by Bell Stoires
“I’m doing you a kindness,” said Sameth, continuing to move closer to her…
“You all right Ari?” Sameth asked from the driver’s position, pulling Ari from her vision.
Ari’s face had turned white; she didn’t know what had just happened and she shook herself, trying to pull her mind back to reality. For a moment she stared across at Sameth, her mind involuntarily flashing back to what she had just seen. What the hell was going on? Shaking her head in disbelief, Ari’s thought trailed to the only possible solution- she had just had a premonition. But seeing into the future was impossible- wasn’t it? Ari let this thought reassure her, until another disturbing realisation hit her. Hadn’t she thought that stopping time was impossible, and vampires and witches, and all the other things that she had come to know were real? Was it so hard to believe that she had somehow just had a premonition of Sameth attacking her?
Shit, she thought. But why would Sameth want to hurt her?
“Ari?” asked Sameth, recalling her once again to the current place and time.
His voice was not the same calm, cool voice she had grown accustomed to, there was an edge to it, one that left Ari a shivering.
“Where are we going?” she asked finally, forcing herself to speak.
“To a hotel- remember?” Sameth replied.
Until now, Ari hadn’t been paying much attention to where Sameth was driving. But as she looked out of the window, she was suddenly desperate to know exactly where they were. If what she had seen was real, then she needed a plan. She considered trying to stop time. But if she were somehow able to do this, what would happen? What if only Sameth froze, then they would crash, and that might kill her before Sameth got the chance. Trying to remain calm, she surreptitiously unbuckled her seat belt, pretending to turn up the radio as she did so.
“Oh wow!” she said, fanning excitement as her locked on a service station they were just about to pass, “can you pull over for a moment?”
Sameth looked at her confused. She was pointing to a green vending machine next to the closed service station.
“Just there… it’s one of those movie rental booths. I have been dying to watch this new series on HBO; we might as well have something to entertain us while we wait,” she said.
Sameth frowned but pulled over.
“Do you mind grabbing a couple of dollars,” she said, reaching for the car handle and beginning to open the door. “I think I have seen Ragon throw some change in the console.”
Instantly Sameth began searching for coins while Ari exited the car, moving quickly over to the movie rental machine. When she was a few paces away, she broke into a run. She didn’t know where the hell she was going to go; she just knew that she had to get as far away from Sameth. The adrenaline, which had been pumping through her veins since her vision, aided her flight. She was running as fast as she could, making her way behind the service station, when suddenly the sound of a car door slamming broke her concentration.
“Ariana?” said Sameth.
Instantly Ari paused, hiding behind a large dumpster that serviced the petrol station. She was panting loudly, and she clasped her hand over her mouth, desperate to muffle her breathing.
“Ari, where are you?” Sameth yelled again.
A few moments of silence followed this, and Ari tried hard to concentrate. If she could just stop time again then she could get away.
“Come out, come out, where ever you are,” his voice cooed.
There was something eerie about the way that Sameth spoke that confirmed her worst fears. She remained motionless as he blurred into a nearby bush and searched it. This was it; her chance to get away. If she got back to the road, she might be able to flag down a car.
Moving slowly at first, Ari inched around the service station, careful not to make a sound. Soon she was facing Ragon’s car, and for a moment she wondered if Sameth had perhaps left the keys in the ignition, but the road was no more than thirty seconds fast sprint from her. Seeing the head lights of a car on the road, she broke into a run. She was waving her hands in the air, fighting the urge to start screaming, but before she could reach the road, the car had sped away, and she watched the red tail lights fade into the distance. She was just about to plan her next move, when something hard hit her in the back of the head, and she fell down, hitting the pavement with a loud thud. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was Sameth reaching down and picking her up, a grim look of determination plastered on his face.
When Ari finally came to, it was to the feeling of tight binds being wrapping around her ankles. She tried to speak, but felt sticky tape wrap around her mouth, silencing her. Her eyes were dulling in and out of focus, but finally they pulled a handsome blonde face into view- Sameth. Blinking a few times, Ari looked up at him puzzled, and then the events from before she had been struck came crashing back to her. Her head rolled around groggily, and she felt the hard stone underneath her. From her premonition she knew where she was- Ragon’s family mausoleum. Her vision had come true.
After Sameth secured the last knot around Ari’s ankles, she watched him move back, admiring his handy work.
“I really am sorry about all of this,” he said. “If it weren’t for your ability to stop time, I wouldn’t have bound you, but… I can’t have you getting away from me.”
Ari mumbled into the gaffe tape, and Sameth moved over to her quickly, pulling the sticky tape across her face, so that her mouth was no longer covered.
“But why?” asked Ari.
“I would have already killed you at the service station… put you out of your misery, but I had to know,” he said, moving so that he was standing directly in front of her. He reached down and looked Ari straight in the eyes, “How did you know? Back in the car, something happened and you knew what I had planned.”
Ari was breathing hard when she said, “I saw you.”
