It’s Funny How Love Starts (IFHLS Book 1)

Lucas’ POV

The instant Alexia’s presence left me, I knew something was wrong. The safe house was only an hour away but she was way off my radar which spread out for about a good fifty miles.

The battle was still raging on even after an hour. The hunters wouldn’t stop attacking and without Alexia by our side, I was losing a lot of my numbers. The house was a complete ruin too, with broken furniture all over the room or fragmented with bullets.

I found Amos a while ago, spotting him in my peripheral vision. He was trying to get to me, so I made my way towards him. Since we weren’t in the same pack, we didn’t have the convenient mind sharing I had with the rest of my pack.

“Lucas, where’s Travis?” he asked through his teeth as he tackled on two hunters at once. I had forgotten all about him. If he wasn’t out here, he might be still in the dungeon.

“I have to get down to the dungeon. Watch my back,” I said, taking down a hunter and then made my way through the battle with Amos closely behind my back.

I found the door that led down and opened it to find Travis and Jessabelle on the floor at the end of the stairs. They must’ve fallen because above Travis’s head was a pool of blood.

“What are you waiting for?” Derek said behind me.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“What are you doing here?” I asked but I forgot that he stayed for the night. I didn’t notice him through all the commotion.

“I was fighting your battle while you’re here looking at the poor humans. Come on,” Derek urged as he brushed past me and practically jumped the whole way down.

He checked each body quickly and examined their wounds before I got to the bottom of the stairs. His quick speed was a total advantage.

“Jessabelle is conscious but Travis doesn’t look so well. His head wound his pretty bad but it won’t kill him,” Derek said, giving the verdict. “I’ll place Travis in that bed and prop Jessabelle next to wall. Travis needs the bed more than she does.”

“You’re not going crazy over his blood.” It felt a little immature to point it out but I always thought vampires craved blood.

“I’ve lived eternity. I can fight off those temptations easily,” Derek answered. “I’m going to treat Travis’ wound. Where’s Alexia?” He said it like he didn’t even think about it until now.

“She’s with Jace but she’s off my radar. I can’t sense her anywhere,” I said a little worried. I trusted Jace and I knew he would keep her safe but I began to have my doubts.

“Do you have a piece of her clothing or something I can smell? I’m sure I can track her. Although I’m not a tracker vampire, I can still do a pretty decent job,” Derek suggested.

“Yeah, it’s upstairs.”

“I’ll finish tending his head quickly and I’ll meet you out in the woods,” Derek said and I ran up the stairs back into the fight.

I did exactly what he said, grabbing one of Alexia’s t-shirt and running out into the woods while avoiding hunters. I only waited ten seconds before Derek appeared besides me.

“Jessabelle is fully conscious now and Travis seemed to be able to groan before I left him in Jessabelle’s care which means he’s finally gaining conscious,” he reported. He eyed Alexia’s shirt and smelled for a good minute. I changed to my wolf form, leaving my pants and shirt to Derek. “I’m getting her scent. Come on,” he waved and in a flash, we were running together relying only on the shirt and Derek’s tracking skills.

I’m coming for you Alexia. I promised that I will never leave you. I’m coming.

We’ve been running for a good half an hour and there was nothing but a long stretch of a highway and the woods that it was surrounded by. Suddenly, I felt a jolt of panic through the bond. It was Alexia and Zane.

Lucas! I need you. Please, her voice rang in my head.

Alexia! I called out but I could feel how weak and vulnerable she was. If she was in that condition there was no way I could contact her. I tried Zane but I couldn’t get through him either. I felt their presence at the next right and Derek seemed to notice too.

We both took a sharp right turn and came upon a graveyard that seemed to stretch on for ages. While still being concealed in the woods, I quickly changed back and put on my clothes. Such a pain to do if you ask me.

“There. A little deeper into the graveyard over there,” Derek pointed to the never ending road.

“Yeah, I feel them and I feel Jace but he’s blocking his mind from me,” I said in confusion. What the hell was going on? Alexia and Zane’s fear was creating a mental block from me too. A sudden burst of hurt and surprise came through the bond from Alexia and Zane. What the hell was going on?

“Let’s go,” Derek said before we were on the run again. Even if I was back to my human form, I was still a fast runner but Derek had to slow down for me.

Derek stopped when we reached the private section of the graveyard and we cautiously went in, scanning through the place while we walked. They were so close, I could smell them.

