Bound in Blood 1 Clandestine (20 page)

Andre howled as the silver crystals took effect, eating into
his flesh. It burned him instantly on contact. Each flake burst
into a small pocket of flame that tore into his skin, melting like
acid. Andre lost his grip on Emily’s neck.

As she watched, he clawed at his face trying to put out the
burn and scrape off the powder. It was no use, the powder wasn’t
powder anymore. For a second Emily couldn’t move. The sight
in front of her paralyzed her where she stood. A part of her, a
very small part wanted to help him. She battled with herself as
she watched the vampire’s agony. Then she remembered he
wasn’t on her team. Just moments before, he had threatened to
drain her like a bottle of Propel on a hot day. With that in mind,
she raced across to where Sebastian and Tyler still held the other
vampire.

“You okay,” asked Tyler. He was breathing hard and his
eyes kept darting to the panicked Andre, who was trying to make
his way out of the alley in retreat.

Sebastian
knelt down next to Tyler. “We can do status
checks later. We’ve got to finish this before Andre comes back
with the others. They can’t follow us out.”

Tyler just looked at him confused. “Why don’t we just go
kill Andre?”
It was a logical question. Emily wondered that herself but
didn’t want to ask. She was in no mood for Sebastian to turn all
high and mighty and switch into lecturing teacher mode.
“No time.” Sebastian shook his head. “He might be hurt but
he’s old. He will heal quickly and he will have run away even
quicker.” Sebastian glanced back toward the mouth of the alley
where Andre had been. “That one will take more planning.” He
spoke regretfully and with no wiggle room for opposition.
“Okay,” Tyler said hesitantly but clearly relenting. He
brought his attention back to the monster at his feet. “Is there
anything I should know before doing this?” As he spoke he
lowered the blade back down to the passed out vamps throat.
“No. Just give it everything you’ve got with one clean
swipe, the quicker the better and there are no other instructions.
It’s not like you need to be careful of injuring it or anything.
That’s the whole point.” Sebastian stood now probably trying to
give Tyler some room. He grabbed a hold of Emily and pulled
her back a few steps. “Just get it done man. If you can’t then
move aside and I’ll show you how it’s done.”
Tyler’s gaze moved from Sebastian, to Emily and finally to
the pale white figure lying before him. It was obvious to see
Sebastian’s implication that Tyler wasn’t man enough to handle
it. Tyler bristled slightly at that but still looked unsure. He shook
his head fast. “I can do it just give me a second.”
Sebastian looked over his shoulder as if his name was
called. “We don’t have a second damn it! Just do it,” Sebastian
demanded.
Emily could hear the girl in the alley whimpering again.
Something was coming. Emily wanted to go and help her.
However, she knew she wouldn’t do much good against a
vampire army with no real fighting skills whatsoever. She looked
back to Tyler hoping his job was done and they could leave. His
arm was frozen, poised in position to slash the undead throat,
which was still pressed firmly against the knife. Sebastian was
right. There was no time to lose soon it would be snack time
featuring them as the main course.
Without knowing exactly what she was doing, she rushed to
Tyler’s side. Swiftly removing the knife from his grip, Emily
held it in the ready position. Wielding razor sharp daggers was
never something she was taught but somehow she knew what to
do. Holding the shaft of the blade felt like second nature as if she
had been doing it her entire life instead of just the last few
seconds. With a gulp she raised the blade. A voice inside her
spoke firm telling her to lift the blade, hold it steady and bring it
back down with everything she had. Oddly the voice didn’t
surprise her. It wasn’t Sebastian’s this time. It was her own,
confident and true. Closing her eyes she brought it down and
slashed across the vamps throat effortlessly.
When her eyes reopened, she was instantly shocked at what
she had done. She had killed him. Not just killed him, she had
decapitated him. She, Emily Jameson who had never even
punched someone, let alone cut their head off had given an
undead creature their final death. All she could do was stare
down mutely at the two separate parts. There was a body and
there was a head. There wasn’t even a lot of blood. The officially
dead, thanks to Emily, vampire was wearing the same expression
as before she cut him. He just looked as though he was sleeping.
Well, sleeping with his eyes open and zero color in his face, but
still. Even though it was the right thing to do,she couldn’t get
over the fact that she, not Tyler or Sebastian, had been the one to
do it.
Right before her eyes the vampire vanished. He just fell
away into dust on the ground. She scrubbed at her eyes trying to
clear them. That had to be a trick of her mind. Maybe she had
just blocked out the traumatic scene that had played out in front
of her. Only she hadn’t. She remembered everything perfectly.
