All Novel XO
Chapter 128
Chapter 128
-Ignatius-
I was the first to crawl out of the toppled van. Dorothy followed ine, flanked by Angie and Fae who
carried the children. My head was pounding, and a small trinkle of blood ebbed down my forehead and
into my eyes
Even with my blurred red vision I could see the faces of my people. Under the blinding streetlight,
Bielke shifters blocked the road in front of us. People I knew and recognized, all donning the same
glazed look in their eyes.
My gaze trailed to another mangled car smoking on the side of the road. Most likely the car that had
rammed us. If Gideon’s van wasn’t the sturdy brick thut it was, we might have all been crushed in the
crash.
My heart leapt to my throat when I squinted at the car wreck and spotted a glassy-eyed Plato behind
the wheel. He was breathing. I was sure of it. But his nose looked like it had an unfortunate
confrontation with a meat grinder.
Three more figures stood beside the car wreck, and the overwhelming scent of rust and metal reached
my nose. Two of them I recognized, the male and female vampires who had met with us in the woods,
The black-eyed man wore a sneer that contorted his fine features, while the woman kept her eyes on
the ground and her hands folded behind her back.
The third vampire, the man who eyed me with a hatred so vicious it was palatable in the air, was a
stranger with an uncanny resemblance to myself. Dark-eyed and lanky, wild white hair down to his
shoulders, he could have been my doppelganger.
His protruding fangs were that of the vampires, but his dark brows and angry eyes were Elliot’s.
This was a reflection of myself, the man I could have become had I taken a different path. A darker
path. This was a stranger who shared my blood. A younger, wilder apparition of the boy I used to be,
Elliot’s dhampir abomination. My brother.
I
“Angie” I spoke quietly, keeping my eyes fixed on my distant kin Get Dorothy out of here. Get the kids
somewhere safe.
I heard an inhale from Dorothy, most likely an argument in the making, but we were all silenced when
the dhampir began to speak. It was a voice so eerily similar to my own. with only a distinct lilt that
differed from my own husky tone.
There is nowhere “safe” for you and your children. The man was smug as he spoke, gleefully indulging
in reminding me of my resignation. “There is no place for a banished Alpha and his pathetic family.
Certainly not here.”
“What have you done to my people!! I demanded, glancing around at the glassy-eyed shifters who
stood by like zombies.
We were surrounded by friends and familiar faces. But for the first time, that wasn’t a comforting
thought. The Bielke were not on our side anymore. Whatever control this man had exerted over them,
they were in no position to help us.
The man shrugged, beaming at the hoard of puppets like he was proud of his work. “I merely gave
them a little push is all That’s all I need to gain control, an unstable mind. They were already feeling
hopeless, you saw to that yourself when you stepped down”
The man flashed his fangs in a wide grin. “You brought on the downfall of the Bielke. You abandoned
them”
“You didn’t give us a fucking choice Suddenly Dorothy was standing at my side, hery-eyed and furious.
“You stole our children!”
I shoved her behind me, wary of the surrounding shifters who had begun to stalk closer and closer to
our small defenseless party. My hand at the back of her neck came back sticky and red with congealed
blood.
Only then did I notice how pale she looked, the tightness around her eyes.
Dorothy was injured, Angie and Far were banged up too. We had two children in our care, one of them
unconscious. If it came to a light, we had no hope of winning.
“You can have the Belke,” Lagied to keep my voice calm and even. I took a vow to protect my people,
but I couldn’t keep that vow if I ended up dead. “You can have the Bielke and whatever birthright you
think I robbed from you. All I ask is that you let us go freely.”
My top priority was getting Dorothy and our children to safety. If that meant groveling then so be it. I
would be back to tear this blight limb from limb soo cough.
The vampire voorman to his right touched his elbow. “Let them go. Calus. Surely we’ve done enough
here?”
But the white-haired vampire -Cams, had other ideas. He narrowed his eyes at me, flashing a wry smile
and a glint of fangs. “Unfortunately I can’t do that. You won’t be leaving Bielke territory alive.”
