Bound By Blood - 16. Chapter Sixteen

Falling on my ass that hit the hard, wet, concrete below, I looked around at all the lycans who I’ve defeated with just my sword, and though I didn’t get a scratch on me, I couldn’t deny that I broke a sweat or two while fighting them. There were a few close calls of when the lycans slashed their claws at me, almost shredding off my face, but I managed to dodge their attacks. And for some reason, some of the lycans were falling to the ground, which I couldn’t explain other than that they were losing their motor skills because of the moonlight that continuously shined onto them.

The lycans groaned and cried in pain as I caught my breath; however, one of the lycans tried to rise back onto his feet and based on the wound on the side of his face, that lycan was the leader. I groaned as I stood back up and readied my sword for one more attack from this beastly monster when the creature fell onto the ground with a loud crack. I then watched as the lycan slammed its head repeatedly on the hard ground, like the lycan had finally gone mad and just wanted to end his life right then and there. I looked up at the moon, and I noticed that it went back to its original phase.

I looked back at the lycans who all quickly regressed back into their human form with the wounds they sustained looking significant. I then turned to the lycan leader and saw a figure appear on top of him… Will.

“Will?” I said, hesitant for a moment to approach him.

Will smirked before grabbing the lycan leader’s head and slamming it into the ground one more time before approaching me. “The one and only.”

I chuckled as Will walked towards me. I didn’t know what kind of magic he used to disappear like that, but as long as he was still walking with that sexy-ass smirk, then all was well. However, right before I could hug him, he stumbled on his feet and almost fell. Luckily, I caught him before he landed hard onto the ground. He groaned, and I noticed again that most of his face and the front side of his shirt was coated with blood. I didn’t see any wounds, though, and I wondered if they healed or not.

“Are you okay, Will?” I asked.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“But your face and the blood…”

“It’s not my blood,” Will said before chuckling. “I bit a small chunk from a lycan’s neck when they caught me off guard and attacked me, while I was driving to your son’s football game. Luckily for him, fire is a healing agent for them… Doesn’t mean I didn’t get messed up a little while I was tied up and blindfold.”

“Jesus, Will. How did they do that to you?” I said as I brushed stray strands of dark hair from his forehead.

“The fuckers T-boned me at an empty street with a garbage truck that came from an alleyway. They then pushed my car into another alley, so no one would notice that a crash just occurred. Thankfully, the impact happened at the right side of the vehicle, and I was the one driving.” Will groaned before saying, “Thank God you came for me.”

I smiled and said, “Anything for you.”

I heard footsteps coming from behind me, and I quickly turned to see Alexandra back again with a phone pressed to her ear. “I just called the police, and they should be on their way within ten minutes.”

“Where did you disappear to?” I asked. “Did you do that same vanishing and reappearing trick that Will did?”

“It’s not a trick,” Will said as he tried to sit up, “The moon also has an effect on us vampires, specifically allowing us to become invisible. It’s similar to when humans can’t see the reflection of a vampire on a mirror because of our lack of a soul. The moonlight just amplified that effect and granted us temporary invisibility. And if you’re wondering, moonlight makes merpeople sparkle.”

“Yeah, sorry that I forgot to mention that to you,” Alexandra apologized as she crouched to our level. “But at least you handled yourself very well against those lycans. I never seen someone fight with a sword that proficiently before.”

I smiled at Alexandra. “Thank you very much.”

Alexandra smiled back, and then I heard Will clear his throat before saying, “I need to contact my people, so they can be on the scene as well.”

Alexandra nodded and handed Will her phone. I helped him stand back up and gave him some space, so he could call his people, most likely the king’s knights. However, I just wanted to hug and kiss him since I was so afraid that he was going to die an hour ago. Though it seemed he was returning to his normal self with his straight, assertive posture as he talked on the phone with that calm, cool voice of his.

Ten minutes later, both the police and the king’s knights arrived in their respective vehicles and began doing their jobs of securing the crime scene. As I talked to a police officer about what happened, the rest of the police were moving the lycans into the back of a police truck. However, a dispute arisen over who had the right to take these lycans into custody. Will, who was given new clothes to change into, set up a compromise in which the lycan leader would be detained by the knights, while the rest would be taken into police custody.

