Chapter 9 #2
I walked down a long, dimly lit hallway, the only sound my own footsteps echoing, until I reached a row of elevators standing in perfect formation.
The emergency lights in the hallway flickered, casting an eerie, strobe-like glow.
The shadows that moved along the walls seemed to writhe and shift, as if something were lurking within, ready to pounce.
It was strange that it was just me. I assumed everyone got inside before the intruders fully invaded.
Pressing the elevator button, I rolled my eyes when no light emitted from the box, indicating it wasn’t in working order.
With the power out, the building was plunged into darkness as I climbed the seemingly endless stairs to the top floor.
I rounded the corner to find a lone door at the top of the staircase.
My hand grasped the cool, smooth handle and pulled—locked, a small, disappointing thud punctuating the quiet.
“Ugh, of course,” I whispered to myself.
Reaching into my pocket, I retrieved the cool metal key card and slapped it against the unresponsive pad.
Nothing. Probably a security measure for instances like this.
“Need some help?”
Gabe’s voice startled me, and I whirled around to see him standing behind me.
His clothes were torn and ragged, revealing patches of skin beneath, a gash marred his cheek, and he clutched his bleeding right arm.
Beads of sweat clung to his temples. He looked scared, even though his voice sounded calm.
“Where the hell’ve you been? You scared the shit outta me! Are you okay?”
“Where have I been?” He looked taken aback. “Where have you been, Vinny? I looked everywhere in The Carlton, and you just ran off…again!”
I shook my head at his accusatory tone. “I waited in the locker room for you for so long, but once I heard all the explosions, I left because I thought maybe you went to help the army when you heard the siren.”
With a firm grip on my shoulders, Gabe made sure our eyes locked, his expression serious and unwavering.
“Do you know how scared I was for you?” He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in for a hug filled with relief.
“I saw that fucking Unicorn nearly kill you at the fountain, and I think my heart stopped. I can’t lose you, Vin. ”
I held him close, savoring the feeling of his arms around me and offering a silent prayer of gratitude for our survival.
“I need to get you to your room. It’s the safest place for you, away from any potential danger.
” Gabe’s words were barely out when he clicked his fingers against the keycard, the plastic face popping off to reveal tiny numbered dials.
Completing the code, a faint click echoed from the door’s mechanism, signaling the lock’s release.
“All keycards have a backup battery for instances like this.” Gabe looked at me with a smug smile. “By the way, can I have my key back?”
I held out the crisp, white card, its edges sharp against my fingertips, and he snatched it away, tucking it into his back pocket with a swift motion.
As we entered the stairwell, the echoing silence amplified the sound of our footsteps, and I looked up at the countless floors stretching before us.
“I don’t suppose the elevators have a backup battery, right? ”
He laughed from inside the doorway. “Yes, they do, that’s what I just activated. The keypad temporarily unlocks this stairwell and allows us to use the elevator inside.”
I’m not religious, but thank God.
A lone metal door, dented and scratched from age, was bolted to the wall to our left. Pressing the metallic button, a small light illuminated the knob, and within seconds, the rusty doors groaned open.
After pressing the top button, the elevator rumbled to life with a low, vibrating hum. “So what’s going on out there?”
“The Unicorns launched an invasion,” Gabe calmly explained. “We’ve speculated an attack was coming; we just didn’t know it was going to be tonight.”
I nodded, remembering a prior conversation. “My dad did say our enemies have been quiet, but what are they looking for in The Wastes?”
“They can’t get inside without going through The Wastes first.” His eyes shifted away. “I’ve been told they’re looking for a way to kill all vampires, and they think the key is hidden somewhere in Elysium.”
“Is it?”
He shrugged. “No idea. I’ve never been told of a trigger that would kill all the vampires in the world, and I don’t know why one would be made.”
The elevator doors slid open, revealing a dimly lit hallway, the silence broken only by the faint hum of machinery. Only the dim glow of the keypad to my apartment broke the darkness of the hallway. With a slight wave, Gabe’s card unlocked the door.
Placing one hand on the handle, I opened it ajar. “You’ll protect me tonight?”
“Absolutely.” He smiled. “I first have to report to your father that you’re back safely and get my arm bandaged, then I’ll be right back.”
“Deal.” I smiled at him, at my boyfriend.
“Thanks for looking out for me.” Stepping inside the penthouse, I lingered on the man in the hallway who constantly put me on a pedestal.
The door clicked shut, and I eased myself into the kitchen, pouring a glass of rich red wine. Its taste did little to calm my nerves.
I was safe.
“What a crazy birthday,” I murmured to myself, taking a sip of the spiced red wine. The adrenaline wore off, and a wave of heavy-lidded fatigue washed over me, my senses dulled like a foggy hangover.
“Hello, Mr. Asposito.”
My grip on the wine glass tightened as a man in pristine white robes, his light hair entered my view, the air around him thick with unspoken power. The mask obscuring his face was crafted from metal and shaped like a horse’s head with a tiny horn jutting from its brow.
A Unicorn.
The man’s sudden appearance startled me, a gasp escaping my lips as my grip on the wine glass loosened, sending it tumbling to the ground with a sharp shattering sound. Purple liquid pooled at my feet as bits of glass tinkled on the floor. “W-who are you and what do y-you want from m-me?”
