Hot Ben staggered to his feet, cursing lowly while he stared at Gabriel as if he were a ghost. "Holy hell, I thought he was dead?" he muttered as Halina gaped, stunned into silence again.
But our reactions were nothing compared to Malcolm's. He looked about ready to implode from fear and stress. Backing away from Gabriel, he started muttering, "No, I watched you die...that's not possible." His slightly glowing eyes darted over Gabriel's body.
Gabriel frowned down at him. "Malcolm, I'm very disappointed in you."
As Gabriel advanced, Malcolm retreated, scooting right up to bump into Teren's legs. Teren imposingly stared down on Malcolm huddling by his feet before smiling crookedly. Turning his head between Teren and Gabriel, Malcolm disbelievingly said, "You? You did this? You tricked me?"
Leaning down slightly, Teren whispered, "I told you not to underestimate me."
Malcolm's pale face seemed to pale even more as he began to realize that he'd been successfully tricked this time; he'd given up Julian's location. He made a dash for it, but Gabriel reached down and pulled him up by one arm. Halina snapped out of her stupor and immediately grabbed his other arm. Malcolm struggled, but both incredibly strong vampires held him tight.
His head twisting between the two of them, Malcolm started to genuinely panic. "Gabriel, please...let me go. I didn't hurt the child!" Gabriel's only response was to narrow his jade eyes, dark in the bluish lamplight.
Teren stepped in front of Malcolm, crossing his arms over his chest. Malcolm tried beseeching him, since Gabriel was unmoved. "I did nothing to the kid! I didn't hurt him. Just wait, he's fine, you'll see. When he gets here, you'll see!" His scared eyes took in all of us. "He's fine!"
I took a second to register my family approaching, the faint scent I'd imagined earlier turning into a real one that was getting stronger. Teren smiled at smelling it too. Seeming more relaxed now that Malcolm was securely held and our son was coming closer, he sneered at Malcolm, leaning directly into his face.
"My son was terrified...for days," he said in a cold whisper. Teren's hand came out to point back to the ranch, to where we could both feel Nika. "My daughter can feel every emotion that he feels." His voice gained strength as fatherly anger poured out of him. "She felt every ounce of his fear! She was terrified...for days!"
Malcolm struggled against his captors, staring at the river of blood down the front of Gabriel's shirt. His panicked eyes shifted to Halina and then Teren as Teren stepped back. Malcolm shook his head and shrugged. "I didn't hurt him, you have my word. I treated him like royalty. I swear. I didn't hurt anybody."
Teren's eyes flared, the light of the lamp making them gleam in an inhuman way. Leaning in, he snarled, "You killed a friend of mine. You took her life to prove a point, like she meant nothing!"
Malcolm's brow bunched together and he shrugged. "She was just a human...?" His face looked lost, like he didn't understand the problem. Like she really had meant nothing.
Gritting his jaw, Teren straightened. Shaking his head, he said nothing else. Turning his back on Malcolm, he walked away. As he left him, Malcolm's fearful eyes shifted between Halina and Gabriel. Halina's pale eyes glowed with fury. Gabriel's look was more impassive, but equally displeased. "You betrayed me, Malcolm, took something that wasn't yours to take."
His voice was detached, unemotional, it gave me shivers. It made Malcolm look like he wanted to pee his pants. He struggled between the two vampires, but he was outmatched between the ancient, mixed's strength and the pure vampire's. Maybe seeing that no one was going to stop this, he started yanking on his arms, trying to free them. I thought he might start trying to gnaw them off soon, if he thought of it.
His head flicking between Gabriel and Halina, he started endlessly repeating, "No! Please, Gabriel, please, no. Have mercy! I was just making money. I didn't hurt any vampires!"
Gabriel's eyes widened as he pulled on Malcolm's arm, holding his body closer. "You didn't hurt them? You sold my drug, Malcolm. You were directly involved in hunters killing our kind." He leaned in, his voice suddenly passionate. "In killing children, Malcolm."
Malcolm swallowed and shook his head. "No...I didn't know about that. You gotta believe me. I didn't know!"
Gabriel shook his head, his impassive face returning. It didn't matter if he knew or not; he was still guilty of the crime. Malcolm's eyes widened at seeing Gabriel's face hardening and he again pled for his life. "Please! You know me! Have mercy! Please!"
Gabriel, done listening, ignored him. Looking over Malcolm's struggling body, he nodded at Halina. She locked gazes with him. Her lips in a hard line, she nodded back. Both of them simultaneously prepared their stances, pulling Malcolm taunt.
Malcolm started yelling for help when he realized just what his sentence was. My eyes widened at what they were going to do. I felt like gagging. Deserving or not, it was awful. This was a sight I didn't need in my head and I wanted to close my eyes, but, horrified, I couldn't look away.
Just as Gabriel and Halina used every vampiric muscle they had to pull their portions of Malcolm in opposite directions, just as Malcolm's yells shifted to pain-filled screams ripping through the night, arms were suddenly around my head, holding me close to a silent heart.
My arms flew around Teren. It didn't block out all the noise, but it helped. Running my hands up his back and holding him to me, I was grateful that he was blocking that image from my sight. My imagination made up for it though. With the muffled, wet noises and the scent of fresh blood in the air, a lot of fresh blood, I felt like I didn't actually need to see it, to see it.