I noticed Jace and Phoebe’s head bobbing out. I walked closer to them and saw Alexia and Zane on the ground with Phoebe’s arm stretching out to them with a gun.

“Jace! Phoebe!” I growled and ran towards them but Phoebe’s gun went instantly to me. I froze and noticed the slight breeze behind my back. Derek used his vampire speed to hide. At least we had one advantage for now. An elemental surprise but I wasn’t sure how we could use it in this situation.

“Phoebe, what are you doing?” I asked calmly, taking small steps towards her. I didn’t know anything that was going on except the gun being pointed at me.

“Hello Lucas,” Jace said. He didn’t look pleased but he tried to put on a good face. “It’s a surprise for you to find us. I thought you had other business to attend to.”

“What’s going on?” I said, my voice growing deep and dangerous.

“Something I’ve been destined to do since the death of my parents,” he said darkly. What was he talking about? I knew his parents were dead. He told me they were killed and they were looking for him to. That was how we found him half dead and took him in. I remembered my dad getting angry, telling us we had to call the Elders but I didn’t remember anything after that. My dad suddenly felt pity and we took him in where he met Lexi and they found each other.

“Jace, you aren’t making any sense.” I had to keep him talking to buy time although the truth would be nice too.

“Alexia, my darling, why don’t you tell Lucas about us,” he smiled at Alexia and I had growl to get his attention back to me.

“Don’t touch her,” I said darkly. Jace smiled smugly and walked over to Alexia, forcing her to stand up. She tried to struggle but he was too strong. I tried to make my way over to her but Phoebe cocked the gun.

“Don’t move,” she said but her voice failed her. She held the gun but I knew she wouldn’t shoot me so I continued my way to Alexia. That was when Jace took out his own gun and pointed it at Alexia head.

“I advise you to stop, Lucas,” he warned. I stopped dead in my tracks. Zane was already badly beaten up and was fighting just to stay conscious. I saw a dark red stain on his leg. They shot him. I turned towards Jace, concealing my face to what I truly felt. Horror and confusion.

“What are you doing?” I asked again, hoping he would elaborate this time.

“Alexia, tell him,” Jace commanded, ignoring my question.

“H-h-he’s my brother,” she stammered but she stood her ground, looking unafraid. “Lucas, save yourself while you can.” She pleaded with her eyes but I wasn’t going anywhere. The news took me by surprise but it didn’t change my decision of leaving her. What did it matter. What I found disturbing was how her own brother could point a gun to her head.

“Jace, you need to explain everything,” I said calmly. Jace scowled at the unresponsive look I had.

“Do you know the story of The Bloodwolf’s Revenge?” Jace asked. Sure I knew. It was a myth although not many knew of the story because it included Bloodwolves. It was about how a Bloodwolf died but came back alive by a Healer. Healers were only known for curing werewolves and it would kill Bloodwolves if they ever tried healing one. In the story, the Healer was captured by a witch who created a spell to resurrect the Bloodwolf. In order to do so, she needed the Healer’s soul and the blood of another Bloodwolf to make it happen. The spell worked and the Healer’s soul was consumed by the resurrected Bloodwolf. A scary myth but obviously fake.

“Yes, I know of it,” I answered. I wasn’t stupid to know where it was all going. Jace and Phoebe thought that they could sacrifice Alexia but who were they trying to resurrect? Then it struck me. Jace and Alexia’s parents. With them resurrected, both societies were in danger of an uncontrollable species. Alexia was the Healer and Jace was the other Bloodwolf.

“Well then, you know where I’m going with this,” Jace said, forcing Alexia next to the grave. He made her lay on top of the tombstone and turned back to me. “We’ll finally have something in common,” he grinned evilly. “A dead mate.”

“Wait,” I shouted. “What does Phoebe have to do with this?”

“She’s only fueled by her own jealousy,” Jace said, making Phoebe grimace.

“Stop it Jace. Make it all stop,” Phoebe said to Jace. “Erase my memory, please.” She began to sob but still had the gun pointed at me.

“Erase your memory? What are you talking about?”

“Nothing,” Jace said, giving Phoebe his deathly look. “Shut up.”

“No, I won’t go on anymore until you erase it. It hurts too much for him to see me like this and for him to reject me all these times,” she spat harshly.

All the pieces seemed to fit perfectly in place like a solved puzzle. The reason why during the investigation there was a power outage and everyone seemed to forget and have mixed memories. It wasn’t just their confusion, it was Jace’s doing. When I couldn’t remember why father was mad at Jace and suddenly father took pity, it was all Jace’s doing too. Father knew who Jace was and that’s why he wanted to call the Elders but Jace erased our memory before father could act.

