The Guilty Innocent (26 page)

“That is enough.” Xavier said, after a few more seconds had past.

John wrenched his wrist free, falling back onto the floor.
H
e held his bleeding wrist to his chest as he caught his breath.
I
went to his side, I could feel the goosebumps rise over the surface of my skin, my own personal, pain-in-the-ass side-effect that I get al the sight of blood. John looked at me and smiled.

“I'm okay now, it's over...don't worry, I'll heal,” he told me in a raspy voice.

He looked drained and tired, the transformation took a lot out of him. I looked up to see the mobster grimace in pain, he began thrashing on the floor, gripping his stomach. The soft grunts and whimpers coming from him, appeared to worry his underlings. Xavier only watched intently as the mobster thrashed about in pain. After a few minutes, he stopped his thrashing and slowly began to rise to his knees. He licked his lips as he stared at his hands as if they didn't belong to him. He looked around the room and I immediately noticed the subtle differences in his appearance. I never really noticed the differences between vampires and humans, but as I watched this mobster complete his transformation, I could recognize all the little changes. For instance, his eyes seem to collect the light around the room, it was funny, but they looked to be the eyes of an innocent, the kind of eyes babies have or animals. I looked at Xavier to see if his eyes looked the same and they did.
Well I'll be damned!
I looked at the mobster again as he rose to his feet. His skin appeared to be smoother and his hair looked softer. He gazed at Xavier and smiled.

“Very interesting experience, if I may say so,” he said as his smile broadened.

Xavier looked at him and nodded. “You now have an endless eternity of nights ahead of you...my advice to you.” Xavier began, the mobster waited, his eyebrows raised inquiringly. “Don't fuck up.
D
on't piss Darian off. You are of his direct line now, his blood runs through your veins and for that he demands a certain allegiance. To disrespect him would not be a wise decision.” Xavier told the mobster, who seemed to reflect on what was just said.

Hell, even
I
was reflecting on what was just said. It made me wonder, did Darian expect me to owe him an allegiance because he shared his blood with me?

“Yeah, I got it,” the mobster said in a cocky tone, then he gestured for his trench coat. The henchman holding the coat placed the coat over his boss's shoulders, the other henchman opened the cabin door. “Our transaction is complete.” The mobster said as he walked passed Xavier through the door. Xavier closed the door and locked it. He walked over to John to check on him. John wrist had completely healed, but he was still weak.

“How do you feel?” Xavier asked him.

“Shit, like I look! That shit hurt like a son-of-a-bitch!” John grimaced. With Xavier's help, he rose from the floor. I ran to the kitchen and got two bottles of Synblood, then went over and handed John the bottles.

“Aww, geez!” John groaned at one look at the bottles. He took the bottles from my hand and cracked one open. “I'll have you know I'd rather starve than drink this stuff, but I don't want you to worry about me, so I'll drink it.” John said to me, then he tilted the bottle to his lips and chugged down the contents. He finished the bottle off then tossed it into the trash can located in the kitchen.

“Wow, nice shot! If this were a basketball game, that would have been an amazing three point shot from across the court!” I joked. He smiled at me, looking physically better, but I did notice that
Synblood
did not add color to his flesh. “That was amazing. Technically, I watched you go through labor pains, then give birth!” I giggled.

Both Xavier and John looked at me, not getting the humor of my analogy. Elise laughed, Sergio looked as lost as the other two men. I suppose it will have to be an inside joke.

“Oh, I get it now.” Sergio declared after a few seconds had passed. I giggled.

Xavier stared at me a little longer, then smiled. “That's why I love you,” he turned to face Sergio and Elise. “We need to call in some help, why don't you bring in some of your people and I'll bring in some of mine.” Xavier suggested, Elise and Sergio both nodded.

“Oh! That reminds me, I need to call Warren!”
I
said excitedly as I reached for my cell phone. I dialed Warren's number and waited for him to answer. I looked at my watch, the time was 9:52pm
in
Russia, that would make it around noon in Chicago. The telephone rang several times before someone picked up.

“Hi Natasha, anything new?” Warren asked.

“You bet! We need some help, plus
I
think you would be interested to know that this mafia has some shape-shifters as prisoners. For what, I don't know, but they keep them bounded by silver bonds,” I informed him.

He was silent for a few seconds. “Thank you, Natasha. Don't worry, we'll send back up,” he said.

“Xavier and Elise are calling for back up as well, we really appreciate it.” I said, feeling more hopeful about our situation. “Let me give you our address,” as I gave him our address, I looked up to see Xavier and Elise on phones contacting their
crew.

“Okay, Natasha, I've got to go so I can make that phone call. I'll call you later.” We said our goodbyes. Xavier finished his call, but Elise was handing her cell phone to Sergio.

“Speak with your son,” she said as she handed him the phone. Sergio took the cell and began to speak.

“What's the problem?...No you can not come...Because I said so!...Sebastian, I know you want to help, but I've said no, it's too dangerous.”

Sergio appeared to be the loving father, concerned for his son's safety. I gave him some extra cool points for that.

“I'm not going to argue with you about this, you stay there with your mother, understand me!” Sergio demanded, his thick Italian accent sounding forceful. He waited to hear his son's response. “Good, now put your mother back on the phone.” Sergio shook his head. “Madeleine, keep him there with you...good. Tell everyone else to get their asses out here, pronto...good...okay, bye.” He hung up the cell phone.

