Unbreakable

Chapter 12 - A Familiar Face

Chapter 12

I run out of the bathroom as fast as I can without falling over and I scan the scene in front of me.  Everybody's in a panic, rushing to the nearest exits, escaping a deadly fate.  Something about the scene doesn't feel right.  If it were me, I would've made sure all the doors were locked before attacking.  Why would these vampires risk people escaping and potentially discovering and telling others about the existence of vampires?  This vampire doesn't seem to care about that at all. 

I see lifeless bodies in all corners of the building.  Upon closer inspection, I see that they were all bitten with the same set of small teeth as Suzy.  "There's only one?" I realize.  All of a sudden, something smashes against the music board, leaving nothing but silence in the dark room.  There is only the faint glow from the neon lights.  The hair on the back of my neck stands up straight.  It's much too quiet in here. 

Then somebody jumps on my back, latching their short legs around my waist and holding my head down with their small, but strong, arms.  The long hair brushing against my cheek means this vampire might be a girl.  Without hesitation, she buries her head in my neck and I can feel the numbness of her bite.  Suddenly, all of those lessons with Felix surface in my mind and I'm able to fight her small body off of my back.  I hear her feet hit the ground, but she takes off running before I can turn around, leaving me alone in the nightclub surrounded by dead bodies. 

My stomach starts to feel uneasy, so I quickly run outside and find the nearest trashcan, emptying the contents of my stomach into it.  I don't know if it was the sight of all those bodies, or the after effects of the alcohol that triggered it, but I feel better when I'm done, at least physically.  Even though my stomach feels better; my drunken mind is throbbing as I try to process what the hell just happened.  I come to the conclusion that distancing myself from the scene might be a good idea, so I start running. 

In my daze I don't even pay attention to where I'm going.  This proves to be a problem, because after twenty minutes I realize I'm lost, and I'm too tired to go any further.  Seeing a park across the street, I walk closer to it and find a spot next to a large tree to sit down.  I plan on just resting there for a few minutes to catch my breath, but I end up falling asleep instead.

*

The next morning I wake up to the sun assaulting my eyes, causing my head to throb in pain.  I roll over onto my side when I realize that something isn't quite right.  I shoot my body up into a sitting position, causing my head to pound even worse.  I don't even process my headache because I realize that I'm no longer curled up under a tree at the park, but I'm lying down in the sheets of a soft bed.  Not only that, but the bed isn't even mine.

"You look like you had quite the night," a male voice chuckles.  The familiarity in this man's voice causes me to shoot up out of bed, and I suddenly feel like I'm about to throw up all over again.  My hands are shaking as I dart through the open door of the bedroom, looking for any possible route for escape.  I see stairs to my left and run down to the first floor of the building to see nothing but empty plastic boxes and a concrete floor.  The realization hits me when I hear steady footsteps following me.  I already was on the first floor, now I just trapped myself in the basement.  In a state of panic, I make a useless attempt of hiding myself behind one of the larger cooler shaped boxes all while squeezing my eyes shut and cursing myself out in my head for the situation I put myself in.

"Anna?" The man calls out from the bottom of the stairs.  I hear his footsteps getting closer and he moves some of the boxes out of the way, then I can sense him crouching down in front of me.  Finally I open my eyes to see Derek sitting in front of me.

"This has to be a dream," I conclude, mumbling to myself "Either that, or I'm hallucinating."  Do hangovers actually cause hallucinations?

"Well, I can assure you that I'm real," Derek smiles, reaching into one of the coolers and taking out what looks to be a juice pouch, only it's filled with dark red liquid.

"I thought... you're supposed to be dead!  Demetri was supposed to have killed you!"  He just laughs.

"Oh, Derek is dead," he tells me. 

"What?" I ask.  Now I'm confused.

"I'm his brother Daniel."

He reaches his arm out toward me and I flinch away, squeezing my eyes shut before what he said sinks in.  Huh?  I slowly open my eyes and see the Derek look alike sitting cross-legged in one of those fold out camping chairs looking like a relaxed townie enjoying a beer in front of a campfire.  Only that's not beer, and I'm not a campfire.  Looking at him a little more closely, I do notice differences between the man in front of me and the monster that ruined my life.  For one thing, Daniel looks like he spends his life in solitude.  His style is seems more relaxed, as he's wearing just a flannel shirt and some ripped jeans.  I notice that unlike Derek, Daniel has a shadow of stubble across his face.

I slowly sit up a little, keeping my eyes on the vampire.  "So..." I start.  He looks at me expectantly, "Are you here to continue what Derek started?"

He smirks, slurping the last few drops out of his blood bag before throwing it to the other side of the room.  "Nah," he says, standing up and crouching down one knee directly in front of me.  He's so close that I can smell the iron in his breath from the blood. 

"I'm here to finish what Derek started."  He gives me that all familiar smile that makes my blood run cold.

Author's Note

School's out for the summer!  That means my updates will be more frequent for the next few months.  Hopefully I can finish the story, but... that's what I said last year.  I just have more and more plot I keep thinking of.  Anyway, this chapter is short, but I just wanted to get something new out there for you guys!  Thanks for reading!