Vienna had followed her to the water's edge, her shoulders shivering.
“You've never been the brightest button,” Briony teased as Marie joined her side, tugging at her pigtails.
“Let's go,” Cass encouraged, her flame-red hair flowing in the wind. I didn't like how much of a target it made her, but I guess my dress was just as eye-catching now.
“Do you think Vampires can swim?” Vienna remarked, turning to us.
“Yes, I do,” I said. “And probably really well.”
Vienna sighed, picking up the hem of her skirt and heading back to join us on the mossy hill.
With a loud, ear-wrenching snap of metal on bone, a bear trap closed around Vienna's leg. Her scream was unlike anything I'd ever heard: a gut-churning shriek of pain that seemed to echo around the entire island.
Briony charged to her side, clamping a hand over her mouth as the rest of us gazed on in abject shock.
I was the next to act, rushing to her side and dropping to my knees to inspect the contraption. Bile rose in my throat as I took in the damage the serrated teeth had done to her leg.
“Shh, hush now, it's okay,” Briony soothed as Vienna writhed in her arms.
“They'll hear us. They'll smell the blood,” Marie murmured, her eyes wide as she watched.
“Get something strong – a stick – something,” I barked at her and she hurried off into the trees lining the shore.
Cass sat opposite me and we dug our fingers into the metal, trying to prise it apart.
Vienna let out another scream and Briony almost smacked her with how hard she pressed her hand to her mouth.
“Hush, please, please,” Briony tried. “We'll get you out, don't worry.”
But I had no idea how we would do that. My fingernails broke as I clawed at the metal, heaving with all my might to get it open.
I shared a look of horror with Cass, both of us knowing we couldn't open it.
Marie returned with a long branch and hurried down the beach to help. She wedged it between two of the teeth and Vienna spasmed as it knocked her leg.
“Careful!” Briony hissed at her.
“I'm trying,” Marie said in a panic, positioning the stick into the trap. When it was wedged in far enough, we all took hold of the branch, pulling in one direction as hard as we could. With a splintering of wood, the branch snapped in two, but the lower piece remained inside, leaving a slight gap.
“We need something stronger,” I said, looking to Cass.
After a stretch of painful silence, I huffed as I made a decision, opening my pack and taking out my stake. As I wedged it into the trap, I could almost hear Varick cursing my name, but I couldn't leave Vienna here to die.
I wrapped my hands around the wood and Cass clasped my wrists, pushing toward me whilst I pulled.
Incredibly, the trap began to open.
I gasped my relief as the gap widened enough for Briony to pull Vienna's leg free. I couldn't hold the stake in place a second longer and tried to yank it out of the trap. It was no good and the stake smashed in its jaws, splitting in half.
I hurried to my feet, pushing the fact that I was now weaponless again far from my mind. Vienna hummed and moaned her pain as Briony tentatively removed her hand from her mouth.
“Don't scream,” she pleaded and Vienna nodded, tears sailing silently down her cheeks.
“We have to move,” Cass hissed, glancing left and right. “Vs will be coming.”
“How is she supposed to walk?” Briony snapped.
“We'll carry her.” I shed my cloak. Cass got the idea and removed her own, laying it on top of mine to make a strong sling. Carefully, Briony lowered Vienna onto it and we wound the ends up so she'd be easier to carry.
Marie knelt before her and with a harsh snap of metal on metal, another trap went off, her cloak having trailed over it. She gasped in fright.
I gazed around the rocks and, to my horror, spotted more of them in nearly every crevice.
“Oh...” Cass followed my gaze. We were ten feet from shore. How no more of us had stepped on one was a bloody miracle.
“Oh my god,” Marie breathed.
“What?” Vienna groaned and Briony waved a hand.
“Nothing, nothing. Just relax. We'll have to bind up that leg.”
Marie inhaled deeply then focused her attention on Vienna's injury.
“Here, give me her stake,” I said and Briony fished it out of Vienna's bag. Cass and I stood guard as Marie tended to Vienna's wound, wrapping strips of her cloak around it.
