I heard her sharp inhale, but no exhale for a long minute. I closed my eyes tightly feeling my hands in my lap starting to shake. A loud thud broke the silence of the room. We all knew it was for sure the woman's body was rag dolled to the floor.
"Drave, there might be a bit left. You'd better get some yet." Niko snickered, kicking the woman's head over to face us all. Her face frozen with fear and her eyes wide open. I felt like she was begging for mercy with her last breath, but never got the chance to exclaim her plea for life.
"The other four should be remembering now. I can't wait to chase after them. To see if they've fallen down any shafts yet. Broken their legs." Chloe bounced with glee. "This will be fun."
Draven's hand was shaking, almost as if he was a lifelong drug abuser and hasn't had a fix in a few weeks. He kept his head hung low, his hair covering his face.
I was scared, but I reached out towards Draven. He was quick to act, whipping around to grab my wrist tightly. I let out a scream of pain as my wrist was twisted away from my body. His eyes were bright red and angry. His mouth was gaped open, teeth sharp and ready to sink into a fresh piece of meat. I didn't know what to do, but I quickly slapped his hand with my free one. Draven got up carefully letting go of my hand.
He stumbled away and gasped for fresh air, "Just let them leave Aunt Corinne. I'm done here. I know for a fact the Council would like to hear about all of those missing children throughout the years." He gripped a shard of glass tightly, cutting his hand purposely.
Corinne produced a napkin and cleaned her face carefully, "You dare challenge me? Draven, I gave you life, and now you want to spit in my face over it?"
I tried to sneak over to Jayne and Ian. I sat on the couch with them grasping onto Jayne. She was shaking and had her face in Ian's chest. Once he noticed me, Ian pulled me close as well. I kept my eyes on the map of the tunnels and noted for any exits around where we are now just in case we end up becoming locked inside as well.
Draven inhaled with his hand over his mouth before walking towards Corinne but muttered under his breath quietly to her, "I'll leave before you can hurt her."
Corinne raised her hand, slapping him across the cheek making a loud smack. Draven's hair followed before settling around his face like a dress being twirled around then back down once you stopped moving. The other two girls snickered while Niko kept his eyes directly on me. My skin felt on fire and started to crawl and I actually, for the first time noticed a pain in my leg.
I started to wince, the pain became unbearable. I looked around, upon seeing Corinne head for the door to the tunnels, I studied the map as quickly as possible fearing we were going to be shoved inside like the others.
The other two girls started to herd us into the doorway. I, now with a limp, tried to stay behind as long as possible memorizing the map. "Where are you taking us?"
Corinne gave a subtle glare before rushing into my face. She was quick, like lightning. She had her hand around my face once again, but held her nails into my skin, "Listen here," I could really hear her French accent come out whenever she got angrier, "I don't know why he saved you. But you'd better get down on the level where you belong. To me, you're nothing but food to me. And trust me, you're nothing special either." Corinne quickly grabbed a lock of my hair, close in my roots. I yelped as her grip felt ice cold, burning almost. I watched her skin along her arm turn white up to her elbow. Draven followed Corinne tightly on her heels trying to protest her as Corinne dragged me along the ground. I doubled over in pain, dragging myself behind her waiting for the pain to end.
Jayne reached out for me, only to be blocked by Melaina. "Now is not the time to try and protect her. You might want to think of doing that for yourself." Ian pulled Jayne close to his body only to glare at Melaina as he did so.
I felt my body shiver, I knew my core temperature was dropping drastically, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. Even my hair seemed to be frozen a bit, or at least frosted over. With another yelp, I was tossed in after my friends only to have the door shut tight behind us. Tumbling in, I crawled up the wall to regain support. The rock was cool to the touch but impenetrable. I waited for my eyes to carefully adjust in the dark before trying to venture off.
