New Kingdom: American Court Ch. 04

Impeccable would be the best word to describe his attire. Fearsome would be the best word to describe his appearance.

"Well, hello," he greeted them with a strong, indiscernible accent. "Won't you come in?"

"Thanks, Cass," Iona said in reply as she breezed through the door. "Got a glass for me?"

"Of course my dear," then looking at Alena he continued his answer, "Of course, you sister has promised to keep our secret, yes?"

"She's cool," Iona said returning with a tall goblet filled to the brim with a dark red liquid. "I told her that he'd kill me and she happens to like me, so she'll keep me alive."

"Excellent," he said with a too cheerful tone. "So, Alena, will you too be joining us as a new creation?"

"I'm sorry, a what?" she stammered, "Do you mean as a vampire?"

"Vampire?" Cassian asked with disgust in his tone. "Is that what we are? Some horrible, fictitious character easily destroyed by water blessed by a priest, or by the mere sight of that religious symbol, a cross?"

Taking Alena by the arm, Cassian escorted her further into his apartment and began to explain, "We, my dear, are the great product of the New Kingdom: the third creation."

As he talked, Iona drained her glass and closed her eyes. A smile spread across her face as she listened to the voice explaining the purpose for their existence to her sister. Cassian would tell Alena exactly what she needs to know and nothing more.

As she raised her head to look at her sister, her eyes opened with a strange, wild glint in them. Watching the human listen to Cassian created a new, insatiable hungry burning in her throat. As she slowly approached them, Iona searched for the sound of the human's heartbeat and then Cassian turned to look at her. His face held a smile. His eyes delivered punishment. Cringing in pain, Iona ran from the room without her sister noticing.

"I'm sorry," Alena answered Cassian, "I truly do not know the history nor do I claim to understand. Gabriel never really offered any information, so my choice of words could certainly be wrong." Turning away from Cassian, she removed her arm from his grasp and looked for her sister.

"Where did Iona go?"

"For seconds, I imagine. The girl is quite insatiable," he added with a wicked wink.

Pulling away from Cassian, Alena walked toward the door to put maximum distance between them.

"Ready to go?" Iona asked returning to the room.

"Yes, I would really enjoy seeing the rest of the house and," she added with a pat to her stomach, "I still need food."

"Sure. Well Cassian, thanks for the hospitality. We'll see you around," she waved bye and walked with her sister out the door.

"Jeez, Ona," Alena said when the door was shut and they had walked several feet away from the threshold, "That guy is creepy."

"Oh yeah," Iona replied, "But he's got a great supply and that outweighs his whole super freak, monster look."

"Where are we now?" Alena asked.

"I wanted to show you the fitness room before we head back up to the main floor."

"Excellent. If I ever get to eat, I'll need somewhere to burn the calories."

"After you," Iona said holding the door open for her sister. As Alena passed by, Iona's eyes once again assumed the wild glint that roamed over her sister's body. Quickly, she inhaled the sweet aroma of her sister's blood. The scent was unlike any she had known in her short vampire life. This human had been promised to her. Of course, she would not have her first, but that was fine because she would devour the last drop of the succulent blood coursing through her veins.

Sensing that the others had arrived, Iona said, "Tell you what, take a look around and I'll find a phone to request some food be brought down for you. I'll be back in a minute." And before Alena could respond, her sister had disappeared.

Attributing her nervousness to meeting Cassian, Alena moved through the fitness room admiring the various pieces of equipment. When she had progressed to the wall opposite from the door, she had the unmistakable feeling that she was no longer alone. Turning quickly, she saw no one but her own reflection in the various mirrors on the walls. With an audible roar, the fluorescent lights were extinguished, drowning the room in pitch blackness. Immediately terrified, Alena dropped her head and contemplated screaming.

Before she could make a sound, a hand covered her mouth pulling her head back painfully. A man's voice growled in her ear, "Just be patient baby, we'll give you a better workout than any of this equipment."

Feeling more hands on her body, Alena tried to push them away succeeding in only making her tormentors laugh at her feeble attempts at self defense. When one was brave enough to reach under her skirt, she mentally called out to Gabriel for the first time in eight years.

The voice beside her ear said, "You'll be such a tasty snack. We had to flip a coin to see who would go first. I won," he added emphasizing his victory by running his wide tongue up the length of her neck.

The next seconds threw Alena's senses into shock. The bright fluorescent lights were blinding, the fear of her predicament made her immobile and mute, and the sound of Gabriel's roar actually hurt her ears. Her captors immediately released their hold dropping her like a rag to the floor. As she regained her control, she could now count the three captors and see that Gabriel was not alone. Edward stood with him looking nearly as outraged. Iona was at the door beside the man who had greeted them when she and Gabriel had arrived last night.

