Chapter 6
Unfortunately, I was also totally lost. I had no idea where I was, and with all the creepiness of that night I even doubted when I was. The stars would have been useful if I knew how to read them, but since I didn't know the Ursa Major from a C Minor I took off in a random direction. There were only four cardinal directions to go. How wrong could I be? Apparently very wrong.
I managed to get out of the forest of dilapidated factories and into one of the less luxurious parts of town. There were abandoned cars without tires, or even rims, and every window in the tall apartment buildings was broken. The roads were potholes with short strips of broken concrete. Walls that weren't spray-painted with graffiti were-wait, there were no walls that didn't have graffiti. Shop doors were ajar because thieves had already stolen everything of value, and on the stoops of several apartment buildings sat the thieves themselves. They leered at me, and I shakily smiled back and hurried on. Far off I heard sirens and gunshots. The sirens faded into the distance, but the gunshots got closer. The whole place made my crummy street look like Malibu-Fort Knox.
Some of the stoop stooges decided I looked a little lost, which I was, and wanted to offer their help, which I didn't want. A particularly bad crowd, they had tattoos, buzz-cuts, and torn, blood-stained clothing, followed me off the steps of their wrecked apartment building. I nervously glanced back, and they hollered and hooted at me. It would take more than a few catcalls to flatter me, it would take them taking a bath.
I hurried my steps along the filthy street with no end to the ruin in sight. The men picked up their speed, and my instincts took over. They told me to run. I shot off down the street and the men gave chase, calling for me to stop. They whispered sweet promises of rape if I stopped, and promises of rape-murder if I didn't. None of those choices sounded good to me, but they were much faster than me. I thought to lose them in the maze of alleys that were pocketed between the apartment buildings, so I shot into the first one I came to. Bad idea. I ran a dozen yards down the alley before I realized a ten-foot tall brick wall stood in my path. It was a dead end, and the guys behind me meant to make that a literal description.
I skidded to a stop at the end of the alley and swung around to find the silhouette of the gang members standing in the opening to the alley. Their brass knuckles shined in the weak starlight, and their chuckles froze my blood. One of them, the leader, stepped forward. He was a particularly impressive specimen of his kind with yellowed, chipped teeth, a bald head that was marked with battle scars, and clothes that just screamed run, ladies!
He looked me over with a lecherous grin. "You look a little lost, lamb," he remarked. His cohorts snickered and tussled each other for the line behind their leader. He had first grabs on me. "Want us to help ya out?"
"N-no, I'm fine. Just going for a night stroll," I replied.
"The night can be pretty dangerous," the man commented. He took a few steps toward me and towered over my small, quivering frame. "Why don't ya let us help ya? We don't ask much."
"I don't have any money on me, so I guess I'll just have to find my own way." I tried to slip past him, but he grabbed my shoulder and pulled my back against his large, stinking chest. His hands wrapped around me and pinned me to him.
He leaned down and his breath smelled like the bottom of a public toilet. "Not so fast, girlie. Let's have some fun first, and then we'll let ya go. Maybe." One of his hands reached up and cupped my breast.
I squirmed and pulled, but I couldn't free myself. "No! Please don't!" I cried out.
"The night is too dangerous for you," a smooth voice spoke up. The men and I glanced at the front of the alley and saw-actually, we didn't see anyone there.
I took advantage of the guy's distraction by slipping down out of his grasp and jumping away from him. Unfortunately, that way was toward the brick wall. "You'd better do what the creepy voice said or it'll, um, bore you to death," I warned them.
The leader blinked, and a grin replaced his confused expression. He let out a great, bellowing laugh, and his minions hesitantly joined in. The man sneered and glanced around at the shadows. "Whoever ya are get out here and face us! Or are ya too scared to mess with my gang?" he challenged.
"Not too scared," the voice replied. I screamed when a form melted out of the shadows of the building right beside me. That fright nearly gave me the energy to scale the brick wall behind me, but I didn't try when I realized it was Vincent at my side. "Too indifferent," he added.
