Chapter-14

-Previously in DiR-

She smiled brightly. Her eyes twinkling with shine. The two orbs being the centre of attention for me. Kate was beautiful. No girl could ever take her place, never look like her and never a man could earn such a smile from anyone.

"What will you do when Lord Valentino speaks his orders?" She asked innocently. "Will you fight?"

I looked at her and smiled, engulfing her into a warm hug.

"Yes," I breathed. "I will fight for you."

***

"Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire." –Robert Frost

Chapter-14

-Nate-

"Father, the werewolf community speaks for a war." Victor informed.

"No, they cannot." I said.

He glared at me with disgust. These days we were talking and behaving like arch enemies to each other. He seemed to hate everything I said. I could smell jealousy here but I could do nothing. There was no way he could be told to be friends with me. The gap between us was extending.

"Who spoke to you, Victor?" Father eyed him angrily.

"The chief," He said. "They want a war and they think they are going to win this."

I knew he was lying but I did not whether father knew this or not.

"You stupid liar," He screamed then regained his posture. "The chief spoke to me yesterday and he said they wanted no war from us."

"Is that so?" Victor asked without any fear on his face. "I do not care what he wants. We shall finish them. We never know what future may come."

He had a point but I disagreed with him.

"Father, war gives nothing but agony and destruction. I do not think she shall enrage a war like this," I put my opinion.

"Sometimes I think you are my real son," Father smiled at me. "Learn something from him, Victor. He is smaller than you but still he is smarter."

Victor stomped his foot.

"He does not want a war because—argh!" He yelled. "I know the real reason behind it. When you will find it too, you will regret what you said to me."

"I don't regret my own decisions, son." Father said with confidence gleaming in his eyes.

***

We did not know that hunters were going to attack us as soon as we had a treaty with the werewolves. It was evening when they attacked.

They had stakes, we had supernatural powers.

"The witches are making the shield," I told father.

"Good," He muttered.

Lately he had been tensed about something he was not telling us.

"What is it, father?" I asked. "What are you tensed about?"

He looked at me and smiled faintly.

"The werewolves are with the hunters." He spoke softly.

"I told you not to believe those dogs." Victor said in anger.

"Victor," My father said. "You serve us no purpose."

"Father, I do not mean to defy you but it is Nathaniel who is of no work." Victor hissed through his pointed teeth.

"I did not know their plan was to attack us like this." I said. "They are cowards."

I was talking about the hunters. They were taking sides with the innocent werewolves to kill us. Victor laughed and father glared at him. Victor, my elder brother hated the attention I was given by our parents.

"We all know who is the real coward here, father." He said. "If you had let me handle this, I would have proved you who the deserving son is."

"We are under attack." I said making my point clear. "I don't think it is time to fight each other."

Our father nodded and I could see his fangs coming out of his mouth. He was a fighter. I wished to be like him someday. He feared nothing.

"Nathaniel is right." He said. "Get the troops ready. We will finish the hunters."

"You talk of impossibilities, father." Victor chuckled. "We can make a truce with them."

He was making fun of us. We had made a truce with the werewolves which they seemed to break and now he was putting salt on wounds by saying this about the hunter.

"Truce?" Father roared. "You are the one talking about truce. You created this situation."

He had not listened to us and killed a werewolf along with a hunter. So, the werewolf community got the hint that we wanted to finish them with the hunters. The hunters provided fuel to the fire by speaking against us.

"It is not my fault that you chose Nathaniel instead of me." Victor matched his tone.

"I make the right decision son." Father said.

***

Our troops were large in numbers. There were no ways the werewolves or hunters could win. But our vampires were getting killed by the oak stakes they had created with enchanted magic. They had some witches as prisoners too. Most of the hunters knew some sort of magic.

"You are the one responsible for this." Victor screamed at me.

"How am I responsible?"

"If you had not stopped father from killing those werewolves, this large army would not have been formed." He said. "You are the one who will be responsible for the death of thousands of our kind."

Maybe he was right. I was responsible for this.

"Looking back in past would gain us nothing, brother." I tried to calm him.

He moved his hand in quick motion and broke the large vase in the room.

"Do not ever address me as your brother."

"But you are my brother."

"You are nothing to me," He said. "You were a beggar who was found by my father. You are nothing."

I looked at him in despair. We used to be so close. Every bond between us was broken now.

He turned around and was about to go.

"I will stop this." I said to him.

He spoke without turning around. His voice was grim and truthful.

"Now it is my time to do something."

***

"What did you say?" I glared at the guard in front of me. "How dare you to speak such a lie?"

The guard was shivering with fear. He was not human too but he was weaker than me. I could kill him right now for lying to me and he knew this very well.

"Get out of here." I thundered.

I had to do something. I had to get hold of my brother. I had to know if the news was right. How could he attack the werewolf village without asking me? How could father give me permission to do such a thing?