The gaffe tape had left a thick layer of sticky residue on her mouth and face, and it pulled tight as she spoke.
“A vision?” asked Sameth, “You really are a talented little… mortal. You can stop time and see future events.”
Reaching to stroke his chin, Sameth considered Ari. He remained deep in concentration, until he produced a large knife, and Ari recognised it instantly from her premonition. Light bounced off the gleaming silver blade, reflecting her eyes eerily, as one blue and one green eye shone in its reflection.
“I don’t understand,” said Ari, choking back tears.
“I have to kill you,” said Sameth.
“But why?”
“For centuries I have been in love with Kiara. Perhaps you know a little of love?” he said, “though judging by your lack of response to Ragon’s declaration earlier when we left, perhaps not? But when you have sat and watched the person you have loved for over four hundred years, only for them to fall for another… it changes you.”
“But you helped Ragon get away from her?”
“No! I helped Kiara get away from Ragon,” Sameth corrected. “There is an old saying; keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. I have watched Kiara from a distance for ages; she’s a misunderstood entity but I love her none the less. I have tried to overcome this weakness, but… I can’t. I need her, and as soon as Ragon told me of how she wanted you dead, I knew this was my chance to get her to see me, not him… but me.”
There was a horrible gleam in Sameth’s eyes, replacing the cold calculating look that had been their previously, and Ari tried to force herself to stop crying.
“You couldn’t just take her flowers like a normal person?” she said.
Sameth laughed saying, “I think she would prefer your body. Can you not imagine how unbearable it was; watching her swoon over Ragon while he despised her? He never deserved her affections, but I appreciate her; when I kill you she will know that.”
A fresh wave of tears spilled from Ari’s eyes and streamed down her face. Love- this was all about love.
“You’re going to kill me?” she
said, her voice shaking.
Sameth nodded.
“Please don’t cry,” he said, his cool fingertips brushing lightly against her cheek so as to wipe away her tears. “Kiara would not have killed you quickly; she would have seen that you suffer. She would have tormented you. With me, it will be over in a second- you won’t feel a thing.”
Ari couldn’t help but cry harder at these words.
“You don’t have to do this,” she said, her breathless voice amplified by deep sobs.
“Can’t you see? I am doing you a kindness.”
“A kindness would be to untie me and let me go,” said Ari.
“I can use this,” said Sameth, looking admiring at the blade in his hand. “In one fast motion it will all be over; no more senseless attacks, no more difficult decisions with Ragon… no more pain.”
“It’s not my fault that I am stuck in this crazy love triangle between Kiara, Ragon and you,” Ari said angrily.
“I know,” he purred, “but the heart wants, what the heart wants. I would do anything for her,” he said, advancing on Ari, the blade in his hand raised. “I will do anything for her. Perhaps in the afterlife you and Ragon will be together, but there is no place for a vampire and whatever the hell you are, in this world.”
Ari shuddered, forcing Sameth’s cruel words from her mind.
“Close your eyes,” he said.
Ari did not obey, but kept her eyes plastered on the knife in his hand.
“It won’t do any well to watch” said Sameth, “I have died once- I know.”
Ari considered this. If she was about to die, did she really want to watch him kill her? In defeat she closed her eyes, and the last dregs of her tears were forced free to flow down her cheeks.
Sameth whispered something when her eyes were finally shut, but it was too quiet for her to hear, though she thought it sounded like ‘I’m sorry.’
Suddenly there was a whoosh of air against her face, and Ari felt the knife stab deep into her stomach. At first she thought the blade had missed her, but when she looked down at the blood escaping from her body, a sudden throbbing sensation radiated from the wound and she screamed out in pain. As the blade dug deeper, she felt her nerves respond, screaming at her, while wave after wave of unbearable agony overtook all senses. Before the panic could set in, she felt the room around her fade, and then a dull numbness washed over her, until she couldn’t feel anything anymore.
Chapter 20- Clyde’s Decision
“No!” a voice screamed from the darkness.
Ari heard the noise as if it were very from far away. Then suddenly a new pain engulfed her, and she fell heavily to the floor. Slowly she opened her eyes and saw- Clyde? He was standing in front of her, having knocked Sameth away. Ari stared at him in bewilderment until a loud clattering signified the knife which had stabbed her, falling to the floor. The noise reverberated off the walls, pinging through her ear drums.
Sameth was crouched low now, one hand in front of him while his fingernails dug into the stone floor. He snarled at Clyde, but before he could spring, Clyde attacked again. Sameth fell hard against the wall of the mausoleum and Clyde jumped on him, tearing at his flesh with his fangs, while punching with his fists- his rage fuelling his immortal abilities. For a while he continued to pummel Sameth, with wave after wave of punches smashing hard into his target. Underneath this force, Sameth’s body began to crumple and he fell heavily to the ground. Sameth screamed loudly, and Ari tried not to watch when Clyde mercilessly reached down and pulled hard at Sameth’s head, severing it from his body.
“Cl… Clyde?” stammered Ari.
