Page 48

Without warning, Ender rushes for an open window and leaps right out as I realize he must have seen something.

“Ender! Fuck!” I hiss, well aware I can’t stop him if I’m going to be able to help Brooks in time.

Marcus turns to follow, but Finn’s hand halts him. “Marcus, you don’t know if it’s a trap, please don’t go,” he begs.

“The three of us will go after Ender. We’ll be fine,” Alexei assures him, but it’s plain Finn hates the idea as he watches them disappear. It does make me feel better that Ender isn’t going alone, though.

I don’t have time to focus on that—I have to worry about Brooks, and I know that every second counts.

I rush past the bodies, past the blood, and into a room where Brooks is lying.

I already have the syringe out and quickly stab the antidote into his arm.

“We need blood so he can begin healing. Get blood,” I say as I start examining him to ascertain whether the bullet is still inside him and causing the poison to leak into his system.

He’s bleeding from so many spots that it’s hard to tell where the bullet struck him.

Finn nods as he moves toward the door. “I’ll get it. Bentley, please help Marcus and the others.”

DeGray gives a nod and rushes for the window the others had left through. Finn leaves as I check Brooks’s color, but even with the antidote, he’s not looking good. The wounds aren’t healing and he’s not responding to me at all. “Come on, fight it. Come on… the antidote just needs time to work.”

I rip his shirt and finally find another spot blood is seeping from.

Examining it, I verify it’s the entry wound, and when I push him up so I can see his back, it becomes apparent there’s no exit wound.

I try not to feel too bad as I dig my fingers into his side, using my nails to break through the skin since I don’t have a knife handy to make a clean cut.

I can feel the bullet, but it’s in deep and all I’m doing is hurting him worse.

Brooks groans, which is a good sign since he hadn’t made a noise before now, and it tells me that the antidote is working enough to bring him at least slightly back to consciousness. I manage to hook the bullet and pull it out as Finn runs in.

“I got the bullet. If it’s not too late, he should start to…”

Hair stands up on the back of my neck, and I whip my head around to find Abel standing in the doorway. I hadn’t even heard him walk up, reminding me again just how weak I am compared to this man.

He gives me a cruel smile, eyes fixating right on me.

“I do not take kindly to people fucking up my plans. Grady was mine… and you murdered him and took some of my people from me. You had to have realized that killing him would mean I’d come for you.

Is it possible you were jealous he was getting all the attention?

” Abel asks as he steps into the room. “Because now there’s only one fucking person who has what I want. And it’s you.”

Chills wash through me as I beg that there’s some way to get out of this.

Finn lifts his gun, but the vampire laughs, like the very idea of Finn believing he could hurt him is nothing more than a joke.

And when he fires, Abel moves fast enough that the bullet doesn’t strike him.

Instead, he rushes for Finn, moving so quickly that I barely have time to react.

I shove Finn back, but now all I’ve done is put myself right into his path.

Abel shakes his head, and it’s such a cocky move that it reminds me that he has absolutely nothing to fear from us.

“Come on, Mads. Stop pissing me the fuck off.” He throws me so hard that I’m not expecting it.

I’d assume if anything, he’d grab me, not chuck me, but I think he wants me well aware that I can do nothing against him.

I hit a conference table that breaks beneath my weight, the wood and metal falling to shambles from how hard I was thrown.

Finn shoots at him two more times, but even though he has precise movements and an ability to fight, he’s not fast enough.

Abel grabs his arm, jerking him forward with so much force that I see Finn wince, and I’m over here unable to do anything to stop it from happening.

I shove myself up but before I can reach Finn, he grabs the arm Abel is holding and must do something because it releases the prosthetic, giving him time to start running for me.

“Mads, go, quickly,” he says as he shoves me through a doorway, reminding me that I’m really not good at this when I should be the one shoving him through the doorway.

I am the vampire, after all, but I don’t know how the hell to fight!

I don’t know how to survive this. Still, I run, but Abel is right behind us.

I grab Finn, hoping to get us away faster, but I’m like a toddler compared to this man who is like a predator playing with his prey.

He slams into me so hard that I lose my grip on Finn and hit down hard on my side.

What kind of vampire just face-plants from a shove?

I scramble up to my feet, but he’s already got Finn, and this time he has him by the throat with no way for Finn to get free.

