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CHAPTER EIGHT

MADS

A noise wakes me. Swiftly, I sit up in bed, but I’m well aware that if I’m already hearing them, it’s too late. I’m not like Marcus or Ender; my ability is fighting with my brain, not my hands.

I rush from my bed, deciding I’ll go through the window if I have to, but the vampire is on me in an instant.

They try to grab me, but I manage to elude them, which seems to put me right in the path of another.

Their face is hidden beneath a mask, their clothing dark.

They drive their sharp nails into my side, tearing it open before I can get away.

I throw them back and push out into the hallway before deciding that maybe…

just maybe I should have kept my mouth shut at the council meeting.

Six additional masked vampires stand in the hallway waiting for me, three on each side as I realize that this hotel really needs more fucking windows.

“Come on now. I’m pretty sure we can talk through some things, yeah? That sounds like fun,” I say as I hold my hands up.

Evidently, no one else thinks it sounds fun or even remotely believes me because one of the ones from the bedroom rushes at me.

I manage to slip past them, back into the bedroom with the belief that dealing with one instead of the seven now in the hallway would be in my best interest. But that doesn’t matter when they’re as fast as they are.

They grab my arm and jerk it down, snapping it.

The sound of it breaking fills the room as pain tears down my arm and up into my body.

I know it’ll heal, but it’s the hesitation they need for someone to grab me from behind and draw a blade over my throat.

It’s not deep enough to kill me—I honestly can’t tell if that’s the plan or not—but it sure is enough to stop me.

Instinctively, I try to reach up to clamp my hand over it, hoping to slow the blood as I heal, but three more are on me.

One slams something into my leg, and I’m driven to the ground.

Desperately, I struggle to get up as pain rips through me.

I lunge forward, tearing open the abdomen of the one closest to me, but I know it’s not enough.

I know I’m outnumbered. I know they’ll heal up with no issues as they fall back and another takes their place.

Are they trying to kill me? Or bleed me out?

My throat is finally healing, but the loss of blood is slowing the rest of my healing as I start crawling toward the window, positive I’m not getting out of it, but I’m sure as fuck going to give it a valiant effort.

If only I could use that… but I can’t. Something slams into the back of my head, sending me to the ground as I see blood pool out around me.

I need to get up.

I need to fight.

I need to…

Suddenly I’m looking eye-to-eye with someone who is also on the floor, but their unblinking eyes aren’t focused on me. Their mouth is open and blood pools out from where their head had once been attached to their body.

The body hits not long after as I try to roll up to see what’s happening, but I don’t need to move much as I watch Ender behead another. Is… Ender of all people saving my life? Did my compliments about his hair win over his frozen heart?

He backs up and steps right on me… which I kind of feel like you wouldn’t do if you had fallen madly in love with someone.

“Can you die somewhere out of the way at least?” Ender asks.

Definitely sounds like Cupid shot this man with true love.

But him distracting the others is what I need to reach the window that I will somehow bust through and flop out onto the sidewalk below where I will definitely be out of his way.

I’ll probably scar some child who’s only trying to get into the hotel, though at this point I’m not sure I care. But if I did get outside, I could…

Then again, at the speed he’s going through them, I’m not even sure I need to flee. I just need to lounge here and wait for my prince to save me.

Since I can’t really say much, I simply give him a thumbs-up, which weirdly twists his face into an ugly expression. Like what the fuck did he expect as I lie here in my own blood? Should I have blown him a fucking kiss?

I gurgle something that’s supposed to be a “You’re doing a fantastic job!” but my throat hasn’t fully repaired itself.

I push myself up just enough that I can start to get to my feet.

And that’s when I see the vampire standing in the doorway drawing a gun.

Realization of what’s about to happen hits me as I scramble to my feet.

But my busted knee can’t yet hold my weight as it drops me down.

Using all of the strength I have left in my body, I push forward, hoping to reach the gun in time.

Ender looks up to see what I’ve become so panicked about, but I’m too late.

A vampire drives me to the ground and the bullet strikes Ender in the shoulder.

Why the fuck didn’t he avoid it? Did he think it was a regular bullet and was of no concern to him?

Did he not see it? Did something distract him?

He ignores the wound, going back to the slaughter he was caught up in, until he reaches forward and finds his movement is slowed.

He looks over at his shoulder before digging the bullet out with his nails, but it’s too late.

It was too late the moment he got shot. I guess we get to die together, then.

Ender staggers as the effects of the bullet begin to take over, but as a vampire moves in, they make the mistake of stepping forward too early, allowing Ender to tear into their flesh.

The rest wait until he drops to his knees, but why do they even bother moving in?

The likelihood of him living through that bullet is slim.

As the vampires descend upon us, I’m torn into the darkness.