A Taste of Blood

Tyler,

I don't fault you for your relationship with Violet. Maybe it's just the father in me, but I never thought you would be good enough for her. I've seen the way she looks at you, Tyler, and I see now there's nothing I can do about it, other than give you my blessing.

Hopefully, I can make it up to you by getting her back. Wish me luck. I'll need it.

Thomas

Tyler grabbed the note and headed out of the room, almost running into Faith on his way to the stairs. "Kit Kat, what are you doing up here? I thought you two were talking 'girl talk.'"

Faith laughed. "We were. Lilith wanted me to come up and get a book for her. She said it should be in your room, but I didn't see it in there.

"Oh, yeah. I moved it when I moved my stuff in there. I'll get it for you."

They walked into Tyler's bedroom and he reached up to the top of the bookcase, pulling down the book Lilith had given him. He handed it down to her and she grunted. 'The Complete Book of Vampires and Werewolves' must have weighed almost twenty pounds.

"Want me to carry that," Tyler asked with a smirk.

"Hell no, jerk. I can get it." Faith set her jaw and started walking. "What do you have there?"

"Oh. Thomas left a note sating that he was going after Violet himself. I was on my way to show Lilith when I ran into you."

"Well, hopefully there's something in this book that will help. At least, once we find Cain, we'll have to find a way to stop him."

Tyler nodded and they headed down to the basement and went to Lilith's room, Tyler handed the note to Lilith. She read it and frowned.

"I knew he would do something like this. Cain will use Thomas as fodder to try to break Violet's mind. Time is now short. We must hurry."

"We have to find her first," Tyler said.

"We know where she is, Tyler. They took her to the farmhouse. It is their only base in this area. We know where she is and where Thomas is going."

"Now, we just need a way to stop Cain," Tyler said, his shoulders slumping.

Faith was rapidly flipping pages of the book, finally stopping and grabbing a book of her own. She slapped her finger down and turned to look at them. "I think I may have found an answer to that. Or at least something to help." Tyler and Lilith came over to see what she was talking about.

"I was flipping through the section on werewolves and came across this part here. It talks about how to kill them."

"We've been through this before, KK. Silver weakens them or kills them. Decapitation. We get the idea," Tyler said.

"Okay, genius," Faith responded irritably. "If you're such an expert on this, then why haven't you been using wolfsbane?"

Tyler blinked down at her and then looked at Lilith. "You didn't say anything about wolfsbane."

Lilith smiled, slightly embarrassed. "That is because we do not have any. If we did, I would have mentioned it."

Tyler sighed. "Okay, fine. So, Your Bitchy Witchyness, what does wolfsbane do?"

"Well, these days, it's used in medicine, mostly as a painkiller. Large doses of it can lead to paralysis and eventually death. However, it's listed in this book at being effective at hurting werewolves."

"Well, that's great, dork, but we don't have any."

"No. You don't have any, but I do. No good witch is without it. I only have a small amount, though, so we'll have to be careful with it."

Lilith placed her thin, strong hand on Tyler's shoulder. "You should go prepare, Tyler. Faith and I will take care of this." Tyler nodded and went upstairs as Lilith and Faith started talking about how to use the wolfsbane.

He walked to the weapons closet like he was a zombie, barely putting one foot in front of the other. He couldn't stop thinking about Violet and what they were doing to her. He looked at the keypad and suddenly couldn't remember the code. Instead, he ripped the box off of the wall and tossed it on the floor with a clatter. He stared at the wall and punched a hold in the door and ripped it out with one hand. He looked over all of his options and started loading up. His mace, two silver knives, the silver spike kit, all strapped in place. After those, he loaded up two nine-millimeter handguns and holstered them under his arms.

He stepped out of the weapon room and returned to Lilith's room, where she and Faith were grinding up something and adding a silver power to it. They turned and looked at him, Faith's eyebrows rising.

"Ty, I thought you didn't like guns."

"I don't, Kit Kat. But desperate times call for desperate measures. And this counts as desperate. What's the plan?"

Faith turned back to the table and kept crushing. "I've ground up the wolfsbane and I'm adding silver to it. Once we can put it in a solution of some kind, you can inject Cain with it. It should at least slow him down a little."

"Inject him with what? I don't think he'll hold still for a needle, dork." Tyler folded his arms over his chest.

"Good Lord," Faith said. "Don't you keep up with technology? This," she said, picking up a small cylinder. "Is a high pressure delivery system. When you push this plunger, it uses a high powered blast of air to push whatever is inside through the skin."

