My heart pounded desperately as panic tore through me and I sprinted faster to try and help. I didn’t know what I could possibly do to save them but I had to do something.
I made it to the end of the alley but before I could step out, someone grabbed my arm, yanking me back into the shadows.
I went to scream but before I could, a huge hand slapped down across my mouth silencing me.
I tried to struggle, kicking and punching with my free arm but it was like the blows I landed didn’t even register. My attacker spun me around, slamming me against the cold stone wall of an apartment block.
His fingers dug into my cheek as his hand clamped my mouth closed, stopping me from making a sound.
I could only watch in horror as the vampire bound my sister and my heart felt like it might tear in two. I battled to fight my way free but he tightened his hold, his bulk immobilising me completely.
“It’s too late for them,” he breathed in my ear.
I tried everything possible to get away from him but I was totally overpowered and barely able to move an inch. With a lurch of surprise, I realised he wasn’t a vampire. The heat radiating from his body where it was pressed against my back told me otherwise.
I couldn’t understand why he was doing this to me. What difference did it make to him to hold me back while my family needed me?
Tears ran freely down my cheeks while I watched in horror as the vampires took my family from me. A soft whimper escaped my throat as my whole world fell apart and I felt my captor’s tension increase at the sound.
The vampire who had been restraining Montana stepped away from her and started looking around at the surrounding buildings. I held my breath, fear coursing through me as her gaze passed over the alley I was hidden in. We were deep within the shadows but for a moment I thought she’d seen me. Her gaze swept on though and my lungs remembered how to work again.
Another vampire lifted Montana’s unconscious body into his arms like it weighed nothing. General Wolfe directed him back towards the Realm and he carried her away, dropping down into the drain and out of sight.
I tried to cry out, a muffled sound barely making it past the hand which crushed my mouth. His grip tightened painfully, his fingers digging into my cheek so hard that I could feel it bruising.
My pitiful attempt at a sound was drowned out by my father’s pleas as he begged the vampires not to take his child from him.
“She was only following me!” he cried. “I asked her to help me search for food out here - take me instead!”
“Don’t worry,” the General replied, a cruel smile twisting his beautiful features. “We haven’t forgotten about you. Your daughters have a price on their heads. Where is the other one?”
“Back in the Realm,” my dad lied for me and my heart shattered into a thousand pieces as the vampire struck him. The blow looked almost casual but it sent my dad flying to the ground. A gash opened up across his cheek, spilling blood to the pavement.
“Don’t lie to me human,” General Wolfe warned. “You will tell us everything we want to know eventually anyway.”
“I’d sooner die than betray my children,” Dad hissed as he struggled to regain his feet.
The vampire shoved him back and my dad fell to the ground as if he’d been struck with a baseball bat. He skidded backwards on the concrete, his grey jacket tearing at the impact.
The monster with the face of an angel advanced, reaching out to brush his fingers along the bleeding wound on my dad’s cheek. He lifted his hand to his mouth and licked the blood from it, closing his eyes as he savoured the taste.
Acid burned my throat as revulsion raced through me.
The lesser vampires all shifted like cornstalks in a breeze as they watched the interaction. I could practically feel their hunger. A shiver passed across my skin as their excitement grew.
“I always did prefer my meals... fresh,” the General hissed as he opened his eyes. The bland look had been banished from them and a dangerous gleam glowed desperately behind his pupils. He seemed to take a moment to try and restrain himself but gave up and leapt forward, crushing my father to the ground.
Dad screamed as the demon bit his neck but the vampire caught his arms, pinning him in place as easily as if he were a child instead of a full-grown man.
I struggled even harder against my captor’s grip and he grunted as he pressed himself against me more firmly, stopping me from running to my father’s aid.
The General released his hold on my dad and sat up, blood running down his chin as he turned his head to the sky and sighed in satisfaction. My dad raised trembling fingers to the wound on his neck as the vampire climbed off of him and returned to stand before him like nothing had happened.
“Where is your other daughter?” Wolfe asked again, tipping his head to the side in a gesture that looked anything but human. My dad pushed himself to his feet before he answered and more tears pooled in my eyes as he staggered with the effort of doing so.
“Go to hell.” My dad reared back and spat straight in the General’s face.
The vampire glared at my father as he wiped the wad of spittle from his cheek. “It would be rude of me not to share my meal,” he said icily and it took me a moment to realise what he meant.
