Page 57 of Blood as Sweet as Roses

Paige

The hallway is dark, lit by glowing orange safety lights. The elevator button doesn’t work, of course, so I hurry down the stairwell at the very end of the floor. I’m worried the alarm might get activated, but luckily, there’s no sound as I run down the concrete stairs.

As I hurry down, I hear a loud shout, and I see a flash of red light.

Tentatively, I peek my head out to see what’s going on.

On the platform below, I can see Alin, his long blond hair whipping around him as he pins a figure up against the staircase wall.

It’s a woman with curly hair cropped close to her scalp.

She’s wearing a flowing blue cape over a matching dress.

Her neck and arms are adorned with silver jewelry.

Alin’s nostrils flare, and he snaps his head around. His eyes widen and turn red when he sees me.

“Paige! What are you doing here?”

“I have to get a message to Crimson!” I reply, passing him quickly on the platform before he can stop me. Luckily, he’s busy restraining the woman, who thrashes angrily against the wall.

“No way, you’ve got to get back upstairs!”

“I’ll be fast!” I answer, clutching my stake in my fist as I run down the next staircase.

“Paige!” Alin shouts. But the stairway fills with red light as the witch uses her magic to fight back.

I’m worried for Alin, but I can’t slow down. If this attack is going to end, I have to find Crimson. Alin will need to go to ground in a few hours, and then the witches will be able to fully infiltrate the hotel. I don’t like how close she is to Lily and her children.

I race down the remaining stairs, practically flying. My feet are aching in my impractical shoes, so I kick them off, feeling the cold, concrete floor under my bare soles.

I reach the lobby floor quickly, and I throw myself through the door.

The lobby is in absolute chaos. I saw it on the monitor, but nothing could have prepared me for the overwhelming clash of magical people spread out throughout the large space.

Blood soaks the marble floors and limp corpses are tossed over the two long lobby desks.

Blurry, supernaturally quick vampires pile on top of each other and whiz around the room, locked in combat.

A few of them can fly or hover, and they circle around the chandelier, chasing each other and diving into groups of struggling vampires.

Before I can catch my breath, I feel a cold hand on my wrist.

“Paige, ah,” gasps a familiar voice. Crimson pulls her hand away, burnt by the silver chain I’m wearing.

“Crimson!” I reply, turning to her. Her eyes are bright red, fangs like long tusks across her chin. She looks more animal than human, soaked with blood, her shirt ripped and hanging in tatters across her chest. “I’m sorry, I wanted to come prepared…”

“What are you doing down here?” she demands. “You need to go back to the holding floor, now!”

“I had to come find you!” I answer, grabbing her arm. “I saw on the monitor: the witches broke into the water park. That’s where they’re doing their witchy ritual-thing! If you find them, you can stop them!”

“The water park?” she says, brow furrowed.

“Yes, it’s just off the lobby!” I point toward the door. “They broke in through a glass window.”

“I’ll take care of it,” she responds, her face full of concern. “But before that, Paige, I’ve got to get you back to safety.”

“I can make it on my own. I know the way!”

“Absolutely not,” she says, in a voice I know I won’t be able to argue with. And the protective note in her voice makes my heart soar. Despite the danger unfolding around us, I feel safe with her by my side.

Before we can head back to the stairwell, Sabina appears like a ghost, her white fangs gleaming, a streak of blood across her cheek.

She eyes me sharply. “What are you doing down here? You have to get to safety, now.”

I’m surprised by the genuine note of worry in her voice.

Crimson growls at her. “I can protect Paige. Sabina, find Murad and go to the hotel’s water park. Paige saw the witches convening there. That’s where they’re working their magic.”

Sabina nods, although there’s still a line of concern between her brows. “Keep her safe, Crimson.”

“I will,” Crimson answers fiercely.

The other vampire gives me one last, lingering look, then disappears in a flash back into the mayhem surrounding us.

Crimson takes my hand. “Let’s be quick.”

She doesn’t need to tell me twice. I’m eager to get away from the lobby.

“It’s this way,” I say, as we hurry back the way I came. “Alin was fighting with a witch in the staircase.”

“A witch made it all the way onto the stairwell?” Crimson asks.

“I think it was a witch,” I reply. “She had a long cape, it was dark blue.”

“A long cape…?”

But she pauses, as we come upon the platform where Alin was fighting with the witch earlier. As we turn the corner, my heart freezes. Alin is lying in the corner, limp, in a pool of blood. From this angle, I can’t tell if he’s still animated, or if he’s been staked.

“Alin!” I shout, clutching my chest.

Crimson steps in front of me, stake in one fist, the other arm out around me. Her eyes dart around the stairwell. “That wasn’t a witch, Paige. Or at least, that wasn’t just a witch.”

