They Rise at Dusk (Book #1) ✔️

Chapter 42: Mastermind

For a split second, I remained frozen in place. A loud, throaty scream tore through someone's throat, followed by the sounds of havoc and panic. Fear constricted my veins, preventing blood from flowing through my limbs.

No.

No.

I had to move.

I couldn't make out the voices from all the shouts, screams, drawing of weapons, breathing, rattling of the lock. I couldn't figure out who got shot.

Another shot followed.

Fuck. Fuck.

"Dorian." I hissed as quietly as possible, irrationally hoping he might be able to hear me through the walls, thinking he could hear me almost telepathically. "Come on. Come on."

I couldn't move.

I needed to get back.

Half is planning, the other half is improv. Dorian's words, not mine.

Commotion completely devoured the basement. Sounds of running and shouting spread around me, disabling me from hearing Edmond's quiet movements. Someone was shot, that much I knew. Selfishly, stupidly, I prayed it wasn't Jax.

Please, don't let him die because of me.

He didn't deserve it.

I needed to move. Now.

Forcing my legs to work, I stumbled through the hallway, my heart quicker than my brain, and turned sharp left at the end of the hallway.

I could smell it. The blood.

It gripped the air in its thick, rich scent.

My mind turned foggy.

We had seconds, nanoseconds.

Someone's scream tore the fog in my brain.

"Now, now!" Edmond shouted, his voice high-pitched, maniacal. "If you keep screaming, I'll only keep playing. It's music to my ears."

"You're a fucking psychopath!" Jax shouted, his voice finally reaching my ears as I came closer to the exit, right behind Edmond.

"No, no." Edmond chuckled. "I'm a hunter, just like you."

Suddenly, everything went quiet. Edmond's footsteps echoed through the hallways. Heavy breathing and rattling of the lock were the only other sounds. I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall. If I peeked, I'd see it all.

I just had to peek.

"Others are coming to help us out." Jax's voice, drenched in fear, sounded foreign.

"Wonderful." Edmond snickered. "The more, the merrier."

"Stay back!" Jax shouted. "Fuck! Stay back!"

Shoot.

Shoot him, Jax.

Don't point a gun at a vampire, shoot him.

When Jax's guttural scream reverberated off the walls, I nearly fucking lost it. Tears broke through my tightly shut eyelids, and a whimper fell off my lips. My limbs begged me to move, jump around Edmond's neck and twist. But I wouldn't make it. I was weak.

"Help!" Jax shouted, grunts following the words. "Please!"

"Come on!" Mikey's voice joined in.

"Please, goddammit!" Someone else begged.

I lost it.

All reason left me in an instant.

Focusing on the edge of the wall, I moved-