A Vampire's Marine (boyxboy)

Chapter 45: Zahir

Chapter 45

The war was upon us. I could smell it in the air as much as I could hear the beginnings of something terrible. Lives would be lost this night. Blood would be spilled and many would mourn. This night would be one of devastation.

I walked along the empty corridor which led to the camp courtyard, and it was the pounding heart of my beloved that settled my mind and renewed my purpose. My brother would not destroy what I had worked diligently to build. There was already a time when I had stood and watched him strike down my heart, but since that night, I had made a vow to the stars that I would discard whatever weakness was left in me and stand tall in the face of adversity.

My brother would not destroy what I had worked diligently to build. I could hear the growling of the wolves in the distance. However, there was no ripping of the flesh or sounds of a busy battlefield, and I found it odd. I tipped my face to the sky and sniffed the air; there was a tension in the atmosphere, but nothing more, and when I turned the corner and entered the courtyard, I understood why.

The war, while certainly on its way, had not yet visited the wolf camp. I observed the wolves; some standing on four legs, others on two. They were tense with anticipation; all around the yard; some on roof tops, some on the concrete below. They growled and gnashed their teeth, while the ones who walked upright poised weapons and watched; watched our visitor. For an intruder had indeed descended on their camp.

I turned my eyes to the beast, for that is what he was; standing tall; his robes fluttering in the wind, his midnight black hair moving in unison and his piercing black eyes surveying the scene. There was a nonchalance about him as he stood there, surrounded by more wolves than any man could handle. His face was as smooth as alabaster, only partially hidden by the faint scruff that had come to grace his face.

He looked formidable standing there a top the building; a top the world. I looked away from him for but a moment and my gaze met the Alpha's. I shook my head and he ordered his pack to stand down. Their reluctance was obvious. They were craving a fight and this beast standing before them, unafraid and unruffled, was an enemy in their eyes; a foe who would try to disrupt what they had come to know, but I saw something else.

I turned my eyes back onto the intruder and watched as he tilted his head to sniff the air. A small smile crept onto my face. "Zahir." I spoke his name softly and when the he heard it, his eyes travelled over the group and came to meet my own.

The beast raised a brow and he too smiled. "Rien." He spoke over the growls and the shouts and the snarls. "I have found you. It has been too long brother." He said.

I nodded. Indeed.

..........................................

~Five years Prior~

"I can only liken him to that of a fledgling." The man standing by my side commented. We stood, hidden atop a roof overlooking the army's military base,camp or whatever name the humans associated these training grounds with.

The instructor had lined out their mentees, forcing them to stand tall, maintain their posture and look ahead at nothing in particular. The group was silent as the woman shouted at them; shouted despite the fact that such a raise in tone was unnecessary. Truth be told everything they did seemed unnecessary and completely dissimilar to the training of warriors in my coven, but if this was to help Tony gain some modicum of responsibility, then the unnecessary became a necessity.

I watched him now; my mate, as he stood among the other men and women. His heart was racing, his lips were dry and he was sweating through his clothes, but like the others, he did not move, he did not speak-he did not break the rules.