BITTEN: Lustful Obsession

Chapter 30

Caleb stopped near an alley and placed Mia down. He started to pace around.

"Why are we stopping here? What if they find us?"

"I'm thinking right now, Ok? Now, tell me exactly what happened."

"Um, Michael was fighting Charla and it seemed like he was winning until her necklace started glowing and-"

"Wait, back up. What necklace?"

Charla was wearing some kind of necklace and when it glowed, so did Michael's eyes. It looked it was sucking something out of him; it looked like some kind of white, bright mist. Next thing I know, he is lunging towards me. Thankfully, you came just in time."

"Yeah. He sent a telepathic message to us about meeting back at his place saying he found her; but it looked like he waited until the last minute while his soul was being sucked out."

Mia looked at Caleb in shock. "That was his soul?! Are you telling me that witch is now wearing his soul around her neck and there's nothing but darkness inside him?!"

"You got it. With the soul out of the way, the darkness came out to play," he joked.

"This is so not the time to be joking, Caleb! Michael looked like he wanted to kill me!"

"Well, sorry, I have a habit of joking during times like this!"

"Hey, hey, what's with the yelling?" a female voice asked. They looked to see Mari jumping down from a building with Bart behind her. "We overheard your conversation. If his soul is imprisoned in like this, then that makes this situation worse," Bart sighed.

Mia groaned. "How can it be worse? I almost got attacked by my boyfriend."

"Extracting a vampire's soul by force is considered a felony among our clans. If Charla is from another clan, then there's a chance that they will become involved in this," Bart explained. "We need to plan this little by little. First of all, we need to get Mia somewhere safe where Charla, and unfortunately, Michael, can't reach her."

"Well, a vampire can't enter a person's home unless it's invited in, right?" Mia asked. "But Michael is able to come into my apartment."

"Great, then that means Charla can't reach you, but that also means Michael can come and go anytime he wants," Caleb sighed rubbing his hand through his hair. "Is there another place you can stay, Mia?" Mari asked. "I can stay with Cathy for a while, I guess. He never went to her place."

"Then it's settled, the two of you will escort Mia to her friend's home, while I-"

"You're not taking my Mia anywhere," replied a dark voice. They looked up at the top of the building as Michael glared down at them with those same bloodshot eyes. "Hurry, you two, I'll hold him off!" Bart instructed. Caleb picked up Mia and sprinted out of the alley. Before Mari could follow them, Charla stepped in front of her. "Going somewhere, sweetie?" she grinned.

In a few seconds, Caleb and Mia were in front of Cathy's house. Mia knocked on her door rapidly. "Coming, I'm coming, yeesh!" shouted Cathy from the other side. "Oh, hey, Mia, what's up?"

"I need to stay with you for a while. I'll explain later, but you gotta let me in now."

"Um, ok, come on in." Mia walked inside, but Caleb stumbled back. It felt like an invisible barrier hit him. "You can come in too, you know," Cathy raised a brow at him. "I can't, you must invite me in."

"O..k, then I invite you in my house or whatever," she replies as Caleb walks in. "So, what's up? How come you need to stay with me? Is your apartment being fumigated or something?" Mia took the time to explain everything to Cathy, everything about Michael. Meanwhile, back in the ally, Bart and Mari were left to face Charla and Michael. "Well, since we're all here, I have a few questions for you, Charla," Bart replied. Mari was backing away from her clutching tightly on Bart's arm.

She looked behind her as Michael jumped down landing behind them. They were stuck in the middle of the alleyway with Charla blocking the exit. Mari looks at Michael with fear as he glares at them. She remembers back to the time when the darkness first took him over and that was when he was influenced by Charla's blood. This wasn't the "Mikey" she knew, her little brother who would never expect her incoming pounces. Instead of friendly dark brown eyes, there were blood red eyes filled with bloodlust.

"What brings you back after so many decades?" Bart asked.

Charla chuckled. "Since you're so curious, I suppose killing you can wait for a while." Did she really plan on killing them? It would make sense to stop them since they kept preventing her and Michael from feeding on the humans carelessly. "It had been over a hundred years since I've been in the "City of Angels", and after that night when Michael decided to end our relationship, I laid low for a while to recover; wouldn't want to get caught in my weakened state."

"So you are from another clan. Who is your leader?"

"Hmm..."

"Answer me!" He roared.

"I think that's enough questions for tonight, old man. Michael, darling, care to dispose of him while I take care of the little one?" she smiles evilly at Mari. "The sooner I rip his heart out, the sooner I can have Mia," Michael growls. Bart sends a telepathic message to Mari.

Mari, listen to me carefully. See that necklace that Charla is wearing?

Mari nodded turning her attention to Charla.

Since she's fighting you, I need you to focus on taking it away from her. It contains Michael's soul, so if we were to get our hands on it, we can break it, free his soul, and restore it back into his body.

But what about you, Daddy?

I'll be taking care of Michael. I don't have a choice, but I have to fight him. Don't worry, sweetie, we just need to hold them off until sunrise. Everything will be ok, I promise. Now, when I give the signal, we split up so they can follow one of us. One..two...three!

Mari sprints toward Charla and rips off the necklace. She scales up a wall as Charla chases after her. Before Michael could follow, Bart tackled him to the ground.

Bart's POV: I may be older than Michael, but there's a chance that his strength might increase violently with the help of the darkness. His soul must be restored, or else this city will be put in danger.