Grace picked the lock of my obsidian collar that afternoon but I kept it on around vampires. With the clasp on, it looked like it was still locked in place so wouldn’t arouse any suspicions. This would give me a few days to practice my magic before the food truck arrived.
Vampire guards came down the hill fairly regularly to feed from the blood slaves. But any moment when we were alone, I’d practice my magic. Not having had any training, I could only go on instinct. Taking off my dog collar, I watched as the orange lights twirled around me and practiced manipulating them with my hands. Recalling the other times I’d borrowed vampire powers, I went over the steps to inhale their magic, over and over again, in my head. The only unknown at this point was how I would remove the spell from the gate - that part I’d just have to wing. I couldn’t risk doing it ahead of time and getting caught. That would derail the entire plan and possibly get me killed.
Monday arrived and we waited anxiously for the food truck. CJ and Rainie were outside playing but actually they were on lookout. Samuel paced, swinging his arms back and forth. He exuded a mixture of nerves and excitement. Grace was quiet and pensive, wringing her hands as she stared into space. Only Paulette was vocal. She didn’t trust our plan and wasn’t shy about sharing her reservations.
As soon as CJ and Rainie went to play in the other room, she hissed at me. “You’re going to get us all killed.”
I bit my lip, about to defend myself when Grace stepped in and spoke for me. “Please Paulette. Try and be positive. Do you want to live here as a slave for the rest of your life?”
“No but…”
“I’d rather die trying to escape than live a half life here being tortured and fed on.”
Paulette looked down at her lap. “I have young ones to think about. They don’t deserve to die.”
“None of us do!” Grace countered, raising her voice. Her eyes flicked to the vampire guards outside and she lowered her voice. “But we also don’t deserve to live half a miserable life. Let’s take a chance on us. Let’s choose hope. Can you do that for me?”
Paulette’s face crumpled as her eyes filled with tears. “It’s just that… you know I’ve been let down before and…”
Grace knelt beside her and held both her hands. “I know Paulette. But this time it’ll be different.”
Something in their words caught my attention. “What do you mean, you’ve been let down before?”
Paulette sniffed. “This isn’t the first time we’ve had a witch come here and promise to get us out.”
“What?!” I couldn’t believe I was only hearing about this now. “Who? When? What happened?” I could barely get my questions out fast enough.
“Her name was Rose or Rosie…”
“Rosa?” I asked
“Yes that’s it. Rosa. She was a pet, just like you, up in the main house.” She sniffed again. “Anyway, one night she escaped and came down the hill. Told us she’d break the spell on the gate and then come back for us.” Her eyes darkened. “She never came back. She escaped from this place and never helped anyone.”
Adrenaline surged through me. As terrible as the story was it was also wonderful. Rosa was an arcane witch, like me. If she’d been successful at lifting the spell on the gate, that meant I could too. For the first time since hatching the plan, I had real faith that we could pull it off.
Crouching down, next to Grace, I looked Paulette in the eyes. “Rosa may have betrayed your trust but I would never do that. I promise you, when I leave this place, you’re coming with me.” I looked each of them in the eyes. “All of you.”
CJ and Rainie came in through the back door. CJ was breathless. “It’s coming.”
I inhaled deeply. “Right, this is it.
The food truck rolled, slowly up the long driveway and I took off my obsidian dog collar. I gasped and shuddered as strength and power rushed through my system. I’d learnt that the collar not only blocked my magic but it also reduced my strength and speed. Even my thought processes were foggier when I was wearing it. Now, with sharpened reflexes, I stood up, clicking my neck from side to side as I strode outside.
Mitchell and Peterson had assumed their usual position of lounging in the grass, playing cards. But as I approached, they sat up, their faces registering first annoyance and then a flicker of fear, as their gaze dropped to my neck. Swirling silvery lights mushroomed around their heads and I willed the power towards me, sucking it into my core. My body seemed to grow in size as my muscles hardened and vitality rippled over my skin.
Mitchell locked eyes with me and his lip curled. My vampire enhanced hearing heard a subtle growl purr over his chest. He sprang to his feet and launched himself at me, flying through the air with arms outstretched. To my eyes he seemed to move in slow motion and I turned and sprinted in the direction of the thicket of trees we’d run past during my first few days here. Reaching it in seconds, Mitchell’s footsteps thundered behind me. He was gaining on me fast. I may have vampire powers but he was still way bigger and stronger than me. But it didn’t matter: I was smarter.