The only trace that the vampire had even been there was a gold
chain that fell with a clank onto the rocks. Emily picked up the
chain and looked around. She knew it wasn’t possible, but she
thought maybe he somehow came back to life and was just gone.
Instead, of the reality that he had vanished into thin air, without a
trace left behind except a piece of jewelry.
Sebastian snatched up her arm and hauled her up to her feet.
“Good,it’s done. Let’s get out of here.” Without another word,
he scooped her up into his arms cradling her like a fragile baby.
The world around her became a blur after that. Sebastian’s
face was still clear and so was Tyler’s next to him. Everything
else seemed to wiz by as if she were looking out a car window,
but much faster. They were running? The sensation made her
dizzy and more than a little nauseous. She felt as though she
would throw up at any minute. All she could think was please
God give her enough notice to at least turn her head. This wasn’t
exactly the most optimal position for getting sick.
Wait a minute, what about that girl? They couldn’t just
leave her there. Emily fought against the gravity pulling her head
back down to her chest to speakto Sebastian. “That girl! We
can’t leave her there. The other vamps will get her if they come
back looking for us.”
“They’ll find her either way. She has a blood tie with one of
their brothers. It will weaken since you killed him but they can
still track her for a time after.” Sebastian’s expression never
changed. It looked as though he were talking about going
shopping, instead of a girl being left for dead.
“Sebastian,” Emily demanded. “Isn’t it our job to protect
humans from the vamps? Or do you get to pick and choose
which ones are worthy of saving? Let me down!” Emily was
struggling against his hold,trying to break free. “I’ll help her
myself. I don’t need you.”
“I’m going to go back, but we have to circle around. So
calm down.” He shot her a sardonic look. “I’m assuming you
heard our plasma craving friends back there headed right for us?
What were we supposed to do? Excuse me crazy undead mob.
Could you please pause in your quest to seek vengeance for
hurting one of your brothers and killing the other? It will only
take a second and we’ll be on our way. Just let us get this girl
who is wounded and dripping delicious blood. And I’m sure you
won’t mind if she comes with us. You can just make other
arrangements for your dinner thanks.” Even at a dead run
Sebastian’s sarcastic tone came through loud and clear.
“Somehow I think my way is the better alternative, if you don’t
mind that is.”
Emily felt guilty for her tirade, he did have a point. “Yeah,
your way is fine,” she allowed meekly. “I guess I didn’t think
you cared about her,that’s all. And besides, it’s not like I have a
very good view point from my position. How was I supposed to
know where we were going? No wonder babies cry all the time.”
Tyler laughed, “Never really thought about it like that.”
“Just remember, I’m not the monster,” Sebastian said dryly
not looking at her.
The guys started to slow their pace. Emily attempted to
crane her head up so she could see something, anything. As she
did this she envisioned a baby bird poking its puny little bald
head out of the nest for the first time. Her eyes widened at the
sights around her. It was weird how well her eyes had adjusted to
the darkness. It still looked dark out but more like twilight. It
should have been pitch black. It was like the night’s events
kicked her senses into hyper overdrive.
Off in the distance there was the scent of a burn barrel
permeating in the air. Someone had their house speakers blasting
at full volume. Emily wondered absently if maybe there was a
party going on or something. It was kind of hard to imagine
regular life carrying on around them. Life goes on she supposed.
Whycouldn’t she have been part of the lucky oblivious bunch
Lakeview still had left?
Sebastian slowed, walking like a prowling cat on the hunt.
Without any warning he put her back on her feet. The speed of
the gesture gave her a head rush and made her a little dizzy.
Emily put her hands out to her sides trying to maintain her
balance. Soon the spinning sensation was over and she was able
to see where they had stopped.
They were only about two houses away from the alley.
Tyler and Sebastian looked like they were on red alert with their
hands poised and ready near their weapons. Emily strained to
hear anything that might resemble even a hint of danger.
Unconsciously she moved her hand to where her knife was
kept on her newly acquired belt. It wasn’t there. She had almost
forgotten that Andre had thrown it in the alley earlier. Hopefully
there were still remnants of silver powder in her pocket. If
nothing else she could rub it in one of their eyes or something. A
blind vampire probably wouldn’t be very productive. All she
would have had to do was run out of their reach after that. The
thought of playing Marco Polo with a blind vampire almost
made her laugh out loud despite the situation.
Sebastian motioned for them to stay put. He moved OO7
style along the sides of the houses and behind shrubbery. No
