City of the Fallen (26 page)
It was a ghastly sight and her first instinct was to try to run back in and find the people she knew.
Except that she wouldn’t last half a minute among the rows of fangs and claws tearing at everything human inside.
So instead she took a tentative step towards one of the corners of the compound. How big was the place? Her car stood somewhere outside the walls, waiting for her. She had no idea if the keys would be in it and for all she knew the compound was miles long and she was right on the opposite side of the gate.
Her only source of light was the tongues of fire lapping over the walls. She walked towards the closest bend in the walls and took a deep breath before peeking around the corner. Empty. The walls extended at least six hundred feet into the night before they curved again in the opposite direction.
She considered crouching down or crawling along the wall, but it would take too long to reach the next corner that way. She didn’t know how much time she had until the inside of the compound was gone and the vampires would step back into the night outside.
It’s now or never
, her mind warned her. She took off sprinting, her left arm as close to the wall as possible to help the shadows hide her.
By the time she reached the next corner, she was out of breath. Not so much from the running but from the adrenaline rushing through her. Sounds around her seemed to swell and grow, echoing into her ears and down into her chest.
Eyes closed, breath uneven, she poked her head around the corner, praying her car would be there.
When she opened her eyes, her heart skipped a beat. Her car was sitting right near the gate, just a few feet away from where she had left it before walking into the compound. Before her legs gave out or she changed her mind, she began sprinting towards it. When she found the door open and was able to jump in without trouble, a small beat of hope flashed in front of her eyes.
The roaring of the fire was deafening, leaping and reaching over and under the gate. All she was hoping for at the moment was that the sound was loud enough to hide the engine of a car.
As she switched the engine on, she glanced into the rearview mirror. The world was crumbling. In a few hours, the entire inside of the compound would be consumed by the fire. If any of the humans inside made it past the night, they’d be left to starve in the middle of nowhere, at the mercy of the four-legged predators and any rabids sick enough to venture out in daylight.
The road ahead was dark and full of uncertainty. Stepping down on the gas as far as it would go, she tried to concentrate on the actual driving. But her mind kept flying back to the compound and the horror taking place there as she ran away from it all. As she once more turned her back on humanity.
Images of Marcus returning to a destroyed compound looped around her mind as she sped down the highway.
She looked in the rearview mirror again, the compound a bright beacon of fire in the night.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
, her mind whispered.
“
I love you too, Marcus,” she said aloud.
Even if that meant damning her soul to hell.
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Diana Bocco spends a lot of time thinking about vampires, warlocks and other dark creatures. Some end up in her horror books, while others have sexier destinies waiting for them.
Diana also writes nonfiction books. She currently lives in Thailand with three awesome – but slightly crazy – dogs.
Learn more about her by visiting her website at
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