As I watched the trees, shadows seemed to dance between them. Any second now, a V would burst from them, I was certain. I steadied my feet, my eyes flitting from the bear traps to the woods.
“Okay, that should stop the bleeding.” Marie stood, taking hold of one end of the cloaks whilst Briony took the other.
Cass glanced at me with a 'we're screwed' expression, but what choice did we have? We couldn't leave her.
“Follow me,” I instructed, eyeing the rocks and carefully stepping between them. The girls followed in a tight line and I knew with a frightening certainty, that I was acting as the guinea pig. If any of the traps went off, it'd be me that stepped on it first.
When we'd moved a few feet, a V stepped out of the woods. She had flowing golden hair and her hazel eyes were bright and shining, looking healthier than the Vs I'd seen yesterday.
“Oh dear, what's happened?” She feigned sympathy, bending down and picking up a handful of pebbles.
My heart stalled as I waited for her next move, clutching the stake tightly in my hand. With perfect aim, she threw a pebble at a trap close to the rock I was standing on. It went off with a loud clap that nearly caused me to stumble.
“Bitch,” Cass hissed. “Why not come and get us?” She raised the stake in her hand, looking fierce.
I tried to imitate her, but was sure I didn't look quite so intimidating.
“But this is so much more fun.” The V threw another pebble and Marie squeaked as a loud snap sounded.
Another V appeared up on a rocky outcrop jutting into the sea beside us.
“Smells good.” He sniffed the air, his eyes wild with hunger and his black hair patchy where it had fallen out. He was obviously less well fed than the female and I feared he'd be quicker to act.
“What are you waiting for, Genevieve?” the male snarled, licking his pale blue lips. “I'm starved.”
“Have a little patience,” she replied, but he didn't waste another second, springing forward onto the beach and heading straight for Vienna.
“Lift it!” Briony screeched and, as one, she and Marie yanked the cloaks taught so the V collided with the middle of the stretcher, lost his footing and tumbled back onto the rocks. With a sickening snap, a bear trap crunched around his head and black blood spewed into the air, splattering across Vienna.
Genevieve launched at us, screeching her rage as she charged. Cass and I split apart, prancing from rock to rock. Genevieve was slower in her hunt, evidently not wanting to suffer the same fate as the other V.
“So pretty,” she purred at Cass, stalking her, sniffing the air.
Cass positioned her stake and had to move backwards across the rocks, unable to look behind her as she moved. Her foot slipped and Genevieve lunged toward her.
“No!” I cried, but she was several feet away and there was nothing I could do.
Marie and Briony had made it to the shore with Vienna, carrying her up the hill as fast as they could.
“Go!” I shouted at them. “We'll catch up.”
With brief nods, they disappeared into the trees, the shadows swallowing them whole.
Cass fell onto her back, her head just inches from a trap as the V straddled her. Cass slashed her stake upwards, but Genevieve swiped it from her hand and it rattled across the rocks. I moved toward them as fast as I could, but I had to watch every step I took.
Genevieve took hold of Cass's neck, pushing her head toward the trap beneath her.
<
br /> I bit my tongue on a scream, instead hoping to surprise the V as I reached her. I couldn't stab her from the front, so prayed I was strong enough to reach her heart from the back. With all my strength, and a very unfeminine grunt, I buried the stake in her ribs. She screamed out and I was pushed backwards as she threw me off.
Somehow, I caught my balance and shifted my weight forwards. In my momentum, I slammed a foot into the stake. With a horrible, gurgling sound, the Vampire slumped onto Cass and blood spilled over her back, the dark liquid the deepest of reds.
I kicked the V off of Cass and dragged her up by a hand. “Are you okay?”
She clasped my palm tightly, nodding, though her face was pale. I yanked the stake free of the dead Vampire and silently, we hurried as fast as we could off of the beach into the woods.
The darkness was oppressive compared to the silver moonlight out on the beach, but I felt immediately safer amongst the close-knit boughs. The sound of our quickened breaths seemed painfully loud as we moved, but we didn't slow, not even for a second.
