by Zoë Fox
It finally dawned on her what he intended to do. Kirk was the one who’d sent her that horrible package. He had been the one to drain all those girls of their blood, the one who chopped off their heads. No wonder the voice had sounded familiar. She’d sat at the dinner table with him. He’d yelled at her over the dishes. He’d been in her house this whole time. The vision she’d had of one of his victim’s pain, that was what he wanted to do to her. Except this time, she wouldn’t live through it. Her stomach churned and she found being sick.
He started to reach across the table for the rope, one hand still holding on to her. Alex knew this might be her only chance. As he struggled to reach the coil he’d placed on the other side when he walked in, lifted her injured hand. Bringing it and the knife upwards, she plunged the blade into the joint of the elbow closest to her as hard she could
Kirk, screaming in pain, let go of her and grabbed his own arm.
Alex jumped up and kicked the chair at him before starting to run. It hit him in the kneecap, forcing his legs to buckle. Her first thought was to run out the front door. If she was lucky she could make it to Sea’s house before he caught up with her, but something stopped her.
Toad would be left in the house alone with him. There was no telling what he might do to her brother. Behind her she could hear him struggling to disentangle his limbs from those of the chair. She only had a few seconds.
Running down the hallway, she headed for the door separating their rooms from the rest of the house. There were now footsteps following her.
“Alex, things will be better for you this way. You have to trust me,” Kirk called as she slammed the door shut, locking it behind her.
“Toad,” she yelled, closing his door, too. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
“The bad thing is happening now, isn’t it?” He asked, his voice full of unshed tears. She wished she had the time to comfort him, but she needed to think.
“Yes, it’s now. And we can’t stay here. He’s going to find a way through that door. We’ve got to get outside.” Her heart beat so fast she feared it would break the bones surrounding it.
The window! That was the only way out of the room, she realized, but her mother had painted over the clasp years ago. Struggle as she might, she could not force the thing to budge.
“Okay, don’t panic,” she said aloud, trying to calm herself. She had to get Toad out of that room.
Ever to her own ears, she could hear they were both perilously close to breaking down.
“We can do this. We’ve just to think.” She began to search around for something heavy or hard enough to shatter the glass. All the toys she could see from where she stood were either too small or too soft.
She could hear the sound of Kirk’s foot hitting the wood of the door as he tried to get through. She had to get them out of there.
Grabbing a blanket from off Toad’s bed, she wrapped it around her arm.
“I’m going to knock the glass out with my arm. If I start bleeding, I need you to not freak out, okay?” She said as she continued to pad herself.
“No freak out.” He whimpered.
“Good.” She forced herself to smile, hoping it would reassure him. “I’m going to get us out of this. Once outside, we have to run. We’re going to try to get to Sean’s house. You know where that is, right?”
He nodded.
“Okay, here goes.” She slammed her arm against the glass out that she could slide them through.
She heard the door in the hallway give. Toad’s room didn’t have a lock to it, so all Kirk had to do now was open it and he’d have them.
Grabbing Toad, she wrapped her arms around him and started out the window. A fragment of glass pierced her leg, causing her to pause as the pain shot up her leg. She tried to wiggle free, but the leg of her pants was stuck. Unable to move from her position, she pushed Toad outside.
The door opened.
“Run,” she screamed after him, trying to jerk herself free. With every move she made, the sharp edge seemed to imbed itself deeper into her flesh. “Go. I’ll meet up with you in a minute.”
Kirk grabbed her leg and pulled her back inside the house.
Chapter Fifty-One
Kirk double-checked the knots tying Alex’s wrists to the handrails of the kitchen chair. Leaning against the table, he took a deep breath. His hand throbbed from where she’d bit him when he’d wrapped his arms around her, intending to carry her back into the room they had started in. For a moment, as she kicked at him with every ounce of her strength, he hadn’t been certain he would be able to overpower her. It was hard to hold on tightly as blood trickled down his arm from where she’d stabbed him.
“You have to trust me, Alex. It will only hurt for a moment,” he leaned forward and brushed a few strands of fallen hair off her face.
She didn’t respond, except to spit in his face. She glared at him as she wiped the liquid off on a dishtowel.
“You really shouldn’t do things like that,” he said, trying the towel around his knife wound. “It’s not very ladylike.”
“I’m not exactly in the mood to care what you think,” she snapped as she struggled with the ropes.
Something is wrong, he thought as he surveyed his handiwork. Why wasn’t she begging him like the others had? He’d never had to struggle so hard with a woman to get her where he wanted her. None of the others had injured him. Blood from the cut on her leg had soaked through her jeans, yet she sat there glaring at him.
“I’m doing this for your own good,” he said, sitting down for a moment to catch his breath.
Alex rolled her eyes. “I don’t believe that when my mother says it. What makes you think I’d believe you?”
“You can’t understand, but you will soon.” He put his head in his hands. He was saying all the right words, but she wasn’t reacting like she was supposed to. What had he done wrong this time?
