Becca lived in a narrow block of apartments not so different to my own. It was nicer than my place though. My own street always seemed to be covered in perpetual darkness even on sunny days.
“She’s up on top,” Peter said, squinting as he looked upward. “Lift or stairs?”
“Stairs.” No way was I risking being stuck in a lift with Peter. Plus, I couldn’t chance leaving Carl alone for too long if the lift jammed. I was becoming fond of him, as though he were a pet I was babysitting for a friend. Odd to have around, but I suspected I might even miss him once he left.
We ventured up the stairs in silence.
“Number 6b,” Peter informed me.
I gulped. Six was never a good sign. My gut reaction intensified when we reached the apartment and saw the door was wide open. Inside, most of the furniture had been toppled over.
I sniffed the air. “I smell blood.”
Peter put his finger to his lips and gestured for me to follow him. He crept past the wide open door, glancing left and right. His heart thudded loudly in his chest, distracting me.
“Wait here,” he whispered and headed toward what might have been the bedroom or bathroom. The place was brightly coloured, a dramatic contrast to the bar, but something bothered me. I couldn’t figure out what had triggered the warning signals in my brain.
I jumped with fright as something crashed to the floor in the room Peter had entered. I heard him yell and raced after him. He was on the ground, Becca on top of him. Her face was covered in blood. My stomach did a flip as I realised it was Peter’s blood.
“What the hell?’
She whipped her head around at my words and showed her teeth. Her eyes were so red that I had to double check to see if she had fangs. She didn’t. But her very ordinary human teeth were covered in blood from where she had bitten Peter’s shoulder. He was too dazed to struggle.
“You crazy bitch” I shouted as I lunged at her. She barely had time to get to her feet before I collided with her. We rolled on the floor and crashed into the corner of the bed. She was quicker to recover than me and pinned me down. It took less than two seconds for me to get scared at the sheer force of her strength. I could barely move. I was getting pretty sick of everyone pinning me down with such apparent ease.
Becca wrapped her hands around my neck, moaning with excitement as my heartbeat raced.
“You... monster,” I said, gasping and desperately pinching at her hands to no avail. My air supply was depleting rapidly, and her fingers were making a good effort at crushing the bones in my neck. Not again. Peter was still prone on the ground, Carl wasn’t around, and I was on my own.
I tried to buck her off me, but she gripped my waist tight with her knees. I kept moving as much as I could to distract her while I desperately reached out with my hands for something to use as a weapon. Under the bed, my fingers brushed against something cool and metallic. I struggled to grip onto it but finally managed to take a firm hold. I pulled, but it was stuck on something. Black dots marred my vision; I knew I hadn’t long left. With one last blast of adrenalin, I pulled as hard as I could and felt a release. I swung into the air and realised I was holding a hair straightener.
My heart sank as it barely connected, but the wire managed to whip around into the air, the prongs of the plug connecting with her eye.
“Ow!” She howled with pain, letting go of my neck to instinctively touch her eye socket. Blood seeped from her eye, but I didn’t care. Air slammed into my lungs making me want to retch, but I concentrated on tackling her. The back of her head smacked to the ground as I held her down. Peter stirred behind me, but I couldn’t turn to check on him. Becca was much stronger than me, and I knew I couldn’t keep her pinned for much longer. I had only one weapon—my fangs. They shot out, but I hesitated, unwilling to commit.
