Passion for Blood

Chapter: 27

"Welcome!" Grace persuaded me into going to one of her favourite places. Her parents are unaware of her fascinating pursuits. This group embraces people of various backgrounds; here, you are accepted for who you are, and Grace loves it. Tonight is a fun night with a lot of young people, the dance floor is overflowing and the bar is loaded. I do feel vulnerable in the clothing she chose for me, but she kept assuring me that it was part of the concept for tonight, and now I know she is right.

"Stop worrying, darling, you look ravishing," she says with a wink. "I'm not worried just looking around." I spot an open table and drag her there before anyone else takes ours. "The point is for us to mingle and have fun," she explains as she takes her place on the dance floor.

"This is the last place I expected to find you." I turn to face Thea? "You look beautiful," she says with a heavy accent. "What-" "You look like shit." she interrupts me to which I laugh yet nod in response. "I haven't been myself lately, and Grace thought this would be a great distraction." I point to the club. "Distraction from what?" "You know what," I add with a knowing grin.

"You need to move on." She takes a sip of her drink. "That's easier said than done." "Yes and sulking all day is not going to fix that, this is the world you now live in, you killed a boy who was probably nineteen so what?" So what? "Do you hear yourself?" Thea shrugs before continuing. "Think of it this way, you saved Fitz and you corrected your mistake, which is why you haven't received any markings for your crime but there is never time to dwindle on the past in this life Madeleine besides you have a bigger problem on your hands," she nods her head towards two gentlemen sitting by the bar their gazes focused on us. "You really should pay more attention to your surroundings." I ignore her as I try to identify them, but their hats conceal their faces and the poor lighting makes it difficult. "Who exactly are they?" I inquire, and she shrugs. "Pretend everything is normal; help is on its way." Grace soon joins us, her pale skin dripping with sweat. "Come on and dance, Madeleine, you can't sit around forever."

Without waiting she pulls me to the dance floor, uncertainty settles in my stomach as I cannot see the men at the bar anymore. "I'm going back to the table Grace I'm not really in the mood to dance." Turning I walk straight into a wall or rather someone's chest. Looking up I meet those familiar brown eyes, he's dressed matching the theme of tonight with a few buttons open at the top and his hat a bit skew. I cannot help the heat rising to my cheeks as I realise that I have been staring longer than normal. "Why are you here?" I ask finding my voice after a while. "I could ask you the same thing." he raises his brow. He then holds out his hand for me to take but I quickly shake my head. "I feel like dancing and you look even more obvious to those men," he nods towards the men who still have their eyes on me, the one on the right in the grey suit however looks more tense as he notices who I am with. Fitz pulls me with him further onto the dance floor, twirling me around we begin to move to the music. He wraps his hand around my waist and I suck in a breath at the close proximity, he notices this grin before lowering his head. "Relax and just let go for a bit." Taking small breaths we continue to move to the music. He suddenly spins me outward catching me off guard but I laugh nonetheless. Twirling me back into his arms and we continue dancing for a while.

The music soon dies into a slow dance and for a moment I feel happy in his arms, I haven't smiled like this in a while. "Thank you." Lifting his head he gives me a confused look making me smile. Fitz's features are very young and there are times when he makes certain faces that bring out the little boy, innocent and sweet. "For what?" "Making me smile, I find it hard to do that nowadays," I confess. "You should do it more...you look more alive." I cannot help the giggle that slips past my lips. "Was that a compliment Mr Baker?" "First and last," he says. "Well technically this is the second time you complimented me, last time was with the dress, you said it would look delicious on my skin." I see him smile but it quickly disappears when he looks behind me. Following his gaze I turn to face Xavier?

"Well, this is a surprise." He crosses his arms staring blankly at me and Fitz. "Xavier? W-what are you doing here I thought you had a meeting to attend." I feel my pulse rise, shit he's seen, Fitz. "There was, then I went home only to find out you and Grace went out of course I had to find you before Alexander found out." "Do I want to know how you know about this place?" I ask changing the conversation. "You don't, Now can you please explain to me why you are dancing with someone else when you are engaged?" I feel Fitz's body tense behind me.

