The Allies of Old; Book Two Renewal: Chapter Forty Three "The Brothers Three"

Book Cover created in acrylic by the extremely talented @therealpaul

If you have not read the first book of the series, "Reborn", it is advisable you do so before reading "Renewal" or you will be lost. This link will provide you with a series summary as well as all sixty-eight chapters of Reborn

Chapter Forty-Three

Aerik stood over top of Paulo’s lifeless form with an enormous sense of having done the world a great service.

“So what are we going to do with her?” He asked his brothers, tipping his curly dark hair in the direction of the human female who lay writhing on the deserted street.

Jay frowned and shook his head. She was so young, what a waste. “We saw what happens to turned humans first hand. I’m thinking the kindest thing to do is put her out of her misery.” He took a step towards her.

“Wait.” Chris grabbed his brother’s arm, his golden eyes filling with pain as he watched the poor girl.

“We’ve all heard the stories, and they were confirmed in front of our eyes last month, or have you forgotten that particular nightmare?” Jay shook his head more forcefully, “Sending her to her maker is the only option.”

Chris sighed and released him, running a hand through his dark spiky hair. He knew his brother was right but it felt entirely wrong to take the life of this innocent creature.

He and Aerik watched in strained silence as Jay knelt down beside her. They assumed he would snap her neck, which would be quick and efficient, and simultaneously tensed for it to happen. They waited. And waited.

“Fuck Jay, if you’re gonna do it then do it already!” Aerik snapped.

Jay turned, his flinty blue-grey eyes flashing. He gritted his teeth as he regarded his brothers then bowed his head. “I can’t,” he said quietly. He looked back at the girl and the thought of snuffing out her life made his stomach turn. He’d done plenty of things he wasn’t necessarily proud of, but he’d never killed someone who didn’t deserve to die.

Aerik stepped forward. “I say that we take her back to our place and wait. If she wakes up rabid we’ll deal with her then.”

Chris bit down on his tongue trapping the silver piercing protruding from it and turned away. The chances she would wake in any other condition were pretty fucking slim, considering they’d never heard of one that had. And she’d have to suffer days of pain before her body succumbed…either to death or a full turning. He opened his mouth to say as much then closed it again, biting his tongue once more. If he expressed his view it would fall to him to take care of it, and he couldn’t do it anymore than Jay could.

The silence stretched and Aerik broke it with a sound of irritation striding up to the writhing body and scooping it from the road. “Let’s go.”

They took her to the place they’d rented on the outskirts of London, a small but comfortable brick house that was fully furnished when they’d arrived in town six weeks ago.

It had been over sixty years since they’d set foot on European soil and initially they’d been excited to see their former home land. But that excitement had changed to disgust when they’d discovered the “gaming dungeons” that had popped up in every European city they’d visited.

Two centuries ago there had been a ruling class of vampires who had upheld certain laws, and though the laws hadn’t been as strict as they were in the centuries before, they had at least maintained that drinking humans to death or attempting to turn them was forbidden, offenses that were a death penalty. But battles were raging between the faithful and the condemned and even back then the numbers of those who had fallen had already exceeded those who had remained true.

It was in one such battle that Jay’s parents had been killed when he was just a babe. Aerik and Chris were natural brothers having shared the same father, and had also lost most of their family in the constant warring. When they were just twelve and ten their relations had fled an army of attackers, taking them along with the infant Jay into hiding.

After two years of running it had become obvious to the adults that those hunting them would never stop, so they had found a secluded place and put the three young males in hyberstasis….and never returned.

They had remained in their hibernating state for one hundred years and when they woke they were still children. They’d set out in search of their family to no avail.

During their teen years they’d lived in abandoned shelters, fearful of being discovered by turned vampires and humans alike, and it wasn’t until the two older boys reached full maturity that they’d felt confident enough to venture into the cities. Eventually they’d met up with other small bands of males and discovered many of their kind had gone into the same kind of hiding, their parents and friends and family also having disappeared.

It became apparent that the only “old” vampires left were the ones who had turned, and there were few unturned females left period. So they’d boarded a ship bound for America, hoping to leave the more dangerous of their species behind.

Over the years they had amassed a substantial fortune by investing in various businesses, stocks, and real estate. They currently owned houses in the more prestigious areas all across the U.S. For the past eight years they had resided in Las Vegas where they owned and operated a large casino. They never stayed longer than fifteen years in any given area and avoided small towns as they could get away with their perpetual youth longer in large cities.

Initially when they’d decided to return to England they’d intended to purchase a house there as well as in Southern France, but the past weeks had discouraged them. Though fallen vampires no longer seemed intent on killing their own kind, their presence made the males uneasy.

And they were disgusted with the practices of nearly all of the vampires they’d encountered, turned and unturned alike. They normally held a “to each their own” philosophy as they lived their own lives in a perpetual state of debauchery--gambling, sex, drugs, parties—but it did not extend to include murder and torture.

Their one brief visit to one of the underground dungeons had left a black stain they were anxious to be rid of. The experience had been sobering as well as horrifying. If not for their recent acquisition they would have already been on a plane for home.

“Echh, I can’t take this!” Chris threw a damp and balled up towel down on the table, his attractive features pinched. It had been five days and the girl never stopped moaning and writhing. That morning her skin had been burning hot to the touch, a fever they were certain would end it for her, but twenty minutes ago it had broken evidenced by the sweat pouring off her skin and drenching the bed around her.

Aerik had left earlier to procure some more liquor, they’d done nothing but drink heavily and watch television since they’d brought her into their lives.

Jay glanced at Chris, a look of sympathetic collaboration etched across his own handsome face. “It can’t be much longer.”

Chris grunted as he went to the sink and washed his hands. “Not particularly comforting since she didn’t die and now we’re probably going to be forced to kill her.”

Jay grimaced and settled onto the couch pushing the guide button on the remote. He kept tugging on his eyebrow ring and sucking on the small silver hoop that adorned his bottom lip, sure signs that he was distressed.

A few minutes later Aerik came through the door and plopped the paper sacks onto the table, eyebrow raised in question.

“Her fever broke,” Chris stated angrily as he yanked a bottle of whiskey out and unscrewed the top. He clenched his teeth, his jaw muscles bulging for a moment then shook his head fiercely and tipped the bottle back.

Aerik mimicked his actions closing his eyes in relief as the burn of alcohol slid down his throat and settled in his turning stomach. “That fucking sucks. I really hoped that would be the end of her, I feel like we’re participating in her torture. Not to fucking mention what we’re likely to have to d….

He was cut off abruptly by a shriek which nearly made him drop his bottle. The three of them stared at each other for a split second then dashed off to the girl’s room.

She was sitting straight up on the bed, her eyes wide, clutching the blanket in her fists so hard her knuckles were white. She whipped her head from side to side violently and screamed again, then abruptly fell back on the mattress. Her eyes dropped shut and she lay there panting harshly.

They watched her warily and after a few minutes she settled back into her moaning and writhing routine.

They stayed with her for the next half an hour then resignedly filed back out to the living room to wait once more.

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