The doors were locked. Fancy that. I broke one of the glass doors to get in and set off a blaring alarm. If worse came to worst, I could play the crazy person who’d come to the church to hide from the vampires that were trying to kill her. It worked as the truth and a lie.
I did my best to step over the broken glass in the floor, but it still crunched under my shoes, and the jagged edges tried to poke through the soles. I didn’t stay in the open for long. The worship area was to the right through a pair of double doors, and it was so very dark. I let the doors close behind me and huddled against a wall where I was hidden in shadows. I let my head drop to my knees and gasped for air. My lungs hurt. My throat felt like it was sticking together and I wished I’d thought to get a drink of water from the café. I still could, couldn’t I? I was inside the church. I was safe. No, I wasn’t ready to move. My legs felt like jelly and my head throbbed. I closed my eyes and prepared to stay all night.
My first indication that something was wrong was the sound of glass under foot.
“LeKrista?” Perdita sing-songed from way too close for comfort. She shouldn’t have been inside! She shouldn’t have been able to follow me in, unless...
My heart rate sped up, betraying my location, and Perdita chuckled.
“You thought you could hide from me in here, didn’t you?” she asked. “Guess what? You’re not safe in this place.” She was quiet for a moment. “I can hear your heartbeat.” She sang it like she was taunting me with candy and ice cream.
Nah-ne-nah-ne-boo-boo...
The main sanctuary. What if I could make it there...
I didn’t know if it would do any good. If this part of the church wasn’t covered, would the other be? What did I have to lose? Either I stayed here and died, or I went there and died. Either way, I died.
I listened for Perdita. She wasn’t in the café anymore. She’d moved into the worship area from the door at the opposite end. She knew exactly where I was, and she was playing games with me. Just like Roman said.
She growled and I heard her rip something out of the wall. Then again. The drywall crumbled and the alarm stopped. Now I had nothing to cover the sound of my escape. I couldn’t see the vampire, but I was willing to bet she could see me. I stood.
“Do you think you can run from me?” the vampire asked.
I shook my head, but turned, took two giant leaps, and smashed through the glass door that led outside. I hadn’t thought my momentum would be enough to break it, but it clearly wasn’t reinforced. The handle bar in the middle caught on my hip and flipped me as I fell through, so I landed on the concrete in the glass on my back.
Perdita roared with anger. “Stop her!” she screamed.
I crawled to my feet, scrambling on the glass as I tried to gain some traction to run. Those glowing eyes came out of nowhere and I screamed.
“Roman!” The word came out of my mouth as one of the giant wolves leapt at me. I ducked and covered my head, and it sailed over me, but I knew they weren’t going to be tricked by this many more times.
A second wolf leapt at me, but I wasn’t in control of myself any longer. As it flew at me I reached out and grabbed it by its stomach, digging my fingers into its flesh. My nails dug in with little difficulty and the wolf whimpered and tried to pull out of the dive, but it was too late. I already had a firm grip, and when it pulled back, I pulled a chunk of flesh away. The wolf howled in pain and the other two looked at me uncertain for a moment.
I ran for the back door of the church and almost made it before Perdita was there in front of me. I had to pull up short or run into her, and I almost wasn’t able to stop myself before I planted my face in her chest.
“You are not going in there,” Perdita growled, and her upper lip curled up to show her fangs.
“Almost there.” Roman’s voice was more welcome than it had been in a long time.
“Why not?” I asked, trying to stall until he arrived. “You can’t go in there, can you?”
She hissed and that was enough of an answer for me. She wrapped her arms around me and pinned mine to my sides with a strength that shouldn’t have been possible. But she wasn’t human and that shouldn’t have been possible either.
“You are not going in there,” she hissed again.
Perdita’s fangs were in my neck. They pierced my skin like knives and I knew when she reached the vein. It was like some pressure valve released, and I felt my blood drain.
My body jerked and spasmed in the vampire’s grip. She didn’t seem to notice, or if she did she didn’t care. The seizure came on faster than any I’ve ever endured.
The moon shone directly above me, its beauty haloed in the mist of my own mind. I stared up at the sky and thought vaguely that I shouldn’t be dying like this.
Perdita’s body jerked and her mouth lost its grip in my neck. I felt myself roll from her suddenly limp arms onto the ground where I fell hard and solid and lifeless. Two vampires were fighting over me and all I could think was I needed to get inside the church where I would be safe. The vampires couldn’t get me in there. By some miracle, I was able to push myself up to my hands and knees, but when I tried to crawl away, I fell to one side, limp as a rag doll.
“LeKrista!” a voice shouted, and I whimpered.
Glass shattered around me, rained down on top of me and I shut my eyes tight.
“Get inside!” the voice shouted.
Inside? He wanted me to get inside? And then I remembered Roman. Roman was here. Roman had saved me and he wanted me to get inside.
I pushed back up to my knees and crawled, slowly, painfully. My body jerked and I lost my balance, falling flat on my stomach and smacking my chin on the concrete. Glass burrowed into my chin and I cried out as more of my blood spilled onto the concrete. I had to get away from the hungry vampires.
