The Love Risk [boyxboy]

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen (Alexander)

 We were back to where we were before.

The dark dingy basement at the Zephyra headquarters, but it was more cramped this time with Mark and Luca joining us. Xed stood guard by the staircase and Ikuto was at the top, waiting with a gun in case we happened to get past Xed, which I found highly unlikely given the fact that he was huge.

We were silent. No one had anything to say. It was hard to find the right words anyway.

I sat on the floor with my knees drawn to my chest, fighting the painful wrenching in the pit of my stomach. I felt like I had swallowed a bunch of sand, my tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth and my lips almost chapped together before I licked them quickly.

Luca sat on the very end of the bed by Storm and Mark, who sat very close together, but didn't speak. I had a feeling Storm was thinking the same thing I was.

Vladimir was going to die.

He just agreed to a terrorist's terms. He would submit to their interrogation and them kill himself, in front of all of us. The thought made my stomach clench painfully and a lump form in my throat, choking off my air. I took a shaky breath, squeezing my eyes shut tightly.

This couldn't be happening.

Had we really run out of ideas? Out of plans?

Had Vladimir really given up? I'd tried to ask Mark and Luca about it, but they kept saying that Vladimir had no plan or any idea what he was doing. I found that almost impossible to believe. Vladimir always knew what to do. He always had a plan, even if it was spontaneous.

And after Vladimir killed himself, what were we supposed to do? How would we get back to America? Would we even be able to? What if Zephyra just killed us? Then all of it would have been for naught.

"We can't just sit here," I murmured in at last, glancing up at Storm, Mark, and Luca before passing a look at Xed, who didn't seem to be paying any attention as he leaned on the center post to look up at Ikuto, who was having a conversation with Minerva, "We have to do something." Mark looked at Xed quickly before looking back with a frown.

"Like what? There's a whole clan of vampires up there and you and Storm aren't ready to face them. You're both seriously lacking blood." He added, looking at Storm uneasily. Storm looked deathly pale, his fangs fully elongated and ready to puncture into anything to get blood. He stared at the floor, his hands clasped in front of him, his arms on his knees.

"Mark's right," He muttered at last, "There's nothing we can do." I blinked, looking at him in disbelief.

"Storm, Vlad--"

"I know!" Storm snapped, making my eyes widen a little in surprise. Even Mark looked a little uneasy and scooted away from him. Luca lifted his head, staring in our general direction. Storm sighed in frustration, running his hands through his hair before shaking his head.

"I know, Alexander. But if there's one thing I know it's that my father doesn't want me involved in whatever's going on. He won't want me to get in his way. Just because I'm his son doesn't mean he will go easy on me, and if they kill me, his sacrifice will have been for nothing." He explained quietly, averting his eyes. I swore his eyes shimmered for a moment, but he blinked and rubbed at his eyes.

Mark scooted closer again, resting his cheek on Storm's arm, peering at his face past his hair. He put his arms around Storm's arm and hugged him tightly, squeezing his eyes shut. I looked away, grimacing.

"We can't just let this happen, though. We can't trust Zephyra's word that they'll let us go after this. We need to figure out who's behind all this and where Vladimir and Newell get their power from. At least with that, we'll have some answers." I admitted, shrugging a little as I rested against the wall, pausing to cough dryly and part my lips so my fangs could feel the damp air of the basement.