"Cool, tiny. Where did you get it?"

"It's what I use for my insulin. Makes it a lot easier than using a needle. I'm going to give you this one to use on Cain. I have a spare upstairs. I just don't know what we'll use as a solution."

"What about blood," Tyler asked. "I'm a vampire, so he'll expect me to smell like blood and then scent of the blood will cover the smell of the wolfsbane." They both looked at Lilith, who nodded.

"Faith, please finish the mixture. I need to use Tyler for a moment." Faith said she would and Lilith led Tyler to the other room, indicating for him to sit down. "Tyler, as you know, Cain will attempt to twist Violet's mind and break it to get the information he need. We need to stop him. To do that, we need someone who is bonded to her to enter her mind and help protect it. Usually, I would use myself, as I am bonded to all of my first line, but since you two are bonded much more...powerfully, I want to you use instead. Take my hand and I will guide you."

Tyler swallowed once and reached out, placing his hand in Lilith's, feeling the power in her hand dwarf his own. "Relax," she whispered. "You will know what to do when you get there."

Before Tyler could say anything, he felt himself leave his body behind, flying along the wave of Lilith's magick. He suddenly found himself inside a giant mass of blackness that radiated nothing but terror. He knew right away that it wasn't his fear, but Violet's. He looked around but couldn't see anything, though he heard someone crying in the distance.

"Violet," he called out, trying to pin down which direction the crying was coming from. "Violet!"

"Tyler?" Her voice sounded quite far off, but now he had a direction. "Tyler! Help!"

"I'm coming, princess! Don't move!" He pushed against he darkness and it felt like a giant bag of water; it was heavy and hard to move, but it gave under his hands. He growled and pushed harder, calling Violet's name to remain on the right track.

"Tyler, hurry! He's coming back!"

Tyler roared and pushed as hard as he could, shoving the black mass as far as he could and stepping into a clearing, seeing Violet sitting huddled in the middle. Tyler ran as fast as he could to her and dropped to his knees, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, Violet clinging to him like the victim of a shipwreck clinging to a floating board.

"I was afraid you wouldn't come for me, Ty."

"I will always come for you, Violet. That's a promise. I need you to be strong for me until I can get there. Can you do that?"

Violet looked up at him and bit her bottom lip in thought. "You'll come for me?" Tyler nodded. Violet nodded in return and Tyler kissed her before standing and facing the darkness.

"Cain! You'll never get what you want! I will stop you! That is a promise!" He turned back to Violet and kissed her again. "I'll be there soon, princess. I promise." As he said this, he felt himself being pulled back by Lilith's magick, seeing Violet standing up and facing the darkness. Then he was back in his chair facing Lilith.

"You have done well, Tyler. We are now ready."

"About damn time. I have a princess to rescue."

*

Chapter Twenty

A light rain was falling as Tyler parked the car where he had before, under a tree a short distance from the road. They started walking toward the farm when Tyler doubled over and dropped to his knees in the mud.

"Tyler, what is wrong," Lilith asked.

"Don't know. Pain. Not mine. Violet!" His eyes glazed over and he realized that he was looking through Violet's eyes and feeling what she felt; every bruise on his body ached and every cut burned. He saw Thomas on his knees in front of himself. Herself? Cain backhanded him, sending him tumbling backwards over his bound ankles. Grace was roughly pulling Thomas back up, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Tyler felt himself...Violet...pull against her bonds with no success. Cain leaned down and asked her a question, muffled to Tyler's ears, and he felt his head shake no. She was pleading with Cain, though Tyler couldn't tell what she was saying, though he could feel her tears rolling down his cheeks. Cain grabbed her chin and she fought but he was too strong.

Grace stepped back from Thomas and pulled a bullwhip off of the wall. A flick of her wrist and Smythe tumbled, a line of blood running down the side of his face. Violet screamed, Tyler screaming with her. Thomas worked his way back up, his jaw set, eyes impassive. Another crack of the whip and he doubled over, looking into Violet's eyes, telling her to be strong. Tyler felt more tears roll down his/her cheeks but Violet's teeth clench, her breathing ragged.

Cain stepped over to Thomas and spoke quietly to him, Thomas shaking his head. With a great put-upon sigh, Cain grabbed his head and twisted it sideways, Thomas crumpling to the floor. Violet/Tyler raged against the chains holding them, only vaguely hearing Cain's laughter.