I pushed myself up a third time, determined to make it this time, but I was swept up by an arm and tossed. I sailed gently through the air and came to a skidding halt on the concrete. No, not concrete. Carpet. I was inside. Roman had done this. Roman had tossed me inside. I was safe. Safe from the vampires. Safe from the wolves.
I landed on my side facing the door where the vampires fought just outside, ripping each other to pieces.
“Pierce,” I whispered as pain spread through my limbs and another seizure racked my body. “Pierce, I need you.” But Pierce wasn’t there.
“Hang on, LeKrista. Hang on, my sweet.”
Screaming filled the air and I looked. Perdita and Roman stood less than a foot apart. She screeched for a long moment before she flew up and back into the air. Roman watched her go, then turned to me, wanting to help but not sure.
“I can’t,” I said quietly. “I can’t...” I didn’t finish the sentence. I passed out.
Footsteps. I woke to footsteps and fear gripped me around the middle and squeezed the breath from my lungs. I scrambled to my feet and tripped as I tried to run through the nearest door. I forgot the abuse my body had endured and moving made everything worse. I was sore from the seizures. I was sore from running. I was sore from being thrown. I’d lost a good amount of blood, and I was still twitching a little.
The room I managed to make it into was the women’s bathroom. The door slammed behind me and I flinched. They’d know where I was. Too late now. I went to the farthest corner of the room and huddled between a toilet and a wall. They’d find me anyway. There was nowhere to hide. The light flipped on and I closed my eyes, hiding my face, afraid to see who’d found me.
“My God, LeKrista!”
It was my pastor. For a moment, I was embarrassed that he’d see me covered in blood, scratched and bruised and bitten, and huddled on the floor of the bathroom. Then I came to my senses. I had nothing to be embarrassed about. I was safe, finally. I began to cry from sheer relief.
“LeKrista.” Pastor Steve came to me and gathered me in his arms. “What’s happened to you?”
I shook my head. I wasn’t going to lie to my pastor in church. It just
didn’t sound like a good idea, especially with everything going on.
He took my chin and moved my head from side to side, catching a glimpse of the bite on my neck. “What is this?” he asked. “LeKrista, what happened to you?”
I just cried, because I wanted to tell him but I couldn’t.
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” he soothed. “We’ll call an ambulance and get you to the hospital.”
“NO!” I screamed and tried to pull away, but he was stronger than he looked. “No! We can’t leave! Not until daylight!” An overwhelming fear of the night came over me and I knew I couldn’t leave. Not until the sun came up.
“Don’t leave the church, LeKrista,” Roman confirmed. “She’s waiting for you.”
I shook my head vigorously and tried to pull away again. Pastor Steve wouldn’t let me go, and it was a good thing, because if he had I would have landed on my butt on the floor.
“Okay, okay,” he said. “We’ll call an ambulance to come look at you and then take you to the hospital in the morning.”
I looked at him and stopped struggling. I nodded.
“Okay?”
I nodded again.
Pastor Steve turned on the sink and while he waited he accumulated a stack of paper towels on the edge of the counter. I watched and my legs grew weak. I wanted to sit, to sleep, anything but stand there, so I sank to the floor, pressed my back to the wall, and felt my body sag into sleep.
Wolves. Wolves were chasing me. Snapping at my heels, biting my ankles. I was running, but I was losing. They were faster.
I cried out, “Roman!” But no one came to rescue me from death.
“Roman, please!” But he didn’t hear me. He didn’t hear me because he was too far away, or he didn’t care. He wasn’t coming to save me.
It was too late. One of the wolves caught my foot in his mouth and tugged, yanking me off balance, yanking me off my feet. I screamed, and let death wash over me.
I woke up screaming, my heart pounding in my chest. My blood raced through my veins. The fluorescent lights were bright, the tile was cool. I was still alive.
Pastor Steve crouched in front of me. “LeKrista, wake up. It was just a dream.”
But it wasn’t just a dream. He didn’t know. He didn’t know anything.
“Calm down,” he said. “There’s some glass stuck in your chin. I’m going to go find a first aid kit and some tweezers, okay?”
I nodded. I wasn’t afraid to be left alone. I couldn’t be afraid to be left alone. I was in the church. They couldn’t get me in the church.
Pastor Steve left, though I don’t think he was happy about leaving me alone. Exhaustion moved in to take me away again.
I was in the church. They couldn’t get me in the church. They weren’t supposed to be here but they were. I huddled on the floor in the bathroom with wolves pawing and whining at the door. Why didn’t they just come in? Why didn’t they come get me and finish me off?
A wolf howled, as if he was wondering the same thing, and laughter echoed through my mind.
Perdita.
Tears leaked from my eyes. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to die this way.
“Roman!”
“Why do you keep calling for Roman? He’s not the one who can help you.”
“Pierce.” I said his name softly, gently, as if just the mention of his name would make him appear. But he didn’t.
“What makes you think you can turn your back on the one that was given to you, then call on him when you need him and he’ll come running? It doesn’t work that way. No, you’re on your own.”
The tears came faster this time. “Pierce,” I sobbed, but Pierce wasn’t coming either.
I woke with a start and a name on my lips.
