The Thirst Within

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Oscar's P.O.V

*****

When I was alone in the room I sighed that Zak was gone. I raised a hand a clenched my fist, allowing my power to flow into my clenched fist. My hand glowed a white light that filled the room. At the moment I needed to let off some steam, I needed to do something active. I needed to run, I needed to fight, I needed to use my powers. I felt so full so full of energy, so full of life and at the moment I needed to burn some of it.

The sun outside was not yet set, and it looked around 4 in the afternoon. I dressed quickly and slipped on some shoes I found inside the wardrobe and stepped out of the bedroom. The guards flanked the doors on either side. They were pure slabs of muscle obviously trained to protect Zak with their lives. I was surprised they were still here.

I groaned when I realised they were here to protect me. I walked past them and headed in the direction of what I thought was the front entrance. I moved quickly and headed down the large flight of stairs near the throne room and towards the large double doors, I blinked and they swung open.

It seemed all I needed to use my powers was intent, it was fun. I felt powerful, for once I felt in control. I stepped out into the late day sun and winced slightly. The sun stung my eyes, I hadn't realised just how sensitive they now were.

We were in the middle of no-where, thankfully. I saw a few people walking around the grounds but I just assumed they were guards. My eyes scanned over the grounds before me, it was huge. I supposed with the amount of power and money Zak had this was not surprising. The whole area was covered with grass, with black stone paths meandering through them. I walked out into the middle of the grounds and away from the house. Which I now realised was massive. The terrain was mainly flat land but a few hills sprung up here and there.

For some reason this area made me extremely happy. It was lush and verdant even in winter. The late day sun shone and I smiled lightly. I sat down in the grass and ran my hands through it smiling slightly. I felt home, I felt safe, I was in nature. The wind picked up slightly and I inhaled the scent of the area. Sweet but the hints of bitterness within it stung my nose. Pollution my mind provided.

I ran my hands through the grass around me, my lips speaking words absently and my magic flowed out through my hands and into the ground. A circle around two metres in diameter made of light began to form around me. It glowed dully as it hovered above the ground, apparently random symbols floated around the circle.

I muttered absentmindedly and the circle formed

"Imréitigh aer, lig an talamh a athnuachan, bláthanna ag fás agus blossom milis."

I hummed lightly between the words, feeling my power flow out of me and into the earth

"Saol an nádúir fás timpeall orm, sreabhadh as dom agus an áit seo a athnuachan mar sí ordú liom é."

I hummed quietly as i finished and smiled as i lay back against the grass. The earth warmed beneath me, the sun grew brighter and the air grew sweeter. All traces of pollutants vanishing. I turned my head and looked at the circle of light surrounding me. It lowered itself to the ground and a perfect circle of blue flowers grew around me.

As much as that had felt good, to help the earth around me by casting a spell to cleanse it. But i still felt restless I wanted to fight, I needed a challenge. Now I wished Vanessa were here. I would kick her arse any day. I lifted a hand up and aimed it at the sky

"Báisteach." I said and a bolt of something that glowed like starlight shot out from my palm, it flew quickly upwards before exploding in a burst of light.

The sky immediately darkened as thick black clouds spread out from the point where the ball had exploded. I smiled as the thunder clapped and the sky for miles around immediately darkened. I had always loved the rain, and I especially enjoyed thunder storms. The lightning struck a few miles away, illuminating the sky. I smiled as the rain fell down and struck me.

I wondered slightly what it would feel like for the lightning to strike me. I knew so far that I was a part of nature, and as such nature wouldn't harm me. I saw some of the guards on the property running towards me and I smiled jumping to my feet.

They weren't vampires, I could sense that much. They were humans, that immediately caught my attention. Humans shouldn't be here. I sensed something was wrong and crouched low as they charged towards me. There were three of them and as they got closer I could understand why it was that I had believed that they were guards. They wore black much like the other guards on the property but I however could tell that they were human even at this distance.

If they tried to take me they would fail. It was obvious that they were here for me. As far as I knew from Zak there were very few Fae on this plane any more. That would make me a commodity, I was powerful and as such an adversary to them.

