Page 6

A Bloody Plan

“ A

re you, Frank, ready to declare your soul into my ownership, sealed with your very blood, branding you as one of my own?” Lucius said in a serious tone, making him grit his teeth before replying,

“I am.”

“Good, then let’s get on with it, shall we?” Lucius said before grabbing Frank’s wrist and biting into it in a blur of movement, making Frank hiss before he knew what hit him.

Damn, the Vampire was fast, I would give him that. His fangs embedded in his flesh in a blink of an eye, as his own seeped from icy blue-grey to crimson before then sinking into black obsidian. The feeding didn’t take long, as he released his claim before then tearing into his own skin.

“Now take my blood and allow yourself to be reborn, Holy One,” Lucius said, holding out his bleeding wrist to Frank, who took a deep breath before taking hold. He then brought Lucius’s offering to his lips and drank down his blood like… well, like his daughter’s life depended on it.

Lucius’s expression remained impassive, up until the point that he must have felt another soul tethering to his own. He breathed in deep and let it out in a controlled way the moment it was complete. Then he gripped Frank’s shoulder and told him,

“That’s enough, it is done.”

Frank let him go, stumbling back as this new connection hit him, his blood lust shown as his eyes turned crimson for the first time.

He landed on his knees as the darkness of Hell overwhelmed him.

For I knew it was much harder on one born from Heaven than one born of Hell.

His whole back tensed as he hunched over, every muscle straining through the change.

His fists clawed the earth, as his veins pulsated from a blue glow to black, like an infection was taking hold.

He cried out, before gritting his teeth once more as he tried to hold back his reactions to the pain.

“Easy now, just breathe through it,” I said the second Frank started to come back to his senses.

His eyes snapped open and once again glowed crimson as he battled his way through the change. But with each new breath taken, he started to come back down. His eyes eventually calmed back to their glowing ice white before simmering back to the dark brown of his human form.

“You did well,” Lucius said, offering him his hand to help him back to his feet. The change had looked brutal, yet despite this, he shook it off enough to say,

“Is that it, can I get into Hell now?”

Dom laughed whereas Lucius smirked.

“That eagerness will serve you well where we are going, and yes we can, but may I first suggest putting your wife’s mind at ease as knowing Libby, she is no doubt glued to the window waiting for you,” Dom said, slapping him on the back.

Frank shook the dizziness from his head before looking back toward the direction of the house.

“And what of my wings?” he asked, now looking behind him and after concentrating, his wings erupted, no longer white and blue but now ink black, with a deep red hue at the tips.

Then he looked down at his hands, fisting them as black spikes grew from his knuckles at the same time his veins pulsated with a blackish, crimson glow.

Threadlike ropes of red liquid rose to the skin before forming together like pliable lava floating above his hand, one he started to control with every movement of his fingers.

“Interesting,” Lucius commented with intrigue. Frank looked down in awe before saying,

“I feel… strong… much stronger… more powerful.”

“Yes, and you can thank me for the upgrade,” Lucius replied with his usual smug grin, before holding out his arm and saying, “Shall we?”

Frank grinned in response and said,

“If I get to use this on that fucker that has my daughter, then Hell yeah, let’s fucking go.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” I said with my own grin, one that was full of hope that finally, having Frank there meant this was the key to bringing Ella back to herself.

But even I knew this was only the first part of that plan.

And with many more steps to take before getting us to that point, it once again meant that time was of the essence.

Something we all felt as we made our way back to the house in half the speed.

Wisely, Frank had regained his mortal vessel back before entering the house, quick to reassure his wife that he was fine.

After that, I didn’t know what was said between them, as we respectfully gave them time alone to say their goodbyes.

Because we knew that time in Hell would be far longer for Frank than it would be for Libby.

No doubt a blessing that it was this way around.

As I doubted Libby could have coped waiting too long before hearing, not only of her daughter’s return, but now that of her husband as well.

As for me, once Frank joined us outside again, Libby called my name.

