I disclaim any ownership of anything to do with the Night World books. But
all the stuff that I've made up is mine! All mine!
Tamashii: You'll find out in this chapter I do believe.
Eri: And here it is!
Practikalmagik: I think I may enjoy writing my rhyming couplets a bit too much... And you didn't want me to end it on a bad bit, surely? Lol.
Candika: I am not the most punctual of updaters, mainly coz I have exams (next week they start) but I'm trying my best! I'm glad you love it!
Neoen: Yup she is. Let's hope she doesn't go too crazy. She might do something that she ends up regretting...
Thanks to my reviewers! You are all superstars! But I'm sad to see that fewer people have reviewed than last time :( so come on! Let's try and break the record of seven reviews for one chapter! ^_^
~ Review or die! Only joking! This is a telepathic message. But seriously, if ya read it, review! ~
And now, on with the show! Or story, whatever. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Time had no meaning here. Eternally dark, forever cold, and utterly unchanging, the room that imprisoned them all was beginning to seem claustrophobic to Kel. Often, she had imagined the walls to be closing in on her, her brain's futile attempt to add variety to the monotonous scene, her mind playing tricks on her. But she would not be fooled any longer. She knew about the Night World, about Jake and his murderous intent. She knew about Malachi Redfern and his sick decimation of Charlie, his corruption of Jess. And though Kel understood that it might take her one month, one year, or even a thousand years, she promised herself revenge on them both. It was what she deserved. It was what she would do to avenge her friends, and stop those monsters from ever hurting anybody else again.
She stared blankly at the ceiling, her emerald eyes wide as ideas simmered and whirled round in her rage-blinded head. She had spent some time drifting in and out of sleep, her dreams filled with vengeful yearnings and her waking moments spent in boredom. She had already counted the 472 ceiling tiles twice, all made of rough white plaster smeared over some harder material, maybe stone or bricks. It was hard to see in the darkness - the braziers offered the minimum possible amount of light and heat. Kel found herself wondering just where they were. She hoped it wasn't too far from London, or from home.
She glanced anxiously over at Jess. She lay awkwardly upon the floor, oddly still, her limps jutting out at painful angled, her torso twisted. Jess' hair was unkempt and dull, still saturated with dried blood. Even now, Kel refused to believe that her annoying friend was actually a vampire. She had been so lively, so bright, but now her cheery spirit was clearly quelled. Kel had moved her limp body to another corner, away from Charlie's remains, much to the disdain of Colm. He'd thought she was being too sentimental. Colm was right though, because if things got desperate and they couldn't get out, they would have to kill her. With a stake. The absurdity of the notion had almost made her laugh, but Colm and Burdette were deadly serious. Every time she thought of it, she remembered Buffy on TV, and found herself speculating whether Jess would collapse into fragments of dust or not. Of course, after the initial humour, Kel had been utterly sickened. Killing a friend was not going to be pleasant, and she hoped that it would not come to that. She didn't think she would be able to murder Jess, even if it was a question of life or death.
As Kel had moved her, Jess' body had felt stiff and hard with rigor mortis, cold to the touch, appearing ashen pale, almost white in places, her eyes lifeless and glazed over, like the ones you saw on the corpses of dead rabbits. It had been hard to move her, being tied up and all, but Kel hated the thought of Jess lying there wallowing in her brother's entrails. That was sick. Jess had seemed dead throughout, not at all vampiric. Her flesh was slightly clammy and spongy to the touch. Apparently, that was supposed to happen. When you were changed into a vampire, you died, in essence, and then came back to life, well sort of anyway.
Kel didn't know why she was trusting Colm and Burdette, two perfect strangers, and both of them Night Worlders to boot. Maybe in a different situation she would have tried to kill them both. Not that a human was really going to be successful against their superior powers and skills. But they were Daybreakers. From what Burdette had said to her, Kel was glad that they had a vision of everyone living together, humans, and the Night people. That reminded her of the soulmate principal. Kel didn't really buy it, but there must have been some credibility to the story somewhere. That would be worth pursuing when they escaped. If they escaped...
"Hey Kel," Burdette called.
Kel snapped her head round, realising that she had been staring and being pensive for quite a while now. She saw that Burdette was nestled in the opposite corner, a small, optimistic smile on her face. Colm had, by some feat of athletic ingenuity, managed to get to his feet and was now examining the walls as best he could with his feet and hands bound up. As he took small jumps to move around, Kel could not suppress a giggle of amusement.
~ What's so funny? ~ His face was utterly serious as he turned to face her, but his bright, outlandish purple eyes held a glimmer of humour within them.
"Nothing, nothing," she replied, smoothing out her smile, her expression equally solemn.
Colm got back to his investigations, as Burdette impatiently motioned for Kel to join her in the corner, a sparkle of excitement lighting up her usually calm grey eyes, turning them a shimmery silvery colour.