When the night was silent from the screams and gory noises, Teren loosened his grip on me. Peeking up at his face, I took in his grim expression - his head lowered, his eyes closed. Malcolm may have created a storm of havoc in our lives, but Teren was a good person and didn't enjoy hearing the death of another, necessary or not. Once again blocking my ears, he'd heard it all. I reached up and cupped his face, silently thanking him. He opened his eyes and smiled down at me, his face relaxing into a calmness I hadn't seen in days.
"Ugh, now I really am going to be sick."
At hearing Hot Ben's voice, I twisted to look over at him. He was holding his stomach, staring at the dirt-packed field, his lips twisted like he'd just seen the grossest thing imaginable. He looked horribly green, even under the strange lighting. He also had a split lip and the beginning of a nasty bruise on his jaw. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd fractured something.
Following the line of his sight, I instantly wished I hadn't. The dirt was a deep brown in the lamplight, but there were distinctly dark, wet lumps of...something in the space between Gabriel and Halina. They were now standing thirty feet apart, staring down at the clumps of what was left of poor, stupid Malcolm.
Sniffing, Ben recovered his intestinal fortitude and walked over to pick up the stake that had been inside Gabriel's body. Striding over to Halina, he started rummaging around her half of Malcolm, searching the body for something. While I twisted my lip, wondering if Ben had gone a little mad, he suddenly found it and jabbed the stake through Malcolm's dead chest...through his heart.
Standing and looking pleased with himself, he smiled and glanced around at all of us, like he'd just saved the day.
Teren scrunched his brow and shook his head at Ben. Unless Malcolm's super healing abilities included repairing himself from long distances, there was really no way he was walking away from that. As all eyes shifted to Hot Ben, he started looking a little sheepish, his smile dropping a little. "What? You can never be too careful, right?"
Teren started laughing then, the tension easing off of him as he did. Halina joined in as well, clapping Ben on the back. Then she blurred over to Gabriel, throwing her arms around his neck and leaping onto his body, showering him in kisses.
Teren smiled, watching them, then, still chuckling a little, he twisted back to Ben. "Want to be really thorough?" Ben nodded eagerly and Teren shook his head. "We should burn the body."
Ben nodded and pulled a lighter from his pocket. While he got to work on completing his task, I sank into Teren's body. Exhaustion, a residual fear, and remembered pain washed through me, but it was nothing compared to the joy of knowing that Julian was coming closer. I wrapped my arms around my husband and sighed.
Pulling back from me, he tenderly ran his fingers down my cheek. His eyes searching mine he whispered, "Are you okay? I was so scared..."
He bit his lip and cupped my cheek. Smiling, I put my hand over his. "Julian's coming...I'm great."
Smiling, he nodded then switched it a wry turn of his lips. "Did you seriously deck that guy?" He raised an eyebrow, his expression both amused and concerned.
As the acrid smell of smoke hit the air, I shrugged, looking toward the indistinguishable body parts that Ben was adding to the growing pile. "I couldn't let him get away," I muttered, watching Ben duck into the barn, only to come out moments later with a gas can. Soon his timid fire was a raging inferno. Luckily there were no nosey neighbors out here in the middle of nowhere.
Teren's hand on my face turned me back to him. "He could have..." Stopping his words, he shook his head. "What am I going to do with you?"
Exhaling slowly, I rested my head against his, nuzzling my cheek over the harness of his stubbled jaw. "You take me home...me and the kids."
Squeezing tighter, he nodded. "That I can do."
As Teren and I started to drift away from the pungent smell of Malcolm's demise, Gabriel and Halina walked over to join us. Attached to his side, Halina was rubbing his blood soaked chest, staring at it in wonder. Her fingers poked and prodded for holes in his skin, but I knew she wouldn't find any. Whatever Teren had done to him, he'd already healed from it.
As Gabriel clapped Teren on the shoulder, Halina gazed up at him. Her eyes were completely different as she stared up at her ancient boyfriend. No anger or fear remained in them, just an obviously deep well of love. Whatever reservations she'd had about being with Gabriel before, I was sure they were gone now. Thinking someone was dead had a way of making all of the impossible obstacles suddenly seem...possible.
Shifting her eyes to a softly smiling Teren, Halina shook her head. "That was all fake? You were bluffing?"
Teren shrugged. "He needed Gabriel dead. I made him think he got his wish." Teren's smile shifted to a cringe as he met eyes with Gabriel. "I'm sorry I couldn't warn you. He would have heard."
Gabriel rubbed his hand near Halina's on his stained chest. "Yes, well, I almost didn't have to pretend. You came extremely close to my heart, Teren."
He raised an eyebrow at Teren and Teren cringed even more. "Sorry, I needed it to look real."
Gabriel smirked and shook his head. "Another couple of inches and it would have been."
Teren released me, putting a hand on Gabriel's arm. "Thank you for playing along, for understanding my plan."
Gabriel nodded, then twisted his lips. "I wasn't entirely playing." He looked down at the mess on his chest and shook his head, rubbing the area over his heart. Peeking up at Teren, he grimaced. "That was exceedingly painful."