Alex could feel her heart pounding in her chest, the sound of it echoing in her eardrums. The pain in her leg was excruciating, the hard chair underneath her pressing against it seemed to dig into the wound. Still she forced herself to lean harder into it, hoping to slow the flow of blood. She had to stay alert in case an opportunity for escape showed itself. Her mind raced as she tried to remember the vision she’d had on Halloween night.
Mostly she remembered pain and fear. The mixture of the two feelings had been overwhelming even experienced second hand. She had no desire to go through that again, but, if she couldn’t figure out a way out of the ropes, she would have to. Only this time she wouldn’t be able to stand up and shake it off when it was all over.
She was already afraid. She’d seen what was going to happen next if she didn’t quickly think up a plan. He’d use the knife sitting on the table to cut her wrist and watch as the blood poured into the buckets he’d already placed beneath her.
The woman from her vision had begged him for her life. She’d pleaded and cried, hoping something would touch him, but nothing did. Alex already knew what that option led to. Even if she hadn’t, she doubted her pride would have allowed her to grovel.
“The only thing I understand is that my mother has been dating a complete psychopath,” she said, hoping she could get him to waste time defending himself.
He lifted his head. “I’m not crazy. I’m doing you a favor. You just don’t know it yet.”
“And what kind of favor are the voices in your head telling you that you’re doing for me?” She asked. As she spoke, she steadily moved one of her arms back and forth as much as the rope would allow her, hoping to loosen it enough to slip her small wrist through. Already the coarse threads rubbed a small burn into her flesh.
“I’m going to set you free.” He walked towards her.
“You are?” She asked, misunderstanding his meaning. For a moment, hope was naked on her face.
“No, literally,” He laughed, the sound reminded her of a can opener on rusty metal. He placed his palm on the side of her face. “I’m
going to set you free from your body. I’ll drain your blood and then drink it. That way, you’ll always be a part of me.”
“Look, Kirk, we don’t even like each other. Why would you want to carry me around inside of you? I mean, it just doesn’t make sense.” Alex fought the urge to move away from his hand, all the while still trying to wiggle her hand free. She was saying anything she could to keep him talking. As long as he continued to try to explain himself, the knife remained unused on the table.
He shook his head. “It’s not your fault you’re so obstinate, Alex. You’re a woman. It’s your flesh that makes you so difficult. If I separate you from it, you’ll become soft and compliant. You’ll be mine forever.”
“And what if I don't want to be yours?”
Kirk narrowed his eyes. He felt the beginnings of anger rising inside of him. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. These moments usually gave him peace, but so far with Alex, he’d been unable to find any. “You don't have a choice,” he glared at her.
“Yeah, I gathered that, what with the ropes holding me to the chair and all.” She paused. “Tell me something. Does this make you feel like a man? Can’t get a woman to do what you want unless you force them?”
He slapped her hard, her head snapping to the side.
Alex tasted blood in her mouth. “So, I’m guessing my mother was the first woman who willingly wanted anything to do with you. Am I right?”
“Your mother knows her place.” Kirk’s voice hardened as he reached behind him for the knife. “After tonight, you will, too.”
She pressed her wrists down hard on the armrests of the chair, hoping he wouldn’t notice the progress she’d made with the ropes. Before digging the blade into her flesh, he checked to make sure her hands were balanced so that the blood would pour into the buckets below. He brought up the knife and made a straight-line incision on her downward facing right wrist. He smiled when the first trickle of crimson began to fall.
Alex couldn’t help but wince, though she bit down her tongue to avoid crying out. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.
Kirk started to cut the other wrist, but a ring from the front doorbell stopped him.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake, what now?” He glanced in the general direction of the sound. “Don’t go anywhere, okay? I’ll be right back,” he said, turning his attention back to Alex before laughing at his own joke.
The second Kirk left the room, Alex started to throw her weight back and forth causing the chair to sway. It took only a moment for her to succeed in knocking it over. She lay dizzy and disorientated on the floor for a moment.
“Great,” she muttered to herself. “Now what was that supposed to accomplish?”
Chapter Fifty-Two
The moment the door opened, Lucas knew something was wrong. His nostrils were accosted with the almost overpowering smells of blood and fear. He could feel his fangs lengthen ever so slightly inside his mouth, pressing against the skin of his lips, wanting to be used.
“Can I help you?” Kirk asked. Behind his back, he concealed the knife he used to slice the delicate skin of Alex’s wrist.
“You must be Kirk,” Lucas managed to fill those four words with more disgust than he would have previously thought a few syllables could hold. “Alex has told me a lot about you.”
In the kitchen, Alex could hear the two men talk from her place on the floor as she struggled with the ropes. Blood poured down her wrist, staining the beige linoleum tiles crimson. It snaked its way through the grout work separating the small squares. She knew she had to act fast or she’d bleed out before she had a chance to save herself.
The whole time she’d been able to keep Kirk talking, she had steadily pulled on her binding, loosening the strands that held her in place. The wound at the base of her hand was making everything more difficult, so she focused her energy on the uninjured arm. As she fought for her freedom, she used the angle her fall had given her to press the flesh above the cut into the chair’s armrest with as much pressure as she could muster, trying to slow the bleeding.
