"I saw that you know." Atoli teased as she appeared behind Axel who sighed and faced his sister in law. "Why didn't you stop me?" He muttered as he ran a hand through his blonde hair. "I could have seriously hurt her..." Axel sighed again as he recalled the incident.
The burning taste of her blood... it wasn't metallic like human blood that was rich with iron. Sometimes he wondered why the Gods made creatures like him that needed the blood of mortals to survive. Especially since a mortals blood wasn't sweet. It was bitter and salty. Metallic with the rust of iron.
A mortals blood was bland and open. Open to emotion, to memories, to secrets...
An immortals blood was rich with power. Axel couldn't place if it was that their blood was compiled differently than a mortals or if it was the fact that his people came directly from the earth its self. Where as Humans evolved from the earth, kin to Animals.
Lastly there was Myriah's blood. Her blood was sweet. It called to him in more ways than one. Her blood burned with raw power and emotion. Her nightmares and memories plagued his mind. Axel could feel boiling anger coursing through his veins and he only had a few drops of her blood to heal the wound caused by Tyler.
'Such anger is dangerous...'
He looked at his hands that were once holding her body to his... 'she was so soft. So warm and innocent.' Axel closed his eyes and clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.
It took all he had not to sink his fangs into her neck and claim her then and there... The raw energy in her blood left his tongue tingling. He could feel her against him. So soft and so warm. Innocent and inviting. The thought made him sigh as his thoughts decided to torment him further by wondering to naughty topics that would surely make his mother blush. Thoughts that he should not be thinking. Axel never felt Atoli glide over to him and wrap her arms around his shoulders as he had leaned against the wall next to him and slid down it.
Seeing the blood on her neck angered him. That bruise made him want to kill the boy. Were he not the last of his clan he would probably be dead. 'Had I not promised his widowed mother that I would protect him...' He left the thought unfinished. Rationalizing that the thought of killing the boy stemmed from his unexplained infatuation with Myriah. it also stemmed from his failure to keep her out of harms way.
Axel was helping Atoli with the blue prints of the facility that the mermaid was in when he heard the word "Submit." Before he knew what he was doing, he was in the same room as Tyler and Myriah. Seeing the fear in Myriah's eyes made him subdue the changing boy and keep her close to himself.
'No one will claim Myriah but me. She is Mine. Myriah will only ever submit to me.'
Jealously egged on by an unnamed possession that seamed to bind the girl to the vampire. 'Would I really kill a comerade, a ward bound to me by sacrifice for this girl?' Axel gasped when he felt his nails dig into his skin and draw blood. He watched the small crescent shape cuts heal before any blood could spill. 'Did she heal me? Is this from her blood?' Axel knew that if a cut was deep and wide enough... he could bleed.
"What did you see?" Angalo asked as he took inventory of his brother who was looking at his hands while his wife sat next to him with an impish smile on her face.
"Axel is staking claim on Myriah." Atoli sang as she stood and twirled from the room before either male could say anything. Axel opened his mouth to retort, or call Atoli back or to even curse at the playful woman, however nothing came out as he simply didn't have the energy.
The younger vampire sighed and let his body sag against the wall he was leaning on.
Angelo took that moment to take Axel in. His posture though rigid, was also illuminating his exhaustion. His fists clenching and unclenching... silver eyes kept interchanging between burning black and raging silver. Angalo had never seen his brother like this before. Torn between blood lust, and another nameless lust that vexes all males.... The sight perplexed him as much as it angered him. Why he was angered, Angelo couldn't say.
"What happened?" Angelo asked, completely serious. Axel looked to his elder brother, helpless. "I believe I am overcome by this girl brother." Angelo blinked. "Overcome?" "I genuinely wanted to kill the boy." Axel whispered as he closed his eyes and brought his knees to his chest. Anglaos expression softened. Axel has a thing about harming children. Since his childhood, Axel has always been active in harming those who harmed children. Mortal or Immortal a child was a child. Though Tyler was going through the change.. until the boy saw the other side of the change and survived his first phase, he is still a child.
"why did you want to kill the boy?" Angelo asked, "his scent was on Myriah... and he had the audacity to demand her submission." Axel growled with new anger. Angelo nodded as he came to sit beside his brother. shoulder to shoulder, Angelo lightly nudged his little brother who offered a weak smile in response.
it was an age old silent conversation between the two. Before Angelo would leave, he'd bid farewell to his younger brother who would always pout and hide in his closet because he wanted to go along. That nudge told Axel that his elder brother was at his side for the long run. and he'd always come back for him.
"Remember when I almost killed you for leaving your scent on Atoli?" Angelo asked lightly. Axel scoffed, "it was the first time you bested me in a duel since I survived the fever." ... 'and our parents...'
Angelo nodded, "It's an irrational thought when we meet the one, little brother. The want to claim and keep her to yourself will only grow from here."
"You're supposed to be comforting me." Axel muttered, "This wisdom of yours, while enlightening, brings me no comfort" Angelo shrugged, "Wisdom is wisdom, little brother."
***
Alexander stood over the monitors, watching the spikes of abnormalities all over the country. 'The boy is missing.' he looked to the water filled jar behind him where a golden haired beauty lay encased.
'Surely they will come for you next.' the scientist observed as he fingered the little, back flip phone in his coat pocket.
'i wanted to get both Myriah and the boy when they got to the school. I barely missed my chance.' he pulled the phone from his pocket and eyed the last message he received.
'package enroute.' It was perplexing at best. Enroute? Looking at the video feed from every stop light, nothing stood out. Alexander couldn't remember what this phone was for. only that he had to keep it to find Myriah.
And he vowed to find Myriah at any cost.