The six lesser vampires understood more quickly than I did and they all leapt at my dad excitedly, knocking him back to the ground.
He roared in pain as six sets of teeth found his flesh and I screamed around my captor’s fingers as my father’s limbs flailed wildly beneath the attack.
“Don’t kill him,” General Wolfe added after a few more agonising moments had passed. “He still needs to tell us where his other daughter went.”
The lesser vampires reluctantly stopped their feasting and moved away from my father’s body. He wasn’t moving. I could see rings of tooth marks bleeding on both of his arms as well as one on his leg where the vampires had shredded his pants in their efforts to devour him alive.
My stomach clenched and flipped over at the sight, bile filling my mouth as I fought back the urge to vomit.
General Wolfe sighed impatiently as he realised my dad had lost consciousness. “Bring him.” He snapped his fingers at the vampire standing closest to him. “He will answer my questions when he wakes. The rest of you, search this place for the girl. She can’t have gone far, but don’t forget the Royals want her. She’s not to be bitten.”
The five remaining vampires turned and headed into the streets surrounding the buildings like dogs hunting a scent. Thankfully none of them headed towards us.
“We have to move,” the man holding me hissed in my ear. I struggled against his hold again as my father was dragged away. I didn’t care about the vampires who were looking for me, I just wanted to stop them from taking my family away.
The man seemed to realise I didn’t plan on going anywhere with him and shifted his grip on me so that he could flip me around to face him.
He was huge; over six foot tall and built with more muscle than I’d ever seen on a man. He had long, black hair which was loose over his shoulders and his face was shadowed with stubble that was almost long enough to be called a beard. His clothes were dark and clung to his broad frame, it looked like they were made of leather.
His eyes were the most striking thing about him though; they were golden in colour and almost glowed despite the darkened alleyway we were hiding in.
He kept his hand pressed tightly over my mouth and glared at me. I felt myself shrinking under his heated gaze.
“We can’t stay here,” he insisted. “But if you come with me I will help you get your father back. I know where they’re going.”
I wanted to refuse, to push out of his grasp and run after my family before the vampires could get too far away but a small, defeated part of me knew I couldn’t help them. I’d only get myself caught.
My eyes slid back towards the courtyard which was now empty. Wolfe had followed the vampire carrying my father back into the Realm. The
only other option I had was to chase after them but then what? It was suicide and I knew it. They’d capture me as easily as they had my family and then we’d have no chance of escape. If this man really knew where they were being taken then maybe I’d have a chance. Albeit a slim one...
With a surge of resolve that tore my heart in two, I nodded.
He watched me for several seconds like I was some kind of cornered animal and slowly removed his hand from my mouth.
I shoved him back and glared at him. No matter what help he was offering me now, he had stopped me from going to my family when they’d needed me most.
“How do you know where they’re taking them?” I whispered angrily. I wasn’t just going to blindly follow some stranger and trust in his promises of help.
“Come,” he instructed in a whisper as he turned away and started walking. Strapped across his back were two heavy, golden blades, their hilts covered in strange lettering. I bristled at his total disregard for my question.
“Who are you?” I hissed, staying exactly where he’d left me. I’d never seen him before, I was sure of it. No one in the Realm was anywhere near as big as him or as intimidating.
“Silence,” he instructed fiercely and I recoiled from him then cursed myself for it.
I glanced back to the street where my family had been minutes before and wondered if I should just go after them myself. This guy could be a psycho for all I know.
He took three long strides towards me, boxing me in against the wall again. I forced myself to stand straight and tilted my chin to hold his eye. I hoped I looked braver than I felt.
“If you don’t follow, they will hunt you down and kill you or worse. I am going to free the humans they have taken. Come with me or don’t. It’s your choice.”
“Not much of a choice,” I muttered angrily. He glared at me and turned away without looking back to see if I was following.
I glanced back out towards the drain which led back into the Realm. They’d taken Dad and Montana back inside but I knew they wouldn’t be returning them to our old apartment. Following them would only serve to get me caught too.
I had no chance of freeing them right then but if this man really did know their destination I just might have a shot.
No one would expect another human to be outside the Realm. And even though they knew I’d escaped, they’d never expect me to come after them. They’d expect me to head south and keep running until the burning sun stopped them from following. But I wasn’t going anywhere without my family.
