Аманда Хокинг - Flutter

“Nope, but it’s got to be one of these two halls.” Milo let go of my hand, but he still hung onto Bobby’s. In another circumstance, it would’ve been a very funny sight to see a black glittery fairy leading a rather short Han Solo by the hand.

They were leading the way, but once we were in the hall, they slowed down considerably.

Milo didn’t really know how to track Jane, not as well as I did anyway, but it was going to be impossible.

There were too many people tonight. Everything smelled like blood, and I was incredibly impressed with my current level of self control. My stomach burned a little bit, and I was really thirsty, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle. It did, however, make it hard to distinguish different scents and sounds. Blood overpowered everything else.

I was about to give up on the whole thing when I finally got something. I froze in the middle of the hall, and Bobby bumped into me. It was too dark for him to see that I had stopped moving.

Very faintly, I could smell her perfume. Her blood wasn’t as distinct to me as I thought it would be, but her perfume was.

“It’s this one,” I whispered, gesturing to the door in front of us. After the way Jonathan had reacted the last time we busted in on him with Jane, I figured that Milo should take the necessary precautions. He moved in front of Bobby, putting himself between him and any possible attack.

This time, I decided against busting in. Very slowly, I turned the knob and pushed the door open.

Jonathan didn’t even hear us because he was feeding on Jane. He knelt on the bed, her body hanging limp in his arms, and he was gnawing on her neck. It wasn’t the gentle bites that Olivia always gave her girlfriends, or like the ones I’m sure Milo gave Bobby. This was intensely animalistic, reminding me of the shark attacks I watched on TV. Jane appeared completely unconscious, and when I listened for heartbeat, I couldn’t hear one. Only the sounding of his, pounding strong and fast.

Without thinking, I flew at him. I had the upper hand of a surprise attack, but that’s not why I did it.

He was killing her, and I had to stop him while there was still time, if there was still time. I jumped onto his back, and he snarled and threw Jane to the ground. It would’ve been easier for him to just drop on the bed, but her purposely chucked her away, like a piece of garbage. I wrapped my arms around his neck, but he reached back and grabbed me by my hair. He lifted me by it, and I screamed because it hurt like hell. I kicked and clawed at him, but he threw me against the wall.

“Milo, get Jane!” I commanded. As long as I was holding off Jonathan, Milo should be sneaking her out.

The pain stopped instantly. Hitting the wall hurt, but it was over right away, and I was back on my feet. I dove at him again, punching and clawing at him. I had never been in a fight before, so I was just doing whatever I could think of. Theoretically, I should be really fast and strong, but I did not feel like it. He blocked every move before I even made it, and when I was resorting to simply scratching and kicking, he held me tightly to him, so I couldn’t move.

“Drop the meat!” Jonathan roared at Milo, and I looked over at him. Milo had carefully picked Jane up off the floor, but he didn’t want to leave me alone with Jonathan.

“Get out of here!” I shouted. I didn’t really want him to leave me, because I had a feeling that I couldn’t win this fight, but this was his only chance to save Jane. “Go!”

Milo was indecisive, and Bobby stood in the hallway right out the door, looking pale and afraid. I was still struggling against Jonathan, but not really accomplishing much. He apparently tired of the stand off, and in a ridiculous move, he suddenly bite into my shoulder. I yelped, and I could feel the blood flowing hot and strange from the wound, but he didn’t drink from me. He easily could’ve bitten my throat and caused real damage, but he was doing this just to hinder and annoy me. Losing blood weakened me, and I wasn’t that strong of a fighter to start with.

“Alice!” Milo shouted, and I could tell he really considered discarding Jane to save me. As it was, he had never really been that fond of her to start with.

“Drop the girl!” Jonathan snarled, and threw me to the ground. My shoulder had already stopped hurting, and it was just tingling from healing, but I could feel the blood seeping out of me. It was an incredibly nauseating feeling.

“Run, Milo!” I insisted, and Jonathan turned back to glare at me.

He was standing right be me, where I was laying on the ground, and then an idea occurred to me. He kicked me, and I let him, and Bobby shouted at me to get up. If Jane weren’t completely unconscious, Milo probably would’ve handed her to Bobby and helped me himself, but he couldn’t, and that was just as well. As soon as Jonathan turned back to Milo, I moved forward and bit into his ankle as hard as I could. I tore through his Achilles tendon, and Jonathan screamed in pain and fell back on the ground.

Even though the pain would stop soon, the damaged ligament would slow him down considerably.

I got to my feet as quickly as possible, but Jonathan grabbed me. I stomped on his hand before he would get to the chance to bite me the way I had done him, and he hissed at me but wouldn’t let go. He was bearing his teeth at me like he was some kind of animal, so I kicked him hard in the face. At the same time, he pulled my leg, so I fell back onto the ground, and Jonathan laughed. His mouth was full of blood from me kicking him, and some of it sprayed on me. The worst part was that all the blood still smelled like Jane, so I kicked him the mouth again. He finally let go of me, and I scrambled to my feet.

Milo had started setting Jane down on the bed, preparing to help me fight of Jonathan, but he finally seemed to be incapacitated. I rushed over to help Milo pick Jane up, even though he wouldn’t need any help.

She was little more than skin and bones, and I was pretty sure that even Bobby could’ve cared her without any trouble. Her throat was torn open, and Jonathan had really gone to town on it when he had bit her. It was like a dog bite or something like that, and not the usual small incision vampires made.

I swallowed back vomit and lifted her up in my arms. I couldn’t feel a pulse, and her head and limbs just dangled. Milo stared down at with a look of dull horror. If she was still alive, she wouldn’t be for much longer. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement, and Bobby did a sharp intake of breath. I looked up instantly, but it was already too late.

Jonathan had Bobby in his clutches.

Milo lunged off after them, into the hall where I couldn’t see anything. I wanted to throw Jane on the bed, but if she was dying, I didn’t want that to be the move that killed her. All I could hear was the sound of growling and flesh hitting flesh and Bobby screaming. Finally I decided that saving Jane’s life wasn’t worth my brother or Bobby dying, so I started to set her on the bed.

“Sorry, Jane.” I pushed her short hair off her forehead, and she felt completely cold under my touch.

I got to the hall the same time as Ezra. I’m not sure how well the fight between Milo and Jonathan had been going, but Ezra flew in and grabbed Jonathan by the throat and pinned him back against the concrete wall. Milo’s costume was in tatters and he was out of breath, and he just stood across from Jonathan, glaring at him. Jonathan started fighting against Ezra, but then Olivia appeared behind Ezra, and he completely stopped.

“Enough,” Ezra boomed, and let go of his throat. Jonathan licked the blood from his lips and straightened out his clothing. My mouth had blood on it from when I’d bit him, and I wiped at with the back of my hand. I could almost taste it, but I refused to. It was Jane’s blood, and I didn’t want any of it.