Page 12 of Blood Bonds

‘Oww,’ I mouthed, holding my bleeding hands up to see the clean line across them. But thankfully it stopped me long enough to hear the voices behind the door, making me freeze. Then with utter horror, I watched as the head of the snake started to move down, making me act quickly. I snuck into the first door I could see and found myself in a closet.

Oh great, because horror movie girls stuck in closets always worked out well… And wouldn’t you know it, my mouth still wouldn’t stop as I whispered the second I could see feet approaching.

“Please leave… just leave me alone.”

Amazing… as soon as I said this, the shadow of feet underneath the door stopped. Then I heard a man’s voice.

“Disturbance reported on level eight, let’s go.”

I watched as the shadows disappeared and the guards left, making me finally let go of the breath I had been holding in. After this, I heard the sound of an elevator door opening right before blissful silence.

Meaning I was once again alone.

Well, whatever was happening on level eight had my eternal thanks because I wasn’t about to miss my golden opportunity for escape. I cautiously stepped back out, still holding my hand in afist because it hurt to open my fingers up. I knew that my blood was dripping over the floor, but right now there wasn’t much I could do about it. It wasn’t like I had the time to go rifling around looking for a band aid. Besides, what would a Vampire need with a first aid kit? Wasn’t their company bleeding the whole point?

“Don’t think about it,” I scolded as I opened the door once more, this time taking much more care. Once the double doors opened, I soon found myself in a fancy entrance hall. All white marble with plain white walls and a single marble table in the center. One that held a large sculpture.

It was a skeletal hand tilted to one side, holding the serene face of a beautiful woman crying. The tear rolling down her delicate cheek was blood red, weeping from beneath closed lids. It was so lifelike, it was simply breath taking, despite how haunting the image was.

I even found myself walking around it slowly, as if at any moment the eyes would open and stare back at me in horror.

I couldn’t help but gasp when I saw the other side.

It was the complete contrast to the serene beauty. The face of the woman had been replaced by the face of death. A feminine hand now held up the carved face of a skull, one still bleeding from the hallow eye sockets. The crimson stone poured down in streams until it reached the table it was sitting on.

I didn’t know why, but I found my hand reaching out on its own accord, but I snatched it back as soon as I realized what I was doing. It was too late though, I touched it and now the representation of blood was coated with my own. I looked down at my bleeding hand. As if seeing it for the first time, and asked myself once again, what had been in my blood that made him react to it the way he had?

“Not now,” I told myself. I needed to leave this place…and now!Which was why I quickly turned and ran to the elevatordoor, pressing the button over and over again, as if at any minute an alarm would go off and alert him to the fact that I was no longer where he had put me. Where he had obviously intended for me to stay.

The door dinged open, and I launched myself inside, turning to see an endless amount of buttons. Jesus, we were on the top floor!

I quickly pressed what would surely take me to the parking underneath, because I didn’t think going to the lobby a wise choice. However, the second the number didn’t light up I began to panic again. Even more so when I noticed a card reader and pin code, telling me that this was clearly a private elevator used only by who lived here.

“Shit, shit, shit! Come on, please just work!” I shouted at the thing, pressing the button like a woman possessed. My shouting obviously worked because suddenly the doors closed and the lift started to descend. Holy shit… Lady Luck was finally on my side!

I don’t know why, but I swear it felt like my heart was going to beat right out of my chest, just as it had last night. My back found the far wall on the elevator as I looked up at the ceiling.

“Ssshh shh now, calm that fluttering little heart of yours.”

His voice seemed to soak into my consciousness, and I placed a hand to my chest and took a deep breath.

The doors finally opened, and I ran out into the underground parking, seeing rows of luxury vehicles all lined up just waiting for the extremely wealthy to come pay them a visit. I gasped when I saw the gold plaques on the walls in front of each one because they all held the same name…

That’s when the man’s name came back to me.

Mr. Erebus had been what the unfortunate soul called him. It was an unusual name that strangely suited him. I wondered what it meant? Well, I would have enough time to google once I got the hell out of here… Something that one of the super sleek sportscars would have certainly helped with. Hell, but only one of them would have no doubt been the equivalent of winning the lottery because I would have no trouble paying off my debts then. I wasn’t a car buff by any stretch of the imagination, but I recognized names like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, and Rolls Royce.

I doubted my luck would extend to getting away with grand theft auto, so instead, I used what God gave me and started running, knowing there had to be a way out of here. Sunlight soon became my guiding light and beacon of hope as the exit called to me.

“Please let there be no one to stop me,” I said aloud the second I saw a security booth up ahead, but as I edged closer, I let out another held breath when I saw a man there in a chair, lounging back. He was clearly doing a grand job by snoozing away the paid hours, making it easy to sneak on by unseen.

“I did it,” I said, looking around the busy street and doing the impossible. I escaped. After seeing things that I shouldn’t have seen last night, I’m just glad my life is still intact. Although I had to ask myself,

What the hell I was going to do now…?

Now that I knew Vampires existed.

Chapter 5

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