They start to cover my bottom half, coating my legs with bites. I’ve always had confidence in my fighting ability, but I fear this may be the end. Poor Maci, she’ll die with me.
As darkness and bites cover over me, I hear rocks tumbling down the hill from above. I try to flip around, ready to stab the predator, however my hand stops in mid-air when I see the figure of someone I know.
Aiden.
He pauses on the cliff just above us and grabs onto my wrist. “Relax, it’s just me.” He holds onto my hand as he looks at the piles of vampires below me, hanging onto me, covering the rocks around us and the land. “What do you think? Can we take them all?” he tries to joke
I shake my head as my body is jerked down. I turn around to see a nasty vampire, scaling up my body towards my face. It’s missing half of its face and its eyes are full of hunger. Aiden retrieves his knife, ready to slash it when suddenly the vampire takes a whiff of the air. It freezes, looking straight at Aiden, and then it throws its head back and cries out.
The rest of them freeze and then together cry out.
I tense inside at the sight of it. Sheer terror on the faces that were just causing sheer terror.
The vampires quickly turn away from us, releasing my body and then flinging themselves to the ground, fleeing into the night while trampling over one another.
Once the land is cleared out, I gape up at Aiden who is staring at me, confused.
“What the hell just happened?” he asks, holding onto the cliff face with one hand as he gawks out at the land.
I stare at him in disbelief, my jaw hanging open. “I think you just scared them off.”
He scratches his head, but doesn’t look fazed. “Huh, who would have thought?”
I shake my head, still stunned. Aiden can walk with the vampires, just like me.
Chapter 9
“Monarch must have made you like me,” I tell him, but I’m not sure if that’s right or not. I’m only guessing, just like I have with everything else.
“You think?” he asks with a crook of his brow.
My shoulders rise and fall as I shrug. “I’m not sure… I wish I had better answers, but I don’t, and I don’t know how to get them. Hopefully, this new colony will.” I rotate towards Maci, who’s resting on the lip of the rock, and maneuver my way over to her.
Once I get up there, I lean down and scan her over for bite marks. “Are you okay? You didn’t get bit, did you?”
She’s curled in a ball and looks terrified to death with her arms cradled against her. She shakes her head, a faint smile on her face. “No bites. You kept them all away, Kayla; you saved me just like I knew you would.”
I smile back at her, but it’s difficult after what happened, not just with the vampires, but also with Aiden.
Aiden starts to climbs over to me and then lands beside us on the ledge. “Is she okay?”
I nod. “Yeah, for now.”
“We should get going in case they come back.” His voice is full of confusion as he stares out at the dark, silent land in front of us. I remember the first time the vampires ran away from me and I felt the same way. That something had to be wrong and they’d come back at any moment to finish me off.
I move to let Maci hop up on my back, but Aiden gently pushes me out of the way. “Let me carry her up.”
I shake my head. “No, you don’t have any of her blood on you. I’ll carry her in case any vampires come back. At least your scent may chase them off.”
He runs his fingers through his dark hair, sweeping strands out of his face, frustrated, then moves away and nods. “Okay, but I’m not sure if I really believe it’s me that sent them running, just so you know, so don’t blame me if they come back and decide they want to eat us.”
“Okay,” I say and then turn so Maci can crawl up on my back. She does so with a struggle, although she does manage to get on and hold tightly.
Aiden grows quiet as he gets lost in his own thoughts and turns in the direction the vampires ran away. Then, looking torn, he returns to the cliff’s side and starts to climb up. I follow, moving a little slower, though I make it up to the top then move Maci to my arms and carry her so she doesn’t have to hold her weight. Aiden leads us through the darkness down the trail that dips into the rocks, leading us toward the cave.
It’s silent the entire way, but I’m edgy at every shadow and movement. Eventually we arrive at a cluster of large rocks blocking the path and Aiden climbs up and then drops down. I follow, landing a little loudly. There’s rocks surrounding the area and Aiden rolls the largest rock out of the way, revealing a cave nestled behind it. I carry Maci inside. There isn’t much room and when we enter it, it makes the fit even tighter, yet we somehow manage and Aiden seals us in with the rock.
I hear footsteps and spot Greyson and Nichelle moving up towards us as I set Maci down upon the floor.
“Is Maci okay? Is she hurt?” Greyson asks, flipping on a flashlight.
“She’ll be all right, I think,” I reply, though I’m not so sure. “Her arm’s broken, and she has some cuts and gashes.” I pause then glance at Aiden who’s leaning against the cave wall. “We were attacked by a herd of vampires.”
Greyson gapes as he shines the light onto Maci, curled up on her side with her hair blocking her face. “Did she get bitten?”
“No,” I reply and look back at Aiden, wondering what he’s thinking, wondering how he knew to come back to us. “But if Aiden hadn’t shown up when he did then… well, I don’t think we would have made it back.”
He looks back at me with a confident grin on his face. “Only because I’m a badass.” His weird behavior instantly returns, leaving me again wondering what’s causing it. If it’s just the Day Taker blood in him or maybe something else.
Chapter 10
We manage to make it through the rest of the night without any more vampire incidents, but for some reason, I feel like something bad is waiting for us in the near future. I can’t figure out what, though. Maybe it’s because I have trust issues. Or that every new place I’ve gone to something bad has happened. Like Cell 7. I was trapped. Sylas was bitten. God, Sylas.
It hurts to even think about him being out there either dead or running around with his flesh rotting off. I promised I’d kill him before it happened, but I didn’t. I failed him.
Small slivers of light gleam through the cracks in the cave, announcing morning breaking through. Aiden removes the rock and light pours into our small hideout. Everyone is tired and hungry, and I know we need to get to the colony soon.