Vampire Crush(19)
Author: A.M. Robinson

"Here you are!" I say, brushing lingering leaves off my arm as I aim the biggest smile I can manage at Vlad’s chest. "I’ve been looking all over! I thought you said to meet in the parking lot. Thank God I heard your voice."

Vlad lets go of Lindsay, more from surprise than fear. Jogging over, I loop my arm through her elbow. Her arm tightens around mine like a boa constrictor; the rest of her is still catatonic.

"We’d better get. But y’all have a nice night," I say. Apparently, fear turns me Texan. A startling personality insight that I’ll jot down later if I’m not dead in a ditch. I try to pivot us both around, but Lindsay’s not offering much in the way of forward motion. It’s a slow, bumbling turn. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Vlad nod over our heads.

We turn right into the twin chests of Devon and Ashley. I try to move us to the side, but Lindsay’s legs are tangled up with mine, causing me to step on one of their toes. I make the mistake of looking up at their faces. They don’t smirk, they don’t glower, and in the second before I veer my gaze away, their eyes are as dead as a flat-lining heart patient. They just . . . exist, like two towering chess pieces. The left one is still clutching the dead rabbit. It hangs there limply, like a warning.

The good news is that Lindsay is starting to show signs of life. Her eyes are glassy but there, and I can feel her fingers tapping my upper arm. She stumbles a bit to the side, of her own accord, and I do everything I can to encourage the momentum in that direction. At least until the two brick walls move to block our way.

Vlad’s thighs slink into view. He is wearing black boots with tips that curl up at the ends like two little devil horns. I concentrate on the embroidered patterns on their toes, willing my head to stay down, willing my heart to stay in my chest.

"This night is shaping up to be better than I could have ever imagined," he says. "Two for one! Bingo!"

"Vlad, this is destructive behavior," Marisabel says sternly before her voice starts to wobble. "Let’s just go home. Please, let’s just go home."

"Be quiet!" Vlad roars. When Marisabel continues to plead for them to leave, he stalks toward her and begins to yell. "Always telling me not to kill when you should keep your mouth shut!" he roars. "If I have to hear your voice for one more second I am going to put a stake through your heart. And then you’ll be dust. Dust."

While he’s distracted, I grab the small dome of Lindsay’s shoulder and shake it. "Lindsay, I think we should make a break for it."

She swings her head toward me, and even though her eyes are worried, her face is still slack. "Legs. Problem," she says simply, just as I realize that the clearing has gone deathly silent.

A rough hand scrapes at my chin. Vlad yanks my face up to meet his gaze, his gray eyes dancing with the thrill of what he’s about to do. He lowers his mouth to my ear. It smells sweet, but where I expect to feel the ghosting of breath on my cheek, there is none. I clutch Lindsay tighter.

"You are probably wondering what is happening, and why it is happening to you," Vlad says smoothly. "I suppose I can invite you into our little world now, Sophie, considering you’re about to exit yours."

"You’re vampires," I manage to choke out. I swear to God, I will not leave this world to a lecture by Vlad.

For a moment he looks nonplussed. "That saves time, I suppose," he says, right before his fingers clamp down on my chin like tiny vises, imprisoning my mouth and strangling my scream before it even starts. He begins to maneuver us backward, pushing forward until we hit the scratchy trunk of a tree. I launch an awkward kick at his legs. The next thing I know his foot is grinding down on my toes, shooting a bolt of searing pain zipping up to my knee. One of my arms is trapped in Lindsay’s; he pins the other to my side. I can barely see the trees anymore around his amused face.

There is no hope of escape. My breathing turns ragged, a change that makes Vlad’s face light up with amusement. He gives a sympathetic tsk.

"It will not last for long," he assures me, his voice light and informative as though this is a theme park. "After a few minutes your vision will start to fade and then you will just be . . . no more." He presses his face forward until all I can see are his blond brows and dark eyes. "Look into them. It will be better for you in the end."

I know that I need to turn away, but I can’t. It’s easier to do what he says, to give in. I look into his eyes, studying the darker rings of gray as I wait to be hypnotized, to see flashing lights or feel a ripping sensation tear through my head. I feel a light breeze on my skin . . . I feel my toes throbbing from where Vlad’s foot still presses down . . . I feel a cramp in my arm where Lindsay’s weight sits heavy and immobile . . . but nothing else.

It takes me a few moments to realize that Vlad is no longer pinning me to tree. Instead he is looking at me with an incredulous expression that lasts three seconds before his face transforms into a snarl and he lunges for my neck. Squeezing my eyes shut, I scream into Vlad’s hand. There are two slivers of glass in my neck, buried so deep that there is no hope of ever digging them out.

A shout cuts through the pain, and then I’m falling onto the ground and pulling Lindsay along with me. We collapse into a pile. Lindsay’s knee jabs into the curve of my hip, and I’m staring up at the sky, full of airplane trails and the shadowy suggestion of stars just starting to pop out. I find my hand in our tangle of limbs and bring it to my neck. Hot, sticky liquid covers my fingers.

From my left come the sounds of a fight. I roll my head to the side to see if I’m in danger of being trampled, but it causes my head to spin, and I have to squeeze my eyes shut until it stops. When I open them again I see Vlad, on his back, fangs bared. And James – wonderful, wonderful James – is on top of him, fangs also bared.

Hallucinating, I’m hallucinating. I blink my eyes three or four times to get the crazy out of them. Before I can look again, I feel Lindsay sit up to my right, and then her hands beneath my back, lifting me up. My neck feels too weak to support my head, and it thuds onto her shoulder. Bobble-head Sophie, I think, and giggle. Her palm smacks my cheek several times before she succeeds in pushing my head back up.

"Stop giggling like an idiot and look," she whispers, amazement coloring her voice as she grabs my chin and pivots my head toward what’s happening on my other side. Amazement with a heaping side dish of terror.

James and Vlad are now on their feet, glaring at each other.

"Leave them alone, Vlad."

"I fear it’s too late for that," Vlad says cheerfully. "They know."