Lengths For Love (19 page)

“And what did they get out of it? A bunch of bloodsuckers that can’t control themselves.” He glared at the angry vampires, yet wasn’t unnerved by them baring their teeth. “It’s true. Without me, you’d all be turned into dust. You should be grateful I was able to keep your sorry asses alive all this time!”

“Vincent, that is enough!” Claude barked and I saw Vince step back, looking scared for a second. “You know better than to talk back to me. I know I taught you manners when you were younger. I failed to raise you after your mother died, but that gives no right to say what you said.”

Vince straightened up against his desk and shook his head. “I see. I take it you didn’t come all this way to lecture me, then.”

“I came to stop you.” His father started to walk towards him, motioning that the other vampires stayed in the doorway. I couldn’t help but notice how much taller he was from his son. It was like a giant ready to step on a weed. “You know these are crimes. Are you so thick that you didn’t get it the first time around, Vincent? Or do you not care?”

“I don’t give a damn, father. Haven’t given a damn for a while now.” He whispered. “Sorry to disappoint.”

“No, you’re not. You’re never sorry.”

“You’re right.” Vince moved forward and grimaced. “I’m not. Especially not for this.”

Claude gasped as Vince stepped away and that’s when I noticed it. The knife. Vincent had picked up the knife from his desk and, while his father and everyone else was distracted, stabbed him. Yanking the knife out of Claude’s chest, he watched as his father dropped to the ground.

“You always disappointed me too, Dad,” he muttered, raising the knife again while I winced and turned away. I heard a gasp, some screams, snarling, and someone struggling to breathe. I didn’t need to see to know what happened.

“It’s the only reason I’m letting you go. At long last,” Vince sneered. I looked up to find Claude dead on the ground and his son smiling grimly at the body. “Some role model you were.”

“What... what are you...” I started. It was then that he noticed he had an audience.

“Oh, you’re still here.” He rolled his eyes. “You’re a sorry piece of shit, you know that?”

“Takes one to know one,” I shot back. The vampires, finally ready to attack, sprung into the room and started tearing it apart. Once again, I saw him weakening and felt a little better. Though he fought through them, I could tell he was getting exhausted from the mess. There was my opening.

And that was where I was going to deliver the final blow.

Though there were thousands of snarling vampires in the room and I kept getting pushed aside, I needed to make my move. Despite how much my foot was throbbing, I had to take care of Vince. Finding the piece of mirror in my pocket, I kept it hidden in my palm. Though it stuck when it cut into my skin, I ignored the pain and tried to look for an opening. There were vampires everywhere, all hungry for blood. I kept praying that it was Vince’s blood they wanted and not mine.

Vince, however, had other ideas. “You’re going to kill me? Kind of silly. Especially when you have a human bleeding down there.”

I winced and waited for them to swarm over me. However, they headed to where Claude’s dead body was and attacked it. I didn’t dare to see what they were doing. My eyes were focused on Kristine who was slowly coming around and my mind was on Alexis. Had she heard what was going on down here? If so, was she having trouble coming downstairs? Was anyone up there with her or had they all come down to kill Vince? My fingers digging at the carpet, I sat up again and found myself looking at Vince. I let out something that resembled a scream and a monster being castrated.

“Oh, you’re still conscious,” he said, sounding a bit disappointed. “It’s a shame I was interrupted. I forgot what I was about to do to you, too.”

I ignored that, “Where’s Alexis?”

He raised a brow. “What about her?”

“Where is she?” I repeated, grinding my teeth. “I know you’re thinking about her right now.”

He chuckled and that’s when I noticed the knife in his hands. He still had it. “Well, you’re right about that much. But you’re wrong if you think I’ve done anything to her. I wouldn’t. You looked in my files. You should know that by now.”

“I do. But to the others, to those vampires... you just did whatever you could with them. Used them and threw them away! You are twisted in the head, you know?”

“Such a pathetic insult.”

“But it’s the truth.” I took a deep breath and looked at him. It was strange how he wasn’t that much older than me yet had more power. He only had to look at someone to intimidate them. Just his eyes, those hazel eyes that had soul in them, could bring a man to his knees. All the same, I chanted to myself that I was not going to be afraid. He was a kid like me. He might have been a terror, but he was still a kid.

