CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"Alice, do you know how long you'll last?"

I was back at Rose, sat in that classroom where I studied. It took me a while to realise where I was after I shook my head all over the place like I was watching a tennis match until my gaze finally rested on Sarah in front of me.

"What do you mean?"

Sarah gave me a weird expression. "How long you'll last against a rogue vampire."

"I don't."

"You won't last even thirty seconds! Do you know that when a vampire gets into that state of mind when all he can think about is blood, how hard it is to deny those thoughts? How easily blood comes in that state?"

"Are you saying not to let Mattie in that state?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever seen him in that state before?"

She shook her head. "No, but…" she paused. "I know how it feels." She wrapped her arms around herself. Her hands were briefly around her neck. That explains her tone of voice.

"It's a basic need, a feral need. Just like you humans have primitive needs, vampires have them too and number one on that list is blood."

I woke in a dark room. It's cold, so cold that I could see my breath in the air.

When I got up, there was a stitch of pain from my neck and with that, the memories of what happened rushed back.

I survived? How did I survive?

I was in the room with the three large tanks that I saw when I went down the ladder. How did I get here?

Mattie. He must have took me here. But why?

There were some tubes in my arm and there was something wet around my chin and cheeks. I ran my sleeve across it. I couldn't see it but by the smell and a noise that sounded like the crumbs in a biscuit tin, made me think it was dried blood.

My mind hasn't fully woken up yet. I slowly made my way to the door. It was open which didn't surprise me. If Mattie had been here, which I was pretty sure he had, he would have known.

It lead to a staircase that zig-zagged its way up just like a flight of fire exit stairs.

The staircase lead to the Lower Deck. No one was there.

Should I find Alpha and Beta?

Considering I was going around virtually naked against a rogue vampire, I guessed I answered my own question.

Retracing my steps I found them under some tables.

I didn't have much time to think of my next move before I heard more footsteps coming from above.

It was Mariah with even more goons. And did I see those two who attacked me?

They don't stop do they?

I crouched under some of the fallen stalls and quickly reloaded Alpha in the process.

There were only a few paths they could use to get here.

One: the lifts.

I shot the metal cabling through the glass of the lift. Glass fell and as it did, it reflected the lighting making them look like stars in a dark sky.

It took a few more bullets than I would have liked though. I reloaded again. The poof of dust that exploded when it landed at the bottom was even larger than the one Mattie caused.

Mattie?

Where's Mattie?

I shook my head.

Concentrate!

Two: the stairs.

I trained my aim at anyone there.

They started shooting at me. Fragments of debris covered me as broke into a half run, half crouched for some sort of shelter praying that none of the shots hit me.

I rounded a corner but ran into some guys in black suits, one who grabbed me and hauled me over his shoulder like I was nothing.

Holy shit! How'd I make this mistake?

"Let go of me you fucking asshole!" I shouted, wiggling, kicking, doing everything I can.

Will Mattie help me?

"Mattie!" I screamed.

I was taken into a place I had never been before.

In one of the labs was a secret doorway. We descended down a set of stairs in a dark hallway that opened to a... A waiting room?

Chairs lined the back wall adjacent to the door we came through. There was a bin in the corner on the tiled flooring.

The room was rectangular. I could only see that when we entered yet another room. Apart from the door, the two rooms were also connected by a window and by the look of it, it was a two-way window.

We were in an operating room which was lit from the centre where there was a set of lights all clumped together, the kind you'd see on TV.

I could make out that laughing gas machine, some seats next to the hallway. And a damn metal table was underneath the lights. And the thing had clamps on it!

I struggled but no matter what I did, I couldn't get out.

In my desperation I screamed, "Mattie!"

Why isn't he here? Where is he?

I froze. Did he… abandon me? Is that why he's not coming?

"This time you won't escape." It was Mariah. Again. She stood beside the door.

I was thrust harshly onto the bed and just as quickly, the clamps grabbed my wrists. One came round my waist.

Should I buy time?

But what's the point in that, he's not even coming.

If he had enough sense, he won't come not when he's a rogue.

But how did he even break through that basic blood lust need earlier?

I tested my bounds. They were too tight for me to get my hand through. Not to mention the metal that I clearly couldn't break.

Shit, shit, shit.

"I know I did say you had one choice but what I meant was we and Mattie will play with you."

Professional Alice woke up. Stall! You don't know what that thing will do to your body!

I screamed at her. You woke up just now!

"So where's Mattie now?"

Mariah started walking toward me, the tiny pill in her manicured fingers. She shrugged. "We seem to have lost track of him."

"You let a rogue vampire escape?" What the fuck?

"Stats say you're the most likely target." She inched closer. "Now, enough talk, let's get this started!"

Damn, there were so many fingers wanting to probe my mouth, most of which I bit. With most of the bites the taste of blood invaded me.

That bitter taste of copper.

That need to spit it out immediately.

But I didn't expect the swift punch to my ribs.

Then they easily grabbed my chin, holding my mouth to the ceiling and crammed the pill down me.

"Alice!"

I coughed.

I sputtered.

Was that Iain's voice?

Standing at the doorway with guns in both hands, there he was. Mattie was behind him, a concerned look on his face. But then they became blurry. I had to blink a few times.

"Get out of the way!" He shouted, pushing through Mariah and the amount of men in the room.

How many… men?

Were there any men in the room to begin with?

Someone grasped my face, pulling it to the light. I could only recognise the brown hair.

Mattie!

"Alice, we're getting you out of this shit!"

I'm so tired though. I can't even give him a response.

But the relief I felt when he came… It was like the rain after a heated argument.

I heard some talk in the background which turned out to be Iain getting Mariah in a corner with the help of James and Cindy.

My sight was getting seriously blurred until it turned to darkness. It ignited my distress, my breathing spiked but soon I fell unconscious.