by L.H. Cosway
In the centre of the dance floor stood Theodore and Rita, and in front of them were ten people, each wearing a black bag over their heads and matching black jumpsuits showing numbers from one to ten. Several witches and warlocks stood by the exits, blocking anyone from leaving the club.
Ethan emerged from behind the crowds of huddled vamps, his eyes glittering with silver and gold, his fangs gloriously extended.
“What do you think you’re doing here, Sorcerer?” he demanded in a calm voice laced with undertones of simmering rage.
Theodore giggled in that high-pitched way of his before answering, “I thought I’d pay a visit so that we could play a little party game.”
“Go. Now,” Ethan commanded, but Theodore shook his head slowly and waggled something in his hand. It looked like a tiny black remote control.
“Ever heard of a nail bomb?” Theodore asked, and Ethan stilled.
“What have you done?” he seethed.
“No?” Theodore chirped, ignoring Ethan’s question. “Well, I’ll tell you. A nail bomb is just like a regular bomb, except it’s packed with nails in order to maximise the damage caused. I’ve always found it a fascinating idea and decided I’d come up with my own version: a stake bomb.” There was a collective intake of breath. “Much larger in size and slightly more cumbersome, a stake bomb is a wonderful device when taking down vampires.”
Theodore spoke as though he was a presenter on the Shopping Channel describing the latest design in electric toothbrushes. A heavy sweat broke out on my skin as I started to hyperventilate.
“I’ve rigged several of these bombs in various locations around your club, Mr Cristescu, and oh look,” he paused and pressed a button on his remote, “I’ve just activated them.”
A clock in the centre of the ceiling lit up and began ticking down from fifteen minutes. Several vampires advanced on Theodore, but he held his hands up to them.
“Now, now, don’t be so hasty. I can deactivate the bombs easily, but the deactivation requires a spell that only I know how to cast. Also, if you kill me now, the bombs will instantly go off, so hold your horses and hear me out.” A titter of laughter escaped him before he continued. “All I want is for you to play my little party game.”
Ethan looked like he was ready to commit mass murder when he said, “What is this game?”
“Oh, goody,” Theodore exclaimed, clapping his hands together in glee. Rita stood stoically by him all the while, not uttering a single word. “Well, this is how it works. Before you, there are five humans and five vampires. Actually, no, I stand corrected. Five vampires, four humans, and a dhampir.”
Theodore slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small silver gun. “So, what you need to do, Mr Cristescu, is play a game of pseudo-Russian roulette. There are no empty chambers in this gun. It’s fully loaded. However, if you shoot a human in the head, they will die. If you shoot a vampire, they will heal. What you need to do is figure out who are the humans and who are the vampires.”
Theodore stopped speaking and walked to Ethan, handing him the gun. There was a brief second as the gun was transferred from Theodore’s hand into Ethan’s that my lover looked like he might kill Theodore anyway, even if the bombs were going to go off. But he didn’t. He took the gun calmly and turned to look at the line up in front of him.
“If I play this game of yours,” Ethan said. “Who’s to say you won’t allow the bombs to go off anyway?”
“Trust,” Theodore said with a sickening grin. “Blind trust, and the fact that you don’t exactly have another choice.”
Once the words left his mouth, I suddenly realised what was going on here. Theodore might not have the physical strength to go up against Ethan, but he had cunning. This whole scenario had been cleverly designed to make Ethan lose face in front of his people, the same way Theodore lost face when his chalk circle plan with the humans didn’t pan out as he’d wanted.
“Go ahead, my friend,” Theodore said. “Pick a number.”
Everything seemed to move in slow motion as I focused my attention on the lineup. My gaze lingered on each individual and panic seized me. This wasn’t ten random people. The first person I recognised was number three, Finn. Then I made out Amanda, Gabriel, Alvie, and, I guessed, Alora, though I didn’t know her body well enough to be sure. The rest were five vampires, and I was willing to bet they were the ones Ethan left to keep guard over his house while he was gone.
