CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Intruders

Mullen fell to his knees in pain. His heart was pounding, his head throbbed. He clutched his chest where the vampire had scratched him. The deep gashes had blood running down his chest, through his hands and down his arms. He felt the blood coursing through his veins, and the pain was unbearable with every pulse. He looked around the room for a bandage or a substitute to stop the bleeding. He spotted a shirt on the body of a man on the floor. As he edged towards the body, Mullen noticed the dead man was a probation officer, by the emblem on his shirt. He stood to his feet and slowly walked the rest of the way to the dead man. He leaned over and ripped the front half of the shirt off him. As he ripped the shirt, it revealed several scars and a fresh wound on the man's neck. He was obviously the vampire's ghoul. Mullen waded the shirt piece up and held it on his chest wound with his left hand. He fell to his knees with the pain, as he pressed against himself, trying to stop the bleeding. The pounding in his head slowly faded to silence as he wilted to the floor and slipped into unconsciousness...

The smell filled his nose, as he opened the door of the cabin: Home made cinnamon rolls. "Mmmmmmmm, My favorite!" Mullen said to himself, as he walked into the kitchen to see Gra'ma pull out a dozen of those warm, luscious rolls from the oven.

"Hello dear. I didn't hear you come in," Gra'ma looked up and smiled.

Mullen dropped his backpack to the floor and ran over to hug Gra'ma tight. She laughed slightly, hugging him back with one arm, and carefully placing the rolls down, with the other hand, on the counter. Then she gave her grandson a tighter hug in return. She pulled back and patted his cheeks with both hands and in mock scolding, pointed toward his abandoned backpack,"Now put your stuff away and get that skateboard out of my kitchen!" Gra'ma giggled a bit as she pulled out a butter knife to start spreading the icing over the still warm rolls.

Mullen went to his room dropping his skateboard to the floor and scooting it under his oak bunkbed. He plopped down on the lower bunk that he'd fashioned into more of a couch than bed and flicked on the color tv, situated on the shelves lining the far end of the bunk. Mullen stood up letting the backpack fall back onto the floor beside the bed and walked around to the desk at the other end of the bed. As he shuffled through the pile of mail Gra'ma had laid on his desk for him, his head snapped to attention as he heard a scream coming from the kitchen. The mail scattered on the floor as he immediately ran to see what was the matter. Mullen reached the kitchen doorway. A large man was holding his grandmother in what seemed like a passionate embrace. Mullen's eyes widened in shock as he watched. Soon he recognized this was not what it seemed. A large red stain began to spread over Gra'ma's shoulder and trickled down her back. "NOOOOOOOOoooo!" Mullen yelled. The man looked up sharply, blood dripping from his bared fangs. He had a large scar across his left cheek and a single 3 inch spike driven through his right earlobe, and his eyes...his eyes glowed a deep threatening red...

Mullen's eyes popped open with a gasp. He sat up with eyes wild, searching his surroundings...

Heylo watched in awe as her mistress disappeared under the door to the old house. She took a deep breath and thought "misty thoughts", trying to change and follow Vilona. No luck...she was still in body...and not floating through the crack under the door. She waited until Vilona could unlock the door. Heylo felt so insecure and unaccomplished as she participated in this rescue attempt. She felt more 'in the way', rather than 'helpful'. It was to be her job to find Mullen and help protect him. *sighs* She hoped she could help her rooftop friend. She certainly didn't want anything to happen to him. It was also her job to not reveal herself to Mullen, but to make him forget about our presence here tonight. *sighs* Once again, she could only try, since she had no mastery of this discipline, yet. As she waited for Vilona to unlock the basement door, she tried again to turn into mist. Once again, without luck. She waited.

Heylo heard the bolt in the door slide...and a click...then a creak, as the door swung open. Heylo entered. Her eyes were able to see well, inside the dimly lit basement. She glanced at Vilona, then noticed the familiar smell of Mullen. She spoke softly to Vilona, "I can tell...Mullen is upstairs...should I go on up?"

Vilona looked at Heylo with desperation,"I hope we aren't too late. April didn't say when Mullen came in, if it was during the day then he may already be dead. I smell human blood, fresh. Let's hope it's on a LIVE body...and not the aftermath of a feeding. Be careful, If this blood is Mullen's he may be dangerous. You must protect yourself and the clan before a mortal. If he is wounded you have permission to take him home and tend him...but remember do NOT reveal what you are. He will notice a difference, and there is a chance he will KNOW what has become of you. If that happens, you may have to kill him." Vilona placed a firmly, but loving hand on Heylo's shoulder, "Be careful, but do what you must do."

Heylo sniffed the air more. The smell of blood was strong. There was vampire blood spilled, she could distinguish that fact...and there was human blood, as well. Heylo moved up the stairs to the main floor...slowly...cautiously. Because she was not to reveal herself, she kept her human form. She could feel her eyes glowing a bit, but she kept that in check. She had worn her cloak...and she pulled it tightly around her as she moved up the steps, closer to the place where the blood was. She hoped her friend, Mullen, was ok. She worried for him. After coming to the first floor, she waited...quietly, to get her bearings.

Cham and Cantaria slipped into the front room with no trouble at all. The tree in the front yard gave perfect shadows to hide their entry from the prying eyes of anyone on the street, but that didn't shield them from the eyes within. As Cantaria stepped into the house a huge hand reached out and caught her by the throat, and pulled her up into the air. Cham slipped into the room seconds behind her. Clave growled at Cham and then sneered back at Cantaria, "So, you bring my enemy into My stronghold? Are you Brujah? or are you a Ventrue scum," Clave pointed toward Cham with his other hand, "Like him?!" Clave tightened his grip on Cantaria's throat then grinned widely and pulled her face into his, "I'm waiting...my love!"




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