Half Blood Rising

Dorothy was much more powerful than I'd anticipated. Normally vampires relied on other creatures for magic, but not her. Her energy was shrouding the entire space, soaking the air and overwhelming my own vampire senses. The shifter wasn't dead yet. He rose to his feet, staring at me with fury and wiping the dirt from his face. I had to finish him if I wanted to get out of here alive.

Dorothy's compulsion was affecting me, too, but I shook my head and blocked her voice. I had to kick his arse without my weapons, which wasn't impossible.

"You're dead, little girl," the shifter growled, stretching his neck from side to side. Then his body went rigid, and he started transforming. All right, so I hadn't anticipated that, but it should have been obvious that he would fight me in his other form.

I expected to see a wolf, but when he shifted into an animal that resembled a tiger, I had to admit, I began to freak out a bit. Normally when I tracked a werewolf, I was more prepared, but a cheetah? I was in new territory here. I suddenly missed my knives, and his damn sword was too far away. Fur appeared all over his body, his bones cracked and twisted. The smell of smoke wafted around the air. Something was burning, but I couldn't see fire anywhere around me.

I inhaled sharply, trying to think on my feet. A moment later, a large cheetah charged towards me, and I needed to make a split-second decision and figure out how to kill it. Dorothy was shouting something, but I couldn't hear her.

If I had any other magic inside me, well, now was the time to use it. He was going to kill me, and I didn't know how to defend myself. The shifter roared, and every single hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Time slowed down, or I was witnessing my own end in slow motion. Saliva was dripping down his large fangs. I had no chance of escaping.

I just knew that, in a short moment, I'd be dead. My magic faded, so I did the only thing I thought that made sense. Maybe it was silly, but my normal "brave girl" wasn't here anymore-she'd checked out. I shut my eyes, pulling energy from every cell inside my body, concentrating on this one final moment.

Dorothy kept shouting, but now her voice was fading. I didn't want to listen, imagining the cheetah's breath on my neck. Energy discharged around me, pounding inside me like a volcano. My heart started jackhammering inside my chest as I waited for sharp claws and pain. It never came the cheetah yelped, then I heard a crying roar in the distance. I finally opened my eyes, releasing the magic I was holding onto. The shifter was immersed in flames, he was burning alive, rolling on the floor, trying to save himself from the fire. I glanced down at my hands, seeing flames, and I had no idea what I'd just done. "Impossible," I whispered to myself in complete and total shock.

The flames were killing him, while he was trying to shift back to his human form. I stared, thinking that no one deserved this kind of pain, but I couldn't reverse the spell. I didn't know what to do.

When I glanced at Dorothy, she'd just finished draining one of the other shifters. She looked grotesque, blood was spilling down her face, neck, and chest. She pulled away from one of the shifters and kicked him hard. He was barely conscious now, and the other one was staring at the wall. Damn, she was good, and I was still pretty amazed with my own strength. The smell of burnt flesh was making me nauseous. We had to get the hell out of here this was our chance.

The cheetah shifter was now in his human form, he'd stopped burning, but he wasn't moving any longer.

"It's time, we need to get to the north fire escape exit. It's the only place where I don't sense them," Dorothy said, stepping over the bodies. She wasn't even wearing any shoes.

"How did I do it? I mean, I'm half-vampire, not a mage or a warlock," I asked myself, but she must have overheard me because she answered:

"You're definitely something more than just half-vampire, and you can kill with magic. I don't think I've met any other vampire with that sort of skill," she said, then grabbed my hand. "Let's go, they'll sense that something is wrong here soon enough."

She didn't have to tell me twice, and for a moment, I felt like a novice who was being guided by a master.

"No, let's go to the first floor; the corridor up there was empty when I snuck in here last night," I told her, pulling her towards the stairs.

"Snuck in what the hell do you mean? I thought you were caught?" she asked. Her eyes were bloodshot, this was strange. I'd never seen another vampire reacting from blood this way. Her skin was grey, almost sullen. The shifters had probably been charmed, too. Crap. She shouldn't have drunk from any of them.

"It's a long and complicated story, but let's get out of here. A lot of people are searching for you," I told her, thinking about Ramona and Lachlan.

This place was riddled with small corridors and even smaller rooms, but once we located the stairs, I was a bit less nervous.

Ten minutes later, we reached an obscure long corridor. The lights were flashing there, and magic was still drifting around. It felt like I had bricks of nausea rolling around in my stomach all of a sudden. There were other creatures here with us. Even Dorothy must have sensed them, because her face had suddenly gone pale. Well, pale from grey. My mind kept whispering "demons," but I refused to believe it.

"We need to get out of here fast. I came in through one of the windows," I said, turning around to see if Dorothy was keeping up with me. Blood rushed to my head, when a few seconds later, I realised she was nowhere to be seen. Then, after only a moment, she was behind me. What the hell?

I found her by the stairs, looking like a ghost. She was throwing up, but it wasn't blood. It was some sort of dark liquid, and then strange marks began appearing on her arms and legs. Fear punched a hole in my gut. We didn't have much time, and I had to drag her out of here somehow; otherwise we were both as good as dead.

"One of the shifters' blood must have been poisoned. I can't move," she said, and then vomited even more oily black liquid all over my shoes. I didn't have a weak stomach, but after everything I'd seen today, I felt sick, too.

Somehow, after a few deep breaths, I regained control of myself, and the nausea passed. I grabbed her arm and wrapped it around my shoulder.