The nearest human was around ten metres away and I swept around extending my hands as I did so.

"Fuar agus oighear agus sneachta gheimhridh." I said my power flowing out through my hands.

The human froze on the spot, quite literally, as ice and snow flew from my fingertips.

The rain continued to fall around me yet the other humans continued to advance towards me. I knew that all I had to do was to keep them occupied until Zak realised something was wrong.

"Zak!" I shouted knowing that he would hear me.

I knew that the humans had to be here for some reason. Either they were eliminating me to stop me from interfering or they were here for...

"No!!" I shouted, they were here for Zak.

Rage boiled in my gut at the thought of them taking him from me. He was mine I shouted inside my head. My fingers curled and I turned to glare at the two humans charging towards me. I raised my hands and noticed that my nails were now black and talon-like, extending from the tips of my fingers.

I raised one hand above my head and called out at the sky.

"Boltai." I said and the lightning above my head struck me. I should have been dead, should have been. The lightning instead raced through me heightening each sensation. I was powerful, I was a god for the moment. And the two humans knew it. They charged and I struck out with my hand and the lightning shot from my talon-like hands and struck the first human in the chest. The second charged now within six feet of me.

He was big and burly, but I didn't care, I couldn't care. I was behind him faster than he could move, I swiftly jammed my elbow into the small of the back with force and he crumpled. He fell to a knee and I spun slamming my knee into the side of his head and he crashed to the floor. I roared at the sky and red tinged my vision, I felt a surge of anger at these humans, they wanted Zak, they wanted what was mine.

They were the distraction, I turned and ran, surprising even myself by the speed at which I ran, I was across the grounds and I sprinted into the main house, the doors slamming open with a wave of my hand. I sprinted in, my eyes widening at the sight of the human bodies on the floor. There were four of them sprawled out on the floor. Their throats had been torn open and their blood spread sickeningly across the floor.

The humans were unprepared, the fact that the council had been called today had meant that there were more vampires than average in the mansion I assumed. At the moment however my thoughts were solely focused on one thing. Finding Zak. I felt fear in the pit of my stomach at the thought of him being hurt. I moved quickly through the mansion, seeing the stream of human bodies sprawled at intervals.

I saw a lone vampire at the end of the hall, Joshua, The same one who had interrupted me and Zak earlier. His clothes were stained with blood and I saw that his fangs were descended, his eyes darted swiftly up to me and he smiled grimly. The blood caked around his lips didn't help my resolve.

A single thought swarmed inside my mind.

"Find Zak."

I moved quickly towards Joshua and asked as I moved down the hallway.

"Where is Zak?" I asked as my eyes dragged over him.

"He is in the throne room, dealing with the last group of humans there." Joshua said, his hungry eyes raking over me.

"How many were there?" I asked as we moved quickly through the house towards the din of the fighting.

"At least 50 by our count." Joshua said quietly.

As we neared the staircase a human charged towards us, some form of sword in his hands. I thrust my hand forward and the blade stopped mid swing. I twisted my hand and the blade bent before I flung it out of his hands. I squared my stance and raised both hands, my fingers curling towards my palms. The man jerked and twitched and slowly rose up of the ground with the motion of my hands.

I slammed my hands to the left and he smashed against the nearest wall unconscious.

We were at the top of the staircase and I saw a group of 10 humans fighting 3 vampires. The vampires may be stronger and faster but they were outnumbered. Each vampire showed wounds that did not seem to be healing despite their abilities. One of them turned and I gasped. Zak.

The humans turned to me and Joshua. I snarled under my breath before charging head first down the staircase towards them, I was fast, faster than they had anticipated. I swung out a hand and a human crumpled, his leg snapping as my power shattered the bone. I pushed the disgust out of my head for the moment and focused on one thing. Keeping Zak safe. Protecting him from them, no matter the cost.

I slammed my fist to the side of a woman's head and she went down, her helmet crumpling like paper, and her head hitting the carpet leaving a streaming pool of blood behind. Zak would be safe, I spun gracefully and reached out with my powers and slammed a couple of humans into the wall for good measure. Five now remained which meant we were now equal to the number of humans.

