10. Stupid Little Games.
Light suddenly spills in, almost blinding me. Cold air washes over me like a waterfall. My eyes are hot and wet. No idea what's what, but so wound up, so coiled and frenzied, I spring from my cage. Chloe is sprawled on the ground, limp with a lot of blood coming from two punctures in her neck.
"Robin!" gasps my rescuer, Vlad. No time to process things. I gather Chloe up into my arms and press my hand against her wounds. "Have you got a phone? A mobile?" asks Vlad in a weak sort of panic. I nod.
"In my right pocket," I say, unable to prise it out for myself since my hands are full. Vlad makes no pause in delving his hand in and fishing my phone out. He dials three numbers.
"Ambulance. My friend's bleeding really badly. From her neck." Then he gives out our location. It is while he is doing this that I notice Ingrid crouched in the corner watching our scene with passive-aggressive snake eyes, like a cat waiting for the right moment to pounce.
"We have to get out of here!" I say, getting to my feet and half-running out of the crypt. I hear Vlad following only because he is answering whatever questions are coming to him from the phone. His feet don't slap with heavy echoes against the flagstones, not like mine are. He's too agile, too light, too dead for those kind of sounds. We burst out of the corridors and up to the main chamber, getting only as far as half way across the room before the inky shadows peel off and regroup in the form of twenty or so vampires. I recognise faces from the party yesterday. It's the same crowd, dressed in the same bright neon colours and rave gear. They circle us, teeth brandished and eyes gold. I hug Chloe protectively close to me, painfully aware of the hot wet blood spilling from her neck and down my hand.
"They can smell Chloe's blood!" I say in a rush, hoping Vlad has some trick up his sleeve.
"I think it's actually your blood they want, Robin. You've cut your knuckles and you're bleeding out all this really sweet, salivating blood, even tastier than Chloe's," he informs me as he hands me my mobile. "You take this. Tell them where we're headed. I'll try and sort this." I ruffle up my nose, taking the phone and awkwardly putting it to my ear, trying hard to forget what he just told me. I tell the people on the phone to redirect the ambulance to my own house. They're saying not to move Chloe.
"Have to. It's not safe here. At this rate it'll be two of us that need an ambulance. We're trying our hardest to get out. Might not happen."
"I am the Grand High Vampire, Vladimir Dracula, and I order you to stand back and let these mortals pass!" I hear Vlad shout with a fairly feeble voice considering the obvious intention to sound powerful. I roll my eyes and split my attention between Vlad and the people on the phone who are going through all of the stuff I should be doing for Chloe, like pressing a tourniquet to her neck. To my amazement the crowd part and let us pass. In my hurry to get the hell out I drop the phone. It shatters into its many parts. I can feel Vlad running one pace behind me as we leg it out of the castle grounds and down the hill.
"I think I'm going to faint!" he exhales, and then honours his words, misses a step and falls. There's no time to see if he's okay. I push myself onwards, fast down the hill. I can hear a siren in the distance. Please say it is Chloe's.
By the time I make it to the bottom of the hill and to my house the siren splits loudly into the air. Blue flickers across the street and the ambulance keels around the corner. I ring our doorbell as it comes to a stop outside the house. Two paramedics run out with a stretcher and lift Chloe from my arms.
"What's going on?!" I hear Dad's voice reach me. My whole family is out here. I step backwards, drops of Chloe's blood dripping silently from my hand onto the pavement.
Time skips and lurches. I blink. Several minutes have passed. The ambulance is leaving. I think Mam is in there. Dad comes up to me and asks, "What happened!?" like he's already asked once and doesn't appreciate my lack of response. I lick my lips and shake my head, forehead furrowing.
"I never told her to come," I hear myself say. The world flicks around me, my eyes playing tricks. "And if, and if she hadn't it would be me. Or worse still; cold and empty on a flagstone floor."
"What's he talking about?" Paul says, tugging on Dad's sleeve. "Let's get going, forget the freak."
"Are you alright Son, are you hurt?"
"Fine," I say, snapping back into my head. Everything is clear after a muddy fifteen minutes. The night is cold and crisp.
"You can tell us about it on the way to the hospital then."
"I have to…" I loosely gesture over my shoulder, swallowing down. "The dead boy. He fell. I should go see if he's okay…"
"Dead boy? Robin, this is a bad time to have one of your 'moments'. Just get in the van." I shake my head. Another drop of blood drips from my fingertips.
"Come on Dad! Chloe's really badly hurt and freak boy here is sapping all of our attention. Let's get going!"
Dad gives in and follows Paul to the campervan. Ian hangs back near me, smouldering.
"That's our little sister! You are the most self-centred, uncaring little freak in the world. I know you, Robin. Playing your stupid little games. You sucked Chloe in. Put her in danger; sneaking out of the house after dusk."
"I never asked her to come." The camper van's engine roars into life.
"Chloe cares, that's the difference between you and her." A long blow on the horn tears into our scene. Ian looks towards it and then quickly back to me, blackness in his features. "Go on then, run along to wherever it is you'd rather be. To whoever it is that's more important than your little sister."
"You have no idea!" I shout at his back as he paces across the driveway to the van. "No idea!" my voice is lost under the sound of the door slamming shut.
Thank you to those who have reviewed. You are very lovely. The next chapter will be up in a matter of days.