When Worlds Collide Ch. 13

Lacey's face suddenly clouded his mind, his beautiful mate smiling lovingly at him. He halted, staring down at Graves, seeing nothing but contempt in the vampire's eyes even though he knew he was going to die. He could feel Lacey through their bond, it was muted because of the distance between them but she was anxious. Probably anxious about him. Her smiling face came to mind again and the red mist started to clear slightly.

Graves was a sadistic killer, an abusive prick who delighted in others pain. But he couldn't break his Lacey. No matter what Graves had done to her, she was still able to love, still willing to join with him despite his weaknesses and poor judgement. She saw something in Rafe that was worth loving, something good and pure and gentle. He could never be like Graves. He could never take satisfaction from torturing another living being, no matter how much they deserved it.

Rafe wrapped his large jaws around Graves' neck and bit deep.

Demetri leaned against the tree, watching Graves' head roll from his body, finally relaxing now the other ancient was dead. He had wondered if Rafe would give into the mad rage inside of him. He nodded his head in approval when the big man shifted back to human form turning his back on the Graves without a second thought. He saw peace in Rafe's eyes. Justice had been served and he had retained his very essence at the end.

"Admirable," Demetri smiled, moving away from the tree and meeting Rafe half way.

"I wanted to rip him to shreds," the big man admitted. "But I would just have become as bad as him if I had."

"Just as well you're a bloody dog," Demetri laughed loudly. "You'd have made a crap vampire, Rafe." His eyes twinkled with amusement as he turned to head out of the clearing. "How's your head?"

"Sore," the big man growled softly as he followed him from the clearing. "Did you have to hit me so hard?"

The vampire laughed loudly again. "Probably not, but it felt good at the time."

Rafe snorted in annoyance, rolling his eyes as he glared at Demetri's back. The bloody man was a complete pain in the ass and he was calling himself his brother? What the fuck had he done to deserve family like Demetri Bozic?

He grinned suddenly. "So about this whole brother thing, Demetri. Does that mean I get to come hang out at your house like I do Caleb and Annie's?" He roared with laughter when the vampire growled loudly.

"Don't even think about it, dog!"

_____

The scent of blood was thick in the air as Caleb paused to watch the pack take down another vampire. They did it cleanly, concisely and with no injuries. Someone had told them how to kill vampires cleanly. That was what Jared had been hiding from him. He looked around; saw his people watching with undisguised hostility on their faces.

He signalled them, ordering them silently to move back. The last of Graves' vampires were backed against a wide stream. They could have jumped it and fled but they stood facing the snarling wolves, making a last stand. The pack deserved this final moment. Caleb turned to see Andrei's furious face glaring at the wolves before he turned his black eyes to him.

"Did you do this?" he hissed, talons flexing as if he wanted to rip into Caleb's throat. "The Council will have your head for this if you did, Cullen."

"I told them nothing, Romanov," he growled back, taking a defensive stance in case the other man did attack. "I don't know how they discovered this but I'm not sorry that they did. If I hadn't been able to drum up enough support to defend the pack I would have told them myself."

Andrei hissed, recoiling backwards. "You would betray our people to a pack of dogs?" He hadn't really believed that Caleb had told the pack how to defend against their kind. The words had just come out because of his shock, but to hear him admit that he would have done so if the need had arisen left him completely stunned.

"I would have protected my family at all costs, Andrei," Caleb answered quietly. "What would you be willing to do to protect Alexei? Would you allow him to die when there was a way you could save him?"

Andrei growled spinning around and stalking off, Caleb following him, gesturing for his people to leave the Weres alone.

"This is bad, Caleb," Andrei growled. "The Council may take punitive action. What if they call for a total eradication of the pack so they can't impart this knowledge to other packs?"

Caleb grabbed his arm, spinning him around and getting right in his face. He hissed loudly. "Then you had better make sure that doesn't happen, Andrei, else you will find yourself with a civil war on your hands. I know the Council doesn't want that, do they?"

Andrei stiffened, his eyes widening as he stared at Caleb's cold, hard face, seeing knowledge there that he thought no one else knew. "You know," he whispered in surprise.