The man clasped his hands, his knuckles white, and spoke in a calm voice that resonated with authority. “No harm will come to you as long as you do as I say.”
So much for being safe.
I nodded, and the cold steel of the handcuffs clicked shut around my wrists as the man secured them behind my back. From behind, he wrapped a coarse white fabric around my mouth, the rough texture scratching my lips as he bound it tightly to the back of my head, silencing me.
Usually, handcuffs and a gag would have a different effect on me.
“Please follow me.”
His hand was placed in the middle of my back, urging me forward.
We walked along the plush carpet, which reached from the penthouse to the elevator, and pressed the button.
I stared at the button, a silent prayer on my lips, willing the power to be off, but the doors slid open with a hiss of compressed air, a chilling sound in the sudden silence.
The man reached into his front pocket and swiped a white card.
The doors closed, and the vestibule descended through Elysium.
As the screen inside counted down the numbers, it halted at floor thirteen.
The doors slid open, and two blood-soaked figures in white robes collapsed onto the floor, a hollow sound accompanying their fall. The man’s hand on my back urged me forward as I stepped over the corpses, their cold, vacant eyes staring up at me from the blood-soaked ground.
I’d never been to this floor, although that isn’t surprising. We were in a sparsely furnished lobby with dead vampire guards in tuxedos strewn over the floor. A throng of Unicorns stood before us, encircling the final two vampires.
My heart leaped into my throat at the sight of Gabe and my father, fangs bared, standing back-to-back. I gasped and tried to yell, but only choked, muffled sounds came out.
“At ease,” the man instructed the other white robed individuals. A sudden shove sent me to my knees, and he gestured toward my boyfriend and father. “Salvatore Asposito, I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“What have you done to my son?” My father’s eyes narrowed to slits, his face pale and tense, and he spat his words like venom, a cold fury radiating from him.
“Vinny, did they harm you?”
I quickly shook my head, my scared heart pounding in my chest. The man promised I wouldn’t be harmed, but what about Gabe or my dad?
Never before had I seen them both so sharply peaked and furious, their voices sharp and their bodies tense.
A fierce, infernal light blazed in their eyes as they focused intensely on the man.
“I can assure you that not one hair on your precious son’s head has been harmed and will remain that way as long as you do what I ask.”
“I’ll kill you before you lay another finger on him.” With a fierce cry, Gabe launched himself at the man, only to be stopped short by the sharp crack of a Unicorn’s gunshot, the bullet ripping into his shoulder. With a yell, he plummeted from the air, clutching his smoking, sizzling arm wound.
“Our bullets are infused with silver, and before you say anything—we know they won’t kill you because you’re vampires, but they do more damage than a normal bullet.”
My dad raised his hands, his knuckles white, and a vein throbbed in his forehead as his anger swelled. “Let my son go, I’ll do whatever you want. Take me if you’d like!”
“We don’t want you.” The man laughed, a sound that resembled water bubbling in a drain. “I’ll release your son and signal my troops to retreat if you do one thing for me.”
“Anything.” My dad sounded defeated as his eyes darted between me and the man.
“Open the vault.”
“Do it,” Gabe moaned from the ground, his blood pooling on the floor.
“I-I can’t,” he whispered. “W-what if we supplied you with advanced weapons to fight against the Dogs? Or-or I could build an Elysium for humans only, to protect you and your family?”
I turned from my father’s pleading gaze to the imposing figure beside me. I’d give anything to see the face behind the mask at this very moment. Was he contemplating my dad’s offer?
He shook his head. “Open the vault, or I take your son. This is your choice, Mr. Asposito.”
My father went quiet, his face a mask of silent contemplation, and I silently pleaded for him to choose me. He would choose me, right? He always told me I was the most important person in his world. Why was he taking so long to make this decision?
My father looked away, his jaw tight, avoiding my gaze. “Take him.”
“WHAT?!” Gabe yelled as he stumbled to his knees.
“Dad?” My voice came out in a whisper as the shock of what I heard manifested at my core. “Are you serious?” Did that really just happen?
My mind went hazy as I tried convincing myself I didn’t hear him correctly. My legs felt light, as if I were going to collapse. What was going to happen to me? Surely Gabe wouldn’t let this happen.
A deafening explosion ripped a gaping hole in the wall, revealing the chaotic world beyond, the air thick with the smell of smoke and dust. A cool breeze blew into the lobby as wisps of snowflakes danced inside.
With a roar of its engine, a large helicopter settled over the hole, and a massive door extended, forming a walkway inside.
“You made your choice,” the man spat at my father, and he roughly pushed me toward the helicopter, shoving me inside.
“Dad!” I screamed. “Just give them what they want!” My voice came out as a shrill wail, as if this were my last moment of life.
Maybe it was.
Above the insistent thrum of the helicopter, I heard Gabe’s desperate, increasingly frantic shouts directed at my father. His words were a jumbled mess, barely audible over the deafening sound of the helicopter blades.
Before the door closed, I took one last glance at my father, tears blurring my vision, and he remained stubbornly avoidant to my gaze. He stood there, head bowed, shoulders slumped, a picture of utter defeat. Only one thing was running through my mind: what’s going to happen to me?
I carry on, I carry on.