I felt like I was going to be sick.
Ethan didn’t know my friends as I did. He might not be able to discern them from the vampires, not with those fucking bags and matching jumpsuits. I dashed from my spot and ran straight onto the dance floor, screaming one word, “Wait!”
I tried to throw myself in front of Finn, but suddenly my body wasn’t moving anymore, and my mouth was clamped shut. Rita stared at me, her hand raised in the air in a spell to prevent me from moving or speaking. Furious tears ran down my cheeks.
“What have you done to her?” Ethan fumed as he flashed to my side.
I wanted to say so much to him, but I couldn’t move, couldn’t utter a single word. All he could see were my tears.
“We wouldn’t want our dear little Treasure giving you any clues, now would we?” Theodore chirped. “Tick-tock, Mr Cristescu. You better get a move on.”
Ethan stared at him murderously, turning back to the anonymous bodies in front of him. He raised the gun, and a look of indecision crossed his face. I stared at him, desperately willing him to make the right choice. What if he didn’t see what I saw? What if he didn’t see my friends but ten anonymous strangers?
Then, quick as a flash, he shot at number seven, and my gut squeezed in relief because I knew it was a vampire. A disturbing thought hit me. Theodore was even more cunning than I realised. This game meant that even if Ethan guessed correctly, he was still shooting his people in the head to save a handful of humans.
“Time to pick another,” Theodore said. “You’ve only got eight minutes left before it’s stake bomb time.”
Vampires all around extended their fangs at Theodore and hissed, but they were powerless to do anything other than that small show of aggression. Ethan successfully pinpointed another vampire, and the guy instantly dropped to the floor when he shot him. I had to keep reminding myself that he would heal. Bullets weren’t fatal to vampires. Humans, however …
No, I refused to think about that.
Minutes passed, and Ethan shot another two vampires. Hope seized me as I started to see light at the end of the tunnel. He only had to guess the final vampire and my friends were safe. Unfortunately, my hope vanished when he aimed the gun at Amanda. Thanks to Rita preventing me from moving or speaking, I was powerless to stop him from making the wrong choice.
Seconds later, he pulled the trigger, and I could practically see the bullet whizzing through the air towards Amanda’s head. My heart pounded, but then Lucas appeared out of nowhere, diving in front of her and taking a bullet in the chest. He fell to the floor, bent over in pain.
“No, no, no that’s cheating. That’s not how you play the game!” Theodore cried.
His expression contorted into that of a madman as he glanced up at the clock on the ceiling. There were only sixty seconds left before the bombs ignited.
Instead of deactivating them like he said he would, Theodore disappeared into his trademark cloud of purple smoke with Rita by his side. The witches and warlocks who’d been guarding the exits vanished, too. Absolute mayhem broke out as vampires fled in every direction. I ran straight to my friends, yanking the bags off their heads and hurrying to get them out of the building before the bombs went off.
I couldn’t see Ethan anywhere, but I knew even if he got stuck inside the club he’d survive. If the myths about my blood were true, then he was pretty much indestructible.
The exits were crowded, and a sense of dread consumed me. There wasn’t enough time. We weren’t going to get out of there. I looked at Finn, Gabriel, Amanda, Alvie, and fi
nally at Alora. I hadn’t had the chance to get to know her properly yet, but having seen the way Finn lit up in her presence, I felt just as much affection for her as I did for the others. An odd sense of acceptance swept over me.
If I was going down, I was going to go down with my friends.
But not before I did everything in my power to get us out of there first.
I took hold of Alvie’s hand and then Amanda’s as Theodore’s pre-recorded voice filled the club speakers, an eerie countdown from ten.
Ten, nine, eight …
We were still moving as fast as we could towards the exit, but there were just too many people trying to get out all at once.
Seven, six, five …
My pulse raced, the realisation that we were all about to die taking over, and all I could think about was how I never got the chance to save Rita.
12.
