Maurice Ch. 07

"Eddie and Danny, they're vampires too." she said looking at them, "why are they on the floor?'

"Gremlin put them to sleep so that Micah couldn't control them." I replied.

"Annie, we have to leave before Micah gets here!"

"He will not come to this room, he cannot." Gremlin told her.

"Annie...."

"Reggie, it's alright, Gremlin is ...."

I hadn't even thought about how I was going to tell her that I was mated to one of the creatures that she was so frightened of.

"He's what?" she asked staring at him and then Olivia suspiciously.

"He's a friend of Delgado's and Olivia is his cousin and works for Delgado."

I let her absorb that piece of information for a few minutes before I told her the rest.

"Reggie, Gremlin is my mate- I married him."

Regina stared at me, her mouth dropped open and then she shot off of the bed and into the bathroom locking the door behind her.

Gremlin came to me and hugged me, "she is in shock." he said, "give her time."

******

The last thing that I remember was that I was hiding in the bathtub and there was a huge fight going on in the next room. Then my brothers were in the bathroom trying to convince me to go with them, even the mention of Delgado's name carried no weight with me. I remember one of them saying "fuck this!" and I woke up to a room full of vampires with the only humans being myself and Annie but now I wasn't sure about Annie. After all, she had mated with one of them.

I couldn't deal with it, I had to have some time to think about what was happening so I locked myself in the bathroom and sat on the floor. I braced myself for the knock on the door and was relieved when it didn't happen then I realized that I hadn't asked about Delgado. It was because of my stupidity that he went to Micah's house, he had come after me and I didn't even think to ask about him.

I stood up, walked to the door and called for Annie.

"Reggie, come out no one here is going to hurt you." she said.

"Where's Delgado?" I asked not addressing her statement.

"He's still at Micah's but Gremlin says that he's alright. Reggie please come out."

I wasn't ready, I wasn't ready to face her or anyone else for that matter, I had too much to think about. The first thing was my brothers, were they still my brothers now that they were no longer human? And Annie, what was she now that she had mated with whoever he was and who was that other woman? I also knew that there were questions that I would probably never know the answers to like what did the Lannisters offer my parents that would make them give me away to vampires? The last question was why would a vampire put his life on the line for a woman that he didn't know? To be honest with you, it was a question that I wasn't sure that I wanted the answer to.

I don't know how long I sat on the floor before I got up and washed my face and brushed my teeth. I looked at the bathroom door debating if I was really ready to face a room full of vampires but I couldn't stay in the bathroom forever so I went out.

Annie was standing by the window with Gremlin standing behind her with his arms around her, I could hear her crying. You have to understand that Annie wasn't a crier and for her to be crying she had to be really upset. For just a moment I forgot about my brothers who were still out cold on the floor, the woman and who I assumed to be Gremlin and called her name.

"Annie?"

*******

As I waited for Micah to show himself, I thought about Regina. I was betting that they had to compel her to sleep and that she was still sleeping. When she woke up to a room of strangers she would be frightened but something else worried me, after her experiences with vampires she would be loath to mate with one which put me in an interesting position. If she decided not to acknowledge me as her mate as is her right then I will be alone unless she changes her mind.

My hope was that even though she was frightened and didn't think much of my kind that she wouldn't disregard me right away. I was also hoping that the fact that Annie's mating with Gremlin would help.

"I'm here." Micah said from behind me, I'll have to deal with Regina later.

I turned to face him, his hands were empty but that meant nothing. Micah was a powerful vampire and killing him wouldn't be easy, it was time to lay down the terms of this fight.

"No magic." he snapped out.

"No secret weapons." I replied.

"No Gremlin."

"No weapons except our hands, feet and teeth." I said.

That got him; he had a weapon on his person. I watched as the knives- there were four of them clattered angrily to the ground.

"Is that all of them?" I asked.

I was rewarded with an angry glare as another knife clattered to the ground.

"Did you not learn to fight fairly?" I asked with a smile.

"Arrogant little prick aren't you? He asked.

"Not really" I replied, "I find it interesting that you feel that you have to resort to cheating."

Then he was flying at me, I have to admit that he surprised me so much that he actually got a strike in. I felt the burn and then the flow of blood resulting from the slash on my neck just above my collar bone. The wound closed almost instantly.

"No magic!" he hissed.

"I didn't use any." I replied and I hadn't, part of my genetic makeup included healing even faster than what was normal for vampires. Could I be killed? Of course but a wound wasn't going to do it, Micah had to decapitate me, that and driving a stake through my heart were the only ways that I could die.

********

Micah

I was going to die. I knew that now and I had only one request to make of Delgado.

"If I don't survive this, please make sure to tell my father that I died fighting you."

For a moment I didn't think that he was going to grant my request but then he nodded, if nothing else I believed him to be a vampire of his word. Would I be missed? Maybe but I doubted it, that would be too sentimental. There would be a memorial service as a final goodbye after which life would go on as before. The most important thing now was to die with honor with a witness and what better witness could there be but the one who killed me?

After we set out terms I still tried to give myself an advantage, I kept a knife but he knew and called me on it. The only thing that I had now was the element of surprise so I charged ahead and actually cut him. It was a deep cut just above his collar bone, he should have still been losing blood even with the speed in which we heal but he wasn't, I watched transfixed as the cut was closed in just a matter of seconds.

I accused him of using magic and of course he denied it. No wonder the poison failed! I realized then that every fucking story that I had heard about him was true and that I had fucked up. I didn't take the time to know my enemy and now I was going to pay for that error.

*******

Annie turned to look at me, her eyes were red and swollen from crying and Gremlin gave me a look that almost sent me running back into the bathroom. He was seriously pissed off at me.