Kel threw herself dramatically to the ground and did a sausage roll to get to Burdette. It was painful, and tiny pieces of stone, gravel, sand and grit dug into her body and became entangled in her slightly knotted and messy dark hair, but that wasn't really important right now. She didn't care what she looked like; next to Burdette she would always look plain. She winced as a sharp bit of stone pierced her lip, and as she finally got to Burdette, she tasted the metallic salty tang of blood dripping into her mouth. It reminded her of Jess again, and all that she had seen today, and it made a sudden chill come over her, dampening the momentary forgetful cheerfulness that had been in her heart.
"Great moves!" the red haired witch laughed as Kel wriggled and heaved herself into a sitting position. Kel did not join in with the mirth, and soon Burdette stopped giggling, noticing that the human had withdrawn herself again. She felt pity for Kel, and wondered if she'd been affected in some way by the awful events that had happened to her.
"So what do you want?" Kel asked, genuinely curious, an earnest frown upon her face.
"Let me see your hands," she instructed, and Kel unquestioningly stuck them out in front of her. "Ah, I thought so. They've tied you up with non- magical bonds. I can free you easily enough."
"Wasn't that a bit dumb of them?" Kel said suspiciously.
"Well, you are human, and these are plenty strong enough to hold someone with twice your strength," Burdette said with a gentle smile. "Maybe they didn't expect you and us to actually get together to escape. A witch or vampire could break through these in a second."
"Oh," she replied, feeling slightly inadequate. "Go on then."
Burdette simply focused her gaze upon the binding ropes, a look of ferocious, intense concentration upon her features, her eyes narrowed almost evilly. Kel found herself suddenly afraid, but forced herself not to flinch. She made herself look at the ceiling, ignoring what was going on before her.
But she quickly turned to look again, as a bright, poppy-red light engulfed Burdette's hands, which were pressed close to her own. Kel's first instinct was to scream, but then she recognized that she wasn't in pain. She wasn't burning at all. She glanced at Burdette, and Kel saw how the blazing glow reflected in her eyes and danced in her hair, as if the girl was a fire- goddess. As suddenly as it had appeared, the light diminished and vanished promptly. And the ropes were gone.
"Oh my God that was...." Kel found herself speechless in the face of such an amazing sight. This was another piece of proof confirming the existence of the Night World, and Kel was finding increasingly hard to pretend that it wasn't real. Because, deep down, she felt like she was living in a dream, as if she would wake up soon. Even as she tried to believe, she was still in denial. However, soon she was going to have to face up to it all. Kel did not want to do this, but whether she liked it or not, it was going to happen.
"Good, huh?" Burdette looked quite surprised at Kel's wonderment. "I'll do your feet now."
"Yeah," said Kel distractedly. She was so mystified and impressed by the witch's last display of power she completely missed her repeating the spectacle to undo her feet.
"Done!" announced Burdette happily, and Kel stared down at her limbs. Experimentally, she wiggled her feet and stretched her arms, feeling them click and begin to ache with rigid stiffness. She then stood up, but her legs were so weak and unused for so long that she promptly collapsed again, landing in a heap on the floor.
"Careful," Colm said, falling gracefully into a sitting position near Burdette and Kel. "OK, Burdette, try my bonds now. 14 hours have gone past, so we have less than 10 hours. It's 8 'o' clock in the morning right now."
Kel was amazed at that. She had slept for 14 hours! Well, it wasn't surprising. But it just seemed to have passed so fast. They were running out of time, and Kel could now see the urgency of it all.
Burdette dragged herself with some difficulty along next to Colm, and began trying free him. Her red fire streamed Kel levered herself up and lolled upon the floor, feeling pins and needles creep into her ankles. She felt tired now, for some reason, but fought the fatigue. She had too many questions to ask, and it would not do to waste time by sleeping.
"Colm, how did you two get here?" Kel enquired lazily.
"Long story," muttered Burdette bitterly, directing an especially ferocious blast of fire at Colm's bonds.
~ We were on a mission for Daybreak. ~ Colm explained. ~ Basically, we've been hearing some rumours that Malachi Redfern is planning something. ~
"Something big," Burdette added. "And obviously, meant to cause panic and fear. We're quite lucky in that the UK has not been hit with any serious, irrefutable attacks from the Night World at present."
~ But we are convinced that the Night World is aiming to destroy a huge part of the UK in one sweep. It is a small place, compared to America, so therefore easier to conquer all at once. But so far, all we had was assumption and gossip to go on. And so we decided to check out the Black Iris, do some snooping around in Redfern's office. We found some information, but we barely had time to look at it. It did confirm that something is in place, but exactly what we are not sure. We were just about to leave, when the band, Bloodmoon came into the office. Unfortunately, we had no idea that Bloodmoon were of the Night World, and so we tried to get them out, revealing ourselves as Daybreakers. We soon realised of course that they were not human, but by then escape was impossible, after a short struggle the band members caught us both. They handed us over to Malachi Redfern who knocked us out and brought us here. ~
"That sounds... bad." Kel couldn't think of anything better to say than that. "So it's really important that you get out?"
