JADE:
There were still a lot of screeching and scurrying noises inside my bedroom while Kix and I were trapped in the bathroom.
If what he said about the ravens and bats were true, then aren’t we just helplessly trapped here inside the room?
After what felt like an hour of waiting, the sounds finally disappeared.
“Jade, listen,” Kix said, putting his hairy arms in my shoulders. “I will distract them. You have to get out from this building. Do you have your phone with you?”
I shook my head. “My phone ran out of batteries earlier…”
“Okay, how about inside this building? Is there any place here where you could get to a phone and call the police?”
I nodded. “The front desk has one.” I remembered seeing one on the lady guard’s table.
“Good. Go down the first floor and call the police. No matter what you do, stay where there are people. If you don’t find anyone, run to the convenience store from across here and tell them to call the chairman’s assistant. They will know what you mean and help you out, okay?”
“Um… Y-You aren’t going with me?”
“No. I have to distract the undead. They came here for you, so it will be unlikely that they would harm someone else. The more people there are, the better, so go somewhere crowded, okay?”
“No… I don’t want to go without you.” My eyes misted as I heard Kix words. Is he seriously going to stay here?
He brushed a furry finger against my cheeks. “Shhh, don’t cry. Don’t cry, alright? I’ll meet you downstairs, okay? You can do this.”
“I-I can’t,” I wanted to breakdown into more tears, but I resisted. I knew I won’t be of any help if I cry like this. “What if something happens to you?”
“Nothing’s going to happen, okay? Just do what I ask. I’ll see you downstairs soon, got it?”
I looked at Kix’s gray eyes – the only things that illuminated the bathroom at that very moment.
I knew he must have powers beyond humans, just like his folks. Still, I couldn’t help worrying for him. I wounded my hands around his neck.
“You better keep you promise, Kix Sarmiento,” I said, resisting the urge to cry once more. “Promise that you’ll meet me downstairs. Promise me that we’ll see each other again soon.”
He patted my back shortly. “I promise.”
When I had calmed myself down enough, I released him from my hug. We waited some more until it was deathly quiet.
Kix signaled that he would open the door. My heart thundered inside my chest, and I held my breath as he opened it.
It was quiet… too dead quiet that it was too suspicious.
Suddenly, someone pulled Kix away from the door. I couldn’t see what was happening, but I heard a lot of guttural struggles.
I scampered to get outside, but something heavy was bolted against the door. I tried to turn the knob violently a few more times, but something was pressed against it, and it wouldn’t budge.
I’m guessing that Kix was pressing his body against the door to protect me since I could clearly hear Riley’s animal cries.
“No,” I said as I struggled to open the bathroom door. Kix wouldn’t last long if he tried to protect me like this even further!
Suddenly, the sounds and banging stopped. I quickly turned the knob and pushed the bathroom door open.
I used a lot of force to open it up, which sent me violently forward outside. The first thing I saw as I tumbled down in the open was the silhouette of Kix’s body being thrown into my open veranda.
“Kix,” I shouted at the top of my lungs as I was lunged forward into the floor.
My arms came forward as I fell, giving it a loud thud. I tried to stand on my own, but the pain on my shoulders was terrible. It occurred to me that I may have dislocated some bones…
I didn’t need to stand up on my own though. Someone clutched my hair from the back and raised me agonizingly up from the floor.
I winced, trying to kick my oppressor, but I only ended up kicking none in particular as my feet hovered in the air.
Whoever he was, he was certainly strong enough to lift me up and keep me there!
“Going somewhere, Jade,” he said gruffly.
I have heard that voice before – I’m sure of it, but where?...
“Why are you surprised? Weren’t you looking for me all around the campus?”
My heart felt like it was caught in my throat. I had only been searching for just one person around school…
“G-Gary,” I breathed. I felt every muscle in my body ache as I got slammed against a wall somewhere.
“Say my name now while you can. Did you have a good time playing hunter? How does it feel like being the prey now, Jade?”
There was something diabolical in the way he spoke. It felt like he wasn’t human at all.
“Hey now, the chairman wants her alive,” someone else said in the darkness.
So there were two of them? Rats, this did not look good.
“What did you do with him? What did you do to Kix,” I asked, fighting the urge to breakdown and cry in front of these scoundrels.
“What? Do you think that wolf could survive these silver claws,” the other person in the room said.
“W-What do you want,” I asked as calmly as I could although my chattering teeth have given me away miserably.
“What else, Jade? Didn’t you already know what we are by now,” Gary said, breathing close to my left ear. I pushed him away, but he slammed me even harder against the wall.
“Didn’t you want to know what happened to Marian? Good news, you’ll know for sure in a short while…”
“Let go,” I said as my hands close themselves into his fist.
Just then, something sharp sank into my palms.
God, they really do have claws!
“Hey, the chairman said to keep the girl alive. We need this human!”
“F*ck off, Ralph,” Gary said, losing his temper. “She’s a nuisance, so why should we keep her. Besides,” he said, chuckling as he whispered closer into my ears again. “This one likes to play around, so why don’t with play around a bit with her too, eh?”
Before I could scream for him to get the hell away from me, I heard a wolf howl closely by as something thudded loudly at the veranda.
It was Kix! He came in fast and raised a paw at the other vampire who stood in the way. Right after that, he used another arm to tear Gary’s face away from me.
“Run!”