Chapter Five (Adam)

I felt the tension the moment Julian and I stepped foot in front of the huge doors to the Gothica Manor.

He tried to appear calm and nonchalant, his hands tucked into the pockets of my jacket that I'd let him wear because he was shivering on the way here. But I could see the muscles tense under his skin, the way he rolled his tongue around in his mouth, licking his fangs and pushing at the insides of his cheeks to let me know that he was beginning to regret this decision.

I reached out and stuck my hand into the jacket pocket to hold his hand. He jumped for a second, snapping out of his thoughts before he looked at me guiltily.

"It'll be all right." I told him. He studied my face, then stood closer to me so he could rest his head on my shoulder, tightening his grip on my hand.

"I know." Even as he said it, I could still feel how tense he was. He was angry with Alex and Vladimir for having ditched us back in Detroit last year. We still had no idea what the two had been up to, but we didn't ask. It didn't really matter, did it? There was no excuse for abandoning your friends and family when they needed you most.

We let go of each other's hand when the door opened and the twins stood in the opening. Twins Kristophe and Claude, black hair, blued eyed, pale skinned beauties best known for having a rather violently incestual relationship. A while back, Claude had gone psycho and attacked Kristophe, bled him out heavily and even removed one of his fangs and broke the other one in half, but you wouldn't be able to tell because A) Kristophe had nice pearly white porcelain replacements and B) Claude kicked the shit ouf of anyone who so much as looked at Kristophe the wrong way.

"Vladimir's been expecting you," Kristophe greeted politely, "And he told us about Hunter. We'll be happy to bring him inside while the rest of you wait in the den."

"And by happy, he means it's against our will." Claude tacked on bitterly. The guy had a real sore spot for Hunter. I couldn't quite peg it, but I guess I could only say it had something to do with Hunter being, well, a hunter. I was starting to wonder if that was even his real name. Surely it wasn't that ironic.

Julian and I just noded and went for the others, leading Claude to the car so he could carry Hunter since he was physically stronger than Kristophe. We were all led into the den, which had been revamped --no pun intended-- to look a little more warm and cozy with a large fireplace in front of six sofas set up in a large half square shape. A couple armchairs off the side near several bookcases, an end table, a glass coffee table, and windows that looked out into the dreary winter.

"I'll let Vladimir know you're here." Kristophe told us, bowing for a moment before departing to help Claude take Hunter to a safe, comfortable room. I turned to Walter, who had led Peter in. Walter seemed pretty calm about the whole thing, a bored expression on his face. I don't think he was really surprised by any of the oddities in our life now. Peter, however, was a squirming little mouse that kept glancing around nervously.

It bothered me, though, to know that the Gothica clan would kill their parents. I mean, I already knew about Vladimir's blood stained history. He became his wife's bitch until she flipped out on him, tried to kill him, but his super powers killed her and by that time, he'd wiped out half the Court and taken his place as the dictator of the vampire society.

My society, I thought with a frown. It was hard to lump myself together with them now. Just because I had the fangs and drank the blood, I still didn't feel like one of them. Maybe it was because I was just friends with a bunch of purebloods and I was a halfblood.

"You're all insane," Peter insisted after a while of looking around nervously, "They're going to kill us! And you just let them take my brother away! They're probably going to drink him dry!"

"Oh, please," Seth groaned, "Please don't. You're reminding me of how stupid I was last year. Why didn't you gag him too?"

"Because that would be weird." Kipp offered. Seth glared at him, then gave him a good whack over the head that made Kipp yelp and shrink back into one of the arm chairs. Seth averted his eyes before wincing and pointing over to Daimonas, who was pulling books off the shelves and trying to figure out how they worked. Julian winced and hurried over, taking a book before Daimonas almost ripped a page out of it.

"Daimonas." Julian warned, taking the book away and shoving it back into the shelf. Daimonas pouted, then looked at the books in the shelves.

"What are they?" He asked.

"Books," I answered, giving Julian a break from answering all of Daimonas' constant flow of questions, "People read them to learn more about things or for entertainment. They're kind of like movies, but in your head." Daimonas looked confused at that and I raised an eyebrow.

