by Rue Volley
“Let me go,” I said as I gritted my teeth.
He held me and leaned into my face.
“I am not giving you to Caine,” he said. I stopped moving.
“What? Well what is your big plan now?” I asked him.
“I was hoping that you would consider staying with me,” he said.
I rolled my eyes and pushed away from him.
“Gosh… that sounds like a great offer, but I just don’t think that you and I are going to happen. Thanks though,” I said. He stared at me.
“I hoped that you would appreciate my honesty,” he said.
“Oh… yes, I most certainly do,” I said as I turned and started to walk again.
He walked behind me this time. I can’t tell you how odd it was to have a hired killer just walking along behind you. I guess if I was normal I would have had a panic attack, but I’m not normal. I really didn’t care that he was back there either. Why should I? If he wanted to kill me he would. I’ve turned him down, called him an ass, and made fun of him. Boys… what the hell?
We walked for a while. I finally saw a town coming. I didn’t really feel that relieved. I just spent about a half hour with an assassin on my heels. I was not fearful, I just wanted to grab Sara, smack her, and return home. I was beginning think that I now hated trains. Awesome. I stepped from the tracks and looked around. This town was so quiet. I looked back at Blake and he stepped up next to me.
“You know where we are?” I asked him. He looked down the deserted street and turned to me.
“This is a graveyard,” he said.
I looked at him and didn’t really want to know what that meant. But… then again, it’s me right?
I started to walk down the street. I looked at either side slowly. Some businesses were boarded up and some had such dirty glass, it looked like one of those abandoned gold mining towns. Blake walked next to me slowly. I glanced at him.
“Where are all the people?” I asked him.
“Eaten,” he said.
I won’t lie, that ran a chill through me. ‘Eaten’, is not the best outcome. I walked up to one of the stores and looked in. All the food still sat on the shelves. I looked back at him and shook my head at him. He shook his head.
“I did not eat them,” he said.
“How did you know?” I asked him.
“Well, the carnival wiped this place out. It was easy, there was a sickness here, it killed some, and the rogues ate the rest.”
“How could they get away with eating a whole town?” I asked him.
“Well, this town was down to nothing already, the economy died. The ones who stayed became sick and the rest were hunted and eaten. Better than what they had,” Blake said as he stepped into the street.
“How many towns have just disappeared like this?” I asked him.
Blake stood in the middle of the street and raised his hands up. He closed his eyes and I really thought that was it. He was ready to take a crack at me. I stepped back and started to draw energy into myself. He turned around and his eyes got wide.
“What are you doing?” he yelled at me.
I opened my eyes and watched as the blue rolled across my skin like oil. He flashed to me and grabbed my wrists; he spun me around and pressed himself against me. I felt his body humming. I opened my mouth to yell out and he placed his hand over my mouth. I felt something weird to my right and turned my head in a flash. Blake backed up and pulled us inside what looked like an old hardware store. He pulled me down and held me in his arms. I bit his hand and he hissed at me.
“Be quiet,” he whispered to me.
I looked up and caught a flash down the street. I tried to focus on it, but it moved to fast for me to make it out completely. It was in human form… that was for sure. My stomach growled and Blake leaned toward my ear.
“Control you hunger,” he whispered to me.
I closed my eyes. I had no choice but to team up with him, because he obviously knew something about the town that I don’t. He took his hand off of my mouth and I looked back at him.
“What was that?” I asked him in a whisper.
“Rogue,” he said as he looked out the window.
He stood up and grabbed my hand. I still hated him, but I was going to swallow that for now. Why he showed mercy with me and decided that he wasn’t going to kill me was a mystery. I can’t be that cute. I can’t be that special, could I?
Blake slowly walked to the door and opened it up. He peeked out and turned his head both ways. I stayed inside. He stepped out first and I went to take a step and he was gone in a flash to the left. I yelled out. Guess that wasn’t the best reaction to have. A girl flashed in front of me and tilted her head at me. I stepped back and put my hands up in front of me. She lunged at me and I hit her as hard as I could across the face. She stumbled and leaned over. I looked at her and shook my head.
