The Vampire's Requiem II [malexmale]

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Thirty-Nine (Xed)

"Shit!" Peter cursed, shooting to his feet and causing everyone else to jump.

I looked over his shoulder and sure enough there was a security camera point to the hallway outside the dining area and one of the Stratius was grabbing Newell from behind. I didn't hesitate another moment and sprinted the door, throwing it open so hard the glass shattered from the force, causing the Stratius member to look up from dragging Newell and curse. He reached into his pocket and whipped out a gun, firing it off. It struck me hard in the chest, but only felt like a vicious poke in the chest. I lunged for him and wrestled the gun away easily before throwing a punch at him, but he ducked and spun around, grabbing me by the arm and slamming me hard into the wall. I snarled at him and twisted away from him, popping my arm out of its socket in the process, but I ignored the searing pain and lunged at him, sinking my teeth down into his arm.

The vampire hissed at me and wrenched his arm away, a big mistake on his part as blood spurt from the place where his flesh was now missing. I didn't even chew the flesh hanging out of my mouth, just tilted my head back and swallowed. I reached up and shoved my arm back into its socket, seething with rage and pain.

The vampire cursed when he noticed the others coming out of the dining area and sprinted down the hallway. I started to go after him when Newell moaned on the floor and I immediately spun around, dropping to my knees beside him. I touched his pale face, watching his eyelids flutter open for a second, then close, then open again to stare up at me. He sighed, reaching up with shaking fingers, touched my cheek, then fainted again. I gritted my teeth and quickly gathered Newell up into my arms, cradling him to my chest. I looked up to see the others piling out of the dining area, all of them alert.

Peter had a crossbow withdrawn and Walter a pair of pistols that I could smell had been dipped in oni's blood, a poisonous liquid to vampire kind. Orion and Ollie were tense, keeping the kids close to them as they came toward us.

"What the hell? That was way too fast." Orion protested with a curse.

"Where did he go?" Peter demanded. I gestured down the hall with my head. Peter nodded and pointed to Orion and Ollie, then down the hallway. The brothers nodded and sprinted down the hallway to see if the vampire had gotten away. I looked down at Newell, confused. Why wasn't he waking up? What had they done to him? I patted his cheek, but he didn't move.

"Chloroform," Peter muttered, approaching to study Newell's face before looking up at me, "He'll wake up. It's not like the movies where it works for a few hours. He'll wake up any minute now. We need to get out of here, though. It's not safe if we're sitting ducks."

"To the left," Walter ordered, making us look at Peter's iPad to see someone with long red hair moving down the hallway, "He's heading right for that hallway down there. He's gonna run into Ollie and Orion head on. We need to be there to back them up. We'll catch up to him from behind and attack. Xed, take Newell and the kids somewhere safe." I didn't argue with that and allowed them to run ahead of us. I gestured for the kids to follow me and we hurried down the hallway. It was like Peter said, though, Newell woke up halfway down the hallway, but he looked dazed and sick to his stomach.

"What the hell was that?" He managed breathlessly. I covered my nose and mouth with my hand, breathed in, then out, to indicate his situation. He scowled, obviously confused at first before it seemed to dawn on him and he cursed under his breath, slumping back into my arms.

"Don't I feel stupid." He grunted. I started to give him a reassuring smile when something shot past my face and cut my cheek open. Pain stung my face and I pulled up short, looking up to see a woman standing at the end of the hall. She was a bit on the heavy side, dressed entirely in black, her dark curly hair tied back from her narrowed hazel eyes.