Despite that fact, I found myself rising from the ground and catapulting myself into the hallway. Michael certainly didn’t deserve my help, but then if it hadn’t been for me he wouldn’t be about to meet his end either.
My fingers gripped the wooden doorframe. I began to raise the jagged metal in my free hand, but just as I was about to dart forward, thick layers of flashing hot ash and dust smothered me as if I had been caught in a volcanic eruption. I was too late.
I didn’t have time to wipe away Michael’s remnants. Repositioning my body and regaining my balance, I spun around as a spine-tingling scream reverberated upstairs. Without thinking, I flew up the staircase, but fell as the house vibrated and rocked. Jumping back to my feet, I followed the sound. I didn’t have to open the bedroom door; half the wall was missing as though a demolition ball had smashed through it.
Brooke was cowering in the corner of the room, sobbing, covering her eyes. Jonah was protecting her, engaged in a death match. He hurled the Vampire into the other wall. The Vampire plummeted through it, but bounced back within a millisecond. His fangs hung like deadly daggers from his mouth. In an instant he had Jonah pinned on the carpet and was ready to rip him apart.
My mind emptied and I sprinted over to the Vampire, and with all my might I plunged the metal bar into the creature’s left shoulder blade, breaking through the muscle and bone, straight through to the other side of his chest. My aim was so precise that I just missed stabbing Jonah, who lay underneath him. The Vampire screeched and spun around. But before he had a chance to meet the gaze of his killer, he exploded into burning ash and dust.
Jonah jumped up and grabbed me by my arm, which was still extended in front of me, shaking. “What are you doing here? You have to go!” he shouted.
His eyes locked with mine; an instant connection swelled between us. I broke it and nodded over to Brooke, who was lifting herself up using the wall to leverage her body. “Take her away from here,” I said. “Look after her.”
I hadn’t intended for my words to sound so final, but my inner voice was reasoning that this was most likely the end. If I were to ever meet Jonah again, I would likely not remember him. I turned my body reluctantly from his and moved back in the direction of the gaping hole in the wall.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him. Reaching for my waist, he held me tightly and protectively. “You’re coming with us,” he whispered.
I realized he was afraid for me. I shook my head. “Where is he?”
Jonah’s shoulders slumped; he knew I wasn’t about to leave without Gabriel and he didn’t have time to try and convince me otherwise. If Brooke stayed here any longer, she would surely perish. She was no fighter.
He blew hot air from his mouth and cracked his jaw from side to side. “Last I saw of him, he was on the ground floor.”
“What are you waiting for? Go!” I commanded, and unwillingly he charged to Brooke, lifting her easily.
He perched on the ledge of the window, but before he jumped he said, “I’m coming back for you.”
I was already making my way through the broken pieces of plaster, but his words fell around me and I knew that he meant it.
As I reached the landing, three Vampires stooping below flashed their red, bloodied orbs at me, their prize. I had nothing to defend myself with, I had no hope; all I could do now was call to Gabriel.
I need you—
The adrenaline that was pumping through me began to grow hotter as I lost myself to the Vampires’ enraged eyes. As my blood boiled beneath my skin, my cry for Gabriel gave way to a shadow that flickered to the left of me. I broke my stare away from the Vampires growling below me as her long dark hair stroked my skin.
She was back.
All three ascended into the air, up to the banister rail that ran the length of the landing. I tripped backward, shocked, as from behind her I watched blades slice through her knuckles. She made a low howling noise that seemed to come from deep inside her. The girl’s form matched the color of the night that had wrapped itself around the house, masking her into little more than a faint silhouette. It was only through the blur of flame caused from an explosion below, which lit her arms now poised away from her waist, that I saw the ink of her tattoos.
Two of the Vampires hesitated on the tip of the railing, unsure of their next move. But the other, undeterred, hurtled forward, flying above her head. She raised her hand; he was only inches from her face, plummeting down, when suddenly he stopped. She held him suspended above her, cricking her neck from side to side—almost contemplatively—before she reached her bladed hand up and struck his chest, crushing through his bone in a clenched fist. The shriek that burst out of the Vampire’s lungs sent shock waves through my whole body.
The girl only twitched a little as she whispered, “Shhhh…”
I couldn’t see her expression, but I could tell she was smiling.
As she opened her hand from inside his chest, she slowly sliced open his blackened heart and he burst into a waterfall of thick oil. It poured at such a speed that it hit the floor and splashed back, splattering my skin from where I took in the scene, disbelieving. Whatever she was, she was far more powerful than any Second Generation Vampire.
The same realization must have hit the two malefactors that were still perched on the ledge. Their features filled with awe and both turned at the same moment, rushing to escape. She wasn’t about to let them leave. She toyed with them, willing them nearer with a gesture of her finger. She wasn’t just saving me, she was playing a game that she evidently enjoyed. That thought terrified me more than anything else.
I whimpered as she tore their throats out with her teeth, finally ending them. Spitting blood from her mouth, she began to move down the length of the staircase without even glancing back at me.
I trailed behind her, afraid to see where she was going and who she might find next. She traveled down the long hallway; the flames that were spreading quickly through each room didn’t concern her. She didn’t seem to notice the stifling heat or choking smoke that filled every corner as I made chase.
I finally caught up with her in the destroyed kitchen. I needed to see her face, needed to speak with her. I extended my hand to her shoulder, and just as I was on the cusp of touching her, an all-encompassing light spilled through the doorframe from the garden, striking her, and she evaporated into thin air.
I fell where she had stood, my knees grazing the kitchen tiles and my hands spread out on the other side of the doorframe, scraped by the grit of the pebbles underneath them. The light dissolved immediately and as I shook my head back into some form of comprehensive thought, my stomach somersaulted.