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The wailing from the alarm grew louder as we neared ground level. Suddenly, everything fell silent, pausing us. The stench of gunpowder and smoke drifted down to where we stood, lingering around us as a reminder that death was close. How many bullets would it take to stop a vampire? Even with their high-tech rifles, explicitly designed to be slow shot, I doubted anything less than three bullets would do much against such a powerful creature.
I swallowed, and sweat beaded on my forehead at the sound of my saliva being gulped down my throat. Draven touched my wrist, a silent signal not to move. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, accelerating my heart rate. I closed my eyes, focusing on staying as quiet as possible.
A dark realization entered my mind. What if the vampires had switched off the alarm so they could hear any remaining protectors? The guild wouldn’t have switched it off mid-attack.
The thought made me nauseous.
Gunfire and screams had become a distant memory in the silence. Dripping from a pipe was all that could be heard as we lightly walked toward the ground floor. For the first time since running out into the tunnels with Draven, I realized we might not make it out alive.
Draven slowly took a step back, and I followed his movement, begging for once in my life to have some of the grace he did. With each slow, calculated step, we hurried down another tunnel. I pressed the sleeve of my jacket against my mouth to muffle my breaths. We stayed close to the wall until we reached more bunkers. B56, I read on one of them. There were only two blocks, A and B, for the bunkers, from what I recalled my mom saying once. They were to be used in case of an attack, so I supposed we were in the best place.
Upstairs, a lone gunshot sounded, followed by another. Someone was still fighting. I blew out a sigh of relief, and Draven moved us faster. We stopped by a bunker I’d seen on my way in. That meant we were right by the steps leading up to the main floor, but I didn’t want to think about what was waiting for us up there.
Everything fell silent again, and Draven halted. I stepped back but lost my footing. I grabbed a rail sticking out by the bunker, catching myself before I fell and made a sound.
Thank the gods.
Until the rail squeaked, jolting me. I didn’t catch myself this time. My slipper scraped against the ground, the sound of the fall exaggerated in the tunnel.
I didn’t stand. Draven didn’t move. Seconds fell into a minute, and nothing happened. Maybe they didn’t hear us?
It started with a whistle, then gunshots erupted around us, ringing fireworks in my ears. I slumped to the ground as Draven fired in the direction of something I couldn’t see.
“Run!” Draven shouted, but I couldn’t leave him.
I reached for the gun in his waistband. Trembling, I fired in the direction Draven did when I saw it for the first time. I blinked twice as the creature from every horror story I had been told stepped into view, but the creature was nothing like I expected. The vampire appeared deceivingly mortal and even smiled when his shining blue eyes fixated on me. I blinked, and he was gone.
Hands gripped me from behind, fingernails digging into my upper arms. Before I could scream, the vampire’s mouth was pressed against my neck, his tongue swirling on my skin.
I fumbled for the gun, but before I could fire it, his fangs sunk into my neck, piercing agony into my soul. It felt like flames licking through my veins, unrelenting and searing. My eyes pinched shut, and I was shoved backward, the vampire forced away from my neck. I barely opened my eyes when the door closed in front of me. Draven had locked me inside the bunker.
I couldn’t recall his gunshot, but the pain was all-consuming. Slowly, I reached my hand to my neck. My hair slicked around the bite, wet hitting my fingers. Soon enough, the pain waved into ecstasy, and I felt lighter than ever. The creature’s venom was attacking me from the inside, immobilizing me.
I pulled myself up as venom reached down my veins, slowing my movements. Draven was still shooting his rifle. I could hear the shots, like thunder in the distance. Splaying my fingers over the back of the door, I looked down at the heavy lock and stumbled. I caught myself as the bite pulsated with heat. “Gods, help us” was all I said as I clasped a hand around the bite.
Draven let out a war cry, giving me hope. He was still alive and fighting. But then everything went quiet—too quiet. Sweat dripped into my eyebrows as minutes ticked by with no sound. He would have opened the door by now if he was alive. I swallowed the cry bubbling inside. I couldn’t lose someone else I loved. As the silence went on for too long, my heart shriveled to nothing. My forehead was cold, pressed against the door, my tears falling thick and fast, when the lock turned. My gun was gone, lost to the scramble outside that door. All I could do was push myself as far against the wall as possible. There was no way I could fight a vampire with no weapon.
Draven appeared, and I did a double take. His blood-smeared face and bulging green eyes were everything I wanted to see.
“You’re alive,” I spluttered, tears falling down my cheeks and lips. I opened myself unwillingly, feeling his emotions rolling away from him—relief, fear, anxiety, all mixed in a pulse that knotted inside of him. “I’m sorry.” I wept and threw my arms around him.
As I did, he relaxed, and his breaths steadied. “I know,” he whispered, resting his head against mine for a few seconds before pulling away. “We can’t stop moving. I killed this one, but there will be more coming. We’re close to getting out.”
My eyes widened. “How did you kill it?” I moved my gaze down to his blood-soaked fingers, following him out into the low-lit tunnel.
He pointed at the shattered glass box on the wall readingFor use in an emergency. The ax from inside lay on the ground, next to the lifeless vampire. His head was separated from his body, his eyes open in surprise.
If I didn’t know any better, I would say he appeared normal, like any other man. “Your first kill,” I said, sorrow lacing my tone.
“Yes.”
I noticed blood seeping from his neck and arm. The vampire had bitten him too. “You cut its head off with the venom in your body,” I stated, admiration rising in me. There was little point in being quiet, with all the ruckus that had happened. They’d already have heard us.
“This way” was all he said. He passed me the keycard from his pocket. We reached a heavy door, and I shimmied between it and him. He pressed the card against the pad, waiting for the beep. Instead, a little light turned orange. Draven pushed his hand over the sensor without looking at it, which now lit up green.
The door opened, and I was surprised to find crisp air filling my lungs. I gulped it in, closing my eyes when gunshots sent me diving onto the gravel.
“Stay down!” Draven shouted as he fired off a round of bullets, slamming them into the heart of a man I couldn’t see.
