Chapter 37: Chapter Thirty-Seven

"Mr. Edge, Sir!" The man said as we finally arrived to where the scent trail was picked up, bowing to Damien and me, before speaking again. "The trail continues for miles, it looks like he may have passed state lines with her."

"How far did you follow it?" Damien asked, looking around at the forest surrounding us. I watched as Damien started rubbing his arm which was turning red under the glare of the sunlight. If he continued much further, he wouldn't last until he found Bast.

"I followed it until I reached the state line, about thirty miles northwest."

"Damien, you are starting to burn, you need to get out of the sun." I said, taking Damien's arm and leading him under the shade of a nearby tree. Damien is the oldest among us, and can last the longest in the sun, but dozens of his men had to go indoors already. "If you continue like this, you'll die before you can get to Bast." I added, knowing the thought of Bast was the only thing that could reason with him.

"If I give up now, she may be dead before we reach her." Damien responded, pulling his arm out of my grasp as he started running towards where the man had directed him, ignoring my protest for his safety.

"Will you at least stop to feed? Heal your wounds?" I asked him, as we ran side by side. Damien growled as a response and continued to run.

I sighed as I ran after him, watching him burn slowly but surely. By the time we'd passed the state line, he was already suffering from third degree burns, but continued to run as if he couldn't feel it. I was younger than Damien, but wore clothes that covered nearly every inch of my skin, as well as a baseball cap that covered my face. While he was suffering third degree burns, I was only coming into the first state of burning, being uncomfortable.

I allowed him to run until the scent of Sinclair got stronger, then attacked him, forcing him to fall face first on the ground. It only took him a second to recover from the shock before he turned around to face me, his eyes bright purple as he snarled, lunging at me.

"I'm sorry, Lucifer, but I cannot allow you to continue like this." I said apologetically. Due to his injuries, it was fairly easy for me to subdue him, then drag him into the nearest house. There was a family of two in the house, who screamed and tried to escape when I kicked down the door, pulling Damien by his collar, unconscious. I released Damien, who continue to lay just inside the doorway, unmoving.

After making sure Damien was safe from the effects of the sun, I went upstairs to where the humans were hiding in their closet, and drug the man by the back of his neck, downstairs to Damien. The feebleminded woman followed me down the stairs, trying to fight me off as I punctured the man's throat with my nail, then tossed him next to Damien.

"Don't you touch me!" The woman screamed when I turned to face her, as she struggled to escape, crawling her way towards the stairs.

I snorted in laughter at her moronic words, then crouched over her, pinning her to the ground before I brought my fangs to her throat. Her screams became muddled as I drained her of her blood, refreshing my burning skin, bringing waves of desire. I had no choice but to fight against the lust, Damien could forgive me for forcing him to stop in order to feed. But if I had the woman while his was missing, there is no doubt he would rip my head off.

Once I'd finished my meal, I turned to see Damien had awoken, and was nearly finished with his meal as well. I watched as his burns healed, his eyes returning to their normal shade of blue. After finishing his meal, Damien stood and looked down at his blood soaked clothes, then turned to face me.

"Thank you, brother." He said, nodding his appreciation to me before going upstairs to find a change of clothes. He returned seconds later wearing an outfit he'd found in the closet, and tossed me a new shirt. "Humans have no sense of self-respect anymore." He growled, looking down at the two who lay dead in the room, shaking his head.

I changed into the shirt Damien tossed me, before picking up the humans and carrying them up the flight of stairs, tossing them in the bathtub. I healed their wounds before turning on the shower, then walking back down the stairs to where Damien waited.

"Sinclair's scent is stronger here, he must have passed this town recently." I said as Damien and I walked out of the house, trying to pick up the scent again.

"If he did anything to her..." Damien trailed off as we started to run again, this time no longer being held back by our injuries, and propelled forward by the new wave of fresh blood we'd received.

"Lucifer, you said she was feeding him? Was it fresh blood?" I asked him, thinking. If Sinclair had fresh blood when he ran, he could go further than Damien or I could, seeing as how he was older than both of us. His age gave him more speed and experience, not to mention a longer resistance to the sun. But if it was older blood, he wouldn't be nearly as fast, and his resistance would only be slightly longer than ours.

"No, it was refrigerated and reheated." Damien said, a small smile creeping at the corner of his mouth as he understood my thinking. "I doubt he stopped to feed while running with her, we should have her back by the end of the night."

I nodded my agreement as we started running faster, trying to cover as much ground as possible. If Sinclair didn't move her, or ran again, we should be nearing them before the sun went down. But if the sun was still up when we got to her, we may not both be able to fight him off, not without fresh blood.

"Damien, leave me a trail. I'm going to collect blood in case we have a fight waiting for us when we get to her." I said to him before veering off track, going towards the nearest heartbeat I could hear.

***{Authors Note!! Who do you think Bast should pick? Sinclair or Damien? Let me know in the comments!!}***