The General had said the Royals wanted us for something which I guessed meant that we had passed their damn test. Whatever they wanted us for, it couldn’t be good. I didn’t even know the vampires had Royals but it didn’t matter. They could stick a crown on their undead heads or stick one up their asses, it didn’t make a difference to me. I wouldn’t bow down to their wishes, I’d do whatever it took to get my family away from them.
Maybe they’d decided that our blood was particularly delicious and wanted to serve us up like the main course at a feast. Perhaps in the east where the Elite were rumoured to live they liked to drink their blood fresh; biting through flesh as the General had done to my dad. The thought of their razor sharp fangs piercing my skin sent a wave of fear rolling over me. The agony present in my father’s screams when they’d bitten him told me all I ever wanted to know about the pain that would cause.
I hesitated again then cursed as I ran to catch up to my unexpected companion. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, he seemed like my best chance of survival for now. At the very least he would make a more appetising meal for the bloodsuckers if they found us. And while they were dealing with him I’d have a chance to escape.
He quickly led me away, taking turns between the buildings so rapidly that he must have been familiar with the route. I struggled to keep up with his long stride and fast pace.
“Hold,” he said suddenly, putting a hand up to enunciate his point. “One of them has found us. Wait here.” He stepped out of the alleyway we were occupying, grasping the two blades over his shoulders and pulling them free of their sheathes.
“Wait, what do you mean?” I jogged after him then staggered to a halt as I spotted the vampire standing in the road less than fifty feet away. She turned towards us with a triumphant smile, her scarlet hair twisting around her devastatingly beautiful face in a breeze I couldn’t feel.
“There you are sweet girl,” she purred.
My gut clenched in panic as I wondered how she could ignore the man-mountain prowling towards her with a pair of swords in favour of me.
“If you want her, you’ll have to come through me,” he rumbled as he closed in on her.
The vampire finally switched her attention to him and her eyes narrowed as she pulled her own sword from her back. “Slayer,” she growled. “We’d begun to think you were all dead.”
“You thought wrong.” He twisted towards her so suddenly that I almost missed the motion. His blade swept low, aiming for her stomach but somehow she leapt above it, parrying his second blade with her own.
The clash of colliding metal set my heart galloping in my chest but my feet were rooted to the spot.
They danced back and forth, matching blow for blow in movements so graceful they almost felt choreographed. The man-mountain moved far faster than I would have believed possible for someone of his size. Each time she leapt at him, he was ready for her and drove her back onto the defence.
I shifted back a step, wondering if I should be running away but unable to tear my gaze from the battle before me. My foot caught against something heavy and I glanced down to find a broken brick beside me. I bent down and grabbed it, feeling better to have something vaguely weapon-like in my hand.
The vampire noticed my movement, her head twisting towards me as her eyes flared. He took her momentary distraction as a gift and swung forward viciously. His blade sliced straight through her slender neck like it was nothing but paper and her head fell from her body with a wet thump.
I sucked in a breath.
It rolled towards me, trailing blood across the concrete and I felt my mouth fall open in some mixture of horror and awe.
Heavy footsteps made me look up from her face which was frozen in a moment of confused realisation.
“What’s this?” he asked, pointing at the brick which I now held so tightly I thought it might be cutting my palm. I dropped it in embarrassment. It clattered loudly as it hit the ground.
“You killed one,” I said. No other words seemed relevant. I’d dreamed of killing one of those things every day of my life but I’d never believed it was actually possible.
He glanced at the decapitated body as though he’d almost forgotten it was there. “Not quite.” He turned one of his blades in his palm and drove it through the vampire’s heart.
A sound like raindrops falling filled the air and I watched in fascination as her body disintegrated into thousands of tiny pieces like grains of sand.
Some of it caught in the breeze and swirled towards me. I held my breath and took a step back. Who knows what would happen if I breathed in vampire dust?
“You’ve never seen one killed?” he asked with a frown.
I shook my head feebly.
“I’d begun to wonder if it was even possible,” I breathed.
His frown deepened and he looked about at our surroundings as though he were seeing them for the first time. “What year is this?” he asked slowly.
I wondered why he was asking such a strange question but as I looked into his golden eyes I could see that he really needed to hear the answer. “It’s twenty one thirty three. Why?”
Eternal Reign (Age of Vampires Book 1) Page 6
