I didn’t; I did the exact opposite.
I left him to attend to the others who were injured.
◆◆◆
LUCIEN
Even though the chaos that surrounded us, I felt her the minute she stepped into the compound. I resisted the urge to turn to look at her. My demon whimpered, wanting me to turn and go over to her. I wanted to get her by her shoulders and shake her until her teeth rattled, demanding to know what the hell she was doing. Didn’t she realise she was in danger? Anything could happen to her. I wouldn’t be able to get to her in time if any of my men decided to harm her. Most of my men around her were Naturals, they could easily tear her apart in minutes. How had she even found out that my men had been ambushed? I did neither.
Instead, I ordered my men to go and fetch the doctors.
The injured were coming in thick and fast. If I didn’t get things in hand, I would lose more than I already had. The Doctors arrived. They rush over to the men who seemed worst off and treating their wounds. At least my men were being attended to; with no organization, there weren’t enough people who could tend to them immediately. The voices slowly came to a murmur. I took no notice of what was happening behind me until I saw a look of what I could only describe as admiration cross Damien’s face. Whatever caused that look, I had a feeling it had something to do with Scarlett. He nodded to whatever was happening behind me. Silence fell; being unable to resist, I turned. There sat on the ground was Scarlett attending to one of my men.
Besides Nathan, Jaden was one of the oldest vampires I personally knew. He has been with me for two hundred years. He was also one of the deadliest. For him to be injured in such a way told me all I needed to know. It looked like he was rapidly losing blood that alone was a danger to not only the woman who was tending to him, but also any others who came within arm’s reach. I stepped forward, getting ready to drag her away from him when he placed his hand over hers. I didn’t hear what he said to her. I couldn’t read lips. Whatever their conversation was, it shocked her. I watched as she stood and moved onto another of my men who needed help.
◆◆◆
LUCIEN’S OFFICE
The next day
Fuck I was tired. I hadn’t slept at all. Being up all night would do that. Whether you were a Natural or Human, it would take it out of you. Chamuel still hadn’t responded to my phone call, to say that I was now worried was an understatement. Even if he didn’t pick up, he would typically respond to my voice messages within a few hours or send a message. He hadn’t done either. There was no other way of contacting him. I would just have to wait for him to reply. How long that would be, I couldn’t even guess. He was a very private person, he worked beside me at my request. Not many knew he was my brother. We didn’t keep it a secret. If someone on the off chance latched onto the fact, neither of us acknowledged it. We didn’t resemble each other in any way. We just thought it wasn’t anyone else’s business. Plus, it would raise a lot of questions.
Last night had been catastrophic. I had lost a lot of good men, the lucky ones had been injured, some worse than others. Duncan, being human, hadn’t survived the attack.
He’d been one of my most loyal and trusted of my men. He left behind a young wife and son. I would make sure they were well taken care of. According to Ben, they had been on their way to the rendezvous when they had been struck unawares. The description of the attackers Ben had told us didn’t make sense. We had destroyed those bastards long ago! What the hell was happening!
Ben and Tony not being human, had survived the attack …. barely. Tony was still unconscious. So he couldn’t even get his account of what had happened. The others who had been hurt had a similar story. Jaden filled me in as much as he could. He has been able to control the blood lust up to a certain point to do so.
Then there was Scarlett. Somehow, she had witnessed the whole event of them arriving. How she had known to be there was still baffling. Things just didn’t add up. All I needed now was for Aria to turn up unannounced. Damien and the rest of the men who had been there weren't happy upon seeing Scarlett. Mistrust written across their faces, I didn’t give a shit. Enough was going on around us than to worry about a bloody human stroke witch being in our presence, and even though she must have felt their displeasure, it hadn’t stopped her in getting her fingers dirty. She had followed any orders thrown her way, even to the point in helping to get the injured into the medical room. Blood had been everywhere you looked. Limbs missing, skin torn. The sight would turn even the hardest of stomachs. I had thought she would have run out, hand over mouth. She did the exact opposite. She hadn’t batted an eye in helping. By the end of the evening, she had gained a lot of hard-earned respect and had made a few new friends.
In the last report, fifteen were dead, twenty-five injured, eight badly. They were lucky they were still alive. Any patrols that were sent out would be doubled. I wasn’t going to put any more of my men in danger than they usually would be. What concerned me more than the fact my men had been attacked was the description that had been given out, and every single one basically matched the other. No one had seen or heard about them in many years. Fuck they were all dead as far as we were aware. It didn’t sit well. It seemed every fucking thing was coming out of the woodwork. Witches, who were meant to have been wiped out. Coming out of the fucking shadows and living on my bloody doorstep. Aria snooping and nearly killing Alison, Nathan having more than the usual patrols, the list was endless. Jacob was hiding something; I had no doubt it would come out at some point. The Fae, they were secretive fuckers anyway.
Jacob had replied but had requested that more of his men come with him than usual. I’d allowed it. Same with Reid and Archer. There was defiantly something in the air. Yet, I was still waiting on Nathan's reply, I’d expect his message to arrive by morning. The same as Gil-Galad, I’d be surprised if he’d even acknowledge it. Jasper and Rowan hadn’t checked in again. They had radioed in just before entering the Fae’s territory which Gil-Galad ruled over. They were now MIA, and until I heard otherwise…… the outlook wasn’t great. After sending messages to Jacob, Nathan, Reid, Archer and Gal-Galad. I’d reached out to the other leaders who ran their own smaller regions within each of our own terrorises. Some were human some weren’t. I had had three replies telling me that they were accepting the invitation. Specific rules had to be met. You just didn’t go into another’s territory without being cautious. Having so many leaders together at one time was not unheard of it was just rare. The councils had somehow gotten wind of our little gathering and had requested … if you could call it that …. An invitation. I had reluctantly agreed to it. They thought I had no other choice. Stupid falls, they seemed to forget who once sat on one of those very chairs! The meeting was in five days. It would give me time to make sure extra security was in place before they arrived. All weapons would be left in the room nearest were they would enter for the meeting they had no other choice. After leaving their weapons, they would then have to go through the digital image screening before entering the main room. You never knew who would try to double-cross you. You could never be too cautious.
A rapid bang, bang, bang, brought me out of my thoughts. If I thought differently, I would think they were trying to break in the way they were hitting the bloody thing. Calling out to whoever was behind the door to come in. I sipped on the scotch that I had been savouring. I knew it wouldn’t be Damien; he was making sure everything was in place for the meeting, and it wasn’t often he’d knock, he had the tendency just to walk in.