“Now that my father is out of the way, it’s time to take care of you.” He said, holding the bloody knife in his hand. “Which one should I kill first? You’re both a nuisance.”

I struggled to stand. “You know you won’t get away with this.”

“Famous last words,” he smirked. “Maybe you’ll be the first to die, then.”

“No!” Kristine ran over to him and tried to tackle him down. However, he was quicker and put the knife through her stomach. Taking all my strength, I moved over and grabbed his legs, pulling him down. Soon we were sprawled on the floor, trying to overtake each other.

“You little...” He started on me, but I punched him before he could finish. To retaliate, he went after Kristine again and pushed her.

“Don’t!” I tried to grab her but it was too late. She was falling and I could not move fast enough to stop her. Her hands clawed away at the air as she went down.

Kristine ended up knocking over the lit candles, which fell on the curtains. The fire exploded on them and began to devour the walls. Vince glared at us both, watching as his office was going up in flames. I saw the light flickering in his eyes, his body painted orange by the growing flames. Smoke seeped up to the ceiling and out the door. As scared and angry as I was, I prayed that he stepped away from them.

“Come on, man. You have to leave!” I pleaded, holding out my hand. He pushed it aside and started to lunge towards Kristine, teeth bared.

“Look what you did, you bitch!” He growled, grabbing her. But it didn’t do a thing. She bit his wrist, making him scream and drop her. At this point, I managed to stand back up again. Broken ankle or not, I had to save them both. I hobbled over and helped Kristine back on her feet. Vince was still holding his aching wrist, the fire now spreading across the wall and taking it out.

“LEAVE!” I yelled at him, helping Kristine out of the room. “LEAVE, YOU ASSHOLE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

But he was frozen, looking at us. I could see the flames dancing around him. What was wrong with him? Was he aware that fire wasn’t a good thing and it could kill him? The smoke was getting thicker and I could barely see a thing. The door was inches away yet it felt like miles. Would we make it in time? My foot was dragging across the carpet but I didn’t care. Stupid Vince was frozen in his own room. I had to get him out so I pulled away from Kristine and started to head back.

“Where you going?!” She demanded.

“I have to save him!”

“No, don’t! You can’t save him! You’re...” She grabbed me, but I tried to trek onward. There were vampires running around the place, trying to escape and attacking anyone that got in their way. I heard Jenny calling out our names, but couldn’t answer. Where was he? Why did the smoke get so thick and black? I coughed and started to scream his name.

“VINCE! VINCE, GET OUT OF THERE!”

“I got him! I got him!”

I paused, forgetting for a second that I was in a burning house. In that thick smoke, I saw my girlfriend dragging Vince outside. She was weak, coughing loudly, and she could barely hold onto him without falling to the ground. But she was helping him out despite of her condition. To hell with my broken ankle. I went over to drag them both out. Vince looked sick and his eyes kept rolling back into his head but he was alive.

“Come on!” I yelled. By now, parts of the house were caving in and I found the door, pushing it open and falling onto the grass. My lips kissed the earth and I heard others groaning behind me. The hungry vampires approached us as I pulled myself away from the flames. Kristine, stronger than all of us, helped Alexis and Vincent get away from the fire. The vampires hissed when Vince came into view, but Alexis held up her hand and motioned them to stay away.

“Leave me with him!” She pleaded. “I’ll take care of him.”

Jenny sneered. “But... look what he did!”

“No, I did it!” She insisted, taking him and letting him lie on her lap. “It’s my fault all this happened, okay?! Just... step away! Stand back!”

I looked up, my face covered in dirt and my foot throbbing. “Babe, what are you...”

She looked at me and I knew what she was thinking. What happened to us? What made us think it was right to cheat on each other? I should have been angry and I wanted her to scream at me. It should have been us at each other’s throats right now. But we stared at each other while she held onto him and Kristine touched my arm.

“Now we get revenge!” A vampire snarled and many agreed. That was when they all ran around, biting whatever they could. I found myself being trampled and losing the shard of mirror that I had been holding.