"You could say that," Colm replied wryly. "Our information is vital to the investigative process."
"And with us gone, the Daybreakers back at HQ will eventually ascertain that there is a problem, but it could take ages for them to figure it all out, and by then it could be too late." Burdette looked terribly worried as she said this.
"Right, so how are we going to escape? You haven't actually told me yet," Kel said with apprehensive concern.
"It's simple enough. We just have to get untied," said Colm. "I've observed that a guard comes in here twice daily to leave a dish of water and some bread." He pointed at the plate and something that resembled a dog dish, both of them empty. Kel realised that, actually, she was hungry. When had she last eaten? Her stomach rumbled, and she grinned in embarrassment. Colm gave her a half-serious, half silly look, but Burdette did not seem to notice. She was intent on breaking the ropes. Now reminded of her hunger, Kel felt a dull twinge of hunger inside her.
"When restrained, we obviously were no match for him," Colm added. "But, if we can get free, we can at least get out of this cell and away from Jess, and maybe we'll have a fighting chance at escaping from this dump."
"OK!" Kel said, exuding a confidence that she did not really feel. "How's it coming along, Burdette?"
"Nearly.... there..." Burdette gasped, not even glancing at Kel.
~ I wouldn't disturb her if I were you. ~
"Right. Well. I'm going to take a nap. When will the guard come? I am absolutely starving."
~ He'll be coming at around five 'o' clock. ~
"Doesn't leave us much time, does it?" she murmured worriedly as she settled down against the wall, surveying the pair of Daybreakers. Burdette looked absolutely shattered, her face bathed in sweat, yet she still continued.
~ No. But what can we do? ~
Kel nodded tiredly. "Indeed," she replied as she let sleep steal slowly upon her.
*** ~ Kelsey! Kel! Wake up! ~
Abruptly, she felt herself being shaken roughly back to life again, a voice that seemed to sound from within her echoing through her sleep fuddled brain.
"Wha... what?" she mumbled, covering her ears with her hands, her eyes scrunched up tightly, curled up in the foetal position, her arms hugging herself in a childlike indication of fear.
~ KEL WAKE UP RIGHT NOW! ~
That roused her perfectly, much to Kel's furious dismay. She felt violent hands yank her upwards, defying gravity and her eyes flew open at once, expressing the surprise and primitive dread that engulfed her soul. Pain exploded ferociously in her left shoulder, her arm almost pulled out of its socket.
"Hey!" she yelled, slurring the word sleepily, stumbling as she tried to regain control of her feet, which were having trouble adjusting to standing up the floor.
Suddenly, she found herself inches from Colm's face, and decided that it wasn't too bad at all, but it was a shame that he looked absolutely livid and terrified all at once, and was shaking her so violently that her brains felt like they had been stuffed in an electric blender for several hours.
"Kelsey, the guard is coming. THE GUARD IS COMING," he hissed.
Kel looked past the angry vampire. Clearly Burdette had managed to untie Colm's bonds, but Burdette herself languished upon the floor, still trying hopelessly to burn off her own bonds, but as they were the most magic resistant, it was clearly hard for her, especially with her strength dimmed.
"What about Burdette?" Kel whispered in a low monotone.
"I'll carry her. OK you take this," he said, pushing what unmistakably was a wooden stake into her grasp. "When the door opens, I'll go for him, and when he's down, you come in and stick that into his chest, around his heart."
"What?" Kel exclaimed, forgetting to keep her voice down. "Colm I so cannot do this. I am not a fighter or anything and..."
"Do you think I would be asking you to do this if there was any possible alternative?" he replied in irritation. "Burdette is out. Vampire girl is set to wake up any second now. We have to get out of here. Can you do this? I need backup and this is our one chance. Our only hope. Do you understand?"
"Yes," she said quietly, a look of determination on her face. "Just point me in the right direction and I'll be there."
Kel realised that sounded very cheesy indeed. Her life was fast becoming one of those utterly implausible yet exciting horror movies. Well, at least they were very addictive to watch, and she was the heroine, right? Great. It was all good in theory, of course, but in real life it totally sucked. Honestly. She doubted anyone would believe her if she said this though.
She weighed the stake in her hand idly, noting that it was very sharp and pointy. Good. She needed every advantage possible if she was realistically going to slay the guard. By the door, Colm braced himself. Probably he could hear the guard's footsteps, due to his vampiric senses and all, but Kel could hear nothing but silence and the faint, laboured breathing sounds of Burdette.
