could try break free—maybe…jump over fire. Blackness taking over sight—smoke filling lungs—mind shutting down. Awaiting flames to scorch my body, preparing for the end—then, the one sound I prayed not to hear shocks my eardrums.
“Here’s Ambrosia! Come and take her, you miserable, disgusting demon!” I shout, holding her captive at her wrist.
Holes have never been so terrifying. Just came through the hole in the bookcase into the large room with broken furniture, cracked walls, and about seventeen vampires—some bleeding, some just lusting for blood. Then, I saw the hole in the window into the smoky, fiery, black night. Even worse—across the room by the window, Roderick’s eyes look like holes into an abyss.
Ambrosia tries to pull away from me—can’t break free. Not this time—not going anywhere. Maybe should’ve told her this was coming. Too late now.
The vampires part a path between me and the window. Roderick with his hand on its sill—someone trying to climb in from the outside.
“What’s made you bring this little treat back to me, Ruby? Decided Simon’s worth more than a two-faced friend?”
“What are you talking about?” asks Ambrosia with a trembling voice.
“Oh, this and that about you saying Ruby was only man-bait—someone you were using to attract guys—not really a friend of yours.”
“That’s not true!”
“Oh, but you did say it—said she was ‘boring.’”
“No—yes, but that’s not how I meant it.”
“Shut up!” I shout.
Roderick says, “Alright, Ruby, reasons don’t much matter I suppose—Ambrosia’s right here. No reason to keep you from your man any longer.”
“If I let her go, you’ll bring me to Simon?”
“In a room full of vampires, you’re awfully demanding—you humans so self-absorbed, such a sense of entitlement. I could rip her from you right now, and there’s nothing you could do about it.”
“Wouldn’t she taste all the better if her best friend betrayed her?”
“Women—dramatic even till death,” Roderick exhales and smiles, “I promise wherever Simon may be when you let her go, I’ll be happy to send you there.”
“No, Ruby, don’t!” Ambrosia pleads, whimpering like a small, terrified dog.
I turn my back to Roderick and the other vampires to face Ambrosia and throw her a wink. As I start to wink, Ambrosia looks intently at something over my head, and knifelike fingernails land on my shoulder—pushing as hard as they can without breaking the skin.
“Time to let her go, love,” Roderick says, his voice sounding even creepier when he’s close enough for his breath to touch me.
His other hand grabs Ambrosia by a blue ponytail and yanks her completely away from me—her shoulder smacking mine in the process. I didn’t even notice her wrist coming free from my hand—ripped away so forcefully, so quickly.
He drags her toward the window. Both of my former guards stand there—the two of them scratched up pretty badly—they must’ve been the ones coming through the window when we first walked in here.
I call out at Roderick’s back, “Alright, now bring me to Simon.”
He swings Ambrosia around by her ponytail, sending her stumbling and crashing into Carvelli. Carvelli grabs her by her arms, twisting them behind her back, and holds her captive—both of her wrists grasped tightly together with just one of his hands—his other squeezing where her neck meets her shoulder.
Roderick turns his attention to me.
“Your wish is my command, young lover,” he says as he bows mockingly toward me, “Grab her and drag her to me now!”
Hands grab at me from all sides—they pass me up through the crowd from one sharp, nasty hand to the next —my feet dragging on the floor as they yank me closer and closer to Roderick and the busted window.
Smoke starts to billow in through the window, creating a thin, gray mist around Roderick. Gray—how sweet the color looked to me just a short while ago—been my favorite shade next to the blue of Simon’s eyes since my world was changed on that dance floor. Now that Simon’s gone—the gray of the smoke just looks evil.
The girl I fought in the hallway stands beside him—her eyes still raw and red. She must’ve been in the crowd rushing up the stairs earlier—maybe she went outside and came back in the busted window—scary how fast they move—evil how fast they recover.
Roderick’s filthy fingers with razor-like tips seize my neck and lift me off the ground—my feet dangling. Eyes feel like they’re bulging from his strangling grip.
The patchouli girl swipes at me—trying to get her nails into my arm—without looking in her direction, Roderick shoves her backward with his foot.
Ambrosia calls out, “Ruby! Jealous friends say stupid things, especially when they’re drunk…I’m sorry.”
I try to say don’t worry about it, but Roderick’s pressing fingers keep me from speaking.
If a second were a vast ocean, before even one droplet could pass, he spins around flinging his arm and me hanging from it out the jagged hole in the window. Between his hand clasping my neck and the thick, smoke-filled air, I don’t know if I’ll ever breathe deeply again.
Stare at the moon above—starts to go out of focus.
“Edgar’s gone!” a female voice declares loudly from inside the room.
Can’t see inside, but know the voice—familiar—can’t place it.
The familiar female continues, “He’s gone, and he took two of the human girls with him.”
“What?” Roderick demands, his fingers squeezing my neck tighter, “What are
Of course—was Maxine’s voice.
She says, “Just trying something different.”
“And the clothes?”
“Them too.”
A different woman’s voice cuts through the air—harsher than Maxine’s—must be patchouli girl, “So what? What about the stuff—the new breed? Said he was going to get the stuff for me!”
Roderick grunts.
Maxine answers, “The girls are pregnant—vampire babies
Many feet rush toward the other side of the room, must be heading to the opening in the bookshelf—fast footsteps, loud with desperation.
Roderick’s hand releases me —— I drop —— falling through the hazy, hot air—transferring the heat of the fire onto me—penetrating deep into my skin.
Sound of cracking and metal wrenching—something scrambling beneath me. My legs hit something—then my back hits something else.
Simon. Caught me mid-air. His arms holding me—standing crooked—at an angle. He smiles at me, wobbles, and falls—both of us crashing to the broken bit of balcony that still stands.
Fire flickers near our feet—we’re sliding down the slope of the balcony toward it. His arm wraps tightly around my waist—his other grabs the top edge of the balcony and starts pulling us higher and away from the hungry orange and red tongues flickering at us—waiting for us to slide down into them.
He pulls us up higher and lodges his arm around the edge of the balcony—his other arm still pressing me to him—snugly wrapped around my waist.
He drags me up his body until my face is just above his.
“How’re you doing, Bright Eyes?”
Press my lips against his. So tense—emotion exploding.
His chest convulses—I pull back—he starts to cough.
“Can’t hold you much longer, Ruby—too weak—too much of that poison in me—can’t breathe—can’t last much longer. Gotta get you out of here.”
