I crept up the cement stairwell at the end of the hallway. I had no recollection of my location, other than the surgical room from last night and the cell. I had to assume up was the way out, as there was no stairway down. All of my senses were on guard, attempting to pick up the smallest sound or smell, but other than the faded scent of the previous vampires to walk these halls, it was clear.
I inched my way to a door at the next landing and ducked under the window. I wasn’t sure if I should exit here, there was no way to tell if I was above ground yet. Glancing down at my clothes, it was quite obvious I’d be fighting my way out. My bloodstained pajamas were hardly inconspicuous. Tiptoeing up the next set of stairs, the whole building suddenly shook from an explosion somewhere above me. I gasped for a moment and pressed myself against the wall.
A door on the landing above slammed open into a concrete wall. I stayed still. They couldn’t see where I was standing, but I could see them.
“Where’s Steve?” a terrified voice screamed.
“I don’t know, Margo! But we’ve got to find him.” Their feet stomped down the steps towards me but skidded to a halt on the landing a few steps up. Another explosion rocked the building.
“You!” The girl screeched. It was the girl I’d almost decapitated in front of Bartlett High when they’d come for me last night. She took a step back. “What have you done with Steve?”
“Nothing he didn’t deserve.” I kept my voice steady. I stepped away from the wall, blocking their path. I was pretty confident I could take them both on, especially the girl. Her eyes bulged in terror.
The guy with her, Mr. Tall, dark, and slightly handsome, looked at me questioningly. “Right, like you took out Steve all by yourself. He’s almost a thousand years old and way stronger than you.”
“Whose blood do you think this is?” I raised an eyebrow and pointed at my bloodstained clothing. They exchanged a glance and I tried to read it, but had no luck.
Another explosion rocked the stairwell.
“Then I’m outta here.” The guy turned and ran back up the stairs so quickly I could barely make out the blur. I could hear his feet as he climbed higher and higher.
“Wait Todd!” Margo screamed, gave me one last glance, and sprinted behind him.
“So much for loyalty.” I snorted. The blood on my pajamas was beginning to dry. I hated the uncomfortable stiffness that came with wearing someone else’s blood. It was getting a little old.
A cloud of smoke crept in through the open doorway and the scent of burning wood wafted down the hall. The corridor looked like it belonged in an office building. Closed doors lined the length of the hallway and in the distance were the wavering, flickering lights of the flames. The explosion had to have come from there. But why was someone attacking a vampire den/office building? My mind was as foggy as the dense clouds in front of me. It couldn’t be, could it?
“Drake!” I shrieked and ran down the hall. The end of the hall opened to a large reception area. A desk stood near a double set of doors with darkened glass. Flames burst from the desk and black smoke billowed up as the flames licked at the carpet and the walls. The lobby was in disarray, furniture thrown around by the explosions, and the ceiling tiles had crumbled, leaving a mess of powder and panels across the floor. I picked my way carefully through the wreckage. A couple sets of clothing were buried in the rubble, covered with piles of dust. Someone didn’t get out alive.
Three hallways branched off from the reception area. Across from me and in front of the burning desk was an odd sound, sort of a fwap fwap fwap and then deafening shrieks. I sprinted in that direction, ignoring the thick smoke.
The hallway was smokier than the last, and I struggled to make out anything in front of me. Fwap fwap fwap and more screams, not far ahead. My heart burst with joy as a familiar voice filled my ears.
“Where is she?” Drake yelled, his voice bouncing around the smoky hallway.
“In the basement,” a voice screeched. “He’s keeping her in the basement. You’ll never make it out of here alive, blood bags.”
The smoke cleared and Drake stood in a doorway off the hallway, his back to me. He wore a round light strapped to his back and carried a paintball gun. It wasn’t filled with colored paintballs though. They were round, but brown in color.
“Drake!” I shouted.
The gun fwap fwap fwapped one more time before he turned to look at me. The hardened look on his face melted into love and relief as his eyes met mine. He turned toward me and I ran to him, jumping straight into his arms.
“I thought I would never see you again!” he murmured into my hair, his free arm crushing me to his chest. “Oh my god.”
I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. My nerves threatened to break but his words brought me back to reality.
“We’ve got some business to finish here.”
He pointed to a heavy black belt loaded with a variety of stakes and knives. A matching disk of light lay across his chest, resting over a black fitted t-shirt.
I took a deep breath and caught the scent of strawberries.
“Lauryn!” I dove around Drake and hugged her tight. I pulled back and gestured to her all-black outfit. “Jesus, you look like Buffy the Vampire Slayer! What’s with the Flavor Flav look?” I pointed to the circles of light.
“Monty came up with these. UV shields. His mom had one, it’s supposed to be used as a face tanner. He and Ernie fitted them with battery packs so they last a couple hours and any vampire who gets too close gets burned. Some of them even turned to dust.”
“I think that’s the younger ones. Apparently they don’t stand a chance in the sun. Where are the others?” We stepped into the open doorway where a vampire lay on the long table in front of us, his body riddled with holes that oozed smoke. “What’s with this guy?”
Drake raised his gun. “Wooden beads from the craft store loaded into a modified paintball gun. Doesn’t kill them unless you get it just right, but definitely slows them down. What should we do with this one? He wasn’t exactly friendly.”
Lauryn’s eyes settled into a hard stare as she turned towards him. “Kill him. He’d have done the same to us if he had the chance.” I looked at her, slightly stunned. This was a new Lauryn, far from the girl who’d sat in Monty’s kitchen.
Drake pulled a stake out of his belt and stepped forward. “Why don’t you ladies wait by the door? Lauryn, keep an eye out and keep that gun ready.” Lauryn and I moved to the doorway. I tried to edge in front of her, because even though she had the gun, I still had a better chance if a vampire came along. I couldn’t bear any of them getting killed because of me.
I glanced back at Drake just as he jammed the stake down into the still vampire’s heart. The body twitched violently and then exploded in a cloud of dust. He stuck the bloodied stake back in his belt. “No use in wasting a good stake.” He smiled at me wistfully, but it didn’t fully reach his eyes.
I sighed inside. Look at what I’d gotten them all into. This was all my fault. If I’d never come to Bartlett, they’d all be going about their happy high school lives, not racing through a burning office building, saving me and killing vampires. I reached out with one hand and placed it on Lauryn’s arm. “Come on, let’s get the others and get out of here.” It was my job to make sure every last one of them made it out of here alive. If any of them got hurt, I’d never forgive myself.
Drake’s hand flew to his pocket and ripped out his phone, slamming it to his ear. “Yeah?”
His eyes widened as he looked at both of us and my heart dropped straight to my feet.
“We’re coming. Hang on!” he said and ran towards us, dragging us back towards the flaming lobby.
“What happened?” I pushed Lauryn in between us and we shuffled down the hallway.