He lunged at me and I sprang into the air, through the branches of the tree. As I descended, I grabbed one of the branches, snapping it easily before turning, to plunge it into Mitchell’s chest. His face froze in a surprised gasp of pain before he disintegrated, blowing away in the wind.
I had no time to celebrate his demise. Peterson wasn’t far behind him and in seconds, he was upon me. But when he saw the bloody tree branch in my hand, he faltered, stumbling backwards before he started running away. I took off, in pursuit. There was no way I’d let him warn the rest of the house. Reaching him in seconds, I jumped on top of his shoulders, winding my feet around his torso. Lifting the tree branch, I bought it down towards his chest. But he was quicker than Mitchell. Curling himself up into a defensive ball, he dropped and rolled forwards, shaking me off at the same time. I back flipped through the air, to face him, assuming a fighting stance, my makeshift stake in one hand. We circled each other. Peterson swiped at me and I jumped backwards. Peterson’s eyes were filled with such violent intent that I started to doubt myself. He registered the moment of fear, in my eyes and seized upon it, lunging forward to grab me by the neck. He lifted me off the ground and I started to choke, dropping the branch as my vision started to blur.
“You’re not as strong as you think you are, little girl.” He smiled, licking his lips as his eyes went to my neck.
I flailed my legs around, and clawed at his hand, trying desperately to get him off me. But it was like his hand was coated in oil, I couldn’t get a grip. The world began to get fuzzy around the edges as my consciousness started to blur. He lowered me just enough that he could reach my neck. His canines grazed at my skin. My heart pounded like drum beats in my ears. My eyes closed and I felt a sharp prick of pain as his fangs pierced the first layer of my skin.
Then a moment of clarity settled over me. A voice inside my head said.
This is just like the gym, in London, Bree. Imagine this is Janice and you’re just sparring.
I opened my eyes, snapped my head back and head butted him, hard.
He staggered back in shock, releasing his grip on me at the same time. I squatted to grab the branch from the floor and hurled myself at him, stabbing him, in the chest, with a warrior cry that bellowed from the core of my being. His form disintegrated before me and his metallic scent wafted past me as dust on the breeze.
This was the danger point. If I could smell Mitchell and Peterson’s death dust, the other vampires of the house soon would too. And I was right. A loud beeping alarm sounded from up the hill.
They’d be waiting for me.
But I couldn’t let that stop me. I was determined to get out of here. Plus, I’d made a promise and I intended to keep it.
Turning around, I saw Samuel and Grace, rounding up the other blood slaves, as we’d planned. We’d designated a spot, near the gate, where they were to wait. Far enough away that the spell wouldn’t affect them.
The beeping got louder as I sprinted up the hill, my magic giving me a vampire’s speed, armed with only a tree branch. Within seconds, I was at the house. The first vampire guard was waiting for me on the sandstone steps. Wearing a bulletproof, stab vest and holding a semi-automatic weapon, he opened fire. Time seemed to slow down and I watched as the bullets approached me, in slow motion. Jumping into the air, the bullets whistled beneath my legs before I landed on the ground again. His finger braced on the trigger again but I was already moving forward. With split second speed, I plunged my branch into his neck then pulled it out. He gasped, eyes bulging as he clutched at his bloody neck with one hand, releasing the trigger. I tore his stab vest from his chest and stabbed the branch deep into his centre. His features drifted down to the ground in a pile of dust.
Beep, beep, beep.
Behind him, five more vampire guards all wore the same vests and pointed their semi-automatic rifles at me. I’d only ever seen the weapons in movies and American TV shows but if I’d already taken down one guy, I could take down more. They opened fire at the same time and I sailed into the air, somersaulting to land behind them. Zipping through the front door, I spied an antique sword, nailed to the wall, above a family crested shield. Dropping my tree branch, I soared into the air and ripped the sword off the wall, just in time for the first vampire guard to enter behind me. Swinging my sword at his neck, I decapitated him and he turned to dust.
Beep, beep, beep.
By now, the servants of the house had come to see the commotion. Darla appeared, armed with what looked like the broken leg of a piece of antique furniture. I smiled at her.
“Behind you, Bree!” She called out.
Just in time, I whirled around and drove my sword into a vampire guard’s neck. Then springing up, I withdrew my sword and swung it at his head, turning him to particles.
