He ran through the archway of the tower around to the back, where kids climbed up to the roof. He used the same path and ended up on the upper level, right next to the giant clock. Looking at it suddenly made a very strange thought enter his mind.
“Holy shit! I just climbed a clock tower with a gun!” something he had sworn he wouldn’t do, no matter how crazy he ended up.
Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed around him. The sky lit up and he caught sight of gigantic bat wings, swooping through the rain.
She was back.
He readied the sawn-off in one hand and the machete in the other. As soon as he caught sight of her again, he fired. The massive blast of the gun shot across the landscape, but the bullet didn’t hit its intended target.
Instead, Selena shot towards him like a winged missile and slammed into his body sending him flying to the other side of the roof. It was like being hit by a freight train. The sawn-off and the machete slipped out of his wet hands. His body throbbed with pain as he lifted his head and searched desperately for his weapons.
His eyes caught sight of the machete, as lightening streaked above. He started crawling towards it, just as a thump behind him sounded out Selena’s arrival.
He tried to crawl faster, but his body was so heavy. She walked over to him, grabbed him by the neck and picked him up. He was no heavier than a baseball to her. She was looking dangerously excited. Her clothes were mangled and she was covered in blood, but she clearly wasn't in any pain.
The pureblood whacked him across the face, but not nearly as hard as she could have. It was still more than enough to make him see stars. She didn’t want to kill him; she just wanted to have a little fun.
She flung him back to the ground and kicked him in the gut, causing him to skid across the roof. His eyes were barely open, but he still managed to see that the machete was right beside him.
Again, she reached down and picked him up, bringing his face to hers. His head was numb from the amount of hits it had taken and he was probably going to lose consciousness any second. She just smiled at him, allowing her bloodied teeth to show.
“Now, how about that drink?”
Her fangs came down and dug deep into his neck, sending a new wave of pain through his body. The adrenaline managed to wake him up a bit, but it also made him feel the blood being sucked from his body. She was so enticed by the taste of it that she hadn’t even noticed Jerry holding the shock machete in his hand.
With no other options and nothing left to lose, he held the machete high in the air and clicked the battery on.
“This is gonna hurt!” he growled and pushed the shock button.
A colossal bolt of lightning came down from the clouds and hit the machete, sending over fifty thousand volts through both of their bodies. The strike blasted both of them apart and off of the tower, hurling them into the river below.
The ice cold water drove the air out of Jerry’s lungs immediately, and his limbs wouldn’t respond. There were no coherent thoughts in his head - his brain had just been completely scrambled. He sank, helplessly for a moment, before the feeling came back into his body. He panicked and writhed around, before catching a glimpse of light.
He turned to see Selena, screaming in agony and flailing around under the water. The light was coming from inside her body as something was heating up.
KA-BOOM!
The blood she’d taken from Jerry exploded inside her with the force of a carpet bomb. The blast wave struck Jerry and ejected him out of the river and onto the bank, where he collided with the ground hard. Water blasted all over the place and showered the entire area.
When he opened his eyes, he wasn’t by the river. He wasn’t even outside.
He was in the hospital. Again. The very same room he’d been in before, looking down at his own body. Was he dead? Was this some kind of weird aspect of your life flashing before your eyes, or was he just hallucinating?
This was when he had been in a coma, after Cass had almost killed him. He had a bandage on his neck and was hooked up to all kinds of medical equipment. Except he wasn’t alone.
Next to his bed, a woman was sat watching him. She was very attractive, with black her down to her shoulders, pale, icy eyes and she was wearing a white business suit. She just sat there looking at him.
Very slowly, her gaze moved away from the comatose Jerry and up to the version of himself which was awake. The tiniest of smiles appeared on her face and suddenly a booming voice sounded out.
“JERRY!”
His eyes shot open. The rain was hitting his face and a moment later, pain was wracking his whole body again. His hand burned, his neck stung, and it felt like his ribs were cracked, but he was alive. He looked around in confusion, wondering just what the hell that had been about. Who was that woman who had been in his hospital room?
He looked up and saw Sophinia’s angelic face. It was full of concern, but also happiness.
“Are you alright? Can you hear me?” she asked frantically.
Jerry groaned and tried to sit up. “Word to the wise, don’t get struck by lightning, it sucks ass...”
Sophinia couldn’t help herself, she hugged him tight. Jerry let out a squeak of pain, informing him, that yes, his ribs were cracked. She released him as soon as she realized she was hurting him.
“Where’s Selena?” she asked.
“Err...over there,” he pointed lazily to the river. “And over there, and there, and a little over there...”
“You killed her?” Sophinia gasped.
