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Dante turns on his heels.
Fuck.
He lights up when he sees me, his expression turning impish. “Deni! What a delight.”
Even though I’m not looking at her, I can feel Mel’s gaze on me and I know she wants to strangle me.
Hoping that we’re all having the same thought, I raise my hands to my ears and plug them with my fingers. Despite this, Mel’s scream nearly knocks me off my feet anyway. Pain shoots through my head, my vision going dark. For a moment, it’s as if my mind shatters. I forget who I am or where or why, unable to focus on anything but the most horrendous sound I’ve ever heard, like the cries of everyone who has ever suffered all turning into one cacophony of terror.
When I come to, my ears are still ringing. Only then do I notice that I’ve fallen, crumpled up two steps from the top of the stairs. Ibrahim is already moving, his body even larger than I remember it, grabbing the first vampire by his shirt. Flames burst forth from his hands, enveloping the vampire. The others have been thrown back, not only by Mel’s scream but, as I notice now, by her machine pistol, the barrel of which is smoking lightly.
Still recovering, I look around the room. Where is he?
My question is answered the very next moment when something fast tackles me into the stairwell. The bones in my back crack as I hit the wall. I can feel the panic rising in me as he holds me down but this time, I have no reason to hold back. My mind goes blank, my body tense like a drawn bow. The only thing left when I give myself over to the vampire is the desire to kill, because no matter how corrupt, even this part of me loves Celeste.
I tear into him with my teeth and my nails, twisting like a cat to slip out beneath him. I yank him off his feet and we fall onto the stairs. The next moment, he throws me into the wall, my back hitting the metal handrail. With an angry growl, I grab onto the railing and tear part of it free.
He yelps as I stab it through his stomach and stumbles back. It’s not wood and therefore can’t kill him but I wouldn’t mind driving it into his heart anyway. Using the wall behind me to push off, I launch after him. We roll over the floor, growling and hissing like animals.
By now, the sun has come up and my skin hisses every time I pass through one of the lone sunrays dappling the dusty floor. The heat of the daylight is gruesome – it’s too bright in here. As we fight, I can hear the occasional rattle of Mel’s gun or the sound of a scream as one of the vampires is hurled out of the building and into the sunlight.
Dante manages to throw me off and kicks me hard enough to send me flying back. Turning, he sets himself a new target, his face mad with rage. He reaches Mel before I can catch up with him.
Another one of the vampires tackles me from the side, stopping me from interfering. He’s the only one left beside Dante. Ibrahim stands there looking between us, unable to use his fire for fear of burning me or Mel.
Dante kicks Mel hard in the stomach and yanks the gun from her grip. I wrestle the vampire holding me down until I can slip from his grip, launching toward Dante. Behind me, the man screams as Ibrahim turns his flaming hands on him.
I skid to a halt. Dante has managed to grab on to Mel, wrapping his arm around her from behind and holding the gun to her head. He grins at me. “Fun’s over, kid.”
Ibrahim raises his hands in a show of peace. “What do you want?”
“Ah, fuck that,” Mel swears, looking at him. “Don’t negotiate with terrorists!”
Dante shoves the gun into her temple. “Shut up!”
For perhaps the first time in her life, Mel does as she’s told, though she does not spare us an eyeroll.
Dante lets go of her and steps back, still holding the gun pressed firmly to her head. “I want you to leave.” He circles around Mel, eyes trained on me. “And I want you to get the hell out of this city and never come back.”
I growl, watching his steps. “I’m not going anywhere without Celeste.”
He opens his mouth to reply but never does. One of his feet catches on a root – to my vampire eyes it almost looks like the root reached up to grab him – and as he catches his balance, for just a second, lets the gun’s barrel slip from Mel’s head.
It wouldn’t be enough time to act for a human. But I’m no longer human. I cross the distance between us in the fraction of a second, tackling him. The gun fires and hits the ceiling. Mel ducks, and Ibrahim yells my name.
A moment later, the force of my tackle pushes us through the tarp protecting the building from the elements, launching us into the open air. Sunlight envelops us. I scream as we burst into flame.
***
I never hit the ground. Before I can even begin my descend, someone grabs a hold of me, someone who seems to have a hundred gentle hands. I watch the flaming Dante descend into the parking lot as I am pulled back into the building, shielded from the sun, enveloped. It takes me a moment to realize that it’s the vines that have caught me. Like tendrils, they wrap themselves around me, not only pulling me back into the building but into its centre, where they form a solid column. My skin is blistered and cracked where it wasn’t covered with clothing but despite the pain, the damage doesn’t reach nearly as deep as last time.
Despite a strong sense of claustrophobia, I let the vines wrap themselves around me, embedding me into their structure. They brush my skin and weave through my hair as I get pulled deeper and deeper.
Eventually, my fingers brush skin. I reach out, the vines giving way to me, reaching for her body with my hands. We find each other in the mess of the vines, pulling until nothing remains between us, my arms around her neck, her arms around my waist. Through the green I can see a mess of red hair and then her face is buried against my neck.
“You came,” she says quietly. “I didn’t know if I deserved saving.”
“Of course I came,” I reply. “I love you.”
