---Thorn’s POV---

The vampire smiled, his red eyes flashing slightly as they slowly slipped down from my face to Lyra clutching at my legs, Blake growling softly as he kept an eye on the elf behind us before he looked back up again.

Noah softly whimpered against my chest, and I instantly tensed as it drew the vampire’s attention to the newborn. The red eyes narrowed down, gazing confused at the newborn until I brought my arm up to hide Noah from view.

“Victor…” The voice that spoke behind me caused shivers over my body as it nearly sang. It was absolutely male but you couldn’t help but describe it as unbelievably beautiful. I had never met anyone of his people but I realized instantly that this man was completely dangerous, no matter how he thought of humans.

His voice alone could persuade the most cautious of creatures.

It was enough to force the vampire to take a step back, though his whole demeanor had changed from outright threatening and hostile to a more curious, almost childish aura as he pouted slightly. Blake reached for my arms and I clutched his hand tightly in mine, trying to calm him down.

“I don’t like hunting children Victor, you know of this.” The elf behind me lilted in his voice as he slowly walked around our small group until he stopped beside his partner, eying me curiously with his own blue eyes.

“Lorain-“ the vampire began to protest in an annoyed tone but instantly silenced down as the elf raised a perfect hand in the air, his index finger placed gently on the vampire’s lips while he observed me closely.

“An immortal, protecting the weak in a time like this, is mostly unusual. Even more curious is that I don’t know what this young man is…and yet, though we clearly see he’s anything but human, he defends them nonetheless.”

I frowned, narrowing my eyes at the man as I held Noah closer to my chest and kept a tight grip on Lyra when a small whimper escaped her throat. An imperceptible growl rumbled through Blake’s chest, vibrating against my shoulder as he hid Lyra from view.

The vampire, Victor, glanced at his friend before looking pointedly at Noah. “A Dhampir isn’t what I’d like to call human…” he drawled, eying Noah as he whimpered, pushing closer against my chest. “Back off.” I snarled when he stepped closer, staring down at us.

His red eyes widened slightly while Lorain flashed us a surprised smile while he reached out to stop Victor from getting any closer. “Such spirit…”Lorain murmured, smiling slightly dazed before he stepped back, looking over his shoulder as he did.

I followed his gaze, feeling my stomach clench as I stared at the distant city, where the demons were undoubtedly waiting for their chance to start their hunt again. But the elf didn’t stare directly at the city’s skyline; he was looking at the forest in the distance.

“A group of humans has been captured this night, not too far away from here. The pack of werewolves and Lycans which found them, seemed to be more than curious after one of the males said something about a hybrid.” I cursed mentally as the elf turned around, observing me with his bright blue eyes.

Victor sighed deeply and stepped back, crossing his arms in front of his chest when the elf stepped closer towards me. Blake growled softly as I pushed him back, keeping one arm over Noah protectively, though I didn’t back down.

Lorain observed me closely, seemingly looking for answers as his sky-blue eyes slid over my body before glancing at the kids behind me. “They asked us to warn them if we found you, you know?” he said suddenly.

My hands tightened into fists as I did step back this time, feeling my eyes glow more brightly as anger combined with adrenaline pulsed through my veins. Both the men shivered slightly and Victor raised an impeccable eyebrow as he breathed out, following the small cloud he exhaled with his eyes.

“Did you-“

“He’s not from this realm.” Lorain interrupted him, staring at me with shock, wonder and…excitement? I frowned slightly, hearing the unnatural voices in my head whisper softly as the blue light appeared again, flying past us while its twin shadow stayed behind the elf and vampire.

Directly in front of the city and the forest that laid beyond. My eyes widened slightly before I nudged Blake, pushing him back further before I glared at the elf in front of me. he simply smiled before stepping back.

“We’ve found them and the pack already knows he made it out of the city. They never said we had to capture and bring the hybrid back to them.” He stated, making the vampire snap his head to his partner in shock.

Though I was still very hesitant, I knew what this meant; Lorain gave us a chance, though very small, to get out of here and remain free. I inclined my head the slightest bit before I backed off, my pace growing faster and faster until the vampire called out again.

“Dhampirs grow more rapidly than human newborns, just so you know. They’re still as weak as a human babe, so be careful!” he shouted, pulling a soft smile on the corner of my lip as I turned and clutched Noah tighter to my chest.

“Where to?” Blake asked, hoisting Lyra on his back while I tied Noah safely to my chest. Full out running was out of the question but I hoped we could be faster if he wasn’t bouncing around when I jogged.

“Away from the forest and the city. I don’t know what’s worse, getting caught by demons or wolves but either way, it’ll be the end of us.” I stated before starting for the horizon, where a single tree swayed slightly in the wind.

--------

Blake tripped, falling down in a cloud of kicked up sand and dust before huffing as he pushed himself up again, with a lot of effort. I breathed in deeply, looking back while crouching down so Lyra could slide of my back.