"Annie?" I called again.

"I'm so sorry that I brought you here!" she cried, "It's my fault that you're here and that Micah tried to make you marry him."

"No Annie, it isn't your fault, none of it is." I told her, "The Lannisters did this, Micah told me some of it, they fucked with your head just like they fucked with mine."

"But I should have known that something was wrong as soon as we got here! We should have left when you wanted to!"

That we didn't was Micah's doing. I now knew that even if we would have tried to leave we couldn't have and that's what I told Annie. I looked up at Gremlin relieved to see that while he was still angry he wasn't as angry but he had some thing to say to me.

"Go on and say it." I said.

"Do you understand what you did when you left this room?" he demanded.

"Yes." I said quietly.

"You endangered yourself needlessly. If you would have stayed here all of this would have been over hours ago."

"I get it!" I snapped back at him, "I fucking get it! I was mad and made a stupid mistake!"

I don't know what else he wanted me to say, he just looked at me and then turned his attention to Annie. I wanted to give her a hug but wasn't sure if I should, even though he was hugging Annie, it was obvious that he was protecting her as well.

"Annie, can I give you a hug?" I asked.

She broke away from Gremlin, met me halfway across the room and opened her arms. We hugged each other tight and at that moment I no longer cared whether she was human or not, she was my cousin and best friend, which was something that was never going to change. That thought led me to another one, Daniel and Edward were vampires but they were still my brothers. I had to start confronting my fears about these creatures who were now family members and I had to figure out where they would fit in my life.

I swallowed hard and looked over at Gremlin.

"Hi, I'm Regina Annie's cousin. Thank you for helping me and I'm sorry for any trouble that I've caused."

I felt like a kid at the principle's office and like I was introducing myself at an AA meeting as I waited for a response. He didn't say anything but gave a slight nod of his head indicating that he heard me. I turned to the woman and repeated the same thing only she replied.

"I am Olivia cousin to Gremlin and now Annie. Delgado is my employer and I am making all ready for your arrival."

My arrival? What was she talking about? I was leaving this horrible city and never coming back if I could help it! I heard Gremlin growl deep in his throat and Olivia stopped talking, she had said too much.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

"My cousin has spoken out of turn." Gremlin replied before Olivia could reply, "Delgado will explain everything." he added as he glared at Olivia.

"Gremlin is right, I have spoken out of turn and I apologize."

After that I couldn't get a straight answer out of any of them Annie included. I soon gave up and asked about my brothers.

"What's wrong with them?" I asked.

"Nothing, I put them to sleep until Delgado returns." Gremlin replied.

"Why? Is he going to kill them?"

"No but as long as Micah Lannister lives he will have control over them; it is for their safety that I compelled them to sleep."

"Delgado, where is he?" I asked.

"He is with Micah Lannister." Gremlin replied.

"You have to go back and help him!" I said, "it's my fault that he's there.'

"He will call if and when he needs assistance." Gremlin replied.

I argued with him but he simply stopped talking and blocked me out.

******

Micah did have options if he wanted to exercise any of them, he could have conceded defeat, he could have ended his own life or he could have begged for mercy but he did none of those. He chose to go down fighting although he knew it was suicide.

He took off at a run and came straight at me, he was faster and stronger than I had originally thought and got in another slash this one closer to the mark.

It was time to end this.

This time when he came at me, I met him head on with my fangs bared and my claws out. In this case my size was very much to my advantage as Micah was used to bigger targets. As the point of impact approached, I curled into a ball with my arms stretched out. I felt his skin tear and then smelled his blood as it poured from the near fatal wound on his neck. Not wanting to drag this out, I immediately attacked again this time decapitating him. I watched as his head fell to the ground and rolled until it hit a tree.

********

Micah

I had absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain by winning this fight. As long as I breathed I had a chance no matter how slim. When I charged him and managed to slash him again, I was ecstatic, I could do this! I could win against Delgado and all would be mine.

That happiness was quickly dashed when I went at him again, I almost didn't feel his claw as it cut into my skin but I felt the warmth of my blood as it ran down my neck. I knew that it was over, I couldn't heal as quickly as he could and he was already coming back to finish it.

And then there was nothing.

********

I said a few words to preserve the head; I would send it to his family not to gloat but so that they could place it in the family tomb along with the heads of his ancestors. I would also write a note informing them that he had died in battle with me and that he fought courageously, there was no point in telling them that he tried to cheat and he did in the end fight with honor and courage.

I went back to his house and looked for something to put the head in. I found a box, lined it with towels and went back to where his head lay as if it was waiting for me. I put the head in the box and went to my home to shower, change my clothes and eat. The events of the past day and the fight had tired me and I hadn't had food of any kind in over twenty-four hours.

I was surprised to see a note from Olivia saying that she was at the Royal Sonesta with Annie. She didn't know Annie so I wondered why she was there-no I didn't know that she was related to Gremlin. I took a hot shower, dressed in clean clothes and sat down to write a note to Micah's parents. It wasn't very long and just conveyed what he asked me to tell them and what I told them was the truth. I packed the head in plastic, stuck the note in the box and made a phone call; someone would be here within the hour to pick up the package and put it in a more presentable container and then deliver it to Micah's family.

I ate the entire tuna casserole that Olivia left in the fridge and instead of wine; I drank six units of blood. Feeling refreshed, I headed to the Royal Sonesta.

******

"He is coming." Gremlin said in his raspy voice.

"Who?" I asked.

"Delgado, he is coming."

"I am here." I heard from behind me.

I turned around and came face to face with Delgado.