I wanted to get as far away from that beach as possible and Cass evidently felt the same way.
“Briony?” I hissed into the night, but there was no response. Their footfalls would have been loud enough to hear if they were close, so we continued on regardless.
When we'd travelled for nearly thirty minutes, we stopped to regroup. I gulped down the last of my water and Cass did the same, but it wasn't anywhere near enough. Sweat trickled down my brow, the collar of my dress already soaked through with it. But the longer we stood there, the more the wind cooled my skin and, without my cloak, I began to shiver.
When we'd stopped panting enough to hear anything else, a musical sound filled my ears. A stream was close by, and that meant fresh water.
We followed the noise, hastening our steps as we drew closer. Muttered voices reached my ears and I gasped in relief, hurrying out into a small clearing where moonlight shone on a narrow stream, winding through the rocks.
Briony and Marie were knelt beside Vienna on the ground, filling their water bottles. Their heads snapped around as we approached and Marie pressed a hand to her heart.
“Thank god it's you.”
“Who else?” Cass teased, dropping to her knees and filling her water bottle. I mimicked her, checking the clearness of the water in the moonlight. It looked pure and a small sip revealed it to taste like heaven. I gulped down a whole bottle before refilling it.
Briony held a bottle to Vienna's lips which were turning blue. I frowned, dropping to her side. She was splattered with V blood, covering her silver gown in great globs.
I sucked in a breath in realisation. Dipping my finger into the blood, I brought it to Vienna's mouth. “Drink this!”
“Ew – Selena.” Cass wrinkled her nose.
“It can heal her. Varick gave me some of his blood before. It healed the cut on my hand.”
Everyone's eyes went wide as they turned to Vienna. She grimaced as she sucked the blood from my finger, then spluttered as it went down.
“That's disgusting!” she spat.
“Better that than die,” I insisted, wiping more blood onto my finger so she could swallow it easier.
After three more mouthfuls, she gasped, sitting upright. “No way...” She dragged up her tattered dress, revealing a mess of blood, the remnants of the wound almost entirely healed already.
Marie threw her arms around her. “Oh Vienna!”
Vienna started sobbing and Briony quickly hushed her with a light smack on the arm.
“You need to get this blood off you,” I urged, glancing over my shoulder. “The Vs will smell it.”
Vienna nodded, standing and testing her leg which was miraculously healed. I sank back on my heels in amazement.
As Vienna started towards the stream, Cass caught hold of her skirt. “Stop. Take your clothes off. You'll freeze in wet clothes.”
Vienna whimpered as she undid her dress, baring her skin to the arctic wind. We turned our backs, giving her some privacy as she washed the blood from her body.
She dried herself on the outside of her robe before pulling on the stained dress. Cass took out her knife and cut away the hem where Vienna's blood mixed with the V's. When she was finished, she gathered up our blood-sodden cloaks, took a few large rocks and weighed them down underwater before rinsing off her hands. We'd have to manage without our cloaks, I guessed.
“Okay, we should get moving.” Cass stood, checking her map and pointing in the direction we needed to head.
I moved to Vienna's side, holding out the stake I'd taken from her. “Here.”
She recoiled from it. “No, please. You keep it. I'm no good with that thing.”
I hesitated, not liking the idea of leaving her unarmed. But she was already moving away, her decision made.
We walked on through the quiet wood, travelling for what seemed an eternity. I checked my map from time to time to be certain we were still on course, but we'd lost precious time during our run-in with the Vs.
When we finally parted from the trees, my stomach was beginning to growl, but I was reluctant to take another break. The other girls evidently felt the same as we journeyed on for another two hours across rocky ground, having to make our way carefully because of the ice that clung to it.
“We didn't account for rough terrain. This is going to slow us down even more,” Cass muttered as she joined my side.
“The plan was to skirt around this high ground,” I said. “We shouldn't have moved east so early.”
Cass sighed, clutching my arm and we used each other for support as we tried not to slip on the jagged rocks. The snow had melted in places and I was certain the temperature had risen, if only a fraction.
