by Maya Daniels
I’m free.
Covering my face with my hands, I start crying. Relief drops me on the ground, while all the fear and anxiety leek out of me through the fat tears rolling under my palms. Mutt keeps licking the back of my hands, and I laugh and cry at the same time. Sebastian kept his word. He let me go. I was in the mouth of the beast, and instead of eating me alive, he released me, knowing full well that he would never see me again. Maybe I was wrong to lump Luck with Hope after all. Lady Luck came through for me once again, keeping me alive and kicking. Still laughing, I throw my arms around Mutt.
“We are alive, buddy.” Ruffling his ears, my cheeks hurt from the smile stretching my lips. “Let’s go grab Sara and Eddie. We need to get the hell out of this city.” Mutt just licks my face, making me snicker.
Standing up, I look around the alley. Nothing has changed. The dumpster still sits close to the back door of the restaurant like it didn’t almost cost me my life. Dusting my hands on my thighs, my brain short-circuits, stiffening my body. Afraid to look down at myself, my fingers twitch nervously, gliding over something silky. Mutt bumps into me, almost knocking me over, and my head jerks down at him. He is doing his helicopter thingy with his tail, but that’s not what has my attention.
Silk black pajama pants cover my lower body. Too large for my tiny form, they are cinched tightly at my waist, the legs rolled up a few times, my boots peeking under them. The same t-shirt I wore at the hotel is tucked in at my waist. Through the foul air of the alley and the stench of the dumpster, I can still faintly distinguish the scent of Sebastian on the fabric. He could’ve dressed me up in my old clothes. He could’ve dropped me off naked for all he cared since he knew I was going to run. But, no. He did none of those things because I was stupid enough to believe everything would end as soon as I’m out of his sight. Sebastian is too smart, and I’m too gullible for my own good. The message is received loud and clear.
I’m letting you go, but you are mine.
Everything he has said or done tells me the same. I was just too freaked out, and too stupid to hear it. But I know it now, and I’m going to do my damn best to prove him wrong. That’s when everything he said comes back, repeating in my head on a loop. Every time he told me I would not die, every time he said he would let me go, even our deal, it was all followed up by one word.
Tonight.
I’ll be damned if I make it easy on him or anyone else tonight, or any other night. Fuming in anger for not realizing this sooner, ignoring the voice in the back of my head telling me Sebastian, Andrei, and Marcus are in big trouble for letting me go, I start jogging towards the sewer with the mutt at my side.
I need to get out of LA tonight.
I came up with an entire speech on how to explain where I’ve been to Sara and Eddie. Making sure that no one is following me, ignoring the fact that Marcus knew to drop me off at the alley I used daily, I stop at the manhole covering my sewer. With one last look around, I push my fingers under the heavy metal and put my whole body weight into it, pulling it to the side. I almost lose my toes when the cover that usually took me a few tries to even lift up jumps from the hole as if pushed up. At the last minute, I spring back and snatch my fingers away.
Sticking my head above the entrance, squinting in hopes to see better in the darkness, tells me no one helped from the other side. I was expecting to see Sara, maybe coming out to search for food. Or me. When nothing but emptiness and silence greets me, I frown, looking over at the metal lid. Even Mutt is sitting to the side, watching me warily. Glancing sideways at his judgmental attitude, I shove my fingers under the metal. Swinging it one-handed left and right brings my heart to throb in my throat. I’ve moved this thing around daily. I know how much it weighs and how I’ve struggled to get in and out of the sewer. Dropping it with a heavy thud and a cloud of dust billowing around it, I decide to ignore it. Yup. I have a best friend now. She’s called Denial.
Grabbing Mutt under one arm, after only my shoulders are above ground, I start descending the metal grid. Ignoring that the large dog feels like nothing in my arms, telling myself he may have lost weight, I keep repeating the words I want to say to my friends. My boots make soft sounds as I go deeper underground. Even the air coming through my nose sounds too loud to my ears. When I reach the bottom, I lower Mutt on the wet ground and turn around with a smile plastered on my face. It freezes there when emptiness stares back at me. The sound of water dripping in a puddle somewhere in the tunnels is like a nail to my brain.
