Claudia’s face twisted in horror when Yuri’s eyes turned a shade of blood before he began devouring the first girl he got a hold of.
“Get out of here! Now!” She pointed at Gavin, who, along with Zinnia, and Craig, one of the hunters, was already running toward a dark corridor inside the cave system. I didn’t bother to look around me.
I was never the kind of person who ran away. I preferred to stay and fight. Had it been just the vampires or the strange giant dogs that came with them, I would’ve stayed, but invisible monsters that took over the bodies of friends… I had no idea how to battle against something like that. The only recourse was escape. That way, we could figure out what to do.
I took one last look at Yuri, a man whom—even though he was hundreds of years older than me—was almost like a son. My heart fell when he held a young woman who’d grown up at the Catacombs and bled her dry. Claudia tried to pull him away from the girl, but with one blow, the blonde vampire was thrown several feet away from him.
I stepped forward to help the beautiful blonde only to have Gavin hold me back. “Aiden, there’s nothing we can do to help. All we can do right now is save ourselves.”
Despite my inclination to stay behind, Gavin was telling the truth. I would’ve been a fool to remain, so I ended up following Gavin into a series of tunnels I’d never even known existed at the Catacombs.
“Where are we going? Where are you taking us?”
Since I met her, Zinnia had never been the picture of sanity, but as Ian led us through narrow tunnels that led out of the Catacombs with only a flashlight to shed light before us, she was insufferable in her delusion that she was still in control.
“Shut her up,” Gavin seethed through gritted teeth.
“I demand to know where we’re going!”
“Be silent, Zinnia,” I reprimanded her. “If you want to come with us, then it’s in your best interest to keep those lips sealed.”
Gavin, who was ahead of the pack, stopped. He began moving the torch from one side to another, the light flickering with the motion.
Several unsavory curses flowed out of the lips of Craig. “What the hell is this? It’s a dead end.”
“Shut up,” was the only explanation any of us got from Gavin, who began feeling along one side of the wall. “This passage will lead us to the Port. From there, you guys can do whatever you want. Right now, just shut up.”
The screams behind us escalated right before several piercing howls echoed in the corridor behind us. Rabid monsters began barking, their growls getting louder and louder.
“They’re coming!” I announced. “Gavin, what’s going on?”
Gavin remained silent, feeling through the wall for a couple of seconds—more serene than any of us were.
I pulled my gun out. I looked at Zinnia and Craig, who began retrieving their own weapons. “We’re better off putting up a fight.”
Right when I said it, one of their mutant dogs appeared, bright yellow eyes betraying its hunger and ruthlessness. Zinnia shot at it with the gun, bullets tainted with ultraviolet rays, designed to kill vampires. It hit the dog in the leg. The animal whimpered in pain, but unlike the effect one of those bullets would’ve had on vampires, the dog quickly recovered and pounced right on me.
Before I knew it, I’d been tackled to the ground, with the dog’s sharp fangs biting into my neck. Craig and Zinnia fired more shots. I heard more growls. My vision began to blur. With whatever strength I had left in me, I stabbed the dog on top of me with my dagger. I twisted the knife inside it and threw it away from me. I struggled to my feet. That was when I realized that there had been no other dogs on its tail. All shots had been fired at the animal that had tackled me.
What on earth? I was beginning to feel dizzy. I wondered what the dog bite would cost me.
Zinnia’s eyes were wide with horror. “We kept firing at it. It wouldn’t die.”
“What is it?” Craig hissed.
“Are you all right?” Zinnia checked on the wound on my neck.
I nodded, pressing my palm over my neck. “I’m fine. How’s it going over there, Gavin?”
“I got it!” Gavin pressed against what appeared to be a well-hidden panel. There was a rumble within the narrow tunnel and before we knew it, an opening appeared where there was once a dead end.
“How are you so sure that this leads to the Port?” I asked.
Gavin grimaced as he looked at my wound. “I grew up here, remember? We have our secrets. Anyway, can you even make it? We’re going to have to crawl through this.”
I nodded curtly at him. “Let’s go.”
This time, they made me go right after Gavin with Craig taking up the rear end of the group. It felt like hours before we were able to finally reach the end of the tunnel.
When Gavin finally crawled out of the tunnel we were crouched in, my heart dropped when he gasped. I thought for sure that we had crawled right to our deaths. Dread washed over me even as I battled to keep my consciousness, suffering from the blood loss caused by the attack from the Elders’ pet.
When I finally dragged myself out of that tunnel, I drew a sigh of relief when I saw welcome comrades standing before me.
Derek and Corrine.
“Aiden?” Derek creased his brows. “What happened to you?”
“Where’s Sofia?” was all I could think about to ask. “Where’s my daughter?”
Sorrow came over my son-in-law’s face. “You need some rest. Corrine, get him into one of the rooms.”
The worst possible scenario swept over me. “No.” I shook my head. “Sofia… Derek, where’s Sofia?” I didn’t know whether it was the blood loss or the fact that Derek was standing in front of me without my daughter, but I was losing control. I tried to lunge for Derek, but my knees gave way beneath me, and my consciousness gave way to a memory.
I sat comfortably at the back of the black limousine, a safe distance away from the playground where my little girl was soon going to be. It’d been a year since I last saw her. The longing was almost unbearable.
It felt like hours before the bell rang for their lunch period and she appeared amidst a flurry of children her age. She walked beside Lyle’s son, Ben, a fine young man by my estimation.
The first thing I noticed was how lackluster her eyes were. That was unlike the Sofia I knew. My little girl had bright curious eyes. My eyes. She was always looking for adventure. She looked at the world like she believed that she could conquer it if only she could explore all its secrets. From the moment she could walk, it’d been difficult to keep her in one place.