25. Maverick
Maverick
My voice is hoarse from how long I’ve been screaming for someone, anyone to come and free us. They must have done some kind of muffling spell over the area because any vampire worth his salt would have heard me by now.
We’re so fucked, and time is running out.
My mind is ablaze with all the possibilities this witch plans to do to Lydia, and it’s tearing me up inside.
No matter how much I yank on my chains, they don’t fucking budge.
All it does is dig into my flesh and I’m struggling hard.
Whatever they did to us when they captured us, stops us from using our monster abilities, so any kind of healing I could have hoped for is gone.
I ache in places I haven’t felt in centuries.
“Where the hell are we now?” I hear and snap my head up and see two of Lydia’s friends stumble into the room.
“Holy shit!” The one with pigtails and red frames yells out seeing the three of us chained up.
“Can you get us out of here?” I ask. “There should be a key on the wall.”
“Why should we let you out of there,” the other one asks, glaring her eyes at me. “You could be wanting to hurt us like the rest of them out there. McKenzie, let’s go.”
“No, please, wait. Your friend, Lydia, she’s in danger. Please. Let us out of here so we can help her.”
They both still.
“You know Lydia?” The one called McKenzie asks, pushing her glasses up on her nose. The tip of her nose looks like she’s been crying.
“We do. Is she hurt?”
“I-I don’t know. They took her.”
“Who took her?” Jack asks.
“A bunch of women. One of them had silver hair and called herself, Melinda.”
“Fuck, we’re too late,” Hendricks says.
“Maybe not,” McKenzie says, going over to the wall that holds the keys.
“Kenz! What are you doing? They could be just as bad as those things out there!”
“Don’t you want to help Lydia?” She asks. “Please, trust me. I have a feeling that if we let them go, they’ll be able to help us, Iris. Trust me.”
Iris’s eyes bounce between McKenzie’s for a moment and whatever she sees has her dropping her shoulders in surrender. “Okay,” she says and then McKenzie unlocks the bars, and comes over unlocking each of our chains one by one.
“Thank you,” I say. “Now, where did they take her?”
“I don’t know. They just came to our cabin and threatened to kill us if Lydia didn’t come with us.”
Knowing Lydia, she would do anything to keep her friends safe, even if that meant walking off with a deranged, power-hungry witch intent on killing us all.
“Okay, let’s go find her. You two get off the grounds. It’s not safe.”
We leave them behind, taking off to find our girl.
When we get topside, it’s dark and eerily quiet. There’s not a guest or monster in sight. The air is heavy with the scent of rain and the ground is soaked through and muddy. My feet slosh through puddles as we try to catch Lydia’s scent.
I’ve spent the better part of a century honing my hunting skills. It doesn’t take me long to figure out where they’ve gone.
The clearing.
The three of us move as fast as our broken bodies allow us to.
At least they won’t be expecting us, so we can take them by surprise.
I have no plan other than to kill that fucking witch bitch.
Being free of the prison, I can feel my vampire self coming back to me a little at a time. One look at Jack and Hendricks and I can tell they’re experiencing the same thing. Jack is already starting to transform.
We reach the clearing, and I see her crumpled form in the center of a summoning circle. Her brunette hair and blue highlights are fanned around her head like a broken halo, and her arms are spread at an odd angle.
The witches are all positioned around the circle, chanting something that I can’t understand. Whatever it is can’t be good, because as we get closer, I can feel my energy waning. They’re siphoning from us already, summoning our power as if it belongs to them.
It’s going to take all of our strength to stop them, but my sights are set on the silver haired one who seems to be the ringleader of this fiasco. But it seems Jack has the same idea.
His vines are out and shooting straight for her. He wraps them around her neck, pulling her with such force I’m surprised he didn’t decapitate her. But the way he squeezes her it’s clear that’s exactly what he plans to do.
Her pasty white skin becomes near purple as the vines cut into her flesh. She kicks and claws and then finally I see her hand raise and the torches take flight straight towards us. Hendricks and I manage to tuck and roll, but Jack takes a direct hit.
It causes him to loosen his grip for a moment as he straightens himself up, but she takes advantage of his distraction, pulling the vines with both her hands. He goes down hard.
“You fucking bastards. Now we’ll have to start all over again and she’s almost tapped out. She’ll have died for nothing, you idiots,” her voice cracks.
The witches stay exactly where they are like they’re stuck in a daze, waiting for orders. It’s fucking eerie as hell.
Hendricks lunges for the witch, but she waves her hand, and another round of torches careens straight for him. He’s impaled in his shoulder with one of them, pinned into the ground with the fire crawling up his arm.
I try to go to him, but the witch sends up a wall of fire, cutting me off from everyone.
I can hear Hendricks crying out in pain and then a woman’s scream.
“Time to die you fucking bitch,” Jack says with deadly calm and malice.
The sound of head separating from body is one that I could know in my sleep. Screams emanate from all around us and I wonder if whatever Jack just did caused her hold on the witches to dissipate.
“She’s dead!” Jack calls out.
“Great! Can you get to Lydia?”
“No, but I’ve got Hendricks. He’s burned pretty badly but already. Can you see Lydia?”
Fire rages all around getting closer by the second. I can’t see her, but I know where she’s at. The fire warns me away, but I ignore it, even though I know it can kill me. All I can think of is getting to her in time.
The soft sounds of her heartbeat let me know she’s still alive, but each beat seems to be fading. And fast.
I don’t have much time.
“Can you fucking see her?” Jack asks again.
“No, but I’m going to try to get to her!” I call back.
Smoke billows up into the air as the fire rages on, eating up the trees like a shining beacon of death and decay intent on killing everything in sight.
My vampire form is weak, so transforming into a bat is out of the question, but I chance using my speed.
I rush through the wall of fire, feeling the flames rip at my skin as I pass through.
I scream out in utter pain, but I make it through.
My skin is smoking, singed, and it feels like every nerve ending has been ripped open.
I collapse coughing hard next to Lydia’s barely conscious body.
And then I see her wrists ripped open and I know she’s dying.
“Lydia!” I sob. She looks half dead already.
Her lips are devoid of any color and her eyes are unfocused looking up into the sky with tears streaming down the sides of her face.
There is no magic cure for a curse as strong as this.
Her only option is one I don’t know if she’ll want.
“Lydia, I can save you if you want me to. But I’d have to turn you into a vampire. Please. Let me save you,” I beg.
Her voice garbles and lashes flutter.
The sound of her heart beating becomes so faint I can barely hear it.
If I’m going to do this, it has to be now.
Oh, God. Please forgive me, I think as I sink my fangs into her neck and initiate the transformation.
I just hope I’m not too late.
Once someone dies, there’s no getting them back no matter how powerful someone is.