matter how hard she tried, Emily couldn’t hear anything over
there. Well, she could vaguely hear the light steps that she hoped
belonged to Sebastian and not a freaky nightmare come to life.
This was weird considering up until that point she remembered
thinking about how silent he and Tyler moved. Now, she could
even hear the sound of Tyler’s shallow breathing and his
thudding heart. She’d never been able to hear anyone’s heart
before. Huh. It must be adrenalin. She had never been attacked
by a vampire then turn all warrior and kill one either. Yeah, the
night was just stocked full of surprises.
Get over here. I need you guys now!
It was Sebastian’s
voice but it wasn’t coming from where it should. She was
hearing it in her head. The sound of it made her jump slightly.
She hadn’t heard it since she had
been with him. The
command and desperation in his voice came through loud and
clear.
Something’s wrong
, Emily whispered to Tyler. At least she
thought she had.
Tyler faltered slightly.“Did you hear something?” Then, as
though something had just occurred to him, he gave her a second
look. “Did you just…? How did you do that?” Despite his
hushed voice, he sounded utterly bewildered.
Emily had apparently spoken to him in her mind. “I have no
idea.” That wasn’t supposed to happen. She got messages from
Sebastian,but she didn’t send them.
Flirt later! Help now!
Sebastian broke into their confusion
like scissors through paper.
The sardonic nature of his words didn’t even register. The
emotion behind the words however, came through and processed
just fine. “Sebastian needs us now. We gotta go, now.” It was
hard to whisper when Sebastian was screaming in her head.
Tyler cleared his throat and began to scramble. “Sorry,” he
said sheepishly.
Emily felt like the worst person on earth. She shoved her
confusion to the back burner and got her head back in the game.
She and Tyler would have to figure everything out later. Safety
first, she reminded herself.
The two of them followed the same path Sebastian had
taken. They weren’t certain what they were coming up against.
Just about anything could be happening. Caution was the best
measure, at least until they were sure it was clear. The wind had
a chilly bite to it that almost burnt her cheeks. Why did they
have to be in a town where it was colder more than warm every
year? Emily knew the thought was trivial in comparison to the
drama facing them, but it somehow made her feel better to think
normal thoughts.
As they eased their way as fast as possible against the wall
of a house, Emily heard a TV on in one of the windows. It
sounded like a horror movie, equipped with screams and
everything. The music coming from inside was dark and
building. It was like it was about to reach the climactic ending,
where they catch and fry the killer or something. Even though it
creeped her out,she found it ironically funny. If it weren’t for
the fact that she had her mouth clamped shut, she probably
wouldn’t have been able to stop a giggle from coming out
betraying her careful silence. Emily couldn’t help but think how
oddly fitting the muffled instrumental music was to their current
situation.
They were crouching expertly behind the bushes
surprisingly, making little to no noise. Emily concentrated on not
allowing her shoes to shift the river rock beneath her careful
footsteps. The longer they were in the silence, the more uneasy
Emily felt. She willed her heart to slow down and relax. Then
she noticed that Tyler’s was beating in double-time too and
somehow that made her feel better.
They reached Sebastian at the mouth of the alley where they
had been before. There was no sign of danger. As far as Emily
could tell, there was no sign of vampires at all. She gave a quick
scan down the alley. None of the shadows moved or looked out
of place. There was nothing further down the street either. When
they got closer to Sebastian, they found that he was kneeling
down at the corner of the fence. When they saw what he had
been so urgent about, Emily and Tyler gasped at the same time.
There was someone lying on the ground motionless. It was
the girl from earlier. It was Beth Thomas. She was drenched in
even more blood than before. At least, it looked like blood. Her
light colored top had a large black stain covering most of the
material. Emily thought she could even smell a faint coppery
scent.
How weird, she thought somewhat absently to herself. Even
though theyweren’t that far from Beth, the distance still should
have been too great for Emily to smell the blood. As they
stepped closer, Tyler made a quick scan in all directions looking
for any sign of the enemy.
The closer they got, the heavier the blood smell became. It
was so strong,that it made Emily’s nose wrinkle in response.
She didn’t even like the smell of her own blood when she got a
paper cut. Sure there was a lot of the pooling liquid, but she had
never been able to become grossed out simply by smell alone.
The sight wasn’t even an issue for her which really grossed her
out. Emily had always hated the sight of any wound no matter
how small. This was probably the most horrific wound she had
ever seen up close in real life.