by Anna Rainn
I screamed and pulled on Owen, but he didn’t move; his hand only squeezed my arm as he too stood unmoving. At the foot of the alley stood another figure, also familiar. I had seen this very same stone build in front of my apartment door last night. But tonight, he wasn’t wearing handyman overalls and a cap; he was in a ripped T-shirt with long messy hair falling on his face. And he was blocking our only way back to the car.
“The other one is behind us, "I whispered to Owen, looking back. This time, the fake corpse was only a foot away. The vampire who had killed Bianca pulled the blond wig off and let it fall to the ground. His lips were ripped in vertical slits, bloody against the pale smile and the optical white teeth.
“Hello again, Marissa,” he singsonged, the red circles in his eyes starting to shine as he moved away from the light and got closer to the dimly lit alley.
With his hand still squeezing my wrist, Owen snatched his gun out with the other hand and pointed it at the long-haired vampire, then at Bianca’s killer. “Call Nick,” he said between his teeth, not taking his eyes off our attackers.
“Back up will be here soon,” Owen said, moving the gun between the two vampires, his voice dripping with confidence.
“We only want what’s ours,” the vampire at the door of the alley said.
“Sorry, guys. You can’t have her.”
I fished my phone out of my dress pocket and dialed Nick. The phone started ringing. Chase had turned our backs to one of the buildings on the side of the alley, keeping both vampires within eyeshot, arching dangerously close to the bigger vampire and backing us both slowly towards the first building on our right. I knew what he wanted to do. Here, we were prey, but if we manage to slip into an apartment, they won’t be able to come in uninvited. We would be safe.
The two vampires saw what I saw, because an amused look covered the horrid face of Bianca’s killer as he exchanged a glance with his partner, and they both started running toward us at the same time.
“Go, go!” Owen screamed, pushing me into the building, and shooting. My phone clattered to the floor. I picked it up.
“Will bullets kill them?” I panted, running up the stairs.
“No, but it will slow them down.” I heard two more shots, then Chase was behind me. The stairs went up in narrow spirals, endlessly curling up. My hand hammered on an apartment door. Pressing the white button by the door sounded no bells. This house was empty. I banged on the door opposite it. Nothing. Chase pulled me.
“You’ll be okay,” he whispered, glancing back. “Up!” He pointed towards the dark circle of staircase above me. I nodded and rushed up, climbing into the second floor.
The building was unlit. Meager street light had seeped into the first floor, but by the time I staggered into the second floor, I was in the dark. The apartment residents on this floor were as absent or unresponsive as the floor below. Tears were streaming down my face, my feet colliding with step after step, rolling under me as I slipped and fell down. Below, voices were drifting up. Owen was gone; he was no longer behind me. Sobs started escaping my mouth despite my best efforts as my hands banged on yet another door. I was alone. And the sound was coming up.
I skipped the third floor doors, running up as fast as I could, trying to stay ahead of the monsters behind me. What happened to Owen? Oh my god, oh my god, I tried to swallow my sobs, my tears, they were costing me precious breath.
But what was the point of me running? Panic gave way to the very real question of what I will do when I have reached the last floor without a door between the vampires and me now making their way up. I had to find my way into an apartment. If I kept running up, I was as good as dead.
I knocked on a door. I didn’t know which floor I was in or how many doors were left, how many chances at me making it out of this alive. The bell on this door was ringing. There must be someone inside.
“Please, let me in,” I tried to speak up enough to be heard, and keep my voice from quivering and scaring the residents. “I just need to use the phone.” This sounded better than I have a vampire behind me, but it also sounded like something a horror movie character would say. I wouldn’t blame them for keeping this piece of rotting wood between me and them. “Please,” I cried, moving away. The sounds on the steps were coming again, and they were faster now, racing up. I ran up, then higher up. I ran until my heart was exploding, and air was rushing out of my mouth, and when I was met with a closed wall and a metal stair that leads to the roof, I fell to the floor, sitting in front of the only apartment door that was left. This was it.