This would be good practice if she were to get her revenge on Malachi Redfern effectively and easily. And if Jake turned out to be a bloodsucker then he too would be in for it.
She could hear the footsteps now. Louder and louder they came, regular as a heartbeat. Sinister, slow and deadly. Her pulse echoed faster and faster in her head as adrenaline began to pump through her veins, making her tense, nervous and strangely excited all at once, even though she was dreading the encounter. Apart from the approaching guards feet, it was totally silent in the room.
What was she thinking? She didn't even know what she was supposed to do, hardly. All that Kel knew was that she was very unprepared and generally unskilled in the arts of fighting and killing.
Hardly useful and relevant information, was it?
Then two things happened simultaneously.
The foolproof iron door of the cell opened. Somebody stepped inside.
Burdette began to scream, a sound of pure, unrestrained, pain-filled agony.
Admirably, Colm launched himself at the man, who was knocked for six by this unexpected, violent and powerful attack. The body of the guard slammed to the wall, a stream of ruby red fluid dripping from his skull. But Kel was more concerned with Burdette. She found herself turning towards the witch.
"Burdette are you OK..."
And what she saw entirely frightened her out of her mind, rendering her speechless.
It was Jess. Jess the vampire had risen from the dead. And she was feeding upon the rapidly failing Burdette, her face buried in the witch's bare neck. All around, Kel could see blood pouring from the girl's body in a never-ending river, a flood of crimson. Jess' hair was now scarlet in places. This was proof. Jess was no longer human. Kel could barely believe it. Her friend's arms were now sinewy and peculiarly powerful as they actually dug into the witch's limp, grey body. Burdette had stopped screeching and was now very, very still, her grey eyes like slabs of paving concrete on a rainy day.
~ Kel! Now! Stake him! ~
But she did not even notice Colm's telepathic message. She was mesmerised, hypnotised by this surreal vision. Colm snatched the stake from her yielding, motionless hands in anger, but Kel did not see or sense this in any way.
Suddenly Jess looked up at her. Kel's eyes actually widened in horror at the grisly sight. Jess' eyes were darker and wider; almost pitch black, the pupils merged with the irises, a look of terrifying, dizzyingly feral madness alive in their expression. Her skin seemed lighter, more delicate in colour, but dazzlingly beautiful, almost carved out of ice. The long canines that jutted elegantly from her mouth were like a work of art in themselves. Her hair was like strands of sunshine, actually seeming to be made of light, so soft and silken. The paleness of the newly made vampire made for a stark and undeniable contrast with the blood smeared all over her face, her teeth, and her hair. Burdette's blood.
Then, with a wolfish snarl, a hungry look in her eyes, Jess launched herself at Kel.
Kel was fully aware of this, yet she stayed perfectly still, wishing with futile hope that Jess would come to her senses and remember her.
"Jess it's me! Kel! Kelsey Murdoch, remember?"
But Jess did not even pause for thought, hurtling towards Kel with a speed fuelled by her bloody, gory appetite, her eyes trained upon her throat.
Kel would not move.
Jess could not stop.
Kel did not want to give up on her friend. To run would have been admitting that she was no longer the old Jess. She did not want to believe that Jess was a vampire.
Jess was fuelled by bloodlust. If you had a pulse and were in the immediate area, you were as good as dead.
Jess was literally inches from Kel when she found herself sliding away, moving faster than she had ever done before. Her eyes watered, the bare eyeballs stinging as fast-moving air rushed past them. The world became a vague blur visually, but she could still hear the feral screams of Jess. And then the sound of a door being slammed shut, and a dull thud. Finally, more wild, hungry screams, and squelching, tearing, violent sounds, very faint, but just about audible.
When they had stopped, Kel rubbed her eyes and looked. They were in some corridor, dusky light pouring from a window that was quite far up ahead. The walls were just breeze-blocks, the floor poured concrete, covered in dust and other debris. They were out! Free! But not even that could make her forget what had just happened. Burdette... Jess... Gone forever.
~ You OK? ~ Colm asked. Kel turned to face him. His face was ashen, grief plainly visible, his jaw taut, holding back some passionate emotion. The beautiful violet of his eyes was dimmed, and she could see tears, unshed, lingering there. Colm looked as messy, dirty, hurt and tired as she felt.
Kel felt like laughing now. Or crying.
"OK? Am I OK? Not even close," she murmured absently.
Tears spilled unnoticed, making tracks in the dirt on her face. But inside, all she felt was overwhelming rage.
Oh, the joy of freedom.
Revenge better be sweeter than this.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kel is free,
That is true,
But Jake watch out,
She's coming for you.
As a final note,
I must say,
Please review,
It makes my day!
SEE IF YOU CAN MAKE IT OVER SEVEN REVIEWS! ^_^ It is a very long chapter though!