Plop. Plop Plop.
My feet move without conscious thought, stopping where I left Eddie curled up with Sara sitting next to him what feels like a moment ago. A bundle is stacked up neatly, my backpack, the sneakers that Mutt peed on, a small pile of supplies from my raid of the pharmacy, and a blanket are all left on a dry patch on the ground. Where on earth did they find a blanket? The question is forgotten as fast as it comes. Just like Sebastian, Sara left me a clear message. We don’t need you, stay away from us. Not that I blame them. In this world, where survival is the only thing that matters, we all look after ourselves first. I would’ve done the same if one of them didn’t come back for an extended time. My life matters more than theirs. At least they took Mutt above ground so he didn’t die here alone if I didn’t come back.
Hands clenching, staring at my stuff they left behind, I find it difficult to breathe. Mutt whines softly, pushing his muzzle under my white-knuckled fist. Looking down at his intelligent brown eyes, I take a deep breath. He didn’t leave me. While he could’ve followed Sara and Eddie, he stayed behind, hoping I would come back. Of course, it could be bullshit, but I like to believe that it’s true. Scrubbing a hand over my face, I lower myself next to the bundle, leaning my head back on the wall and closing my eyes. It’s better this way, I tell myself. I need to run, and they need to stay away from me while I have the Council breathing down my neck. They’ll be safer that way.
“We will be okay, Mutt.” Saying it out loud makes it sound like a fact, not just wishful thinking. “We don’t need anyone.” Swallowing the lump that refuses to dislodge from my throat, I ignore the tear that slides down my face.
Playing with the blanket on my other side, the tag scrapes against the skin of my fingers, making me glance at it. The name of the hotel where I was held a prisoner stares mockingly at me. Whispers are trying to force their way to the front of my mind, voices from the back of my head that threaten to shatter the illusion I’m cocooning myself in. Firmly pushing them away, I start planning my escape out of the city. It will be more difficult with an animal at my side, but it’s doable. I’ll just have to be more careful, move slower than usual, take a different route, but I’ll make it. With my hand resting on top of Mutt, everything crashes down on me. Mentally exhausted, I’m unable to deal with all of it at once, so I slowly drift away.
Waking up with a jerk, gasping for air, I frantically search my surroundings in hopes to remember where I am. Seeing the familiar walls of the sewer slows down my heart rate to somewhat manageable levels. My chest still hurts from the hard, fast beats. Pressing my fingers to my breastbone, I massage it firmly while calming down. I’m free. They let me go. It wasn’t a sound that woke me up. No, it was the nightmare I found myself in.
The dreams that make me wake up with a scream, sweat sticking the clothing to my body, were the ones with the monster that attacked me a long time ago. I relived that night over and over, and often. But that was not the nightmare I had now. What woke me were faces of monsters looming over me, their fangs bared, eyes as dark as black voids staring at me from above. I was looking at them, eyes open, but I couldn’t move my body. Closed up in a transparent casket, the rage was burning like an inferno inside me. I knew I could slather them all, only if I could get out of wherever I was being held prisoner in. They knew it, too. I could see it in the fear lurking in their fathomless eyes. That’s why they placed me in this tight space. Stewing in anger, I promised them through my narrowed gaze that the day would come when their l
ives would be at my mercy. Only if she would come back. That thought stopped the rage, making me doubt my sanity. She? Why on earth would I think that and who the hell is she? Like answering my own question, the dream changed, and I looked at myself from above the looming monsters’ heads.
My heart stopped for a moment before thumping painfully hard in my chest. It wasn’t me that they were staring at. It was Sebastian. He was placed in a clear, crystal coffin, chains wound tightly around his body. His skin was pale, his full lips, with a blue tinge to them, pressed firmly as if he was holding himself back from screaming in pain. He was glaring murder at the monsters, but his gaze flicked above their heads and his lips parted in astonishment. The rage melted from him, the tension from his face loosening up while he kept me locked in place. A rap in the center of my chest spread warmth through me, chasing away the bone-deep chill I didn’t realize I was feeling. And then he smiled.
