ReAwakened

by Ada Adams

  “Five minutes to detonation. Please evacuate the premises. Five minutes to detonation,” a pre-recorded electronic voice broadcasted over the loudspeaker.

  There isn’t enough time to find and rescue the prisoners! I thought in panic.

  I flew up the stairs to the top floor. As I turned a sharp corner, a soft click greeted me. The cool, metal barrel of a gun pressed against my temple. Without even having to look up, I knew that its owner was Faith.

  “Where are the Born?” I asked through clenched teeth.

  She laughed and cocked her gun. “Over there,” she motioned to a row of rooms behind her. “Getting ready for a barbeque.”

  “Four minutes to detonation,” the voice warned. “Four minutes.”

  My mind raced as I plotted out a quick escape plan.

  Parry her arm, duck, uppercut to the jaw…

  Before I had a chance to act, a shot rang out. I instinctively brought my hand to my temple, expecting to feel the warmth of sticky blood. To my surprise, it was Faith who'd been shot. Her eyes glazed over as she collapsed to the floor. Behind her, wielding a blood bullet gun, was Sebastian. A bright kernel of happiness swelled within my chest, then plummeted into my stomach as the voice over the intercom announced.

  “Three minutes to detonation. Three minutes.”

  I locked eyes with Sebastian, and we exchanged a silent nod. Precious time ticked away as we sprinted down the hall, dividing our attention between the countless empty rooms. The last room at the end of the corridor was firmly shut. We kicked in unison, splitting the door in half.

  “Two minutes to detonation. Two minutes.”

  Sebastian’s mouth tightened into a thin line at the sight in front of us. Five Born lay strapped to large, stainless steel tables, surrounded by their own blood. An array of laboratory equipment and medical instruments of various shapes and sizes was scattered around them, each tool looking more painful than the next. In a blinding chaos, we rushed from one vampire to another, checking for signs of life. Two of them were already long gone, but the most recent victims—the Australian girl, along with the mother and the daughter—were still holding on.

  “One minute to detonation. One minute.”

  “We have to get them out of here!” Sebastian yelled as the mechanical voice began to count down the seconds to our demise. “Now!”

  “We got rid of all the guards outside,” Razor announced, rushing into the room.

  Hunter followed closely behind. “This place is gonna blow!” His eyes widened as his gaze fell upon the injured girl. He rushed to her side, cut her bindings, and scooped her into his arms. “Let's go!”

  “Thirty seconds to detonation. Thirty seconds.”

  Sebastian picked up the girl's mother, while Razor carried the teen.

  “Ten seconds to detonation. Ten seconds.”

  “Move it!” I yelled as we sprinted out of the room.

  “9...8...7...”

  The door was still a long way away.

  “6...5...4...”

  In the nick of time, Hunter's foot crossed the threshold of the exit.

  “3...2...1...”

  The explosion echoed in my ears, reverberating pain through my entire body. I leaped—or, rather, I was blasted—from the building. For a split second, I was completely weightless, soaring through the air. The next time I regained control over my body was when my side connected with the hard surface of the ground. Scalding-hot debris rained down on me.

  Hunter dropped down next to me. He had twisted his torso so that he was the one to absorb the shock from the fall, saving the little vampire lying motionless against his chest. Sebastian and Razor landed a few feet away, also doing their best to protect the unconscious Born in their arms.

  Fluffy snow-like flakes of ash began to fall from the sky. If it hadn’t been caused by such a gruesome event, the scene could easily have been one from a beautiful painting. I wanted nothing more than to lie down and watch the blizzard above. Instead, I forced myself to focus on the problem at hand.

  “We have to get out of here!” I yelled to the group, wincing at the elephant stampede trampling my skull. My throat burned as I inhaled a mouthful of bitter chemical residue. Attempting to stand, I groaned in agony. My right leg felt like it had been snapped in half. Blood trickled from my ears down the side of my neck, and surveying the rest of the team, I could tell that the soot covering their bodies was also concealing a myriad of injuries.

