Blood Lust and Love
Chapter 5

DarkBeauty357

One Christmas Eve, the day before Christmas, a fresh layer of white fluffy snow layered the ground.

In the morning, Leah made a nice big breakfast for her family, and in the afternoon there would be a large dinner for the pack in the packhouse.

It's been a couple of days since school ended for the two-week-long break the kids had in front of them.

A couple of visitors joined Leah and Alec for breakfast. Damon was there but he wasn't really a visitor anymore, he was family.

Leah's dad and her two younger brothers, Nick and Blake, came last night to the pack at night. The three of them stayed in spare rooms. Aunt Jenna stayed in a spare room in the packhouse since she was more acquaintanced with the rest of the pack then Leah's family. Liam was there for breakfast as well since Damon was there, but more importantly, he was focused on Blaire. Kai invited Josie, and Jade also invited her best friend, Elizabeth, because her parents were still away on a trip.

So there was a full house, but it was very peaceful this time. Especially during this time of the year. Everyone was smiling and laughing, and reminiscing about funny years during all the years they have been together.

Like the one time that Kai managed to kick Charlie's tooth out, or the one time that Blaire scared Jade so badly that she passed out when they were eight and seven. Or the time when Peyton got expelled from school for pranking the teachers because he managed to take control over the television with his phone and change it to adult movies. Also, the many times when Alec and Damon have a friendly spar, or the time when they went fishing in a lake and their boat tipped over.

Almost everyone left the dining room when Leah looked over at Alec. He looked bare of emotion and throughout breakfast, he stayed oddly quiet.

"Are you okay, baby?" Leah asked.

"I don't know. Something just feels off today." Alec warns.

"I'm sure everything will be fine," Leah says.

Damon walks in, "Maybe a nice friendly sparring session with me, you, and Liam will help."

Alec turned to Damon with a teasing grin, "You mean me kicking your ass session?"

"You're on old man," Damon says.

Liam was right behind Damon so he heard everything.

As the three guys were heading out Blaire pulled Liam, who was behind Alec and Damon, off to the side. "A kiss for good luck." Blaire kissed Liam on the cheek, still respecting his wishes. A kiss on the cheek wouldn't hurt anyone, after all.

Leah cleaned up the kitchen with the help of her father, and Elizabeth went home.

Kai and Josie, they were practically joined at the hip, played in the living with Peyton. Charlie left to go spend time with his mate since she got done eating with her family too.

When Charlie came back from spending time with his mate, he walked Josie back home. Jade asked if she could go back to Elizabeth's time so she could spend time with, then she'd be able to sneak off easily to meet her mate.

Blaire was outside watching her dad sparring with her Uncle Damon and her mate.

When Leah walked into the living room, Kai approached with big brown puppy dog eyes. "Whatever you want. The answer is no." She says.

"But mom. Look at all the presents under the tree. Opening one won't hurt anyone. It's only one and no one is here." Kai says. Kai gazed up at and batted his eyelashes in an innocent way. "It could be our little secret." And as if it was even possible, Kai found a way to make his eyes look bigger. That was the finisher.

There was no way Leah could say no to that. Besides, they had a lot of little secrets, why not add one more? "Ugh. Fine, only one or your dad might kill me."

"Yay." Kai and Leah hurried under the Christmas tree. Leah picked out a present and handed it to Kai. He opened it quickly, "Wow. Look at this. Thanks, mom, this is amazing." Kai hugged his mom tightly.

"Take it upstairs and hide it. No one will notice," Leah says. No one would know because there were about thirty more presents for each kid. Not to mention presents that family members bought the kids. Kai took his toy upstairs to his.

Meanwhile, after Alec, Damon, and Liam had enough of each other's antics, they went separate ways.

Liam approached Blaire with a little blood on the corner of his lips when Alec went inside. "I was wondering if you'd like to walk with me," Liam asked her.

With a smile, Blaire gladly accepted. Blaire wiped the blood off the corner of his lips and tilted her head to the trees behind the house. A walk in the woods would be the perfect ideal to be alone and talk. Blaire put her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and led the way.

