Chapter Twenty-Six #2
“We will give the snacks a ten-minute head start—the castle is large enough for the chase to be exciting. We do ask, just to ensure that cleanup is easy in the morning—” There’s laughter, and I stiffen.
It’s not my first time hearing this, but you never get used to jokes about slaughtering humans.
“—that once you’ve caught them, you compel them, and then bring the bodies back to the main hall so we can dispose of them efficiently. ”
Suddenly, he snaps his fingers, and the snacks, as he called them, wake from their trances. They look around, and then down at their matching red clothes, confused. “Welcome, friends!”
My neck starts itching, fear rising in my chest. I think of all my past missions. All the humans I couldn’t save. I won’t let anyone die tonight. I can’t let it happen again.
“We’re going to play a little game of hide-and-seek!
You can hide wherever you want,” the vampire says as the humans start to mutter, and one screams when she sees a pair of fangs.
“Though I ask that you do not destroy castle property, or I’ll be in trouble.
” He smiles down at the humans, and when his gaze sweeps quickly over mine, he doesn’t recognise me as a threat.
“You’ve got ten minutes to find your spot,” he says.
“And if you haven’t been caught by sunrise, you will live. ”
That last word, live, changes the air in the room.
The humans’ compulsion seems to snap to an end, filling the hall with sounds of confusion.
None of the humans appear to know where they are, or why they’re wearing red.
I spot a clock directly above him. It’s only ten past midnight.
The sun won’t rise for at least another six hours.
They’re not planning on letting a single one of us survive the night.
“And your time starts”—he makes a flourishing gesture with his hand—“now!”
No one moves at first. Most of the humans are still trying to get their bearings. Some of them are smiling, sure that it must be some kind of joke. I see a middle-aged man talking to a vampire, trying to figure out what’s happening, as if the vampire might actually help him. Shit.
I take a short breath. I studied the floor plans of the castle before coming here, but as I look around, I see only one exit, a hall leading deeper into the castle. I don’t know what kind of traps will await us there. But I need to get the humans out.
There are just fifteen humans. It’s more than half the number of humans that are usually at a blood party, but that means the vampires will be fighting much harder to get their hands on one.
I clasp the first wrist I find, pulling a girl my age with me towards the opening.
“Run!” I shout, and the word grabs the humans’ attention, making them all turn towards us.
Most of the humans who escape blood parties end up having their memories erased, Callisto’s vampire prisoners compelling them to forget. I know I won’t be able to do that, but I need to get them out of here as fast as I can.
“And they’re off!” I hear the host sing, followed by more applause.
“If you’re wearing heels, take them off!
” I shout, as they start to realise that this is real.
When the first one slips her feet out of her red stilettos, the rest follow suit.
One falls in the commotion, crying. The hallway comes to an end in front of a grand staircase.
A security guard waits at the top, a walkie-talkie on his hip.
“Good luck,” he says cheerfully. “You’ve still got eight minutes, so—” Before he can finish talking, I reach for the stake in my clutch and plunge it into his chest. He turns into a cloud of smoke.
I scan the top of the staircase and the hallway for any other vampires, but for now, we’re alone.
I press a finger to my lips while the humans stare at the dust on the stairs.
Some of them look like they’re about to pass out, one presses a hand over his mouth to stop himself from screaming.
“You all want to live, don’t you?” I ask, and a few of them nod, while others stare at the dust left by the vampire’s corpse. “Well, you’ll have to do as I say and stay quiet.”
“Shouldn’t we hide?” one asks as I scan the hall for security. “He said that—”
“You’ll die,” I whisper. “The only way to survive is by getting out of here.”
“What’s going on?” an old woman asks, her voice breaking.
Fuck. I know that if this was my first contact with a vampire, I would be reacting like this, too.
I also know that not all of them will be able to keep up with me.
I pull out Gustavsson’s silver cross, and search through their faces for the one who seems to be the most alert.
“Hold this,” I say, handing it to a tall girl with brown curls. “If you see anyone behind us, hold it up. And don’t look them in the eyes.”
“What are they?” she asks.
“They’re vampires,” I say. Under normal circumstances they wouldn’t believe me. “And they want to kill us. So, stay behind me.”
