by Aria Sparke
‘But you signed a contract. You’d have to repay everything.’
‘I doubt whether Alexis would have grounds to object after what your family said to me. I think I’ve got a good case to break the contract.’ How could I convince him? ‘You need to get away, Flynn before it’s too late.’
He sat beside me and put his arm around me. ‘I know you’ve had it tough and my family business hasn’t helped. But before you do anything rash, finish your exams and think about it for a couple of weeks.’
I sighed. ‘Okay.’ I knew then and there he wouldn’t leave his family or Wicklow, but it didn’t change my resolve.
‘If you still decide you want to leave, I’ll come with you for support to tell Alexis.’
‘Will you leave with me?’ I desperately wanted him to agree.
He raised his eyebrows like he was in pain. ‘I can’t.’
After our talk, I spent every afternoon in the gym for the next fortnight taking my fear and frustration out on the gym dummies. By Friday they had to repair and repaint Vince’s face, as I’d learned to hit my target with a blade, hard and accurately. No doubt the many years I’d spent pitching baseballs to Dad in our backyard translated to knife handling. I wondered if I’d ever have the courage or need to use this newfound skill. It was so far removed from my dream of becoming a doctor.
The night after my last exam I lay on my bed trying to think straight. My heart was breaking over the thought of leaving Flynn, but I knew what I had to do in the morning. I’d already made an appointment to see Alexis. By Monday I expected to be on a bus headed for Florida.
Checking the clock, I realized it was almost midnight. A powerful urge to run surged through my body. Without pausing to think, I pulled on a pair of dark tights, a long-sleeved top and sneakers. Like a sleek cat burglar, I slipped down the stairs and out the back door. Inhaling the sweet night air laden with the scent of the overhanging jasmine, I ran along the covered walkway until I veered from the library entry toward the ovals. By the time I reached the large back oval, I was flying. Above, the stars spattered the inky sky and the full moon cast an eerie light. All I could hear was my steady footfall alternating with my breaths. Gazing across the ovals to the dorms, I could see many lights burning, as some students studied into the night while others socialized. Flynn’s light was also still on.
I felt a surge of adrenalin and sadness mix and churn in the pit of my stomach. Why? How could Flynn be so perfect yet everything around him so wrong? I ran faster, pushing past the grove of pine trees at the back of the oval. As I ran on an arc, I caught a blur in the corner of my eye. Although Martin had warned me about creatures on the other side of the wall and not to go out at night, I felt safe with the massive stone wall shielding us from the forest. I also didn’t like being told what to do.
When I turned, a hooting owl flashed from the trees. My hair instantly prickled on the back of my neck. I stopped, turned and listened. The pine needles shivered as a breeze flowed through them carrying the scent of damp soil and leaf litter from the outside forest.
Returning on my next lap, I saw the moving blur again. Had an animal crossed the wall? Was it stalking me now? I needed to leave. But as I turned, the blur moved in the bushes.
‘Who’s there?’ My voice sounded fearful. I cleared my throat and repeated my question with more conviction.
A gray cat slipped from the bush and boldly ran to me to twist its sleek form about my legs. I laughed with relief and bent to stroke its back.
‘Didn’t they tell you? It isn’t safe to be wandering the grounds alone after dark,’ said a distinctly male voice with a deep and smooth tone.
I froze as my heart jumped to my mouth.
‘Well?’
I looked up at the towering figure of a man, who had stepped from the shadows onto the oval. Wearing a tight white suit with a black flower on his pointed lapel and a black cape over his shoulders, he looked like a hammy actor from a pantomime. His sharp cheekbones jutted over his cavernous cheeks casting shadow in their hollows. Although his hair was the same shade of white as his suit, he was young. The cat leaped into his arms as the man surveyed me with piercing amber eyes.
I stepped backwards.
He dropped the cat and reached me with deceptive speed. As I backed up, he mirrored my movement.
‘You move very nicely, sweet thing. I’ve been watching.’
‘Who are you?’ I whispered, my voice failing with fright. ‘Are you a teacher here?’
