by Shadow Soft
There, was, of course, the option Victor had presented. I could become a vampire.
Listen: I may be desperate, but I’m not depraved. Vampires are wicked, selfish, and destructive. I would sooner live a life on the run than count myself among them. I could not imagine leading such a horrific lifestyle: chasing people down to drink their blood, striking fear into innocent hearts.
“Vales,” I said suddenly, reminded of something as I played the kitchen table conversation through my mind. “Why were you so defensive of vampires earlier?”
“Hm?” Panting, she looked at me in bafflement. As if she didn’t remember what I was talking about.
“After your father said that he could turn me into a vampire . . . .” I prodded.
She shook her head and quickened her pace, pulling up alongside Blake. “Defensive? I was just trying to be objective, Valx. I know people all fear and despise vampires, but I think they’re too hard on them, personally. Vampires can’t help being born vampires, and not all of them are evil.”
“Perhaps.” My tone said how unlikely I thought her statement was. “Is that really something to get angry about, though?”
“I wasn’t––”
“You were too!” I protested. We came to a bend in the corridor—the very first one in minutes of running, and sped around it. “Vales, you––”
“Valxy,” Blake broke in, puffing, “I don’t know what you’re talking about—I wasn’t there—but whatever it is, now is not the time.”
“But––”
“Here we are.” Blake skidded to a stop at the base of a spiral stairwell that led up to a hatch in the ceiling. “Help me open it, will you, Valxy?”
Scrambling up the staircase, I wedged myself against the railing opposite Blake. We gripped opposing sides of the rusted iron wheel that served as a valve lock and threw all our muscle into turning it. It was more resistant than I expected. After several seconds of fruitless huffing and puffing Blake signaled for me to rest.
“Catch your breath,” he panted.
Gratefully, I did so.
“Ok, on three. One . . . . two . . . . three!”
We threw all our muscle and sinew against the valve lock, and after a strenuous dozen seconds of grumbling it spun loose with a metallic phssst. Blake wheeled it quickly open and pushed up the hatch. Craning my head to peer upward, I saw a sky spattered with stars above a tangled net of tree branches.
We scrambled up the rusty iron ladder and out into the open, still breathing hard from our extended run. “Is this . . . .” I turned a curious circle. The trees looked familiar, but I couldn’t say for sure I’d been here before.
“Four kilometers from the house,” Blake panted, pulling the emergency exit shut behind us. “We’ll go this way––” he gestured vaguely “—and wait for Mom and Dad to catch up.”
Without further ado Blake began to walk north. I looked at Vales, then at the sealed emergency passage hatch. From the outside it looked like nothing more than a sewer grate, mostly disguised by the pine needles Blake had kicked over it.
Vales took my hand and pulled me after Blake. I let her lead me, wanting to press her further about her vehemence at the kitchen table several minutes ago, but knowing that if I did either she would evade my questions or Blake would intervene again. He’s probably right, I forced myself to concede. We’re being chased by vampires. Now is not the time for questioning.
We followed the sounds of Blake moving through the darkness ahead, scrambling over roots and stones, clambering up embankments and down ravines. I couldn’t remember ever being in the forest at night. That’s not quite true. I had been in the forest at night, but only the very fringe of it, walking and talking with Vales or Blake as we made our way home from a day spent galavanting outside. But that was only the fringe of the forest. We could smell the smoke from nearby chimneys and see lights twinkling in the windows of the houses we skirted.
This was different. This was the forest proper—meaning that we could hike for ten minutes straight in any direction and not reach civilization. In most directions we could probably hike all day.
Needless to say, my limited experience of nocturnal forest didn’t give me a good taste in my mouth to start out with. I still remembered quite vividly the day I had been in the accident, woken to find myself alone on the forest floor. I still remembered walking for hours and hours, growing leaden with cold and fatigue. Collapsing onto the ground . . . .
I shuddered and thrust the memories away. Even with Blake ahead of me and Vales by my side, it was not pleasant to remember the feeling of terror and resignation as dark figures emerged from the gloom around me, eyes glowing red in the night.
