Harley slipped quietly through the front door of the apartment, and closed it behind her with as little noise as possible. Though by the time she turned around, Zander was already standing before her. She cursed under her breath, gave him a fake smile and made a break for her room only for him to step directly in her path. With little choice she forced her gaze upon him, trying to ignore his cold expression by focusing on the grey colour of his messy hair. She bit her lip and forced back the words that she wanted to say, knowing that lighting another fire under him would do no good."Is-" She cleared her throat. "Is there something you need to say?"Zander folded his arms across his chest and quirked an eyebrow at her as he stepped aside. She eyed the short and narrow hallway that led to her bedroom, but remained where she was standing and only adjusted slightly so that he was in her line of vision once again. He stared down at her from beneath hooded eyes, and she didn't tear her eye
The echo of a gunshot caused Julian to stop in his tracks. He'd not long left the harbour, and wanted nothing to do with the tension between Mason and Zander. Despite this, he found himself unable to continue forward, and turned around; racing back to the harbour, and reaching it within seconds. He stopped as he reached the edge of the shadows, knowing he'd be dead if Zander saw him. He ducked down behind the worn down building, and peered out at the scene before him.Mason was lying motionless on the floor, paralysed from what he guessed were vervain bullets, but Zander was nowhere to be seen. Julian's eyes drifted past Mason, over to Harley, who was kneeling down with a shell shocked expression on her face. He followed the line of her stare down to the ground, and discovered why Zander was missing. The middle aged man was slumped down by a wall, and by the sound of his breathing and his uneven heart, Julian could tell he didn't have long. His eyes wandered over to Demitri, who was s
Racing up the two flights of stairs towards the apartment on the third floor, Harley stopped abruptly when she reached the door, causing Mason to almost run into her and Julian to skid on the slippery floor as he avoided crashing into them. She inspected the door closely, and her suspicions were confirmed. "Why have we stopped? We need to get to those vials before-" Mason began, but she was quick to interrupt. "The catch of the door has been busted open." "Okay, so someone has been here, and it's highly likely that it was Demitri. But that doesn't mean he's found the vials or anything, for now we should stay calm and investigate further." He attempted to reassure her. "Julian, thoughts?"Julian pushed himself up from leaning against the wall opposite and rolled his eyes. "If Demitri has been here then he most likely was able to sniff out those vials of blood and get his hands on them." He answered. "In which case, we're all screwed. You, me, Harley, and every other clueless sod in
Memories of the previous night flooded Harley's mind as she was pulled into awake by the strong rays of sunlight that leaked through the windows; being out in the city, experiencing things that she'd thought impossible, dancing with Mason underneath the Brooklyn bridge. She could still feel his hands entangled in her hair, her legs around his waist, and the trail of kisses from her neck to her lips, phantoms of the way their evening had ended. She opened her eyes, bringing her hand up to shield them from the sunlight, and tilted her head up as they adjusted to see Mason laying awake, his arms still wrapped around her figure."I thought vampires didn't sleep?" She muttered amid a yawn.He grinned. "We don't." "Have you been laid there the whole night?""Pretty much, but before you protest that I shouldn't have, I wanted to. You fell asleep pretty quickly after everything and I didn't want to risk disturbing you."A sleepy smile crept onto her face and she gently moved his head down to
Harley exhaled deeply and crept silently down the stairs and sauntered across the hallway, into the front room. Mason, having heard her footsteps, stepped away from the window and turned around as she approached him. "What is it?" She bit down on her lower lip, hesitating over what she wanted to say. "N- nothing." She closed her eyes with a sigh. "It's just… are we sure that ambushing Demitri is the right call?"Mason's eyebrows pulled together in a frown, indicating that he was rethinking the decision himself. He took another step forward, so that they were mere inches away from one another and his hands found their way around her waist. "Honestly, I don't know… but it's the best that I've got." "Yet you don't seem too excited about going toe to toe with him." She pointed out.At some point during those few seconds, her eyes had caught his own and he knew better than to lie about how he really felt about their plan. He kept his eyes locked on hers, and gave the closest thing to a
Nathaniel Lawrence. He was the last person that Harley expected to see down in these tunnels. She hadn't seen him since Zander's death and they hadn't spoken since she'd skipped his funeral. Yet here he was, standing in front of her after threatening her. She sighed, knowing that this encounter could go either way."I thought you left after the funeral?" She raised an eyebrow in question."Yes, I did… but I came back." He admitted."Why?" Her expression darkened and her shoulders tensed, expecting a fight."Because I wanted answers." "Answers?" She shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't follow…"Nathaniel hummed and stepped forward, causing Harley to inch backwards. She locked her eyes on his and maintained eye contact without so much as a blink. Another hum came from him and then he smiled. "My son's- your father's funeral. I didn't see you there."Harley exhaled silently. She had been expecting much worse when he'd said he was there for answers. It didn't change the effects it had on
Demitri was long gone, having removed himself from the situation before the fight had even begun. Mason wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't been for the lack of orders being barked at his puppets. He glanced towards the left exit of the cave, contemplating chasing down the elder vampire, but glanced back at Harley, who had her hands full fighting three of those puppets at once. That made his decision for him. He elbowed another vampire that had crept up behind him in the last half second, and then swung his fist back, striking them in the face. The vampire staggered back and gave Mason a window to attack another that was advancing towards Harley. In a swift and soundless movement, he swiped the sword that had been dropped earlier and sliced their head clean off. Harley kicked one vampire away and used the split second it gave her to plunge a stake into the other's heart. She spun to see Mason standing before her, having killed the last of the horde and let out a breath as she took in
It was at least an hour after her heart had beat for the last time before Mason could bring himself to move. He wanted to remain there forever, cradling her in his arms until she opened her eyes again. That's exactly what he did during that time, until the sound of the bird's morning song indicated that morning was on the horizon. It was only then that he moved, taking Harley with him, and returning to the empty house that he pathetically called home. Once he'd got there, he went straight to the master bedroom and laid her down on the bed. Her blood had painted his hands red and he hurried into the bathroom, unable to get them under the running tap fast enough. Water slid over his hands and with some scrubbing, the blood washed away. In his mind though, his hands were still stained crimson. He turned the tap hastily, ceasing the flow of water and glanced up at his reflection staring back at him in the mirror that was screwed into the wall. Anger and hatred bubbled up inside him unti