Protector (26 page)

Michael still doesn’t let up on the whaling Alessandro. 

“Dude, seriously, you need to stop.  You’re only making this harder on yourself!” Michael yells.

Alessandro stops struggling. 

Michael takes this as a sign that he is obeying, so he loosens his grip around his neck just slightly. 

That was a mistake.

Alessandro feels the subtle release and takes advantage of the break in his hold.  He grabs the back of Michael’s head with both hands full of blond hair and lands the back of his head into the front of Michael’s face, crushing his nose. 

Michael releases completely to stop the spout of blood coming from his face.

Alessandro stands up and without looking back to make sure his friend is okay, he walks out of the room, leaving his oldest friend alone on the floor covered in his own blood.

18

Marquis looks around at all of his men as they quietly await their time to leave.  Each one of them is mentally preparing themselves for what is to come.  They have been waiting for almost an hour now for Michael to come up from the medical ward.  An hour ago James had gone down to the training facility for a warm up and found Michael on the floor with blood everywhere. 

Marquis was highly disappointed to hear Michael and Alessandro had been fighting.  He still doesn’t know how serious it is yet.

After a few tense minutes
, they hear the elevator door open.  They all watch the corner in quiet anticipation.  Finally, Michael turns the corner into the main sitting room to join the party.

Marquis frowns when he sees Michael
’s face.  His swollen nose is bandaged and both of his eyes are black and blue from the impact of the blow.  It is obvious his nose was broken during the altercation.  He knows he will heal quickly, but the fact remains, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

He turns to look at his son standing beside him and is baffled.  His face is cold and expressionless.  He hasn’t even acknowledged Michael’s presence.  He will have to remember to ask Alessandro what happened down there.
  But later, now is now the time.

He turns his attention back to the other men in the room
. “Ahh . . . good, now that we are all here we can discuss our plans.” 

“Each Protector needs to pair up with a Brotherhood.  We will go in on all sides so nothing gets by us.  I want every Rogue
that’s seen, killed.”   

“Once all of the Rogues are dead, we will check every room in that building.  I want every inch of that warehouse inspected to make sure there are no humans being held there before we set the fire, is that clear?”
he asks as he looks around at his men.  They all nod their heads in agreement.

He bites his tongue as his eyes stop on Alessandro.  Alessandro is still staring off expressionless, but he notices the tight outline of his clenched jaw.

“Alessandro, we will look in every inch of that place.  If she’s there, we will find her.”

Alessandro looks at his father now and nods his head.  His throat is burning so badly with emotions, he is unable to speak, but he will not falter.  He will not show his emotions in front of these men.  He will save that for when he is alone.

“Protectors, are you all rested up?”  They all say “yes” in robotic unison.  “Alright, men, let’s set out.  We will all meet back here by dawn.”

***

Anna-Marie’s body is numb from the lack of blood flow and muscle use caused by lying on the bed for so long unable to move. 

It seems like it has been a long time since anyone came into her room and her stomach cramps and growls with fierceness from hunger.

She is still shaken and confused by what Dee said before he left.  How can she possibly be a mixed vampire?  Wouldn’t she know? 

She thinks back on her conversations with Alessandro and can’t recall him ever mentioning anything about female mixes.  Surely it can’t be possible.  Then she pauses and thinks about her life thus far. 

She has known since she was young that she was adopted as an infant.  This knowledge never upset her.  She never even bothered asking any questions about her adoption.  She recalls her mom trying to talk to her about it the day she found out, but Anna-Marie was uninterested.  She knew who her parents were and no stranger was going to change that.  After that day, the subject never resurfaced again. 

But there are other things as well, things that were always normal to her, but maybe odd to others.  Like her high school and college career as a track star.  She has been the fastest runner compared to all the athletes she ever went up against for as long as she could remember.  Had it not been for her devotion to Dylan and her desire to be in his proximity, she may have even had a chance to be in the Olympics. 

She doesn’t remember ever being sick either, not even with a simple cold.  She remembers when she and Dylan were eight years old and Dylan got the chickenpox.  She never left his side, fearing the itchy little red bumps would completely devour him, yet she never came down with the virus.

She always thought her overactive immune system was normal because she was so fit and healthy, but now she’s not so sure.

Suddenly her door swings open with a loud bang as it slams against the wall behind it. 

“Dee?  Thank
God!  I have so many questions,” Anna-Marie says in a rush and struggles to turn her head to look at him.

“Ahh
. . . but Dee is busy right now.  He won’t be feeding you today, my pretty.  It’s just you and me,” says the voice of the husky Rogue that had came in with Dee the last time she saw him.

He kneels down beside her with a plate of food in his hand.  She tries to move away as much as she can, but it is pointless
, and once she sees the food in his hand, pain radiates through her stomach. 

“I won’t hurt you.  You’ve seen.  He won’t allow it.  Besides, your blood is no good to any of us.  Here
, eat,” he says as he lifts a sandwich up to her mouth.

This makes
Anna-Marie relax some.  The sight of the sandwich in his hand makes her stomach ache from hunger and her mouth begins to water.  She eagerly lifts her head up as far as she can for a bite of the heavenly meal. 

