Chapter Thirty-Nine

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The voice that crackled over the receiver was female, something that, admittedly, neither man had expected. The tone was smug, with little background noise to give away anything else. Dante summoned every ounce of self-control to stem his outburst, whereas Fionn was simply frozen for a second, trying to remember how to breathe.

"Let me guess, you would be Delta?" Dante clamped his hand over Fionn's mouth before the wolf could make any comment that may aggravate the hunter, "we haven't been formally introduced, though you seem to have met my children, how else would you have Kastor's phone?"

"I just happened to run into your sons on their way to the airport, obviously I had to intercept, can't have them leaving when it's just getting good now, can I?" Dante felt Fionn's tears on his hand and gave his husband a sympathetic look.

"Would it be foolish of me to hope they are still alive?" Fionn's breath hitched in his throat, he couldn't comprehend how his husband was staying so calm when he all he wanted to do was crawl into a deep corner of his mind and let the beast do it's worst.

"No, they're alive and unharmed, mostly," Fionn let out a soft whine, relief rushing through his thoughts.

"Get your fucking hands off him!" Kastor roared, his voice sounding distant yet conveying such anger, "he's a child! He isn't a threat to you!" Fionn's heart ached, someone was hurting his sons. He could almost feel Kastor's rage, which spiked in his chest, causing more tears to slip from his eyes.

"Mostly be the operative word," Dante seethed, his anger beginning to show on the surface of his blazing eyes.

"Yes, well, your eldest clearly has a problem with authority. He is being subdued as we speak, might not be quite conscious when you get here."

"My child has learnt to take a few hits over the years, I'm sure he will be fine," Fionn clutched Dante's arm, his entire body trembling furiously.

"Where's Fionn, Dante? Is he there with you or do I need to send separate cars?"

"Fionn will not be coming with me, I'm not bringing my entire family to watch my inevitable death, Delta, that would be very inconsiderate of me," Fionn couldn't quell another whimper that slipped from his lips at the thought of Dante's death.

"Oh, Dante, Fionn's presence here isn't optional. And judging by how calm you're remaining, I will assume he's there with you. At the gallery? I'll have someone pick you up in ten minutes. See you soon," the second the phone cut out, Fionn was engulfed in Dante's tight embrace, sobbing into the vampire's chest.

"I'll get them back, puppy, I promise. We're all gonna be fine, I swear to you," Fionn listened to Dante repeat stupid little sentences like the latter until Whit informed the two that there was a car waiting outside for them.

It was a black car, of course, with tinted windows and only one generic looking driver. Dante got in first, pulling Fionn close after him. The wolf couldn't stop shaking, holding onto his husband's hands so tightly he was sure there would be bruises.

"I love you, puppy, please remember that."

"Stop acting like you're gonna fucking die, Dant, we're all getting out of here alive," Fionn tried to pick out vital landmarks along their journey, hoping to keep his bearings, but wasn't able to focus for more than a few seconds at a time. He was trying desperately to stem his tears, not wanting to look so pathetic in front of his husband.

"First door on the right," the driver grunted as the car rolled to a stop next to a large building. They were in the middle of nowhere, that was obvious to Fionn when he got out of the car, never letting go of his husband's hand. No trees, no grass, just arid land as far as the eye could see.

"I love you," Fionn whispered, staring at the deep green door in front of the two men.

"I love you too, puppy," Dante entered first, with Fionn close on his heel. A white hallway. A white hallway with one navy blue door to the right, that was all there was. Fionn had never felt so scared in all his life. The door swung open as Dante reached for the handle.

"Come in, guys, we won't bite," a petite woman with ebony hair and ashen skin stood at the end of the room, six men behind her and eight lining each side of the room. Twenty-two in total, if Delta herself wasn't counted, Fionn had taken on more at the facility with Dante.

The door was slammed shut behind the two men as they entered, revealing five more men either side against the back wall. Thirty-two, still possible. Fionn had to focus very hard on remaining in human form, with the beast clawing away at the door it had been imprisoned behind. Turning would most likely get him killed, and he needed to ensure Kastor and Arlo's safety before doing something stupid like that.

"How was your journey here? Good, I assume, definitely quick. It's a good thing you didn't get pulled over or anything like that," Delta's cheerful tone only made Fionn want to rip her throat out even more.

"We would like to see our sons," Fionn was ultimately thankful Dante took control of the situation, he wouldn't have the coherent thought to do so.

