The Devil's Wolf
Chapter 9

The bodies had been piled to the side of the reception room and draped over with curtains pulled free from the windows, the jumble of limbs bearing an uncomfortable resemblance to a wood pile, Ashlynn noted as Elior led her past them with cool indifference. The other vampires were waiting by the precariously perched door. Like Elior, many had changed clothing, removing any sign of the battle from themselves.

Elior kept his grip on Ashlynn's elbow as if fearing that she would run or be snatched from him and nodded as he approached the door. He held Ashlynn's coat for her to shrug on as the blonde vampire moved the door to the side as if it weighed nothing. He then linked arms with Ashlynn and lead her out onto the street.

It was misting rain, the petrichor of the asphalt metallic in scent. The fine mist beaded in Elior's hair and on the shoulders of his suit and caught in Ashlynn's false eyelashes. It made the paving slippery under the toes of Ashlynn's high heels, and Elior put his arm around her to support her.

They walked at a casual pace, joining the pedestrian traffic, disappearing amongst the umbrellas raised in poor defence of a rain that refused to obey the rules of gravity and fall down, and those who had left their umbrellas at home who hunkered into their jackets and coats furtively.

A glance over her shoulder showed that the other vampires had broken up into two groups. No one hurried, keeping their pace to the measure of the pedestrians around them. No slower, no faster. Invisible amongst the crowd. "We have a second location," Elior said, his voice quiet and, due to his hold around her waist, his mouth near her ear. "Where our vehicles are kept. We will walk there, and then drive to the airport."

"Alright. So, what is this about?" She wound her arm around his narrow waist, feeling the muscles slip and shift as he walked. Her eyes were on the roofline, searching for a tell-tale spot of white, but not replaceing it.

"Hmm," his eyes scanned the streets as they waited at a stop light, looking for any sign of recognition. "Something we will have to discuss at another time."

"What did my father say to you?" She tried something else.

He smiled, his eyes elsewhere, and dragged them back to her, the smile widening into a grin. "Nothing important."

He turned at the next corner, and then entered a code into the keypad of a nondescript entrance alongside of a garage roller door.

Inside the parking garage, two silver 4WDs were positioned near the garage door, already running. Elior opened the back passenger door of the first car and gestured for Ashlynn to get in and slid across the leather seat into the center positon. The blonde woman slid into the front passenger side, and the dark-haired woman driver leaned over and kissed the blonde woman, before leaning back in her seat. The male vampire got in the other side from Ashlynn, sandwiching her in between him and Elior.

"Seat belt on," Elior reached over her in order to strap her in. "You are more fragile than we are."

"Ready?" The driver's eyes went to the rear-view mirror. "Who brought take-away?"

"I did," Elior replied, his attention on his phone. His body language was nonchalant, but the tone in his voice belied his casualness. "Rebecca, this is Ashlynn. Ashlynn, Rebecca. Nate is on your right, and Jacinta up front. These are my children, Ashlynn."

"Starting a harem?" Rebecca wondered, putting the 4WD into gear and activating the roller door.

"Ashlynn is mine," Elior lifted his eyes from his phone, his voice going icy. "She is the daughter of Raiden Grenmeyer and Cecelia Alexis and my mate. Ashlynn Cohen." There was no room for argument his tone said clearly, this was what was. "Trouble," Jacinta murmured almost inaudibly.

Rebecca slid a look at her. "As you say." Her reply could have been directed to her mate or to her vampire father, it was impossible to determine. She drove the car out of the garage and onto the traffic with deft precision.

"Hmm," Elior muttered, his attention back on his phone. "Six countries so far, key vampire sites, hit." He leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes. Ashlynn examined the perfect lines of his profile. Behind the strong bones and perfect skin was a brain furiously at work, she thought, a man responsible for his entire species of Others, and for holding the gates between the Other world and the humans.

She reached out and took his hand, smoothing her thumb across the back of his hand. His blonde vampire child, Jacinta, had said that Elior was important and unappreciated.

"What does it mean?" Ashlynn asked him gently, encouraging him to put into words what he was so busily thinking whilst offering him the reassurance and support of her hand in his.

