Bloodstream

Chapter 22

Ed runs towards my body, the bullet wound in his chest gone. He picks me up off the ground and I cry into his chest. I cry and I scream. He cries to.
"Shhh we will get him back. We will." He says soothingly.
"They are going to kill him" I sob. It's not fair. Why couldn't we just live peacefully. We sit out there for hours. The broken glass a replica of our hearts. So broken. I wonder what they are doing to him. It hurts me to think. Ed stands up and picks me up. He carries me to the car.
"What are you doing?" I say.
"We are going home. Kennedy and Dan can help us." I nod as he goes inside and gets the suitcases then speeds off down the dirt road.

We arrive home, where Kennedy and Dan are, and the second we pull up Kennedy already knows that if we are back so soon, Mason is gone. She hugs me tightly and leads me up to my room. I can feel depression draping itself over me like a blanket. And for the next week, I don't eat or drink blood, and my eyes have even started to turn to a shade of red from lack of blood and my skin is very pale. I don't do anything except try to think of a way to get my son back. But we don't know where he is or how to get to him. Ed is more logical than me and is trying to keep his strength up by drinking blood so that if he can save mason, he has the power to do it. But sleep doesn't come easy to him either. We feel so hopeless. Or did until I went into the lounge one day and saw James standing there. My heart jumps.
"What do you want?" I say grumpily.
"I know how to get to Mason." He says. My eyes widen.
"How!?" I ask eagerly. And he explains. He saw what happened with Mason and followed them to where they are keeping him then came back here to tell us.
"It's about a day of driving to get there." He says.
"Do you know your way around the place?" I ask but he doesn't.
"They have magic protecting the place from ghosts." He says. Then I remember that I'm talking to a ghost. "You have to take us there" I say. He nods.
"I only have a few more days left on this Earth, then my fate is going to be decided. But I will spend them helping you." I feel like I should be extremely grateful, but this just makes it even. So I tell Ed, Dan and Kennedy about James and at first Ed is furious that I'm getting help from my Ex but I remind him he is a ghost. And we make a plan to get in there. My bond with Mason will lead me to him once I get inside the building. Kennedy prepared us with small bags of blood before we left for the lake house and there are still plenty in the fridge. I have a few before we leave to get Mason back.

James was right, it's a long drive to the big black building, concealed by the woods. We walk the last mile, so our car (Mercedes S-class) doesn't get spotted. And as we are walking James whispers to me.
"I saw Cameron." He says.
"What! Where?" I ask.
"He went straight to the afterlife." He says. I sigh. I was hoping he would still be here, so I could see him.

We stop behind a thick cluster of bushes and observe our surroundings. The building isn't tall but it looks as though it goes underground. We spot an open window and sneak up to it. Kennedy peers inside.
"It's clear. Remember the plan. Everyone protect Skyler, she will lead us to Mason." So Kennedy jumps in first, then Dan, then me, then Ed. My bond goes a bit numb, no doubt from the magic protecting the building, but the magic is not strong enough. I am a mother who hasn't seen her child in a week, the bond is going to be strong. We stumble across many vampires but take them out soundlessly and with ease. Until a huge group of them come around a corner unexpectedly. They lunge at us and we lunge at them. I see Ed, his hands, so gentle with me are so brutal with the Vampires who are hurting his son. My small, fast figure gets me past the group unnoticed as my friends fight. And my bond leads me to a narrow corridor, with many doors lining the walls I don't know where to look. Because the bond has become painfully numb. I am standing in front of the corridor when two big, strong arms grab me from behind, one around waist and another over my mouth. This is it, I think. I'm screwed.

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-Grace xxx