Tamashii: You'll find out in this chapter I do believe.
Eri: And here it is!
Practikalmagik: I think I may enjoy writing my rhyming couplets a bit too much... And you didn't want me to end it on a bad bit, surely? Lol.
Candika: I am not the most punctual of updaters, mainly coz I have exams (next week they start) but I'm trying my best! I'm glad you love it!
Neoen: Yup she is. Let's hope she doesn't go too crazy. She might do something that she ends up regretting...
Thanks to my reviewers! You are all superstars! But I'm sad to see that fewer people have reviewed than last time :( so come on! Let's try and break the record of seven reviews for one chapter! ^_^
~ Review or die! Only joking! This is a telepathic message. But seriously, if ya read it, review! ~
And now, on with the show! Or story, whatever. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Time had no meaning here. Eternally dark, forever cold, and utterly unchanging, the room that imprisoned them all was beginning to seem claustrophobic to Kel. Often, she had imagined the walls to be closing in on her, her brain's futile attempt to add variety to the monotonous scene, her mind playing tricks on her. But she would not be fooled any longer. She knew about the Night World, about Jake and his murderous intent. She knew about Malachi Redfern and his sick decimation of Charlie, his corruption of Jess. And though Kel understood that it might take her one month, one year, or even a thousand years, she promised herself revenge on them both. It was what she deserved. It was what she would do to avenge her friends, and stop those monsters from ever hurting anybody else again.
She stared blankly at the ceiling, her emerald eyes wide as ideas simmered and whirled round in her rage-blinded head. She had spent some time drifting in and out of sleep, her dreams filled with vengeful yearnings and her waking moments spent in boredom. She had already counted the 472 ceiling tiles twice, all made of rough white plaster smeared over some harder material, maybe stone or bricks. It was hard to see in the darkness - the braziers offered the minimum possible amount of light and heat. Kel found herself wondering just where they were. She hoped it wasn't too far from London, or from home.
She glanced anxiously over at Jess. She lay awkwardly upon the floor, oddly still, her limps jutting out at painful angled, her torso twisted. Jess' hair was unkempt and dull, still saturated with dried blood. Even now, Kel refused to believe that her annoying friend was actually a vampire. She had been so lively, so bright, but now her cheery spirit was clearly quelled. Kel had moved her limp body to another corner, away from Charlie's remains, much to the disdain of Colm. He'd thought she was being too sentimental. Colm was right though, because if things got desperate and they couldn't get out, they would have to kill her. With a stake. The absurdity of the notion had almost made her laugh, but Colm and Burdette were deadly serious. Every time she thought of it, she remembered Buffy on TV, and found herself speculating whether Jess would collapse into fragments of dust or not. Of course, after the initial humour, Kel had been utterly sickened. Killing a friend was not going to be pleasant, and she hoped that it would not come to that. She didn't think she would be able to murder Jess, even if it was a question of life or death.
As Kel had moved her, Jess' body had felt stiff and hard with rigor mortis, cold to the touch, appearing ashen pale, almost white in places, her eyes lifeless and glazed over, like the ones you saw on the corpses of dead rabbits. It had been hard to move her, being tied up and all, but Kel hated the thought of Jess lying there wallowing in her brother's entrails. That was sick. Jess had seemed dead throughout, not at all vampiric. Her flesh was slightly clammy and spongy to the touch. Apparently, that was supposed to happen. When you were changed into a vampire, you died, in essence, and then came back to life, well sort of anyway.
Kel didn't know why she was trusting Colm and Burdette, two perfect strangers, and both of them Night Worlders to boot. Maybe in a different situation she would have tried to kill them both. Not that a human was really going to be successful against their superior powers and skills. But they were Daybreakers. From what Burdette had said to her, Kel was glad that they had a vision of everyone living together, humans, and the Night people. That reminded her of the soulmate principal. Kel didn't really buy it, but there must have been some credibility to the story somewhere. That would be worth pursuing when they escaped. If they escaped...
"Hey Kel," Burdette called.
Kel snapped her head round, realising that she had been staring and being pensive for quite a while now. She saw that Burdette was nestled in the opposite corner, a small, optimistic smile on her face. Colm had, by some feat of athletic ingenuity, managed to get to his feet and was now examining the walls as best he could with his feet and hands bound up. As he took small jumps to move around, Kel could not suppress a giggle of amusement.
~ What's so funny? ~ His face was utterly serious as he turned to face her, but his bright, outlandish purple eyes held a glimmer of humour within them.
"Nothing, nothing," she replied, smoothing out her smile, her expression equally solemn.
Colm got back to his investigations, as Burdette impatiently motioned for Kel to join her in the corner, a sparkle of excitement lighting up her usually calm grey eyes, turning them a shimmery silvery colour.