For a moment, I contemplated trying the roof opening to see if the lock on it would budge, but I was too tired, and what would I do on the roof anyway? The staircase was seconds away. In the blink of an eye, I will see two red circles floating in, and it will all be over. I closed my eyes.
A hand fell on my arm, heavy and cold. I screamed.
“Stand up!” Owen yelled at me, pulling me up.
“Oh my god, I thought you were dead.”
“I will be if you don’t move out of the way!”
I got up and turned, disoriented in the dark. In front of me, two glowing circles hovered. I froze. Then two loud bangs echoed, followed by a crash, and I was jerked inside a cold space, a whistling draft hitting me on the face.
“Owen,” I whispered.
“They can’t come in,” he said reassuringly as the glowing vampire eyes stood opposite us. We were inside a doorless apartment, I realized. Owen had shot the lock and kicked the door open, and the empty space where the door had been standing was our protection against the vampire who wanted to kill me.
Something buzzed, and I jumped in alarm.
“Hello,” Owen said into his phone, reloading his gun. He was only slightly panting. “Yes, they’re here. Two of them.”
At this, the red eyes in front of me broke their hypnotic stare and left.
Owen turned his back to the gaping black space where the apartment door used to be and walked to the back of whatever dark abandoned room we were in. “She’s safe,” he said into the phone.
I made a real effort to peel my eyes off the area that had been occupied by the two red circles moments ago and follow Owen. I needed to talk to Nick, hear his voice.
Another gust of wind hit my face as a canvas of little silver dots came into view. Stars. I was standing behind Owen opposite a floor to ceiling window with the starry sky outside. Against every bit of sense, he pulled the rickety panes open.
“What the hell are you doing?” I whispered, but he didn’t need to answer. Below, blinding LED light rushed into the alleyway, so bright the shimmery stars seemed to fade. Then a screeching sound came as the speeding motorcycle came to a stop, and a tall figure in a leather jacket jumped off.
“Hello, boys,” the visitor yelled out.
Chapter 22
I hate horror flicks and thrillers. I never understood why men do crazy things in movies. What makes them think they can wrestle a wild animal, fight an alien, engage in hand combat with a psycho carrying a knife or walk into a deserted alley, arms wide open, calling on rebel vampires to show up and fight them. The right thing would be to run. You can’t overcome an ax murderer with your bare hands, especially in a slasher movie designed to let only one character, usually the heroine, survive. And you most definitely can’t kill two vampires in the middle of the night unarmed and alone as Nick was right now.
They are gone, they’re not here, my racing thoughts tried to reassure me as I leaned into the window, screaming at Nick, “What are you doing? Come up!”
We were safe here. I was safe, and he could be with me. We will stay here until the sun rises. With light in the sky, we will have hours of clear thought, hours of figuring out what was happening, and why. We will catch them later, while they sleep, while they’re weak. But now, we needed to take cover, all of us.
Nick didn’t seem even to hear me. Still standing by his motorcycle, the formidable shape of him turned slightly to the right. A heart
beat later, a shadow tore itself from the entrance of one building. Nick turned to face the approaching figure. I knew with horror that it was too late. The fight had already begun.
With the motorcycle lights off, the darkness was deep, and it was a moonless night. But the starlight was enough for me to see the shape of the vampire walk slowly toward Nick. His features were impossible to make out, but there was no mistaking the threat in his gait. A growl shattered the silence of the night, and all hell broke loose.
The shadow started running toward Nick. The ripped frame I had sat on top of and felt up only hours ago turned to face the monster. I couldn’t see Nick’s face, couldn’t look into his eyes, couldn’t tell him how I would die without him. Run, I wanted him to run, to come to me. But he didn’t; instead, he pulled something out of his belt at the last second and slashed across the vampire’s neck. The attacker jumped back, but he wasn’t fast enough. A scream of fury echoed as he wiped at his face.