‘A teacher? Goodness me, no.’ His chuckle sounded like bones scraping each other.
From my vision, I knew who he was before I’d asked but desperately hoped my brain was playing tricks.
‘I’m Vincent Berisha, my dear. And you?’
I stepped back several paces, but in a blur, he shadowed me again as though he had anticipated my action before I’d even thought it.
‘Cat got your tongue, sweetest?’
I tried to think. ‘Why don’t you come inside and we can talk? Maybe have a cup of tea?’
‘Well that’s more like it, however tea isn’t my thing.’
‘We have coffee. You could meet Dean Ruberio.’
Vincent sniggered. ‘Dean who?’
‘Alexis Ruberio.’
He burst into laughter. ‘So that’s what he’s calling himself these days. Such a colorful reinvention.’ The cat rubbed its body against his leg, but Vincent flicked it aside with his foot. ‘Not now my precious.’
Reaching for the whistle hanging about my neck, I blew it hard.
Rage crossed Vincent’s features. ‘Now why did you have to go and do that? We were having such a nice time getting to know each other.’
The whistle dropped from my hand.
Flinging his cape back, he flew at me before dragging me toward the ground. I screamed as I fell backwards with the monster’s weight on me. He loomed in close and I could smell something faintly rotten in his breath as he deliberately exhaled over my face.
‘Stay still, sweets, I want to sample the wares before I commit.’
After licking my cheek and lips, he ran his deathly cold lips over mine. Repulsed, I tried to scream, but he held my throat in one hand. Terrified he was going to close his grip and crush it; I kicked at him and tried to scrape his face with my fingernails. He flicked my hand to one side, so it smashed on a rock. As I raised my hand to protect my face, blood oozed down my arm.
He paused as though curious at the contrast of red blood on my snowy skin.
‘Waste not, want not.’ Shocked, I watched as he sat back on his haunches and grabbed my hand to taste the blood. ‘Mmm, complex—fruity, bright, velvety—scrumptious.’ He chuckled. ‘A veritable smorgasbord of flavors.’
In that moment free from his grip about my throat, I screamed again. ‘You freakin’ pig.’ Desperately, I threw him off balance and crawled on hands and knees to escape, yet within a blurred second he was on top of me again.
‘My, a feisty little one. Lovely. Do you know anger makes the blood more delicious? Fizzes it up.’ He shifted to his feet and dragged me into the undergrowth near the oval, banging and scraping my head on rocks and sticks. Ripping my shirt from my shoulder, he stared for a moment at my skin as though savoring the sight of my flesh. He ran a sharp fingernail down the side of my neck, scoring it so blood trickled freely. Deftly, he caught my blood with his tongue which darted from his mouth like a snake’s.
A wave of nausea flooded through me as my heart thrashed in my chest. ‘Please don’t, please,’ I begged him, but his eyes were like an animal’s. He didn’t hear or understand.
He opened his mouth impossibly wide so that his jaw dislocated. Nothing made sense. Bewildered, I watched his needle-sharp canine teeth elongate before a guttural sound escaped his throat and he plunged his fangs into my neck.
I screamed over and over until my voice was hoarse and the sound became distant and separate from me. Frantically, I tried to hit him under his nose with the heel of my hand, but he flicked
it aside effortlessly.
As he bit my neck, he stared into my eyes. It was a look I’ll never forget—chilling and empty.
Horrified, I punched, scratched and kicked with all my might. I aimed for his eyes hoping to blind him with my fingers, but he grabbed my wrist and snapped the bones. Screaming in shock and pain, I almost fainted. He was biting and sucking in a depraved frenzy, and I had no hope of stopping him. All I could see were his fangs plunging again and again, alternating with pain, the smell of blood—my blood—and this lunatic’s animal eyes.
‘Help,’ I screamed in a broken voice, but he continued as though excited by my struggle and horror.
A dazzling luminescence flooded the oval as the electric lighting burst into life like I’d been thrust into an incredible white dream. He threw me back in the dirt. I could hear distant voices and shouting, but they sounded as though they were coming from underwater while I quietly drowned. My head swam and vision turned gray like a deathly veil. Soon there was nothing but the metallic smell of soil and blood as my face slumped into the dirt.
