Page 109 of Love Bleeds

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Istared after Crimson as he went. Even though he was a fox rather than the astronaut he'd always wanted to be, he took off like a little rocket. The vampires had heard the door breaking, of course. A pair, one male, one female came out of the meeting room just as Crimson sprinted by them.

I wished I had my flash grenades.

"Prison break!" the female shouted, darting after Crimson as he made his way to the elevator. He turned a corner. Both the vampires followed.

But voices were growing louder from inside the meeting room.

"You need to go now," I urged Savannah. The tunnel was only a short way to our right. I spotted the tapestry that was hiding the entrance. The moment I saw it, I was running toward it. It was a huge thing, adorned with a painting of a man who looked somewhat like a caricature of Count Dracula, of all things. Savannah and I had to work together to lift it and reveal the door behind. I nearly toppled over, holding the tapestry as she pushed the door open.

"You have to come with me," she whisper-yelled.

I wanted to argue, I really did. Convince her with my words rather than just shoving her into the tunnel and letting the tapestry fall back into place, but there was no time, so I simply pushed her as I fumbled with the tapestry to get it back on the wall.

"What's going on out here?" an unknown voice demanded.

A chill went down my spine.

We'd been caught too soon. Of course we had. This had been a god-awful plan. Savannah had made it into the tunnel, but with the way I stood in front of this stupid Count Dracula painting, they'd know what was going on immediately.

We were done for.

Or maybe not.

Just as I was about to despair, another unknown voice spoke up.

"They went the other way," the second stranger said.

I turned around, only to see a vampire with silvery-white hair turn into a canary, fluttering up and down in front of another vampire's face.

So that he wouldn't see me?

I had no idea why this canary was helping me, but I took the chance to move as far away from the wall as possible. I had to find Crimson. If I couldn't see him, I couldn't protect him.

But I needed to get past the vampire and the canary to catch up to him.

Nothing for it. I just had to run.

I made a break for it, sprinting past the vampire. He reached out for me, one long arm extending my way as his body whirled to face me. Before he could touch me, though, the canary threw himself into his path, and I slipped by. I didn't look back to see what was transpiring behind me, but there was a horrible thudding sound, as if the bird had been smashed against the wall.

My stomach clenched.

Press on, I told myself. I had to find Crimson now, that was all that mattered. No matter how sorry I felt for that bird.

Before the vampire could catch me, I rounded the corner.

My sleeve caught on something, then, and I realized it was the vampires hand. Panic propelled me forward another step as I tried to rip my arm away. I wasn't going to get free, not without a weapon, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to fight.

Frantically, my eyes searched the room in front of me, even as the vampire's grip tightened painfully around my arm. Crimson was up ahead. I could see him now. A sense of relief simmered just below my skin, not strong enough to break through the fear yet, but there.

The thing holding it back from coming to the surface was the sight of Nicolai.

He stood there, looming above Crimson's fox-form, one boot on his back. He did not look pleased.

"I see now I have made a grave mistake in picking you," he said, but he said it as if he was about to send a meal back in the restaurant, rather than as if he was about to snuff out somebody's life.

My heart stopped for several beats.