20:00
Westside Restaurant
"It's been 20 minutes already, pray he gets here soon," Simon said.
Alyssa spoke, "Simon, while we wait for my husband to arrive, why don't you tell us how you found us, and why you're doing this, especially holding a child as a hostage?"
Simon replied, "For the first question, I've got a friend who specializes in tracking phones. It was just a matter of calling him. As for the second question, it's rather simple. Remember the Houston fire of four months back?"
In March that year, Simon's brother had been a wealthy entrepreneur in the tech sector.
He was a largely successful businessman, with alleged ties to the Lord of Blackwood.
Simon himself wasn't so successful, being the owner of a bar that was of a rather mediocre quality, sending him into an ocean of debt.
Then, a certain gentleman met him one day and told him he wished to purchase the land. Simon refused, considering it was his only chance to prove his managerial skill before being allowed into his brother's business.
The businessman persisted, for he desired to build a hotel and had already acquired the adjacent buildings, leaving the bar.
Simon ended up calling his brother Steven, who made a few strong threats, leverage being his ties to the city's noble house.
Adrian was allegedly informed of the issue and promised assistance.
But instead, Simon got a call from the man, informing him that he had forcibly taken over. Steven, the owner of the establishment, had gotten the signature to the transfer beaten out of him, and his home burned to the ground, with him in it. Soon to follow was his business headquarters, an event that brought sorrow upon the city.
"He let my brother die! He knew we were in danger! He promised he would help, but what did he do? Nothing!!!" Simon yelled, tears streaming down his face.
"Simon, I am really sorry about what happened to your brother. But nothing you will do can bring him back. All you'll do is hurt innocent people, a child even," Alyssa tried to reason with him.
"He took my brother from me. So I'm going to take his son from him, and his sister, and you!"
Erica had been silent the whole time, and now she spoke, "So, the love, the ring, the engagement, was any of it real?"
Simon shook his head.
"Originally I wanted to use you to make him suffer, but then I saw his son, and decided it would be better to kill him and watch as his wretch of a father breaks like I did."
One of the men in the room went outside to answer a call.
"Hello?"
"Let me do that for you," a voice said as his phone was taken from him.
"Excuse me, if you could call within the next two hours, this gentleman is quite busy and must not be disturbed," the new arrival said, before placing the phone in his own pocket.
"Now," Adrian said while pinning the man to the wall, "you're going to help me send a message."
The men inside heard a knock on the outer door, and Simon sent two men to send whoever it was away.
Then there was a single gunshot, and dead silence.
"All of you, go!" Simon ordered ten of the remaining seventeen men, who ran outside to see a faint trail of blood running to the back of the building. They moved as a unit, then came round to see three bodies on the ground, dead.
"Holy....."
"Now that you're all here," Adrian said, coming out from the darkness of the alley, "we have business to discuss."
And, to their utter terror, his eyes began to glow a bright, menacing blood red.
....
Simon whipped out a handgun from his back and pointed it at the child.
"It appears Daddy brought reinforcement."
Alyssa replied, "Knowing him, he's all alone. Like you will be in quite a bit."
With that, she gave the baby to Erica, and got up.
Simon pointed the gun at her and said, "That's rich coming from someone with a gun aiming at her."
"I'm starting to think that you lot underestimate me more and more. I guess that's what I get for playing peacemaker," she said while stretching a little.
Erica turned the baby's head to the side, then started to hum.
Before anyone could react, Alyssa grabbed a knife from the table and it found its way into a man's chest.
Just like that, he was dead.
They all looked in horror at their fallen comrade, then turned at the sound of a stifled scream.
Alyssa pulled her hand across her newest victim's neck, leaving four gashes right across.
Her nails had elongated into claws.
She smiled at the terrified men in front of her.
Simon lowered his gun in fright.
'What the hell.....'
Alyssa said, "I could do with you lot showing a bit more valor in your attempts to avoid death," and her eyes began to glow red.
Erica asked, "Can I join you?" her eyes turning blue.
"If you do, then who will take care of Aether? Simon?"
"Fine."
The men with Simon were more than terrified, and he wasn't any better.
But he was the one who got them into this, and so could not let himself show weakness.
Not when Steven's blood had yet to be avenged.
Simon took that moment to summon his courage and raise his gun towards the baby.
Alyssa screamed, "No!" and jumped at him just before the gun fired.
She grabbed him and threw him halfway across the restaurant into a table, while she fell to the floor.
A puddle slowly formed under her stomach.
She moved, faced upwards, and winced at the burning pain in her belly.
Her hands trembled as she moved her hands to the bullet wound, and she grimaced as her claws sank into the wound to take the projectile out.
"Simon!!"
Suddenly two men dropped dead with gashes on the sides of their necks, then another suddenly flew into a chair, his neck broken.
A wooden shaft went through another's chest, and the last man suddenly blacked out, lifeless.
Adrian had entered the room, eyes blazing red, canines elongated into fangs, gaze searching for the man behind all this.
He took a deep breath, and his features reverted to normal.
He said to Simon, who was struggling to get up, "The blood of those men is on your hands."
Simon grimaced in pain and replied, "As my brother's blood is on yours, betrayer!"
Adrian looked at him, confused.
"It's a long story," Alyssa said, having extricated the bullet and was in the process of getting up.
Adrian's eyes went red instantly upon seeing the blood on his wife's clothing, and the bullet in her hand.
"You shot my wife!?"