I knew I was going to die.
* * *
CHAPTER 19
Flynn: Night Attack
Anya and Martin had come to visit me around midnight to check if Lily and I were okay after yesterday’s family lunch. I was sitting sideways on the window seat talking to Martin and Anya, who were both sprawled on the carpet. The first inkling I had something was wrong was when I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. In the dim light, I could see a girl running on the oval.
‘Stupid,’ I said shaking my head. ‘Why would anyone be out there alone at this hour?’
Martin and Anya scrambled to their feet.
‘Suicidal,’ said Martin simply. ‘She’d better hope the wall’s secure tonight.’
‘She?’ Anya craned to look through the window.
‘Definitely.’ Martin grinned.
‘Trust you,’ Anya said.
I spotted a tall figure emerging from the trees on the far side of the oval where the runner had suddenly stopped. ‘Who’s that?’
‘He’s coming closer to her, and she’s backing up.’ Alarm registered in Anya’s voice. ‘We need to help her.’
I rushed to the door with Martin and Anya hurrying after me.
‘Vamp attack on the back oval,’ I shouted to a group of students talking in the hallway. ‘Get the floodlights on and then follow us.’
‘I’ll turn the lights on,’ one of them called and sprinted in the opposite direction as we ran in a pack to the stairs.
When we hit the foyer and burst out the door toward the oval, we could hear screams.
‘She’s being attacked,’ Anya yelled.
‘Run!’ I shouted at the others.
Suddenly the floodlights burst into life casting their powerful illumination over the grounds and highlighting the figure of a towering vamp standing over the lifeless body of a student in the undergrowth beside the oval.
We ran as one, pulling our blades and screaming at the creature.
He turned slowly and watched as we approached, almost daring us to throw our blades early.
When some of us cocked our blades to throw them, he twirled in a circle with his cape following him and sprinted toward the wall. In a flash he had leaped over the wall in one powerful motion leaving us wallowing in his wake.
‘The girl, we have to help her,’ Anya cried and ran toward her.
When we reached her side and rolled her over, I gasped. It was Lily, and she wasn’t breathing. Her neck and shoulder were torn and bloody and her wrist, obviously broken, was at a weird angle.
I scooped her limp body from where the monster had dragged her from the oval to the edge of the garden.
‘Is she ...?’ Martin said.
‘Of course she’s not dead,’ I said in fury. ‘Run ahead and warn Leah I’m bringing her to the clinic. She needs blood now, or she won’t make it.’
With my eyes transfixed on Lily’s pale, blood-stained face I ran across the oval until I got to the buildings where Alexis came out and tried to take her rest of the way, but I couldn’t release her. ‘No, I’ll carry her. I have to.’ When I reached the clinic, I carried her in, and Leah helped me lower her gently to the chair which she had reclined.
‘Please, Lily, you must hang on,’ I begged.
Anya stood by side holding my arm. ‘Come and sit over here, out of Leah’s way.’
I retreated reluctantly and sat on another chair as Leah hooked Lily up to a dhampiric blood bag.
Alexis stood on my other side. ‘Is there anything we can do to help?’
Leah shook her head. ‘Now we must wait to see if she can pull through.’ She looked at me with a worried expression. ‘There are no guarantees, you understand, but she’s young and strong and most importantly has a fighting spirit.’
I knew that was absolutely true. ‘She’ll make it. She has to.’ I hoped Lily could hear me.
* * *
CHAPTER 20
Berisha
‘Lily, Lily, are you with us?’
The voice emerged from the darkness and I clung to it, followed its lead and hoped it would bring me to the light. I was too afraid to open my eyes. Where was I? Was this heaven, hell or an in-between twilight? Eventually I gained the courage. The overhead light burned my eyes and the people around me blurred together.
‘It’s okay, Lily,’ the voice said.
My head swam as I realized I was sitting or rather, half reclining.
‘You’re safe.’
Where was safe?