Tyler shook his head and returned to the present, rain running down his cheeks like Violet's tears. "Lilith, they killed him. Thomas. He's dead."

Lilith took a deep breath, obviously holding back her emotions. "Come, my child. Time is short." She helped Tyler to his feet and they made their way to the farm.

The barn was as decrepit on the inside as it was on the outside. Even from where they were, it smelled of dead animals and molding hay, with just a hint of rotted wood. From where he crouched, about two hundred yards away, Tyler could see lanterns on the posts inside the barn, the inside of the barn clear of debris. He and Lilith counted two-dozen Wolves between them and the barn, and they knew Cain and Grace had to be around somewhere, along with Thomas and Violet. They relayed all of this to Faith, since her human eyes couldn't make out details at that range.

"Okay, hero boy. What's the plan?" Faith had insisted on coming with them, even packing a gun of her own, 'Just in case.'

"You two wait here and I go take out the Wolves, defeat Cain and rescue the girl. How's that sound?"

"Heroically foolish," Lilith said from his left side.

"Heroically stupid," Faith said from his right.

"Fine," he said. "How about I go take care of the guards and you two move around by the house and meet me at the barn?"

They both nodded and moved away to Tyler's right as he slipped forward, staying close to the ground. The smell of wet dog permeated the area, but he was thankful for the cloud cover and he hoped the dimmed moonlight would be to his advantage. Moving as part of the night, he snuck up as quietly as he could in the squelching mud. He came upon the first guard, breaking his neck, the man-beast only letting out a little whimper before collapsing to the ground. Tyler stepped over the body and flung a silver spike, catching another Wolf in the throat; it's gurgles caused a commotion.

Tyler spent the next few minutes dodging bullets and firing some of his own, as well as throwing knives and spikes and crushing skulls. Amazingly, he was unscathed when he met up with Faith and Lilith next to the barn door. He was, however, covered in mud from head to toe.

"Jesus, Peanut. Did you make enough noise?" Faith had her gun drawn and was looking around.

"Settle down, Kit Kat. It's not like they didn't know we were coming. Now, I want you, Faith, to go to the other end of the barn and keep them from getting out if the go that way." She nodded and moved out, creeping more silently than Tyler would have given her credit for. She was just one surprise after another. Before Tyler or Lilith could speak, Cain's voice boomed from inside the barn.

"Come, warrior! Face me in combat! Bring Mother with you! I want to see the look on her face when you lose!"

Tyler looked at Lilith; she nodded. They stood up and walked to the wide doorway of the barn, Tyler getting a bad feeling about this, as if there was no way he could win. Cain stepped out of one of the stalls, naked from the waist up, a smile on his face. Grace followed, pulling a rope. She jerked on it and Violet, bruised and bleeding, came tumbling out of the stall, falling to the ground. Lilith put a restraining hand on Tyler's shoulder as he started to move toward her.

"Focus, Tyler. You must defeat him first; only then can you save her." Tyler nodded and she removed her hand.

"Honorable combat, warrior. Two men fighting for their lives. No help and no starting weapons. After that, all is fair. What say you?" Cain stepped to the middle of the clear floor and waited.

Without speaking, Tyler holstered his guns and dropped every weapon his had remaining; two guns, one spike and his mace. He then pulled off his shirt and added it to the pile. Moving slowly, he joined Cain.

"Violet," he said, never taking his eyes off of Cain. "Remember: be strong. This will be over soon." Violet whimpered in response, her mouth bloodied and her lip swollen.

"Indeed it will, Tyler," Grace said with a smirk. "Cain has given your body to me when he is finished. I will use you for your...talents and then I will eat your body slowly, piece by piece."

"Grace," Tyler answered. "I'm going to enjoy watching you die."

"Enough talk," Cain said. "Now, we fight. Winner takes all."

"Wait," Lilith cried out. She closed her eyes and began muttering under her breath, finally spreading her arms and a swath of magickal energy sweeping the barn. With a smirk, she said, "So much for fair combat, Cain." Even as she said this, Tyler felt the sensation of dread leave him, so he replaced it with anger.

The two combatants circled each other, Cain morphing into his hybrid form. The sound of the rain on the roof was like a thousand beating drums. Tyler moved in and landed a quick kick to Cain' midsection and then spinning away, trying to stay our of Cain's reach. He tried again, but Cain swatted the kick away, spinning Tyler around. Tyler ducked and rolled away, barely dodging a swipe from Cain's wicked claws. Quickly back up, Tyler started circling Cain again, looking for an advantage.

