He was dimly aware of screams and shouts as humans and vampires scrambled to get out of their way as they ran full speed at each other. Braith felt as if he’d run into a brick wall as his shoulder dislocated with the reverberating crack of a bat hitting a ball. His teeth clenched as a low hiss escaped him.
Braith tried to seize hold of his father’s throat but his father grabbed his hand. Before Braith knew what he intended, he sank his fangs deep into the meaty part of his palm. Braith grunted at the unwelcome invasion, and reacting on instinct he delivered a crushing blow that caused his father’s eye socket to collapse. It only made him bite down harder.
Infuriated, Braith released a rapid series of punches on him, but he clung like a dog on a bone as he gained strength from Braith’s blood. Gritting his teeth, Braith ripped his hand back. Skin and sinew tore but he was finally able to extricate himself from his father. Lowering his head, he charged at the man, wrapped his arms around his waist and propelled him back a good fifty feet before they hit a house.
It shuddered from the impact but held firm as his father somehow managed to get him turned around, and underneath him. Braith didn’t see the piece of wood in his father’s hands until he was plunging it downward. He managed to get his arm up to deflect the blow somewhat, but his father’s weight continued its downward trajectory. It slammed into his upper chest and dislocated shoulder, and tore through flesh and bone as it burst out the other side.
A grunt of pain escaped him, his legs reflexively kicked up as his body instinctively tried to curl inward to protect itself. Red filled his vision as he swung his arm up and caught his father harshly under his jaw. Knocking his father aside, Braith managed to push himself up with his good arm. Reaching up, he snapped the end of the board off and tossed it aside. He rose into a crouch as his father launched at him again. Braith’s hands grasped hold of his back as they fell into one of the newly constructed houses.
***
“Let go of me!” Aria shouted as she tried to rip her arm free of Gideon’s hold.
She didn’t know what possessed her, or perhaps she did, but she’d never experienced it before as a ferocious snarl ripped from her and her teeth elongated instantaneously. A strange shimmering rattled through her as the line between light and dark seemed to spread out before her. A line that made her realize what it was that Braith had been so fiercely struggling with all this time. She could take one step over that line and let it all go, she could embrace the power lurking just beneath the surface and let the darkness take over. Destroy, as she so badly wanted to destroy the man that had hurt Braith.
How had Braith controlled this so well? She felt like she was going to fall apart, as if she wasn’t herself anymore. Her skin was crawling with the energy that sizzled up and down her body. She wanted to rip it from her body and she knew the only thing that would make it better was death.
“Easy Aria,” Gideon urged. He released her and held his hands up as he backed away. “Easy.”
She spun away from him and took a step forward before she stopped abruptly. Braith and his father had disappeared into the house; the walls were shaking from the force of their fight. She started to run forward, but faster than she could blink, Jack appeared in front of her. She didn’t know where he’d come from, he hadn’t been in the stable with the others, but he was here now and he wasn’t letting her go as he grasped hold of her arms.
“Let go of me Jack!”
Jack bent so that he was eye level with her. “You are of no use here Aria. Stay out of the way, you’re only a distraction.” He pushed her gently back as he released her arms. Hands seized hold of her and it took everything she had not to kick Ashby in the shin as he gripped her. Jack turned and ran toward the house. Aria fought against Ashby, but the harder she fought the tighter he held her.
“Aria please, stop,” he pleaded against her ear as he pulled her down to the ground and enfolded himself over her.
A scream swelled up her throat, tears burned her eyes as she continued to struggle against him but it was useless. Gideon and Calista ran past her, followed by Daniel, Max, and William. A low moan of anguish escaped her; she rocked forward as Ashby kept her on the ground.
A loud crash echoed from within the house. It sagged precariously for a minute before collapsing completely.
***
The boards caught him hard in the back and drove him to his knees. Braith threw his good arm up as he tried to protect his head from the roof crashing upon him. He was buried beneath the weight, pushed down under the force battering his already bruised and broken body. It took him a moment to recuperate as the last of the beams fell with a dull clatter upon the heap. Gathering his strength, he pushed back some of the boards as he drew upon his determination to end this once and for all.
He crawled out from under the boards, shoving them off as he surveyed the ruins of the house. The front of the building was still standing, but a stiff wind would knock it over with ease.
In all of the confusion he’d managed to lose his father. Pulling himself free of the jumbled mess surrounding him, Braith spotted him. He’d already extricated himself from the rubble and was trying to make an escape when Braith launched to his feet and raced after him. If his father was able to get free now, he would bide his time, and grow stronger as he tried to recruit an army. Braith suspected that he’d come here with the intention of claiming Aria, and trying to control Braith.
It didn’t matter what he’d expected, all Braith knew was that he wasn’t going to leave here alive. He was never going to have the chance to touch Aria again. Drudging up some of the last remnants of his strength, he surged forward, grabbed hold of his father’s shirt and yanked him back. Braith didn’t realize his father was holding a board until it smashed against the side of his face. Stars burst before his eyes as his cheekbone cracked and his jaw broke. Blinking away his blurry vision, Braith wrenched the board from his father’s hands, spun it around and swung it against his father’s side. He staggered sideways from the force of the blow; his hand flew to his collapsed ribs.
Jack appeared on the other side, encircling their father as a cruel smile curved his lips. Braith had never seen that look on Jack’s face before, never seen that vindictive gleam in his eyes. “Father,” Jack greeted, moving to intercept him as he tried to go in another direction.
Gideon was grinning as he stepped forward, blocking another pathway as Calista moved to block another. Max, William, and Daniel blocked the other side. His father’s eyes spun crazily before focusing on something in the distance. Braith followed his gaze to Aria as she slowly approached the circle. Ashby was hot on her heels, looking chagrined as he rubbed at his reddened jaw. Braith had never seen it before, but Aria’s eyes were glistening rubies as they met his, and then his father’s. He sensed the unraveling beneath her outwardly calm exterior and moved to intercept her as she reached the circle.