Clyde stared for a moment at what he had done. Sameth’s head was still in his hands, but at Ari’s words he turned to face her and dropped it to the floor. His hands and face were smeared in thick red blood, soaking through his white cotton shirt.
“Ari,” said Clyde, reaching down to her and staring at her stomach, where a dark red spot continued to grow.
In an instant Clyde had reached for her, breaking the binds around her wrists and ankles. The moment Clyde had lifted her, Ari’s hand instinctively went to the wound in her stomach, but she suddenly stopped and fell back down to the ground, her eyes fixed on Clyde’s face- until they became dull and empty.
As Clyde ran back to his car, he cradled Ari, pressing one hand firmly against her stomach, trying desperately to slow the bleeding. There was a sickening squishing noise made as his hand pressed against the broken flesh, digging deep into her stomach, and Ari jerked in his hands.
“You’re going to be ok,” said Clyde, blurring through the cemetery as he felt her heart falter. “You have to be…”
A few moments of silence passed, as Ari tried to hold onto anything to remain conscious. Suddenly she heard Clyde speak again.
“Ragon?” said Clyde, speaking hurriedly into the phone.
Ari heard Clyde’s voice as though it were a distant echo. She didn’t know where she was or what had happened.
“It’s Ari. Sameth… he attacked her.”
Ari felt something press hard against her stomach and she flinched, just as a fresh wave of pain assaulted her senses.
“I can’t put her on,” Clyde screamed.
Ari jolted forwards as Clyde pressed his foot down on the accelerator.
“It’s pretty bad,” said Clyde, “she’s lost a lot of blood, and… and, I can feel her heart slowing. I’m about five minutes away from the nearest hospital.”
There was a long pause, and Ari felt the darkness press down harder than before. She almost gave in to the dull wash of unconsciousness, until Clyde spoke again, dragging her back into limbo.
“Wait,” Clyde yelled into the phone. “What if she can’t make it? What if I can’t her there in time?”
Another pause followed this, and Ari tried to search for the meaning behind Clyde’s words, but her mind was too muddled.
“You know what I mean,” Clyde spat a moment later. Slowly he began rolling the sleeve of his shirt up as he said, “I am not going to let her die. I won’t make the same mistake twice.”
Time lapsed slowly as Ari lay slumped in the passenger seat of Clyde’s convertible. She couldn’t tell how long it took to get to the hospital, though the drive felt never ending. And with each excruciating second, Ari felt her life begin to slip away. A sudden swerving motion, followed by hard breaking, preceded Clyde reaching across and pulling Ari into his arms again.
“Ari, can you hear me?” he said, and though she heard him speak she could not respond, simply stare back at him, her ghostly face motionless. “If the doctors… if they can’t save you- do you want me to-”
But his words were cut short when the door to the hospital entrance swung open.
“What happened,” the horrified nurse asked, racing towards Clyde.
Ari’s eyes fluttered open momentarily, but then they closed; what had happened?
“I don’t know; she’s still breathing but…” Clyde said dumbly.
“Calling Dr Ring to the nurse’s station, Dr Ring, STAT!” said the nurse, and her voice was magnified all around the hospital, screaming out through the strategically placed speakers on every corner, so that it echoed eerily off into the distance.
In the time it took for the nurse to move back over to Ari, a swinging door was pushed open and a group of three people rushed over to where Clyde stood. Ari could sense the tension in the air but it did not concern her. Her mind was dull and distant. She could no longer feel below her waist.
“Here,” an older man said to Clyde, indicating a mobile stretcher that another man was pushing closer.
In a second Clyde moved over and gently placed Ari onto it. He reached quickly for her hand, as the doctors began pushing her back towards the swinging doors, just as many nurses suddenly began shouting out various vital signs.
“You can’t come past here,” said the doctor, looking at Clyde sternly.
“I’m staying with her,” Clyde replied, and Ari felt him squeeze
her hand tightly.
For a moment the doctor seemed to consider insisting, until a few shouted out vital signs made him glance down at Ariana, seemingly distracted from Clyde’s presence. Still clutched to Ari’s hand, Clyde followed the emergency team through two sets of swing doors, trying to be as incognito as possible.
“How long has she been bleeding for?” the doctor asked, his hands probing her body for any further injuries, while one hand remained firmly pressed against the hole in her stomach.
Ari was confused; was she bleeding? Her startled eyes opened wide, and bright white walls pressed down on her, blinding her.
“Maybe ten minutes, no more,” Clyde responded quickly.
“BP?” someone yelled, just as another person replied, “Systolic only 55!”
“Ariana can you hear me?” a man said, and Ari tried to nod her head, but couldn’t tell if she did or not.
Then she felt something sharp stick into her arm, just as another strange voice spoke.
“We need you to leave,” said the stern voice.
“I’m going, I’m going,” she heard Clyde say.
“Push 2ml of epi into that line; get that crash cart over here now,” another voice yelled. “We’re losing her.”