As he circled, Cain pounced, knocking Tyler off balance. A vicious claw ripped across Tyler's chest and Cain grabbed him by the hair and the belt as he doubled over, tossing Tyler against one of the thick pillars that went from floor to ceiling, cracking it easily. Tyler shook his head and climb to his feet, Cain awaiting him. Tyler reentered the circle and stood well back, trying to find the answer.

Cain pounced again, leaping into the air, claws upraised. Tyler charged and hit the man-beast in the legs with his shoulder, toppling the nine-foot monster. He moved in quickly and kicked Cain solidly in the head, Cain rolling away from him. Tyler wasn't about to let up, though, and jumped on to Cain's back and wrapped his arm around the werewolf's throat and squeezing with his entire vampire might. Cain scraped Tyler with his claws, but Tyler wouldn't let go. The taller monster stood, Tyler's feet off of the ground, and spun around once and then slammed Tyler backwards into one of the animal stalls, straight through the gate, knocking the air out of Tyler and breaking the hold, dropping Tyler to the ground. Cain spun and tried to stomp on Tyler's chest, but Tyler shifted on the ground, the foot slamming down next to his right shoulder. Tyler wrapped his arm around the ankle and kicked at the side of Cain's left knee, causing Cain to pull free while howling in pain.

Tyler, pressing his advantage, sprang up and went after the hurt knee, kicking it and blasting Cain in the head with his fists. Cain tried to hobble away from Tyler, but to no avail. Cain managed a lucky shot, raking Tyler across the face. Tyler clutched his face and blood seeped between his fingers. He wiped the blood away just in time to see Cain rushing at him with a makeshift wooden spear aimed right for the chest. He ducked the spear, but Cain slammed into him, pushing him back against the wall of the barn, Tyler feeling his ribs crack under the force. He sagged against the wall and groaned, his whole torso aching now, but feeling the bones already starting to knit.

Tyler grabbed a brick that had come loose and slammed it into Cain's already injured knee, making Cain stagger backwards. Tyler started to rise, but Cain grabbed him by the hair and tossed him through the boards and in to the next stall. Tyler slowly started to get up when his hand slipped. He turned to see what had caused him to loose his grip and found the body of Thomas Smythe. His neck was broken, his blue-green eyes empty and staring at the roof of the barn. He didn't need to be a doctor to tell that Smythe was dead. Tyler closed Smythe's eyes and stood, squaring his shoulders.

"You son of a bitch. He didn't need to die."

"You are correct, " Cain answered, his voice low and growly. "He didn't. It was a lot of fun, however, making her watch as we killed him slowly."

Tyler yelled and jumped at Cain, swinging rights and lefts, catching the monster by surprise, pushing him back. Cain pulled his arms up to protect his head, Tyler going wild with rage. Cain sprang from his position and wrapped his arms around Tyler's waist, shoving him back into another pillar, cracking it, pieces of wood falling onto Tyler where he now lay. Cain kicked him in the ribs, sending Tyler sliding back out to the middle of the floor. Another kick, harder this time, cracked more ribs and sent Tyler flying into another stall, the moldy hay cushioning him. Tyler tried to rise again but couldn't, as his chest felt like it was on fire every time he took a breath. Cain stepped into the stall with an obvious limp and grabbed Tyler by the hair, dragging him back out. Lilith started to move toward them, but Cain shook his head.

"No, Mother. This was single combat and he has lost. The Twilight Codex will be mine." He pulled Tyler over to where Grace was holding Violet. "Take a look at your hero, girl. This is the best Mother could do. Pathetic. And you professed your love for him."

Violet pulled free of Grace and knelt by Tyler. "Ty, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me." She kissed him but Grace pulled her back away, Violet screaming.

"Any last words, warrior? Know that you fought well and with honor."

"Y-yes. One last thing."

"Speak then, vampire."

"All is fair in love and war." Tyler reached back to his belt and grabbed Faith's insulin injector, slamming it into Cain's stomach and pushing the injector, the smell of blood filling the air.

"What is this pitiful attempt at treachery?" He grabbed the injector and smelled it. "Blood. Blood and silver. Please, Mother. Surely you know silver has no effect on me.

"I do, Cain," Lilith said. "But wolfsbane does."

"What?"

Tyler grinned through the blood that caked his face. "Wolfsbane, jackass. And don't call her Shirley."