After that conflict was resolved, Will approached me as I waited by the side of my car. He looked better now with his face cleaned of blood and his new clothes that was of course tailored to emphasize his broad shoulders, narrow hips, and the other masculine angles of his body. Will was slightly shorter than me with a slighter build as well, which I liked since he matched with my body when we hugged like two pieces of a puzzle. These physical attributes also enhanced his appearance of looking like he was only in his twenties. And though I didn’t care what people thought if they saw a much older man with someone like Will with his youthful looks, that would only become more apparent as I got even older and what then?

I pushed those creeping thoughts away as Will opened his arms out and embraced me. I wrapped my arms around his body and hugged back. Don’t think too much of the future, I told myself. Think more about the moment and enjoy it as long as it lasted. I then felt his lips on mine, and for a long moment we just kissed each other with Will gradually leaning against me and me being pushed further against the hood of my car. I didn’t care if anyone was watching, instead I just imagined that they were probably enjoying the show we were displaying like those men and women in that orgy.

I eventually had to catch my breath, and as I looked into Will’s beautiful, blue eyes, I heard someone clear their throat. I saw that Alexandra was standing awkwardly some distance away, and I made an apologetic face as I moved myself for my car’s hood with Will leaning off me as well.

“Sorry about that,” I said as I attempted to smooth down my hair. “Are you ready to go back home?”

“I am…but I decided to let one of the king’s knights drive me back home instead. They are the ones who are guarding my house, so it makes sense,” Alexandra said.

“Right… Well, I really appreciate your help. If you hadn’t been there for me, I wouldn’t have been able to defeat those lycans and save Will. Is there anything I can do to repay you?”

“Oh, no! You don’t have to…but if I can be invited to another football game…”

I smiled and said, “Consider yourself invited.”

Alexandra just nodded. “Thank you, Damien… Well, I should head out now. And I’ll update you on getting your son into that university.”

“I appreciate it!” I said, waving goodbye to Alexandra who was then followed by two knights.

I looked back at Will who had a frown on his face as he looked at Alexandra as she got into one of the knight’s cars and said, “Are you okay?”

Returning his eyes onto me, Will said, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just need some rest… Do you mind if you can drive me back to my mansion?”

“Oh, of course not…but do you think your home is safe? Maybe there are lycans out there, waiting for you to come back before attacking you again.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, Damien. There are security cameras installed throughout the property. I would’ve known by now if anyone trespassed into my home.”

“Oh…good…because I was thinking that if you wanted to come to my home for the night…I could keep you safe…and I could also make sure the curtains are closed, so you don’t wake up in the morning with a sunburn… But that’s just a suggestion,” I said, suddenly feeling very nervous.

“Damien…are you asking me to stay the night?” Will asked with a smirk.

“Oh, uh…sure.”

Will’s smirk turned into a big smile, and he leaned forward again and kissed me firmly on the lips. “I’d loved that, even though I couldn’t be there at your son’s football game.”

“Ah, don’t worry. There’s always next Friday,” I assured Will before placing a light kiss on his lips in return. “So, how about we head home now?”

Will nodded, and we both got into my car that I quickly drove out of the scene.

As I drove through the dark streets, only passing another car occasionally, I had to ask, “So, how were you able to rig that phone to explode when the lycan answered it?”

“You mean my phone, which the lycan stole… It’s rather complicated…but I’ll try to explain it the best I can.” Leaning his face towards the window, Will continued by saying, “It’s connected to the spirit world. You see, back when vampires were still gods and goddesses, they were very adept at communicating with the living via clairvoyance. This was the only way for the gods to interact with humans since their true forms were too incomprehensible for a normal person to see. So, they used methods like astral projection to appear in the physical world. This was how Zeus impregnated so many women without his wife’s consent. Also, this allowed them to telepathically communicate and thus hear and answer the prayers of humanity in return for worship. They manipulated spiritual energy to interact with humanity as well as control them.

“However, after the gods and goddesses lost most of their powers caused by the lycan rebellion which included their connection to the spirit world, vampires have been seeking alternatives for centuries. Then when the Industrial Revolution ended and led to the Age of Information, the elder vampires sought this time period as a new opportunity. Communication via computers, tablets, and smartphones is very similar to how the gods used the spirit world to communicate with humanity; however, it was through technological advancements and a network known today as the Internet. Also, this allowed humans to connect to one another without verbal communication which was only enhanced as wireless connections became popular.”

“So, what you’re saying is that vampires have found a new way to connect with humans by manipulating the Internet like they once did to the spirit world?”