“I don’t want any trouble,” I said.
She stood up and grinned at me.
Blood covered her teeth and I could see that I had cut her mouth when I hit her.
“Oh crap… listen, I didn’t mean to cut you… I didn’t,” I said to her.
She lunged at me again and we rolled across the floor.
I felt her claw at my back and I screamed.
“Get the hell off of me you crazy bitch!” I yelled at her.
We rolled a few times as she pulled my hair and snapped her mouth at me. I ended up on my back with my arms in front of me. I pushed her up and scanned the room for any weapons I could grab. I held her with one arm and grabbed her hair. I jerked it to the right and rolled her. She never yelled, like she wasn’t hurt at all.
I scrambled to the hardware on the shelves and grabbed a hammer. I turned around just in time and swung it upward. I hit her under the chin and it sounded like something cracked. She stumbled backward and her jaw hung open. I guess I would have been grossed out, but I was too busy thinking about the upside of surviving to worry about her health. She shook her head and her jaw wiggled. I frowned and gripped the hammer in my hand. I would have just lit up like a Christmas tree, but I didn’t know who else was lurking around and Blake was missing. He may have been dead for all I knew.
She jumped at me and I hit her in the head. She flew to the right and hit a shelving unit, knocking everything off of it. I spotted a crow bar and dropped the hammer. I lunged at the crowbar and ripped it off the wall and turned as she started to stand up. She turned to me and blood streamed down her face. I gripped the crowbar, shaking my head at her.
“Don’t do it,” I said to her, knowing that she probably wouldn’t listen and I was right.
She came at me and spun around low. She kicked my leg and I fell down. The crowbar almost flew out of my hand. She grabbed at it, first good move she had since we started kicking the crap out of each other. She tried to bite me, but her jaw was broken. I laughed out loud while she tried to nibble on me. It tickled. Her jaw just jiggled. She growled and I looked at her.
“Get off of me you ass!” I yelled at her.
She struck me in the face and I felt my lip split. I tasted the blood and my heartbeat sped up. I rolled her over and took the crowbar and pressed it against her throat. I pressed down as hard as I could. She squirmed under me. She arched her back and knocked me off of her. I fell backward and slipped on some of her blood she had dribbled from her mouth. I cracked my head against the concrete floor. I grabbed it. I had blood on my hand when I looked, but I don’t know if it was mine or hers. I slammed the crowbar into the concrete and pushed myself up. I pointed it at her.
“You need to settle the hell down,” I said as I swayed a little.
She didn’t.
She lunged at me and I took the crowbar and swung it like I had played baseball all of my life. The curved end jammed into the side of her head and she went limp. I had to let it go or she would have dragged me down as she fell. I stood there and swayed back and forth as I waited for her to stand up and give me some more crap to deal with. She did
n’t move. I couldn’t have killed her, right? I mean she is a protector… I had to stab her in the heart and then slap her with some juiced up flash of death light right?
I just stood there waiting for any movement at all. Things felt a little weird and I reached up to the back of my head. I touched it and then felt the cut, running down the back of my head. I pulled my fingers to my face and looked at them. Two fingers turned into four and I stumbled as I focused on the fresh blood on my hand. I’d really hit my head hard. I turned and stumbled towards the door. I stopped and held on. Blake flashed in front of me and I looked up at him. He looked past me to the floor and grinned. I guess he was impressed with my accidental kill. ` I stepped towards him with my finger pointed at him.
“I don’t like you anymore,” I said with my speech all slurred.
I fell forward and he caught me, before I hit the ground.
Chapter Fifteen
Grounding
Sara sat there in the fitting room, warding off the constant help of the girl who insisted she come out and show off her dresses. Sara sat on the floor in the corner and shook her head.