Kel threw herself dramatically to the ground and did a sausage roll to get to Burdette. It was painful, and tiny pieces of stone, gravel, sand and grit dug into her body and became entangled in her slightly knotted and messy dark hair, but that wasn't really important right now. She didn't care what she looked like; next to Burdette she would always look plain. She winced as a sharp bit of stone pierced her lip, and as she finally got to Burdette, she tasted the metallic salty tang of blood dripping into her mouth. It reminded her of Jess again, and all that she had seen today, and it made a sudden chill come over her, dampening the momentary forgetful cheerfulness that had been in her heart.
"Great moves!" the red haired witch laughed as Kel wriggled and heaved herself into a sitting position. Kel did not join in with the mirth, and soon Burdette stopped giggling, noticing that the human had withdrawn herself again. She felt pity for Kel, and wondered if she'd been affected in some way by the awful events that had happened to her.
"So what do you want?" Kel asked, genuinely curious, an earnest frown upon her face.
"Let me see your hands," she instructed, and Kel unquestioningly stuck them out in front of her. "Ah, I thought so. They've tied you up with non- magical bonds. I can free you easily enough."
"Wasn't that a bit dumb of them?" Kel said suspiciously.
"Well, you are human, and these are plenty strong enough to hold someone with twice your strength," Burdette said with a gentle smile. "Maybe they didn't expect you and us to actually get together to escape. A witch or vampire could break through these in a second."
"Oh," she replied, feeling slightly inadequate. "Go on then."
Burdette simply focused her gaze upon the binding ropes, a look of ferocious, intense concentration upon her features, her eyes narrowed almost evilly. Kel found herself suddenly afraid, but forced herself not to flinch. She made herself look at the ceiling, ignoring what was going on before her.
But she quickly turned to look again, as a bright, poppy-red light engulfed Burdette's hands, which were pressed close to her own. Kel's first instinct was to scream, but then she recognized that she wasn't in pain. She wasn't burning at all. She glanced at Burdette, and Kel saw how the blazing glow reflected in her eyes and danced in her hair, as if the girl was a fire- goddess. As suddenly as it had appeared, the light diminished and vanished promptly. And the ropes were gone.
"Oh my God that was...." Kel found herself speechless in the face of such an amazing sight. This was another piece of proof confirming the existence of the Night World, and Kel was finding increasingly hard to pretend that it wasn't real. Because, deep down, she felt like she was living in a dream, as if she would wake up soon. Even as she tried to believe, she was still in denial. However, soon she was going to have to face up to it all. Kel did not want to do this, but whether she liked it or not, it was going to happen.
"Good, huh?" Burdette looked quite surprised at Kel's wonderment. "I'll do your feet now."
"Yeah," said Kel distractedly. She was so mystified and impressed by the witch's last display of power she completely missed her repeating the spectacle to undo her feet.
"Done!" announced Burdette happily, and Kel stared down at her limbs. Experimentally, she wiggled her feet and stretched her arms, feeling them click and begin to ache with rigid stiffness. She then stood up, but her legs were so weak and unused for so long that she promptly collapsed again, landing in a heap on the floor.
"Careful," Colm said, falling gracefully into a sitting position near Burdette and Kel. "OK, Burdette, try my bonds now. 14 hours have gone past, so we have less than 10 hours. It's 8 'o' clock in the morning right now."
Kel was amazed at that. She had slept for 14 hours! Well, it wasn't surprising. But it just seemed to have passed so fast. They were running out of time, and Kel could now see the urgency of it all.
Burdette dragged herself with some difficulty along next to Colm, and began trying free him. Her red fire streamed Kel levered herself up and lolled upon the floor, feeling pins and needles creep into her ankles. She felt tired now, for some reason, but fought the fatigue. She had too many questions to ask, and it would not do to waste time by sleeping.
"Colm, how did you two get here?" Kel enquired lazily.
"Long story," muttered Burdette bitterly, directing an especially ferocious blast of fire at Colm's bonds.
~ We were on a mission for Daybreak. ~ Colm explained. ~ Basically, we've been hearing some rumours that Malachi Redfern is planning something. ~
"Something big," Burdette added. "And obviously, meant to cause panic and fear. We're quite lucky in that the UK has not been hit with any serious, irrefutable attacks from the Night World at present."
~ But we are convinced that the Night World is aiming to destroy a huge part of the UK in one sweep. It is a small place, compared to America, so therefore easier to conquer all at once. But so far, all we had was assumption and gossip to go on. And so we decided to check out the Black Iris, do some snooping around in Redfern's office. We found some information, but we barely had time to look at it. It did confirm that something is in place, but exactly what we are not sure. We were just about to leave, when the band, Bloodmoon came into the office. Unfortunately, we had no idea that Bloodmoon were of the Night World, and so we tried to get them out, revealing ourselves as Daybreakers. We soon realised of course that they were not human, but by then escape was impossible, after a short struggle the band members caught us both. They handed us over to Malachi Redfern who knocked us out and brought us here. ~
"That sounds... bad." Kel couldn't think of anything better to say than that. "So it's really important that you get out?"