Finn
The moment I saw Rita looking at me through the window, I knew something bad was going to happen. Her hands began to move in a spell, and before I could stop myself, I was opening the window against my will and allowing her and Theodore to come inside. It felt a lot like when some vamp managed to pull me under their compulsion, only stronger.
The two of them rounded us all up and told us to put on black overalls and bags over our heads. Being under some kind of magical thrall, we did it all without protest. Don’t get me wrong, inside my head I was protesting something fierce, but I was powerless to do anything with my actual body. We were then loaded up into a van, and I couldn’t figure out where we were until the van stopped and we were brought inside a building.
When I heard Theodore talking to Cristescu I knew we were at Crimson. I heard what Theodore proposed, some twisted version of Russian Roulette, and there was no denying the sick game he was playing. The whole time Cristescu took those shots I was praying he got them right. I was also praying that he cared enough to shoot only vampires and not us humans.
Since we were all still alive and kicking, I guessed that he did.
I was saying a prayer to God and thanking my lucky stars I’d avoided a bullet in the head when life went and threw another spanner in the works. Theodore decided to disappear without deactivating his bombs.
What an absolute wanker.
Everybody was pushing and shoving to get out, and Tegan was looking at us all like this was the last time she’d ever lay her eyes on us. Well, fuck that for a game of soldiers. I was getting all of us out of there come hell or high water.
“Move!” I shouted, gathering everyone in front of me and surging forward. Alora was holding onto my arm, and I couldn’t imagine how scary this must be for her, conisdering she couldn’t see what was happening. She could only hear the desperate cries of those around us.
A second later, I noticed someone jump over the crowd and then Cristescu was at the exit, tearing the doors off their hinges and kicking down walls like they were made of nothing but sand.
Jesus H. Christ, even I had to admit that was impressive.
The enlarged opening allowed everyone to get out quicker, and with only seconds to spare, I felt the blessedly cold outdoor air hit my face. Cristescu picked up Tegan, Amanda, and Alvie in one swoop and zoomed with vampire speed away from the building. I threw Alora onto my back and ran like our lives depended on it.
I only managed to round the entrance to the parking lot when the explosion went off, and I was deafened by the sound. I stumbled and hit the pavement, taking most of the impact of the fall with Alora on my back, but I was able to get to my feet again and keep running even as smoke and ash filled my vision. I could barely see a thing. All I knew was I had to keep moving.
A minute or two later, I finally stopped to catch my breath. I let Alora down and ran my hands over her, searching for injuries. I sucked in a harsh breath when I discovered a piece of glass lodged firmly in her shoulder. It wasn’t too deep, so it was safe enough for me to pull it out. A trickle of blood seeped from the wound, and I ripped a piece of material from my sleeve to stem the bleeding.
She shook as I removed Theodore’s coveralls to check the rest of her body, but I didn’t find any other injuries. She only wore leggings and a T-shirt underneath, so I wrapped my arms around her to keep her warm.
“Fuck, Goldy. We were almost goners there for a minute,” I said, breathing harshly. I pulled her in tight, feeling like the luckiest prick in the world to have survived that ordeal. I was shaken, and I definitely needed to hold Alora just as much as she needed to be kept warm. Her chest heaved, and when I raised her chin to look her in the eye, I found that she was crying.
“Don’t cry. You’re safe now, I’ve got you,” I murmured to her softly, kissing the top of her head and her wet cheeks. I captured her face in my hands and rubbed my thumbs under her eyes to dry her tears.
She snuggled into me closer, gripping me tightly, and a wave of emotion overtook me. I barely knew this girl, yet she made something deep inside of me ache for more. More of something I’d never felt before, not like this.
I wanted to take care of her and make sure nothing hurt her ever again.
Lowering my mouth to hers, I took her lips in a tender, exploratory kiss. My tongue slid along hers, and she responded with a gentle moan.
“Finn!” I heard someone call out. Reluctantly, I stopped kissing Alora and looked up to see Tegan and the others running toward us.
“Where’s Cristescu?”