“What do you mean…”

A shadowy figure descends from the staircase above us, her eyes red and wide, long cape billowing around her.

A scream catches in my throat as I watch the figure transform before my eyes.

Her short curls grow into a thick, wavy brown mane.

Her dark blue cape turns bright red, and her jewelry becomes gold.

Her mouth widens into a horrible grin, marred by two long fangs.

“Evening, Oana,” Crimson says darkly.

“Hi, Crimson,” the vampire replies with a cheeky wink. “So nice to see you again.”

“The pleasure’s all mine,” Crimson replies, venomously. “The pleasure of driving my stake through your unbeating heart, that is.”

Oana laughs, a tinkling, terrifying sound.

I quiver behind Crimson, clutching a stake in my sweaty hand.

Suddenly, it seems ridiculously inadequate.

Oana hovers in the stairway, exuding power and strength.

Her palms radiate with red light, the same colour that swirls behind her irises.

What could I do, against a creature like that?

There’s a flash of light from her direction, and I brace myself against the concrete wall, expecting to be hit. But another, shimmering red wall of energy magic erects itself around me. I can’t see anything, but I can hear Oana’s evil chuckle.

“Ooh, impressive, Crimson,” she says. “I almost forgot that you can do a little magic, too.”

“You always had an awful memory, Oana,” Crimson replies dryly.

I try to keep track of them through the forcefield, but it’s difficult to see anything.

Two dark shadows dance around the stairwell while I cower behind the magical wall.

I feel completely helpless, and I hate that I can’t help Crimson.

It must be costing her a lot of effort to keep this magic going while she fights.

“Your witchcraft isn’t bad,” Oana teases. “But I think mine is just a little bit better!”

She claps her hands loudly, and the red wall around me shatters in a sea of twinkling, blood-red sparks.

They fall all around me, tangling in my hair and tickling my skin.

Oana is floating over the platform in front of us, and Crimson crouches below her.

In a superhuman leap, Crimson launches herself into the air and grabs Oana by her dangling cape, choking her.

Oana gasps and claws at the other vampire, but Crimson managed to surprise her.

“You might be better at magic, but I’m the stronger vampire,” she snarls, wrestling her against one of the concrete walls.

“We’ll see about that!” Oana counters, although she sounds a little less confident.

I take the opportunity to run up the stairs to the platform. My bare feet touch the blood pooled there, and I have to stop myself from gagging. Good thing I’m not too squeamish, I literally delivered a baby earlier tonight. It already seems like such a long time ago.

I hurry over to Alin and bend down, checking his chest.

“He’s still alive!” I shout up at Crimson. “I mean, he hasn’t been staked…”

“Paige, get out of here!” Crimson roars. There’s a horrible squelching sound as Oana sinks her sharp fangs into Crimson’s arm.

I hate to leave her and Alin, but I don’t know what else to do. I start to run up the stairs toward the holding floor, leaving red footprints behind me.

But I collide head-first with a twinkling, magical forcefield.

“Not so fast!” Oana shouts.

The magic makes me feel weird and woozy, and I stumble back down, tumbling onto the platform beside Alin. The stake falls out of my hand and clatters down the stairs.

“Paige!” Crimson yells. She lets go of Oana and falls back down to the ground, landing like a cat on her feet.

“I’m all…all right…” I stutter, but red stars explode behind my eyes as I try to recover from the magic.

Crimson’s arm is gushing blood, and I don’t want her to be worried about me.

But before I can get my bearings, I see the shadowy form of Oana descend upon Crimson again.

This time, Oana gets the upper hand quickly, slamming Crimson against the hard, concrete wall.

Crimson knees Oana sharply in the crotch, causing her fangs to descend further in fury.

But it only seems to anger Oana, because she tilts her head back and brings it down to crack loudly upon Crimson’s forehead.

The back of her head makes firm contact with the wall behind her, leaving a bloody mark on the concrete.

“Stop it!” I shout, my heart pounding. “Please, don’t hurt her!”

Oana backs away, floating up into the air, her cape whipping around her. Crimson slides down the wall onto the ground, her eyes shut, a trail of blood dripping down her neck.

“Crimson!” I scream.

From down below, I hear the sound of the staircase door open. It could be an ally, or an intruder. Either way, they won’t be able to get here in time. Oana clutches her stake in her fist, her eyes pure red, swirling with magic.

I wish I hadn’t lost my stake…

But…maybe I don’t need it…

Oana swoops down over Crimson, like an angel of death.

And with all of my remaining strength, I throw myself on top of Crimson, my chest over her’s.

The last thing I see is Oana’s golden dagger-stake, sinking into my heart.

Then everything goes dark.