"That the humans have spent the last two decades recuperating from the Armageddon and pretending to accept and work with us, and now they are strong again, they seek to overpower and eradicate us," he opened his eyes and slid a look at her as if to see the impact of his words on her.

"It is not unexpected," Nate spoke from the other side of Ashlynn. "You have planned for this." He was, in his own way, trying to reassure and offer support to Elior. She flicked at look at the other vampire man, and rather thought that whilst Jacinta and Rebecca were involved in each other, Nate's interest in her vampire was not platonic.

"I had hoped that politics, rather than force, would see our inclusion into the human world," Elior explained quietly.

"What force?" Ashlynn wondered if her father knew Elior's plans, and if the pack had a role in them.

"Do not worry," Elior sighed heavily and lifted his head off the head rest. He returned to his phone. "There are other options. We will try them first." He made a phone call and spoke in a language foreign to her until a murmur from Rebecca had him disconnecting. "Keep driving," his tone was calm, but the flash of lights and the shift in the vampires in the cabin alerted Ashlynn to danger.

"I wasn't planning otherwise," Rebecca replied through her teeth. "But, f-k, Elior."

They had entered the area around the airport, and there was a heavy army presence, and even driving this close to the fences that they guard had the vehicles under scrutiny, Ashlynn saw. Rebecca turned the car towards the support warehouses that surrounded the airfields, and pulled behind a warehouse.

They waited. The tension of the vampires was palpable.

"I think we have waited long enough," Elior said eventually, and Rebecca pulled the car out, passing back by the airfield and back onto the queue of cars waiting to turn out onto the main road.

"Nothing to see here," Nate murmured as if encouraging the army officers that had parked on the overgrown strip just off the road. "Just a trip to our storage unit or dropping off a friend. Nothing unusual."

They pulled out onto the main road, and Nate sank back against the backrest.

Elior dialed a number on his phone. "We are grounded," he said to whoever answered. "Plan B."

Ashlynn took out her phone and texted her father. "Six sites hit so far. Can't fly, army at airport. Elior has another way. Will be in touch."

Elior stroked his hands through his hair, tugging it lose of the band that held it, and then reversed the camera on his phone. "Twenty-four years ago, a rogue vampire by the name of Lucian, organized an uprising against the vampire hierarchy, resulting in the deaths of many of those who had led us.

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"He then released his followers upon the human world creating what we call now, Armageddon. I led an opposing force of just three vampires, and managed to destroy Lucian, ending his brief reign of terror.

"Since that day, under my leadership, vampires have worked with humans to restore the world to what it was, to live peacefully amongst you, and to become contributing members of the human world.

"Today, six countries released their armies in government sanctioned hits against us. Our losses are so far uncounted. We are being prevented from fleeing these countries, and we can only presume that is in order for them to hunt us down and kill us.

"I once led a party of three vampires against Lucian and his supporters and won, proving that it does not take an army to effect change, just a person dedicated to making it.

"I ask you now, effect change for us. Stand up and say, I support vampires. Call your local government representative. Get on social media and speak for us. Help a vampire in need of shelter. Expose suspicious police or armed force activity so that vampires may evade them.

"Do not let this slaughter continue in silence." He ended the recording and uploaded it to social media before replaceing the hair tie and fixing his hair calmly. His dishevelment had been on purpose, Ashlynn noted, impressed by his deviousness. He had intended to give the impression of a man under pursuit.

"Clever," Ashlynn murmured.

He flicked her a smile with a shrug. "Social media is a very useful tool. I have used it actively to promote vampire welfare, with some success. I hope that by exposing this underhandedness, the rest of the world will place pressure on the countries that seek to destroy us."

"So, what now?" She wondered, she looked over her shoulder and could not see the second car. "Where are your friends?"

"We have split up," he explained not surprised by their absence. "It is a standard tactic. Two similar cars traveling in convoy are noticeable. They will come by an alternative route and meet us at our safe house."

They were working their way towards the coast, the city streets giving way to industrial estates, and then open fields as they moved onto the freeway. Rebecca kept the car at pace with those around it, just above the suggested speed limit, so as not to stick out.