Chapter 28

I had no idea where Nudge was. The obvious thought came to me to think like Hans—where would I hold Nudge hostage if I were him?He wants to make it hard to escape and hard to be found, I reasoned.

I brought up a mental blueprint of the building, narrowing my attention to the upper levels. Chances were, Nudge was on the third floor, the highest in the school—except for a small fourth floor, which was more of an attic than anything else. A narrow staircase accessible only from the third floor led up to it.

There were two bungalow style classrooms at the top: AP Spanish and the eZine lab. Nudge was in the eZine lab. Just like that, I knew it.

Moving as quickly as I could through the darkness, I felt my way up two flights of stairs. After some trial and error, I found the narrow staircase leading to the eZine lab. At the top, I pushed on the door.

"Nudge?" I called softly.

She let out a small moan.

"It's me," I said, taking each step with care as I maneuvered up an aisle of desks, not wanting to knock over a chair and alert Hans to my location. "Are you hurt? We need to get out of here." I found her huddled at the front of the room, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Hunter hit me over the head," she said, her voice rising. "I think I passed out. Now I can't see. I can't see anything!"

"Listen to me. Hunter cut the electricity and the shades are drawn. It's just the darkness. Hold my hand. We have to get downstairs right now."

""I think he damaged something. My head is throbbing. I really think I'm blind!"

"You're not blind," I whispered, giving her a small shake. "I can't see either. We have to feel our way downstairs. We're going to leave through the exit by the athletics office."

"He's got chains on all the doors."

A moment of rigid silence dropped between us. I remembered Hans wishing me luck escaping, and now I knew why. A perceptible chill rippled from my heart through the rest of my body. "Not the door I came in," I said at last. "The far east door is unlocked."

It must be the only one. I was with him when he chained the others. He said that way nobody would be tempted to go outside while we played hide and seek. He said outside was out of bounds."

"If the east door is the only one left unlocked, he'll try to block it. He'll wait for us to come to him. But we're not going to. We're going out a window," I said, devising a plan off the top of my head, shaking off my fear of heights. "On the opposite end of the building—this end. Do you have your cell?"

"Hunter took it."

"When we get outside, we have to split up. If he chases us, he'll have to choose one of us to follow. The other will get help." I already knew who he'd choose. Hans had no use for Nudge, except to lure me here tonight. "Run as hard as you can and get to a phone. Call the police. Tell them Dylan is in the library."

"Alive?" Nudge asked, her voice trembling.

"I don't know."

"This is all my fault."

"This is Hunter's fault."

"I'm scared."

"We're going to be fine," I said. I think. "I stabbed Hunter in the leg with a scalpel. He's bleeding heavily. Maybe he'll give up chasing us and go get medical attention."

A sob escaped Nudge. We both knew I was lying. Hunter's desire for revenge outweighed his wound. It outweighed everything.

Nudge and I crept down the stairs, keeping tight to the walls, until we were back on the main floor.

"This way," I whispered in her ear, holding her hand as we speed walked down the hall, heading farther west.

We hadn't walked very far when a guttural sound, not quite laughter, rolled out of the tunnel of darkness ahead.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Hans said. There was no face attached to his voice.

"Run," I told Nudge, squeezing her hand. "He wants me. Call the police. Run! "

Nudge dropped my hand and ran. Her footsteps faded depress ingly fast. I wondered briefly if Fang was still in the building, but it was more of a side thought.

"It will take the police at least twenty minutes to respond," Hunter told me, the tap of his shoes drawing closer. "I don't need twenty minutes."

I turned and ran. Hans broke into a run behind me. I'm a fast runner, but he seemed to catch my hands over the walls, I turned right at the first intersection and raced down a perpendicular hall. Forced to rely on the walls to guide me, my hands slapped over the sharp edges of lockers and doorjambs, nicking my skin. I made another right, running as fast as I could for the double doors of a classroom. I slammed the door behind me, locking it. I've never been in this classroom, but I saw a window, slightly open. Thank God!