"I know a great many things, Andrei," Caleb said silkily, his grip tightening on his arm. "I know you are joining the Council and will have the power to make sure there is no fall out from this little incident. I know you healed Loretta too, breaking another of our kind's strictest taboos. Don't paint yourself to be lily white in this, elder. You have done our kind damage this night just as much as the person who told the Weres how to kill us. So stick your sanctimonious bullshit up your ass and figure a way out of this mess for all of us, or so help me, I will bring the Council down if I have to draw my last breath doing so."

Andrei stumbled backwards, fear suddenly clouding his eyes as he stared at Caleb mutely. He meant what he said. He would start a civil war to protect what was his, to protect the pack. All this time he had thought Demetri was the more dangerous of the two ancients when really it was Caleb who was the one they should have been watching.

"Fuck, Caleb!" he groaned rubbing at his arm as he shook his head wearily. "There are limits to even what I can achieve. How the fuck do you expect me to fix this? I'm not even on the Council yet. It's not due to rotate for another year."

"Then you have a year to keep the current Council debating on what they should do," Caleb countered with a soft growl. "I know you influence the current Council, Andrei. I know you have some way of hiding your deception from Jorge and Philippe. An interesting mental skill to have, one I wouldn't mind learning myself."

The other vampire paled even further, his eyes widening more as he took another step back. "How?" he whispered hoarsely, his fear ratcheting up a notch as he stared at Caleb as if he'd never seen him before.

Caleb smiled, his amber eyes flashing with amusement as he released his vampire, exulting as his more human side reclaimed dominance of his body. "Well, I'm hardly going to tell you that, am I?" he said quietly. "Just know that your 'secrets' are not really very secret, Andrei. And I make a very bad enemy to have. Your relationship with Demetri will not save you if you fuck with me and my family. I can't make it any plainer than that."

Andrei swallowed hard, giving himself a mental shake as he tried to wrap his head around the sudden shifting of his perspective of Caleb Cullen. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'll do what I can," he sighed. "Not because you threatened me though. I have my own reasons for not wanting to see this pack destroyed. You may know my secrets, Caleb, but I won't be your puppet on the Council. If I agree with any request you have then fine, but I will not be used by you or anyone else."

Caleb smiled again, a genuine smile this time. "I have no wish to be embroiled in the Council's politics. My only concern is this pack's safety. Ensure that. It is the only thing I ask of you."

The two vampires stared silently at each other for a long moment and then Andrei nodded. The sounds of the last few vampires dying suddenly fell silent and they both looked back to see the pack running towards them.

"I see this matter is now concluded," Andrei said quietly. "Instructions?"

Caleb watched Jared intently as he approached, seeing savage satisfaction in the Alpha's blue eyes. "Round up the dead vampires. Burn the bodies, every last piece. Get the others to help you," Caleb told the vampire as Jared shifted before him, his expression hard, his posture defensive.

Caleb waited for Andrei to leave before he sighed softly. "Did you have fun?" he asked lightly, seeing a flicker of surprise in Jared's eyes.

"I expected you to read me the riot act," the Alpha said truthfully relaxing his stance slightly.

"For protecting your pack?" Caleb smiled softly. "I would have told you how to if I had thought it necessary. I didn't anticipate things would go the way they did otherwise you would have known this information sooner. You had the right of it. Despite our best intentions you have lost of lot of people today, Jared."

Jared's eyes clouded in grief as he turned to walk towards his house and the dead bodies surrounding it, human and Were alike. "What does this mean for us, Caleb? I am still angry with you for not telling me of the impending attack on Millie and the children. You should have told me. I deserved to know."

"I know, my friend," Caleb sighed softly. "It was a judgement call, possibly an erroneous one but it seemed right at the time. You know you couldn't have done anything to help them. You asked for my help, Jared. I gave it as best as I knew how to." He could understand his friend's anger even though he would do the same thing again if the circumstances presented themselves.

"You're right. I did ask for your help. Now I complain because you saved my mate and the vulnerable members of our pack. It seems ungracious of me." Jared sighed and ran a weary hand through his hair as they approached the house. Now the fighting was done he looked down at his pack members, his eyes filling with tears.