In a normal situation Sara would be parading around the shop, showing anyone who would listen to her, but that wasn’t normal. She sat there and a flash of memory went through her mind, Caine’s face in front of her. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, like that would knock it out. She had blurry vision and sweaty palms. She had no idea what was going on, but it felt like a bad flu. The girl working the shop walked to her door again. She tapped on it and leaned in.
“Any of those dresses working out for you?” she asked her.
Sara stood up slowly, pressing her hand against the wall. Her balance was failing and she felt weak... very, very weak. She cleared her throat and leaned her head back.
“Yes… I love the red one,” Sara said, short of breath.
The girl bit her lip and waited for a moment.
“Are you okay?” she asked Sara as she stared at the door.
“I… Well, could you get me some water?” Sara asked her. The girl grinned.
“Yea, hold on a minute,” she said as she turned and walked behind her counter.
She always brought plenty of water with her to stash in the tiny fridge they hid under the counter. She leaned down and grabbed one and she heard Sara coughing behind the door.
She walked back to the fitting room quickly and tapped on the door. Sara was coughing and sucking in her breath.
“I have water for you,” the girl said as she gripped it in her hand.
Sara stood up and looked at the floor; there was bloodstain now, she was coughing up blood, great. She placed her hand on her mouth and squeaked. The girl leaned against the door and started to consider calling the police. The girl looked down as a hand popped out, ready to take the water. She leaned down and handed it to Sara. Sara grabbed it and backed up, half crawling on the floor.
“Thank you,” Sara said in a small voice. “I seem to have a throat thing going on… Sorry,” she added.
The girl crinkled her eyebrows and stepped back from the door. She turned as she heard the chimes go off and a very pretty boy and girl walked in. She turned to stare at the boy. He grinned at her and she instantly felt her heart flutter. Josh stepped toward her and Sam stood there looking around at the couple of girls shopping.
“Ridiculous,” Sam muttered.
Josh stepped up to girl and leaned in.
“Hello. We have come to get a friend. She called us, she is not feeling so good,” Josh said as he poured on the charm.
The girl looked up at him and rubbed the side of her neck. She grinned and then bit her lip.
She pointed at the fitting room door.
“She has been in there for over an hour. She has been coughing a lot,” she said as she glanced at Sam.
She looked at Sam and cleared her throat. Sam gave her a ‘no you didn’t’ look as she placed her hand on her hip. The girl smiled and walked toward her. She rubbed her hands on her legs and got a ‘selling’ look on her face. Sam rolled her eyes and held up her hand.
“I am not here to shop,” she said to her as she waved her hand.
The girl didn’t take it as a “no”.
She should have… pushy selling is annoying, even to the immortal.
“Would you like to check out some of our dresses? We have a great one right here that would look amazing on you.”
“Do I look like I want a dress?” Sam said as she glanced at Josh. Josh laughed.
The girl looked her up and down and sighed. Sam shook her head.
“Oh whatever,” Sam muttered as she pushed past her.
Josh looked at the fitting room door and over at Sam.
“You go in first, she may be naked,” Josh said to her. Sam laughed.
“Like that is a deterrent for you, Josh,” she said as she walked to the door.
She banged on it with her fist and Sara looked up in a panic.
“I am fine really!” she half yelled, coughing at the end of her sentence. Sam leaned in.
“Yea, you sound really good, Sara,” Sam said as she grinned.
“Oh my god… Sam?” Sara said as she pushed herself up and leaned along the wall to the door.
“Let me in, you brat,” Sam said as she stood her ground.
Sara reached for the door handle and turned it; she backed up and held onto the wall.
Sam walked in and looked at her, shaking her head.
“You look like shit, Sara,” Sam said. Sara started to cry and lunged at her.
She threw her arms around Sam’s neck and started to babble.