In the woods, Blaire kept looking at Liam while they were walking toward the direction of the nearest park in the pack.

She couldn't be even more amazed that she had such a handsome mate. It was like all her wishes came true. She found it pretty ironic that she had like the biggest crush on him for the last two years too. And now she didn't have to hide her feelings anymore and neither did he, well only for a few more months anyway.

When Blaire knew that no one was near, she took Liam's hand in hers. "I am happy that you are my mate." Blaire is the first one to break the silence.

"You have no idea how happy I am," Liam replies.

"I just wish that it could be sooner, then I could complete the mate bonding with you." She says.

Liam pulled her in an embrace, "Trust me, I do too. I just don't want to cause problems." He caresses her cheek. "For now this will have to do." He lightly kisses her lips and quickly pulls away. "Nothing more." To be honest he was afraid that if anyone knew about them that he'd never be able to see her again. If Alec found out that they had even kissed when the age difference was such a big gap, then he'd definitely try to kill him. He only hoped that when the time came, everything would work out.

At Elizabeth's house, Jade had just finished talking to Seth on the phone. He would call using a blocked number for now, but eventually, it wouldn't have to be that way.

He called in hopes of seeing her again soon because he missed her as if she was the last drop of oxygen in the air. She craved into his request and told Elizabeth that she would be leaving shortly. Elizabeth grumbled and complained but eventually, she stopped because she knew what it was like to have a mate. Plus, that meant Elizabeth would have more alone time with her mate since he would be arriving at her house soon.

Jade hurried and took a shower, she even applied some perfume in hopes that it would stay on. She would be leaving shortly.

When Charlie came home, he asked if Kai wanted to go for a run and he loved to run, especially into their wolf form.

Charlie takes Kai out into a small clearing near the house where they both shift into their wolves. Then they take off.

They both run a mile away from their house near the border of the property. Charlie and Alec stopped at a place where they commonly go to talk. A nice clearing with a small pond and a couple of natural flower patches nearby. They had many special memories here. Most of them happened when Kai would to overwhelmed and angry, then Charlie would calm him down and talk to him then they'd go back home. It's been a while that they stopped by this place and Charlie thought it would be a good idea to talk for a couple of hours with his favorite little brother.

They stopped, took a quick drink from the pond, and shifted back to their human form. Charlie went over to a backpack hidden near a tree. He stashed it there with clean clothes for the case of shifting back into human form.

He tossed a pair of shorts to Kai and changed into some himself.

They stayed and talked for an hour before Charlie heard something strange. He jumped up to his fault which alerted Kai. For a split second fear ran through Kai, but he quickly covered it up. He had nothing to be afraid of, he was strong.

Suddenly out of nowhere, they were ambushed. Six men came out from the woods and attacked Charlie and Kai.

Three of the men went after Charlie but Charlie was good in hand to hand combat. The other three went after Kai, and in this situation, Kai preferred his magic.

One man ran after Charlie and tackled him to the ground, punching him in the process. Charlie flipped them over and landed a few blows on him. The two other guys pulled Charlie off and Charlie elbowed the guy of his left and took the arm of the man on his right and snapped it. The guy fell to the ground yelling in pain.

On the other hand, Kai was in the process of killing the wolves from the inside out using his magic.

They would have been fine but more wolves kept coming at them from the woods. One wolf came at Charlie from behind and injected him with a drug that made caused him to experience drowsiness and blurred vision.

In that moment of weakness, a man pulled out a knife that was made out of silver, a werewolves weakness, and laced with the liquid of a Datura flower, a witch's weakness. They were being attacked by someone who knew their weaknesses, someone who stalked and studied their every move. The knife also had a spell cast on it that any wounds from the knife would heal slowly. It was an ultimate weapon to use against a werewolf and witch hybrid.

In a second, the man with the weapon swiped the knife across the left eye of Charlie, when he wasn't paying attention.

The man chuckled as Charlie's knees buckled and he fell to the ground. Blood seeped through his wound. Charlie groaned in pain as his face felt like it was on fire. It was a deep unhealable wound that cost him something important, but at least he was only blind in his left eye.

