A Handsome Rescue Party

Protein bar wrappers, a couple Coke cans, and a pair of running shoes littered my room, and I was on my bed wrapped up in covers. I still had all of the clothes from today on me, I was too scared to move. Which it was ridiculous. I was too paranoid and terrified to feel comfortable in my own house. But it’s kind of hard not to feel that way when it’s been invaded and you don’t have the slightest clue to how they got in. I was staring at every angle I could. There was every opportunity for one of those vampires to pop up. This was turning out to be an all-nighter, and it was fortunately one of things I was good at.

Seven. Nine. Ten thirty. Eleven forty-five. One twelve.

This was ridiculous. Anxiety was eating away at me, and I could hardly stop myself from shaking. My mind had been running loose with the potential scenarios happening, and each one of them was worse than the last. Paranoia was running the show now, and I was the backstage man trying to keep up with the changes. It also occurred to me that this, vampires coming for me, wasn’t a night thing. They were around all day, too. Hell, I had been attacked in broad daylight. Day was certainly safer, but exactly how safe?

That was it. I couldn’t take it. Fear was going to ruin my life and make me go mad. I was only twenty-one, and I still had a very strong will to live. Especially now that I knew people were wanting to end it. I would call for one of them, however that worked. I knew no names, and I had no clue where they were. I’d just have to eyeball it, then.

But perhaps fresh clothes. Of course, now that a decision was made, I found myself quite comfortable to move. Typical. I crept over to the clothes on my desk that I had grabbed before I locked up everything. I fortunately had the mind to prepare for a moment that I may get over myself and move. Keeping my back to the wall, I changed and always kept the room visible with at least one eye. It was longer, more painstaking work, but I managed successfully. Now the real question: should I open my window? Yes, they’d hear me, but would someone else hear me, too? Against my hesitation, I unlatched the window and popped my head out into the cool night breeze. I looked down to where my driveway was and sighed. If I were to fall now, it’d be very disappointing.

“Falls can be quite dangerous, you know. I’d stay back from the ledge before something happens.”

Naturally, I screamed. How was he behind me? I locked everything. I didn’t move my body, but I turned my head slightly to look at my opposer out of the corner of my eye. Direct eye contact with him was no good, I’d go under in seconds. He stayed where he was, a smile dripping from his blood-stained lips. Great, now he was toying with me.

He raised his hands in mock innocence. “Please. I’d never push you. Besides, there’s a chance your precious neck would break and all of your blood would come gushing out of your head. No, I much prefer it still being pumped by a living heart.”

“H-ow did you get in?” My voice quivered with fear.

He shrugged and leaned forward. “A secret between you and I, huh? When you open a gateway into your home, and a vampire’s waiting for you at that gateway, they’re technically given permission in. So, as my thanks, I’ve decided to not drain you immediately. But, that’s over, so now you’re kind of in trouble.” He moved forward, faster than I would have liked.

So, I had about five seconds to make a critical decision. Jump out the window and assume I’m not going to break any bone in my body, manage to escape, or die. Or I could sit here and try to fight him without looking at his face and get past him to a locked door.

I jumped.

“NO!” I feel the fury in his voice as I took the short trip down. Unfortunately, I was not fast enough. His hand clenched around my wrist, and I felt my arm nearly be yanked out of its socket as my descent came to a halt. I gasped violently as a shockwave of frozen agony traveled its way down my body. I could hardly move, it was so painful. Everything was so cold it burned, and my body felt like it was on fire. He dragged me back over the windowsill and my body sprawled agains the thick carpet and he pinned me down.

“You know,” he said. “I wasn’t going to make this hard. Probably numb, and you’d be none the wiser. But now... now I’m going to make it hurt. You need a lesson.”

His lips grazed my neck before a searing pain blinded me. I gasped as I felt the holes in my neck from his teeth grow larger and larger, and his fangs sinking deeper. It was painful. So, so painful. But it wasn’t painful enough to stop me from giving a bone-chilling scream of agony.

