"Finn!" The cry left Genesis's lips, her eyes wide as the man chased after her mate, but not before she'd caught sight of his eyes and his hair.

His red, glowing eyes and the hair that matched them.

She was on the guy's tail in an instant, charging past him in a streak of red light, skidding to a stop behind her mate's crumpled form. "Finn." She whispered, black hair dropping back down to her shoulders as she hefted him up into her arms, carrying him towards the other two Alphas she could see with haste.

"What happened?" Rylan was standing next to her before she could blink.

"Vampyris."

The single word was all that was needed.

Blu raced around the group, knocking away the punch aimed at their exposed backs with a simple flick of his wrist.

Genesis blinked.

The Alpha of Judgement was ridiculously strong.

She knew from all the research she'd done a couple of years back, but that didn't stop her from gaping at the blue-haired man.

Those with the Vampyris Gift, even a copied one, were incredibly powerful. Genesis knew that for a fact. The history books had always denoted them as having unmatched strength and battle prowess, and yet a werewolf with a simple strength-enhancing Gift was there, flicking punches away as though he were fighting a rampaging toddler.

Evidently, though, he didn't know the one rules for fighting a Vampyris.

Rule number one: Never draw blood.

Rule number two: Don't piss them off.

Crimson eyes burnt with hatred, the blood that'd been trickling down from his nose rising into bullet-like beads.

"Get down!" Genesis was there, tackling the Alpha to the ground, her eyes narrowed as the bullets of blood thudded into the ground behind them, only just missing a wide-eyed Alpha King and a half-conscious Finn.

Blood rose from the grass, curses escaping her as she realised Blu was in danger. He was, after all, sprawled out on the ground, his own deep red blood seeping out from the nasty gash on his head.

Genesis hauled the knife out of her pocket, but it was already too late.

A purple sword had appeared out of nowhere, the crackling lilac flames evaporating the tiny pellets of hardened blood.

"You're bloody lucky me and the others finished ahead of schedule..." Alpha Blaine sighed, his purple eyes surveying the situation in front of them. "I hate to think what would've happened if I'd been a few seconds late."

"I'm sure they would've been fine." Arrow muttered, glaring straight at Genesis.

"He's got the Vampyris ability, hasn't he?" A set of red eyes narrowed on the man standing opposite them in the dying sunlight.

"What gave it away?" The assassin rolled his eyes.

"No need to be mean." Alpha Dusk strode onto the battleground, narrowed brown eyes surveying the scene in front of him.

"Enough with the bickering, you idiots!" Rylan said, hefting Blu's barely conscious form out of the way. "He's taken down two Alphas already."

"Technically Genesis took down Blu..."

"It's not my fault he bashed his head against a rock!"

Blood rippled in front of them all, pulling their attention away from the two barely conscious Alphas and onto their opponent as he formed a bloody sword from the store of blood the self-inflicted cut had provided.

"A sword made out of blood..." Thorn mumbled.

"Duh." Arrow sighed. "And every single drop of blood in that thing is its own weapon."

"Stay back." Finn's voice croaked through the air. "You can't clash head on. No sword would be able to stop that thing..."

"What about mine?" Blaine cast a sharp glance in his direction.

He paused. "It might, but do you really want to chance it?"

"So what do you suggest we do?!"

"Use long distance abilities." Finn said, slumping backwards as his strength evaporated. "Good luck."

"Thorn... Can you bind him...?" Rylan turned to him, turning his concerned gaze onto the red-eyed blonde.

"No-"

"But I can."

Wind whipped around the red-haired man, a pair of smirking green eyes meeting all of theirs as four more people strode out of the nearby forest.

"Blaze."

"Who else?" The green-eyed blonde grinned.

"Gah." Rylan huffed. "Never mind. We need to remove that crystal from him if we want to stop him."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Blaine asked, worry written across his face as he watched the red-haired man struggle against his new bindings. "Because I don't think those bindings are going to hold for much longer."

Blaze swore, scowling as the man broke free. "You've got to be kidding?!"

A hail of bullets fell, the Alphas and their mates barely dodging the hardened droplets of blood that descended on them with deadly precision.

"Rylan?!" Blaine muttered, evaporating any bullet that dared fly his way. "What do we do now?!"

"We might not have any choice but to kill him." Finn said, climbing to his shaky feet with some help from the Alpha King. "We can't seem to reason with him, and if this goes on much longer, then there's a good chance he could kill one of us..."

"It's a Bloodcraze." Genesis's shoulders sunk, having recognised the unrelenting hunger in his crimson gaze. "He's lost control of his ability..."

"You can't lose control of an ability..." Finn said, stumbling towards his mate. "You can only be unsure of what you're doing with it..."

"There have been documented cases." She scowled.

"That was down to an affliction they'd been born with."

"Finn, she's right." Blu sighed. "The Vampyris Gift is a special case."

"I'm the Alpha of the Gifted here." Finn grumbled.

"That doesn't mean you know everything." Blu said, folding his arms.

"Well I-" Finn blinked, his hand going to the strange sharp bolt of pain that lanced through his chest, blood leaking down from his mouth as he coughed.

"Finn!" Rylan was at his side in an instant, a brunette Alpha joining them only seconds later.

Genesis spun around, her eyes glowing red. "That's it!" She snarled. "I'm sorry, Rylan... but I'm afraid I don't think I'll be able to take him down alive..."

"You aren't going to-?!" The Alpha King's question was cut off by the pure power swirling through the air.

Genesis's hair turned a bright burning crimson, the blood vessels under her olive skin glowing the same colour as she activated her Gift. "Playtime's over."

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