"You could say that," Colm replied wryly. "Our information is vital to the investigative process."
"And with us gone, the Daybreakers back at HQ will eventually ascertain that there is a problem, but it could take ages for them to figure it all out, and by then it could be too late." Burdette looked terribly worried as she said this.
"Right, so how are we going to escape? You haven't actually told me yet," Kel said with apprehensive concern.
"It's simple enough. We just have to get untied," said Colm. "I've observed that a guard comes in here twice daily to leave a dish of water and some bread." He pointed at the plate and something that resembled a dog dish, both of them empty. Kel realised that, actually, she was hungry. When had she last eaten? Her stomach rumbled, and she grinned in embarrassment. Colm gave her a half-serious, half silly look, but Burdette did not seem to notice. She was intent on breaking the ropes. Now reminded of her hunger, Kel felt a dull twinge of hunger inside her.
"When restrained, we obviously were no match for him," Colm added. "But, if we can get free, we can at least get out of this cell and away from Jess, and maybe we'll have a fighting chance at escaping from this dump."
"OK!" Kel said, exuding a confidence that she did not really feel. "How's it coming along, Burdette?"
"Nearly.... there..." Burdette gasped, not even glancing at Kel.
~ I wouldn't disturb her if I were you. ~
"Right. Well. I'm going to take a nap. When will the guard come? I am absolutely starving."
~ He'll be coming at around five 'o' clock. ~
"Doesn't leave us much time, does it?" she murmured worriedly as she settled down against the wall, surveying the pair of Daybreakers. Burdette looked absolutely shattered, her face bathed in sweat, yet she still continued.
~ No. But what can we do? ~
Kel nodded tiredly. "Indeed," she replied as she let sleep steal slowly upon her.
*** ~ Kelsey! Kel! Wake up! ~
Abruptly, she felt herself being shaken roughly back to life again, a voice that seemed to sound from within her echoing through her sleep fuddled brain.
"Wha... what?" she mumbled, covering her ears with her hands, her eyes scrunched up tightly, curled up in the foetal position, her arms hugging herself in a childlike indication of fear.
~ KEL WAKE UP RIGHT NOW! ~
That roused her perfectly, much to Kel's furious dismay. She felt violent hands yank her upwards, defying gravity and her eyes flew open at once, expressing the surprise and primitive dread that engulfed her soul. Pain exploded ferociously in her left shoulder, her arm almost pulled out of its socket.
"Hey!" she yelled, slurring the word sleepily, stumbling as she tried to regain control of her feet, which were having trouble adjusting to standing up the floor.
Suddenly, she found herself inches from Colm's face, and decided that it wasn't too bad at all, but it was a shame that he looked absolutely livid and terrified all at once, and was shaking her so violently that her brains felt like they had been stuffed in an electric blender for several hours.
"Kelsey, the guard is coming. THE GUARD IS COMING," he hissed.
Kel looked past the angry vampire. Clearly Burdette had managed to untie Colm's bonds, but Burdette herself languished upon the floor, still trying hopelessly to burn off her own bonds, but as they were the most magic resistant, it was clearly hard for her, especially with her strength dimmed.
"What about Burdette?" Kel whispered in a low monotone.
"I'll carry her. OK you take this," he said, pushing what unmistakably was a wooden stake into her grasp. "When the door opens, I'll go for him, and when he's down, you come in and stick that into his chest, around his heart."
"What?" Kel exclaimed, forgetting to keep her voice down. "Colm I so cannot do this. I am not a fighter or anything and..."
"Do you think I would be asking you to do this if there was any possible alternative?" he replied in irritation. "Burdette is out. Vampire girl is set to wake up any second now. We have to get out of here. Can you do this? I need backup and this is our one chance. Our only hope. Do you understand?"
"Yes," she said quietly, a look of determination on her face. "Just point me in the right direction and I'll be there."
Kel realised that sounded very cheesy indeed. Her life was fast becoming one of those utterly implausible yet exciting horror movies. Well, at least they were very addictive to watch, and she was the heroine, right? Great. It was all good in theory, of course, but in real life it totally sucked. Honestly. She doubted anyone would believe her if she said this though.
She weighed the stake in her hand idly, noting that it was very sharp and pointy. Good. She needed every advantage possible if she was realistically going to slay the guard. By the door, Colm braced himself. Probably he could hear the guard's footsteps, due to his vampiric senses and all, but Kel could hear nothing but silence and the faint, laboured breathing sounds of Burdette.
