Chapter 10
" Mr Franklin?"
My brow raised a little and I flinched at the sharp shot of pain that followed. I was beyond confused. My head hurt, my heart pounded yet all I could do was look at him; along with every other twenty-something pairs of eyes in the room. He looked different. Everything about him looked odd. Gone was the warm smile of pride that usually graced his features. Instead his lips were thin and quirked in a chilling manner. His eyes, when they met mine, sent a lump of dread dropping into the very pits of my stomach.
I felt someone squeeze my frozen fingers, and I glanced up at Adams weary face, realising my hand had unconsciously found its way into his.
" Enough is Enough, Edward ." Mrs Handcock's command sliced cross the room like a blade, her voice fiercely determined and yet I felt her tremble by my side. " I wont let you harm these students. Not now, not ever!"
Harm us? Why would he want to harm us? I pondered to myself in alarm. By the look of Adams face, he was wondering the same thing.
Mr Franklin chuckled, a low sound that resonated from wall to wall. His cool gaze slowly washed over every one of us in turn. It was like watching a wolf watch a herd of frightened sheep.
" How happy I am to see you all gathered here." His expression was sickening; one of a perverse nature and full of mockery. He leaned towards a small blonde girl and placed his hand upon her head in an almost fatherly manner - ruffling her hair. He mumbled to himself, " And so little time left. Soon, all the missing puzzle pieces will fall into place and I. will. Be. Magnanimous!"
" Oh pal-lease! I heard Emily's remark under her breath and almost rolled my eyes at her. Silly girl just didn't know when to keep her mouth closed.
His promising glare told that whatever fate he had in mind for us - Emily would be his first victim.
The house keeper, Mrs Handcock, was in front of her within a second. Putting herself between us and our deranged tutor. "Enough. Leave this house, you are playing with something not even you could have control over. I'm warning you…"
"Your warning ME?" He cut her off so suddenly, daring her to continue her threat - whatever that may be. "Come, Come… Integra. Do you think you can protect them? Did you think you could have it all, a pitiful weakling of a human like yourself?"
Integra? We all glanced uneasily from one to the other, both of them staring each other down in a silent battle. For a moment the room span before my eyes, a strange whirlpool of colours and sensations until I finally steadied myself - Mrs Handcock looked at me in what seemed like sympathy.
It was then I noticed it.
Thickness in the air. The hairs on the nape of my neck standing to attention and I realised… we were being watched. Yet everybody else was more concerned with the two adults that seemed ready to rip each other throats out.
Something shifted in the corner of my vision and once again my gaze sought the shadows for some unseen foe lurking in its depth. The image of the bloodthirsty creature from the basement still implanted firmly in my mind like a thorn. Something was out there, or… someone.
There it was again to my left.
" Adam." Even to myself my voice sounded panicked. " Adam." I whispered in earnest to him as another shadow moved behind the hunched form of Mr Franklin. Why was Adam not answering? I looked up to find his attention was on something at the foot of the grand staircase, transfixed, his face drawn with weariness and turning pale. I followed his gaze, a scream rising up the back of my throat only to be muffled by my trembling hand.
Eyes. Red and glowing gleamed through the shadows like dreaded beacons. Burning ambers that came from the very pits of hell itself. There was so many of them.
" Oh my god, what the hell is that?!" Jades voice was a mere whisper by my side.
Carefully so as not to draw attention, Adam scooted back, taking both me and Jade with him. Guarding us with his own slender body. Slowly. Silently. Indicating with a nod of his head towards the door. No one seemed to notice. The students were too busy shuffling around and creating chaos, watching the eyes that followed them with unease.
" Mr Franklin, what's going on?" one boy asked.
" Were going to die!" another girl wailed, " and I haven't even lost my virginity yet!"
We were so close to the door, making our way through the crowd, no one even glancing our way.
Or so I thought.
We nearly made it. My legs trembling so badly that I had to cling to Adam for support.
I inhaled deeply to sigh in relief, but it never made it out of my mouth.
Something cold and hard like stone clamped over my wrist. Wrenching me from my two companions.
For a moment I couldn't see clearly. Couldn't hear what was happening. Everything was whirl as I struggled against my captor.
Somewhere in the distance I heard Adam shot my name, followed by a soft grunt of pain. I seized fighting the moment my head was jerked back almost unnaturally.
A face hovered before me. My god, what a face! A horrid pale thing with spits of flames for eyes that seemed to devour me and then spit me back out again in loathing. His hands, one in my hair wrenching my head back, the other on my twisted arm, where gnarled with long nails like the talons of a wild bird.
The thing 'smiled' at me; two razor sharp canines glinting at me in warning.
" Let her go."
I turned to Adam desperately, watching as two other creatures glided from the darkness to push him effortlessly to his knees.
They were everywhere. All around me students shrieked and ran as the creatures leapt upon them like tigers. What were these things?
They looked familiar. But how? Then it clicked in me. Red eyes. Long fangs. Pale skin. Could it be that they were…?
Vampires are not real, Lizzy, don't be ridiculous, I chanted silently to myself. Yet the closer the thing leaned in towards me, I started to believe that anything could be possible.
The other creature, the one in the basement, had that not too drank blood and killed a fellow student?
"Let her go!" Adam shout was sharp and cut off short by a loud resounding crack. The impact of a lone figures boot across his skull sent him reeling to the floor.
My struggles started a new, with courage. My captors finger digging further into my already battered limb.
"No, stop it!" I cried, tears forming yet I refused to let them fall. " Please."
My captor chuckled, its soft dangerous sound rumbled through me like a cats purr.
I looked to the one person whom I knew could help, yet the moment I caught sight of Mrs Handcock struggling with her own 'vampire friends' - I knew we were doomed.
" Now," Mr Franklin piped up from the other side of the room, his voice holding a note of impatience. " are we going to play nicely?"
" You bloody coward." Mrs Handcock pushed forward against those holding her, trying to get as close to the older male as possible. " What do you think is going to happen? That the world will just bow and grovel at your feet like a god? Do you think he will grovel to you like dog?"
" I 'will' be a god." He retorted almost nonchalantly, smiling at her struggles. " I will place fear into the hearts of every human breathing for I will be master of the most powerful creature in this universe." His tone of voice seemed to become gentle for a moment, his fingers rising to float across her aged face in an almost loving gesture, " Integra, we humans don't deserve this earth. Its 'theirs'…" he said indicating the many vampires in the room, " It always has been. We are at the bottom of the food chain. We live as though we are superior when in fact all we do is pillage and murder our own kind. But soon that will all change. Vampires will rule all and everything, with me as their master…"
Just as he finish his 'I'm-the-king-of-the-castle' speech, a low rumble echoed menacingly around the room. A chuckle. So chilling, its echo ran all the way down my spine like spiders legs.
" You humans are so sentimental." The voice was dark, almost compelling in strange ethereal sort of way. If I were to sit and listen to it for hours I swear I would become entranced; it would feel like being drunk.
Gasps and small cries of distress echoed around the students and I slowly turned towards the tall broad shadow that seemed to glide from the shadows.
My own gasp escaping me.
Rippling crimson orbs gleamed from a pale face. Black hair, wild and unkempt floated about his form like a gothic halo. His form encompassed in slick leather, creaked, as he stepped elegantly into clear light. His thick, heavy boots resounding like a death toll to my ears.
It was him.
The monster from the basement, he'd found us.