"What'ss a movie?" He asked, confused.

"Uh, we'll show you later." I replied. Daimonas beamed, looking excited for the experience when the sound of a gunshot went off, making everyone, except Daimonas, jump. Julian made a sound of horror and Daimonas blinked, looking down slowly as a red spot formed on the front of his sweatshirt. He looked up, confused for a moment before his eyes flickered and I was surprised to see the hurt look on Daimonas' face as he turned to face Vladimir and Alexander, who stood in the opening to the den.

Vladimir, decked out in enough black to have blended in with the dark wall paper, stood with a familiar gun cocked and aimed right at Daimonas, a bit of smoke oozing from the barrel. Alexander stood beside him, white dress shirt and matching jeans, eyes wide and staring in shock.

"Why did you do that?" Daimonas asked, sounding sincerely hurt by the gesture. Vladimir lowered the gun slowly, putting the safety on. He sighed, disappointed as he tucked the gun into the back of his pants and gave Daimonas a droll stare.

"Just making sure the rumors were true," Vladimir replied casually as he folded his arms over his chest, "They say even the special gun that the Grey Clan was entrusted with can't kill your species. Apparently it's true."

"But jussst becaussse it didn't kill me didn't mean it didn't hurt." Daimonas answered, looking down at the front of his sweatshirt. He lifted it up to reveal the wound that had already healed, leaving behind only blood dripping down his skin before he dropped the hem of his sweatshirt. I looked at Vladimir, eyes narrowed.

"That's the gun I used at the church?" I asked. Vladimir nodded.

"I took it with me when you left it behind. Not a good idea to leave this lying around."

"Oh, gee, sorry. I was too busy saving Julian. Next time, I'll remember to put the gun's safety first." I replied with enough sarcasm to drown the whole room. Vladimir didn't appear very amused, but it's not like he had a chance to say anything because Julian exploded.

"You stupid son of a bitch! What the hell! I brought him here so we could protect him, not shoot him!" He shouted angrily, cheeks flushed with rage. Vladimir raised an eyebrow.

"I don't like swearing under my roof," He told him sternly, then softened his voice to something more casual, "And besides, I distinctly remember us discussing wanting to kill him at your house a year ago." Daimonas looked at Julian instantly, still looking like someone had just killed his puppy. Julian flinched and looked at Daimonas quickly.

"Daimonas, I do not want to kill you. I was trying to talk them out of it," He assured, but Daimonas still didn't change his expression, which made Julian turn back to Vladimir angrily, "Jesus Christ! You have no idea what he's gone through to be alive!"

"And you have no idea what we've gone through to live," Alexander blurted furiously, making Julian give him a foul glare, "It's his fault everything happened to us, Julian! It's his fault mom died in the first place!" Daimonas paled and looked at Julian.

"Your mother isss dead?" He asked. Julian blinked quickly and just gave a short nod before glaring at Alexander hatefully.

"It is not his fault. Daimonas didn't ask for this, any of this! He was doing what he could to stay alive! You'd do the exact same thing if you were in his position! What makes our lives more important than his?"

"Because he's a demon, Julian! For cryin' out loud! How stupid can you get?"

"Shut up! I am not stupid!"

"And jussst becausse I'm a demon doesss not mean I'm evil." Daimonas spoke up, frowning as he rubbed at his chest as if he were still in pain. Alexander gave him a sour glare, like he couldn't stand looking at him, the kind of look someone gave a cockroach. Daimonas seemed confused by the look, though. Julian fumed, taking a menacing step toward Alexander.

"That doesn't give you the right to kill him!" He snarled. Alexander glared at him.

"Mom wanted him dead." He replied. Julian went still. If looks could kill, Alexander would be a pile of ash on the rug.

"Don't you ever pull that card on me," Julian said after an icy moment of silence, his voice stony, "You have absolutely no right at all to ever use that on me. If you're not going to help us, then we're leaving and we're taking Daimonas with us. And if you want to hunt us down and become the next Zephyra, fine. You can just fucking do that, because I will have no problem killing you." Alexander blinked, looking caught off guard by the threat. I frowned, glancing out the corner of my eye at Daimonas, who was staring at them in surprise, but I could see the goosebumps on his skin. He didn't like this situation, and honestly? Neither did I.

