Blood Legacy Chapter 138: 136. The council

A strained grunt reached my ears and I snapped my head in the direction it came from, audibly whimpering with relief as I watched Nate crawling his way towards me.

I rose myself into a kneeling position, desperate to close that distance between us as fast as possible. So I crawled the rest of that small remaining space between us, throwing myself in his already opened arms.

I let out a small sob and he followed with one of his own, holding me so tightly as he allowed himself to cry for a little bit.

"Thank the Goddess," he softly uttered in my ear as he already had his face buried in my shoulder, his body mildly trembling.

"They're...they're dead..." I weakly squeaked out, eyes still wild with numbing shock as I stared past his shoulder at the row of bodies haphazardly lying around.

"Not all of them. I can still hear some heartbeats here and there," he quietly said in reply, pulling back to look at me and my gaze found his, quietly staring back at him as I processed that information.

They...they were alive? Even after all that?

My gaze then trailed to Darius, noticing him still kneeling just a few steps away from us, his chest still heaving as he quietly sat there, unmoving.

His chin was dipped, those longer strands of inky black hair sticking to his forehead and dampened with sweat, his eyes closed.

I didn't pause to think. I didn't even hesitate, my arms untangling themselves from Nate's body. And with shaky and stumbling limbs I made my way towards him, so desperate to touch him. Feel him. Comfort him.

I reached and kneeled right in front of him, about to touch his damp cheek with my hand when the unmistakable sound of footsteps rustling through the leafy soil had my senses awakening with alertness. And almost out of reflex, I swiftly turned around for an inquisitive look, my back pressing against Darius into a protective manner.

Nathan was at our side in two quick moves, tensing with awareness as our gazes fell on the group approaching us.

There were seven young people, three females and four males, all dressed in business suits. My brows furrowed as I continued to watch them, taking in their finely-cut and delicate features, all seven of them resembling some damned anime characters. Their bodies were mostly slender and...dainty, their doll-like faces free of any imperfections. Not a single freaking dot. Or even a damned shadow of facial hair. They looked almost...creepy. Way too perfect to be called real people.

I fleetingly threw a glance at the side of Nathan's face, trying to subtly gauge his reaction, see if there was any hint of recognition glinting in his eyes.

He looked positively distressed. Fearful, even. His jaw was clenched, his naturally arched brows knitted into a frown and his eyes narrowed as he continued to stare at them. Focusing on their every small little movement.

I didn't miss the way Darius' arm had snuck around my waist, tightly holding me into his warm body as we remained frozen in that position, intently watching those seven unknown beings.

They all stopped just a few paces away from us, in such perfect sync that it managed to freak me out, one male from the middle taking a single step forward.

His gaze trailed over us in a rather scrutinising way, his dark-colored eyes devoid of any emotion, lifeless even as he continued to scan us from top to bottom, his chin slightly raised. He had a certain air of importance around him, looking down at us as if we were nothing but a piece of gum on his shoe.

My brow rose, a powerful wave of annoyance rising at the sight of him staring at us like that, challenging my inner bitch. Who the fuck did he think he was?

"Motherfucker, do we have a-" I was abruptly stopped by Nate's mild nudge, my brows furrowing as I turned to throw him a questioning glance.

A small and stifled snicker could be heard in the background and my gaze snapped back to them, not failing to notice that tiny hint of a smile one of them was so desperately trying to contain. It was a male around my age, with a golden halo of hair and eyes shining like two embers in the night, his build equally slender and fragile. Exactly like the rest of them.

The one that had stepped forward remained impassive at my comment, his dark gaze however narrowing in the slightest bit as he watched me. And with a voice that both enticed me and managed to raise the tiny hairs on my body at the same time he curtly announced,

"Darius Ares DarkHart, Carina Evangeline DeLuca and Nathaniel Archibald DarkHart, in the name of the sacred universal law, you are hereby detained,"

Wait. What?

I rapidly blinked, rendered into a state of utter shock and denial as I watched two of those fancy-looking alien males approach us, their gait so smooth and elegant. They almost looked like they were fucking floating. What...What in the fucking hell was happening?

I stared between them, noticing how Nathan and Darius remained completely unmoving at my side and behind me, allowing those two skinny guys to grab their arms and yank them up to their feet. I remained kneeling there, stupidly watching as Nate retrieved a pair of shorts from his jacket pocket, simply offering it to Darius and he quickly dressed himself up, remaining calm and collected as one of the scrawny dudes brought his wrists to his front, placing a pair of metal bangles around them. There was no chain between them, being held instead by a some sort of invisible magnetic force as they held Darius' hands so close together, like a pair of normal cuffs.

