Page 39 of Tainted Blood

“I see…” Shaking off whatever flash of fear I was certain ran through him, Jamal moved to get up, going over the back of the couch. “I’m going to go check on Tareq and let him know about your offer, Isaiah. He should be wrapping up soon.”

“You know where I’ll be.” Isaiah gestured to me and Alexius. “I need to keep an eye on my introverts.”

Jamal was laughing as he walked away, heading across the room toward the door that led to the other wing of underground suites.

“Samas, are you okay?” Ramman asked, his voice loud compared to the quiet conversation in the room. “Samas, tell me what’s happening?”

I looked over, feeling Alexius start to get up beside me. Ramman was holding Samas’s shoulders, trying to look at his lover’s face, but Samas was hunched over, convulsing in a strange way.

A second later, violence erupted as Ramman was sent across the room. A roar rattled glasses on tables, sending them to the floor in small explosions of blood and glass.

Most of the room was frozen. Black veins covered Samas’s skin, radiating from his red eyes. He seemed bigger, his muscles bulging. Long black nails were growing from his fingers, much like I knew vampires could do, but his were becoming more claw-like by the millisecond.

Everyone was completely silent and either still or moving very slowly. Gisela and Aelia clearly knew that they had to get into a better position, being so close to the monster.

Samas was snarling, his expression feral as he looked around. I saw the moment he realized how close the Roman was to him.

“Duck!” someone screamed, and the room started moving again, everyone jumping into action at the same time.

18

Samas swung for Aelia, who didn’t duck, but did move, trying to get away as fast as possible. It probably saved her life. His claws raked across her back, snagged something she was wearing, and the momentum of the attack sent her into the wall right next to her with the devastating sound of breaking bones. All of that was better than ducking. He would have easily crushed her head into the wall.

Alexius moved so quickly, he nearly knocked me out of the booth. He wasn’t the only one running across the room as Aelia was slammed like a rag doll again, this time being flung across the room. Maxwell and Lucas were the first to get to Samas, who seemed as if he were a foot taller than both of them now.

Oh my God.

As someone roared and another crash shook the room, bits of wood shattering from something being destroyed, I looked for anything to do, anything to help. I saw Aelia on the floor and ran for her. I dove over her as something hit my shoulder, sending pain all the way down my arm and across my back. Once I knew I had her and nothing else was coming for me, I tried to move her, if only to get her out of the room for safety. I was certain she wasn’t dead even though she wasn’t breathing, and her heart wasn’t beating. There were only a handful of things that could kill a vampire, and she was safe from all of them, except the risk of her head being torn off or destroyed.

I was only able to pull her a few inches before she confirmed she was alive, screaming in pain.

“I need to get you out of here!” I yelled. I checked the fight, hoping I hadn’t drawn Samas’s attention. At that moment, he was trying to keep the others from surrounding him. Alexius, Isaiah, Maxwell, and Jamal were all there. In the seconds I watched, Samas lunged for Jamal and made contact. He was fast—faster than I knew Alexius could be and faster than Jamal could clearly handle. Samas grabbed his head, ripping it off in one clean action, then dove for the next closet vampire, Maxwell. Kamose attempted to tackle Samas, hard enough for the impact to be heard, but Samas didn’t budge. Lucas jumped on Samas’s back, only for the ancient to reach back and fling him off.

“Aelia, please!” I pleaded, pulling her again, keeping my eyes on the fight. I knew the door was closed, but she was struggling. I didn’t have time to assess her, and I knew trying to treat her right there would only get us both killed. I kept a hold of one of her arms and some of her clothes and kept trying to move her.

Every second felt long in the madness, everyone moving faster than a human could have possibly seen. I had a difficult time tracking much of it as vampires lunged and dodged, trying to get the upper hand on the monster Samas had become. What humans might have done in twenty seconds, the vampires around me were doing in a fraction of the time. Chairs and tables were wrecked as Samas jumped around the other vampires, fighting them off and trying to kill anything that was near him.

I was nearly at the door with Aelia when something else hit me. This time, I was able to see what it was.

An arm.

I was momentarily stunned before the door next to me burst open and Caturix ran in with a blade. Using my chance, I got my foot in the door to hold it while he joined the fighting, and I got the severely wounded Aelia out of the room. I dragged her down the hall, frantic, as I heard screams and roars from the lounge. I reached the emergency escape door, only to realize it was locked. I screamed, throwing my body against the door, but it didn’t budge.

“What the fuck?” I yelled at it, knowing it was futile. It only took a second for me to realize a security protocol had probably been activated the moment fighting broke out. “Oh God, we’re locked in with it…”

I looked down at Aelia, who had become unconscious at some point while I dragged her down the hallway. Knowing there wasn’t anything I could do for her, I decided to go back. I left her there, running back to the lounge.

I’m fast. I can help others get out. If he keeps fighting everyone else, he won’t notice I’m there.

Pushing my way back into the lounge, seeing the devastation, I tried to remain low to the ground and out of Samas’s line of sight. Alexius was still in the fight, Isaiah beside him. Neither man looked afraid. They were focused, so intent on Samas, they had no idea I was even there. I ducked as a chair came flying across the room and broke against the wall above me, then ran for a broken table to use as cover to find anyone I could help.

Ramman got thrown. Is he okay? Has he gotten out already?

I didn’t find anyone wounded at first. I found Lucas’s head and nearly screamed at the damage that was done to it, like something had shredded half his face. I didn’t mess with it, quickly moving to find another lookout spot. I ended up behind another broken table, next to a tossed couch.

“We need to kill him!” a woman yelled.

“We’re trying!” Isaiah snapped back.

---