“April, you came back.” My name was like a prayer on his lips, and eight heads with fathomless eyes snapped in my direction. With a jerk, I woke up in my sewer.
I am safe.
Rubbing Mutt’s head, I do my best to forget the dream. I shouldn’t waste time sitting here, waiting on someone to find me. With death looming over my head, I should be halfway out of this city by now. But I stay seated, the cold from the ground seeping through the thin fabric of the silk. My brother left, and I never saw him again. My parents left too, and I stayed hidden like a coward, not daring to look for them either. Maybe I could’ve helped them. If I went looking, I might have saved their lives. All of them made me promises they didn’t keep. Even Sara and Eddie are gone, making sure I knew not to look for them. The only one that has ever kept a promise, no matter how misguided that thought was on my part, was Sebastian. Deep in my soul, I knew that the dream was not just a dream. Taking his blood did something to me. Whatever it is, I’m more than happy to ignore it. That’s until Marcus standing at the mouth of the ally comes to the front of my mind. The sadness and disappointment I felt like an accusing finger spreading through the space between us. That made up my mind.
I might be crazy or stupid. One thing I refuse to believe, however, is that I am a coward. And to prove that one thing to myself, I’m about to do the stupidest thing of my lifetime. Standing up, I grab the sleeping mutt under my arm and drop him down after I reach aboveground. With a deep breath and not looking back, I walk towards the Millennial hotel.
In a daze, I pass the potted plants in front of the arched entrance of the hotel. Guardians, all dressed in black, fill up the large space. As soon as my feet touch the thick, colorful carpet in the lobby, all movement stops like someone pressed pause. All eyes are on me, following my progress towards the elevator doors. My instincts are screaming at me to run, but I move calmly, my focus entirely on the gated entrances like I belong here.
I don’t. I will never belong here.
Mutt trots next to my leg, aggression coming off of him in waves. His lips are pulled back in a snarl, saliva dripping from his opened jaw. The dog looks more threatening than I ever will, but he is being ignored. No one stops me or even asks why I’m here. The elevators are so close I can almost touch the cold metal of the door, but before I do, a large body, dressed in black, cuts me from my escape.
“Where do you think you are going, human?” The monster glares down at me like I’m dog poop on his shoe.
“I’m here to see Sebastian.” I have no idea who the person answering him is, but she has my voice. While I’m freaking out inside, she sounds almost bored. The mutt releases a growl that makes the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand at attention.
“The Italian is not here,” the Guardian says before hissing like a snake at my dog.
“I’ll wait for him upstairs.”
Moving around him like I don’t have a care in the world, I reach for the button of the elevator. The Guardian snatches my wrist, but not before I press it. When his fingers close around my wrist, stars burst behind my eyelids from the pain of his skin touching mine. A gasp is all I manage before Mutt closes his jaw over the Guardian’s forearm. The sound of shredding fabric and crunching bone is as loud as a bullet in the silence that still surrounds me. Blood drips at my feet, drenching the dog’s muzzle and the tips of my boots. The Guardian’s other hand, holding a vicious looking knife, lifts in the air just as the doors of the elevator open.
Yanking Mutt back, and placing myself between him and the descending blade, I screw my eyes tightly shut, expecting the pain that will follow when the monster stabs me. I’m even holding my breath, but when bursts of light start dancing behind my closed eyelids, I look up and suck in gulps of air. The knife is stopped with the sharp pointy end right at the center of my chest. A large hand is wrapped around the blade, blood trickling from it, mingling with all the rest at my feet. Following the hand, my eyes lock with Marcus’s.
“April?” I’m not sure if it’s surprise or hope that I hear in his voice. It’s almost as if he is scared to believe it’s really me standing here.
You and me both, buddy, I tell him internally.
“I’m here to see Sebastian.” Repeating the same words, it seems that’s all I can say right now.
“I told the human he is not here. She wouldn’t listen,” the Guardian spits angrily.