Same was done to Nathan and I remained exactly where I was, so lost and thoroughly confused until one of those scrawny little bitches actually dared to touch me.

My magic immediately reacted, like a highly-trained instinct and almost scaring the living crap out of me as I watched the scrawny dude suddenly fly away several paces in the air as if being shoved by a forceful gust of wind.

"Holy shit," I gasped out loud, watching as he hit a tree and then fell into a heap at its base.

Everybody suddenly stared at me, murderous expressions taking over their features and before I could even blink a second time Nate had dropped to his knees at my side as if struck by an invisible force, a thoroughly pained groan escaping him as I heard something snap in his body.

I let out a frightened scream and pushed myself closer to him, eyes wide and my body pumping with crazy adrenaline as I helplessly stared, failing to understand what just happened to him. An angered growl sounded behind me, no doubt belonging to Darius and I questioningly snapped my gaze back to the seven weirdos, noticing a female that had stepped closer, a downright cruel glint present in her gaze as she spat,

"Do that little trick again and your beastly little pet will feel far more than just that,"

A small distressed sound escaped me, my features contorting with disbelief as I widely stared at her for a moment.

She...she did this to him...

She did this to him.

Faster than ever, my body suddenly filled with a powerful wave of pure rage, my limbs shaking from the sudden bout of energy. I unsteadily rose up to my feet, and with that hurricane of wrath that furiously spun within me I let out a loud and vengeful cry, channelling it all straight towards her. That bitch that dared hurt him.

She let out a tortured scream and quickly fell to her knees, my eyes though widening a little with wild astonishment and even a little bit of fright as I watched how bloodied little rivers started to trail down her face, gushing from her nose and eyes.

Holy shit. I...I did that? I...I just did that. My...my magic worked. It did...*that*...to her.

I was too busy to marvel at the witnessing of my own powers, stupidly blinking and staring at the writhing bitch to notice when that guy that had made that earlier chaotic announcement floated towards me, his cold and slender hand firmly wrapping around my wrist.

"That is enough."

I startled, hearing Darius' warning growl resound from right next to me and my gaze fleetingly snapped to him, noticing that murderous look in his black eyes as he glowered down at the guy's head -since he was actually so much smaller than him, his height so close to my own- those veins in his arms popping as he flexed them. Trying to escape those shackles.

"Quiet, pup," the scrawny male remained completely unfazed, his dark eyes trained on me as he held my wrist in his hand like a shackle, apparently managing to actually block my magic as the bitch had ceased with her wails, shakily rising back up to her feet.

That cruel glint returned in her light-colored eyes and she expressed a fully psychotic smile, her intent glaringly clear as she tried to advance straight towards me. Only to be abruptly stopped by an invisible wall.

"You too, Seraphina," the guy holding my wrist commanded with a firm tone, his gaze remaining trained on me as he continued to watch me. With covert intrigue. Growing curiosity.

"Carina Evangeline DeLuca...daughter of Lysander DeLuca," he smoothly uttered, his gaze lowering to trail over me and only now did I finally remember that my tee was still torn in the middle, suddenly feeling so self-conscious and embarrassed. I didn't want this guy's icky leer on me. It felt so fucking gross, especially when I knew that I was still panty-less beneath my skirt after what just happened earlier.

"Remove your fucking eyes off of her body," Darius suddenly growled from right next to me and I instinctively snapped my head in his direction, noticing how his eyes glowed with that ethereal blue as he stared at the annoying midget in front of me.

"Or what?" The midget had the audacity to smirk, his head turning to stare up at Darius almost tauntingly.

"Get me out of these cuffs and you will find out," Darius hissed, his entire body shaking with brimming rage as he glowered down at the puny-looking male.

The midget let out a short and sharp laugh, lightly shaking his head before his gaze returned on me. Lingering.

And without another word he finally let me go and turned to leave, barking orders at the other assholes to seize and secure all three of us and prepare us for the road.

I dumbly stared at the lot of them, still struggling to understand what the hell was happening as I lastly tapped into the bond, fleetingly asking,

*"Nate? Do you by any chance happen to know who these guys are?"*

*"Yes. The council,"*