I
looked at Sergio. “How old is your son?” I asked, hoping he wouldn't think I was prying.

“He'll be sixteen next month and bugging me for a car,” he chuckled.

“Must be nice,”
I
said.

Sergio rolled his eyes. “Nice like a boil on my ass!” he laughed. “No, no-I love him, he's tough like his old man,” he said proudly.

“And stubborn,” Elise added. Sergio gave her a look as if to say, 'the tea pot calling the kettle black', I lowered my head grinning, trying to keep from laughing.

“Alright, this is one thing we need to do, the reason why I've asked for this surveillance equipment-” Xavier began, getting our attention.

“Yeah, I was wondering about that,” Sergio interjected.

“Well, it's not going to be a nice or easy job, but one of you is going to have to do it.” Xavier said gesturing to both Elise and Sergio.

Sergio frowned. “What is it exactly, that one of
us
has to do?” he asked, he appeared to grow agitated.

“Well, either you or Elise will have to wear this wire and go into the lion's den. We need to know what they are doing and why. Also, who do they have working along with them, if they have shape-shifters with them-how many? And who's to say they don't have vampires as well.”

Xavier was so intelligent! I could see why he was Darian's second-in-command. He pulled out a small listening device that resembled a bullet from the spy kit case.

“Fuck that! Why can't one of
you
go!?” Sergio pointed at John, then at Xavier. He was becoming more incensed; the room seemed to swell with the intense heat emanating from Sergio. I was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. I looked around and noticed that John had an uneasy expression as well.

Xavier remained calm as he spoke. “Because, we will not know what's going on during the day, you will. You'll be able to hear and smell things Devin's senses might not have picked up. You're older and stronger than he is. I can taste it in your blood, but I already knew this anyway.”

“This is fucking ridiculous, I'm not doing this shit and Elise is definitely not doing this. You can forget it!” Sergio rose from his seat.

“This needs to be done, Sergio! We need to know what we're going up against, we don't want others to get hurt because we were unprepared!” Xavier said through clenched teeth, trying
to keep his cool.

“Tell you what you fucking
fag, you
can shove that shit right up your ass! You go into the fucking 'lion's den'! I've had enough of this bullshit!” Sergio snatched the small wire device from Xavier then tossed it at him hitting Xavier in the chest. “Go fuck yourself!” Sergio growled.

Xavier rose, his temper flaring. “You know what?
I've
had enough of
your
constant fucking bitching! That's your fucking Pride member trapped in there, you should be trying to do everything in your power to save him!!” Xavier shouted,

I backed away slightly, the atmosphere was getting too intense between those two. I've never seen Xavier so angry before, it was a bit frightening. John had moved towards the wall farthest away from where Sergio and Xavier stood. He was watching them intently as was Elise and myself.

“He wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for your fucking boyfriend and
Master
and his shady dealings!” Sergio retorted, making sure to pronounce the word “master” in an insulting manner.

“Well, if it wasn't for him and his 'shady dealings' your member Daniel, would have caught a silver bullet ten months ago, don't forget that!” Xavier reminded.

“Oh, you know what? That bullshit was
her
idea!” Sergio shouted pointing to Elise. “I never wanted to go to him, everyone in the fucking city knows he's as big a criminal as the motherfuckers we're fighting against now. If he could find a way to make a profit off kidnapping supernaturals, I'm sure he'd do it!!!” Elise tried to calm Sergio down, she tried to coax him out of the room. But he wasn't having it. I suppose the
last straw had broken the camel's back.
Sergio continued. “I have been shot repeatedly, one of my fucking members is being tortured, she lost her best friend!” he said pointing to me and I caught a mental flash of Annette's face and my heart sank. “And now we're all in this fucked up situation all because of
him!”
Sergio was shouting and a string of what I assumed were curse words flowed from his mouth in Italian.

“He had nothing to do with this and you know it. If he were right here, right now, he would try to get Devin back all on his own. Sergio, it's not Darian's fault Elise chose him over you, perhaps you need to look at yourself for a change!” Xavier snapped. “But don't fucking blame Darian for your short-comings!”

Sergio looked up towards the ceiling, laughing, I knew that kind of laugh, that meant something bad was going to happen and I moved towards the window. I had perfect timing, because Sergio charged towards Xavier like a mad man, moving at blinding speed. They began to fight, both Elise and I screamed at them to stop. Xavier punched Sergio knocking him against the wooden wall, the wood splintered and cracked under the forceful impact of Sergio's body. It looked painful, but did not seem to slow Sergio down, he was filled with rage and he simply appeared behind Xavier, drawing his claws down Xavier's back. Xavier growled low, baring fangs and in a movement too fast for any of us to see, Xavier was beside Sergio. He lifted him over his head but Sergio's cat-like reflexes came to his rescue and he flexed his body in all sorts of angles and squirmed out of Xavier's grip, allowing himself to land on all fours. However, he did not get away, Xavier knocked Sergio to the floor, his hand locking around Sergio's throat and his knee pressed onto Sergio's chest pinning him to the floor. Xavier's eyes had turned bright red and I was terrified. Sergio's clawed hands began ripping at Xavier's flesh, trying to get Xavier to release him. It was no use, Xavier's sharp nails were embedded deeply into Sergio neck. Elise walked over to Sergio and slapped him three times hard on his cheek. The sound of the flesh hitting flesh echoed over Sergio's growls and grunts. He grew silent, his eyes focused on hers as she loomed over him which seemed to calm him down.