"Don't scare me like that!" I scolded him as I clutched onto my chest. My heart was playing drums for a heavy metal band, and it was on a solo part.
Fortunately, the leader was also frightened by Vincent's appearance and he stumbled back a few yards. "What the hell? Where did you come from?"
"Your nightmares," Vincent replied before he dove at the gang leader. Vincent latched onto the man's neck, and the leader changed from a bold, giant brute to a scared little girl in one high-pitched scream. His scream was cut off when he was struck with the lethargy of the vampire bite. The men behind him made a chorus of tenors as they turned tail and ran. Vincent flung the man backward and the gang leader sailed past me and hit face-first into the brick wall. The vampire shot off after the retreating gang members and I was glad when they all rounded the corners and I could only hear their terror rather than see what Vincent was doing to them.
I also didn't want to stick around to see what plans Vincent had for me. I swung around and saw my way out in the form of the would-be rapist. The man was aware enough to raise himself on his hands and knees, and that gave me just the boost I needed. I ran at him, jumped onto his solid back, and used him as a springboard to grasp the top of the brick wall. The gang leader crumbled beneath my shoes, but I had my hold and pulled myself over. I dropped down the other side and high-tailed it down the other side of the alley. I didn't get far before a moving shadow swooped out of the unmoving shadows and stood in my way.
"I'm not going back with you," I refused.
Vincent's voice was flat-line and bored. "That isn't why I followed you," he replied.
I raised an eyebrow and narrowed my eyes. "Then why did you follow me? Feeling a bit peckish?"
"I'm fond of my existence, and my existence is bound to yours. If you die, I die," he reminded me.
"So you were just saving your own neck by biting theirs?" I quipped.
"Exactly. I was also thirsty. You drained me of most of my energy."
"You mean with that glowy light thing?" I guessed, and he nodded. "What was that, anyway?"
"Your body reacted to danger and your wound by stealing my life-force to rejuvenate your own."
I snorted. "I like to think of it as permanent borrowing."
"I don't care."
I frowned and crossed my arms. "Obviously, but mind getting out of my way so we can go our separate ways?"
"Without a guide you will destroy us both," he argued.
"Are you trying to tell me that I can't take care of myself?" I asked him.
"Wouldn't think of it," he blandly replied.
"Good, because otherwise I'd have to kill you, or destroy you, or whatever I need to do to make you into something a vacuum can take care of."
"That would kill you," he pointed out.
I waved away his comment. "Details, details, now are you going to be my guide or do I have to go off and practice my damsel-in-distress routine again?" Vincent's mouth straightened into a perfect line, and before I could stop him he'd lifted me in his arms and sped out of the alley and down the street.
The wind whipped past us, and my hair whipped me. "I can walk!" I protested as I pulled my hair out of my mouth and eyes.
"Your ability is not in question, it is the speed that is up for debate," he replied.
"My speed is just fine for a human!"
"Your speed is pathetic for what you have become."
I rolled my eyes. "Don't give me the sam
e b.s. that Bat was saying, or I'll slug you with a cross."
"That is mere fiction," he retorted.
"Baseball bat smothered in garlic?" I suggested.
"That is fact."
"Then I'll beat you with a bat if you don't let me-"
"We're there." Vincent jerked to a stop and unceremoniously dropped me to the hard ground. I yelped and glared up at him as I rubbed my wounded posterior.
"Could you give a warning before you put on the brakes? Something like a light on your nose blinking?" I requested.
"Look around."
I growled, but my eyes heeded his command and glanced around us. That's when I realized we stood in front of my apartment building. We'd covered a dozen miles in one bantering session. "Wow," I murmured in awe.
"If you can take care of yourself than surely you have no more need of me. Goodnight." He whipped away down the street, but managed to whip my hair into my eyes one last time.
I pulled the loose strands aside and growled. "That vampire is more than a pain in the neck," I grumbled. I stood and hurried inside to escape the dark and the stupid creatures it held. My apartment was safely reached, but then I realized I'd lost my key during all the 'fun' of the evening.