Julian was angry. And he always said stupid stuff when he was angry, but at the same time, I felt like he was serious about this, about killing Alexander if he got in the way.

"I don't think you'll be laying one finger on him." Vladimir assured and all he did was blink when Julian winced and doubled over.

"Stop!" Alexander cried in shock. Anger shot through me and I went to grab my own gun from inside my jacket, but Vladimir flicked his eyes at me and my gun ripped from its holster in my jacket and landed at Vladimir's feet. I cursed under my breath, then looked at Julian, who was slowly recovering. Daimonas looked panicked and lifted his eyes to look at Vladimir. A sudden huge blast of power shot across the room from him as a gust of wind and went right at Vladimir, but Vladimir didn't move an inch. Daimonas looked at him, confused. Vladimir locked eyes with him.

"Your powers are still in their infancy. Your older brother's, however, are much, much stronger than yours." He responded. Daimonas frowned.

"Older brother?" He asked. Vladimir gave a short nod, then paused.

"He calls himself Voltaire." He responded. Daimonas' eyes widened at that. He didn't say anything, though, and ceased his attack instantly to take a step back. Vladimir seemed pleased with the reaction, but his expression melted into a frown as Alexander went to Julian to see if he was okay, but Julian smacked Alexander's hand away and instead grabbed him by the front of his shirt. They were both eye level now, glaring at each other.

"Don't," Julian seethed past clenched teeth, "You can't just talk to me like that, then think that showing concern for me will make it better. Don't touch me." He shoved Alexander back roughly and then stepped back to stand beside me. I took him by the shoulders, studying his face in concern. He gave me a nod that told me he was okay, physically anyway. I could see the hurt brewing in his eyes. I pulled him against me and shot Vladimir a warning glare that made his eyes flicker curiously before he turned his head to spot Peter standing in front of Walter.

Apparently Peter had missed the memo that Vladimir was all powerful, because he looked pale and nervous now as he backed up against Walter, who looked mildly surprised at the reaction. A slow smile crept across Vladimir's face as he turned to face Peter fully.

"I know you.... Peter, right? Hunter's little baby brother."

"I'm twenty!"

"Oh, sorry, infant," Vladimir corrected, making Peter wince, but he didn't try to argue with Vladimir; a wise choice on his part, "I haven't seen you since you were small, though. How old were you? Six?"

"Four." Peter managed, his voice shaking. Even though he had tried to put up a fight and look tough before, he looked like he was about ready to melt into a puddle on the floor. It would seem Peter was the type of guy who really just wanted to be like his brother, or impress him. Either way, I don't think Hunter would be very pleased with the situation.

"Four," Vladimir agreed after a moment, "And Hunter? Eleven, maybe? I remember you two."

"You already knew Hunter before Newell called him?" Alexander asked, looking surprised himself. That made Vladimir sheepish as he shrugged, clearing his throat and folding his arms casually over his chest.

"There's a possibility and as much as I'd like to catch up on old memories with you, Peter, we have some business to attend to," He gave Alexander a pointed look and Alexander responded with a grimace, then Vladimir turned to the rest of us, "And I really do want to kill Daimonas, but honestly, I have more important things to attend to right now, so you can stay here for as long as it takes Zephyra to lose your scent, if they lose your scent. And if I were you, I wouldn't leave Daimonas alone." I frowned at that, watching Vladimir closely as he turned to Alexander and said something I couldn't hear, which was surprisingly considering how well my hearing had gotten since I turned.

They departed from the room and Daimonas' shoulders slumped as he started fiddling with his claws, letting them retract into his fingers so they looked like regular nails.

"I don't think I'm wanted here," He sighed, grimacing, "Maybe we should go sssomewhere elssse?"

"No," Julian said, frustrated as he ran a hand through his hair, "There's no where safer. Vladimir has control over his powers and he could easily take Zephyra down." Daimonas stared at him.

