Pitch

“Fine. Just make sure you sleep with one eye open because as long as you have those,” he said, looking down pointedly at my scars, “Angelique will be able to find you.”

Oh crap. Oh crap oh crap oh crap. Was I really going to do this? Why? Why on earth would I ever, ever do this? I had gone crazy, I decided. Only a crazy person would believe what I was starting to believe. Only a crazy person would actually consider letting a complete stranger use a knife on her to cut out scars from a vampire bite. A vampire bite. It was ridiculous. It was absurd. It was…

“Fine,” I said tightly, thrusting my arm towards him before I could change my mind. “Do it. Cut them out.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

A Parting of the Ways

Maximus looked down at my hand. Back up at my face. Down at my hand again. “Are you CRAZY?” he shouted. I snatched my hand away.

“But you said -”

“If I told you to jump off a bridge, would you do that too? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” he muttered, shaking his head. “You’re an odd duck, aren’t you?”

I stiffened. “I’m not odd. It was your stupid idea and since you seem to actually know what’s going on I thought – ”

“Oh you thought, did you?” he mocked. “You thought you would just let me cut your hand open? Why not simply douse yourself in blood and parade through the street naked? At least that would get their attention faster.”

“I’m leaving.” I decided abruptly. I jumped down from the table and almost made it to the door before Maximus slipped in front of me and blocked it with his body. I glared at his chest, not trusting myself to look into those brooding eyes of his. “Get out of the way.”

“Lola, I can see I have upset you and for that I apologize…” He paused. “But you can’t leave.”

Outraged by the command, I jerked my chin up and growled, “Listen pal, you don’t get to tell me anything, got it? If I want to leave I leave. Now move.” I curled my hand into a fist and punched his chest as hard as I could. I might as well have tried to topple over a stone wall with my pinky.

“It’s not safe out there. You will have to wait until sunrise.”

“Sunrise?” I choked out. “I’m not waiting for the damn sun to rise. I need to make sure my dad is all right which means you have to get out of my way!”

“If you go out now you won’t make it to morning,” he said flatly. “They will tear you to shreds.”

I slammed my hands on my hips and glared. “What do you care?”

For the first time, Maximus’s veneer of arrogance appeared to crack. His mouth opened but no words came out as his eyebrows nettled together in confusion. “I – I don’t know why. I just… I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“What about all the people out there?” I said, gesturing with a broad sweep of my arm. “What about everyone I know? My dad? My mom? My sister? My best friend Travis?”

His expression turned vaguely pitying. “Lola, it is likely that they’re all -”

“No,” I hissed. “Don’t you dare say it. Don’t you say anything else, you hear me? You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know anything.”

“I know if you go out there you won’t survive the night.”

It was a risk I willing to take to save the ones I loved. Folding my arms across my chest I waited silently for Maximus to step aside. We both knew he couldn’t stand there forever. He was only delaying the inevitable.

Finally he shifted to the right. I shoved past him and unlocked the door. I started to push it open, to step out into the cool night air and forget Maximus had ever existed, but something stopped me. Something I could not define, yet something tangible nevertheless.

“You could… come with me, you know. Safety in numbers and all that.”

“No,” he said without hesitation. “I can’t.”

I peeked over my shoulder. His face looked like it could have been carved from granite. Only his eyes showed any life as they burned into mine with cold disapproval.

“You are making a mistake,” he said.

“Staying in here, when there are people out there who could use your help… That’s the mistake.”

Maximus reached inside his leather jacket and yanked something out. “Take this,” he snapped, holding out his gun. I stared at it dumbly.

“What would I do with that?”

He forced the butt of the gun into my hand. My fingers closed around it automatically. “When a Drinker tries to rip your head off you shoot it. Simple enough. Hit it between the eyes or dead center of the chest. Anywhere else will wound it, but not kill it. If you’re not sure if it’s dead just keep shooting until you are.”

“Like a video game,” I murmured, staring down at the gun. I had never held one before. It was a lot heavier than I imagined it would be. Heavy and awkward. How was I going to carry the damn thing? Left with little choice, I jammed it down in my left back pocket. Now, along with everything else, I would have to worry about shooting my own ass off. Better that, I supposed, than to be left completely defenseless. “What about you?” I asked. “Won’t you need a gun?”

“I’ll be fine,” he said.

Sure you will, hiding out in an abandoned storage unit. I almost said it out loud. Almost. One thought stopped me. The thought that if Maximus was staying here, it meant he had nothing worth risking his life for out there. No dad. No mom. No sister. No best friend. I cleared my throat and shifted anxiously from foot to foot. I had never been good at goodbyes. Thankfully, Maximus wasn’t either.

“Either stay in or get out, but either way shut the door,” he scowled.

A faint smile touched my lips, saying everything I couldn’t put into words. Nice to meet you. Thanks for the gun. Have a nice life. Hope you don’t die. And then, mustering what little courage I had left, I stepped out into the night.

CHAPTER NINE

Pop a Top Again

Nothing tried to kill me on the way to the apartment complex, which I took to be a good sign. My temporary sense of hope quickly faded, however, when I found Mr. Jacobson, the door man. He was slumped against the door he had guarded for the past twenty five years (something I knew because we had just thrown him a party). The glass leading down to his head was streaked with red. He might have been sleeping, if he slept with his eyes wide open. Looking away, I gave him a wide berth and hurried inside.

The lobby was dark. I tried hitting the light switches, but nothing came on. The power must have been cut, which meant the elevator wasn’t working, but then again it never was. I took the stairs two at a time, making an effort to keep my footsteps quiet as possible. The air stank of sweat and cigarettes and