Hope sparked in my chest as I spotted the sea twinkling beneath the moonlight in the far distance.
“What's the checkpoint?” I asked, bringing up my map again. The flashing red light that marked the checkpoint seemed to be on an empty patch of land further up the eastern coast.
After another few hours, we finally reached the coast where a sheer cliff dropped a hundred metres onto sharp rocks. We steered clear of the edge, but followed it north, ducking into the cover of trees whenever we could. Most of the land there was rocky and barren, the trees few and far between, leaving us as sitting ducks most of the time. The fact that no Vs had shown up was nothing short of a miracle.
As we passed through another little copse, Marie stumbled to her knees. Briony rushed to help her, pulling her up. “Oh Marie, you're so clumsy.”
“I'm exhausted, Briony,” she moaned, getting up on shaky legs.
I gazed around the small covering of pines. “Let's take a rest. We have time. We'll take shifts to get some sleep.”
Cass chucked her pack to the earthy floor. “I'm game.”
Vienna sighed heavily as she dropped down onto the damp earth, propping herself up against a tree trunk.
“I'll take first watch,” I said.
“Me too.” Briony nodded, placing her stake on a log as she rearranged her pack. I hadn't put Vienna's down since I'd killed the Vampire with it. Coming so close to death had kept me on edge ever since.
Briony and I perched on the fallen pine, sitting side by side to keep each other warm. A fire was tempting but too risky out here on the cliff. So, instead, I wolfed down several granola bars and a pack of dried fruit whilst picturing flames in my mind. It was almost comforting, but didn't do much to banish the cold that was inching into my bones. The other girls managed to sleep despite it.
“So how did you and Marie end up here?” I whispered.
Briony sighed. “The short story is that we were kidnapped from our prison in Paris - like every other girl who's here.”
“What's the long version?” I nudged her and she grinned mischievously.
“Marie and I grew up together. She started seeing this boy, Pierre – a complete waste of space in my opinion – but she loved him. Marie's the sweetest girl, but she can be
a little naïve at times.” Briony glanced over at the girl who was snoozing soundly with her head propped up on her bag. “Pierre started hitting her, and I told her so many times to leave him. But she wouldn't listen.” Briony shook her head and her dark curls bounced around her shoulders. “One day, she phoned me saying 'Briony, Briony, you must come help me, Pierre has gone crazy.”
I frowned, leaning in closer as she told the story.
“So I rushed to her place, I had to take the bus as I hadn't yet passed my driver's test. I would have taken a cab, but I didn't have a single euro to my name. If only I had...” She gave a weak smile. “When I arrived, I found Marie being beaten by him. By that bastard I'd warned her about all along. I knocked, but no one answered. Then I heard Marie screaming. I climbed through an open window and ran to the kitchen where I found him beating her. I didn't even think, I just grabbed a cooking pot and smacked him over the head with it.”
I gasped, my pulse rising. “Is that why you went to prison?”
Briony shook her head solemnly. “I snatched the keys to his car and we ran to it. Marie sat beside me in the passenger seat all bruised up. I was about to drive us far, far away from that place, when Pierre appeared – out of nowhere I tell you – and I don't know what happened...I just snapped.” She clicked her fingers and the sound seemed to reverberate through the air. “I ran that bastard down and his body went flying. Perhaps we still might have been let off, but that was before Marie took a knife from the glove compartment – apparently he liked to carry them around, that was the kind of freak he was – and she unsheathed this huge blade, got out of the car and just started...stabbing.”
I glanced away from Briony, trying to process the story. My eyes fell on the small form of Marie who seemed so innocent and fragile. I couldn't picture her doing such a thing, but if Pierre had been anything like as abusive as my stepfather, I knew what she'd been through.
I took a breath and laid a hand on Briony's wrist, unsure what to say, only that, in a twisted way, I understood. I knew what it was like to snap. I supposed we all had that in common. We had killer's blood and perhaps that's what made us so perfect for this game.
V Games (The Vampire Games Trilogy Book 1) Page 10