  Hunter moaned. “There’s nothing around for miles.” He was nursing a wounded shoulder, but his full attention was on the little girl in his arms. “She’s not breathing, Dawn.” The terror in his eyes sent a chill down my spine. “She’s not breathing!” he repeated anxiously.

  “We passed a rundown house a few miles down the road. We can take shelter there,” Sebastian suggested. The Born beside him began to stir.

  “Sammy? Where’s Sammy?” she moaned, calling out for her daughter.

  “We can’t stay here,” I said. “Even if the explosion doesn’t call attention to this place, Jacques’ boss is on the way. We have until sunrise to disappear.” I looked off toward the soft light breaking through the horizon.

  “This little kid isn’t gonna make it to sunrise!” Hunter cried. “She needs help—now!”

  Little Sammy was a mere phantom of a child. Her skin was so pale it glowed; her tiny body looked like a deflated balloon.

  I turned to the group. “Let’s get to that house. Razor, do you have any medical supplies on you?”

  “A few minor things. But she’s a Born, Dawn. If her injuries aren’t healing…” He stopped himself when he saw the tears in Sammy’s mother’s eyes. “I’ll do my best.”

  Within a few minutes, we were inside the house. Its owners long gone, dust and darkness greeted us instead.

  “Put the girl on the table,” Razor instructed as we made our way into a spacious dining area.

  Hunter obeyed.

  “Is she alive?” I whispered, watching as Razor attended to her.

  His somber face said it all. “If she is, she’s holding on by a thread. I don’t know what more can be done,” he whispered. “She’s not responding to the human blood I had in my medical kit.”

  The girl’s mother flung herself out of Sebastian’s arms, rushing to our side. “Please help her! Please save her! Don’t let her die. I’m begging you!” Her shrill cries pierced through me.

  Sebastian gently guided the woman away from the table, sitting her down next to the now-awake Born teen. With an exasperated sigh, Razor stopped working on the girl. Bending over the table, he buried his head in his hands.

  “Why did you stop?!” Hunter cried.

  Razor banged his fists against the side of the table, refusing to meet Hunter’s eyes. “I’ve tried everything I could think of to help her. Even with the best medical supplies in the world—”

  “Try harder!” Hunter roared. “You’re a doctor, aren’t you?” He picked up a chair and threw it against the wall. The wood splintered into a thousand little pieces upon contact with the hard surface.

  Sebastian shook his head sadly. “He can’t heal a dying vampire, Hunter.”

  But I can, I suddenly realized. Maybe.

  “Could you do a blood transfusion?” I asked, turning to Razor.

  He looked over at me in confusion. “What?”

  “Blood transfusion,” I repeated. “I need to give her my blood.”

  Sebastian grasped my shoulders. “Dawn, she’s a vampire…”

  “Trust me,” I said, then turned to Razor. “We’re running out of time. Please listen to me. I need to give Sammy my blood.”

  “What are you talking about?” Razor eyed me dejectedly.

  “I think my blood can heal her, but I don’t have time to explain,” I told him. “We need to do a transfusion right now if there’s any chance of it actually working. And you need to help me.”

  No one moved.

  “I’m not crazy, I swear!” I exclaimed. “What could
we lose by trying? According to you, she’s already gone!”

  Sammy’s mother flinched at the word gone. “Do as she says!” she begged Razor. “Please! Help my little girl!”

  Seeing the woman’s pain, Razor relented and ran to his car to gather supplies. Time seemed to drag as I contemplated the consequence of being wrong about my forta. I’d given the mother a little shred of hope, but if my blood couldn’t heal the little girl, then I would have set her up for heartbreak.

  Once Razor returned, I positioned myself in a chair next to the table, offering my arm to him. Gingerly, as if still unsure of the plan but unable to cross me, he inserted a needle into an artery in my wrist. Securing it in place with a piece of clear tape, he connected it to a syringe, then attached a long tube to Sammy’s tiny vein.

  “Do this one too,” I instructed, extending out my other arm. The quicker Sammy received the blood, the better our chances of it working.