This would be good practice if she were to get her revenge on Malachi Redfern effectively and easily. And if Jake turned out to be a bloodsucker then he too would be in for it.
She could hear the footsteps now. Louder and louder they came, regular as a heartbeat. Sinister, slow and deadly. Her pulse echoed faster and faster in her head as adrenaline began to pump through her veins, making her tense, nervous and strangely excited all at once, even though she was dreading the encounter. Apart from the approaching guards feet, it was totally silent in the room.
What was she thinking? She didn't even know what she was supposed to do, hardly. All that Kel knew was that she was very unprepared and generally unskilled in the arts of fighting and killing.
Hardly useful and relevant information, was it?
Then two things happened simultaneously.
The foolproof iron door of the cell opened. Somebody stepped inside.
Burdette began to scream, a sound of pure, unrestrained, pain-filled agony.
Admirably, Colm launched himself at the man, who was knocked for six by this unexpected, violent and powerful attack. The body of the guard slammed to the wall, a stream of ruby red fluid dripping from his skull. But Kel was more concerned with Burdette. She found herself turning towards the witch.
"Burdette are you OK..."
And what she saw entirely frightened her out of her mind, rendering her speechless.
It was Jess. Jess the vampire had risen from the dead. And she was feeding upon the rapidly failing Burdette, her face buried in the witch's bare neck. All around, Kel could see blood pouring from the girl's body in a never-ending river, a flood of crimson. Jess' hair was now scarlet in places. This was proof. Jess was no longer human. Kel could barely believe it. Her friend's arms were now sinewy and peculiarly powerful as they actually dug into the witch's limp, grey body. Burdette had stopped screeching and was now very, very still, her grey eyes like slabs of paving concrete on a rainy day.
~ Kel! Now! Stake him! ~
But she did not even notice Colm's telepathic message. She was mesmerised, hypnotised by this surreal vision. Colm snatched the stake from her yielding, motionless hands in anger, but Kel did not see or sense this in any way.
Suddenly Jess looked up at her. Kel's eyes actually widened in horror at the grisly sight. Jess' eyes were darker and wider; almost pitch black, the pupils merged with the irises, a look of terrifying, dizzyingly feral madness alive in their expression. Her skin seemed lighter, more delicate in colour, but dazzlingly beautiful, almost carved out of ice. The long canines that jutted elegantly from her mouth were like a work of art in themselves. Her hair was like strands of sunshine, actually seeming to be made of light, so soft and silken. The paleness of the newly made vampire made for a stark and undeniable contrast with the blood smeared all over her face, her teeth, and her hair. Burdette's blood.
Then, with a wolfish snarl, a hungry look in her eyes, Jess launched herself at Kel.
Kel was fully aware of this, yet she stayed perfectly still, wishing with futile hope that Jess would come to her senses and remember her.
"Jess it's me! Kel! Kelsey Murdoch, remember?"
But Jess did not even pause for thought, hurtling towards Kel with a speed fuelled by her bloody, gory appetite, her eyes trained upon her throat.
Kel would not move.
Jess could not stop.
Kel did not want to give up on her friend. To run would have been admitting that she was no longer the old Jess. She did not want to believe that Jess was a vampire.
Jess was fuelled by bloodlust. If you had a pulse and were in the immediate area, you were as good as dead.
Jess was literally inches from Kel when she found herself sliding away, moving faster than she had ever done before. Her eyes watered, the bare eyeballs stinging as fast-moving air rushed past them. The world became a vague blur visually, but she could still hear the feral screams of Jess. And then the sound of a door being slammed shut, and a dull thud. Finally, more wild, hungry screams, and squelching, tearing, violent sounds, very faint, but just about audible.
When they had stopped, Kel rubbed her eyes and looked. They were in some corridor, dusky light pouring from a window that was quite far up ahead. The walls were just breeze-blocks, the floor poured concrete, covered in dust and other debris. They were out! Free! But not even that could make her forget what had just happened. Burdette... Jess... Gone forever.
~ You OK? ~ Colm asked. Kel turned to face him. His face was ashen, grief plainly visible, his jaw taut, holding back some passionate emotion. The beautiful violet of his eyes was dimmed, and she could see tears, unshed, lingering there. Colm looked as messy, dirty, hurt and tired as she felt.
Kel felt like laughing now. Or crying.
"OK? Am I OK? Not even close," she murmured absently.
Tears spilled unnoticed, making tracks in the dirt on her face. But inside, all she felt was overwhelming rage.
Oh, the joy of freedom.
Revenge better be sweeter than this.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kel is free,
That is true,
But Jake watch out,
She's coming for you.
As a final note,
I must say,
Please review,
It makes my day!
SEE IF YOU CAN MAKE IT OVER SEVEN REVIEWS! ^_^ It is a very long chapter though!