Dorothy’s scream had me leaping into action, bringing my fist up to smash into the slashing jaws of a
newly shifted Bielke soldier who had broken away from the crowd. The wolf went sprawling, bottom jaw
hanging awkwardly where I’d crushed it,
The rest of the crowed lurched towards us, spurred into action under the sway of their dhampir master.
Even if I could have fought them all. I didn’t want to. These were my people, they were in this
predicament because of me,
And so I ran, pulling Dorothy along as she stumbled beside me.
1 caught a glimpse of the grinning dhampir as we retreated behind the van, his eyes locked onto mine.
I understood this man’s intentions in a single brief moment of synergy between us.
His eyes promised death to the Bielke Alpha and all that I held dear.
“This way!” Fac’s cry reached my ears, and I scooped Dorothy up into my arms when she began to
sway, following the smaller she-wolf as she darted toward another abandoned vehicle.
Angie got there first, wrenching the door open and tossing a crying Amelic into the back. Fae leapt in
after her with Elias, and I shoved Dorothy in after them
I felt jaws snap shut on my ankle, and twisted to bring my elbow down on the head of another wolf
shifter. The Bielke member yelped when my elbow hit it’s mark, releasing me for a brief instant before
snapping at my calf
I kicked at the cowering shifter, only to be approached by more, all snapping and slathering to tear me
apart
“Get the car started. Angie!” I yelled over my shoulder, fighting off shifters without dealing any lasting
damage.
There could be no murder, not here.
Not like this
Angie tinkered with some wires under the steering wheel, swearing out loud when shifters rocked the
car. Dorothy shrieked for her to hurry up, and I glimpsed my mate’s face pressed against the glass of
the window, watching me with wide-eyed
Letrol.
I felt claws tear into my chest, ripping right through my jacket, and teeth tearing into my skin. In a few
more seconds 1 would have been down and out. But Angie pulled through just in time and I heard the
glorious sputter of the engine heaving to life.
Dorothy forced the door open, pulling me into the car is Angle stepped on the gas. There was a loud
yelp as we took off and the car jostled us into a haphazard heap. We all tried not to think about who we
might have driven over in our last-ditch escape plan
A furious scream came from the dhampir man, and his voice ring out over the sound of the engine.
Dozens of shifters took off after us, their howls filling the air like a death toll..
Glancing back at our pursuers. I spotted vampires in the mix tog. Some in their ethereal human form
and others fully morphed into monstrous bat-like beings
Caius had an entire army at his disposal, a legion of vampires and one of the strongest wolf packs
under his control. We didn’t stand a chance.
“Head for Black Rock,” Fae instructed Angie, pointing her toward the stormy coastline that lay beyond
the trees. “We need to get to the library.”
“Are we going to read them a bedtime story?!” Angie’s voice rose into a panic squeak. “We need to get
out of here!”
“We will!” Fae’s voice donned an air of authority and she flashed us a ferocious scowl. “If we stick to
the roads they’ll run us down in no time. Just trust me.
“She’s right,” Dorothy piped up, woozy from the blood loss and deathly pale. “We need to get to the
library. It’s the only way we’ll make it out of this alive.”
“What the fuck is in the library?” I roared, but Dorothy’s eyes hall funered closed and she slumped
forward in my arms.
“Goddammit! Fine, head for the library.”
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Angie answered with a growl of her own, before turning the wheel sharply and sending us careering
into the woodland path that led to the ocean.
The library stood like a dagger pointing at the sky. The rickety, turreted building perched on the jagged
black rocks of the tumultuous Northern coastline.
The sea was so choppy tonight that the sea spray coated the windows of the ancient building and
foamy water pooled around the stone steps.
We all mumbled out of the car at once, gunning for the library with vampires and shifters hot on our
heels. Fae stayed behind a moment longer, hauling two spare bottles of petrol from the back of the car.
She ushered us inside, and we worked together to slam the large creaking doors shut before the first
shifter collided with the other side.
“Now what?” Angie demanded, wiping sweat from her forehead, “We’re trapped in here!”
“No, we’re not Fae pointed down the long corridor, past the dusty bookshelves toward the back of the
building. “Dorothy will show you. You found the maps didn’t you?”
