The Garden of What Once Was

CHAPTER TWENTY

    "Let go of me, damn it!"

The sound of his ragged breathing flowed into Abaddon's ears. It was choppy and full of terror that could only be created by from the fangs of an Elder. He smiled into the neck of the ginger.

    "It's quite fun to see you shaking and squirming like a scared little schoolgirl. I might just have to bite you more often now."

    "Fuck you!" Cohen cursed through clenched teeth.

Abaddon watched as blood began saturating Cohen's white collar. The red line flowed from his neckline down to his lower chest. It curved around his buttons, leaving them white while the rest of his shirt became soiled with blood. A drop of blood fell from Cohen's nose and splashed onto one of the untainted buttons. His senses grew faint as more blood poured from his nose and neck. The hand that was gripping Abaddon's arm slid down to Cohen's side. He lost consciousness, silently pleading for it all to end.

... ... ...

An onslaught of noises bombarded Reed's ears as he awoke from his sleep. His ears began ringing, prompting him to sit upwards, still keeping his eyes closed shut. Almost every sound, both quiet and loud, was flowing into his eardrums. Slowly inhaling, he placed both of his hands over his ears. The muffled voice of someone speaking to him was shut out completely as the ringing became worse.

"Hey! Hey!" Their voice somehow managed to reach him.

He snapped his red eyes open, determined to shut them up. In front of him, with a look of annoyance on their face, was a security guard. The bulging waistband of his uniform, along with the bits of rainbow-colored sprinkles on his blonde mustache, told Reed that this was the Chunkster, a guard that was not only fairly oversized but also notorious for picking on vampires.

"The hallway isn't your bed. Go sleep somewhere else, kid," the Chunkster — more commonly known as Robert to his coworkers — said, nudging Reed with the tip of his black boot.

Although the ringing in his ears was still as persistent as ever, he still managed to make out a few words. Struggling slightly, Reed compliantly stood up, swaying.

"Fix those beady red eyes of yours. They ain't going to scare me. No, they certainly will not." Robert seemed to be trying to convince both Reed and himself that he wasn't afraid of the brooding red-eyed vampire.

Reed scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief. It seemed like the Chunkster was unaware of who exactly he was facing off with. Instead of humoring himself by putting the Chunkster in his place, Reed stuck his hands into his pockets and headed off down the hallway. As he walked, the ringing ceased, allowing him to relax but only a little. The hazy memory of that hunter was haunting him. He remembered going to attack them, but after that, everything was blank. It seemed like that hunter had gotten the best of him. His stomach lurched with an unpleasant feeling of fear. If that hunter went so far as to bring a knife with him to a school, then that meant his target was somewhere on campus. Cursing under his breath, he looked at his watch to see that over an hour had passed by since his run-in with the hunter. Within that time span, the target could have already been found and taken out. But, there was still the small chance that the hunter hadn't succeeded yet. That little bit of hope drove Reed to head for Abaddon's office. He had to alert the Elder of the possible threat that could be roaming around campus, and fast.

... ... ...

While Reed made his way to Abaddon's office, Cohen regained consciousness. Rather than being trapped against Abaddon on the floor in a puddle of blood, he was sitting in a black leather chair that was surprisingly comfortable. He scanned the room, not allowing himself to fall back to sleep even though his eyes were practically forcing themselves shut. There wasn't a single speck of Abaddon's blood left on the floor. His neck throbbed as he craned it to the far right to where Abaddon was lounging on a blue chaise. He had new clothes on that replaced the other ones that were drenched in blood. The formerly laid-back attire was changed into more professional clothing. Cohen's eyes lingered a little too long on the light-colored button-up that complimented Abaddon's dark skin. He grunted in discomfort as he focused his attention elsewhere, a sickening feeling growing inside of him the longer he acknowledged Abaddon. Taking notice that his red-headed assistant was back from the dead, Abaddon shot upward, heading right toward Cohen. A frantic spur of adrenaline hit Cohen, making him scramble out of the chair. He had to get out of there before he fell victim to Abaddon again. If he had to endure that kind of pain twice in one day, he might just break. Unfortunately for Cohen, Abaddon had no intention of letting him leave. Abaddon appeared before Cohen, smiling. The only option left for Cohen was to keep the Elder at an arm's length distance until he could make a beeline for the door. Though, he soon found himself backed into the desk with nowhere to run.