The Blood of the Soul

Blood Runs Thicker Than Water

A/N: Sorry about that cliffhanger guys (mwahahahaha), anyway, enjoy!

TW: Blood, gore, violence, and dark humor involving a shoe.

Liam

The fleeting relief as Theo materialized from the fog quickly morphed into horror and then confusion as Theo leapt in front of Liam, taking the brunt of the laser's blast straight to the chest and disappearing over Liam's head.

A noise of sheer anguish ripped from Liam's throat, scraping it raw. But it didn't matter how many times he said or thought the word "no."

It didn't make it any less real.

Liam didn't bother to look for a body when Theo would be reduced to mere dust now anyway, mingling with the snow.

That thought shattered something vital in the depths of Liam's soul, propelling him to his feet despite the ache spreading throughout his body. The unfettered rage burned away any lasting traces of weakness. It no longer mattered that he was essentially human.

All that mattered was that Theo was dead.

And that Doug had killed him.

Shock rippled through the crowd of vampires behind Doug and their attention shifted from Liam to the back of Doug's head-as if Theo's death had turned some invisible tide.

Time accelerated as Mari slammed her body into the laser, knocking it from Doug's grasp. In the midst of Doug's shock at Mari's betrayal, the taller of the McCall husbands slashed across Doug's back. Doug roared and whirled. Liam leapt onto his back and locked his good arm around Doug's thick neck, wishing he had the strength to snap his spine in half.

Doug flailed as he tried to pry Liam off, but he gripped the man's torso hard between his legs like a vice.

"Slayer!" one of the vampires called.

A dagger whizzed through the air hilt first-not an attack but an offering. Liam released Doug's neck and caught the blade, sinking the blade into the tops of Doug's shoulders, the back of his neck, and his reaching hands.

Mari brought her knee between Doug's legs, eliciting a grunt from the vampire.

"That's for Tara," Mari hissed and her heel connected with Doug's knee. A loud crack told Liam that the patella had shattered. "And that's for Theo."

Doug collapsed to his knees, the ground shuddering beneath his weight, and Liam dove off him.

The McCalls restrained Doug's arms behind his back, but brutish vampire flexed and wrenched his elbow back, sending one of them flying.

All the heads of the clans hurried to their aid, and Liam understood for the first time why Doug had maintained control over NYC for so long. He wasn't the most cunning, but he was physically one of the strongest vampires Liam had ever fought. The clans could never have defeated them on their own. It took all of them working in unison to defeat him.

Even if Liam's slayer strength hadn't abandoned him, he doubted that he could've beaten him alone.

Spike, free from the vampires who'd restrained him earlier, snatched the laser from the ground before anyone else could get ahold of it and offered it to Liam.

But an instantaneous death would be too kind for the man who'd wrought so much terror on this world. Ending his life quickly would be a mercy that Doug didn't deserve.

Liam shook his head, and Spike tucked the weapon under his arm, offering him a stake instead. Liam wished he could hang Doug up in a dungeon and pry his finger nails off one by one. Bleed him out send him into a terror-induced haze of hallucinations before beheading him.