"There'sss a differenccce between control and equal goalss. If Voltaire isss the demon in Vladimir, hisss power isss only an illusion. Voltaire isss incredibly power. On the pyramid of powerful creaturess, he'd be on the very top, even above mermaidss and shapeshifterss." He explained, making Julian cringe at the thought. I frowned, averting my eyes to see Seth and Kipp sharing uneasy stares. Walter remained silent, but I could see the gears working in his head. He didn't like this situation either, and Peter was shaking like a leaf in the wind, gone with all his bravado from earlier.

"All right," I said at last, drawing their attention, "Obviously this is the least comfortable situation right now, but we have no where else to go that is safer, but we won't stay here more than one night. Keep your doors locked at night and a weapon under your pillow. While Vladimir said he wasn't going to try killing us any time soon, that doesn't mean he'll take a break just to do it. It's safe to say that you can't trust him."

"I told you," Peter blurted, making everyone glare at him, "I did!"

"Well, thanks a lot, we appreciate it," Seth replied dryly, then turned to me with a serious frown, "And Hunter? I don't think one day is gonna cut it. The doctor said a couple days. And he can't take up the back seat of my car forever."

"Let me take him," Peter chirped, "He's my brother and I don't trust him around you freaks."

"I'm really starting to hate you." Seth told him.

"Likewise." Peter returned. Wow, at least his spunk was back. Looked like he was all bark and no bite, or rather, he had bite, but not enough bite to scare Vladimir anyway. I don't think I've ever seen anything scare Vladimir before, unfortunately.

We stood around in the den for a while, everyone sinking into their own thoughts and trying to cope with the fact that we had yet another enemy on our heels. Julian reluctantly led the way upstairs to the bedrooms and we managed to find Hunter's room. He was lying on a large, plush bed with zebra print bedding. His bandages had also been changed and he looked cleaner, which meant Kristophe had taken the liberty of taking care of him.

"Untie me," Peter pleaded when we came into the room, "I won't do anything. I just want to see my brother. Please." He actually said the P word, so I guess that was enough for Walter because he undid the knot work in the jacket around Peter's arms and let Peter go. Peter was true to his word and didn't attack us, but went right to Hunter's bedside, leaning over to look into Hunter's face. I could see the worry and pain on his face at seeing his brother like this, so I guess he wasn't kidding about them being related. How could he anyway when they looked so much alike? Hunter just looked like a slightly older, more mature version and Peter was a bit more childish and his face looked just a bit more babyish. The younger version of Hunter.

"What're we going to do," Julian asked me as we stood across the room to give Peter some more privacy with his brother, "We need somewhere to go that's safe while Hunter recovers. After that, I don't think we'll have a choice, whether we're ready or not, Zephyra will be chasing us for Daimonas. Maybe we can use this as a chance to lure the generals in." I paused at that. The strategy made sense, but at the same time, were we ready? Five humans, a pureblood, a halfblood, and a demon who still had no control over his abilities? Could we really get somewhere with this?"

"Julian's right," Seth agreed suddenly, making me look at him as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall, "The generals will all be gunning for Daimonas in order to win the grand prize of approval from Giorgos. We could lure them in, one by one, and rip them to pieces. After they're all dead, Giorgos will have no choice, but to come after Daimonas himself. We can kill him and that'll be the end of Zephyra, as a whole anyway. There's no doubt that Zephyra will probably just break up into smaller gangs and still cause trouble, but not as much as they are now."

"It makes sense," Kipp spoke up with a nod, "They all want Giorgos to pat them on the head and tell them their a good dog. And he probably put a reward out for Daimonas."

"Not to mention, us," Walter pointed out grimly, "He knows we're gonna get in the way. He'll probably ask that Zephyra add us to their hit list. Which means no flashy kidnappings this time. If we're standing in their way of Daimonas, they'll mow us down like dog toys in the back yard."

"Well, aren't you peppy?" Daimonas asked bitterly, but I could tell he agreed with it and it only made him cringe as he looked away. Walter only shrugged as a response.