“A silver blade,” Owen whispered with a smile in his voice.
“You guys walk around with silver weapons?” I asked.
“It comes with the job.”
Below, the two shadows were dancing, one with a blade of silver and the other with fangs and stealth.
“Is it enough?” I asked Owen, holding myself up against one of the fragile window panes, unable to look, and unable to look away.
It was.
After painful seconds of entanglement between the two bodies, Nick separated himself from the larger shade, taking two steps back and kicking his heavily built opponent. The vampire fell to the ground clutching his midsection. Nick stood over him. This was his chance to run and come to me, but he was just standing there.
“He is interrogating him,” Owen said approvingly.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? How are you so calm? This is a vampire down there. He will kill him!”
Owen shook his head. “Nick can hold his ground.”
I didn’t care what the detective thought; I have seen what vampires can do first hand. Nick needs to come up now. The body laying on the floor still posed danger, and the second vampire though probably gone by now, could be somewhere close. We have to spend the night here, behind the nonexistent door, all three of us. Tomorrow is another day.
“Nick!” I yelled out of the window. “Come!” I hadn’t realized there were tears on my face until this minute. They were tears of fear and tears of relief, mixed together.
Nick’s big shadow below looked up at me, his pale eyes lost in the dark, though his face was visible for a moment. I longed for the stubble on his cheeks scrubbing against my fingers as I pulled him close to me, longed for the exquisite color of his eyes. Nick fell to the ground.
Behind him, Tyler pushed himself off the floor and into a standing position, then he started pulling Nick’s fallen body toward the building we were at. He had hurt Nick somehow, I realized as the vampire staggered, clutching his wounded abdomen with one hand, and dragging Nick’s body with the other.
“He’s not as tough as he’s rumored to be,” Tyler panted loudly, talking to no one in particular. “Easy catch if you ask me.”
“We have to do something,” I pulled at Owen’s sleeve.
“He’ll be fine,” Owen insisted.
“What are you? A coward? This is your partner!”
“And I know full well he’ll come out of this on top. We’re not leaving this apartment.”
Below, Nick’s body stirred as it was being dragged.
“Weak!” Tyler spat. “That’s what you lack, the vigor of fresh human blood.”
Nick’s movement was almost imperceptible. His blade caught a shimmer of light before slicing across the vampire’s wrist. I saw the blade, small from above, a tiny triangle of light, as it fell across the pale flesh, then I saw Tyler wince and withdraw his hand before landing on top of Nick.
Breath rushed out of my mouth, and the world swam in front of my eyes as they rolled on the floor right below my window. Nick’s blade caught the light, again and again, shimmering like some crazy firework as it slashed at the vampire. But Tyler didn’t let go. He twisted right and left, somehow evading all of Nick’s blows as they rolled toward the building. It was only when Nick drove the blade deep into the vampire’s leg that the big predatory body gave up the fight, staggering down.
“Oh my god, oh my god,” I chanted, over and over, crying and laughing.
The vampire’s body on the floor twitched but didn’t try to stand up. Nick leaned over him, whispering something in his ear.
“I told you,” Owen moved away toward the door. I stayed behind, looking at the scene below. The blood wasn’t visible in the dark, but I knew it was there. Nick was still crouched over Tyler, talking. When a second shadow emerged from the entrance and grabbed Nick from behind, Nick was still asking Tyler questions; he hadn’t had enough time to recover his blade from Tyler’s chest.
Justin hadn’t run. Justin had been lurking in the dark all along, waiting for his partner to lure Nick close enough for an attack from behind, a coward’s attack.
A strong arm was now hooked around Nick’s neck.
“Hello, friend!” Justin laughed, his second arm slid around Nick’s body, slicing Nick’s shirt with a small blade of his own.
“You have been protecting your little human friend too well,” Justin said, his voice piercing the silent night.
