What were we even? When she kissed me on the lips, I never once thought I’d feel anything, much less feel everything. The whole experience had me shaken. It was like a part of me I never knew existed opened up, and knowing that euphoric feeling was so close yet I couldn’t reach out and embrace it made me miserable. For the first time, I was discovering something that would make me feel complete, and it was happening the night I was to die.
I wanted her to say something, or to even look me in the eye, but she remained so guarded and silent. I had to know what she was thinking. I had to make our relationship right before I left.
Maybe I could delay turning myself over or…no, that was a foolish idea. I couldn’t put myself first. If anything, I had to—
Blood.
There was a sudden aroma of blood rushing through my nostrils, so strong it nearly knocked me on my ass. It was as if it crawled up the stairs and entered the bedroom like a mist. “Something’s happened,” I blurted out. They all looked to me, confused. “Smell it!”
Dana was the first to take a whiff. “There’s blood downstairs,” she said.
“Shit!” Max yelled and bolted out of the room and down the stairs. Daggett and Priscilla immediately went running after him, and right before Dana got to the door, I stopped her.
“Untie me,” I pleaded.
She stared at me cautiously. “So you can run away?”
“That’s my family downstairs.”
I could tell she wanted to think it over, but the uncertainty of what was happening beneath our floor felt too important for her to sit and simmer on it. She let out a small groan and then knelt behind my chair, attempting to untie me. Because she didn’t have a knife, it was taking too long and my legs bounced up and down anxiously, praying that the blood we could smell was the desk clerk accidentally cutting himself on a broken vase.
After a minute, Dana set me free, and I got to my feet in less than a second. She lifelessly stood in front of me, her face void of emotion, as I said, “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” she said. “Just go.”
The pain in her voice was almost contagious, because my heart stung as I listened to her.
I tried to put all of that aside and rushed downstairs. Any hope of the blood being from a minor cut was soon lost when I entered the living room. The smell of it smacked me in the face immediately. It was thick, heavy, almost smothering. There was so much of it that I didn’t even feel a pang of hunger for it. It was too much.
Max stood motionless in the center of the living room with his back facing me, staring at something. That’s when I found the culprit of the smell, in the form of the desk clerk crumpled up on the floor, oozing blood from every pore of his skin. He wasn’t just killed; he was massacred. Bite marks were scattered all over his bloodied flesh, and his throat had been ripped out.
As fucked up as it sounds, It relieved me to know it wasn’t Cora. Problem was, despite that relief, Cora was nowhere in sight. Cora was gone.
A trail of the man’s blood led to the wall Max was looking at. Written in crimson were the words: COME AND GET HER.
Chapter Thirty-Two
CORA
It happened so fast. One minute I was opening the top drawer in the kitchen for a knife, and the next, Molly was standing behind me with her hands wrapped around the desk clerk’s neck. He had been hypnotized to stand there and not make a noise. I knew this because her nails were digging so hard into his throat that blood was streaming down his skin, thick and slow like lava. Yet, he was voiceless.
When I had first seen her all those hours ago, it was at a distance, but having her up close was much, much different. Her eyes were red and her skin was thin and white like a corpse, and there was a constant mangled smirk on her lips. She was either hungry or insane. Maybe both. Not sure which was the more terrifying option.
“Molly,” I trembled.
“Shhh,” she hissed. “Make a sound and baggage boy here becomes a snack.” Her fingers slowly tightened around his throat and an anguished expression took over his face, but still, he remained silent. It made me sick to think of the immense pain he was going through and how powerless he was to stop it. I felt a responsibility to help him.
“You don’t have to hurt him. Just tell me what you want.”
“Stop being so loud,” she snarled. “I know your fuckboy is upstairs and he’ll want to play hero to his precious damsel.”
“I’ll stay quiet,” I assured her.
“Yes, you will. Now, come here.” She gestured with her index finger for me to walk toward her, but I didn’t move. I didn’t fully know what she intended to do with me, so skipping in her direction wasn’t exactly my gut instinct. “I said come here, dammit,” she spitefully whispered and deepened her nails into the man’s neck.
I flinched and threw my hands up. “I will. I just…where are you taking me?”
Her lips parted into an over the top, fang-filled smile. “Master awaits you.”
My stomach turned. “Me?” I asked. “Why would he want me?”
Molly ignored me and drew closer.
I stepped back, terrified. “Wait…” I kept telling myself to talk to her and to stall for as long as possible. There was a vampire and three werewolves upstairs, and one of them had to hear something and come down and rescue me.
Right?
Unfortunately for me, Molly wasn’t in