I opened it all the way and got out, standing on the ledge. I looked sideways and saw there was one of those ladders that stuck to the building. I gulped and moved toward it carefully, not looking down. When I reached it I put both hands on the cool, rusty metal. Then I began climbing. I was halfway up to the roof, when I heard it. The ladder. It was moving, as if it were to fall off. I clutched it, and gasped. But then I continued going. It's probably a mind trick. Then, before I knew it, I was at the top.

The building is very wide and very tall. I walked toward the ledge where the ladder was. Nothing. I smiled. Probably lost him. But then I felt someone grab my throat and waist from behind. I struggled and kicked and screamed.

"Shut up!" He said and gripped my throat harder. He was going to choke me to death? My arms were pinned to my sides. I couldn't move them. I looked down and noticed a gun was tucked into the waistband of his pants.

"Let me go," I gasped out.

"Nudge told me something interesting about you. You're afraid of heights." He lifted his gaze to the ledge behind him. A smile split his face. White spots started to blur my vision, but then he loosened his grip a bit, allowing me to breathe.

"Did you attack…Lissa?" I asked him.

"Dylan told me there's bad blood between the two of you. I didn't like the idea of someone else having the pleasure of tormenting my girl."

"And my bedroom window? Did you spy on me while I was sleeping?"

"Nothing personal."

Hans stiffened. His hand left my throat but then I felt the cool metal of the gun press against my throat. "Take off your hat," Hans ordered. "I want to see the expression on your face when I kill her. You're helpless to save her. As helpless as I was to do anything about the oath I swore to you."

Then Fang moved into my line of sight. I struggled making Hans press the gun deeper to my throat and I winced. Fang moved easily, but I sensed his tightly reined caution.

"Take another step and this will be her last breath," Hans warned.

Fang glanced at the distance between us, calculating how quickly he could cover it. Hans saw it too.

"Don't try it," he said.

"You're not going to shoot her, Hans."

"No?" Hans squeezed the trigger. The gun clicked, and I clenched my jaw.

"Revolver," Jules explained. "The other five chambers are loaded."

"Tell me something, Max. Are you afraid of death?"

"No," I responded. Fang cocked an eyebrow. Hans chuckled.

I'm going to give you a chance to use some of your moves, you know when to use them, Fang spoke into mind. I met his eyes. Then Hans's hand wavered a bit and his grip loosened. This is my chance. I grabbed the hand with the gun and twisted it, making him gasp. I kneed him in the groin and punched him in the face. He was on his knees, and I ran toward Fang.

Then Hans grunted and I heard him shoot the gun.

I screamed as pain shot up my left shoulder. I fell to my knees gripping my shoulder. Blood oozed out of my shoulder.

"Max!" I heard Fang shout. Then I saw him run towards Hans first, which I assumed would shoot me again. I felt dizzy as I tried to stand up. I looked behind me and saw Hans push Fang off the building. I tried to scream out, but the only thing that came out was a strangled sob.

Hans turned around and came towards me, picking up the gun. I backed up until the back of my shoes hit the ledge.

"Any last words?"

A dark slash on the inside of his wrist caught my eye. It intersected his veins at a ninety degree angle and was nearly black in color. To anyone else, it might have looked like a scar. To me, it meant so much more. The family connection was obvious. We shared the same blood, and it showed in our identical marks.

Fang hadn't come up. Something really bad must've happened to him, and my heart stung more than my shoulder. Right then, I wanted to go back in time and relive every moment with him. One more secret smile, one more shared laugh. One more electric kiss. Finding him was like finding someone I didn't know I was searching for. He'd come into my life too late, and now was leaving too soon. I remembered him telling me he'd give up everything for me. He already had. He'd given up a human body of his own so I could live.

Hans's laughter carried like a cold whisper. "It makes no difference to me whether I shoot you or you fall to your death."

"It does make a difference," I said, my voice small but confident. "You and I share the same blood." I lifted my hand precariously, showing him my birthmark. "I'm your descendant. If I sacrifice my blood, Fang will become human and you'll die. It's written in The Book of Enoch."

"Hans's eyes were devoid of light. They were trained on me, absorbing every word I spoke. I could tell by his expression that he was weighing my words. A flush rose in his face, and I knew he believed me.

"You—," he sputtered.

"He slid toward me with frantic speed, pressing the trigger but it was too late. I jumped off the ledge.