Marcus and I ignore him, still staring at each other. I can feel that he is waiting for something, but I have no idea what that is. We might as well stand here until the morning. His focus is broken when Mutt decides to start shaking his head, jaws still clamped on the offender’s forearm, trying to remove it from the body it's attached to. Hissing, the Guardian releases the knife to try and pry the dog off him.
“Don’t touch the dog.” Marcus looks at the vampire standing with us.
I have no idea if he will be fast enough to stop the Guardian if he tries to hurt Mutt, so I shove my fingers in the dog's mouth, doing what I can to unlock his sharp teeth. Mutt opens his mouth straight away, releasing the limb. Looking at his round, brown eyes, I try to ignore the blood coating him. He protected me, and I love him for it, gore and all. Jumping a foot off the floor when a hand grabs my elbow, I glare at Marcus. When exactly I stopped being afraid of him is beyond me.
“Let’s go.” Pulling me along with him, we enter the elevator, Mutt walking beside me as calm as ever. Like he didn’t almost chew the arm off of a monster.
All eyes are still on us when I sweep my gaze over the lobby before the doors close in my face. Marcus says nothing while we go up, still holding me by the elbow. A strange sense of safety blankets the interior of the tight space. In no time at all, we reach the top and Marcus strides towards the open door of the penthouse with me right on his heels. When we are within the walls of the apartment, he slams the door shut and whirls on me like a wraith.
“What were you thinking?” Plastering my back to the door, I gape at his angry face. “You almost gave me a heart attack.” Eyebrows pulled low over his eyes, the tip of his nose is almost touching mine. “And I’m immortal!”
“You didn’t want me to leave, remember,” screaming the words, I push on his chest, hoping he will give me a little space.
Flying back like hit by a cannon, Marcus smacks into the opposite wall, crumbling into a heap on the floor. My eyebrows hit my hairline, and lifting my hands in front of my face, I look from them to him. What the hell is going on?
Marcus starts chuckling, flipping on his back. Stretched out with plaster all over his hair and shirt, he shakes his head, the chuckling turning to deep belly laughs. Maybe the Council did something to them to drive them insane. There is no other reason he will find this funny while I’m freaking out.
“I’ll be damned if he didn’t succeed.” Fists pounding on the floor underneath him, Marcus keeps laughing.
“What is going on?” Andrei comes from somewhere in the apartment, his hair all messed up, his shirt and the buttons on his pants open. Too much skin and too many muscles exposed for my sanity to stay intact, I look
away from him, my face burning.
“Where is Sebastian?” Maybe Andrei was getting ready to sleep, and my screaming tantrum woke him up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you.”
“You never bother.” He waits until I glance at him before he continues. “Sebastian is not here. The Council took him.”
“I told her this,” Marcus says, lifting himself up. “She ignored it.”
“When will he be back?” Ignoring the jerk still chuckling, I do my best to concentrate on Andrei’s face. His lips twitch for a second when I fail miserably. I am a woman, not a child. I also have a pulse, so he can’t hold it against me.
“He is not coming back.” Marcus stops laughing, and the sadness in his eyes rips my chest open.
How many people need to die because of me?
“Come, April.” Reaching for me, Andrei leads me to the living room, depositing me on a familiar sofa. “When Marcus tried taking you out of here, Khan confronted Sebastian about it. Telling him you were dead because Sebastian took too much blood didn’t work as we’d hoped.” Sitting on the edge of one of the chairs, he leans his forearms on his knees. “Khan called the rest of the Council members. They showed up with their sentinels. There is enough of us, as I’m sure you saw when you came to the hotel, but Sebastian didn’t count on being weak when he confronted them. You took too much of his blood. We fought, but we couldn’t win. Not with our Sire weakened as he was. He held them off until he was sure Marcus got you out of here. As soon as Sebastian was certain you were safe, he made a deal with the Council.” The blue eyes looking at me swirl with sorrow, making lead pool in my stomach.
I swallow a couple of times before I can speak. “What kind of a deal?”
