Christmas Consort

The Set Up

The vampire stiffened in front of Kylie, arms still wide. Was she going to fall that way? The Christmas tree with all its lights and antique ornaments would be crushed to the ground. What did that matter? Kylie backed away as Lara swayed, twisting her fanged mouth toward Kylie who screamed and fell back into the armchair.

Lara grabbed Kylie by the shoulders and screeched at her like a bobcat over its prey.

I missed, Kylie thought. And now I'm going to die. Lara inhaled and threw her head back shaking it as if to throw water from her hair. Then she clenched her teeth shut and stood over Kylie, lips quivering, eyes twitching. She fought to regain control. She stilled and color leeched back into her eyes.

"That's perfect Kylie. I tried to get you to safety." She lifted Kylie by the shoulders and shoved her toward the hall. She stiffened, "He stabbed me from behind." Lara cried out and staggered dropping Kylie who sank to the floor aghast. Lara's body slammed flat against the floor, the impact reverberating as if the vampire were a two by six.

"I played dead, when Silas grabbed you again." Lara pushed her arms underneath her body, a slow calculated movement. "In the grip of his blood lust he didn't hear me." Lara brought a finger to her mouth, pressed the single digit against silent, shushed lips. She leapt across the room flying through the air like a supernatural bullfrog and landed over Silas. She mimed stabbing him in the chest. "That's why I staked him in the back! Yes!" She stood triumphant. "It all works."

Her smiled slipped. "Except for your arm." She strode to the young woman. "What did you do Kylie?" She gently took the woman's arm and grimaced. "Was it a butcher knife? Did you try to fight him off?"

Kylie nodded dumbly.

"Then you're going to need a knife to make this work. I'll be right back." She skipped into the kitchen and Kylie shot a regretful glance at Silas. He was motioning with his eyes for her to go in the hall. The hall? Or the basement. In the basement she could lock herself into Silas's room. She would be safe.

She began a quiet crawl to the hall like a slow three-legged dog holding her injured limb against her chest. She made the basement door and heard Lara mumbling and slamming cabinet doors, still searching for a knife.

Kylie eased the basement door open, turned feet first, and moved down into the dark sitting on each stair as she descended. She was near the bottom when instinct froze her.

"Where do you think you're going?" Silhouetted in the doorframe above with glowing eyes, Lara was a monster straight out of a movie. One Kylie fervently wished she was not starring in.

Lara's light leap from the top stair was a blink. She crouched by Kylie. "You can't go off without your knife. And a good bit of blood on it as well." She dragged the flats of the kitchen knife into Kylie's wound bringing gasping screams from the woman who struggled ineffectually to get away.

"There. There. It's over. It's almost all over. You can have the knife." Lara pressed the blade's handle into Kylie's bloody hand. It slipped away from her grip under the stairs. "Oh. I guess the other hand would be better. Stay here. I'll get it for you."

Lara jumped over Kylie to the concrete floor below. She knelt and stretched her arm between the stairs. A glint of light showed Kylie the knife was almost out of Lara's reach. Kylie eased herself up one stair at a time. Maybe I can lock her in the basement and make the front door before she breaks out. It was a shot.

Lara pressed the side of her face against the stair above her arm to reach as far as she could. Kylie slipped up another stair.

"Damn it. Have to find something...there." She grabbed a broom from the corner of the basement and stuck it between the stair, squinting as she swept the knife across the floor. The metal scratched across the concrete like nails on a chalk board sending a shiver down Kylie's back. Gooseflesh broke across her skin and she pushed up to within a couple steps of the top.

Lara's chin rose toward the door. Kylie froze, but the vampire wasn't watching her at all.

"No, no, no. Not ready yet." She reached for the knife again, easily scooping it up from the dusty cavity. "Yes!"

Kylie scrambled into the hall and used her feet to shove the door closed on the vampire below. Forcing her weight onto her bruised knees she reached for the small sliding bolt and shoved it into place.

"Kylie?" The feminine voice from beyond the wood panel was beguiling, sweet even. "Kylie, I'd rather not explain a broken door if I don't have to."

Kylie pushed to her feet and stumbled back into the living room. A series of light knocks moved over the basement door.

"Kylie!"

She had to get out. Right now. She made two steps toward the door. An electric cable snaked over her left toe and ripped one set of lights from the far side of the room. They winked out as Kylie teetered and fell face first in the middle of the living room. Her injured arm shrieked under her body.

Lara bellowed from the top of the steps. "Fine then!" The wood of the basement door cracked and the door slammed back against the hall wall.

Kylie crawled the last few feet to the front door and was reaching for the knob when she heard the crunch on the gravel drive. A car was coming. Help was coming.

She called out, "Help--"

Lara grabbed Kylie by the hair. "Stop it! You'll ruin everything." She dragged Kylie back across the floor as the woman kicked and grabbed, trying to stop the burn across her scalp.

"Shut up you blood bag." She ripped Kylie to her feet. "You'll ruin everything. I didn't think, didn't think about you, what you'd say."

They both listened to the progress of the car, could hear the engine and the quiet of the crunching gravel when the car stopped out front.

Lara pressed her hand over Kylie's mouth. "You go here. Right where you fell when Silas knocked you away as I staked him. See? You hit your head. Really hard, I'm sorry to report. Who knows if you'll live or die. It's hard to say. But you sure won't be waking up anytime soon."

Outside the car engine died. Inside Kylie kicked and twisted and bit at the hand smothering her mouth and nose.

"Oh, I know. I'll volunteer to take you to the hospital. This is going to be so wonderful. A last supper Silas and I share."

The moment the car door slammed shut, Kylie's head slammed against the floor. Stars broke across her vision, distorting the view of the opening front door and the Man in Black. Her head was melting into the floor boards and dragging her lids shut. She thought she heard thunder before she lost consciousness.