"Poor Bill," he whispered softly. "He was so frightened, so concerned for the pack and I threatened to banish him. He pleaded with me to reconsider my edict, Caleb. Now he's dead." His eyes roamed over more bodies, a tortured groan coming from his throat. "Pete. Mike. Rafe is going to be beside himself with grief over this. We lost Ben in the house too. Those three were almost as pathological as Aaron for being at Rafe's side. Three Betas lost and God knows how many others. How the fuck do we recover from this?"

Caleb remained silent as Jared walked through the bodies, whispering the name of each and every fallen Were, man and woman, tears running unashamedly down his face. He couldn't ease his friend's grief but he could stand at his side as he said goodbye to people he had lived with for centuries.

Finally Jared's straightened and squared his shoulders, taking a deep breath. "Can I ask two favours of you, Caleb?" he asked quietly.

"Whatever you need, Jared."

"Can your people remove the humans? I don't care what you do with them just get them the hell off my property so we can start to take care of our dead without having to wade through that offal." Jared's tone was cold, hard as he buried his grief deep inside him, pulling on the mantle of Alpha.

"And the other?" Caleb asked as he crooked a finger at a hovering vampire who was not involved in clearing up the vampire bodies. The dark haired man ran forward and listened for a second as Caleb quickly imparted orders before he turned and blurred into the trees.

"The other, Jared?" Caleb asked again when the Alpha didn't speak.

"Bring Millie home to me," he whispered quietly. "Bring the pack home. Your people will get there quicker. The vehicles are on site. I need my pack safely home, Caleb, but I want them with a full protective escort."

"I'll get right on it," Caleb said quietly reaching out to place a hand on the Alpha's shoulder. "You do know how sorry I am, Jared? I wish it hadn't been so costly for you."

The Alpha nodded mutely taking another deep breath and standing straight. "Now for the living," he sighed stepping up the steps into the house, Caleb following him.

"Nors," Caleb called. He waited for the big red haired vampire to reach him in the doorway. "Take Andrei and two others. Run over to the evacuation site and have Alexei help you escort the pack back here. Ask for Millie. Tell her Jared needs her but don't frighten her. Let her know he's fine, that the fighting is over and the Alpha needs his mate."

Nors' eyes flickered to the side, catching a glimpse of Ashleigh as she lay sleeping on the floor, her head resting on Lacey's lap, before he nodded and hurried from the house.

Jared was checking on the wounded, letting Luke know that the more serious ones could be moved now to the medical building if it was prudent to do so. The dead would have to wait until the living could be taken care of.

Caleb walked into the sitting room, stopping beside Mara who smiled up at him. "How are you doing, sweetie?" he asked tenderly as he crouched down beside her.

"Almost mended," she said, her voice sounding clear and strong.

"Demetri will be relieved," Caleb smiled stroking her cheek gently. "Do you know where Annie is?" There were so many scents in the house it was hard to pick up his woman's.

"She said she had something to do," Mara answered with a little frown. "I think she went to say goodbye to Ben and Klaus and Hub. She seemed really sad about Ben. I think she liked him a lot."

Caleb nodded sadly. He had liked the Beta a lot too from the time he has spent at Wicked. He stroked Mara's cheek again and then rose, striding back out of the room and up the stairs. He found her sitting with her back against the wall, silently weeping as she looked at the three dead Weres. Silently he crossed to her, picking her up gently and holding her close.

He held her quietly as she cried for all the death around her, knowing she erroneously would blame herself for it when there was nothing she could have done to stop it. The fault lay with him and Demetri. They had arrogantly thought they could stop the vampires from breaching the line and they had almost paid the price by losing the most precious things in their lives.

He moved to the top of the stairs sitting down and cradling Rhianna in his lap as he watched the activity down below. He saw Demetri and Rafe arrive and let out a sigh of relief as he met Demetri's eyes. His friend's rage had gone and his brief nod told him all he needed to know. Graves was dead.

Rafe's eyes connected with Lacey's, his heart thudding loudly as he saw her comforting Ashleigh. He strode over to her, barely limping from his leg wound as he slid down the wall beside her. "It's over," he whispered. "He will never hurt another person again, Lacey."

Her eyes filled with tears of relief, her hand reaching out to touch his cheek. "I love you, Rafe," she said shakily.

