CHAPTER XXXIII

"Long time no see, John Williams" Marcus calls his name with an unknown familiarity making Lucas stare in bewilderment.

"What is this?" Lucas asks, "John here, has been an ally of our family for six decades now.

He served with our father in World War II," the head of the Tremblays says.

"How come I am just finding out about this?" Lucas demands an answer, "Not everything is known, Luke" he answers apathetically.

"We need to talk John. Tell me what happened to my sister" Marcus turns his attention to the chained vampire.

"You could have just asked politely but you went ahead to kidnap me," John says, burying his anger underneath an emotionless face.

"Talk," Lucas pressures on, "Lucas," Marcus calls his name out and his younger brother quenches his anger like sand over a fire.

"John," he urges the vampire to speak.

"At the very least, you can let me down" John demands, "The reason I have not chopped you into little pieces is because of the history you and our family share," Marcus says sternly, making John realize that this is not going to be a friendly chat.

"What do you want to know?" "Who killed my sister?" "Believe it or not, Mary was killed by Count Dracula".

Lucas scoffs, "I've heard this story before and it's nonsense," "I'm sure you have. He is here and he wants to do something really bad," John says.

"And you expect us to believe that?" "Let him talk, Luke" Marcus shuts his brother.

"Mary and I thought that Mary's daughter, Rachael was kidnapped.

We went to save her and in the process, Mary got killed".

"And where the fuck were you, John?", "I couldn't do anything.

He was too strong for us," "Don't try to be smart John.

Philip has told us his side of the story and I know you were there to save two vampires and Rachael," Marcus says.

He stares into John's eyes, his face bruised from Lucas's brass knuckles.

John gives an intense stare, "So he survived, I wondered where the skinny fellow went".

"I presume the two vampires are the ones you serve, right John?" Marcus questions and the blond vampire turns his head to the side avoiding Marcus's gaze.

"Rachael wasn't even there. So my sister died for two fucking abominations.

They are all going to pay" Marcus says, his voice is croaky and crude, speaking words of vengeance and death.

John understands their pain but even they would not have been able to do anything.

Mary McQueen was just a human but she was the only one to do real damage to Count Dracula.

He wishes he could kill Dracula but he knows he alone isn't enough, not for a demon like that.

"Where can we find your masters, John?" "I can't tell you that, but I can tell you where Dracula is.

You can go after Dracula. With your resources you should be able to stop him," John says.

"I am not trying to stop just Dracula, I am going to kill your masters too and save you for last.

You are the only connection between Mary and them.

Without you, she would not have gotten into any of this".

"Things are going on that you won't understand" "You don't need to understand what is already dead," Marcus says.

"Luke, torture him and get all the information you can from him, I will get in touch with our hunter connections to see what they can do for us" Marcus turns away from them.

"Don't do this Marcus, don't do this", John calls out but the man pays no attention as he shuts the door behind him.

He walks into the living room.

Kate Tremblay lets her hair fall as she tries to rearrange it. Her eyes meet with his, "Brother," "Gerard, do you know anything about the vampire cases Mary worked on while she was alive" he ignores his sister and goes straight to Steven Gerard.

The sturdy man stands up to meet Marcus's gaze, "Only a few over the years.

I thought she retired after her husband's death until she called me" he says.

"Have you ever heard of any Dracula wannabe?" "No," "Philip?"

"Nothing. But he was there. I don't know if he was the real deal but I do know that he is powerful" Philip says.

"We need to find vampires," "Our men took some prisoners just in case we needed more information," Kate says.

"Have you learned anything?" "They seem to a be a rise in supernatural activities over the last couple of weeks,".

"There is a club on Roosevelt, vampires crawl around the place like a fucking den.

We can check it out for information" Steven says, "What is the name of this club?" Marcus asks, "It's called Clouds." "I want that place checked out, right now".

CLOUDS.

Rachael washes her face in the sink; she looks at her hands and can't help but smile.

She never thought she could pull it off but she did it.

She killed a vampire and by the look of things, Emily was a strong vampire.

She wonders how high in rank the twins are in the hierarchy of the supernatural.

She rubs her hands against her cheeks as she holds her excitement in, she did it.

Could this be the first of many?

She walks out of the bathroom and goes to the sitting room.

The elevator opens and a frantic-looking Cassandra enters the room, "Rachael,".

The werewolf just hugs Rachael as she holds tears behind her eyes.

"They took him," she whimpers, "Cassandra, calm down. What is it? They took who?" "John, hunters took John" she says.

NO.

This news shocks Rachael. Is she cursed to lose everything?

She is enraged.

She has been chased by vampires, kidnapped, attacked by werewolves and was almost eaten by ghouls.

Her life begins to look like a wreck before her eyes and she wonders why?

Is it her father's fault?

Her mother's?

The twins?

Or just bad luck?

Whichever, it is a hurdle that has come to hinder her life and shatter her happiness, what will she do?

"Where are those fucking twins?" Cassandra asks with anger and sadness in her voice, "Samuel is in the basement and Gabriel went out," "I need them to save him,".

The elevator door opens and a pale-looking man wearing a sleeveless jacket on top of a white T-shirt comes in.

"Oh, hello Rachael.

The boss went out, he says I should keep you company" Bryan says, Cassandra growls, "Oh, I see you have company".

"Bryan, I want us to go and save John," Rachael says with a chill in her voice, "Save John? From what?" he asks, "Hunters,".

His eyes widen with surprise, "Whoa, I know you feel confident after killing a vampire but what you are talking about are hunters.

They train to kill people like me," he says, "I am going save John, whether you come with me or not" she says.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you trying to get me killed?" Bryan is furious.

Going with Rachael could mean death at the hands of hunters but letting her go alone will mean death by Samuel's hand.

This woman is suicidal but he can't let her go alone.

If things go south, I am getting her out of there by all means.

"We aren't going to be enough," Cassandra says.

"Well, isn't this one eventful night?" Elma says as she comes from the balcony like a ghost.

No one sensed her presence till now, "You really know how to draw in trouble, little human" Elma pats her head, "How do we find John?" Elma asks.

"He is my mate, I marked him. There is nowhere in the world that they can hide him from me. I can find him," Cassandra says.

A distraught Bryan eyes their little gang and lights a cigarette.

He huffs and puffs, "We are going to die".