bite.

Chapter 41

I took the gun from Raphael's hand and left the office.

The smell of blood on the warehouse was overwhelming. There were pieces of slayers across the floor, but no monsters to be seen.

I tucked the gun into my jacket pocket and ran over to Keira's unconscious body. Checking her for injuries, I found that v-types, surprisingly, hadn't touched her. I grabbed her by the feet and dragged her into the back office where Raphael and Cassandra lay. With Keira safe, my next priority was Michael.

I needed to know if he was still alive. If he was dead, then we'd gone through hell and back for nothing. He couldn't be dead - he wasn't allowed to get himself killed and leave me alone in this dizzying confusing place without him.

I ran from the office, down the stairs. As I moved down the stairs, the cacophony of fighting hit me. Concrete smashing, v-types growling, vampires screaming and yelling as they fought to the death.

I approached the main entrance and saw complete chaos. Slayers, vampires and v-types filled the warehouse floor, fighting for their lives. The concrete floor was littered in body parts, swimming in pools of blood.

I stopped short of the entranceway, terrified to take another step forward.

"Lorna, watch out!" a voice cried.

I suddenly ducked, as half an arm came flying towards me.

Moving out the way, I lifted my head and saw Skull standing in the doorway, grinning at me. His face was covered in blood and dirt, and he was holding a crowbar.

"Where's Keira?" he asked.

"She's safe," I replied.

"I'm glad to hear it. Have you come down here to join the fight?"

"I'm looking for Michael."

"Well, the last time I saw him, he was kicking the shit out of some guy."

"Where?"

"He was in here, but I haven't seen him for a while."

My heart sank. Where the hell was he?

"I've got to find him," I said turning away from the entrance and running back towards the stairs - maybe he was outside, or on the roof.

I ran up the stairs, looking for access to the roof. I'd stopped caring about the slayers and the v-types murdering each other. As far as I was concerned, not one of them deserved to live.

When the slayers betrayed us, the last little bit of my humanity had died. I no longer cared about what happened to the slayers, or the v-types. I just wanted to get away from all this fighting and death, with Michael.

I found a locked door at the top of the stairs and tried pulling it open. When it didn't budge, I ran back towards the office to see if I could find a key.

The noise from the floor below, seemed to be quietening down, although I could hear the occasional moan of pain or cry for help from one of the many injured.

As I cross the upper warehouse floor, I caught something moving in my periphal vision. I froze and turned to see Christine Howe, staggering towards me with a slayer's gun.

"What did you do?" She demanded.

I backed away from her, watching her carefully.

"How the hell did you break loose?" She asked.

Before I could give her an answer, two bodyguards rushed her, disarming her in a fraction of a second. They were vampire and somehow familiar.

Neither one said a word as they waited for the next order.