“It was all you!” I said, finally giving him the look of surprise.

“Lucas Slade cracks the mystery,” Jace smirked. “Now continuing on with today’s events.” He quickly took out a silver dagger and poised it at Alexia, his smile turning into a frown. “I’ll miss you sister but two Bloodwolf is better than one in this world,” he said before he plunged it at Alexia.

Just as it was about to enter her heart, Derek finally came out of his hiding spot and took a hold of the dagger.

“What the hell?” Jace said his frown turning to anger. “Derek,” he guessed. Jace quickly recovered and took out his gun instead and held it out in front of Derek. “A little too late to play hero, don’t you think?” Jace said darkly.

Alexia began to scream trying to take the attention off of Derek and she succeeded. “I’ll just finish you off first.” I instantly reacted when I should’ve done so long ago. Alexia’s life was more valuable than mine and I knew Derek would be able to finish them off with my last conversion.

As soon as Jace’s fingers coiled around the gun and triggered, I threw myself over Alexia letting the silver bullet take me instead. The impact of the bullet made me crush Alexia under me and my world started to fade as I saw of Derek on the move. With Derek on the move, at least I knew Alexia was in good hands.

Alexia’s POV

Everything seemed to happen so fast. I wasn’t afraid of death anymore and I chose to face it but as soon as Jace pulled the trigger, Lucas appeared. The bullet slammed into him and the impact took us both.

As soon as it happened, Derek kicked into action and took Jace to the ground but I swore I would kill the person who murdered my parents. He caused too much hurt.

With strength I didn’t know I had, I ripped the rope and sprang to Jace with the gun that he dropped. I took it and walked where Derek and Jace were on the ground throwing punches and aimed the gun for Jace and shot.

This all seemed to happen in a matter of seconds but that one gunshot was what ended everything. Ended everything that began from the day I was born.

Derek turned to me but everything was in slow motion. He let go of Jace’s body which landed with a thud to the ground and ran up to me, taking the gun away from my hand.

Jace turned his head slowly to me although I could tell it took him his last bit of energy he had.

“I really did care for you Alexia,” he said softly and then his head when limp leaving his eyes open and one single trail of tear.

You killed him. I knew you were capable. Good start, my darling. Good start. You will be much greater use than your brother.

I screamed in anger and frustration at the sound of the darkness. It made me kill Jace. It was the darkness. It was slowly making me into a monster.

“Alexia!” Derek said grabbing me with both arms. I knew he felt what I felt as soon as he touched me but he didn’t let go of me. “Alexia, focus! Lucas got shot in the chest.”

His name was the only reason how I snapped out of my own little world. Lucas was hurt and possibly dead. I knew the toll of raising someone from the dead was just inviting more of the darkness but at this point, Lucas was my only focus.

“He’s bleeding both front and back. There’s an entry wound and an exit wound. He’s dead,” Zane proclaimed. Somehow Zane had managed to take out Phoebe and do a fast check up on Lucas. No way was he dead on my watch.

I went over to him and placed each of my hands the front and backside of the wound. His blood flowed freely in my hands and I had to use my willpower to control the bloodlust. Since I already fed from him, his blood seemed more welcoming but there was no time for any foolish things.

“Don’t let it get to you. Fight it,” Derek warned. I took a deep breath, letting Derek’s words sink in. I wouldn’t let it get to me.

Closing my eyes I began to draw the energy that I felt the night I healed Zane. It didn’t feel anything like healing a small injury but it felt like it was draining my own life source and pushing it in Lucas, giving him a part of my life, part of my soul.

I heard Derek gasp in surprise which encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing. My head bent back and I inhaled every bit of oxygen I could and snapped my head forward, pouring my life source into Lucas. The light was so bright that I was forced to open my eyes and see for myself and I gasped at the golden light that surrounded me and Lucas.

The light quickly vanished as it did when I healed Zane and then everything went back to normal, but it wasn’t normal anymore. Lucas’ pale face began to regain its natural color and I could feel the warmth starting to radiate from him. Then finally he gasped like how you would wake up from a bad dream but this was no bad dream. This was finally reality. My Lucas was alive.

“Alexia?” he breathed heavily. He looked at me and laid his head back on the ground in defeat. “I’m dying, aren’t I?” he asked.

“No silly. You’re alive,” I smiled and kissed him with everything I had.