TWO
THE WHOLE HOUSE SHOOK, and at the same moment what felt like an electric shock seemed to pass between the two of us. A startled look smacked across Jonah’s face as he was brought back from wherever he had gone, and he withdrew and fell away from me. He put his hand behind my back to steady me and glanced at my pale skin glowing in the darkness.
I opened my eyes and was amazed to see Jonah no longer looking like a withering flower, but instead positively revived. His eyes lit up so red that it was as though Hell itself was burning inside them.
Using his free hand to move some wayward strands of hair from my eyes, I noticed his wrist was completely healed and I was left totally confused. He couldn’t have looked any more superb, yet nothing could have filled me with more fear than in that moment as I watched his eyes blaze.
“Come on!” he yelled through the thunderous noises surrounding us. “This place have a back door?” His voice was rushed.
He scanned the room, alert and ready. I nodded toward the hallway that led to the kitchen, which had a sort of back door, but I was sure by now that we were surrounded. I reached for the Swiss Army knife and flipped the blade inside before stuffing it into my jeans’ pocket. I tried to stand and eventually found my feet; Jonah grabbed my hand and I felt a surge of energy run through it. He moved swiftly and we darted through and out of the house. When he saw I couldn’t keep up, he tossed me over his shoulder.
Jonah raced toward the woods. I turned my head and, sure enough, I caught in my peripheral vision several figures jumping and dashing. What happened next was a blur: something landed on top of me, knocking Jonah off balance, and we plummeted with a tremendous thud. I fell away from him, grazing my arms on the grass below me.
A hand was around my throat, my head was forced backwards and I began to gag. I reached into my jeans’ pocket and pulled out the Swiss Army knife that I had used to help Jonah, and as forcefully as I could with my left hand, I thrust it into my attacker’s side. It simply bounced off his flesh. He growled viciously, kicking me back down to the ground, hard.
My eyes shot up to see Jonah leaping through the air like a wild animal, smashing into the offending Vampire. I couldn’t block out the sounds of my attacker’s choking spit, but I looked away before Jonah ended him.
I caught my breath. I saw other shadowy figures in the distance, hurtling toward us. I didn’t know what to do, which way to turn, but I couldn’t leave Jonah here. And I didn’t stand much chance without him.
Seeing Jonah battle against the evil nature that had been bestowed upon him through no choice of his own, unwilling to accept it, I first came to appreciate that there was no such thing as good and evil; it could never be that simple. Somewhere between black and white, there were shades of gray. I wondered if, given the complexity of my own existence, perhaps I belonged somewhere among the spectrum of the in between, right next to the likes of Jonah?
I staggered back up and spun around, just in time to see Jonah a few feet away from me, shattering several fierce-looking Vampires one by one. He was possessed. With one swift movement he literally tore a limb from one, at the same time as slamming another to the ground with his free hand. It was terrifying. He was so powerful, quite a contrast from the forlorn being I had rescued a few hours ago. He no longer needed my help, not that I had anything to offer. I debated running and hiding; I was just a hindrance, distracting him from his fight. But it was like the morbid curiosity of watching an accident unfold; it was impossible to turn away.
A pair of ferocious crimson eyes caught my attention. Crouched on the ground, a couple of feet behind, was a Vampire ready to pounce on his prey: me. I drew a deep breath, closed my eyes tightly, and waited for the inevitable; there was nothing else I could do. There was no point trying to run and I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of the chase.
Nothing happened.
I forced my eyes open a moment later when I felt his breath on the tip of my nose. He stood over me, leaving barely any space between us. Staring intensely into my eyes, his own seemed to smolder for a moment into a dull brown. He was a perfect statue. Long, dirty-blond hair was tied behind his neck and he wore a white frilled shirt. Judging by his attire, it was easy to surmise that he was from another time.
To my surprise, he slowly moved his hand to my face and carefully, with the back of his fingers, he stroked me. A cold, thick gold ring grazed my skin. At his touch, for a second, I was transported into the past.
These hands had brushed my cheeks before.
I didn’t have a chance to focus in on the memory; the thread was snapped as he jolted away from me. The sound of heavy footsteps careering across the field echoed through the air, cutting through this surreal moment. There were only minutes now before Jonah’s friends arrived and Eligio’s clan would be outnumbered, or so I hoped. As the ground shook, I stumbled a little.
When I snapped back to the Vampire, he was gone. I scanned the area but couldn’t see him anywhere through the darkness of the night. I wondered if he was one of Jonah’s friends who had arrived first and had let me live. But that didn’t explain how I seemed to know him. I hadn’t been given enough time to try and place him, and with every second that passed the thought of who he was only became cloudier in my mind.
I shifted my attention back to Jonah, who was still fighting, ending each Vampire as quickly as the last, until six remaining soldiers stood in awe of his strength. As Jonah hissed and bared his fangs to his audience, a sudden taste of smoke and ash engulfed my senses, and then I saw it. Though I was not sure what it was.
An enormous figure cloaked in black, somehow manipulating the darkness in an attempt to camouflage itself, was plunging through the sky toward Jonah’s back. My gut instinct told me that whatever it was, it was powerful and moments away from ending him.
My eyes began to burn and I clawed my skin as a fury seemed to hit me from nowhere. My mind cleared of thought and my legs stretched into a sprint toward Jonah, when she appeared ahead of me. Shrouded in shadow, she sprang off the ground as the silhouette of the terrifyingly large figure prepared to wrap itself around Jonah’s shoulders from behind him. She crashed into it first and it soared back through the air, while she landed perfectly balanced, hunkered low on the ground.
The cloaked figure had disappeared. What it was, and where it went I was unsure.
I strained to focus as I approached her; she seemed to just blend into the night. As I extended my arm to reach for hers, for the briefest second, I was distracted. A strange light seemed to flicker, illuminating the woods some distance away.