“Jared, bring my daughter home, you hear…? After all, we have a wedding to plan,” she said with tears in her eyes, keeping them from falling and trying to be strong. I stepped back up to the porch, taking her hands to give them a squeeze as I vowed once more,

“I give you my word, I will do all in my power to get her back or die trying.”

She swallowed hard and nodded, before gifting me with her kindness by raising my hands up to her lips to kiss. Then she told me,

“I know you will.”

The moment meant more to me than words could say, causing that rising emotion to clog my throat once more as I let her go.

As for Lucius, he had already used the portal key his brother had given him.

Doing this so as we could call him back to get us and take us back to where we needed to be.

The shimmering portal was a swirling midnight blue looking more like we were about to step into space than Hell.

One that had Libby’s eyes widening in wonder as a man stepped through it.

Dariush was at the ready to take us where we needed to go but before that, Frank said,

“So let me get this right, our aim here is to get my daughter back to herself… right?” I nodded, reminding him,

“She needs an anchor to her mortal life.”

“Then we need to get something before that happens,” he told us.

“I take it you mean more than a wrench,” I replied wryly, making him scoff.

“If only. But no, we need to go to Nelson, now can we do that?” This was aimed at Dariush, who replied,

“I see you have been pimping out my services again, brother.”

“Answer the man, ?e?,” Lucius replied with a sigh, and I took this to be either a nickname or the word brother in a language I didn’t know.

“If you don’t mind bleeding and have been there before, then yes, I can do that,” Dariush told him with a fold of his arms. His attire no doubt just another element to the man that looked unusual to poor Libby.

His navy-blue tunic style jacket was sleeveless, and its piping of silver thread matched the gleaming blades hanging at his sides, held there from multiple straps of black leather around his waist. The way he was dressed, with his chest bare and his muscular arms on show, he looked more like he had stepped from an Arabian Night novel.

Especially with his warm bronze skin tone, his long dark hair pulled back into a man bun, and his almond shaped olive-green eyes gleaming playfully at the way Libby watched him.

Which was no wonder it was shocking when Lucius introduced him,

“Frank, this is my brother, Dariush.”

Frank didn’t look surprised, as he knew the way our world worked, or should I say, our vessels.

But Libby comically looked between the two and automatically tried to find any resemblance where there was none to find.

Just like between my own brother and me.

Although we often found it amusing when getting this same look when telling people we were brothers.

“Another Vampire?” Frank asked, making Dariush scoff, before producing a wicked curved blade from his sheath.

It was a weapon I knew as a shamshir, meaning ‘Lion’s Fang’ in Persian.

Not that I knew the language enough to speak it, but I did, however, know my blades.

A one-handed sword with a curved, slim blade that had barely any taper to the fine tip.

Due to its shape and how slight the sword was, it was a difficult weapon to master due to how hard it was when it came to accuracy when thrusting into your enemies.

Which just proved how much skill Dariush must have in the art of sword fighting, for him to choose such a weapon over all else.

“No Holy mix blood, I am something else entirely,” Dariush replied, before he nodded for Frank to show his palm and it had no one questioning why. All except Libby.

“Oh no! Don’t hurt him!” Libby called, making Amelia go and comfort her aunt before her mum could, as Frank did the same.

“He won’t hurt him, Aunty Libs,” Amelia said before Frank advised,

“She’s right, babe, now you go on in the house and don’t worry, we will bring our daughter home.”

At this Amelia steered her away from what was about to happen, something that would have only added to Libby’s distress no doubt. A few minutes later and Amelia returned, telling her mum,

“She will be alright, I think we just need to get this over with and quickly, before she finds her way to the window again.” At this Frank nodded to Dariush, silently telling him to get on with it.

“Eww, God, I hate this part,” Keira commented, making her daughter chuckle.

“What? It wasn’t exactly fun for me two thousand years ago… and yes, before you say anything, I know it didn’t happen for you, Dariush,” she replied making Frank stare at her.

“Clearly I have a lot to catch up on.”

“Says the Angel who married my sister and let me work for Mr. broody Demon boss man here,” she replied, making Dom playfully growl down at her.