Midnight CEO

17.

"Where are we going exactly?" I yelled a little too loudly as I followed Callan into the woods on the city's outskirts. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell."

"The portal is just up ahead. It shouldn't be long now," Callan said, pushing a branch away from my head. "Watch the trees. They get kind of thick around here."

"Stupid nature, can't we just go back home and relax in the pool?" Jake continued to whine behind us.

"Always such a pleasure to have you along, Jake." Callan teased, shoving him sideways.

"Hey, be gentle, asshole. I'm still coming down from last night," Jake yelled, shoving Callan back.

I laughed in amusement at these two and their banter but stopped at the sound of something behind us.

"Can you guys hear that?" I whispered, pushing them apart. My skin started to crawl with the feeling of someone watching us. "What was that noise?"

"Can you smell that?" Jake said to Callan. "That can't be good."

Callan tilted his head slightly and listened. "I definitely heard that. Shit, we need to move fast. Ebony, get on my back. We're going to have to run," Callan said calmly, pulling me on his back. "Hold on tight, Jake, stay behind us but stay close," he ordered.

"On it," Jake replied, nodding and looking around the woods.

"What is it?" I whispered nervously as I heard a loud, terrifying howl coming from behind us. "Oh shit, is that Leon?" I held on to Callan a little tighter.

"MOVE!" yelled Jake as the ground started to shake beneath us. The next thing I knew, we were moving so fast through the woods that everything became blurry, and I had to close my eyes as the cold night air stung them. I tightly wrapped my arms and legs around Callan; it was probably a good thing he didn't need to breathe. There goes the howl again; it's close. It's right behind us now. My heart is pounding so fast; that it feels like my chest is about to explode. Callan ran towards the edge of the woods. The ground up ahead seems to drop off, but Callan keeps running towards it. In fact, he is getting faster.

"Hold on." He yells loudly.

"Callan!" I screamed as he suddenly jumped off the cliff top, and we started to fall through the air. I scream even louder as we drop fast through the cold open air. I closed my eyes and waited to feel the ground smashing against me. We seem to fall forever.

"Wow! You scream really loudly." Callan laughed suddenly.

"What the hell? How? What?" I yelled, looking around frantically as I held tightly onto Callan.

"Welcome to the vampire world. I had to take the back portal, sorry. The other one you pretty much walk through." he laughed.

"Holy shit, I nearly wet myself," I gasped, trying to slow down my beating heart.

"Are you ok?" Callan said, not laughing anymore.

"No, we just jumped off a cliff," I laughed. "Wait, where is Jake? He's not here?" We both looked around the dark Forest. "Callan, where is he?" I said frantically.

"He should be here. He was right behind me," Callan said, walking around.

"Oh, god, I feel sick. Where is he? He needs to be here," I cried out, looking around.

"Fuck," Callan yelled as he paced with his hands on his head. "This is not good."

"We have to go and get him; he could be hurt," I said.

"It's too dangerous, Ebony. Leon was right behind us back there."

"Leon? That was Leon. I heard, right?"