His Stoic Mask, Her Bleeding Heart

Chapter 2: A Bloody Rescue

I slipped through the back door of James' mansion with no trouble. It was unlocked, unguarded, and far from any inhabited rooms – at least, as far as I knew. No one seemed to notice my soundless arrival, no matter how obvious one would think it would be. What was going on here?

I jumped at the sound of shouts from the front of the mansion, accompanied by the sounds of brief explosions and squealing tires. Hale and his crew had arrived, and they clearly knew what they were doing. Their distraction allowed me to creep through a few more rooms until I finally reached the basement door, also unlocked and unguarded. This was almost too easy...

Without a sound, I made my way down the stairs, descending into the darkness of the oversized basement. My eyes quickly adjusted to the lack of light, scanning the room swiftly for any signs of movement. Luckily, there were none. I was alone.

"Elyria?" I said softly as I crept further into the basement. "Are you still here?" I nearly jumped again when I heard a loud thud several feet ahead of me, the sound of a body hitting a wall. I noticed that a small room had been built in the corner of the basement, a few thick white walls with a single large window facing the stairs. Through it, I could make out a hint of movement, followed by another thud. I crept closer. "Elyria...?" My eyes widened at what I saw.

A slender, nearly emaciated body was leaning against the thick glass of the window, a baggy white tank top hanging loosely from a set of bony shoulders. The creature's skin shone silver-white even in the darkness of the room, and a pair of deep crimson eyes glowed between strands of neatly curled, blood-red hair. Its lips were the same color, glistening the bright red of fresh blood. A palm hit the window with a softer thud, its perfectly manicured nails long enough to peek over the top of its fingertips. Each clean, delicate feature was just a massive contradiction to whatever this thing was.

"Elyria?" I whispered in disbelief, placing my palm against hers on the glass. Her mouth opened in a shriek I could barely hear through the thick walls, her oversized fangs glinting in the light of her red eyes, and she smacked the window much harder than before. It shook violently beneath my hand, and I took a step back, watching the girl with a frown. I had time to watch her slam her entire body into the glass three more times in quick succession before the sound of rapid footsteps on the basement stairs caught my attention. I spun to face the source of the noise, prepared to fight.

A pair of female vampires appeared, both looking thoroughly confused upon seeing me. "Who are you?" one, the taller of the two, said, her voice heavy with a Russian accent.

"I know him!" the other nearly shouted, her accent purely American and much easier to understand. I recognized her as one of the girls I used to feed from on occasion, Monica Stregel. "He's the one who betrayed Terrence!" I cringed at the memory of that horrid man, the man whose legacy James was trying to relive, but quickly forced the thought from my mind. What he'd done to Elyria, what he'd done to me and so many others, was in the past.

"What are you doing here?" the Russian woman asked, snarling at me as if it were going to scare me off. "No one is supposed to be down here."

"That's too bad," I said with a cruel, cold smile, and lunged at the pair, fangs bared.

I ducked a punch from the Russian, popping back up with a punch of my own. I would have classified it as "gentle" coming from me, but she flew across the room with a stream of blood sailing through the air in her wake. She was out cold before she even hit the floor, blood gushing from her nose. I only noticed this out of the corner of my eye, however, as the other female was already aiming a kick at my stomach.

I caught her foot with ease, sending her into the air with a swift twist of her ankle. She hit the floor with a loud, ungraceful "Oomph," and I knocked her unconscious with a "gentle" kick to the back of her head. I probably should have killed them, but for some odd reason, it just didn't feel right. They were almost in the same position as Elyria, in a way. They likely had no choice but to be here, under James' control.