Her first bite of solid food in who knows how long takes a few minutes to get down.  Her throat is so dry and her stomach has shrunk so much that it is making it hard to eat it.

“Thirsty,” Anna-Marie whispers.

“Here
,” says the Rogue as he brings the straw up to her cracked lips.

She drinks half of the cup and pulls away so she can have more of the sandwich.  Once the sandwich is devoured
, she lies back down on the mattress and closes her eyes to pray to any god who may be listening to her.  She throws out a silent “thank you” to all of them.

“What is your name?”
she asks.

The Rogue doesn’t answer
.  Instead he gets up from his seat and walks out of the room.

With a full belly
, she doesn’t even wait for the Rogue to leave before she falls back into the most restful sleep she has had since being here.

She thinks she is dreaming when she hears a lot of commotion coming from all around her.  People are yelling and there are sounds of footsteps coming from all around. 

This is a strange dream,
she thinks to herself. 

She hears a loud cracking sound and her eyes shoot open. Her eyes dart wildly around the room trying to see what is happening.

“What the heck was that?” she asks out loud when she doesn’t see anything.

Then she hears it again.  This time she notices it’s not a cracking sound
, but a familiar sound of a thunderous pop from a gun.

Startled
, she begins to yell for her guard, “Hey, what’s going on out there?”

Silence
.

“Hello
!  Is anyone there?”

Still no answer. 

Panic begins to flare up in her stomach.  Something is going on out there, but she doesn’t know what it could be and she is still tied down to this damn bed.  She starts to pull on her restraints with every ounce of strength she has, but it’s pointless.  

With a loud thud, then a splintering crash, her door breaks in and a Rogue is thrown to the floor only a few feet from her. 
Anna-Marie holds her breath and is unable to speak as she stares at the crumpled Rogue laying on the floor, the same Rogue that kindly fed her the most recent meal.  Like a flash of lighting, someone is on top of him.  The person brings his arm up and swiftly stabs over and over again before he slits the Rogue’s throat and then jumps back up to his feet. 

Anna
-Marie is still unable to take her eyes from the now dead Rogue, lying on the floor in a pool of dark blood.

Slowly she breaks the tra
nce and looks up at the man, or is he a creature, that just killed the Rogue.  He is illuminated by the light from the hall behind him so all she can see is his form.  It’s the most light she has seen since she has been here and it burns her retinas like fiery acid.  As painful as it is, she tries hard to see this person.

As her eyes start to adjust she notices that he is familiar, yet not.  His dark hair is loose and messy
, covering most of his face.  His head is bent as he watches the blood pool around the Rogue on the floor.  Each silent breath he takes causes trembles to radiate through his body. 

Anna
-Maria bites her lower lip to keep her trembling lips from quivering so as to not make a sound.  She bites down so hard she begins to taste the metallic flavor of blood.  Quickly she gasps from the pain and the man growls a deep animalistic growl and whips his head around in her direction.  Instantly, he bends down in a pose to strike.  His loose hair is still covering most of his face, but his dark as coal eyes peer through the dark mass of waves straight at her. 

Anna
-Maria closes her eyes and holds her breath as she waits for her death.

“Ales, is everything cool in there?”
says a voice not so far away.  “Alessandro?”  The man asks and walks from the open doorway into the room and sees the Rogue lying on the floor.  He bends down to check his pulse, not really expecting to feel one.  When he stands back up, he notices what Alessandro is glaring at. 

“Well
, I’ll be damned!  Hey, we have a live one in here,” he says to a still unresponsive Alessandro.

The man pushes past Alessandro
, who is still frozen in his defensive stance, seemingly ready to attack at any given moment, and walks up to the bed where there is a person lying. 

“Hey
, lady, are you okay?”

Anna
-Marie averts her wide eyes from Alessandro and just stares at the stranger.

“Are you able to move?”

Slowly Anna-Marie shakes her head, “No.”

“Okay, what is your name?”

Anna-Marie swallows hard and whispers, “Anna-Marie.”

“Jesus Christ!  Alessandro get your ass over here and help me
.  It’s Anna-Marie,” yells the man as he stares at Alessandro.  He directs his attention back to Anna-Marie.  “My name is Michael.  We are going to get you out of here.”

Alessandro?  Did he just say Alessandro is here?
she asks herself.

The sound of his name makes her begin to cry. 

“Oh, my God, I’m dead!  It’s finally over.  I’ve waited for what seems like eternity to see him again,” she says out loud and cries even harder at the thought of seeing Alessandro again. 

“
Anna-Marie?”  She hears her name in the distance.

Then she hears it again, even closer this time.

It sounds like the beautiful voice of her mysterious protector.

“Oh
, my God, Anna-Marie!  Thank you, goddess,” she hears him say and feels her body being raised up and squeezed in a tight grip.

She smiles at the sound of his voice.

“I knew if I lay here long enough, my time would finally come and I would see you again,” she whispers to him.

“Somebody cut these damn shackles!”
he demands.

“Alessandro?”

“I’m here, Bella.  I found you.  I’m taking you home now.”

With a loud bang
, her shackles are broken.