Chapter 7

Alpha Erick’s POV:

Raven, Kate, and I drive to Liam's house. I know Kate does not want the two of us with her when she goes, but there is no way in hell I am letting her go there by herself. The council members were into something, and it involved vampires. I want to take a look at Liam's place with my own eyes so I can see exactly what he had or has going on with the vampires. There is no way I will believe he is dead until I see his cold body.

I pull into the drive of Liam's. Kate is anxious as Raven and I get out of the truck. I am not sure what is going on with her or if it is only that she does not want us here with her. Maybe she wants to get back to our children; I am not sure. I cannot read her right now. Her mind is elsewhere.

"Let me go in alone, please," Kate says as she gets out of the truck. Raven and I look at each other as she makes the request. She is serious and insistent, but there is no way I am letting her out of my sight. Not with all of this going on, vampires and murders, no way.

"I really think we should all go in together, but you can go in first, and we will follow. I do not want you in there alone, right now," I say to her.

"I agree with Alpha Erick. We should go in with you, but we can hang back a little and stay out of your way," Raven says. Raven looks over me, hoping I can convince Kate this is the best course of action. I think she will agree.

Kate agrees reluctantly. She walks ahead of us and into the house. We give her a moment and then follow her. Raven is anxious, but I do not think it is because of Kate. I think he is worried about the vampires and his new family, plus he is concerned about Kate. I am worried about Kate, too. She has new responsibilities and a family. I need her not to do anything stupid. I need her alive and with me, not dead or a vampire.

As I walk ahead of Raven, he grabs my upper arm. I turn back to look at him. Raven shakes his head at me and pulls me back to wait a moment. What the hell is he doing? He does not say anything for a moment then Kate screams. We run to her. She is in one of the back bedrooms. There is blood everywhere.

Raven and I run into the bedroom with Kate. She is covering her mouth as she gasps at the sight of all the blood. She turns to Raven and me. "This is insane! This is a lot of blood!" She screams.

I have never seen this much blood. I have been in battle. I have watched vampires and wolves fight, but this is, as Kate would put it, insane. Raven walks over to the blood and looks at it, studies it for a moment.

"I do not think this is Liam, but maybe Liam was feeding on someone. I think he is a vampire now from the looks of this," Raven says.

Kate looks at the blood and then touches it. "I agree. This is a wild feeding from a newborn vampire, not a murder," Kate says.

She closes her eyes for a moment and dips her hand into the blood. She looks at me and then closes her eyes again. She is waiting for me to say it is okay. I nod. She tilts back her head, and I know what she is going to do next. She is going to try to connect with whoever this blood belongs to, and I am not sure that is a good idea. This would frighten me, but since Raven is with her and connecting to the Imperial realm, I am slightly a little more comfortable with the scene unfolding before my eye.

I step back away from them and give them space. With their hands in the blood, eyes closed and connecting, the two of them are quiet as something seems to enter the room with us. Something is in here, something that is not good. Kate opens her eyes and looks at me, but Raven is still there, looking for answers. Kate reaches over and touches him, trying to pull him back to the present.

"Raven, are you okay?" Kate asks. She knows something is not right. That is why she came back before him.

Raven nods his head and then opens his eyes. He removes his hand from the blood and then wipes it on his pants. He blinks several times and then stands up. "I saw something, but I am not sure what I saw. It could have been Liam, but I am not sure," Raven says.

Raven stumbles toward the door. Kate follows him. I stay behind and look around Liam's place. I want to know what he was up to before he vanished or was killed, probably disappeared. He probably took off to pin his death on my wife.

I can hear Raven and Kate talking. She seems to be trying to calm him. I wonder what he saw when he was looking into the realm. I hear hissing as I try to focus on Raven and Kate. I turn my attention to the hissing noises coming from inside the house. I start to follow it. What is it? Is it the vampire? No, the vampire is secure.

I step out of the back bedroom and go down the hall. I open the door on the left, nothing, and then the door on the right, nothing. I hear footsteps and follow the sound. As I follow the footsteps, I realize that I can still hear Kate and Raven speaking outside.

All of a sudden, deep hard breaths are on my neck and then hissing. I turn to see what is behind me, but there is nothing there. What the hell is going on in this house?

"Erick!" Kate yells at me.

I turn back around toward the door, and she is standing there looking at me oddly. "Something is in this house. A vampire was breathing down my neck," I say to her.

"We know, come with me, quickly," Kate says.

I take Kate's hand, and we go out of the house together. Raven is visibly shaken when I exit the house. "What were the two of you talking about?" I ask them.

"It is a bit complicated, but I can try to give you the short version," Raven says.

"Okay, let's hear it," I say, waiting for the short version of this story that seems to have rocked Raven to his core.

"Liam is not dead, well, not completely dead anyway. He is around and probably going to cause some issues, but it is nothing we cannot handle," Raven says.

"So, he is a vampire?" I ask.

Kate and Raven look at each other. "Well, maybe," Kate says.

"He is a vampire, and he is trapped between the spiritual realm and here. He is going to cause some trouble, no doubt about it," Raven says.

I kick my boots into the dirt. I am over these damn Imperials. "How the hell do we keep him in the spiritual realm?" I ask.

Raven rushes toward me, shaking his head. "No, that is not what we want. We need to eject him to here so we can stake him and get rid of him for good, or else he will keep causing problems," Raven says.

"I agree with Raven. We have to eject him from the realm," Kate says.

"Okay, then. Do you know how to accomplish this?" I ask the two of them.

Raven and Kate look at each other again and then back to me. "We are working that out. It might take a few days, and we will need Jason," Kate says.

"Fine, just do what you need to do before Dr. Death goes on a killing spree," I say.

I walk back toward the truck. Kate and Raven follow me. "Where are you going?" Kate asks.

I stop walking and wait for her to catch up. "I want to check on our children before we do anything stupid," I say.

Kate agrees. Raven and Kate get into the truck. We leave Liam's to check on our children, especially Belle. She is more sensitive to the Imperials and whatever they have going on any given day.

"This is what he meant," Kate says quietly.

It takes a moment for her words to register. "Who meant what?" I ask her.

She looks at me. "The vampire, Jason, he said I would need his help. My little girl and I would need his help. He knows what is going on here," Kate says.