"Not by choice," I mumble mostly for Fitz but Xavier hears me and sighs.

"Sorry to interrupt but this young lady needs to come with us." The two men from the bar have now joined us on the floor, their frames a lot bigger than I thought. I back away only for Fitz to push me behind him. "You really want to try this now in front of everyone?" he asks them, "We have waited a long time for this very moment when you would have a weakness." the one with a scar across his face speaks. "Madeleine, what is this?" Xavier asks confused at the encounter. "Is everything alright Madeleine?" Grace appears behind me with a worried look. Jesus this cannot happen, not now. I feel my heart sink to my stomach at the encounter. "Right Madeleine, Grace come we need to go." Xavier moves to pull me but one of the strangers stand in his way. "Xavier I'll be fine you can take Grace," I say trying to calm the situation before anything breaks out. "I'm not leaving you here alone with them," he says irritation evident in his voice. "Look at this brother, two council members together, siblings," the one with the scar says. I notice the colour drain from Grace's face. "Three," his brother corrects as he stares at Fitz. "Now what are you doing with three council members?" Fitz clenches his jaw, "That's my business now isn't it, besides you have your own problems, if you don't walk away right now I'll take away that privilege." He threatens. The one facing Fitz growls, his eyes quickly become dark, but his one eye remains white, no. Before I can warn Fitz, that they are also experiments. He grips Fitz's throat and hurls him across the room. As individuals rush for the exit, the room quickly devolves into chaos. I get knocked by a few people but regain my balance. When I look up, I see the other brother approaching, so I pull out my knife and try to flee. He manages to grab my hair, causing me to scream as the pain on my scalp worsens. "You killed our baby brother," he continues, and the mention of his name causes my body to stiffen. "Madeleine!" exclaims Xavier as he draws his twin daggers.Sliding beneath, he swipes at the man's feet, causing him to stumble. Standing fast, he thrusts his knife into his back, causing him to scream and release my hair. I wiggle away and swing my leg forward, knocking him down. Looking around, I notice that the other brother has changed into a wolf and that Fitz has him in a chokehold. "Madeleine, we need to go," Xavier says as he approaches me. "No, no, no, I can't leave him." I find Grace on the dance floor stairs and ask Xavier to escort her out, which he hesitantly does. The downed brother has risen, and he throws his fist, but I immediately dodge, seizing it and twisting it around to his back. I kick his leg, causing him to bend. I swiftly take my other knife and place it against his neck, but he quickly grabs my other hand and throws me over him. I land on my back, and the wind knocked out of me. He clutches my throat and lifts me off the ground, and I feel dizzy as I try to kick him. "Did he struggle like this when you killed him?" he says, his rage coursing through his eyes, which are similar to the boy's. Then I hear his neck crack, his hand release, and he falls to the floor. I gaze up, gasping for air, to discover Thea. "You took your time," I finally get out. "I don't work well under pressure," she admits before assisting me. I turn to discover the wolf's jaw hooked on Fitz's arm after hearing a cry. Fitz's eyes quickly turn icy white as he shouts something, and the wolf lets off of his arm as it begins to cry out in pain and scratches its ears. The next thing heard is a loud bang and its body collapsing to the floor alongside its brother. Behind it stands Xavier with a gun. "Where was he a few moments ago?" Thea asks irritated but I ignore her and rush to Fitz. Xavier quickly grabs me stopping me in my tracks, "Let me go!" I shout looking him dead in the eyes. I must have looked mad because the next thing he let go and I manage to get to Fitz. "Are you alright?" I ask as I examine his damaged arm. "More? Really," he sighs as if exhausted and I cannot help the small smile. Looking at his arm, the wolf's teeth dug deep into his skin. "I'll take him to Valerie, and we'll fix him up you can come check on him later," Thea reassures me as she helps him up. They make it out of the destroyed building while Xavier and I remain.