Coveted [New/Revised Version]

ULTIMATE VOW

     "Let's recap," Leo moved the ankle propped on his knee in slow circles, "Valentine lost control and nearly iced this girl. You saved her. She ended up being the hunter's daughter slash Coveted witch. Now the most notorious hybrid in existence and happy-go-boom ancient warlock doped up on God-knows-what are huntin' her. You stupidly promised to help her kill Zairian. You tried killin' him, epically failed, so then you tried to dig up dirt on shady warlock only to end up in a trap and have your BFF bail on you because he's smart enough to get himself out of shit that doesn't concern him.

Since you're just that stubborn, you still refuse to do the smart thing and follow his example. Instead of findin' some other poor bastard to drag into this, you decided, 'Hm, why not drag Leo into this too?' I miss anything?"

"Sounds about right," Sky flashed his feature smile.

"Question."

"Yes?"

"Why didn't you just let Val end her again?"

"Because of exposure," he sighed inwardly. "Two Jaydens come back into town and a girl ends up dead—drained of all her blood—a few days later? That wouldn't look too good for us, especially considering this town and our family's past."

"Ah," Leo concurred. "The good old vampire huntin' days."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Are you going to help or what?"

"No," Leo frowned. "I took the first plane from Italy just to hear this sob story."

Sky stared at his cousin evenly. Leo had the tendency to think his sarcasm was welcomed in somber moments and it grated Sky's nerves. Then again, he was being a hypocrite. After several seconds of regarding each other, Leo finally spoke again.

"Of course," he chuckled. "I'm always ready to lend a hand and if ya actually manage to take out the Zairian Donovan Callisto, I want a front row seat to the epic ass kickin'!"

"Right," Sky reached over to retrieve the bottle of Scotch on his desk. He poured them both glasses and slid Leo his. He caught it just before it would have skated over the desk's edge and onto the carpet.

"Another mindbogglin' question for ya." Leo said after a taste of Scotch.

"What now?"

"Why not ask Azazel, Morpheus, Ebenezer, or Lavinia and Prudence?" he queried. "Hell, I'm sure Layla and Tempest would love a turn at takin' on Zairian."

Sky rubbed his chin, as he thought about his other cousins, both paternal and maternal. There was a reason why he chose Leo out of all of them. It wasn't that Leo was the most loyal or willing to drop everything for the sake of their family, although that was true. It had to do with power. He didn't want to match whatever Samael or Zairian could dish out.

He wanted to be able to defend against whatever they had up their sleeves.

Azazel easily would've been his first candidate if he were looking for an offensive power because he was telekinetic. Sky frowned as he recalled Azazel wasn't a fighter. He depended on his power for survival, which is why he was so good at it. How well would that hold up against Samael or Zairian's witch? Morpheus was the master of physically altering his appearance to match another's. Despite having its advantages, that wouldn't help much either.

Lavinia and Prudence's powers worked similarly in that they had to get close enough to touch their victims. Lavinia could replicate the ability of another while Prudence could nullify powers. Zairian was the greater threat but with his telepathy, he would sense their intentions immediately. Layla's ability was the capability of deteriorating another individual's health. Tempest had minor control over the elements of weather. After Zairian's display of a mini hurricane, Sky believed it would only be fighting fire with fire.