“NO!” I screamed as it slipped through my palm. It was heading to the girls and would have hit. Using whatever strength I had, I made my way to them while it still flew through the air. It seemed like things were moving in slow motion. My eyes could only focus on the shard and not on the vampires tearing up everything in sight.

The shard was flying through the air so I pushed Alexis and Kristine both out of the way. The last thing I wanted was either of them to get hurt by it. Alexis ended up scraping her elbow and Kristine landed on her knees but they were okay.

“Oh my God, guys!” I exclaimed, spitting out the mud that had been in my mouth. “Are you fine? Are you...”

Alexis coughed. “Yes, we are but...”

“I’m not.” Vince spoke up, his face drained of color and his lip bleeding. He had his hand on his abdomen. Alexis gasped and I tried to see what was wrong with him. His eyes looked down and he moved his hands away. Then he fell to the ground.

I saw what he had been looking down at. His hands were caked in dark blood that was spurting from his abdomen. The shard. The mirror shard had ended up in him, somehow. I had no idea how it ended up there as it was flying to the girls, not him. It would have been impossible for the shard to stab him. But I knew where it landed. It was sticking out of him and the blood was pouring faster than he could stop it. I saw tears streaming down his face from the pain and everything that I hated about him faded. I didn’t like to see people cry from pain. No matter what jerks they had been, I never enjoyed that sight. I had to fix this.

I began thinking about all the first aid I had learned over the past few years and hobbled over to him. Carefully, I yanked the shard out of his stomach and cast it aside while he screamed. It was making him cry harder.

“Just stay calm! Stay calm!” I pleaded, using my handkerchief to try and stop the blood. “That cut went too far into you.”

He spat out something and lay back down. I wasn’t sure what he was trying to say so I went back to my work. Ripping open his vest and shirt, I saw how big that wound was. For a shard, it had cut up a good portion of his stomach and I was sure that his organs had been affected. There was no way he was coming out of this without any problems in the future.

“Hang in there... hang in there... don’t die. Come on, you can’t die!” I begged. “I can’t have you going out like this.”

“Why do you care?” he whispered. “It’s what you want.”

“No, it’s not!” I covered up the wound. “I’m not you!”

“You’re not,” he agreed, eyelids fluttering. “Why would you... what would you try...”

“Because I’m not you,” I repeated. “I’m not going to let a jerk like you die. That’s not how I was raised. No one told me that... that I should let assholes die. No matter how I feel about them.”

He gurgled and nodded. “You are a better man, Ian. Better than I thought.”

“Better than you,” I agreed. “It’s not too late to change though.”

He laughed bitterly. “Listen to you. Still optimistic.” Taking a deep breath, he looked at me. “Look after her.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know. You look after Alexis. You’ll do a good job of it. She told me you will...” He closed his eyes. “She did tell me good things about you, too.”

“Oh, come on!” I begged. “You can’t die like this! I won’t let you! She wouldn’t let me live if I failed! Just try to hold on... try...” At this point, I was losing my voice and he opened his eyes again.

“Don’t talk anymore.” He murmured. “You just...”

I could tell he was thinking about how to end his sentence and as he was thinking, he died. I checked his pulse to be sure and I found nothing. Now the tears were welling up in my eyes for some reason and I thought I was alone in the world. I hadn’t noticed that Alexis and Kristine were behind me until Kristine put her hand on my shoulder. I leaned against it and let my tears fall.

“Is he...” Alexis began and I nodded. The tears began to escape from her eyes. “I’m sorry. To both of you.”

“Forget about it.” I said. I meant it.

“He was supposed to help me turn,” she murmured. “He told me that... I was better than this. That I was good as a human. But I wanted to be a vampire so bad that he said it was okay. We just had to wait.”

“Do you want to be turned now?” Kristine asked. “I can do it.”

“I’m tired of the pain,” she blubbered, tears streaming down her face. Only her eyes were on Vince’s body. It was like he was all that she could see. “I don’t want to go through this.”

“Then I can turn you.”

“No, I mean I don’t want to be turned.” She shook her head. “I don’t want this! Just stay away from me!”

“What do you mean?” I demanded. She shivered and fell to her knees. The whole world was closing in on us as I moved over and tried to hold her. “You wanted this...”