Lucia mumbled complaints into Charlotte's shoulder that she ignored, and they continued their trek up the stairs that were definitely more than she had bargained for in the first place.
The staircase was extremely steep and made of unforgiving metal since the width of the individual stairs was small to maximize the space of the building resulting in Charlotte stubbing her toe numerous times.
While going up, Charlotte almost slipped causing a sharp curse to come out of her lips which also made Lucia lose her balance since Lucia was still leaning on her for support and also for annoyance.
Grabbing onto the railing that almost gave way, Charlotte's heart was beating a million times a minute and after looking down the path that she almost fell, she definitely would have been leaving with a concussion.
It was odd now that she thought about considering she slipped on a substance that liquid consistency, and she pondered what it could be. There didn't seem to be any leaks in the building above, so it couldn't have been rainwater being the culprit. Fearfully, she knew that she had to confirm her suspicions if she only shined her light down.
"Watch your step, would you?" Lucia chided.
"Wait, I think there is something there."
"What? Who?"
Charlotte shined the light that was faced above to guide their way and illuminate further rather than only what was in front of them to their feet and was shocked to see the trail of blood smeared on the metal. "Holy..."
She started running up the stairs keeping herself on her toes and fully aware of every detail of her surroundings while clutching her phone with everything that she had and finally came to a flat landing where the emergency doorway and entry for the floor were only to see that there was more spilled blood on the walls.
Lucia appeared at her side out of breath and leaned over to put her hands on her knees making Charlotte remember to let go of the breath that she didn't realize that she had been holding.
Touching the walls that were dusty and at the end of their life, her fingers came away coated with the crimson stain. Why weren't there any signs like these on the lower floors?
Looking over her shoulder to follow the bloodied signs, it led over to the door were led to the eighth floor, and Charlotte tilted her head to stare at the doorknob that seemed distorted but after a closer inspection, it was crushed beyond measure. It was do or die since they had already made it this far.
Charlotte's hand hovered over the doorknob when Lucia came in to hurry the process, twisting it right open. The door swung open, and Charlotte immediately lifted her gun up before taking a step inside only to get hit by the scent of death strong enough to make Charlotte gag. Covering her nose with her other arm, her eyes were tearing up while looking around.
The scent of blood and decay inside the room was so pungent it was a tear-jerker. Lucia was shaking behind Charlotte with her hands clutching her gun as if it was life support.
There was movement to the right, so light it would have been hard to catch but a glimmer of gold made Charlotte scream for Lucia to get out of the way when the shadowed figure charged at them.
Lucia started shooting while screaming in terror, and Charlotte watched in horror as all the shots missed, only to fly and shatter the windows behind. The sharp ringing echoing in her head wasn't enough to hinder Charlotte to react swiftly, and she shoved Lucia aside only to have the person crash into her, making all the air inside of her lungs burst out.
Colliding into the wall, all her bones rattled when her back hit the hard structure first with enough impact for her to cough out blood. Clenching her teeth, she shoved the pistol into the person's gut and looked up. Her water-colored eyes recognized the golden orbs staring back at her, but the man on the other side had completely lost all reason.
In the split second she froze after realizing it was Vincent who was the predator, Vincent took the opportunity to pin her to the wall and sink his teeth into her neck. Pain exploded from the contact, and Charlotte struggled against Vincent's built form trying to get away with his nails digging into her body and grasping her wrist to bruise.
Charlotte's finger was shaking on the trigger button, and she knew that if she pulled, it would give her a small window to escape despite knowing that she wouldn't be able to get far. Glancing down, she saw all the blood that was coming out of the wounds that tore up his stomach and sides.
It was obvious why he needed blood so badly to heal up the injuries that would have killed any human if they had to sustain it, but at this point, Vincent was going to suck her dry without even realizing it.
She needed them both alive, not one or the other, because she sure as hell wouldn't sacrifice her life right when the battle had just begun.