Just One Bite »ᴄɵᴍᴘᴌᴇтᴇ«

FORTY-THREE

FORTY-THREE

Ashley and Ravin returned to the room that seemed to have become the meeting area. That had once been one of the the living rooms. Damon stood from his seat the moment he saw her step into the room. Pausing as he saw her expression.

"They're dead," Ashley told the room, sending them into silence. "They told me that the Archangel's have sentenced me to death for breaking laws before the angel killed them."

Damon staggered back and fell clumsily into his chair, his wings sprawled. "Their dead?" he asked, his voice cracking at the end. "My friends are dead?"

Ashley didn't respond to his question as she turned to see Mortimer crouching, covering his ears as though someone was screaming. Sparrow's legs gave away, making him fall to the floor, only his reflexes caught him before his face slammed into the floor.

Suddenly, Sparrows set his sight on a shocked Damon. "This is your fault!"

Ashley didn't prevent the growl that poured out her mouth. Making Sparrow flinch back. "This is not his fault. He did not ask for his friends to be used against us. He was going to try and save them. Think carefully before you blame my mate again."

"Will you continue to fight for your race? Or do you wish for death?" Ashley continued only to the two breaking brother's.

Two pairs of eyes looked at her in pain. Understanding what she was giving them. But as though they'd come to the same conclusion at the same time, they moved to kneel on one knee, head bent to face the floor, hands over their chests. The other's in the room were staring in confusion at the scene unfolding before them. "We will stay and fight. We are warriors of the Brotherhood." Mortimer and Sparrow stated, Sparrow continued. "And we want our revenge on the angel who killed our mates."

Ashley paused at Sparrow's last sentence. Thinking back to Anya before she'd fallen asleep. Anya had wanted revenge. And when she couldn't have it, she turned and harmed Damon. But Ashley didn't say anything, she wouldn't make the same mistake last time. This time, if either of the brothers went insane from loss, she'd kill them.

Turning away from the kneeling Brother's, giving them a silent permission to rise from their kneeling positions, Ashley glanced at Damon and internally winced at the loss on his face.

"Ravin, can you have your vampyres stand guard long with the Brotherhood? Each night they will switch with my other vampyre's."

"Ordering me already, Ashley?" Ravin grumbled a thunderous growl.

"I didn't realise an order started with "can you"," Ashley growled back.

The others in the room stayed silent. Knowing that being quiet and not drawing attention to themselves might just save them. A moment past and Ravin nodded, looking at his vampyres and silently telling them to do as Ashley had said. "Feed first," he added to them as they stood as commanded.

"I'll get you some drinks," Kayline said, drawing eyes to her as she pulled away from Jayden. A Jayden who refused to be parted and grabbed her hand. They left the room and moments later, cupboards could be heard opening and closing.

"What should the rest of us do?" Tim Dager asked for the rest of them.

"Those who want to leave to return to the dracan realm, leave," Ashley said. "Those who are staying, stay and stand guard, or rest for the upcoming battle."

"If we leave," Dee started, hugging Vivian closer to his chest. "What will happen to Vivian?"

Ashley paused at that. What would happen to the female who had suffered so much in her short life? "Do you want to leave?" Ashley asked Vivian mentally.

Vivian lifted her gold eyes to Ashley's colourful black. "I don't know. Everything I know is here. And if I go... What will happen to Kave?"

"Kave would return to try and find a mate. He'll be fine."

"I have nothing else holding me back, yet, I want to stay."

"Because it's all you've ever known?"

Vivian slowly nodded. "And because of you."

Ashley blinked at that. "Me?"

Vivian reached up and touched her neck. "While it's nothing compared to the bond I have with Dee... it's something."

"I don't know what will happen," Ashley responded to Dee's question honestly. "Nothing like this has ever happened before."

"Isn't that the truth," Ravin grumbled before pausing in his pacing and staring at Ashley. "You have, not only thousands of vampyre's under your command, but five creature's that you somehow managed to create, a draca that links to an Elite clan that controls all other dracan, a baby angel who is nearing our strength, and me, an original. How, Ashley? Nothing like this was supposed to be possible. How did you create the mark? How did you create your Brotherhood? How did you bind me to you?"

"I am life," was all Ashley said. Apparently it wasn't an answer Ravin wanted as he flipped the table then punched a hole through a vampyre-proof wall.

"That is not an answer, Ashley!" Ravin roared. "How can you do it when none of the others could! Why are you so much stronger than the rest of us? What makes you different?"

The others in the room had subtly taken a step away from Ravin as his voice became more thunder than words.

"I don't know," Ashley replied calmly, like she was trying to calm down a five year old having a temper tantrum, not a five thousand year old original that could tear a vampyre in half. "But next time we see the angels, I'll be sure to ask."

Ravin sent her a glare that would have had a vampyre cowering at his feet. But Ashley was no vampyre.

"Are you going to let our friendship die because I accidentally bound you to me?" Ashley asked him.

"Oh, no, Ashley, you know it's more than that. It all started when you found him," Ravn growled, pointing an accusing finger at Damon who was watching us like the rest were, the only difference being that the rest were moving slowly for the door, waiting for the two originals to fight it out. "The moment you found him and Anya started hunting him, you changed."

"For the better, Ravin."

"No! You became soft. You gained more power–"

"I created the Brotherhood five hundred years ago because, as I stood bleeding over the land, I wished for stronger vampyre's," Ashley said, revealing the truth of what Ravin had wanted to know for years. She knew that the Brotherhood were listening also to how they were created. As were the rest, they'd all been curious as to how she'd created the Brotherhood. "And as five drops of blood dropped on to the ground beneath my feet, the earth shook. It split and five men crawled out before. I can show you the place if you would like. It's sat besides one of my hotels."

"But how is that possible, Ashley?"

"I don't know," Ashley replied. "I wish I did. But I don't. When I first created the Brotherhood, instinct told me that they weren't... real. So I changed them as though they were humans. And that, my old friend, was how I created the Brotherhood and how the mark came into being.

"Once I'd changed them, a mark rested on where I'd bitten them. I didn't know that I would leave a mark on Vivian. Not really. I'd hoped I would, and I did in the end, but I didn't know until after."

Arms wrapped around Ashley, and she jumped gently. Damon was getting good at moving quietly. She lifted her own arms to grip his.

"I don't know how I bound you to me, Ravin," Ashley continued. "All I knew was that I was hungry, and I wanted food. Maybe it was being bound to Damon, the power that he has, spreading through to me, that allowed me to be the stronger one and bind you to me also. I don't know."

Ravin was silent. Not a word left his lips after all Ashley had just revealed. But, in that one quiet moment when no one made a noise, Ashley heard something that shouldn't have been. A heartbeat from below.

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