"We'll come up with a battle strategy later," I said at last, "Right now, we need to get as much rest as possible. This is not going to be easy. Taking down a general is hard stuff.  Both Orion and Wulf were generals before, and killing Wulf alone was a bitch, and Orion still got away, so he's on the lose."

"And Orion would definitely be a good example of a general out to gain approval," Julian admitted, "Last year he looked really eager to please his dad. I think he just wants to do it so he can find an out clause. He doesn't even want to be involved in any of this. As he put it, I want to get drunk, fuck my girlfriend, and party. So taking care of him will be no problem. He's not serious about any of this."

"So we'll draw Orion in first." Seth concluded. We all shared looks and everyone seemed to agree with that, so we went silent to give Peter some peace and quiet when we heard Hunter groan in his sleep. We shared looks and moved to the bed, watching Hunter tilt his head from side to side for a moment before opening his eyes to stare up at the ceiling with a drowsy look on his face.

"Holy shit." He muttered in that thick Cajun accent of his. Peter breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hunter? Can you hear me?" He asked. Hunter looked confused for a second, then turned his head to see Peter before his eyes widened a split second, then screwed shut again.

"Aw, son of a bitch, Peter." He grunted. Peter blushed, looking offended by the greeting.

"Shut up! You have no idea how freaked out I was! I tried calling your cell a hundred times! Why didn't you pick up?! I waited for your call, just like you told me too, but you never did! Of course I'm gonna show up! I thought you were dead, you prick!" He snapped angrily. Hunter opened his eyes to roll them before giving Peter an irritated stare.

"I told you not to come find me, even if I didn't answer my cell, you idiot." He muttered, making Peter wince.

"Hey now," Julian warned, making Hunter glance at him, "He was really freaked out. At least let him know you're all right." Hunter gave him a droll stare.

"I was jumped in an alleyway. Me. Jumped. In an alleyway. In California. And why do I feel like I just ran cross country?" He asked bitterly, grimacing as he shifted in the bed. Peter helped him sit up and to our relief, Hunter let him. Peter propped up a bunch of soft pillows for him and steadied him as Hunter touched the side of his head over the gauze pad on his temple.

"Cuz you did." Kipp replied casually. Hunter stared at him, then looked at me.

"What?" He asked. It wasn't the kind of what that seemed curious or anything. It was a sharp, angry what that made everyone back off an inch or two. I cleared my throat and gestured to Daimonas, who blinked, then tried to be cute by wiggling his fingers in an awkward wave.

"Daimonas sorta hitched a ride in your meat suit to Michigan." I answered calmly. I'd already dealt with Hunter's shitty attitude, so I wasn't all that scared of his angry demeanor, and Daimonas was too stupid to be scared. Hunter blinked, then glared at Daimonas.

"You what?" He asked. Daimonas looked around awkwardly now, shifting uncomfortably as he twirled a long lock of white hair between his fingers.

"Well, you didn't ssseem too busssy and no offenssse, but I wasss running for my life and I needed a body that could handle me and becaussse I remember Julian complimenting you a lot, I figured why not? But I didn't hurt your car, if that'sss what you're worried about. It's ssstill sssitting in the alley." He offered. There was a short moment of silence as Hunter stared at him, then he covered his face with his hands before running them through his hair, giving a heavy sigh as he tried to calm himself down.

"Don't get mad at him," Julian said, frowning, "He was saving himself, and probably you, if Zephyra was in the area." Hunter gave him a droll stare.

"They were in the area, and I did want them to come to me. I was trying to hunt down the general named Liam Vonlio. He was having a poker game with allies at a bar nearby when your demon friend decided to jump into me," He explained bitterly, then shot Daimonas a withering stare, "Thanks, by the way. Now I have to go all the way back to Cali to get my baby back." Daimonas looked confused.

"You have an infant?" He asked.

"Wait," Julian said suddenly, "Liam Vonlio? He's in California?"

"Was," Hunter corrected bitterly as he leaned back against the pillows, "I'd been following the worm around for a while and he never stays in one place too long, but he does like bars and will jump from bar to bar in most of the major cities. It's just knowing what city he'll be in and I'm not sure which one he'll show up in next."

