Morgan Rice - Betrayed

Caitlin looked at the letters and realized that it was Jonah’s door.

Caitlin charged the vampires, Sera by her side, and this time, Caitlin extracted her spear and threw it ahead of her. It pierced one vampire right through the throat, and then magically returned to her. The other two vampires turned and charged. One of them leapt in the air, right for Sera, but Sera was ready, crouching down, and raising her axe. It lodged right into the vampire’s stomach.

Caitlin extracted her sword, as the other leapt at her, she leapt, too, meeting it midway, and jabbing her sword through its throat.

All three vampires dead, Caitlin and Sera rushed to the door.

“Jonah!” she yelled out.

There was no response.

“Jonah!” she screamed again. “It’s Caitlin. Let me in!”

After a second, there was a rustling inside, followed by “Caitlin?”

It was his voice. He was still alive.

“It’s me! Let me in, quick!”

She heard the keyhole slot move, then suddenly, several locks were unchained, and the door opened up. She and Sera quickly went inside, and he locked the door behind them.

Caitlin and Jonah stared at each other, both stunned. Jonah, though, was much more shocked to see Caitlin standing there, with Sera, each holding weapons, each covered in blood. He was speechless.

Caitlin quickly surveyed the apartment, and saw Jonah’s father lying on the couch, barely conscious. She saw the sores on his face, the tell-tale signs of plague. Her heart went out to him, and to Jonah. At least they were alive.

“You’re alive,” Caitlin said, happily surprised.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. “How did you get here? How are you alive?”

Caitlin shook her head. “There isn’t time. We have to go. We need to get you out of here.”

“Where are you – how are you surviving?” he asked, still shocked.

Caitlin thought quick. She had an idea.

“The armories,” Caitlin said. “You’ll be safe there. They’re filled with U.S. soldiers and tanks.”

“But… how can we make it there?” Jonah’s father asked. “We’d never make it out of here alive! And even if we did, they’re too far away.”

Caitlin turned and looked Sera. Sera looked back, and she could see that the two of them had been thinking the same thing at the same moment.

“It would be on our way,” Caitlin said to Sera. “It wouldn’t take away any time.”

Sera shook her head, annoyed. “I knew this would happen.”

Caitlin and Sera flew, heading south, Caitlin carrying Jonah on her back, and Sera carrying Jonah’s father. Caitlin smiled as she recalled the look on Jonah’s face as she had slung him over her shoulder, and as Sera had slung his father over her shoulder, and the two of them had suddenly jumped with them out the window. Jonah and his dad had both shrieked, assuming they were plunging towards instant death.

They had both been equally shocked to realize they were alive, and flying. They were wide-eyed, flabbergasted. There was simply no explaining it. But they were also clearly grateful to be in the air, to be heading away from their building, from certain death.

They flew quickly downtown, and when they hit 28th street, they turned East and headed over to the Lexington Avenue armory.

They descended and dropped the two of them near the entrance. Thousands of U.S. soldiers, and dozens of jeeps and tanks, were flooding in and out of the entrance, and Caitlin and Sera went unnoticed in the mayhem.

They all stood there for a quick moment, Jonah and her father staring, still shocked, not knowing what to say.

“You’ll be safe here,” Caitlin said.

John opened his mouth to speak several times, but then closed it.

Finally, he opened it again, “I… don’t know what to say…” he said. “I… never forgot you. And I never will.”

With that, Caitlin felt a tug on her arm, and she and Sera were off, flying back to the air.

And heading for City Hall.

Caitlin and Sera flew nearly all the way downtown in unimpeded skies until finally, their luck ran out. At Houston Street, soldiers from the Blacktide Coven appeared, coming right at them. There were maybe two dozen of them, and there was no way around them.

“Prepare for battle,” Sera said in the air, her face transforming with rage, as she lifted her battle ax.

Caitlin extracted both her sword and her spear, trying to remember all the principles that Aiden had taught her on the island. Stay focused. Breathe deep. Center yourself. When you are outnumbered, focus on the center warrior. There are no room for emotions in battle.

They were badly outnumbered, but Caitlin, clutching her weapons with sweaty palms, felt that they could win.

A second later, they crashed into the group at full speed. As they did, Caitlin slashed the sword expertly, decapitating one of them. She threw her spear in the same motion, piercing another one’s throat. Sera swung her axe wide, chopping off the heads of two of them in a single blow.

But there remained plenty more behind them, and the second Caitlin and Sera finished their strikes, they were pounced upon by several more vampires – too many, moving too quickly, for them to react. They found themselves spiraling downward, towards Earth.

They hit the cement hard, covered by twenty vampires.

Caitlin, on the bottom of the pile, suffocating, thought of Caleb, of his being captured, of his needing her help. She thought of her unborn child, sitting in her stomach. And she felt the rage well within her. A blinding, uncontrollable rage. She felt her muscles grow, her veins pop out, and an incredible strength overcame her.

She leapt to her feet, throwing them all off of her in a single bound, and leaned back and roared. It was the primal roar of a mother protecting her child, of a wife, protecting her husband. The world turned red, and she lost every last ounce of control.

She charged the group of vampires, stunned, swinging her sword wildly, throwing the spear again and again, which came back to her every time. She was pounced upon to the left and to the right, but every time, she was faster, stronger, angrier. She felt herself being clawed, scarred, scratched up, even bitten, but nothing they had matched what she had. She decapitated one after the other, and within what felt like seconds, the entire group of vampires attacking her were dead.

Sera handed herself almost as well. She had incredible strength, and she swung her axe wildly and expertly, jabbing, slashing, even using its wooden shaft to block blows. When that wasn’t enough, she also leaned back and kicked, head-butted, elbowed. She was a one-woman force. And she killed several of them.

But she was not as good as Caitlin. Several more pounced on her from behind, sending her crashing to the ground, and one vampire reached up with a sword, ready to bring it down on her.

Caitlin sprang into action, leaping and decapitating the vampire with a swing of her sword. She swung wildly, and killed several more, giving Sera enough time to regain her feet. Sera did, and went back to fighting herself.

Minutes later, all of the vampires were dead. Just Caitlin and Sera stood there, breathing heavily, covered in scratches and bruises and bites, splattered in blood. Caitlin slowly felt her rage calm.

She looked over, and noticed that Sera’s expression had changed. She was no longer angry at Caitlin. On the contrary, she sensed gratitude. It look like the face of a friend.

“You saved my life,” Sera said, surprised. “Why?”

Caitlin smiled. “Well, I guess I need you to find Caleb, too.”

Sera smiled back. They both knew that wasn’t the reason. Caitlin could clearly handle herself on her own. It was obvious, at that moment, that Caitlin had actually grown to like Sera, despite everything. And that Sera felt the same.