Dropping her head, Alena registered sounds of fists making contact with bodies, the men screaming and Iona's crying. Hearing his voice instructing the man by the door to take her somewhere, Alena looked up and saw Gabriel in his true nature.

He had removed his jacket and tie, wearing a white shirt which made his chest seem even more impossibly large. He held two of the men by their necks with their feet swinging several inches off the floor. Edward had the third man in a similar hold. But it was Gabriel's eyes that held her attention. The normal black eyes were now shining with an unrelenting fierceness. Suddenly, she was lifted off the floor and whisked away from the scene. As she was carried into the elevator car, she heard the unmistakable sound of screams, bones breaking, and then a deathly silence.

When Gabriel slammed through the door entering his apartment, he stopped short when he saw Iona sitting on his couch. "Why did you leave her?" he yelled. "You were supposed to protect her."

"I don't remember what happened."

"I'm not ensnared with you as my friend is. I'm not buying your excuse of amnesia."

"Gabriel," Edward said walking in behind him, "Check on Alena. Make sure that she's ok."

"Where is she?" he asked Iona.

"In the shower."

Walking into his bathroom, Gabriel was greeted with a scene that he thought would never happen. Had he not begged her to join him here? Wasn't it just a few hours ago that he promised her a sanctuary in his home? Now, she was kneeling under the strong spray of his shower, fully dressed, crying in fear. Her pain made him want to return to those rebels and ripped their bodies into smaller pieces. They were destroyed, never harming anyone again but their ending had hardly satisfied his need for justice.

Reaching into the stall, Gabriel turned off the water and lifted Alena into his arms. She flinched at his first touch but relaxed when she saw it was him. Once again, he vowed to identify the infiltration of rebels and destroy any one and every one sympathetic to their cause.

Carrying Alena to the bench, he sat down holding her in his lap. As he started to undress her, she pulled away and looked at him with a mixture of fear, embarrassment and something else.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"What?"

"I'm sorry that you had to kill them. They are one of you, Edward's people. If I wasn't here, this wouldn't have happened."

"Alena," Gabe said holding her face close enough that he could clearly see her eyes, "There is no toleration for their behavior. We protect our women. But they were more than rapists; they were there to destroy you, thereby destroying me."

Laying her head on his shoulder she said, "I love you."

"I love you."

"And now I'm getting you wet," she said with regret as she looked at his suit.

"I really wish it were me getting you wet," he said and quickly kissed her lips.

"Then your wish comes true," she confessed, "all the time."

Removing her remaining clothes, he wrapped her in his robe that she had worn earlier and carried her into the bedroom. Sitting her on the edge of the bed, he placed his hands on the side of her face, tilting her head so that she was looking at him.

"Baby, look at me. I need to know that you're ok," he hesitated. "What did they do?"

"Nothing," she answered dropping her eyes.

"Let your mind tell me."

Seeing the contact that revolted her, he inwardly smiled at her modesty. While he hated that man for daring to put his tongue on her, he was thankful that no other body parts had invaded her. Gently turning her face, he pressed his lips to Alena's neck and kissed the length where the other man had trespassed. Feeling her relax, he gently stroked his tongue over the same path, not mimicking the other, but rather branding her as belonging to him.

When she leaned into his body, he summoned the power to rest her mind and, with a gentle stroke down her hair, placed her body into a welcomed slumber. He lifted her and carried her into the living room where Edward and Iona sat on separate ends of the couch, silent, waiting for them.

"Is she ok?" Edward asked.

"She will be," Gabriel responded.

"Eight years ago," Edward started, "what happened?"

"I had you and she had her," Gabriel answered with a nonchalant nod of his head toward Iona.

"Explain," Edward ordered.

"You had just accepted your position on the council and had asked me to stay, so I couldn't leave," he explained. "And Alena had a sick brother and juvenile delinquent sister that needed her and these two would not," he added with a pointed look directed at Iona, "have adjusted to life in the mansion."

"How do you know?" Iona asked, insulted.

"When I met your sister, you had just been expelled from your third school in two years," he explained with no comfort laced in his words. "Only three months ago, you left town with a man that you had just met, knowing that she'd be worried and try to move mountains to find you."

"Gabriel," Edward warned, "I'll find out what happened but don't overstepped your bounds."

"No," Gabriel promised his friend, "I'll find out what happened," he then turned to Iona, "and who is responsible."