Zak's eyes met mine and I smiled briefly before I saw the knife plunge into his chest with a sickening slicing sound. His smile faded and his eyes glazed over as he fell forwards. White hot fury exploded inside me as I saw him fall. I screeched in fury and felt my power explode out of me. My gaze turned to the humans, sending out a wave that sent everyone, vampires and humans alike were sent flying. All of them, except Zak. He was lying face down on the floor, the tip of knife extending out of his back, a small pool of blood now forming beneath his prostrate form.

I moved towards him falling to my knees next to him, my eyes swept up and saw that all those around me were unconscious or groaning on the floor. I turned Zak over and rested his head lightly on my lap. He was fading fast and I had no idea if he would survive or not, I prayed silently in my head he would pull through. I lightly stroked his hair my rage still rolling through me.

"A bheith imithe." I said my hand waving around me.

Everyone in the room faded as my spell transported them out onto the lawn outside. A group of four humans however decided they wanted to charge into the room at that point, my eyes shot upward glared up at them and I growled lightly under my breath. They raised their guns, levelling them at me and, more importantly at Zak. That was a very bad move, at the moment I was in full defensive mode. No-one would touch Zak, he was mine and mine alone.

"Cosaint." I said feeling my power drop by a minuscule fraction as the spell took effect.

"Shoot me then, fuck you." I said glaring at them, my body leaning protectively over Zak. The lead human pulled the trigger on his gun. The hammer clicked, the gun fired, the bullet stopped a foot away from me falling to the floor with a metallic clang. The four humans however fired repeatedly at me, the bullets stopping and clanging to the floor, like a twisted shower around me.

"Codladh anois, daoine." I said thrusting my free hand towards them, they collapsed to the floor asleep. If I had wanted to I could have burned them to cinders. In my current frame of mind I was solely focused on protecting Zak.

His eyes flickered slightly and he looked up at me. The knife in his chest moved as his chest heaved slightly. I hugged him tightly and spoke quickly, leaning down towards his lips.

"What should I do Zak?" I asked my eyes meeting his.

"P-pull he knife out, I will heal in a few hours." he stuttered, as blood sprayed from his open mouth.

"Why aren't the rest of your wounds healing?" I said my fingers tracing the side of his face.

"The daggers are coated in something, I c-can't think." he said as his eyes began to drift closed.

"No, Zak, don't go to sleep, please" I said feeling him grow limp in my arms.

I raised one of my hands over his chest and slowly willed the dagger to rise. Slowly and effortlessly is slid from his chest. Zak was unconscious, but he looked dead. I stood, slowly lowering Zak's head to the floor before I ran a hand over his face.

"Iompar air." I said focusing on his room as the target location, white smoke forming around him and curling tightly around his frame. It obscured him from view before the smoke dissipated, taking him with it.

As soon as he was gone my vision shifted. The edges of my sight took on a reddish tint as I gazed at the humans around me. My hands formed a clawed shape and they lifted from the ground to hang limply three feet off the floor. I moved through the building with all of the incapacitated humans following the same example of those behind me. All of them raising to float behind me as I moved from the mansion and out onto the grounds.

The other vampires of the mansion had all congregated on the outer lawn, all turned to look and stare as I moved out of the mansion followed by my floating entourage. At least thirty strong, they hung limp in the air.

"These humans came here to abduct your King. They have been stopped, for now, but he is injured and is now under my care." I said addressing the vampires remaining on the grounds, noticing a murmur running through the assembled crowd.

"What shall we do with these humans" a short vampire asked, her spiked red hair glistening slightly, soaked in blood.

"I don't care, kill them, torture them, drain them or release them you decide." I said cutting off the flow to my magic and allowing the humans to drop to the ground.

The day crawled by as the vampires rounded up the humans and took them all to the depths beneath the mansion, and into the cells there. It seems the humans had managed to overwhelm the outer guards and had swarmed over the grounds taking many of the vampires on the grounds by surprise. So far it seemed we had only lost a total of four vampires during their attack, with many others injured in ways similar to Zak.