“Pierce.”
The bathroom door opened and Pastor Steve stepped in. “Are you alright?” he asked and I shook my head. He frowned but I don’t think he took it too seriously. He knelt in front of me and said, “I’m going to pull the glass out of your chin. It’s going to hurt.”
I nodded.
“An ambulance should be here soon. I told them it was no rush, though because you were conscious and most of the bleeding had stopped when I found you.” He turned my head to the side and eyed the bite. “Except for this.” He handed me a towel. “Bite this.”
I put the towel in my mouth and bit. It hurt when he pulled out the first piece of glass, but that pain paled in the light of the pain that the rest of my body was in. I flinched each time, but each time it hurt a little less. There were six shards in all, ranging in sizes, and he put them in my hand before he pressed several paper towels to my chin to staunch the blood flow.
“Alright,” he said. “Now this one.” He pushed my head to the side again, and bared my neck and the fang marks to the light. I expected him to dab at it with wet paper towels or press something to it to stop the blood seeping into the neck of my t-shirt, but he didn’t. He poured something on it, something warm and thicker than water. Anointing oil.
The moment the oil touched the fang marks, fire spread from my neck and went straight to my head. I writhed and screamed into the towel. My back arched against the wall and my feet kicked out straight, striking Pastor Steve where he knelt in front of me.
“Jesus, help us,” I heard him pray before the world went mercifully black.
I woke to the sun beaming in my face, bright and warm, and I looked around. I lay on a bench outside the sanctuary. Pastor Steve sat on the floor, leaning against the bench with his head tilted back and his eyes closed. At first, I thought he was asleep, but when I moved, his eyes opened and he turned to look at me.
“Good morning,” he smiled, but he had that tired, peaceful look that said he’d probably been up all night praying.
I smiled back. “Good morning.”
“You look much better than you did last night.”
I shrugged, unsure of what to say.
“LeKrista, we need to talk about what happened last night.”
I would have refused, denied it, whatever, but there was a look in his eyes that said he had an idea of what had happened and he wasn’t about to take “no” for an answer. I looked away, down the hall, up at the ceiling, out the window beside me, anywhere but at his face.
“I’m sorry,” I said, and wasn’t completely sure why I was apologizing.
“For what?” Pastor Steve wanted to know and I shrugged.
“I don’t know. I’m just sorry. I’d pay you back for all of the damage, but...I don’t have that kind of money.”
Pastor Steve waved a hand at me. “Forget that. We can handle that. I want to know what happened last night. Something was chasing you. Something tried to kill you.” He paused. “Something gave you that bite on your neck.”
I looked into his eyes, a look that said he needed to be careful how much he figured out or he might be next. The look he gave back said he didn’t care.
“LeKrista, what are you mixed up in?”
I laughed, but it wasn’t humored. “Too much,” I answered.
“LeKrista...”
“If I were you,” I said, “I’d start wearing a cross,” I told him, and I looked him dead in the eyes as I said it. “Bless it and never take it off. Not even in the shower or at the beach. It’s only going to get worse.”
There was fear in his eyes then, but not for himself. He was afraid for his church.
“And do something about the youth,” I told him, “because Christ isn’t in that building over there. It was no refuge for me last night.”
Pastor Steve’s eyes slid shut. “I’ve known that for a while,” he said. “I just had no proof.”
I turned my head so he could see my neck when he opened his eyes. “I’m your proof. Do what you have to do, and get everyone to start wearing crosses,” I said. I should have been wearing mine. It would have helped me last night. I had to make sure I found it when I got home. Better than that, I should just go get some for my entire fa
mily. I might even get one for my dog.
That made me laugh a little.
“You ready to get home?” Pastor Steve asked, and I nodded.
He drove me home. The ambulance never came, but it didn’t matter. Except for being a little sore and bloody and in desperate need of a shower, I was no worse for wear. I wasn’t dead, and I didn’t need a hospital.
“Thanks,” I said as I slid out of his truck.
“I’d better see you at church Sunday.”
I smiled. “If I’m not on the run, I’ll be there.”
My aunt and uncle were gone when I walked in the front door, but Pierce was waiting the moment I stepped into the house. I wrapped my arms around his neck and refused to let go. The warmth of him, his scent, it was all so perfectly Pierce that I never wanted to be away from him again.
“Where is everyone?” I asked against his neck.
“Your aunt and uncle went to the store.”
I nodded. “What will I tell them about my face and hands?” I asked.
“We’ll come up with something, but you need to get in the shower.” Pierce whispered in my ear.
“That bad huh?”
“It will help keep the surprise down if you’re not coated in blood.”
The shower stung my open cuts and the bite on my neck, but it was nice to get clean. I let the water run through my hair and watched pink swirl down the drain until it was almost clear.
I knew when Pierce walked in. I didn’t need to open my eyes. I remembered the dream from that night.
“I’m going to need to start taking my seizure meds again,” I said to get my mind off my guilt.
“I thought you were always taking those.”
I shook my head. “I take the milder ones. I’m going to have to switch back to the stronger pills I think. I don’t like having seizures like this.”
Scorned Page 16
