Chapter 24

"Home" Is Where The Murder Is

Before I realized what I was doing, I was racing back to the party to grab my purse. Elly was yelling after me and most likely chasing me as well, but I paid her no heed. I grabbed my purse from its place beside Max's jacket, and ditched the party, narrowly avoiding Max and Elly as they both came toward me.

Why was I so anxious to see the Darquecaster's? I cursed myself again and again as I climbed into my car and started it, taking off without one look back at the party. As I drove, my knuckles turned white from holding onto the wheel so tightly.

My phone started ringing terribly loudly all of a sudden, making me jump in shock. I fumbled with one hand to reach into my purse and yank it out. It was Max. I growled in frustration and flipped it open.

"What?" I demanded, eyeing the dimming street lamps. Funny, the moon suddenly seemed to have disappeared from the sky.

"Where the hell are you going?" He demanded haughtily.

I opened my mouth to reply, my eyes randomly drifting down to glance at my speedometer. Oh shit. Way over 100 MPH. How long had it been since I'd driven this fast? "I-I'm going to-"

"Avanni Maddox! I never said it was the Darquecaster's! It was the nightwalkers! The return address was the old apartment building!" Elly's shrill, anxious voice screamed into the phone all of a sudden. Memories flashed through my mind. The old apartment building was right beside the forest holding the bonfire party, including the night when Jakobi had attacked Max and I.

I looked back up at the road in shock. "Why didn't you tell me that sooner?" I barked angrily, stepping on the brakes to bring my car to a stop. Shouldn't the Darquecaster's have killed Jakobi by now? It had to have been a different nightwalker, but then again, how else would another nightwalker know about Alec buying Elly those things?

"Because you took off before I could explain the rest!" Elly hissed back. "Now get back here bef-"

Her words cut off when I looked into my rear-view mirror. I barely comprehended what she was saying as Jakobi slowly stalked towards my car. He was wearing all black tonight, and his long hair and been chopped short. If he wasn't so dangerous and currently walking toward me, I would have thought he was handsome.

"Ava?" Max's voice interrupted my jumbled thoughts. I snapped out of it and took in a deep breath.

"Max, the time has come." I whispered into the phone. My body was frozen. I couldn't move, I couldn't drive away. He'd catch me. I knew my vision would come true some day.

"What? Ava? What's happening?"

Jakobi stopped by my window and smirked at the tinted window. He tapped the glass. Max must have heard it and remembered instantly what I was getting at.

"No! Avanni Maddox! Drive! Goddammit! Imagine he's a cop and finally you allowed a cop to make it to your window! Do you want the cop to see your face so he can find a way to fire Joshua?" Max's voice had raised to a yell.

His words processed into my brain. With a deep breath, I snapped my phone shut and turned up the music full blast. I was already sweating from fear. Jakobi made to open my door, but I pressed down hard on the gas, imagining Elly right beside me screaming,

"Go!"

As I swept past the nightwalker in my car, I felt a sense of relief. I didn't dare look back to see him chasing after me. I had a feeling he would. Now where was I supposed to go? Loop around and go back to the party just to allow him to kill somebody there again? Or go to my house and put my foster parents in danger? My brain ticked impatiently for a place to go.

The Darquecaster's?

But the house was vacant. Nobody would be there to save me. However… it was a huge house and with lots of rooms and corridors. I could break in through a window and hide. It was my best choice right now. I had to face Jakobi on my own. Nobody else was strong enough to defeat him.

Someone was calling me. I could hear my ringtone over my booming music and pounding ears that someone was calling me. I had to ignore it and hope it wasn't Joshua or Becca.

I pressed harder on the gas and changed gears. I had to drive about ten more minutes at the speed I was going. Maybe eight. As I drove, I tried formulating a plan in my head. Maybe I could call Rory when I get into the house?

Minutes later, I zoomed onto the gravel driveway of the Darquecaster house and brought my car to an immediate stop. Without hesitating, I snatched my phone and purse and leapt out of the driver's seat to race up to the house. I grabbed onto the doorknob just to test it and was shocked when it opened right up. It was pure darkness inside, but my vision had multiplied thanks to the vampire blood I'd been drinking.