All my energy was currently focused on the protection spell I had raised around Zak's quarters. My instincts seemed to be solely focused on his protection. He had not even twitched since I had laid him onto the bed, the wound on his chest slowly sealing itself. I was perched on Zak's throne throughout the course of the next few hours my mind drumming over my next move.

The other vampires inside the mansion had secured the humans in the dungeons beneath the mansion. I tried not to be surprised by the fact they actually had a dungeon beneath the house. Although based on what some of the residents had told me, the dungeons weren't only to keep prisoners. It seemed as if some vampires were into the slightly darker aspects of sex and used the dungeons as their play rooms.

I entered into the dungeons, and as my feet echoed down the old stone passage I heard the mutters of people below. The hallway in which I was now situated was a long stone passageway with cells on either side each of which held a single human. At each end of the corridor stood two guards, and based on what I could smell of them, they were vampires.

One of them turned to me as I passed and said,

"If you wish to interrogate one of them we will open the cell, the detainment room is located at the end of this corridor."

"Thank you." I said.

"But I can open the cell on my own." I said moving down the corridor towards the cell at the end.

I stood at the end of the hallway and motioned for the guards to leave and once they were gone I began to speak to the captured humans.

"Which of you is the most senior?" I asked my eyes scanning through the bars of each cell on either side of the walls.

No answer came. The humans were staring at me with a combination of contempt and fear. I raised my hand and opened my palm and allowed my power to flow into my hand. Around two inches above my palm a ball of golden fire formed, I began to pace down the corridor as I threw the golden orb from hand to hand.

"I have the power to make each of you suffer, either one at a time or to cause you all to suffer at once." I said pacing further down the corridor.

Silence followed. Well, if they wished to act tough, I could fix that. I turned to a cell containing a lone human, their head slumped against the wall. I flicked my wrist and the orb swung gracefully through the air, slamming into his thigh. The orb seared through flesh, cauterising the flesh as it burned its way through to the bone. I barely noticed the screams, however they seemed to have a greater impact on the humans clustered in the surrounding cells.

"Alright, stop! I am the most senior one here." came a voice from down the hallway, I paced towards the voice and with a wave of my hand the door to his cell swung open and he stepped into the corridor.

"And I am the most powerful being here." I said smiling cruelly at him, raising my hand and calling forth another ball of golden fire, which hovered a few inches above my palm.

"I am not afraid of a Warlock, I have seen more of your kind than I would like to, and killed just as many." The human said a light smile on his lips.

"I am no Warlock, but I will let that slide, you attacked someone I care about here and for that I want to know why." I said, moving closer till I was barely a metre away from him, closing my fist the ball of flame was absorbed back into my hands.

"I am not going to say anything to you." he said before he surged forward his fist raised and swinging it angrily towards my face. The guards at the end of the corridor surged forward swiftly. However my reflexes were far faster than that of a human and my own hand reached up and caught his fist before the guards reached me. The speed of my response seemed to take him off guard and he swung his other first towards me, and I ducked quickly still gripping his fist, which I twisted as I pulled his arm up behind his back before my foot swept at his legs before he had a chance to react.

He glared up at me from the floor, before he slowly stood up, squaring his shoulders to me. I snapped my fingers and the human raised half a foot of the floor and I motioned my arm and he floated towards the detainment room at the end of the corridor, the guards having returned to their posts. The human struggled futilely in the air as he was moved towards the end of the hall. Once inside I lowered him into the chair there and fastened the restraints with a twisting motion of my hand, holding him secure in the chair.

"You don't have the balls to kill me Warlock." He said cocking an eyebrow at me.

"I have more balls than any of you had when attacking here. I am no Warlock, I am Fae, and you attacked my boyfriend." I said electricity crackling at my fingers as I flexed them.

As soon as I mentioned I was a Fae his face dropped.

"Now you are going to tell me why you attacked here." I said clenching and opening my fist, arcs of electricity playing between my fingertips.

"I will tell you nothing." He said again, sounding less sure of himself now however.