We’ve been running for hours now, managing to escape the demons before they abandoned their chase when we managed to put enough distance between us and the city.

The wolves, however, were slowly tracking us down. I sighed as Blake rubbed his hands over his face, unconsciously spreading the grime all over before Lyra huffed as she dropped beside him, eyes drooping and yawning profoundly.

They both were exhausted. We hadn’t slept enough last night, since we had to run from the Lycans with the humans and the winks of sleep we managed to have in between weren’t enough at all.

“We’re staying here.” I said after a heavy moment of indecision before I settled down on the floor. Blake’s head shot up from his hands while Lyra instantly scrambled to get into my lap, her eyes falling down as soon as she laid her head on my thigh.

“Thorn? Are you losing your mind? They’ll find us and-“ Blake started but I sighed and dropped my own head, rubbing my hand harshly over my eyes. “They’ll find us either way, so its best to rest and be as awake as possible when they do. I might find a way to escape if I manage to clear my head.”

Blake looked slightly reassured and nodded, though my stomach felt heavy at the partial truth I had told him. I never told either of them about the whispers in my head that continued ever since we started running, meaning that something already knew where we were right now.

We weren’t hunted; we were being hoarded.

As if to prove my point, I heard the shadow scream angrily as it appeared before I felt a sharp sting at the side of my throat. My hand flew up with a hiss, fingertips bumping against a small dart sticking out of my skin. I yanked it out, eyes darting around to spot our attacker but everything was growing fuzzy.

Blake’s voice seemed distorted as he yelled, suddenly appearing in front of me as he spoke, eyes wide in worry and fear while several shadows started to slip out of the woods in the distance, slowly running up to us.

I barely managed to keep upright, remembering that Noah was still attached to my chest but I did feel the sharp sting of fear biting at my heart, the nausea of knowing we were captured before it even happened flooding through me as whatever they shot me with was spreading through my veins.

The voices inside me were raging, screaming in their unknown and unearthly language and growing stronger and stronger with each passing second. I barely saw Blake’s eyes widen as he stared at the blue light appearing in front of him, which made me realize what was racing through my blood, changing me.

The elixir to awaken a hybrid’s immortal side.

---Bidziil’s POV---

I frowned, anger bubbling briefly through me as I followed the anxious werewolves back out of the room. The humans that they had captured had already been injected by a so-called elixir, which forced any dormant immortal gene to awaken instantly. For a full-blooded human, it wasn’t a means to awaken anything; instead, it was one of the most effective poisons there was.

From the immortal point of view, it did its job; whoever had a sliver of immortality in his ancestry and was strong enough to withstand the drastic changes that came with activating those genes, were changed over the course of a couple of days while any ‘pure’ human or weak hybrid died from the concoction running through their veins.

The wolves cringed away from me as I stepped in their house, my aura probably pulsing through the room but I didn’t give a damn; I just witnessed first hand how humans were treated nowadays and truth be told, I was shocked.

The only thing I was happy for, was that mother had sent us here. If she’d come down here herself and seen what those wolves, vampires and other creatures did to the humans, she’d personally exterminate them.

I barely winched at the thought of what she would do to them but I simply sighed and pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind, feeling my senses reach out to see what else the wolves were hiding from me.

The presence of a few vampires, elves and warlocks wasn’t so surprising, the power emanating from the three Lycans in the room I was walking through with the wolves made it clear that the Lycans were in charge here. And judging by the way they constantly shifted in their seats and snarled at each other under their breaths made it clear to me that they were still hiding something.

It wasn’t until I got into the room and noticed that one of the Lycans was missing, that I knew what was going on. From what I’ve gathered, every time they captured a group of humans, they would contact the rest of the supernatural world to let them know.

And that was the job of the Lycan currently missing.

I fumed, fists clenching and small flames bursting out as my anger got the best of me. The wolves yelped and jumped back in fright while my eyes were fixed on the empty seat before shooting at the three other Lycans, which were all staring at me with apprehension.

“Didn’t I warn you to tell the rest of the world to stop. Hunting. Humans?” I snarled, stepping into the room and slamming it shut in the wolves’ faces, leaving me alone with these three thickheads.

The middle one, the black Lycan, gulped slightly while the blond one on his lefts stared at me like I had grown a second head. “Stop hunting them? They’re the whole reason why the planet nearly exploded on us-“ I pinned him down with an ice-cold stare, which shut him up pretty quickly while the third Lycan growled softly but not in a threatening way.

“You’re telling me that you’re that weak, that you couldn’t have influenced the humans’ decisions centuries ago? Your kin couldn’t just make yourselves known to the world and prevent everything instead of looking at the problem and waiting for it to solve itself?”

His eyes popped up wide, not knowing how to answer my rhetorical question without making a fool of himself but he didn’t need to.

My senses had been stretching out, looking for the missing Lycan until they found him. But I hadn’t expected to find a presence I memorized to heart, a person who intrigued me and had been crossing my mind ever since I laid eyes on him.

