Midnight Shadow

Chapter 8 - Altercation

"NO! No PLEASE NO! Not Now! Not this family!" Mia thoughts pleaded in my head... Fear gripping every thought in her mind. She was up and moving and I was ready. But she wasn't coming for the Hills... or me. She was creeping out the back door by the kitchen. Then I felt it... another black hole of light. I was already up and moving to the window peering out into the black night. I could see everything, of course, as I searched furiously for the pure black spot in the trees close to the house. It was very very close. Much too close... I crouched aggressively tasting the air with my tongue, YES! There was definitely evil very very close. Very lightly I sprang out the window down two stories to the grass beneath. My senses hyper aware now I was completely focused on my surroundings. I kept one small part of my mind trained to Mia but she was not in the house any more. I checked the family. All still sleeping, perfectly content. I searched the grounds with my ears.... yes, there it was. Mia was out here as well on the other side of the house. What the hell was she doing? Was this some trick? But no.... I heard the third creature. A low rumbling growl escaping it's chest directly behind the house.  I turned instinctively and froze....

"What are you doing here Thomas?!"

"Ah, precious Mia... how sinfully delightful to find you here...."

"I'll ask you again Thomas, why are you here" The growling slipping from Mia's chest was authentic. She was poised ready to defend herself but she knew this vampire. I crept silently along the house to the edge of the back porch.

"What? Oh no! He's here..." I could hear Mia's thought as she recognized my presence. I could see them both now, ten yards apart in the inky blackness. Mia, half crouched defensively, the other she had called Thomas at the fringe of the tree line in the back yard. I focused carefully on his aura trying to see him clearly. I cold barely make him out. He was male and very powerful. He obviously felt no fear of Mia. He was just toying with her waiting for the meal inside the house.

"I followed your scent my dear.... you've done well. There is plenty for us both" he purred to her. Rage flowed trough me. How could I be so stupid! Of course she meant them harm! She was simply waiting for reinforcements! She was no lone Vampire.... she was in a coven. I focused on the male... I would have to take him out first but I'd have to incapacitate Mia in some way before a full attack. Mia would be no problem but she could slaughter the Hills in twenty seconds if I weren't there to protect them.

"No, they are mine..." Of course they are I thought. Just the thing I would say if someone was listening to me too...

"tsk tsk tsk.... Mia, I always knew that facade you put on was a lie. 'No! don't hurt the humans' look at you now.... you won't even share?" he chided her.

Mia's mind was racing... She knew I was close and it confused her. She was torn between telling me to protect the family and halting Thomas's attack. Fear gripped her... she could not win and she knew it. Human's would die and there was nothing she could do to stop it. I was so confused, Was this a game of confuse me or was she really trying to save the Hill's?

"I'm going to give you this one chance Mia, Step aside..." he growled. "You can not defeat me, we both know this. You'll have the chance to run while I'm..... feeding" Thomas smirked. "Take the chance while you have it Mia. NOW or you will die like them" he crouched tensing for an attack. I had only seconds. Mia slid more fully between Thomas and the house...

"So be it, you can't have them" as a guttural snarl escaped her chest.

Time was up. I knew what I had to do. Thomas sprang for Mia as I flew through the air. I caught him  by the throat half way through his leap and silently pulled him with me twenty yards in the other direction. I felt his confusion and shock rip through me as I flung him into a huge oak tree ten feet away. My back ripped with agony as his back slammed into it. I crouched strengthening the connection between he and I now. I knew everything he would do the second he decided. I felt the confusion and then fear as he realized that someone he hadn't known about was there as well. It hadn't been Mia that thwarted him. It was something else. He focused on me and the confusion vanished in the tide of rage that course through him as it ripped through me as well. I heard his aggressive snarls at me and responded in kind. There was no apprehension, I had done this before, I no longer feared the pain that would come to us both as I ripped him to pieces. This was my duty, my responsibility. I let my instincts take over, forcing my connection to him even more open. I began to circle him slowly to the left better placing myself between he and the house that contained the sleeping Hills.