Chapter 9

Kris met us at the doors to the impressive building that Leo called “The Nest.” Kris himself was impressively built. He was like a tower of bulging muscles with a shiny dome on top. To be honest, he scared me but I tried not to let that show.

“Where have you two been? I was expecting you hours ago,” he boomed.

Leo answered because I was too tense to function. “We need to talk. It’s a bit complicated.”

“It had better be good. I’m not up for your jokes today.”

We were standing in a wide atrium and vampires were milling about in the open space. Some were coming or going but as I looked around, there were just too many standing there. It put me on edge more than I already was.

“No jokes Kris. I swear,” Leo said just before Kris grabbed him with a fistful of his shirt and hauled him away from me.

I grabbed for him back but out of the corner of my eye, I could see the vampires moving toward me. Part of me knew that I was going to have to fight my way out but I kept trying to get to Leo, grasping at his shirt only to have it pulled away and an unknown vampire step between us. In a flash that I didn’t expect, someone swept my legs out from under me and I crashed to the floor.

Something changed as I hit my head against the concrete. It was like someone hitting the button that let the monster out of the cage. I was angry and I wanted Leo back, but I didn’t know where the anger came from and I wasn’t controlling my own actions.

I stood up, awkwardly scrambling to my feet while they came at me slowly. They could have already been on top of me but they were holding back as if waiting to see what I would do. My heart was pumping adrenaline through my system like nitrous oxide through a high performance engine and I was ready to tear limbs from bodies if I had to.

The blind rage was terrifying. How did I make it stop? Should I make it stop?

Whatever was driving my body was breaking bones as they came at me. It was pure defense, blocking blows as they came and moving to avoid the ones I couldn’t block until I had my back against a wall. It felt like what I had imagined survivor-mode to be until I managed to get a weapon out of the hands of one of my attackers.
Granted, my weapon was a wooden pole, but it seemed effective enough when I swung it like a baseball bat and it shattered against someone’s head. Probably the person who I had got it from in the first place.

There were only a few left who weren’t broken or unconscious, but looking beyond them I didn’t see Leo or Kris. That was a problem.

I blinked, expecting to be rushed by the trio but they hadn’t moved. No one had.

I had no idea what was going on but I wasn’t going to wait to find out. I had to get to Leo.

I ran down the hall they had taken, sucking air through my nose so that I kept his scent as my trail. I thought I was almost there until I ran right into a cloud of cologne and proceeded to gag and cough from inhaling too much of it.

I took a moment to compose myself. The scent was obviously gone and with my eyes and nose burning, I wasn’t about to take another deep breath until the little drops had fallen and dispersed. That was my clue though; I was close.

Now to try a door.

There was the obvious one straight in front of me but also there were doors behind me and down the hall further. I had to use my head and choose wisely or risk them running further. So I stood still and listened until I heard them down the hall.

I ran in the direction of the voices but found myself standing at the end of a hall with the door to the stairs in front of me and two office doors on either side. I had to stop and listen again. It was probably a trap, but I didn’t hear them in the stairs where their footsteps would have echoed off the concrete and metal. There also wasn’t an alarm going off so they hadn’t gone out the fire escape doorway. They were in an office, but which one?

It came down to a gut feeling and the pressure of vampires coming down the hall to join the party. I threw open the door to my left and there they were, gun to Leo’s head.

Would he die if he was shot in the head? How did you kill a vampire anyway?

A growl in the back of my mind knew the answer to the last question.

“What’s next Raven?” Kris taunted.

“Kris, seriously, just listen to me,” Leo whimpered.

I licked my lips, feeling my teeth come out of hiding in anticipation. Now it was about feeding. Leo was going to be fine and that shifted the tension just enough. I could see that Leo saw it but I had Kris where I wanted him, walking him around the room until he had his back to the wall, an escape route clean and clear with the door wide open, but Leo was in his way. I was at the desk, carefully picking up a pen while Kris was distracted.

“Raven, it’s just a training exercise. He won’t hurt me,” Leo reasoned but I wasn’t paying attention.

“What’s your move Raven? Do you want me to kill him?”

In one quick move I sent the pen flying through the air then through his hand, leaving the gun to clatter against the floor and Leo to fall to the side. I followed the pen and grabbed Kris by the throat, ready to drink my fill and leave him for dead.

“Raven!” Leo shouted from the floor. “Raven don’t!”

I wasn’t listening but I hesitated, apparently just long enough for him to grab the gun and shoot me in the shoulder. Reeling back, I stumbled over my feet and fell to the floor, eyes on Leo and his betrayal. The trio I had left in the atrium filed in only a moment later and Kris stood there laughing. I was so confused that all I could do was hold my shoulder and sit there staring at them all.

What the hell had just happened?