“Let me go, Justin.” Nick didn’t even sound alarmed.
The vampire fell silent at the mention of his name for a second.
“The great Nicholas Hayes knows my name,” he finally said. “What an honor! I supposed it is only right to know the name of the man who will kill you.”
The tears that had been running down my face and were now soaking into my dress. Owen was silent next to me. I spoke to him without peeling my eyes from the three men in the street. “What kind of arrangement do you have with the vampires?” I asked. “Will they kill someone working with the police?”
But who was I kidding? Even if the arrangements I knew nothing of existed, and even if they prohibited attacks, the two vampires down there were rebels who had broken several laws. Would they murder a police consultant, I was asking Owen, but my answer was right there in front of me. Weren’t these very two vampires chasing Owen just minutes ago?
“They can’t kill Nick," Owen said, his voice unsure for the first time. “He’s off limits.”
Below, the dance of words continued between my boyfriend and the vampire who had murdered Bianca.
“I have been to the club, met with Marcus.” Nick wasn’t just calm; he was smug.
Did Justin’s arm relax around Nick’s neck at the mention of the name? It could be just my eyes playing tricks on me in the dark and with the distance.
“You’ve been standing between us and our prey,” Justin said, pulling Nick away, the substantial weight of the captive body making him stagger on his feet. “We kill you, and she is ours,” Justin said brightly, “unless you’re willing to hand her over.”
When Nick spoke, it wasn’t to Justin or to me. It was Owen he addressed.
“Owen. Take her inside!”
They were going to kill him. I will never get to hold him again, never hear his excuses for why he left that night long ago, or why he was here now, standing under the starlight in the grip of a monster as I screamed out of a window seven stories above.
The detective pulled me. I shrugged him off. Unmoving, he closed his grip firmly around my arm.
“Go inside; you don’t need to see this,” he said.
“No!” I cried, pushing him off, and rushing back to the window.
The second vampire had recovered some degree of health and was getting up now. His eyes glowed as he walked toward Nick, taunting him with a smile and unheard words. If Nick had any chance, it was now gone. Nick was alone in the face of two vampires. Tyler’s teeth poked from between his thick lips.
“Owen,” I sobbed. “What do we do?”
But
there was no answer. I looked around me, realizing I was all alone. Seconds later, Owen emerged from the building’s door below and stepped into the alley.
“Oh, that’s not what we ordered,” Justin announced, cheerfully, turning Nick so they can both face Owen. “We want the girl.”
“I can still have some,” Tyler laughed, then coughed.
Owen stood still for a moment, then he brought his arm up with a blade. The two vampires laughed.
“What is that? Cutlery?” Justin asked, amused.
“Back off.” Owen waved the small knife at Tyler.
The vampire took a small step back. But his friend laughed loudly.
“The human detective brought cutlery. How perfect! What does he look like to you, Tyler?”
“Like food,” Tyler answered, regaining ground. He was moving in response to Owen’s clumsy slashes with the knife, but he wasn’t backing off.
“That’s what you are to us, humans: food,” Justin spat. The humor drained from his voice as he spoke, and hunger replaced it.
“When did you boys last eat?” Nick asked, carefully. Justin didn’t answer; he kept Nick in a headlock, positioning himself opposite my window. Then he looked up at me, his eyes two circles of sinister hunger, and he spoke to me.
“Marissa! Come down or he dies,” Justin yelled into the night sky.
“She’ll do no such thing,” Nick said. “Marissa, get inside!”
I stayed, the vampire’s red eyes locking with mine, holding me captive.
“You’re breaking the law.” Nick’s voice was strained for the first time.
“Didn’t we already break all of the laws?”Justin was driving the blade into Nick’s abdomen.
“Not this one. Your own kind will have your head in no time,” Owen said.
“Marcus will understand,” Justin replied. “We have to get her,” the torn-lipped vampire said to Tyler. “And he won’t let us. It is the only way.”