Things could have gone very badly then, of course. Luckily the Nightfalls had saved me, and they hadn’t. But that night was still what I thought of whenever someone mentioned the forest at night. And here I was in it, again. I found myself disturbed by the sights and smells around me. The towering trees that all seemed to be leaning in on me as I hurried along at Vales’ side. The smell of dirt and damp and pine needles. None of them were unpleasant sights and smells, but to me they were all too shudderingly reminiscent of that night three years ago. Every tree seemed to be hiding a cloaked attacker. Behind every bush and within every shadow I was sure a vampire was crouched, waiting to leap out howling to attack me from behind.
The crackling pine needles underfoot didn’t help. With three of us walking we created a good bit of noise, considering how silent the forest was otherwise. And with three of us walking, it was sometimes hard to tell who snapped a certain stick or rustled a clump of leaves. I kept looking over my shoulder or jumping at the slightest sounds, sure there was someone following us.
Please, please just let us reach safety. Let us reach a haven where they cannot reach us. I knew such a place didn’t exist—not really—but a temporary shelter I could wish for. Even if it was temporary, temporary was enough for the moment. This was the first time I had been tracked down and hunted in real time, and my insides were screwed into a knot of anxiety. If this ended in a nightmare . . . . Well, it would be a fitting end to a horrible day.
“We’ll wait for them here.”
At the sound of Blake’s voice I stirred from my thoughts. Looking up, I found us on the fringe of a vacant lot. Weeds grew thickly beneath the open sky. Out from under the shade of the thinning trees, starlight danced in ephemeral moonbeams.
“How long do you think they’ll be?” I asked in a hush.
Blake frowned at the sky and scratched his jaw. “Can’t say.”
When he wasn’t forthcoming with anything else, I sighed and settled into a squat at the base of the nearest tree, thankful for the rest. Five minutes passed. Vales eventually sat beside me, back to the trunk, and closed her eyes. I grew tired of squatting and sat, too. Ten minutes stretched into twenty, then thirty, with still no sign of Victor and Valerie.
Eventually I looked up at Blake, who stood looking out over the vacant lot, hands on hips. “Blake.”
“Hm.”
“What are we going to do once they come?”
He shrugged, still facing away. “That depends on what they’ve found out. What your attackers are planning.”
“I can’t imagine we’re going to have much success staying discreet, anymore. Not with them knowing where I am, now.”
“They’ve known where you are in the past,” Vales reminded me.
“Yes, and we’ve always found out and had time to move long before they’ve reached us.”
Sighing, Blake ran a hand through his tousle of black hair. “You don’t have to worry, Valxy. Once everyone is gathered, we’ll go straight to the station and take a train into the mountains. That much we have fore-planned. Once we’re safely hidden off the beaten path––”
“We’re already off the beaten path,” I pointed out. “We’ve been living off the beaten path the entirety of these three years.”
He glanced at me for the first time, eyes gleaming in the
starlight. “More off the beaten path,” he emphasized. I wasn’t sure that was possible, but I nodded and shrugged. “Once we’re in the mountain village you’ll be safe, even if they track us there.”
I stared at him, uncomprehending. Even if they track us there? A place where I’m safe even if they know . . . . I shook my head. If such a place existed, why hadn’t we gone there before? I opened my mouth to ask as much, when suddenly Blake held up his hand for silence.
I went still. Beside me Vales opened her eyes, wide in the night. A sound came from the forest off to our left—a soft approaching rustle. Footsteps.
Blake stepped closer to me and Vales. “Victor?”
A sibilant female voice slithered out of the gloom. “Sorry, but Victor is otherwise occupied at the moment.”
Valerie, was my first thought, but my instincts knew better. They had me on my feet and behind Blake before I even knew what I was doing. It wasn’t Valerie’s voice. I cursed silently to myself as three silhouettes emerged from the murkiness of the forest, preceded by the watchful glittering of their eyes. Unnaturally bright eyes. Glowing eyes.
Vampires. Fear settled hard and cold in my gut.