“We can’t find Lucas anywhere. Ethan’s gone back inside the club to find him. He thinks that because he was shot, he didn’t get the chance to recover and leave the building before the bombs went off.”
“He could be dead. There were stakes in those bombs.”
I immediately regretted saying it when Amanda burst into tears. Tegan shot me an annoyed look for being so insensitive.
“What?” I whispered uncomfortably. “He could be.”
“You couldn’t see because you had a bag over your head,” Tegan explained. “But Ethan mistakenly chose to shoot at Amanda on his last shot. Lucas threw himself in front of the bullet before it could hit her.”
He sacrificed himself for a human? Suddenly, my opinion of Lucas changed drastically.
“Ethan said to find you and get everyone back to the house,” Tegan continued.
I was about to argue with her because the fact that we all got taken from there meant it wasn’t exactly safe. But then when I thought about it, nowhere was really safe anymore. Not with Theodore and Rita on the loose.
“Okay, we need a vehicle though,” I replied, just as a van came barrelling down the road to us. It stopped just shy of Tegan. Ira sat in the driver’s seat with Delilah beside him.
“Get in,” Delilah called, and I ushered everyone in the back.
We drove by Crimson, which was nothing but a pile of burning rubble now. Cristescu emerged from the wreckage carrying a limp body in his arms. I knew it was Lucas when I heard Amanda let out a whimper of relief. Cristescu silently slid into the car with his unconscious friend in his arms, and Ira started the engine back up.
Fifteen minutes later, we arrived back at the house, a mournful atmosphere among the group. Everyone was tired and silent, suffering from a touch of after-shock. PTSD, maybe.
Cristescu handed Lucas over to two waiting vampires, and they carried him to an upstairs bedroom where I presumed he was going to sleep and heal. I was vaguely aware of Tegan going from room to room, searching for something. When she came up empty after searching through the entire house she started to panic.
“Rebecca’s gone!” she cried. “Theodore’s taken Rebecca.”
Oh shit.
What with everything that had been going on, I’d completely forgotten about the little girl.
“Don’t panic,” Alvie said, placing a hand on Tegan’s shoulder. “He’s probably given her to Emilia. She won’t harm her.”
Tegan’s face turned red with anger as she stormed from the room, and seconds later, a loud crash came from the kitchen. I’d
never seen her so furious. Cristescu hurried to her, and everything went silent. I tugged Alora down onto a chair with me and wrapped my arms around her middle.
A couple of minutes later, the two returned from the kitchen, and Tegan looked considerably calmer. Cristescu clearly managed to calm her down.
“I don’t understand,” she said, shaking her head in bewilderment. “We cast a spell that was supposed to protect Rebecca from anyone who would do her harm.”
“There are few spells that a sorcerer like Theodore can’t break through. He knew about your blood even though your mother cast a spell to hide it,” Gabriel reminded her.
“Theodore cannot be allowed to get away with this,” Cristescu cut in angrily as he stood by the window with an arm around Tegan.
“What exactly do you propose we do?” Gabriel asked. “He basically manipulated all of our bodies to do his bidding with magic. You might be unkillable, Ethan, but the rest of us aren’t.”
An argument ensued between the two half-brothers before I interrupted them. “Hey, calm down the both of you. Fighting amongst ourselves won’t achieve anything.” At my statement, they lost some of their steam.
Cristescu cast Gabriel an apologetic glance. “I’m sorry. I spoke out of turn.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Gabriel replied, looking surprised that Ethan actually bothered to say sorry.
“I could ask Roman if he has any ideas,” Tegan offered, and Cristescu’s smile vanished. So, he didn’t like Tegan’s long-lost sorcerer grandfather? I bet there was a story there.
“We’re not going to Roman,” Cristescu snapped.
Tegan shot him an irritable look. “Why not?”
“Because he wants to get in your pants, that’s why.”
“Your granddaddy wants to get in your pants? Eww, TMI, way TMI,” Alvie exclaimed.
