Empire of Vampires ✔️

Chapter Fourteen

Andrew tossed and turned that night; he was exhausted but sleep still eluded him. He couldn't stop thinking about the men from earlier. The thought of them laying a hand on Marie sickened him. He hated the thought that they even still existed. Pulling his pillow over his head, he tried to rid himself of the thoughts but all he could think of were their jeering faces, them taunting his friend.

'I shall be with you shortly.'

Andrew glanced over at James who seemed to be having a conversation on some type of walkie-talkie, unaware that he was being listened to. James really did talk in the strangest way sometimes. Like a character out of a Regency romance novel.

'You must lure them out of their homes, I would not be welcomed in.'

Andrew peeked through the covers to see James standing at the window, moonlight falling over his face and showing it contorted into a frightening expression. He had been acting odd ever since the news of the second murder, leaving their dorm almost every night and still being gone by the time Andrew woke up. James always waited to leave until he was sure Andrew was asleep, but the latter had been finding it difficult lately to get much rest. He was a light sleeper anyway, and he always awoke whenever he heard a phone call or a door knob turn.

James nodded sagely. 'Yes, we can leave the bodies in the alleyway, they will be found soon enough.'

Andrew's eyes widened as he held in a gasp. His heart hammered in his chest as he tried to put two and two together. James was still at the window, grinning quite maliciously. No, it couldn't be.. all the murders that have been on the news lately...

James laughed humorlessly. 'Yes, my dear, I'm sure they do deserve what's coming to them.'

He ended the call and slipped out of the dorm room, not even taking the time to pull on a shirt.

Andrew let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as a million thoughts whizzed about his confused mind. He clutched the sheets to him, his dark eyes, wild and terrified, as he remembered the gruesome murders he had seen on the news.

Andrew knew that James had seemed very upset over them... but had he just misread the signs of him being guilty? Sure, they'd only started being friendly with each other quite recently; James still seemed mysterious at times, and Andrew felt like he was hiding something.. but... murder?

Andrew wondered if he should have followed James to the alleyway, it seemed positively cowardly to just sit there doing nothing. By now he had mostly convinced himself that he had somehow misheard the conversation James was having. He paced up and down feeling jittery; the curiosity was killing him. Already regretting his decision, he slipped on his shoes and crept downstairs.

As soon as he got outside, the chilly wind greeted him, numbing him almost instantly in his thin t-shirt and sleeping shorts. He shivered in the frost as he slowly made his way to the closest alleyway, wondering with bewilderment how those twins could bear to walk about without any discomfort in the cold.

Andrew trudged down the path, feeling rather silly. He was almost about to give up the notion and walk back to the dorm when he heard the most blood-curling scream.

Gasping he rushed toward the sound. Everything told him to run the other way but... what if the scream had come from James?

He turned the corner to find James standing there, a man limp at his feet. The man's blood was smeared around his mouth, dripping down his strong chin onto the lean muscles on his chest. Andrew's eyes travelled down, taking in his full torso spattered with blood which ran in a stream down his prominent sternum, from his shapely, protruding collarbones to his washboard abs. He was frozen in shock, unable to move a muscle.

Next to him stood Marie, her eyes ablaze with fury. She stood tall and powerful, her fangs sinking into another man's neck. She was holding his limp body up in the air with one hand grasping the front of his shirt. She looked strong and impressive, an immovable force. There was nothing timid about her stance.

The twins saw him and for a moment, time stood still. James's eyes locked on his own, his expression unreadable. Marie dropped the man, breaking the silence, and Andrew turned to flee.

Within seconds, James was beside him, grasping his upper arm uncomfortably tightly with his long, slender fingers. Andrew stumbled as James pulled him around to face him. They were standing chest to chest, James's pointy fangs just inches away from his face. His mouth parted as he gazed at them in equal parts of awe and dread.

'Vampyre.'

Andrew's whisper hung in the air; the word seemed to reverberate as if it were electrically charged.

'Those were bad men Andrew.' James's tone was frighteningly calm in comparison to his iron tight grip.

'They're the two men from earlier,' added Marie, causing him to look at the bodies and note that, in fact, they were.

She wiped the blood off her mouth with some contrition as her eyes shifted away. James let go suddenly, seeming to just now realize how tightly he had been holding on.

But Andrew had blacked out; he slid to the ground.