There was a woman and two men, rather heavily built, both of them. Like bodyguards, I thought, by their somber, wary aura and the way their meaty hands hung ready at their sides. Their expressions were grim, their eyes watchful.
The woman was the opposite. She didn’t seem on edge at all. In fact, she seemed unworried—relieved, even. She smiled dotingly at us. She had a young face, lips painted beguilingly red, and smiling eyes. Nonetheless, I didn’t for a moment think she meant us well. Anyone can smile. An assassin can smile to your face as he stabs a knife through your heart. You see, smiles have their own language. There are tones and inflections and syllables to them, if you know what I mean. A smile can convey anything from affection to hatred, and it’s still a smile.
This woman’s smile was fierce and pleased and hungry. It was not a pleasant smile.
The elongated canines curving down from her upper jaw did nothing to soothe my revulsion. By reflex my mind flashed back to that night three years ago . . . . No. No. Don’t go there. Sweat beaded on my forehead and I swatted it viciously away. Everything in me denied that this could be happening. This. The thing I had feared always, since the day I knew enough to fear it. The vampires had come for me—to enslave me, to use my blood as a source of infinite power.
Shouldn’t we be running? I thought suddenly. Or fighting? I looked to Blake, but he didn’t look ready to bolt. Instead he seemed to be leaning toward the three vampires, as if in preparation to take a step in their direction. The lines of his body were rigid. Fear, I presumed at first—but then I caught the profile of his face in the moonlight, and I reconsidered. He did seem afraid, but fear was not the strongest emotion in his clenched jaw and fiery eyes. Anger. Anger was stronger. I could almost smell it.
“It was you, then, wasn’t it, Gaby?” he hissed. “The leak—it was you.”
The young woman smirked, moonlight glinting off her red lips. “Yes. Sorry to disappoint you.”
Blake . . . . knows her? I looked from one to the other in confusion. How could Blake know a vampire? Humans were terrified of vampires.
Blake hissed in exasperation. “Why?”
She shrugged, lips quirking. “It’s more interesting to ride with the power-hungry.”
Confused, I turned questioningly to Vales, but she wasn’t looking at me. Her eyes were bent on the young woman in front of us, and it was not a friendly look. In fact, I had never before seen Vales’ eyes—normally so sweet and considerate—filled with such venom, such utter loathing. The need to know consumed me. “Blake.” My voice was a whip. I stepped forward—a bold move, considering the three vampires in front of us. “How come you know a vampire?”
He waved a preoccupied hand, pressing me back. “This isn’t the time, Valxy.”
“Yes it is.”
“Listen––”
“Tell me, Blake.” I slapped his hand away. “How do you know her? Why are you fraternizing with the enemy? I need to know!”
Blake turned to me in frustration, but the woman laughed with sharp eagerness. “Ohhh, he doesn’t know, does he? How interesting!” She took a few swaying steps closer. “Valx, my dear, do you want to know the truth?”
My eyes flickered between her and Blake, whose face was flashing from angry to afraid and back again.
Gaby’s canines glittered in the moonlight. “I’m sure you’re dying to find out, Valx.”
I would have let her. My mouth was open to say yes—yes, tell me, tell me everything—but at that moment a growl rippled up from Vales’ throat and she shoved me roughly to the side. “If you think I’ll let you do it,” she quivered, voice cold as death, “you’re wrong, Gabriella!”
I stared, agog. You know her too, Vales? I had never heard such contempt in Vales’ tone. She stepped forward, fists clenched at her sides—and then the situation exploded.
Vales moved quicker than anything I had seen before. She lunged at Gabriella, fingers grappling for the woman’s throat. Blake shouted his sister’s name, but she was out of his reach before he could restrain her.
Gabriella fell under Vales’ barrage of savage blows, then resurged, hissing, as she struck back in rapid succession. “Stefan, take Blake! Virgil, take Valx!”
Vales howled, and the two of them disappeared amidst the whirring of flying fists and kicking legs. Wide-eyed, I drew a breath—preparing to do something, I didn’t know what—and then Virgil was upon me. He didn’t even give me time to exhale. In what seemed the space of a single second I had a fist in my gut, another to the side of my face, and my left arm was twisted painfully behind my back.