The voice belonged to Alexis Ruberio and standing beside him was Dr. Acres, who was adjusting a drip that led to my arm. Behind Alexis and Leah at the back of the room, Flynn, Martin and Anya were watching me silently with worried expressions.
Horrible, fragmented images tumbled into my mind as I recalled the attack, the pain and—Vincent. I gasped and squeezed my eyes shut before reaching for my neck. Stunned, I discovered it felt normal and when I reached for the other side of my neck, it was the same. Feeling my wrist, I felt the bones were solid and pain free. Now I was bewildered and terrified. Had my mind created the nightmare? I hyperventilated as panic rose in my throat.
Alexis held my wrists and looked me in the eyes. ‘Settle down, Lily. You were attacked, but we rescued and treated you. Do you understand?’
Confused, I tried to make sense of his words. Time—that was the answer. I’d been unconscious for days or weeks and healed. It was the only possibility. But why was I in the dental chair in the college clinic, or was this a hospital?
‘How long have I been unconscious?’
‘Long enough,’ Leah said. ‘But you’re fine now. You’re lucky the wounds were shallow and you’re a quick healer.’
‘Shallow? How could that be?’ I’d felt the sickening tearing of flesh and tendons and the breaking of bones and ligaments. Tears welled in my eyes. Why weren’t they telling me the truth?
Alexis turned to Flynn and the others and spoke quietly to them. I heard him say, ‘You did well tonight. Thank you. Lily will catch up with you tomorrow.’
They said goodbye and filed from the room while Leah unhooked the IV drip and removed the cannula from my forearm.
‘I’ll head off too,’ Leah said. Before she left, she told me to come and see her soon.
I monitored my body and was shocked to realize I felt no pain or fatigue; rather I sensed a strange surge of energy and life. I was bubbling with a power that urged me to tear from the room into the night. I was certifiably insane.
‘Come on,’ Alexis said as he helped me from the chair. ‘We need to chat in my office. There’s a fire burning there, and we can have a cup of tea.’
Bewildered and dazed, I followed him back to his office, where I sat on the sofa. The sounds of the crackling fire and the clock had a steadying and comforting rhythm that finally allowed me to relax.
‘Did anyone see him?’ I asked softly as the hideous face of my attacker loomed
in my memory.
He regarded me with a worried expression.
‘Did you see him?’ I could hear the anguish in my voice, as I felt my neck again for reassurance. ‘He said his name was Vincent—Vincent Berisha.’ I would never forget that name. I began to cry. It was the same face I had seen when talking to Flynn driving back from the Ruberio’s lunch.
‘I didn’t see him, but the triplets and some of the other students did.’ Alexis handed me a cup of tea. ‘They confirmed he was Vincent.’
‘Vincent Berisha killed your mother, didn’t he?’
Alexis nodded with a pained and faraway look. ‘He killed my mother many years ago in Europe.’ His voice tapered off and his expression was now unreadable.
‘Did he go to jail?’
‘No.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘It’s difficult to explain.’
Blood rushed to my ears. Nothing was making sense. I pinched the web of my hand until it hurt, so I was certain I was awake. ‘Did you call an ambulance or the police after I was attacked?’
Alexis perched on the arm of the chair beside me and gazed into the fire as he spoke. ‘They can’t help.’
‘Who, the police?’ I didn’t try to hide my disgust. ‘You’ll have to do better than that, Alexis.’
He sighed.
‘I was running around the oval and I saw a blur. He came out of the undergrowth. I tried to escape. I sobbed as the full recollection hit me. First, he talked to me but then he advanced. I tried to back up away from him. He attacked ... no, he bit me.’ I sobbed. ‘I couldn’t fight him. There was blood everywhere. He snapped my wrist.’
Alexis’ expression was unchanged.
‘I remember now. Flynn, Martin and Anya were there.’
‘They saved you,’ Alexis said quietly.
‘Please tell me more.’
Alexis stood and walked to the window. ‘You were attacked by Vincent Berisha. If you hadn’t used that whistle, I don’t believe you’d be here now because your friends and the floodlights saved you. We would never have known.’