The door behind me exploded in a bright burst of flames, causing the Lycans to hiss and snarl as they turned their heads while I clenched my fists tighter, getting control back over my powers before I disappeared in a burst of flames, searing the ceiling in the process.

I didn’t give a damn that I probably scared those wolves out of their minds as I appeared in a hidden room, far beyond what they were willing to show me. All I cared about was the person that was trying not to choke on the fluid being forced town his throat as Rowan, the red Lycan, punched him in the stomach, forcing him to swallow on reflex.

His black eyes flew open, the blue sparking sharply before the Lycan was thrown across the room, though the boy hadn’t moved a single muscle. Instead, I barely saw some kind of shadow, an entity, as it held the Lycan and threw him away from the black haired beauty I had seen yesterday.

He choked, stumbling back on wobbly legs before sagging down in the corner. A small movement behind him let the anger I felt easily turn into a blind rage. He was protecting the children, letting the wolves have a go at him so they wouldn’t force the elixir on the kids.

A low, angry sound escaped me, drawing the young man’s attention towards me. For a moment, his eyes locked with mine and I could see his struggle to stay awake, fighting against the serum they had pumped into his body. My eyes caught a red bead of blood slowly dripping down his neck before his eyes fluttered shut.

I lost it. Plain and simple. The sight of that man being wounded, fighting for the survival of the children behind him as they shouted out his name, awakened every animalistic instinct in me.

A tremor of power shot through the room, kicking every wolf and the Lycan off their feet and paws while I slowly walked further in the room. One of the wolves was desperate and foolish enough to attack me but I simply stepped back and caught the wolf around its throat, hand clenching tightly as I held him easily above the floor.

When his eyes flashed with fear, I smirked coldly and tossed him away, knocking him out in the process. The other wolves whimpered, ears flickering back and forth while I heard that young man, Thorn as the two children called out to him, groan under his breath.

I waved with my hands, melting the chains around the kids’ wrists while sending another blast of energy through the room, destroying the cage that had held them. Wolves flew around the room, whimpering and whining before they scrambled to their feet and fled away, pressed up against the far wall as they eyed me cautiously.

My feet quickly devoured the distance between me and the pale young man, who had finally succumbed to the serum and was now knocked out cold. Crouching down, I looked at the children before my eyes slid towards the eldest, a boy about twelve years old.

“I’m going to pick Thorn up and then I’m going to ask of you to grab the girl and hold onto me. We’re going back to my realm.” I said demandingly, glaring down slightly as the preteen wanted to protest. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before his eyes glided back towards the wolves.

With a small nod, he stood up, revealing a younger girl, which was holding a small bundle of clothes, wrapped around…I inhaled sharply and closed my eyes to stop my temper from running out of hand again.

Those cowards dared to attack Thorn while he was defending two children and a baby!

The thoughts that flew through my mind barely helped but I opened my eyes and reached out, slipping my arms under the man’s smooth skin before I stood up. It barely caused any strain and I couldn’t help but stare at the body I held closely to my chest.

His eyelids were a hint darker than the skin around it, making his lashes stand out as they brushed against his skin. The shock of black hair drooped down, hiding most of his face from view as his head rested against my collarbone.

The soft breaths ghosting over my skin combined with the spiciness of his natural scent caused goosebumps over my skin, along with a small shiver as I got a better grip on him, trying my hardest to keep my mind out of the gutter.

I have a gorgeous man in my arms and my hand is under his ass! How am I supposed to stay focused! I nearly snorted at myself before blanking my expression from all feelings, except anger as I turned towards the wolves and the room I had ruined beyond repair.

 “I am going back to my realm with this man and children, because he clearly isn’t from this world. Now, you have choices to make.”

I turned around, glaring murderously at the wolves and Lycan as they all bowed their heads, including the three Lycans that appeared in the doorway, staring wide-eyed at the destruction all around them.

“If this boy dies because of that concoction you pumped into him, I’ll personally come back and make sure that this planet is rid of every supernatural that ever thought to lay a hand on an innocent. Either way, I’m sending Ye’iitsoh down here.”

The Afro-American shivered and let out a strangled cry of fear. My brother had quite the reputation going for him and being as old as he was, he knew exactly how to handle these creatures. Looking at the black, shifted Lycan in the middle of the doorway, I pinned him with a menacing glare.

“I am Bidziil, the strongest one of my siblings and I swear on my honor, that if I ever have to come down here because you harmed another human, I will make sure that you’ll suffer whatever your victims have gone through, over and over again.”

My voice was cold as I spoke. It wasn’t a threat, it was a promise and I knew it hit home as every wolf there whimpered and crawled on the floor. Looking back at the man in my arms, I tightened my hold slightly before grabbing hold of the preteen’s shoulder and teleported back to my own realm.

Now I was going to have the privilege to drool over Thorn’s handsome body in some privacy. And maybe I can find out what exactly he is.