Dorothy had grown so weak she was practically hanging on my shoulder, but she nodded and Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.
straightened up with a determined glint in her eye. “Yeah. There was a drawing in Elliot’s notes.”
“A what?!” It was my turn to sound dumbfounded as I looked between Fae and my mate
Dorothy took Elias from Angie’s arms, taking Amelie’s hand in hers. “I found a drawing in Elliot’s notes
that I thought was interesting. It was a map. According to Fae, there’s a labyrinth of tunnels inside the
Bielke cliffs. One of the entrances is right here in this building.”
Fae felt our eyes on her and shrugged. In case you’ve forgotten, my mother was the Bielke librarian
long before we were born. She always said this building held far more secrets than any of us would
ever know.”
A howling outside the door had us snapping back into action. Fac picked up the can of gas and thrust it
into my hands
“Douse the place. We have to make sure they can’t follow us.”
Angie helped Dorothy down the corridor and Fae and I stayed behind to pour gas over every flammable
surface. It broke
my heart, having to burn down such an ancient entity.
But if our assailants were to follow us into the tunnels, we’d end to dead before we ever made it out the
other end.
The howling outside grew louder, and the library door creaked and groaned under the strain as shifters
rammed it from the outside. When we were done, we dumped the cans and Fae flicked on a lighter
from her back pocket.
*Ready?
“No. Burn it
We took off after Dorothy and Angie as the fire ignited behind us. Flames licked along the bookshelves,
engulfing the entire library into a raging red blaze.
Dorothy had thrown open a large metal gate, hidden in the floor beneath an ancient oak desk. One by
one, we climbed down into the dark. Dorothy reached out her arms from below, while I handed her
Elias and then Amelie, who clung to me with trembling hands,
1 jumped down fast, shutting the metal gate above our heads as wolves hourled and the ancient
building burned.
5B%Chapter 129
-Dorothy-
We trudged through the damp tunnels for what felt like years, following the sluggish stream of water
underfoot as it meandered through the hollow cliffs. I had managed to heal myself during brief
moments of rest, but a headache still pounded behund my temple like a sledgehammer
Initially, we had been worned that some shifters might follow us into the tunnels after the fire died down,
but we heard no echoes of pursuit in the days we traveled the tunnels.
If anyone had tried to follow us, they were lost in the catacombs and would eventually run out of food
and water. It was a bittersweet thought. We were safe, but our people were not,
How many had died during our escape?
Angie offered to carry Amelie after my arms grew stiff and tired and I’d obliged, but Ignatius refused to
let go of Elins. I walked behind my troubled mate, my gaze trailing his broad, slouched shoulders as he
forged ahead.
None of us spoke much, there was nothing more to say. Somehow, in the span of a few hours, the
vampires had managed to turn an entire pack against us Friends and family alike, all under the control
of Ignatius blood kin.
The Bielke had been broken apart and we had nowhere else to go.
Cauis had been right about one thing. No pack would be willing to shelter a banished Alpha. That was
a taboo almost as terrible as a rejected mate, Ignatius had suggested that we leave him behind.
Certain small packs might at least be sympathetic toward a single mother and her children. But I
refused. The vampire- Caius, had already divided us from our people. I’d be damned before I let him
split our party up even more.
I felt numb inside. Now that the adrenaline had worn off after our escape. I could barely keep my eyes
open. I couldn’t wrap my head around the events of that night.
How had Caius managed to take control of the minds of an entire pack? How had he managed to turn
our people against us so mercilessly? What were we supposed to do now?
“We’re here. Ignatius murmured and 1 glanced up.
I hadn’t noticed the faint light getting brighter as we walked. But steady streams of golden light poured
in from an opening ahead of us and a fresh breeze combatted the musty air of the tunel
We had been walking aimlessly through the tunnels without a map. I had only the vaguest idea of
which direction would lead us out of Bielke territory, But it seemed that had been enough to get us
through the maze of tunnels that sn*ked through the land.
I held my breath as we walked toward daylight, half expecting to find a hoard of vampires waiting for us
on the other side.