“Yeah, haven’t you noticed? I’m a badass,” he croaked, and started to get up. It wasn’t easy. It felt like his body was being weighed down by something nonexistent. That was when it actually hit him.
He had just killed Selena. He had really done it and suddenly the pain in his body didn’t feel so bad. That evil bitch would never hurt anyone again.
The pain shot back up again though as he remembered Goose’s face. The way he’d looked when he’d asked where the others were. They were dead...his friends were dead.
He couldn’t stop guilt from flooding through him and he clenched his eyes tight shut.
“We’ve got to get you to a doctor,” Sophinia said, helping him to stand.
“Just tell me you got the rest of those bastards,” Jerry begged.
She didn’t answer right away. Not until he looked up to see the worried look on her face. “Somebody beat us to it.”
“What?!”
CHAPTER 25 – DEATH AND TRANSFIGURATION
Newton High School – St. Cloud.
Jerry was sat in the back of an ambulance parked just outside Newton High School. Everywhere there were police, fireman and EMT’s moving around between press, onlookers and people who had actually been at the school before it turned into a war zone. He was being patched up by a doctor who was wrapping a bandage around the horrible burn mark on his hand.
Along with the gash on his forehead, it would be there for the rest of his life. Truthfully, he didn’t mind the one on his head that much. He thought it had a sort of John McClane style to it.
Above, the storm had passed and the sky was clear and it looked set on turning into an annoyingly sunny day. It didn’t seem right that everything could look so nice after what had happened the night before. Of course, it meant the vamps had had to clear out.
Not far away, Officer Adams was giving a statement to a group of reporters gathered around him, their microphones stuck in his face.
“So far, we think it was a faulty gas line in one of the biology classrooms that was the cause of the explosion last night. Although most of the students present were safely evacuated, I’m sorry to report that four people did lose their lives in the blast. Their names will be provided at a later time. I’m sorry, but that’s all the questions I have time for,” he told them, before pushing his way through the crowed and over to the safety of the yellow police tape.
Jerry felt a twinge of anger rise up inside him after hearing that. It
wasn’t directed at Adams, or anyone really. It just felt wrong to cover up those deaths as an accident. He knew they’d have to of course. This was exactly why Sophinia had so many police officers working for her, it was instrumental to their survival, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.
Not far from the reporters, Rachel was sat on a bench looking around. Her eyes would lock onto a particular person, one that had actually been at Prom and for a moment their expression would turn oddly blank. Then they’d shake their head and go on like nothing had happened. She was removing any memories that could cause problems for them.
It actually kind of frightened Jerry that she could do something like that. If she could make something as traumatic as the battle last night just disappear, what else could she do? Rachel seemed to pick up on his thoughts because she looked over at him and gave a sympathetic smile.
“How’s that feel?” the doc asked, finishing off his bandage.
“That’s fine,” he said, flexing his fingers. It still hurt, but the Morphine was helping, at least for the moment. His blood would burn through it pretty soon though.
The doctor got out of the ambulance and headed away to take care of something else. Jerry sat in the back and pulled out the pack of cigarettes he’d stolen from his pocket. They were quite literally leaking water and he threw them away in annoyance. He was dying for a smoke right about now.
At that moment, a guy he’d never seen before in his life walked over to him and handed him a cigarette and a lighter, a blank look on his face. After lighting it up, he just walked away, as if it hadn’t happened. Rachel was standing behind him.
“You can mind control people into giving me cigarettes?” Jerry asked.
“It’s not really mind control, more a firm suggestion,” she shrugged.
“Thanks,” he smiled, breathing in the wonderful yet poisonous smoke.
Rachel looked at him intently for a second and he knew what she was doing.
“You recognize her?” he asked.
“No,” she said. She had been looking at what he’d seen after being hit by the lightning. The woman in white who had been at his bedside when he’d been in a coma. Jerry had become way more interested in her now that Rachel had explained exactly what had happened before he’d woken up in the hospital.
“You think she’s the one that brought me back to life?”
“You weren’t dead, Jerry,” she reminded.
“You know what I mean,” he snorted.
“I’d say she’s the prime suspect.”
“Yeah...just wish I knew who to send a fruit basket to,” Jerry shrugged.
“So do I. That lightning bolt shook something, loose but that little glimpse is all. The barrier in your head is just as tough as it was,” she said. “I can’t breach it.”
“That figures,” he moaned. “When am I gonna get some answers about all this shit.”
“We’re working on it, Jerry,” Rachel said and rubbed his shoulder.
“I know,” he smiled.
