Vampire Emeritus (Part #3) ✔

Chapter 16: Someone To Blame

For one microsecond, a fleeting half-moment, there was nothing but silence. Sheila's spine cracked, her eyes rolled back, and her lifeless body stumbled on the ground.

And then chaos.

Bullets pierced the air, aimed at the cultists. My entire soul flipped upside down as I ran to my friend's side, dropped on my knees, and bit through the veins on my wrist, desperate to feed her my blood, hoping it might revive her.

"No, no, no." My whisper only reverberate through my ears, almost shushed by the thudding of my heart.

I didn't care about the threat, nor the bullets flying past me.

Beyond me, shouts and screams and cursing resonated.

I put my wrist on Sheila's lips and took her head in my hand. Her body felt limp and wrong, like jelly, like mass of nothing. I pressed and pressed, the wound on my hand healing too quickly, but Sheila couldn't open her mouth. The dead couldn't move.

My mind and my heart refused to accept. I couldn't stop trying.

"They're gone!" Someone shouted. "They're fucking gone!"

"I'm going after them!" Another roar.

"No! We can't!"

I pushed my fingers into Sheila's mouth, almost violently, and pulled her lips apart. My blood dripped into her, but she wouldn't swallow. She couldn't.

Panic finally gripped me; it climbed up my spine, devouring me from inside out, engulfing and overwhelming. My throat dried out.

Someone bumped into me, pushed me aside.

William.

He bit down on his own wrist and pressed it against Sheila's already bloody lips, a horrific expression gripping his face. Perhaps his blood was stronger, perhaps he'd be able to revive her.

Holding onto this absurd glimmer of hope, I stayed by his side, tears running down my cheeks. William and I exchanged. I pressed my own wrist against Sheila's lips. He tried again. I tried one more time. He took over.

But Sheila was dead.

No, no, no.

We could do this. We could save her.

Shouts came from beyond; commands, curses, plans. They were sending someone after Vilmus. They were planning how to take them down. I couldn't hear them, I couldn't listen to them.

If I acknowledged them, they'd tell me she was dead. They'd tell me there was nothing I could do.

William wouldn't look at me. His eyes stayed on his love; no tears in them, no pain nor defeat, only determination. He looked like he might reach all the way to the Heaven and pull her back, no matter what it took.

I fell on my butt after what seemed like hours of trying.

She was gone.

Vilmus killed her right in front of us.

Deep, unrelenting sorrow threatened to pull me along with Sheila, but I refused. I pushed against the sadness and focused on anger instead.

Finally, I stood on my wobbly feet and looked around. The cultists were gone.

"Where are they?!" I shouted, my voice cracking.

Thomas commanded the guards. Ian explained something to the vamplings. Tina was nowhere to be found, as well as Caiden. I swallowed the rising pain and pushed it down with all I had.

The vampire inside of me knew how to handle this. Vengeance. I wanted fucking vengeance.

"Where are they?!" I screamed again, this time the sound that left my lips felt unhinged.