But as we broke through the tunnel opening, tearing down vines and branches that had grown in the
way, we were greeted by fresh air and the empty green forest beyond.
There was no longer a hint of sea salt on the breeze. Instead, I caught a scent that felt rather familiar,
but the memory was hazy in my mind.
“Where are we?” I asked as we emerged, with Angle and Fae in tow
y of it
Ignatius, sniffed the air, looking left and right at the forest that spread in both directions. “Down South
We’re near Kull
territory”
So that’s why at felt so familiar. All at once, I recalled the pack I had grown up in. My caretaker, Anita,
and the many others. Some kindly, some not. These were the woods in which Ignatius and I had first
danced together. It had been snowing then, and we had been younger.
That felt like lifetimes ago
We all stood side by side, at a loss for what to do next. We had no allies, no pack, nowhere to go. We
had no plan, no future. We’d been walking for days with no food or water. We were weak and listless,
cracked lips and dry throats,
Amelie could barely lift her head from Angie’s shoulder. And Elias still had not woken up.
It was Angie who said what we were all thinking, “What the fuck do we do now?”
We spent the rest of the day gathering firewood. Then we built some semblance of sanctuary in the
form of a small campsite. a safe distance from the cave exit. Ignatius didn’t want to risk the vampires
following us.
Our first mission was food, and a clean water since.
Angie and Ignatius set off to hunt down food and fresh water, while Far and I stayed behind to start a
fire and watch over the kids. We ripped up as much heather as we could find, and flattened it into a
comfortable nest for Elias and Amelie.
Everyone moved robotically, going through the motions of basic survival and nothing more. Later that
night, roasting rabbit over a fire, we were forced to confront cair new reality
I was feeding small berries to Amelic, who lay spread-eagled on the hearth in utter exhaustion. Angie
mechanically carved away at a piece of tree bark with her blade and Fac nigged weeds from the
ground absentmindedly.
Ignatius stared into the fire. The flames reflected in his eyes, dancing dangerously as he stewed in his
anger.
I was hesitant to speak. Everyone was at their breaking point, and one wrong word could have them
boiling over. Angie’s small family was under mind control, as was Fae’s mother. So was Plato. All
people who were dear to us, abandoned under the rule of a vengeful half-shifter
“I always thought I might end up a rogue. You move around long enough, you kind of get used to it I
said wryly.
But my attempt to lighten the mood fell fat when everyone blew out a deep breath in frustration
Angie rubbed at her eyes, streaking a line of dirt across her face like a scar “We can’t stay here forever.
We need to keep moving. That guy -Caius, he’s never going to stop coming after its. You saw how he
looked at you, Ignatius.“
Ignatius didn’t respond My mate merely kept his eyes on the tice, all of his emotions shoved down deep
to brew internally until he was mentally fit enough to manage them
“And then there’s Elias,” Angue continued. We all lifted our eyes to look at the sleeping boy, Elias had
stopped twitching and some colour had returned to his cheeks. but he showed no sign of waking up
anytime soon. He needs a healer. And soon. He hasn’t eaten any thing in days.
It felt like something inside of me had cracked m two. The vampires had been responsible for the death
of my people, and nove all these years later, they have taken from me again.
It was as if the pillars that my new world was built on had crumbled into sand. Fear and fury broiled in
my chest, and yet outwardly I was a blank face. An empty husk
“So what’s the plan?” Angie fixed her gaze on Ignatius, her words slightly forceful to propel him out of
this quiet, cold state.
Ignatius exhaled through his nose, clenching his fists around his knees. “We get the twins somewhere
safe, find a healer. And then I’m going back to face Caius
I shifted the now dozing Amelie off of my lap, leaning toward my mate. “You’re not doing it alone. That
would be suicide.”
Ignatius ignored this, turning the rabbit on the skewer in silence Anger rose in my chest and I got to my
feet,
“You promised me! You promised you wouldn’t leave ust You can’t abandon your children because of
some vendetta.”
“They have my people! Our people! Ignatius voice boomed around us, spooking the remaining rabbits
that lurked near our
fire.
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