To Be...

Chapter 23

J.T. targeted Leon.

He wouldn't kill Leon, because Jezebel wanted him delivered to her alive. But the rest of the family fought for their lives.

It would have been absolutely simple to dispose of me early on, but no part of my family would allow it. They each had at least two others to fight off, if not more. The Ivory League men were built like heavy weights, and they fought in similar ways; as if it were in a professional wrestling ring. Each one, if they had spare time away from their own target, would rush my way only to be grounded by Harwin, or Dillon. Leon was too preoccupied to come to my rescue. There was a reason J.T. was the leader, and it wasn't his looks.

I felt like I was just 'there'. I couldn't fight. I couldn't breathe.

It was actually happening. I really hoped J.T. would change his mind, but I'm sure that even if he did, his subordinates wouldn't follow him.

There were roughly seventeen of them, including J.T. His ability to become invisible wasn't shared with another member of the League. The rest were simply mirror images of one another, and incredibly strong. One did have telekinesis, and he used it to advance in his clash with Seth. I knew now that he was indeed 'Seth', because they called out strategies to one another.

"Harwin, take this one! Seth, I've got him, go after that one! Get one in on the leader!"

I cringed, because I couldn't be thrown a strategy other than 'run'. I stooped down, and brushed my fingers over the grass.

I heard a groan behind me, and turned to see Dillon's fist twisting into my attacker's stomach. Something contorted his features, and he reached past Dillon frantically gripping for me. I growled at him under my breath. He heard and caused his face to return to its previous military hardness. Then, he was pressed against a pine tree on the opposite side of the field... I think. They were all too alike to tell.

I watched J.T. and Leon. They struggled around the circumference of the field.

Jump. Shift. Punch. Drop.

Everything they threw was matched by the other. For once, I worried more about Leon than myself. More about everyone. I wasn't begging for rescue. I was praying for theirs.

Leon was more pallid than usual, and he looked like a snowman melting away in the heat. J.T., on the other hand, was bulky and filled with blood stolen from the blood bank in New Jersey. AB positive, from what I hear. He had an advantage on Leon, as I'm sure all of the Ivory League had. Strength from nourishment.

If we all die, would it show up in the newspaper? Surely, we wouldn't. No obituaries for the allegedly immortal vampires, or their human adopted sister-who should have died months ago.

But I'm alive, doing nothing to help my family. Completely helpless in my own limitation.

I had to be stronger, but the only thing I could do was keep myself from screaming when one of them finally reached me.

I looked down into my lap as I felt the shifting current of air from their multiple fights. I sighed. Nothing I can do.

I looked around for something to fidget with until the final blow. Something glinted in the grass directly before me.

A homemade syringe.

Instead of metal, the tip was solid white ivory, resembling animal bone. The rest was a salvaged syringe from a hospital, or some medical facility. It was filled with a metallic royal purple liquor, swirling unbelievably; like I'd never seen before. It was an unearthly beautiful, and bizarre. It was the way I'd pictured the surface of another planet. Apart from Mars, in view of the fact that Mars was found to be incapable of supporting human life, and was not even capable of creating common H2O. The ice they found came from a chemical they dubbed Trotanium.