The Stirrings of a Cold Heart Ch. 22

Movement suddenly caught the vampire's eye and he turned his attention back to the catwalks. In the light coming from the stage below Erik could see the last Valdis brother walking out onto the platform. The man looked about nervously, but was unaware of the vampire watching him. Slowly creeping backward, 'Le Coeur Noir' made his way back to Linus' dressing room and got the devil's pitchfork. The three top prongs were dull and useless so he snapped them off leaving a nice sharp jagged end. He went back to the catwalk and seeing the man still there, he gave a low growl that caught his prey's attention. The man barely managed to turn in the vampire's direction when Erik came at him in the flash of an instant, slamming him against the wall on the other side of the catwalk and sending the pole through his chest. It was all so quick that not so much as a gasp managed to escape his lips. The vampire let go of the wooden pole and the last of the Valdis brothers fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. The broken pitchfork continued to slide through the body as his weight slowly came down.

Now all Erik had to contend with were the two masterminds behind all of this. He had no idea who the Englishman was but if the other was Ryuu, as he suspected it was, then he would need all of his strength and cunning to rescue Aidan. Both he and Ryuu had much in common. Each were ancient, powerful, and masters of the darkness and shadows. The two had no emotion when it came to humanity and even possessed a disdain for it.

The only difference between them was their definition of honor. As head of his coven Ryuu believed that all matters, including offenses, should be brought to him for handling. Erik, on the other hand, had no qualms about dealing directly with the problem. Since he was not involved in tearing apart his relationship with Aidan, there was no reason to bring Rabon and Madirakshi's master into it. He also believed that if Ryuu wanted revenge then he should have dealt with him directly. Aidan was innocent of everything and should have been left out of it.

Stepping back towards the catwalk, Erik steeled himself. The stage was set below him and the final act was ready to be played out. What he could not say with certainty was just how the story would go.