A few seconds later, Joe and Goose walked over to them. They had shed any incriminating objects, like guns and knives, but they too were looking a little busted up. Covered in dirt and blood, with big bruises and a few nasty cuts, they still stood out like sore thumbs. Sophinia’s people had gathered up whatever weapons they’d left behind and returned them to her mansion.
“Hey,” Jerry said. “What’s the scoop?”
“Looks like we got em' all,” Joe said. “Counting how many we killed and the ones Sophinia’s crew mopped up after they arrived. It looks like Black Forest is gone for good.”
“Music to my ears,” Jerry smiled.
“Yeah, so no need for you to run off like a dumbass again!” Goose scorned.
“Look, I’m sorry okay...”
“No, Goose has a point,” Joe nodded, “you ever do something like that again and -”
“You’ll do something extremely violent to my reproductive organs, I get it...I just...I didn’t know what else to do. I was desperate, I was trying to keep you guys safe,” Jerry admitted feeling guilty. “Didn’t exactly work out the way I planned though,” his thoughts were back on the people they’d lost. Parker, Roach, Steve and Sarah were gone. He couldn’t help but feel that maybe he could have done something if he’d been there.
He’d been a fool and those deaths might be on his hands.
“Don’t do that,” Rachel said, knowing what he was thinking. “You didn’t kill them Jerry, Black Forest did and now they’re burning in hell.”
“Good,” Goose mumbled darkly.
“We’re not out of the woods yet though. Word’s got out. A lot of people know you’re the one with the blood,” Rachel reminded him. “You’re still in danger.”
“Well, that makes a change,” Joe huffed.
“Maybe it does,” Jerry said, sparking their curiosity. “You think there’s any chance that the chick in the snappy suit that laid her healing hands on me is the same one that snuffed all those Black Forest dicks?”
They had all thought about this possibility and it certainly seemed to fit.
“Whoever she is, she got past all our defenses and healed you in ten seconds flat,” Rachel said. “Killing a few vamps looks like small game compared to something with that kind of power.”
“So, she heals me then wipes out half the bloodsuckers that are hunting me...am I crazy or does that sound like we’ve got an ally out there?”
“Well, that’s certainly a nice idea, but I wouldn’t jump to conclusions Jerry,” Rachel warned. “I don’t have a clue who this woman is, or more importantly, what she is...all I know is that something with that kind of power scares the hell out of me.”
Rockville Iron Works
Devlin was sitting on an old desk in the middle of the factory floor while Sasha tended to the nasty burn marks on his face. It looked as if his skin had literally melted off. She was holding a dead rat above his head, allowing the dripping blood to fall on his wounds. As it did, his injuries seemed to absorb it and shrink in the process.
“Hold still,” she insisted. He just growled at her.
Very slowly, more parts of the burn started to heal.
“Where is everybody else? We were all supposed to meet back here,” he hissed. The sun was down now and they should have been back.
“I don’t know. Maybe they had to take shelter when the sun came up,” she said logically. “Maybe it delayed them.”
“No, they were supposed to be here by now! Where are they?”
“They’re dead.”
Both vampires snapped their heads around to see who had just spoken. There was no way someone could sneak up on them.
Leaning against the wall about twenty feet away was a woman who was simply hypnotic to behold. Sophinia, Selena, Cass and Claire were all drop dead gorgeous, and not just because they were undead, but this woman put them all to shame.
“I killed them all,” she said casually.
Her hair appeared at first to be black, but on closer inspection it was in fact very, very dark red. It was straight and fell right down to the back of her thighs in a loose pony tail. Her eyes were green, almost like Jerry’s, but one of them was completely obscured by the beautiful crimson hair which fell over her face. Only her right eye was visible, and this was locked firmly on her targets. Her gaze was predatory, but relaxed, and she was wearing a casual white Rolling Stones T-shirt. The shirt stopped at the top of her stomach, revealing smooth skin and toned muscles which ended at her jean short pants. Her long exposed legs caught Devlin’s eye ,but he was more interested in the symmetrical tattooed symbols that ran from her calves up past her stomach and disappeared beneath her shirt. Neither of the vamps recognized the strange symbols or the markings they were made up of. She was also wearing leather cowboy boots.
“Who the hell are you?” Devlin demanded in a snarl.
She lazily started walking towards them. As she got closer, it was clear that she was at least six foot two, maybe six thr
ee, and her body was perfectly proportioned. Athletic and yet curvy at the same time, she was busty, slim and toned. Her face was flawless. Her slightly tanned white skin didn’t have one single imperfection and she clearly had no fear.
She was, for lack of a better word; a goddess.
“You know, you vampires make me laugh,” she said in a silky seductive voice. “You’re such delusional little creatures.”
Blood Heavy (Blood Heavy Series) Page 33