“Exactly. The powers that were once exclusive only to the gods are now becoming more and more accessible to humans. Humans can share their thoughts, opinions, and prayers in various online forums similar to telepathy. And a person recording themselves live online will be the new form of astral projection when videos become three-dimensional in the near future. Eventually, we’ll see an age when technology like physical phones will become obsolete like the wires used to connect to the Internet. Humanity will no longer be restricted by their physical bodies to communicate their thoughts and ideas to one another. Vampires know this is the future, and that is why many of the top tech companies are being led and controlled by vampires. They want to gain access to the Internet and communication devices through their minds, and that is how I was able to hack that lycan’s phone and rig it to explode.”

“Wow…back when I was a kid, dial-up Internet was such a big deal… Now you’re telling me that vampires can now access the Internet through only their minds?”

“Well, not exactly every vampire. Though the vampire-led tech companies are trying to make it more accessible, only older vampires can transfer their mind to the Internet and manipulate in a way that favors them. Right now I’m accessing the current surveillance footage at my home and yes, there are no trespassers who I see.”

Looking at Will, I noticed his pupils were white again.

“Anyways, these vampire tech moguls need to be regulated and kept in check since my king believes that some of the more prominent ones are using their newfound powers to manipulate humanity’s perceptions of the world.”

“And how so?”

“Like spreading lies throughout the online communities by disguising themselves as legitimate news sources that would cause people to fight one another… Before vampires made their existence known to this world, humanity, and especially America, was very divided in terms of class, religion, politics, race, gender, etc. My king was one of the vampires who promoted the idea of revealing our identity to humanity and helping them reconnect and rebuild rather than just watch them burn in their own self-destruction… Anyways, my king sees a lot of potential with this technology, and he wants to utilize it to benefit both vampires and humanity…and he thinks that obtaining the Holy Grail will help with his goals.”

“Oh…that’s very noble of your king, but didn’t Alexandra tell you the truth about the Holy Grail?”

“Yes. She did… However, I don’t think she’s telling the truth.”

My eyebrows furrowed, and I said, “And what makes you say that?”

“Damien. Only she knows the real location of the Holy Grail which has given her much leverage and power over the rest of vampiric society despite her being a newly transformed vampire herself. She could’ve revealed the grail’s location to my king and I because we have the resources to obtain and protect it. However, she has refused to even give us a chance, making me think she wants the powers of the Holy Grail only for herself.”

I scoffed. “Was that the reason you were frowning at her earlier?”

“You can say that… Damien. Have you ever considered the possibility that your wife’s passing has to do with Alexandra?”

“What? What are you talking about? Are you saying that Alexandra was the one who killed Annabella that night at the hospital’s parking lot?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is that Alexandra has plenty of enemies due to her exclusive knowledge on the grail… Would it be so surprising to know that someone mistaken your wife as Alexandra and decided to…?”

“Decided to what? Go ahead and say it. Say that someone decided to brutally attack Annabella and kill her right at the parking lot.” My hands were tight on the steering wheel, and my jaw was hurting from how tightly clenched it was. “Even if that is true…I don’t believe Alexandra wanted any harm to be brought onto her own sister.”

“Damien, I know you want Alexandra to be part of your family…but I would caution you on making that decision since any further involvement with her could lead her enemies right to your home… Why do you think she was so cold to you when you two first met? She probably already knew that associating herself closely to anybody would endanger their lives, and that includes her sister’s husband… I don’t want to see you to get hurt, Damien.”

Looking at Will who was fumbling with his fingers and had a saddened expression on his face, I relaxed a bit before deciding not to say anything else until we were home.

The silence between us was almost painful, but I managed to hold back my thoughts until I drove into my neighborhood and parked my car on the driveway.

Turning my body towards Will, I then said, “Are you jealous of her?”

Will’s eyes became wide, and he turned to me with an open mouth before saying, “What? No! Why would I be jealous… I’m only concerned for your safety.”

“I don’t doubt that… What I mean is, Alexandra looks exactly like Annabella did back when she was in her twenties, and the way you frowned at her earlier made me think that there’s more to that expression than you simply not trusting her… And that would explain why you were hesitant to tell me that Alexandra was my wife’s twin sister. So, just answer this question, Will: are you scared that I might leave you for her?”

Will continued to look at me with a mixture of anger and confusion, but soon his shoulders slumped and as he looked down, he told me the truth.