With a cautious glance behind me, I took a deep breath and went into my old home of…memories. And oh boy, did it ever bring those recollections back. I tried to ignore the tears as they made their way to my eyes and went straight toward the basement room.

Claude had mentioned something about the basement, right? He'd told me not to enter it, but ah hell, it could save my life. I eventually found it beyond the den room, and was surprised to find out I hadn't ever been in this dark hall before.

It was wooden, with chipping bark and metal hinges that reached halfway across the door in spiral designs. The handle was vertical with a latch you pressed down.

"Ava-a-a-a, come out, come out wherever you are." Jakobi's eerie voice sang out. With a jolt of fear, I realized he was just at the entry of the den room. The only object blocking his view of me was the thin wall separating me and the den room.

I grabbed the handle of the basement door and clicked on the latch, and pulled with all my might. It wouldn't budge.

"…Not to mention sometimes the basement door closes on its own and becomes stuck. There's been something wrong with it since the day we bought this house. Door jam sticking or something like that…"

My mind must have been excellent at collecting words and images. Claude had told me that my first day here at the Darquecaster mansion. I could hear Jakobi's footsteps mocking me slowly. He knew I was here.

I gritted my teeth and yanked at the door as hard as I could. It slid open with a grunt, and I let out a whoosh of breath.

Standing on the other side of the door at the top of the basement stairs was a woman.

She had long, luscious black hair and piercing green eyes. Her skin was a soft pale, and she had a lip ring on the left side of her bottom red lip.

She was beautiful but frightening, because she was currently blocking my way to safety.

She smirked at me, and I got a chill down my back when Jakobi's presence became well-known behind me.

"Now that we have the Mouse cornered, what do you want to do, Jake?" The woman asked. I could only stare wide eyed at her. She'd been the female in my vision with Jakobi. So this basement was where my murder was going to take place, eh? How much of an idiot could I be? This was all a trap. Jakobi knew I wouldn't place anybody I loved in danger, so my only other option would have been to come here, where there were so many hiding places it was unbelievable.

Nightwalker's were cruel, intelligent beings.

"Hm, I was thinking I could have a bit of fun with her, Renova." Jakobi replied, amusement edging his voice. I gulped the lump of fear in my throat and gripped tightly onto my cell phone and purse that were in my right hand.

Alec's cell number was the first one in my contacts. I'd kept all their numbers as memories to correspond with the ones I'd not managed to rid myself of in my mind. I was sure their numbers had changed by now, but what could it hurt?

Slowly but surely through memory, I clicked my contact button silently without looking away from Renova.

"I don't mind. But I'd like to get out of here soon, so kill her and change her already." Renova replied, glancing behind me to glare at Jakobi. I took that moment to press, hopefully, the right button as "call" to the first contact on my list. I hoped with a thousand fingers crossed that I had pressed all the correct buttons and my phone was currently calling Alec.

And I hoped to God that he would answer. Then I'd just have to pray that he was close by, and not in New Jersey.

It was funny how much you could hope and pray in such a time like this.

And then suddenly Jakobi grabbed me roughly by my left arm and yanked me past Renova, who moved swiftly out of the way. With a gasp, I managed to stumble over my own feet after him down the steep stairs. The lights flickered on when we got down there, and I glanced behind me to see Renova at the light switches.

When my eyes adjusted to the sudden light, I succeeded in a good look around the basement…that didn't even look like a basement.

It looked like a dungeon, and a really fucking familiar one too.

Jakobi stopped for a moment and stared toward the same direction that I was now. I was sure both our expressions were surprised, because the shackles hanging from the wall were the same ones that had once held Jakobi's brother as he was murdered brutally.

A/N: I would like to thank all my reviewers up to this point, because you are all amazing and awesome and I love you all. Your awesome comments help me continue my stories, so millions of thanks to each of you!