Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming [A Vampire Academy fanfiction]

Chapter XIII

"Cass," I breathed. I didn't dare do anything. I couldn't move an inch, like I was frozen to the spot. She looked different. Of course she looked different. Why couldn't I move? Why couldn't I breathed? 

"Emma, this place is crawling with Strigoi," I heard Wesley say behind me, he approached me, yanking me away from Cass. Why hadn't she attacked me? Why wasn't everybody dead? Why was she running around free like this? Why did it feel like she wasn't my friend anymore?

"Cass...is a Strigoi..." I whispered to myself, as if I hadn't realized this hours ago. 

"Ugh," Wesley muttered, and then, Cass was on fire. 

"No!" I yelled, and ran towards Cass.

"Emma, it's for the best," Wesley said, and tugged me away. "Now that you're here, let's get out," he said gently.

"No," I muttered, staring at Cass screaming, and flames eating up her body. "Make it stop!" I screamed, pointing at her. "Make it stop!" I yelled again. But Wesley wouldn't, and Cass would be gone before I could save her.

"Wesley," Adrian said, and he stared straight into Wesley's eyes. "Make it stop," he said, and Wesley made it stop. After a few seconds, Cass looked...burnt, and Wesley looked confused. I looked at Adrian in horror. 

"Spirit users can compel people really well," he said, and turned to face Cass. "Well? Are you gonna help bust the rest of us out or what?" he asked curiously.

I surveyed the rest of the place. Everybody was in chains and everybody had bite marks on their necks. Losing blood made you weak, and when Strigoi fed off of you too much, you could go insane. They had to do this to make everybody weak, or else fire-suing Moroi like Wesley would've gotten everybody out in a few seconds.

I was about to head towards Zoey, a senior Dhampir I had known. She was in the first row. But then, I got confused and worried. Something seemed...out of place.

Where were all the Strigoi?

Then I felt a sharp pain in my arm. I turned towards my left. Cass. She had punched me. She smiled at me bitterly, her eyes red, her skin pale...there was no more sweet, kind, innocent Cass. All that was left was someone who was out for blood. Right now, it was mine.

Then, it was like the Strigoi fell from the sky. They came from all directions of the dark cave, surrounding me, surrounding their victims...they were getting ready to attack. If I was gonna try and save Cass, then this was my only chance. I had to knock her out, but not kill her, and believe me, that was a lot harder than it sounded.

I had calmed down. All I had to do, was land a really good blow to her head and not get killed. Easy.

"Adrian! Work on getting everybody out of those chains!" I yelled. There were 15 Strigoi in that cave, well, about 15. Maybe more. I didn't want anybody to get hurt, so I would have to do this swiftly and quickly. Cass charged towards me, and I quickly slid over to my right. She snarled.

"Wesley, set all the Strigoi on fire, do it now!" I said to him. He was behind me, afraid, but trying not to show it. He did what he was told, though. I admired his strength, his desire to be brave. He and Ashley had been perfect together. But...wasn't Wesley too weak to do this?

Cass and me were still fighting when Wesley passed out. All the Strigoi had turned to ash. Well, almost all of them. There were six left. "Sorry Cass," I mumbled, and grabbed a giant rock, plunking it onto her head. She crashed to the ground, unconscious. 

"Adrian, did you free everyone yet?" I asked. I looked at him, he was undoing the chains on a Moroi from the Badica family. 

"Almost!" he replied. There was a scratch mark on his cheek. He was bleeding.