“Darla - get everyone into the food truck. Now!” I shouted, as more vampire guards poured into the mansion entrance hall.
On the stairs above, some of the favoured humans watched, with a mixture of fear, awe and excitement on their faces. I smiled to myself. Soon they’d be free to leave too.
A group of vampire guards opened fire all at the same time. Grabbing the dead guards bulletproof vest, I zipped through the gunfire, dodging bullets as I held up the vest, as a shield, with one hand and swung my sword with my other. I dispatched eight vampire guards and stopped to cock my eyebrow and half smile at the next group, behind them. Their eyes were wild with blood lust as they snarled at me with fangs bared.
Beep, beep, beep.
Suddenly Beaufort’s voice rang out of the speaker system. “Give up Bree, you can’t possibly kill all of the vampire guards in this house. And even if you did, my pets will never go with you.”
“Yeah? We’ll see about that.”
But as his words filtered through my mind, I realised he was right. All it would take was one mistake and I’d be dead - then the rest of the humans would never get out of here. I had to make a split second judgement call and in that moment, I decided that saving the humans was more important to me than getting revenge on Beaufort.
I leapt into the air, just as the next group of guards opened fire. But this time, I sprang backwards, then dropped and slid to shield myself behind a greek statue. The blare of rapid gunfire rang out as the guards annihilated the statue. But I was already sprinting towards the side patio doors. With lightning speed, I crashed through the glass door, barely noticing the shards of glass that lanced my skin. Fuelled by pure adrenaline, I spied the weapon of a dead vampire, on the grass nearby. I raced towards it and scooped it up before reaching the parked food truck, a moment later. Checking the back of the truck, I gave a satisfied smile and nod at Darla, sitting inside the truck beside scores of other humans. We’d pick up more when we got to the gate. I closed the truck doors then froze.
The crunching of pebbles underfoot had me whirling around to see a vampire behind me. Wearing a retail uniform, and overweight, with longish, greasy brown hair, he didn’t look like one of Beaufort’s guards.
He lifted up two shaky hands, his eyes wide with terror. “Look, I don’t want any trouble. This is just a minimum-wage job for me. I’m unarmed. Please, just let me go home. I’ll even drive you out of here.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, pointing the gun at his chest. “This is filled with silver bullets.” I didn’t think it was but he wouldn’t know that. “If you make one false move, you’re dust, understood?”
He nodded vigorously and side-stepped towards the vehicle, still holding his hands up as he kept his gaze trained on me and my big gun. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure I even knew how to shoot the thing. But again, he didn’t know that. Keeping my gaze as menacing as possible, I got in beside him. I pointed the gun at him and said in a low, even voice. “Drive.”
He didn’t hesitate, turning the ignition key, he started the truck. He turned it around the ample driveway, just as another group of guards ran out of the house. They opened fire, raining a hailstorm of bullets onto the truck. Me and the driver ducked as he sped down the hill. As we approached the gate, my skin started to itch and I focused on the orangey lights of my magic, that glittered around me. I didn’t know what I was doing but had a hunch that if I borrowed the vampire’s powers, it might offer me immunity to the spell. The other humans would pass out but at least I’d be able to get everyone to safety and revive them once we were out.
“Stop here, we have more people to pick up.” I commanded.
The vampire obediently complied, idling the engine as the blood slaves, crept out of the bushes, lining the sides of the driveway. I heard the sound of the truck, being opened, from the outside and more people getting in. As soon as it closed, I gave the order. “Let’s go.” And the vampire driver started driving towards the gate.
Now, with freedom in sight, I focused on the lights of his power. Sucking it into my chest, I felt a tingling sensation as more power flooded through me.
But then my body was gripped by agony. Every nerve ending was tipped in pain as a burning sensation spread over my skin. Screaming and crying came through from the back and a few banging noises. But I could barely focus on what was happening in the back of the truck. My own pain obliterated every other thought from my mind. My vision began to blur and I gritted my teeth.
“Keep driving” I shouted, through a clenched jaw. I realised I hadn’t removed the spell but it made no difference. I was determined to make it out of here. Sweat poured down my face and my entire body shook as pain tore through my flesh. It felt like my skin was being ripped off my body.
Hold on Bree, hold on. Just a little longer….
But it was no use. The blurring at the edges of my vision closed in further and further until I could see only a pinprick of reality.
Then everything went black.