Page 3

I step inside and nearly trip over a body since I’d been so fixated on looking up that I hadn’t even noticed it.

Slowly, I kneel down, careful not to make a sound as I realize that the body lying at my feet is a vampire, but nothing seems to be wrong with him.

There’s no scent of blood and his head is attached.

Did he get hit by whatever killed the people in the council?

I carefully make my way in as I see more bodies littered along the floor. If someone attacked them… what about Rylee? I hesitate when I hear a noise.

There’s someone in here who isn’t quite dead yet… a vampire whose steps are too heavy to be Rylee. Are they the one who killed them all? Or are they the last one standing?

I move around the corner to face them and find a man standing in the middle of the room holding up the body of a rather dead vampire. Noticing me, he drops them. The way he drops them on the ground tells me he’s not someone who was attached to the vampire who’d just died.

“Where is Rylee?” I ask, voice cold.

He appears like he’s in his early thirties, but I can’t quite tell how old he is as a vampire, although his age doesn’t worry me.

Even Marcus, a true vampire, has trouble when it comes to me.

He has light hair, almost blond, with vibrant blue eyes that are watching me quite closely.

“Rylee? I think you’re confusing me with someone else.

How can I help you?” he asks with a British accent and a beaming smile that I want to wipe off his face.

“You can help me by telling me where the girl is.”

“The girl? I haven’t seen a girl anywhere. Then again, I just arrived here and haven’t thoroughly looked around. It appears like you’ve just arrived as well, so you wouldn’t happen to know what happened here, would you?”

I step toward him, and he puts both hands up.

He gives me a nervous chuckle. “I have an odd feeling that maybe you mistakenly think that I have anything to do with any of this. I was simply walking by and heard something… peculiar and happened to walk on in.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you did to these people. I only care where Rylee is and if she is well.”

“I would love to help you find her. Can you tell me what she looks like?”

I rush over and grab the man by the neck, slamming him against the wall as he stares at me with wide blue eyes. The innocent act is irritating me.

“Ha. I feel like maybe I pissed you off for some reason that I don’t yet know.

Did I do something wrong? I really feel like maybe you think I did something wrong.

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to if I did,” he says as he reaches toward me.

At first, I assume he’s going to try to crush my throat, but instead he pushes my hair back and tucks it behind my ear before smiling even bigger at me.

“You should definitely wear your hair up when fighting with others so it doesn’t shield your view.

Imagine if your downfall was because your hair got in the way! ”

I toss him, positive that this guy is confused, and leave him to murder whoever else he wants to.

Of course I don’t let my guard down. It’s apparent this man is a psychopath, but my worry is about Rylee, and I don’t feel like fighting with him if I can just take Rylee and leave.

Seeing a door past the boat stored in the building, I rush over to it.

“I will check over here. What does she look like?” the man asks, evidently not getting the hint that he should be on his murdering way.

“If you see a child, then tell me.”

“Ahhhh, makes sense. I will, I will.”

“If you even look at her wrong, I will rip your head off your body and drain you dry.”

“Oh! Sounds a bit like I definitely don’t want to look at her wrong. I will probably refrain from looking at her at all then because I’d rather keep my head attached. I feel like you’re a wee bit feisty, you know?”

“Or you could just leave?”

“I would rather help in your time of need,” he says.

I ignore the man and tear open a door, but it merely leads to a bathroom. I’m so wound up that I can’t even focus. What if she’s not here? What if she’s already dead? What if…

“You’re just absolutely adorable! Hey there, sweetie!” the man coos.

I nearly trip over myself rushing into the room. I push him out of the way and snatch Rylee up before he can hurt her. Quickly, I pull her into my arms as I glower at the man who is hugging the wall after I’d pushed him into it.

“EN!” Rylee cries as she grabs me.

“You’re fine,” I assure her as I notice the vampire staring at me.

“If I pretend to be a part of the wall, will you not murder me? Because I definitely did look at her when I had clear instructions not to. But she looked so sad and scared I couldn’t help it.

I would rather you didn’t remove my head—Marcus!

Twice in one day, such a pleasure!” the man says as he sees Marcus enter the building.

He stops hugging the wall and straightens up, even fixes his shirt, like he’s wanting to make a good impression.

“Yeah…” Marcus says, sounding as full of “pleasure” as I was dealing with the man. “Ender, did you kill these people?”

“Does it look like I killed them?” I ask. Because if I had, there’d have been a whole lot more blood.

Rylee desperately clutches me with one hand.

“En, I was so scared. There were people following me, and they started running after me. I tried running away but they were so fast. And they kept coming for me, and I was so scared, and I tried to hide but they still found me and then they kidnapped me and I remember you telling me not to leave home or someone would kidnap me and eat me and I didn’t listen and I didn’t mean to not listen.

I’m so SORRRY,” she wails before she begins bawling.

Tears are my least favorite thing to deal with. They’re so… wet… and annoying. Like what’s she crying about? She should face what she did and learn from it so she won’t ever do it again. If my words of warning weren’t enough, maybe this will be because I can’t lose her.

I really can’t lose her.

I squeeze her tight to me, well aware I’d tear this world apart for her.