  Sebastian pulled up a chair next to me. He looked on solemnly, watching the bright red liquid drain from my body as it flowed into Sammy’s. Hunter, on the other hand, paced around the room, his fingers restlessly tugging at his hair. Convinced that we were doing everything we possibly could for the little child, I shared with them the discovery I’d made about my mother’s forta.

  “Elisa told me that I have the same forta,” I explained. “If that’s true, then I’ll be able to heal Sammy.”

  While Razor seemed impressed, I could see Sebastian’s body tense. “Do you know how dangerous this is?” he whispered in my ear. “That kind of forta—no matter how powerful—wasn’t meant to be used on a Born vampire. She’ll drain you dry.”

  “She’s just a kid. I have to try and save her.” I shot him a weak smile. “If you were in my position, you’d do the same.” There was no way he could argue with that.

  “If I was in your position, I wouldn’t be worrying about myself the same way I worry about you,” he said, but dropped the subject.

  I closed my eyes, relaxing into the lightheadedness that had engulfed my entire body. I was buoyant and translucent, like a plastic bag floating through the air, being pulled in one direction, only to be yanked elsewhere, mere seconds later.

  “How did you guys find me?” I murmured, struggling to keep awake. “Seth’s tracking device broke.”

  “We had a backup,” Sebastian said.

  “Oh. I thought that witch Faith threw my cell phone out of the window.”

  Sebastian nodded. “She did. I had a backup of the backup.”

  I opened my eyes. His smile was a mixture of contentment and slight sheepishness as he nodded at the pendant hanging around my neck. “I equipped it with an extra tracking device—just in case. I wanted to be sure that we wouldn’t lose you.” He was still smiling, but his eyes turned icy. “Which we almost did. About an hour or so after you kicked my brother out of the club, we began to wonder why Jacques hadn’t made a move yet. Seth’s tracker had you still in the club, so we went to check on you again. When we couldn’t find you inside, I engaged mine. Sure enough, you were already on your way to the slaughterhouse. We came as soon as we could. We were able to get rid of most of the guards out front, but our arrival triggered the alarm.” He paused for a moment, looking away. “I was worried we wouldn’t make it before they…”

  Sebastian’s soothing voice was slowly lulling me to sleep. I closed my eyes and leaned further into the chair. “I’m glad you made it,” I murmured. “What happened to the rest of the team?”

  “We have no idea. They’ve been out of contact since we left.”

  I snapped my eyes open, fighting against the weakness crawling into my body. “Jacques’ boss! You have to call them right away! They could be in danger!”

  “We can’t reach them,” Hunter said. “No one is answering our calls. Not even Brooke, and you know how attached she is to her cell phone.”

  “Something’s wrong.” I quickly summarized the conversation I overheard between Jacques and Faith. Each sentence was an uphill battle against the startling feebleness seeping into my bones, joints, and muscles; weakness that threatened to consume me entirely. I was torn between desperately wanting to heal Sammy and the desire to rip the needles from my arms and run to Angel Creek to help my friends.

  Before I had a chance to act on any impulses, Razor gasped. “It’s working, D!”

  Sure enough, Sammy’s chest began to rise and fall. The movement was so minute it was barely visible, but it was an improvement nonetheless. It also proved that, just like my mother, I really could heal. The realization seeped into me, cold and frightening, but also radiating a small glimmer of hope.

  I could heal the dying.

  “You did it.” Sebastian looked at me in awe. “You saved her.”

  “She’s going to need a lot more blood, but it’s starting to look very promising,” Razor said and Sammy’s mother broke down in tears of joy.

  The stronger Sammy grew, the weaker I began to feel.

  “Please go back to Angel Creek and check on the rest of the team,” I instructed Sebastian and Hunter. My words came out in quick gasps; breathing was beginning to feel like a chore. “Razor and I will stay here until Sammy is healed. We’ll meet you back in town as soon as possible.”

  Neither Sebastian nor Hunter seemed eager to leave. Hunter’s eyes lingered on Sammy’s unmoving face, while Sebastian’s stayed glued to me. He looked like he was about to argue, but instead he swallowed his words and nodded.