"I'm not leaving you behind," I said, struggling to carry her. She was barely conscious, and she couldn't even walk. Several steps further when I checked her pulse, it was very weak. Split seconds later, I could hear several vampires approaching. They were going to invade this area within moments, and there was no way I could take on the ancients, even if I was fully healed.

"Don't be fucking stupid, at least save yourself. They won't kill me, Leonidas is just going to be pissed that you got away," she mumbled, sweating badly.

She was infected with something, and she wasn't going anywhere. I cursed loudly, trying to think of something-anything. Even if I could heal her, time was running out. I had to disappear and get back to headquarters without her.

A few seconds later, I sped towards the light that was beaming through the small space between the window and the metal panel. After tearing away the protective cover, I dove through the window just before the vampires barged in. Their energy turned the last bits of food inside my stomach as I tore my hoodie on the sharp nails that were protruding from the window frame.

I found myself on the same fire escape, but my legs refused to cooperate. One of the vampires roared, then I felt immense panic inside me. I decided to wait, wondering what was going to happen to Dorothy. "Get her back to the cage. If she dies, I am going to kill all of you."

It was the ancient who'd spoken, and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. My breathing was shallow, and then the wind started blowing from the north. The sunlight blinded me as I changed my position, and then I must have pressed something, because a moment later, the stairs rolled all the way down. I held onto the barriers, but still crashed to the ground a few moments later.

I crawled towards the bushes, hoping no one could see me from above. The ancient vampires were sensitive to the sun, more than regular breeds. They had to use special magic, so I didn't expect them to go out searching for me now. It took me several long moments to pull myself together. The world was spinning again as memories from earlier on began resurfacing. I still couldn't believe what I'd done to that shifter.

There were some deep wounds on my left thigh, and I didn't even know where they'd come from. I had to head back to headquarters. I kept wondering what happened to Ramona and Lachlan. They had something to do with this whole thing, and I needed to speak to Oldman urgently. Deep down, I was disappointed that everything had gone so badly. Dorothy was still with the vampires, and now they were probably going to relocate.

It took me another hour to find my way out of the industrial part of the city. There was blood all over my clothes. I retraced my steps back in the daylight. Humans were staring. I'd bet I looked damn scary. I avoided most busy areas in case of the police-they wouldn't hesitate to arrest me, considering the state I was in. Several minutes later, I caught a taxi, and with very broken Ukrainian, I explained where I needed to go. Thankfully, I still had some money on me from the previous evening. The taxi driver started shouting something when I handed him money as soon as he pulled up outside headquarters. He probably noticed the blood, but I didn't have time to argue with him. He got his money, and I needed a hot shower.

I knocked several times before Roxanna opened the door and let me inside.

"What's that racket?" a voice from the living room asked, and a split second later someone was embracing me. Small hands, strong perfume, and the smell of bubble gum. It could have only been Karina. "Dear lord, we were so worried about you. Are you all right?" She was asking, squeezing me so hard I could barely breathe.

"Yeah, sort of." I managed to say, seeing Dimitry and the rest of the team walking into the room. Ramona and Lachlan weren't amongst them. Coincidence? I doubted that.

"Where have you been?" Dimitry asked, frowning. "You didn't report back, and your people thought you'd been eliminated." He had his arms folded over his chest as his energy spread around the room. Marco winked at me, looking relieved and Judas, well, he seemed bored as usual.

"It's a long story, but I know where Dorothy is, and if we leave now, we still have a chance to raid the place and free her," I said, wondering why they were all acting so calm.

Then I sensed strange magic drifting around. I didn't recognise it, and it wasn't coming from Marco. He rarely used his abilities, but I recognised his energy. This energy was almost stinging me, causing a vibration inside my entire body.

"She was moved the moment you disappeared from their sight," Dimitry said, clenching his fists. "You shouldn't have interfered in the first place. You were only supposed to be watching your subject." He seemed pissed that I'd located her?

"Hold on, this wasn't my fault, the others int-"

"What's going on in here, Dimitry?" Another voice cut off what I was trying to say. A moment later, two supernaturals walked inside the room, so it was kind of crowded. One was a very old vampire, and the other was a warlock. They both wore dark cloaks.

It was the warlock who'd asked the question. He had Nordic features: very faint, almost grey eyebrows, and thick dark-blond hair. Several strange talismans were hanging around his neck, and one that indicated that he worked for the High Council.

The other one was a vampire. I instantly knew he must have been related to Lachlan because he had almost identical blue eyes and thick hair, with a close-shaved beard.

This energy, I sensed it, almost like I'd been around it before. This felt bizarre.

I didn't feel comfortable standing here in front of two officials, looking like I'd been dragged through the hedge backwards.

"Your girl might be dead, commissioner, and all because of this amateur here," Dimitry said, and I inhaled sharply. Was he even for real?

"Tell us what happened," the older vampire requested. His voice sounded familiar, but I would have remembered him if we'd ever met before. He was staring at me so intensely, drilling me with his blue eyes, while my chest cracked open.

I finally found my strength and started telling them everything that happened to me, and how I ended up in the industrial building on my own. I didn't tell them about Ramona and Lachlan. I thought I needed to keep the fact that they knew Vlad to myself for now, especially if the vampire in front of me was related to him. If he was here, then something must have happened to them, and I needed to figure out whose side he was on.0000