I was sensitive to every drop of blood being siphoned out of my body. I could pick out separate drops of blood like you could pick out a grain of sand with a pair of tweezers. The draw wasn’t very long, only a second or two, and hardly any blood was drawn.

“Let her go!” A new voice. The one that I had met earlier today. My body was dragged from the ground and pressed against my captor’s body, His arm circled around my waist and held me there, tight. I wouldn’t be surprised if I couldn’t move if I wasn’t in such pain now. My head was hung in the air, and I was feeling every bit as nauseous and dizzy as I could possibly do without throwing up. I could hardly think; pain racked my body.

I heard a muffled shuffling sound in the somewhat close distance. “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.” he warned. His arm tightened around me to a constricting point and I cried out as stars exploded in my vision.

The other vampires must have relented. “Fine! Just don’t kill her!” It must have been the vampire that had confronted me earlier. I was heaving huge gasps of air trying to clear my head. We were at a standstill. “I’ll make a deal with you.” he said. “You let her go, and I won’t have the five of them beat you to nothing.”

The chuckle my captor gave sent yet more spasms of aching down me. “You think you’re in a position to bargain with me?” He paused, hesitation hanging about him. He sensed a trap, and that meant I was probably going to get hurt if they didn’t react fast enough. He seemed to be figuring it out slowly. “There’s only four of-.”

The reaction, thankfully, was extremely fast. I felt something above me snap and then I was falling to the floor again. The vampire gave a loud grunt, and then his hand was around my neck, slightly crushing my windpipe. Then it was off, and he was off of me. Something kicked me in the gut before I was dragged away by a pair of hands. I was picked up and there was air against my face. There was a large jolt, and then a series of smaller jolts. Perhaps it was running. There was the click of a car door, and a firm seat against my back.

I was finally able to get past the slowly fading pain and looked at my surroundings. An interior of a very nice car, two vampires getting into the car, and blood speckled across the driver’s white shirt. He was the one who confronted me earlier. I looked down in a panic, thinking the blood had come from where I had felt like I’d been kicked. Nothing. The car shot out of a driveway only a few houses down from mine. I sighed. Just how close were some of these vampires? We were out on the highway when the two began to converse.

The driver. “Reese status on Jonah and Gavin and the second car. I don’t sense them behind us.”

The passenger. “Yeah, second car’s just now pulling out of the neighborhood. Gavin is covering Jonah while he’s distracting. Just keep going.”

“Right, thanks. Tell them not to go outside city limits, but to head that way for now.” A silent pause. “Layla.” It was strange to hear him say my name. I was hardly surprised, but it was still weird. I grunted softly in response, my eyes shut in an attempt to not throw up. “Layla, I need you to listen to me.” His tone was a bit harsher. Not in a way that threatened, but in a way that got your attention. I didn’t say anything. “I would prefer you willingly come with us, and if you don’t, then we’ll do our best to relocate you somewhere safer. But know that without continuous protection, you’re never going to be ‘safe’. And I need you to decide now. Once we get out of city limits, we’re probably not coming back.”

I sat there and thought about it. This was the moment. It was here where I decided if I would die or if I would live. And if I wasn’t careful about it, I could be signing up for the wrong one and not even know it. If that vampire had found me and got to me that easily in a place I knew like the back of my hand, then how would I fair in a place I knew nothing about and wounded? I didn’t say anything for a long time. That little piece of information and paranoia was still there. Was this really the best decision?

My voice came out raspy, and I had to repeat myself. “I can’t live like that.”

He nodded and stepped on the gas. “Okay. Reese, tell the others.”



Still want more of these mysterious vampires? Go check out A Dangerous Woman for more of their story! Now that she’s agreed, what exactly has Layla gotten herself into? How many of these six hot vampires want a piece of her? And how many of them want her everything?