Bite Shift

65

I opened my eyes to darkness. I reached out and slammed my hands into a solid surface. It was in front of my face, only inches from my nose. To either side I felt another close wall.

I'm in a coffin.

But I wasn't in a coffin. I was gently rocking and my knees were tucked up, my torso twisted to the side. Beneath me the air hummed. My back vibrated.

Car. Trunk. I'm in a goddam trunk.

I frantically tried to remember what had happened. My mind raced and I couldn't focus on a single thought. Calm down. Slow down. Breath.

I took a shaking breath. Then, another one. Until I could inhale and exhale without feeling any restriction.

Rhys is not at work. Alex is not at work. Sorin sent Will. Parking garage. Blood. Pain.

Fuck. Someone hit me and now I am in a fucking car.

Phone! Get your phone.

I worked my hand down the metal above me, to my waist, and felt in my pocket. It was empty. I rocked my hip against the bottom of the trunk to see if I could feel my phone in my other pocket. Nothing. It was empty.

Shit! My breathing was speeding up again, getting shallow, and I felt like I couldn't get air. I had to calm down or I was going to pass out. I needed to get help but didn't have a phone, didn't know where I was or where I was going, didn't know who was driving. The only thing I was sure of was that I was about to be killed. This time, for real. No coming back.

I heard a man groan behind my head. It was coming from the back seat on the other side of the trunk. The groan was obviously not one of pleasure but of pain. Will!

Below me the sound changed. It stopped being a hum and became a crunching sound. We were on rocks; gravel. From the sounds, I guessed we were driving slowly down a gravel road. Slow meant that we were stopping soon. I needed a plan.

What are my options? I don't have a weapon but I am strong and fast.

Unless it's another vamp or a fucking werewolf and then none of that matters.

I can run. Fly? Can I fly?

All you did was levitate, I don't think that's going to help you and you don't even know how to do it without Stevie freaking Nicks playing.

Being psychic or having visions isn't going to help! I sure, as shit, wish I had seen this coming. What's the use of seeing the future if the universe doesn't warn you about being in the trunk of a psycho's car?!?

Leaving my body! The thing I did last night. Going into Sorin's bedroom. But I couldn't talk to him. It's better than nothing though!

I tried to quiet all the noise in my head. Tried to focus all of my thoughts down to Sorin. I tried to picture him, see him, in my mind. Too much was in my brain. It was noisy and chaotic. I couldn't calm myself enough to concentrate on one thing. I tried screaming his name in my head.

Sorin! Sorin! Oh God, please hear me. Sorin!

Silence.

I don't know what I excepted. For him to answer my thoughts? Talk to me in my head? I was out of ideas and out of options. From the sounds outside, I realized I was out of time too. The crunching had stopped. The rocking has stopped. Wherever I was being taken, we were there.

It's interesting what you think of when you know you are going to die. Before, I had been attacked without warning. This time, I knew a killer was coming for me. I knew he would be very sure that I died.

I thought of Olivia and Ellie. I thought of them getting married and being swollen with pregnancy. I thought of them holding their newborn baby in a hospital bed and wishing I was there to see it. I thought of Tom telling those babies about their Grandma who had gone missing from the hospital one night. I thought of my framed picture on the mantles of my grown children's homes. I thought of Sorin and wished I had not fought him. I wished I had enjoyed every touch, every sensation. I wished I had relished his wanting me and stared into his eyes for longer. I wished I had not run away from the slow dance in silence. Wished I had gotten my night with him. I thought of Alex and his sister. I would never get to help him save his sister. He would never get to use my special blood to cure vampires. It would all be wasted.

I heard a car door open and close. I heard the crunching of feet on gravel move closer to me. Another door opened, just behind my head. Someone grunted. He's still alive.

There was rustling and the door slammed shut. Crunching again, moving from my head to my side. It was joined by another sound, a dragging. The driver had gotten Will from the backseat and was pulling him over the rocks.

A click above me was followed by the metal swinging away from me and a shadow above me. It was irregular. A person with two heads? No. It was bigger than a man, too broad. It stepped back, out of my vision.

I sat up slowly.

The benefit of vampire eyes is more than just seeing in the dark. You don't need that extra time to adjust and focus when you go from one extreme to the other. I could see exactly what stood in front of me.

"Hello, Kate."

"Hello, Will."