  “Don’t let anything happen to her,” he warned his brother.

  Those were the last words I heard before everything went black.

  My father used to say that we're most vulnerable in our dreams. That's why he never dreamt. I, on the other hand, had no choice but to dream. My dreams submerged me into blinding depths of darkness. No matter how hard I tried to freeze time, to pull myself into the light, the shadows always found a way to drag me back in. Minutes, hours, days—they slipped by faster than they should, like tiny grains of sand tumbling down an unnaturally wide opening of an hourglass.

  Gray and black shadows floated by me as I fought to navigate the murky depths of an endless ocean; my only desire was to find a way out. The longer I slept and the deeper my slumber became, the further I drifted from achieving that goal. The shadows surrounding me began to move faster, spinning hurriedly, swallowing me up, drenching me in urgency.

  I had to get to Angel Creek.

  I had to make sure the team was safe.

  Willing my body to fight against the water, my arms and legs began to cooperate with my brain. Every muscle screamed out in pain, but regardless, I swam. The moment I gained some ground, the ocean around me disappeared and I was suddenly plunged into a bottomless black hole, forced to plummet into nothingness.

  Time ticked away. Every second that passed consumed a piece of me with it. Soon, I would be swallowed up by the darkness. There would be no return. No Angel Creek. No team. No existence.

  I had to find a way out.

  Clawing at the invisible air around me, my distraught scream echoed throughout the empty space. A final cry for help. Far in the distance, at the entrance of the pit, was an answer to my pleas. A bright ray of hope.

  Sebastian.

  He reached his hand toward me, but the void between us was so vast it seemed impossible to conquer. Defying both gravity and common sense, I lunged toward him. My name melted on his tongue, soft as honey, and my body responded to his call by rising faster, fighting against the impossible. Small, thin rays of light began to break through my dark prison, rupturing the coldness around me.

  Just a little higher...

  I focused on Sebastian's bright eyes, yearning to touch his hand, wanting to feel his skin against mine.

  Just a little longer...

  “Come back to me,” he was saying as my eyes snapped open.

  Drawing in a deep, painful breath, I tried to gain my bearings. The abrupt, overwhelming brightness that greeted me was startling, but even more so was t
he image forming in front of me. I had expected to see Sebastian. Instead, it was Razor that loomed over me, deep worry lines etched into his rugged face. A small, sharp gasp of relief escaped his lips when he realized that I was conscious.

  “You're back.” He uttered the words with a smile, but I could tell from the traces of concern on his face that he hadn't expected me to come back.

  “What happened?” I croaked. My throat was dry, my vocal cords raw.

  “You passed out,” he said. “While you were healing Sammy.”

  “Did...” I cleared my throat. Speaking above a whisper wasn't an option. “Did it work?”

  Razor nodded. “She's still weak, but she's going to be okay. Her mother is with her now, and Twitbrook’s crew will be here shortly to take her to the infirmary. We've arranged for Emma, the foreign exchange student, to be picked up by her guardians. Everyone is going to be fine.”

  I sank back onto the hard wood of the table I’d been placed on during my slumber, then quickly sat up. “What time is it? How long have I been out?”

  “About two hours.”

  “Two hours?” It had felt like an eternity. “We've gotta get back to Angel Creek! Have you heard back from the team yet?” Immediately, I was off the table, searching for my footing.

  “Easy, D.” Razor guided me to a chair. “Sit down before you pass out again.”

  When he realized that I wasn't going to rest before he divulged some information, he relented. “Sebastian and Hunter ran back to Angel Creek. The team had been attacked.” He raised his arms to stop me from jumping in. “Everyone is going to be okay, but they were set on by Jacques' rogues before they had a chance to leave Angel Creek. Vamps mostly, but also a couple of weres.”

  “Those weren't Jacques' troops,” I said, sinking into the chair, doing my best to play off the move as a choice rather than letting on that I’d been forced to do so by dizziness. “The attackers work for Jacques' boss—whoever she is. We have to—”