Sanctum in darkness

To Kill and Protect

The clicking of heels could be heard throughout the dark alley of London.
Gomez, in his confusion, struggled to keep up with his wife's rapid pace. He had never seen her like this. She was. . . He couldn't even describe her behaviour. A single image sprung to mind, a mother searching desperately for her children.
She could smell the warm blood, it's sent hung heavily in the air. Morticia knew it to be the scent of one of her own kind. A Vampire. A child.
Gomez knew of his wife's heritage. Mother Frump, human, her father, a vampire. It didn't make any difference to him, he loved her just the same. She was his Cara Mia, his amore, his one and only love.
It worried him to see her like this. Frantic.
Morticia rarely felt fear, but tonight she did. A child was hurt. The smell of the vampire, a child no less, in pain sent her mothering instinct into overdrive.she felt the need to find, kill and protect.
She turned sharply, and continued down a small alley and stopped just near the end. Morticia inhaled deeply.
' The child should be nearby.' she thought, ' whatever happened?'.
She took a step back into the shadows upon seeing two men. One small and other tall, with something heisted over his shoulder.
She looked at them more closely trying to make sense of the situation, when she saw it. The Mark. The hunters mark. The crude outline of a shield with a Phoenix in the centre and a sword through its heart.
They were members of a holy order that dedicated all their manpower into exterminating the existence of Night Walking Demons. Vampires.
She bared her teeth, exposing her elongated canines. Still, she kept an air of elegance and beauty.
Morticia could hear Gomez's is fast approaching footsteps and as soon as he turned down the same little alley as she did, she motioned for him to stop. She raised one slender finger to her lips and he took the queue to be silent.
Gomez was confused, but he trusted his wife's instincts more than he trusted his own.
' why haven't they killed the child yet?' She thought, ' unless . . .'
A low hiss escaped her lips. anger pulsed through her veins. she had figured it out. They were just two rouge hunter taking their 'catch' to one of the many arenas located around Britain.
At his wife's hiss, Gomez took a step back, wide-eyed.
'What's happening?!' He thought.
Then he too, saw the men and wondered why his wife was looking at them so threateningly.
The two men carried on down the path, unaware that they were the centre of attention of one very angry Night Walker.
" I'm sure Madame Delphine will be happy that we've caught 'er little runt back," said the tall man," I bet she'll be in for a real good beating for try'na run away."
The two chuckled at the thought. Their minds were sick. Delighted at the thought of a child being battered and bruised.
The small man had a smug look on his face.
"Delphine will send her straight into the pit to fight." he said knowingly," This little bitch seems to have no fight left in her."
They both laughed.
"She won't last," said the tall beady eyed man, " no matter how hungry she is. the other filth will rip her apart in seconds."
The Pits... It rang in Morticia's mind like a spiteful whisper. She remembered. the dimly lit arenas and the cheering crowds.
"Bastards!"
They would yell.
"Filth!" "Kill them, kill!"
"Kill her! Kill her!"
She couldn't let them take the child back there. She wouldn't allow them.
Gomez reached out to his wife as soon as he saw her take a predatory stance, but she was gone in the blink of an eye. hiding in the shadows further up ahead of the men.
As soon as they came into her path she would pounce.
The only thing in her mind now was;
'Kill and Protect'.
Morticia hadn't fought in years. not since she escaped...
"No child deserves to endure such a life." she breathed.
She couldn't let the child go through what she experienced.
The memories were forever marked onto her very being, her marred flesh, a reminder of her childhood experience.
Gomez stepped out from the shadows where his wife left him, uncaring of the two men and called out for his wife
"Tish!" He cried.
The two men turned to see who had called out, but their curiosity was their fatal mistake.
Morticia took this distraction to lunge at the beady eyed man, dragging her crimson talons along his face. the attack was so unexpected it took the man a moment to understand what happened and why their was blood trickling down his face.
The smaller man was quicker to react, pulling out a dagger.
"Bloody 'ell," squealed the beady eyed man,"its a bloody Night Walker!"
He rose to his feet as quickly as his large frame would allow him.
He too pulled out a dagger.
Upon seeing his wife's attack, Gomez pulled out one of his many Duelling swords from...from God knows where. He's an Addams, they always have something up their sleeve.
He charges at the tall man , who really didn't have a clue what was going on.
"En garde!" True Addams fashion.
Morticia sprung from her hiding spot and swung at the small man. he was quick and sidestepped her attack. He looked her up and down. she was poised to attack and beautifully deadly looking.
Baring her fangs she hissed and lunged at him. this time he wasn't quick enough and she sunk her teeth into the tender flesh of his neck.
It tasted foul. she spat out the chunk of flesh and took a few steps back. She observed the man lying on the ground, bathing and choking in his own blood.
"You filthy monster!" He spat out.
Gracefully, one foot in front of the other, she walked over to him. she knelt down beside his head and whispered in his ear;
"Your the real monster."
Gomez had disarmed the other man and had him kneeling in front of him. the sight if him was pathetic. he was blubbering like a child, snot running down his face
"Please," he begged, "you can 'ave 'er. Take 'er." he motioned to the bag that lay across the ground.
Gomez looked to his wife.
There she stood in the pale light of the moon. Majestic. The dark blood stood out against her pale skin. She was beautiful.
"What shall you have me do,Cara?"
She raised a pale elegant hand,her nails the same deep crimson as the blood in her face, and wiped it away.
The man was still crying on the ground, pleading for his life, offering money in exchange for his freedom.
The pale woman gave a shaky nod and her Castilian lover plunged his sword into the mans heart.
Gomez walked over to his wife and took her in his arms. she let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding and leaned into his embrace. Gomez reached into his pocket and gently wiped away the remainder of the blood on his wife's porcelain face.
"As much as I love a good duel my love, why?" He questioned.
Suddenly Morticia remembered.
"The child." she replied.
She left her husbands arms and walked over to where the bag had landed.
"The child?" Gomez repeated questioningly.
Morticia bent down, seeing as her dress got ripped during the commotion, she had a lot more freedom of movement. She opened the tattered bag to reveal the bloodied face of a little girl, no more than eleven years old.
Gomez's eyes widened in both anger and surprise.
"Who could do such a thing to a child?!" He asked venomously.
Morticia quieted her husband and took the frail, petit girl in her arms.
Tears sprung to her eyes upon seeing the horrid state of the child. She had once been in a similar state... it broke her heart to see a child like this, even if it was a vampire.
"Gomez," she asked quietly," can we take her home? We could raise her as our own. we could care for her seeing as no one else has."
He walked over to his wife and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"Of course, Cara. She'll be a true Addams."
He took the little girl gingerly into his arms, afraid to hurt her.
"Mon chere."
"Oh Tish, that's French."