“Oh my God Sam, I don’t know what the hell is going on. I remember wanting to get Rue’s phone for her. I knew that I shouldn’t have gone and hooked up with a boy that I thought was a hottie on the phone, but I did and after that it’s all jumbled in my brain. I woke up with a boy tied up in a motel room, a MOTEL ROOM, Sam!”
Sara kept hanging onto her with a death grip. Sam tried to pry her arms from her neck, but it was no use. Sara was in a total girl meltdown and Sam was at ground zero. She walked to the bench with Sara hanging onto her as she continued to cry and babble stuff that made no sense. Sam sat her down and looked at her face. Sara was aging quickly, much faster than she hoped would happen to her. She touched her face and looked at the wrinkles; she looked about forty-eight… no good.
“Are you coughing up blood?” Sam asked as she stared at the floor and saw a stain on the carpet.
Sara looked at it and sniffled as she shook her head “yes”.
“Okay then,” Sam said as she leaned down and pulled her blade from a strap under her jeans. Sara’s eyes got big.
“Oh crap Sam,” she said to her with a look of panic on her face. Sam smiled at her.
“Listen, you are going to have to feed, Sara… No ‘eww’. No ‘uh-uh’ got me?” Sam said as she stared at her.
Sara shook her head “no”. Sam stood up and looked down at her.
“Listen, you have been fed by a protector; you are going to die if you don’t,” Sam said, all nonchalant.
Sara cried out and started to shake her head.
Josh looked at the girl who had been staring him down and looked at the door.
“She gets really emotional when she doesn’t feel good,” Josh said as he winked at the girl.
The girl smiled and walked back to her counter to ring up a girl who decided to flee the cries coming from the fitting room. Josh walked to the door and tapped on it with his knuckles.
He leaned in.
“What’s the deal?” he asked.
Sam opened the door up and Josh looked past her to Sara who sat on the bench, looking like a royal mess. He sighed and stepped in, closing the door behind him. Josh knelt down on one knee in front of Sara and lifted her chin. Sara started to cough and she placed her hand over her mouth. She pulled her hand away and Josh saw the blood on her palm.
“Okay then,” he said as he stood up and looked at
Sam.
Sam sat down next to Sara and placed her hand on her back.
“Listen to me, this isn’t a situation that you can say no to, do you understand?” she asked her.
Sara nodded her head “yes”.
Josh grabbed Sam’s blade from her hand and held out his hand. Sam looked up at him.
“I can do this Josh… don’t.”
Josh shook his head at her and glanced at Sara.
“When you are better we are going to have a long talk about your lack of thinking.”
Sara looked up at him and tried to grin.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered as Sam rubbed her back.
Josh shook his head and sliced the blade across his palm; he handed the blade back to Sam and dipped his finger in his blood. He knelt down and lifted his finger to Sara. She crinkled her nose at him.
“Seriously?!” Josh said as he tilted his head.
“You have probably eaten a baby, Sara, this is nothing,” he added.
Sara cried out and dropped sideways on the bench; she buried her head in her arms and sobbed. Josh rolled his eyes and looked at Sam.
“Nice,” Sam said to him.
Josh shrugged his shoulders and looked back at Sara who was having round two of the meltdown.
“Okay… you didn’t eat a baby. I am sure,” Josh said.
Sara pulled herself up and wiped her eyes as she looked at him.
“You suck so much,” Sara muttered to him.
Josh laughed and lifted his hand to her as he raised his eyebrows.
“Put your mouth on my fingers and taste it first,” he said in a less mocking tone.
Sara looked at Sam and then to his fingers. He dipped it into his blood again and it looked thick and gross. He pushed his hand right to her face and Sara pinched her nose with her fingers and closed her eyes. She slowly put her lips on his fingers and then swallowed. She “eww’d” quietly. Sam shook her head at her.
“We agreed… no ‘eww-ing’,” Sam said as she stared her down.
Sara pressed her lips together and gave a girlie frown.
“Sorry… I couldn’t help it,” she muttered.