The man who cost him his eyesight peered down at him, "The great firstborn of Alec Knine. I was expecting more of a fight. Although, I guess the more powerful abilities you have, the more hidden weaknesses you have."

"Why don't you try the youngest," Kai said and snapped his neck with a flick of his wrist. Using magic took a great deal of energy, so Kai would have to use it wisely.

Kai looked at Charlie. His older brother. His role model. He decided at that moment then, that he didn't want any harm come to him as he was surrounded by many werewolves.

Kai concentrated deeply for a couple of seconds and used a spell to trap Charlie inside a cone-like shape of frozen ice. Then all the attention was on Kai. With his arms raised slightly, he was ready to fight.

Charlie got to his feet and realized he was trapped. He banged on the thick ice that surrounded him, keeping him trapped like an animal but it also kept him safe. "Kai don't do this. Let me out!" He yelled but Kai ignored.

Kai killed more wolves, but the fighting ceased when a man stepped out into the clearing. Kai looked at him and narrowed his eyes. He was pretty tired but he managed to put a fierce scowl on his face, the same one he inherited from his father.

A man with black hair and blue eyes that looked like eyes. He had big scary scars and half of his face was scarred as well. His pointy ears made him even look scarier.

"What a shame. It seems like your mother and father couldn't be here."

"What a shame. Did your mate leave you because of those big ugly scars on your face?" Kai retorted.

The smirk was immediately wiped off his face. He menacingly stalked forward to his prey. "You sound like your father. Before I tortured him." The big man replies amusingly.

"Who are you!" Kai demanded to know.

"Crow." He said as he continued to approach Kai.

With the power of Kai's magic, Crow fell to the ground and clutched his ears in pain. The wolves surrounded them went to launch toward Kai, but stopped when Crow held his hand up.

Unfazed, Crow stood to his feet with a full-blown smile. Kai stopped confused.

"I have witches of my own too. Meet Cassia, Ariena, and Lisa." Three girls joined his side. They were all chanting with their arm's stretched outward. The girls had successfully stopped Kai's spell.

Kai battled them mentally and used his magic again against Crow. For a split second Crow Lonuţ clutched his head in pain but then he stopped. The witches had reversed Kai's magic again.

Then the three witches pointed their finger at Kai. For a change, Kai fell to the ground in minor pain. He was unable to move as he watched Crow come forward to stand in front of him.

The witch's incantations prevented Kai from moving a muscle. He was completely helpless. All he could do was speak.

"How did you get into the pack without being noticed?" Kai questioned.

Crow chuckled and rolled his eyes. He thought about all the things Kai could ask and he had to pick the dumbest question. "It's easy for witches to mask scents," Crow answered.

"Why are you doing this?" Kai asks. A small tear forms in his eye as he has a feeling about what's going to happen.

"It's fun." Crow answers. He looks at the ice wall that has Charlie enclosed in. "I will say though, you're braver than I though. And very powerful. Such a waste you have to end like this though."

Crow's fingernails shape into sharp claws, and his hand hovers above Kai's ribcage where his heart is. His claws puncture holes through his skin, his hand hovering as Crow says his final words to Kai.

"One last thing. Tell Logan that I said hello. I'm sure you heard of the death of your mother's dog." Crow says. "Any last words?"

"When my parents kill you. I hope you suffer." Kai says. A tear falls to the ground from his face.

Crow laughs in his face as his hand plunged into his chest, breaking his ribs, and wrapped his hand around Kai's beating heart. The last thing Kai saw was Crow's sadistic smile before ripping his heart out of his chest.

Fresh innocent blood stained Crow's hands, and the beating heart slowed into nothing. Another innocent life is taken away from the world, and suddenly the world seemed like a darker place already.

A henchman approached Crow. He pointed at Charlie, who was weak on the ground. The effects of the magically laced knife were now fully effecting him and soon he would pass out for around two hours. The ice wall around Charlie that protected him was now just a puddle of water. All the magic ever done by Kai was now gone just like him.

"Leave him. We completed our mission and we've already kidnapped Jade." Crow says. "We need someone to be the messenger anyway.

~🖤~