"This is stupid," Peter said suddenly, making us look at him as he stared at Hunter, "Why are you getting involved in this? I knew you were crazy, but seriously? This is a whole new level of crazy. You don't have time to be wasting on their stupid fights. What about ours?" Hunter frowned, glancing at the rest of us pointedly.

"I'll talk to you guys later. Get out so I can talk to my basketcase brother."

"Shut up, Hunter."

"You shut up."

Julian and I exchanged curious stares, but we managed to usher everyone out of the room and into the hallway, closing the door behind us. Part of me wanted to listen in and hear exactly what they were discussing, but I had a feeling that Hunter would break our legs if we nosed into his personal business. This was a family matter, none of our business.

"Let's split off and find some rooms then," I said at last, "We need to sleep. Seth and Kipp, you guys can share a room. Walter, I'm guessing Peter won't be sharing a room with his brother, so you're stuck with him. Daimonas... You need to stay with Julian and I." Daimonas didn't at all seem bothered by this, but Julian and I were.

Now I was starting to understand why parents got annoyed when their children slept in their room.

I couldn't very well have sex with Julian with Daimonas running around the room and tearing things apart in an attempt to understand them. I gave Julian an apologetic stare, but he nodded in understanding. Daimonas was only safe with us right now, especially when he had no idea what he was doing half the time.

"I'm so glad you can't get pregnant." I told Julian as we went down the hallway to the next room. Julian blushed, glancing back at Daimonas, who was too busy trying to figure out how to work the remote he took from Hunter's room, then he looked back at me.

"Tell me about it. One is enough." He replied. I smiled at that before we went into the room, relieved to find it empty and comfortable. I don't think Vladimir would mind if we used this room. It was a guest room after all. The family rooms were in another wing of the house. We closed the door and locked it behind us. I let Julian go over to the bed and flop down to relax while I took a seat on the sofa in front of a television, watching Daimonas look around the room in awe. He didn't look the least bit tired, not how Julian and I felt.

Today was the most exciting day had happened to us in weeks, maybe even a year.

"Thiss iss amazing," Daimonas exclaimed, plopping down on the other side of the sofa and touching the material before he spotted the television, "What'ss that?" I handed Daimonas the remote to the television, wrapping his fingers around it and using his thumb to hit the power button that made the television flicker on. Daimonas made a sound of delight and hit the button again, so he was turning the TV on and off, on and off, as if that were the only reason it was made. I cleared my throat and took the remote from him, making him scowl.

"You hit this button to turn the TV on. These buttons? For the volume, but keep it down. Julian and I are gonna sleep in a few minutes. These buttons are to change the channels. Knowing Vladimir, there are line a thousand or more channels for you to watch." I explained, then handed him the remote back and he turned it on and off a couple more times before trying to use the channel buttons. He eventually stopped on a show called Oddities and set the remote down to watch in awe.

"He'll need to sleep at some point." Julian said from behind me. I looked up to see him leaning over the back of the sofa to look down at me. I smiled at the way his blonde hair framed his sleepy face, blue eyes hooded as he watched me. I reached up to cup his face, bringing it down so I could kiss him on the lips, savoring the way they felt on mine, soft and smooth, like kissing rose petals. I pulled away to stare into his face, stroking his cheeks with my thumbs. He smiled dreamily, then leaned down and kissed me on the nose.

"Come to bed." He urged, voice quiet. I nodded, glancing at Daimonas, who seemed too engrossed in the show, so I got up and went with Julian to the bed. We stripped down to our underwear only, since Daimonas probably didn't appreciate us being naked in the same room as him. We got under the covers, and while my body still ached to do more than just cuddle, I had to settle for it as Julian curled up against me, arms around my torso, head against my chest.

"Tomorrow." He promised quietly, his breath hot on my throat.

"In the shower?" I asked. Julian laughed at that, then buried his face against me with a nod. I smiled, putting my arms around him and resting my head on his, falling asleep to the sound of Daimonas watching TV.