“Mads, you’re going to willingly come to me or I’m going to simply crush his throat.” It’s all said with so much calmness that I can’t help but feel defeat. I’m over here, panic flooding through me, and he’s going for a Sunday stroll.

“Please. I will go with you. Please,” I beg as I rush right up to him. “Please don’t hurt him.”

“Are you going to try to fuck with me again?” he asks.

“I’m so sorry. Please. Just let him go.”

He throws Finn hard enough that he hits the ground and doesn’t immediately get back up. I want to run to him to make sure he’s okay, but Abel already has me by the throat. He draws me in, grip tightening.

“I’m going to keep killing everyone who doesn’t listen to me. You don’t want that, do you?”

“Please don’t hurt Finn. I’ll go with you.”

“Then he should fucking listen, don’t you agree?—”

He looks down at the blade sticking out from his stomach.

Blood hits me as I realize that not only had I not heard the attack, he hadn’t either.

His brief surprise stills him long enough that the blade is twisted and jerked down, slicing him right open, before Abel drives me away from him so he can focus on what’s caught him off guard.

“Of course it’s you,” Abel says as he holds his intestines in, but he heals too damn quickly for it to be of any consequence.

Ender is standing in the doorway where he flicks the blood off the sword he holds. He must have stolen it from a vampire because he sure didn’t have it earlier.

Abel’s expression is hard to read as he stares at his creation.

“You created me to slaughter the vampire race,” Ender says. “I’m just doing what you taught me to do.”

“Don’t you dare come into this room and spout your bullshit. You know what you were made for.”

“What are you going to do? You’re not going to kill him.

I wasn’t good enough, but Mads might be.

There’s no damn way you’d risk losing another of your plans,” Ender snarls as he rushes forward.

Abel has to step away from me to deal with Ender, so Ender grabs me and throws me toward the door leading out of the room.

I know he wants me to flee, but I need to get to Finn.

The issue is, how the fuck do I even get to him?

Abel is faster than Ender, but Ender is ruthless.

Even as Abel tears into his chest with his claws, Ender doesn’t let up.

He drives the sword into Abel’s arm, cutting it open before taking the moment Abel needs to heal to dart forward.

I use the distraction to run across the room and grab Finn, who seems dazed as I drag him out of that room and into another.

Thankfully, he grabs on to me when I do, telling me that he’s not so hurt that he can’t.

The sound of vampires moving in from behind me makes anxiety swell inside of me as I turn, coming face to face with Abel’s men who cluster around us.

“Please don’t hurt anyone else. Please,” I beg. “Please just take me and go.” But my pleas fall on deaf ears when it’s clear Abel and Ender aren’t going to stop until one of them is dead.

Two vampires move in to help Abel, and while Ender dodges them easily, it leaves him in Abel’s path who tears into his chest. Ender falls back as blood hits the ground, and I realize that there’s no fucking way out of this.

“Does your gun have the special ammunition in it?” I ask Finn.

“Y-Yes. But there’s only one left.”

“Okay,” I say as I pull his gun from him. “Abel, draw back or I will shoot myself. I’ve already proved to you that I will do whatever it takes for this to not get out.” I switch off the safety on the gun.

I’ve gained Abel’s attention, which should have helped Ender, but instead, he looks even more anxious than Abel.

“Leave now,” I say, hoping it comes out more demanding than a plea.

“Mads, run,” Ender begs, but how does he think I’ll manage to run surrounded by Abel’s men?

“You will not shoot yourself,” Abel says, almost like he’s bored of the whole thing as his attention fixates back on Ender.

“I would rather die myself than have everyone I care about die. I’ve lost people I love once; I’m not doing it again,” I retort.

“Mads, put the fucking gun down,” Ender orders, all thoughts of Abel gone.

Because Ender is distracted, Abel throws him hard enough that the wall breaks down when he hits. Then Abel rushes for me, evidently deciding that having me is really what matters more than killing Ender.

I lower the gun to my chest and pull the trigger.

The pain hits me so hard that I immediately lose my grip on the gun.

“Mads, what the fuck,” Finn cries as he tries to catch me before I hit the ground. He only has one arm, though, so he struggles to keep me from hitting and I land on my back as pain blossoms around the bullet. It radiates up and down my body, eating through me as I gasp.

So… this is what it feels like to be shot with this fucking drug.

Definitely not one of my best ideas.