We run. The next security guard, stationed at a corner, is more taken by the scent of my blood—and possibly that of the others—than she is by the weapon in my hand.
So, before she spots it, I jump on her. This one realises what I am, but instead of fighting me, her eyes flash red, trying to compel me.
“Not happening,” I say, before plunging my weapon into her.
I miss the first time, staking her shoulder as she tries to run, her blood spraying me.
But I don’t miss again. One of the humans screams. “It’s you or them!
” I shout. There’s blood on my face, but if my bloody face is the most terrifying thing they see tonight, then I’ll have done my job.
At the end of the hallway is a rose window. And if there’s a window, it means we’ve finally reached one of the exterior walls. “Do not look them in the eyes!” I remind them. I already know there will be more vampire guards here.
And there are: The victims can hide, but they’re not allowed to escape. That would ruin the fun. At least a dozen vampires are all lined up by the windows, and my heart races. I’ve done this before. But there are too many vampires. Where the fuck is Penny’s helper?
I search the features of the security guards, and to my utter shock, Jannet is amongst them. Stella is right behind her. How? Gustavsson told me they’d both been sent to jail and had their fangs pulled out. Did they escape?
Despite my initial shock, a thrill runs through me now that I see them.
I’ve been waiting for this moment since they introduced themselves in the archive.
It’s their fault I’ve got the fucking Familiar’s mark, after all.
The makeup that’s covering it is supposed to be resistant to sweat, but it’s starting to melt, the beige joining the blood in ruining my dress.
“Oh, they’ve made it all the way here!” one of the security guards says. They’re armed with batons. I suppose shooting us would be a waste of our blood. “You’d have had a better chance of living if you’d hidden, instead of trying to run.”
“And you would have had a better chance of living if you’d kept your mouth shut,” I say as I take the first shot.
The silver bullet finds its way into his brain, and he collapses.
I finish him off with a stake, granting him a far quicker death than he deserves.
Then several things happen at once; just like in the warehouse outside Silverbirch, most of the vampires turn into bats.
And when I try to grab one as it flies past, it escapes.
Just five vampires remain, amongst them Jannet and Stella.
Jannet hasn’t recognised me yet. I see her squeezing her eyes shut and realise that neither she nor Stella knows how to turn into bats.
Instead of attacking me and risking being staked, one of the vampires turns to the humans, eyes glowing red. “Kill her!” she commands them.
I told the humans to close their eyes so they couldn’t be compelled, but they didn’t listen, and suddenly they lunge at me, a pair of hands gripping my neck.
A fist collides with my face, and I guess this is why I’m usually not allowed to focus on saving victims until the organiser of the blood party is dead.
A young guy picks up my silver gun, while another continues to strangle me.
But the girl with the silver cross, who must have kept her eyes shut, starts pulling them off me, shouting at them, hoping to snap them out of their trances.
The lights in the hallway, in the entire castle, suddenly switch on.
The ten minutes are up. The guests will be turning into bats and swarming through the castle any second now.
I don’t want to hurt the humans, but I can’t waste time.
I elbow one of them out of the way, get my gun back, and shoot the vampire that compelled them straight in the head, before driving a stake through her chest.
Screams ring out in the distance. Obviously not all the humans followed us. I wanted to save everyone. I reload my gun, blood boiling, and Jannet lunges at me. She’s terrified, eyes bright red as she strangles out the word die. “You first,” I say.
When I drive my stake through her, her smoke reaches my nostrils, burning my lungs. I don’t feel the satisfaction I used to after killing a vampire. Instead, a sickly dark thing spreads across my bones, a reminder of what I really am. What would Aliz think if she saw me now?
I look up. Only Stella remains. She’s shaking, her pale skin almost purple as she stares at the pile of dust that used to be Jannet. Then she looks at the humans, at the blood on my face. “I didn’t want to hurt them,” she starts, her voice breaking. “I never wanted to—”
A gunshot makes the walls tremble. My ears ring, and Stella’s brains spill out of her now cracked skull. Down the hall stands a figure dressed in black, wearing a white mask with a black cross painted down the middle.