"Of course you do," Delta glanced to her left and two more men dragged Kastor out from somewhere. His head was hanging low, blood dripping from his mouth, and made no moves as he was thrown forward onto the floor. Fionn grimaced, wanting so desperately to hold the child.

"Is he alive?"

"Is that a trick question? He hasn't been alive for nearly 2500 years really, has he, Dante?" Delta said with a small laugh, to which Dante barely acknowledged, "God, you really are humourless. Yes, in a sense, he is alive. He's just unconscious. See for yourself," one of the men that had brought Kastor in kicked the vampire in the side, flipping him over. Fionn heard a low wheeze from the younger vampire, and a hiss of pain as he tugged on the thin chains around his wrists, no doubt laced with Plumeria.

"Our other son?" Delta smirked, shaking her head.

"In due time, aren't you curious as to why you're here?"

"You're going to kill us," Dante said bluntly, "do you really expect me to care about the details?"

"Yes," Delta quipped, anger flaring in her eyes, "I do expect you to care, Dante. You took someone from me, someone very special."

"I've killed many over my years, if you expect me-"

"You will remember him! You will remember him and you will suffer as I have!" Delta shrieked, making Fionn flinch.

"Mr Blue?" Dante said, raising an eyebrow, "you said he was just the beginning, one that ended too quickly. You definitely have feelings for him. What was he to you? Brother? Husband? Uncle?"

"Fiance," Delta seethed through gritted teeth, "you didn't even leave a body for me to bury."

"Am I supposed to sympathise? He kidnapped us, tortured us and planned to kill us. Everything we did was in self-defence."

"He was a good man!" Delta roared, clenching her fists so tight her knuckles turned white, "you're the monsters! He dedicated his life to slaughtering you creatures, to saving humans, and you murder him! An in-"

"Don't you dare call him innocent," Dante snapped, "you're delusional, you all are. I couldn't care less if he was a family man, or if he had three children at home. He tried to kill me and I got him first, that's life. Suck it up. He's not coming back," a shiver rolled down Fionn's back as he listened to the icy tone his husband used. He had never heard him sound so heartless, so apathetic, yet he felt no resentment. Everything Dante had said was true.

"What gives you the right to deem innocence?" Delta glanced to her right and suddenly Fionn's heart stopped at the sound of wailing and screaming. An awful cold feeling washed over the wolf, abrupt weakness spreading through his body as his child, his son, was carried out by the throat and passed to Delta.

"Is this what you deem innocent?! A monster?!" tears stung Fionn's eyes and the beast very nearly slipped out. Arlo was covered in bruises, screaming hoarsely, sobbing so loud Fionn felt it pound in his mind.

"He is a child," Dante hissed and Fionn felt his husband's entire body tense, felt an unknown darkness spread through the vampire's mind, seeping into his own. Dante was losing control.

"Child or not," Delta spoke in a much lower tone, one that Fionn struggled to hear over his son's weeping, "he is not innocent."

Time always seems to slow in situations the mind cannot comprehend, Fionn had noted that over his years. Though never had it slowed so much as when the gut-wrenching sound of Arlo's little neck snapping finally hit Fionn's ears. He would have expected anger, sorrow or at least some emotion to fill him, though instead, he felt numb.

He was vaguely aware of movement around him, sounds of death and suffering, yet couldn't manage to tear his eyes from his son. His baby. Arlo's body was falling, drifting through the air, Delta's hand no longer around the neck that was bent at an odd angle.

Fionn couldn't move, as though his feet had been welded to the very spot he was in. He could only stare on in horror, feeling the blood splatter his trembling form. The blood wasn't from Arlo, no, it was from the hunters Dante was slaughtering. Fionn wasn't even sure if there was a word for what his husband was doing. Losing control seemed too calm, it didn't quite convey the massacre that Dante was currently committing.

As time realigned itself, merely two or three seconds had passed, and yet Fionn was the only truly living being in the room. His legs finally gave way, his lips slightly parted as the numbness receded and the agony began to take over.

Dante was bent over Arlo, his figure drenched in more blood than Fionn had even known thirty-three bodies contained. He was dripping blood from his own slit wrist into the child's mouth, then sinking his fangs into Arlo's shoulder. Fionn wanted to tell Dante that it was too late, their son was already dead, but his mouth wouldn't move.

Instead, he simply watched as his husband laid their toddler on the blood-drenched floor and rose to his feet. He seemed taller, his shoulders broader and his expression far more twisted. Dante didn't even glance toward Fionn as he strode from the room. Leaving behind, once more, the bloodshed he had caused. 

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