“Help me!” Alex screamed inside her head as soon as she recognized the voice at the door as belonging to Lucas. She sent out the cry as loud as she could, praying he would hear her as he had many other times when she thought hard.
Lucas swayed on his feet as Alex’s voice crashed into his skull, causing his ears to ring. It was her blood he smelt, her fear.
“Look, Mister, like I already said, Alex is in trouble. She’s not allowed to leave the house, okay?” Inside the door, just out of Lucas’ line of vision, Kirk fingered the blade he held as if it offered some sort of reassurance. The cold metal reminded him that he was in control and that there was a girl in the other room that would soon realize it.
Lucas narrowed his eyes at the other man for a second. Although he knew he could easily overpower Kirk, there were several children on the street who might witness his actions. He couldn’t risk it.
“Yes, of course. I apologize for bothering you.” He forced a smile, fully intending to jump over the fence separating the front yard from the back the moment the door was shut. From there he would find an entrance into the house, safe from prying eyes.
Alex heard the door shut just as she managed to free one of her hands from the ropes that pinned her down. Lucas didn’t hear me, she thought, feeling panic wash over her like an all-consuming tidal wave. She was alone with a killer now. She sighed, and began to pull on the cord holding down her injured arm with her free hand, the sound of Kirk’s footsteps echoing in her ear.
“Damn it, Alex,” Kirk’s voice boomed as he appeared in the doorway, her eyes level with his feet. He placed the knife on the table. “Why do you have to make everything so difficult?”
She held her arms still against the chair, as they had been when bound, hoping he wouldn’t notice she had managed to free one hand.
“You didn’t think I’d just sit here and wait for you to get back, did you?”
“You’ve spilled the blood,” he growled, and kicked her hard in the stomach. “Look at it It’s wasted!”
She coughed, her body trying to curl in on itself for protection as he lifted the chair back into its place.
“Now, where were we?” He asked, turning his back on her to grab the knife.
Alex kicked him hard in the knee, just as the locked door leading to the backyard burst open. Both Kirk and Alex were completely still, shocked at the sight of the door coming off its hinges.
Lucas grabbed Kirk by the neck and tossed him backwards into the wall. He crumbled on impact, the force of his fall rattling his brain.
“My God, Alex, what did he do to you?” Lucas asked as he bent down and began untying her injured hand.
“I didn’t think you heard me,” she said softly. The edges of the objects filling the room began to soften as her vision took on a dreamy surreal quality. Even though she’d managed to slow the flow, she’d still lost a considerable amount of blood.
He knelt down beside her and inspected her wounds. First the one on her wrist and then the cut on the inside of her thigh. “Of course I heard you,” he said as he removed a small piece of glass that was still embedded in her leg. “I’ll always hear you.”
She smiled at him, her pupils dilating as his eyes went in and out of focus. From the other side of the room, she heard Kirk grunt.
“I have to heal these wounds.”
She could feel the heat of his breath against the torn flesh of her wrist. “Lick away,” she whispered. They’d ceased to hurt, her nerves gone numb from the shock of too many injuries in such a short time span.
He ran his tongue down the length of the slice, the sweet metallic flavor of her blood filling his mouth. His stomach clench with longing, but he sealed the cut anyway before turning his attention to her leg.
“No,” Kirk forced himself to stand. He pressed his back against the wall, preparing to launch himself toward the knife that sat forgotten on the kitchen table. “She’s mine. Tha
t blood is mine!” He yelled as he grabbed the blade. “You can’t have her.”
“Lucas, look out,” Alex tried to yell, her voice barely perceptible over the sounds of movement in the room.
The vampire turned his head just as Kirk sunk the knife into the sensitive skin at the base of his neck. Lucas screamed in pain as the steel came in contact with his collarbone. He reached around and pulled it from his flesh, tossing it aside.
Kirk’s eyes widened in terror as the other man stood, not falling to the ground as he would have expected. He tried to back up, but stumbled when he hit the kitchen table.
Lucas’ eyes were hard as he advanced on Kirk, blood beginning to soak through his shirt. He seemed to tower over him as he wrapped his hands around Kirk’s neck and squeezed.
Alex, already dazed from blood loss, slipped into unconsciousness just as Lucas ripped the other man’s throat out.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Alex awoke to pain, her head throbbing. Voices surrounded her, but when she first tried to open her eyes, the glaring fluorescent lights forced her to close them once more.
“I think she’s waking up,” she heard her mother say.
She felt the pressure of someone sitting on the edge of the bed she lay on.
“Where am I?” She asked as she squinted against the offending light.
“St. Joseph Memorial Hospital,” said the man wearing a white lab coat standing at the foot of her bed. “You gave your family quite a scare.”
“I’m sorry,” she muttered. Her tongue felt thick and dry in her mouth, like sandpaper. “Could I get something to drink?”
She heard the sound of water pouring and someone thrust a thin paper cup into her hand. She tried to tilt it to her lips, but her arm didn’t seem to want to move, her body weak from everything she had been through. Her mother leaned over the bed and helped her.
“Doctor, I’d like to be alone with my daughter for a moment, if you don’t mind.” Meredith said after she placed the cup on the bedside table.