I walked towards the hall and found Victor talking to a guard. When he saw me he motioned the guard to scat.

I quickly changed my position to him and held his collar.

"How could you do this?"

"It needs a heart of steel."

I growled but he moved swiftly, knocking me down and punching me on face. I tried to punch him back but he was too fast for me. His grip was tight. He smiled evilly and his hands went to my neck.

"You maybe powerful but you're not from our bloodline," He snarled. "You need to get that."

I struggled in his death grip.

"Kate is there." I breathed.

"Love weakens us more than anything." He said. "Let her die."

"Stop it."

"I can snap your neck now. But that won't kill you." He said cocking his head. "I can tear you apart but that would be a coward of me. Giving you not fair share of fight and all."

"I don't care about your fight." I moved his hand away and stood up. We looked at each other like two animals in anger. "I'm going to stop the troops you sent to the village."

"You can't stop it."

"You don't understand. There are innocent families out there." I said. My voice heavy with pain. "You can't kill them all."

"A war doesn't think about families. Either there is the winning side or the losing side." He challenged with glare in his eyes. "You are a vampire. How can you deceive your own kind?"

That question left me with a hole. There was no humanity left in Victor but I was still humane from the inside. I didn't want to see orphaned children even though they were werewolves. War only caused destruction and I had to stop it.

"I'm going."

"Where to?" He asked.

"To end it."

There was a smile which spread wide on his lips when I said it. His sharp fangs were shinning on the lips. His eyes were red.

"You cannot end this." He said. "This is only the beginning."

***

My clothes were tattered. Blood was everywhere on it. The wounds were healing up but the pain was still there. Victor had tried to stop me. He didn't win the fight. He was unconscious in the hall.

I ran towards the building, covering the forests that came and the streams that run. There were troops on every nook and corner of the village. Most of them were decapitating the werewolves. I watched the people turn into to wolves to protect their families. Tears filled my eyes and I ran towards the home of someone I loved.

Kate.

"Stop." I yelled at the vampire who was at the verge of decapitating a woman.

I moved to his back and when he didn't stop, I bit him.

He screamed and struggled in pain. I snapped his neck and looked at the scared woman.

"Go away," I said.

She nodded her head and ran away with her children.

Kate's house wasn't far inside the village. I couldn't stop the entire vampires like this. First, I had to find a secure place for Kate and her family. After that I could go to father and make him order this to stop.

I went to move on, helping the werewolf families on my way.

***

There was destruction everywhere. The houses were on fire. The children were crying. The screams occupied the whole atmosphere. The smell of blood drove me crazy. It was so fresh. It was calling to me.

I ignored my hunger and reached to the place where Kate's house was.

"You came late." A voice said.

Victor stood there. His clothes were mirror image of mine. He was unable to walk straight and he looked tired.

"How did you reach here before me?"

"I told you." His voice was deep. "I can be powerful when I want to."

It seemed like he had used his entire storage of strength to move faster than me.

"Capture him." He ordered.

Nearly a dozen vampires moved closer to me and held me.

"This is for helping the enemy." Victor said angrily.

I watched him in pure disgust.

"Free me," I screamed.

"And this is for trying to kill me." He said and set the house on fire.

Kate's house.

I saw it burn. I screamed and struggled. I cried and withered. Tears fell and Victor stood there staring at me. I cursed him. I punched and kicked the vampires to let go of me.

I shrunk into darkness.

-Karen-

Fresh tears wield up my eyes. His story was tragic. I had no idea how to control my sadness and how to console the vampire who was crying beside me. It was puzzling. I didn't know how to tell him to stop crying. I had rarely seen boys cry. Human boys. And this was a vampire. I thought vampires had no emotions at all. This stated entirely a different story now.

I looked at him and touched his hand. An electrical wave ran through the whole body. It was the first time that happened to me. From all the YA books I've read, I had gathered that it happened with the characters all the time.

I tried to recover from the shiver in my body.

"Nate," I whispered.

He met my eyes and I saw pain in his handsome features.

I hugged him.

I wasn't the first time I had hugged a boy. Jon had always been so close to me. I shared every single secret with him and told him everything that happened to me. I had cried in his presence a lot of times. He was always there to make me comfortable. He hugged me whenever I needed him to and magically he knew when I needed his hugs.

Nate remained still in my embrace, like a statue. He stopped moving and breathing. He didn't hug me back. I must have felt the hurt of rejection but I didn't feel anything but sorrow for him.

Finally his arms came around me.

We said nothing for a while and had arms around each other. Holding each other tightly.

He moved away and I rubbed the tears on my cheek with the back of my hand.

I noticed his fangs were out.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "I can smell your blood from miles away."

A/N Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. For so much wait.

I'll try to be regular from now on with the update thing. And thank you for supporting me with the story.

Yeah, I'm not dead. =(

Take care.

-M_M