"Jayne. Where are you guys?" I reached out for any hands, or even bodies. I accidentally kicked something that surprisingly felt soft and fleshy, as in I'm pretty sure it's a person. Kneeling down, I crouched trying to feel the body. Unrecognizable, I pulled out my phone to turn the flashlight on. The moment I turned it on, a scream escaped my vocal chords. I couldn't hold it in any longer. The man before me had his eyes wide open, but a large gash tearing his forehead open. Blood was pooled around his body mainly but smeared on the wall next to me. I shuffled my feet a ways away from the body and the blood surrounding his body. I recognized him as the boyfriend to the girl who was drained out in the room. "Oh my god. We're going to die in here!"
A cold hand reached around my throat, not as cold as before, but enough that I knew it wasn't Jayne or Ian.
"Please! Don't kill me."
A cackle escaped Melaina as her lips curled into a snarl. Her nails grazed my artery carefully. "Don't worry. I won't kill you… Yet." She tightened her grip to me and leaned in closer to my ear before whispering, "I'd rather watch you suffer. Break your soul and let you tear yourself apart. I'll just get the pieces for my own trophy room when you're done." As sudden as she appeared, Melaina disappeared. I crouched down trying to catch my breath and not whimper. I shoved my phone inside my bra only to free my hands to stop and settle my nerves. I breathed in my palms cupped together only to be met with my anxiety kicking in.
Jayne grasped my face in her palms and crouched down in front of me, "Lilly… Breathe please. Honey we need to get moving. If I've seen any movies, they are all going to be coming through that door to find and kill us. We need to get out now. I know I saw you eyeballing that map; we need that big brain of yours to help us find our way out or somewhere safe."
"There's no place safe here. We'll never escape them. They can walk through walls. Hell sounds better than being here right now. Please just leave me, Jayne. I don't want to go anywhere…"
"Lil. We need you. You're the only one who can save us. You're a genius." Jayne held me close trying to breathe loudly so I could match with her.
After a minute, I took my deep breaths with her until I felt stable enough to stand up. I carefully lifted my skirt up, and with the light of Ian's phone now, I noticed how the wound was spreading like a virus. It was killing off the tissue like a virus.
I stood up and kept my face away from the man laying on the ground. I knew for a fact, he didn't know what hit him when he fell. I turned around the corner to stare at a four way. Three if you minus the way we came from. Jayne let me hang onto her hand for support and I held onto it tightly for dear life. Ian kept his phone for light down the halls, but they all looked the same.
"Lilly, which way?" Jayne for once looked genuinely scared.
"I. Uhm." I closed my eyes tightly and let my photographic memory think long and hard. I pictured the map and adjusted it for our position in the mineshaft, "Straight for one more corridor, then we need to go right." I pinched my temples with my thumb and middle finger trying to think. "It has to be…"
"Guys we need to go then. And hurry." Ian urged us two girls along the walkway. We had to be careful about the ground as we walked around, for it was never flat. Some small dips and holes caught us by surprise.
Along our first turn, I gripped the wall tightly, "What the hell did we get ourselves into? Does anyone know who the hell they are?" I winced from my leg but kept on trudging on through in order to get out safely.
Ian managed a smile as he spoke, "They are the 'they' I was talking about before. 'They' are real and dangerous vampires. 'They' even have the power to make any of us into one of them even."
"Like how? We are being chased in an abandoned mine. We are going to end up dead, Ian!" Jayne seemed to snap, her eyes filled with fear and her limbs ready to flee as soon as possible. Jayne's voice cracked a bit while she spoke again, "I don't want to die yet. I want to grow old with you. I want to live out the rest of my damn life with you, Ian!"
I kept quiet and tried focusing on the map in my brain. My focus was lost the minute I heard the classical music from afar. The door was opened again. Were they throwing more people down here for their hunt? Or are they all coming after us now?
"We need to find the next turn to the right up here… Then we can get going to the right walking path to a hall that leads outside. I think anyhow." I tried keeping my nerves calm by taking deep breaths and counting to ten. How stupid do I sound, right? I could hear metal scraping along the walls, causing my skin start to crawl again as the hair stood up on the back of my neck. It sounded like nails going across the walls.
We are in major trouble.