and telling me that is where my wife and daughter are. Orion growls low when

Amara and my fathers suddenly arrive. They pick up the stench instantly and I see one of my fathers

also check the house off to the side of me.

“Where is mum?” I ask my father, turning away as he tugs his shirt off ready to shift. I hated the

sight of the burns I left on his body when I was 16. A constant reminder of how capable I am of

hurting the ones I love.

“Warning the Council” My father says. Stepping forward I move toward the house when I hear

the muffled sound of guns firing. My father makes a strangled oomph sound and I turn to look at

him when I am hit in the chest making me stumble back slightly. I pull the dart out and growl my

father dropping as the wolfsbane spreads throughout his system.

“Get him out of here Theo, this is why we didn't bring Ryland” Orion tells my father. My father

nods.

“I won't be long” He says, gripping my father's arms who was fighting against him as he drags

him away. Orion is suddenly hit and I watch as his eyes scan the house before he points to a green

rendered house and I see the curtain move slightly. I feel my magic wrap around my arm forming a

red sphere into the palm of my hand before I chuck it at the window of the house Orion pointed to.

The window explodes before I hear screams of man and the room catches alight. The man fell out

the window as he tried to put out the flames ravaging his body. Gun fire rings loudly from different

directions and I am suddenly smashed with bullets. Each one knocked the air out of me.

“Get behind me” I tell Orion when Amara rushes forward, her hands going to the ground and I

feel the ground start to shake beneath my feet. , the road cracking and splitting open down the

centre when I suddenly hear chanting. Amara screams in agony when I see women coming out from

between the houses. Their hands glowing as they chanted in unison while Amara screams grew

louder while I tried to figure out what was going on when I saw one that looked familiar. She was

Agatha's daughter, these women were coven witches.

They surrounded us as they kept chanting, using their magic to subdue Amara when she

suddenly passed out. It happened so quickly I didn't have time to react. They all step onto the

footpath lining the streets with glowing hands and eyes while they chant in a foreign language

before raising their hands. I feel their magic lock onto me, paralysing me. I grit my teeth trying to

break out of the spell.

“Get out of here” I snapped through gritted teeth at Orion.

“Now!” I scream when he stares in shock. I feel for magic, letting the darkness take over, feel it

rushing over me and I give into it, letting it take me and I feel my eyes bleed black, feel it running

through every vein. I hear a few of the women surrounding me falter. Nervously glancing at each

other. Orion darts off to safety knowing I was about to let hellfire erupt. I feel the darkness swelling

and bubbling before I feel their magic break its link, unable to hold me and I step over to Amara’s

crumpled form. Their chants were getting louder as they fought to subdue me. Reaching down I

grab my little sister. Straining against their magic as they kept trying to pulverise me with it.

Grabbing her shirt I see my father rush back to the scene out of the corner of my eye and I toss her,

flinging her to him and he catches her effortlessly.

“Son!” My father says knowing what this means as I tried to hold what little control I had left

but this has been going on too long, I have lost too much to this monster. He wants the dark king, I

will show him exactly what happens when he pokes the beast and awakes the dark one.

“Run!” I tell him and I hear him gasp before he rushes Amara to safety.

Evelyn POV

Demetri rushed down the stairs after hearing me slam into the wall and Laura shrieked in pain

as she was electrocuted too.

“What part of watching her didn’t you understand Laura, you don't go near them just observe”

Demetri screams at her before slapping her across the face. Mara cries at his anger and I try to hush

her through my cell, trying to draw her attention away.

“Now” Demtri says, straightening his clothes like he didn’t just strike his girlfriend. Mara quiets

watching him and Demetri turns his gaze to her in the cage. He kneels down in front of her.

“Laura get me the wolfsbane” He says as Laura drags herself up from where she fell from the

force of his hit.

“You fucking sick bastard she is a child” I snap at him trying to reach through the bars. I look at

Mara in panic and Demetri smiles back cruelly. Mara squints her eyes at him, her lips pulling back

over her teeth revealing her pointed fangs, she looked so much like Thaddeus when she does that

and I had only seen her do it twice, but her eyes burned brightly as she glared at him with so much

intelligence it was startling.

“You are a bad man” Mara says glaring at him. Laura shakes her head.

“What? no” She stutters, rubbing her face, tears shining in her eyes as she uses her other hand

to pull herself up against the desk.

“Get me the wolfsbane” Demetri repeats looking over his shoulder at her.

“You said you wouldn't hurt them, Demetri you promised me" Laura says, taking a step back

from him and shaking her head.

“Laura?” I look at her shaking my head and she looks conflicted yet also petrified of the man as

he stood slowly before turning to face her.

“Now Laura, do as you're told” Demetri snaps at her, his eyes glistening crimson and

threateningly at her.

“No, she is a child, she is not part of this” Laura says her voice trembling as she stared wide-

eyed in horror at him. He takes a threatening step toward her when I hear gunshots fired outside.

Demetri looks up at the ceiling. A smile moving across his face.

“We have company” He says before walking toward the stairs.

“Watch them, and don't get too close” Demetri tells Laura who flinches as he rushes past her

and towards the stairs. He stops grabbing a pole when I realise it was a dart one. He opens the

fridge grabbing a vial out quickly and piercing a needle into it drawing out the liquid. He then

comes over and stabs me with the pole. Wolfsbane seared through me and I dropped as I fought

the urge to scream. He then refills the needle and attaches it to the end of the pole before shoving

itin Laura's hands.

“The girl now, I will be back soon for them” He says before rushing up the steps. I scream when

I see her walking toward Mara's cage.

“Laura no please she is just a child” I gasp out clutching onto the cell bars trying to get to my

feet. Laura looks at me before looking at Mara. She Looks at the pole in her hands.

“PLease Laura, he will kill her just get my daughter out of here” I beg her. Laura looks to the

stairs leading to the main floor before she drops the pole. She races to the desk before ripping

draws open frantically. I watch as she grabs a set of keys out.

“We need to hurry” She says racing toward me but I couldn“t even stand when I suddenly threw

up the wolfsbane making my stomach turn violently. The cell door opens and she rushes over to

Mara’s cage unlocking the door before grabbing her out.

“I can get you out through the tunnels but we need to hurry” She says, gripping my arm and

trying to haul me up. I lean heavily on her as she makes her way to the other door I saw in the

basement.