"I love you, Lacey," he groaned, leaning forward and brushing his lips gently against hers, careful not to wake the sleeping girl. " I need to go and help Jared, honey. There is a lot to do. I'll be back as quickly as I can." It was hard to walk away from his mate, but the pack needs came first. They would have time together when the hard, painful work had been done.

He saw Caleb sitting at the top of the stair, Rhianna cradled tightly in his arms. For a moment he felt fear as he saw the bleak expression on the vampire's face. He had been told his sister was fine. Was it a lie? He bounded up the stairs, halting when he saw Ben, Klaus and Hub. Rhianna's tearstained face said it all and he stifled down his grief as he dropped down on the stairs and brushed her cheek lightly.

"Don't you do it," he said fiercely. "Don't you dare take responsibility for something you couldn't stop, Annie. I know how your mind works. You are not to blame for any of this. I will kick your ass if you even go there, baby girl." His dire threat was such a direct contrast to his loving expression that it brought a weak smile to his sister's face.

"I'm sorry, Rafe," she whispered. "I know how much you loved Ben. I wish I could have saved him."

Rafe swallowed hard reaching to pull her into his arms as he kissed her forehead lightly. "Yes, it's sad that so many of my pack died tonight, Annie," he breathed softly. "I've lost some very close friends and I will grieve for them. But you are safe. You, Lacey and Millie. Aaron and Jen. So many others that I can't name. The pack will grieve their losses but they will celebrate the living, the survivors who will help rebuild the pack and make it strong again. The past can't be changed, baby girl, but the future can be shaped into something better."

"I love you so much, Rafe," she murmured, hugging him tightly, relief that he was alive and well coursing through her. "You kept your promise to me. We are still standing despite everything."

"And we always will be because we stand together," Rafe whispered. "Love you, baby girl." He gently disentangled her and handed her back to her vampire who gave him a warm smile.

"Glad you made it, Rafe," Caleb said sincerely, his arms banding around his precious woman who was sitting up a bit straighter, some of her earlier misery eased by her brother's words.

"You too, Caleb," the big man answered, taking one more regretful look at his friends before he turned and headed back downstairs.

Demetri sank down beside Mara, his eyes flicking quickly over her face, noting her better colour as he slid his fingers gently along her rib cage, feeling for breaks. Two ribs were still broken and he struggled to dampen down the flare of rage he felt deep inside.

"Demetri, I'm fine," she sighed softly. "I've even had broken ribs before a few years back when I fell down a hole on a training dig. They hurt like hell but they're not life threatening."

He raised one perfect eyebrow at her, his lips tightening in a firm line. "So, you have a habit of placing yourself at needless risk, wife?" he growled softly. "I don't know why I'm so surprised to hear that after the way we met. Trying to prove the existence of vampires really wasn't one of your smartest ideas." He cut off her retort by placing his wrist at her mouth after ripping a wound in it. "Drink."

She glared at him as she began to suck at his wrist, her eyes slowly closing as hot fire raced through her as his blood hit her system. She knew he was worried about her, concerned for her well being. But he was pissed as hell at her too underneath it all. He was going to make her life a complete misery for almost getting herself killed. She'd have to head him off somehow and there really was only one way to do it.

She pushed his wrist away, licking at her lips, watching as his eyes narrowed at the gesture and his thumb snaked out to wipe at a spot that she'd missed. She took a deep breath and met his gaze unflinchingly. "I'm ready now," she announced softly, smiling when he stilled completely, his eyes narrowing further as they raked over her face intently.

"Seriously?" he breathed softly, a suspicious look coming over his beautiful face. "You're not just saying that because you know I'm going to ring your beautiful little neck?"

Mara stretched tentatively, sighing with relief when no more pain wracked her body. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, feeling stiff but so much better. "Seriously," she sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You can ring my neck all you want to after the deed is done." She heard his breath catch, felt his hands tremble as he circled her tightly in a band of steel.

"Thank you, Mara," he whispered into the side of her neck. "I don't think I could stand going through this again, seeing you lying there in such pain. I thought for a moment you were dead."

"I'm sorry, Demetri," she groaned softly, hearing the naked pain in his voice as she held him tightly. "I'm so sorry, love. I promise I'll listen to you the next time."