Blood Vengeance [COMPLETED]

Chapter Forty-Six - Reunited

Xander led her between two ruined buildings and down some steps to an underground bunker. There were sandbags against the wall and the air was stale and thick with the scent of men and their sweat.

He told the others to wait outside.

"Take a seat," he said, gesturing to a small wooden chair next to an equally small wooden table.

Selene smoothed her dress and sat down, waiting for his questions.

He didn't sit down, but chose instead to pace before her, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

"I - " she hesitated.

"Don't lie to me Selene. Every night I hoped for your return. I waited for you. For years. I thought you were dead." He raised his voice and waved his arms, but quickly recomposed himself.

"I wasn't going to lie," she replied, watching him.

"Tell the truth then," he coaxed, staring at her with an unforgiving eye.

And so she began to explain as best she could, trying to make him understand that for her only a few weeks had passed since she had last seen him.

"What are you then?" he asked, and she saw his eyes flit over her hands and arms, her hair and face.

"I suppose I am one of them. A witch."

"An immortal?" he asked.

"Yes."

His nostrils flared as he took in the information, and his brow creased.

"You cannot be killed?"

She shook her head.

Then he did something she would never have anticipated. He lunged at her, drawing a knife from a sheath at his belt, and plunging it deep into her hand as she gripped the chair, piercing it all the way through until it stuck in the wood.

As it sank into her silver flesh, she screamed.

But not from pain.

There was no pain.

Xander drew the knife out, a look of horror on his face as the blade dripped with the same mercurial liquid that her tears had been made from.

And instantly the deep wound healed for it was not a fatal blow, sealing up the way a Vampire's skin would do. She held her hand up so they could both see it, and she twisted it in the dim light: flawless.

"Blood, Selene, I am so sorry," said Xander, his fingers trembling, the knife falling to the floor as he sank to his knees before her, clasping his arms around her legs as she sat above him.

She stared down at the curls on his head, hesitating to touch them. But when his body began to shake, she laid a cool hand on his hair, stroking it, feeling the coarseness of it against her soft skin.

"I grieved for you," he murmured, his lips pressed into the fabric of her gown. "But I fought for you; for your memory. Every one of the men knows your name. I begged them all to think of someone to fight for; something real to believe in, the way I believed in you."

He put a hand into his pocket and pulled out a tattered piece of paper, handing it up to her without looking at her.

She unfolded it and her jaw dropped as she realised what it was.

SELENE: QUEEN OF THE BLOOD BATH

Buy your tickets today!

And there was an image of her, dressed in a purple gown with her dark hair falling over her bare shoulders, the fangs and blood dripping from her chin.