Fight, fight, fight! In a rush I tried to remember all Blake’s training. But there was no time to remember. The mind works incredibly slow in moments of panic. Thoughts crawl at the pace of molasses, and meanwhile I was being beaten blue.
Luckily the body is designed for reflex and adrenaline to take over. Snarling, I twisted out of Virgil’s hold and punched him in the face. I was pretty sure I had never punched anyone before that moment—really punched them, punched them with all the muscle in my body. But panic is a glorious thing. Virgil’s head snapped back and I took advantage of his momentary discomfiture to kick him in the stomach, then between the legs.
I smiled with sudden, fierce glee and leapt at him, emboldened by my quick success. If I could knock him out cold I could help Blake and Vales, who struggled with their respective adversaries among the nearby trees. Blake would need help first; he see—
Virgil sprang to his feet, mouth contorted into a rictus of determination, and grabbed me by both shoulders. Vague curiosity sprouted inside me. What was he doing? He was leaving his soft stomach and throat completely unprotected . . . .
It was when he lifted me bodily off the ground that I realized the truth. This wasn’t a fight. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Virgil weighed twice as much as me, and where most of my weight came from the long-boned gangliness of a teenage boy, his was pure muscle. I had landed blows before simply because he hadn’t been expecting me to fight back—maybe even because he didn’t care. My boy’s fists could do nothing against his bulk.
Virgil lifted me into the air and I screamed and thrashed. Only then did I realize he had my arms pinned to my sides; I couldn’t have punched him in the neck even if I had tried. Fine, then. I raised my knee to jam it into his gut, but he whipped me around in a way I couldn’t quite follow, and the next thing I knew my face was in the dirt and pine needles.
So much for helping out Blake and Vales. I coughed and struggled futilely, but Virgil held me firmly pinned.
“So Valx.” It was Gabriella’s voice.
I winced, hearing it. Where was Vales? Had they stopped fighting, or had Gabriella incapacitated her? When I tried to lift my head to see Virgil shoved it back down. I spluttered another mouthful of pine needles. The sound of ragged
panting came from off to my left where Blake and Stefan had been duking it out a moment before.
“You’re probably wondering how Blake and Valeska know me.”
I closed my eyes, panting against the ground. It was exactly what I was wondering. But I hated this Gabriella girl, so I didn’t respond. I heard her footsteps approaching, crackling over the pine needles.
“Do you want me to tell you?”
Yes. I did. Every fiber of me did. I was burning to know how Blake and Vales knew her. But I couldn’t say it. Not to her, not to the woman who had just beaten up Vales.
Gabriella squatted in front of me. I sensed her closeness, even if I couldn’t raise my eyes to look at her. She touched the back of my head fondly. “Ah, Valx.” The words were a sigh. “You’re quite blind, I see.”
“Gab—!”
“Shut up, Blake.” Her hand tightened against the back of my head.
I tilted my head to the side—Virgil still knelt on top of me, pinning me against the ground—just enough to see Blake a few yards away, kneeling with Stefan holding his arms behind his back. “Don’t you dare, Gabriella,” Blake hissed.
Gabriella laughed perilously. “Let him up, Virgil. He’s not stupid enough to actually try to escape.”
Unfortunately, she was right. Virgil stepped away from me and I scrambled to my feet, glowering at her and brushing myself off. I thought about running—considered it rather strongly, actually. I knew I couldn’t beat these three in a fight, but I might be able to outrun them. But I was forced to dispel the thought. Virgil stood directly behind me; he would catch me before I made it three feet. And even if I did manage to escape the triangle the three of them made around me, I’d be leaving Blake and Vales to their mercy.
“Better?” Gabriella smiled.
I glared at her.
“Don’t, Gabby!” Vales snarled. Stefan had hold of her, too.
Gabriella glanced at her with hooded eyes. “You always take things far too personally,” she complained. “Who can blame me for telling the truth?” Her painted lips flickered back into their old, irksome grin as she turned to face me. “Well? You’re curious how Blake and Valeska know me, aren’t you?”