Sleepwalkers || The Lost Boys - & The One Who Found Them [ Part II ]

Chapter I ~ ᛖ (Ehwaz) - Fight Or Flight

My breathing quickened at the realization, my head started spinning.  " Goddammit... where are you... "

And then it dawned on me: the bridge. The mind link; the mental connection I shared with my beloved vampire ever since that fateful day he drew the blood from my veins, in the sanctities of my own home. The link that kept us together, even when we were physically apart. There had to be a way to activate it & find out about his whereabouts. There HAD to be...

I pressed my eyes shut, ears covered by my open palms to muffle the sounds from the world & erase any possible distractions. Trembling lips would repeatedly form his name as I breathed it into the cave, without a true voice to carry it; merely the voice inside my head mattered. Clueless as I was, trying was the best & only thing I could do in my current situation. Except for that one incident at my house Dwayne had always been the one to establish the mind link without me being aware of it, so how to build a connection by myself was a complete mystery to me still, but what other choice did I have?

 {Dwayne..? Dwayne! Can you hear me?? If you are there...If you can hear my voice... please, respond to me! I need to speak with you! I need to see you... }

I repeated these words at least six times, word for word, the only difference being a subtle tone of desperation that grew more prominent with each repetition. But no amount of despair would bring me any results, my inner voice cracking upon the seventh try before I could even finish my call for help; I broke down almost immediately, frustration & fear devouring my delicate hopes piece by piece. The gut-wrenching realization soon settled in, slaying all denial: I was alone. Completely by myself. None of the vampires were here. Not Paul, not Marko. Not David, & not Dwayne. It was just me. my numerous feelings of utter shame & guilt, & these telling bite marks in my flesh. 

Sorrow as my only tangible companion beside me, I dropped back onto the canopy bed with a heavy sigh, the tears falling like rain. Trembling fingers grabbed the large satin blanket & pulled it around my cold body, wrapping it tightly to cover any visible patch of skin. Now that the last fire had faced its inevitable end it was almost freezing inside the cave, the icy clutches of ocean gusts squeezing their way through the cracks in the cliff to inform me once again that winter was coming soon.
I slid away from the edge of bed towards the center to seek shelter from the drafts behind the drapes, collecting another, much thicker blanket in the process. As I slowly transformed into a cocoon made of blankets I felt something hard under my right thigh, poking through several layers of sheets. My fingers reached for what I immediately recognized to be my phone, the relief that washed over me so welcomed in this very moment that I wouldn't even question how & why it was here in the first place. At least I had the opportunity to find out what time it was, how long I had been here in total, & perhaps even ask someone to come pick me up. Though the amount of available people was rather slim; the only phone numbers that came into consideration being that of my boss Mr. Hiller & Michael, who - for all I knew - was still in a strange kind of coma. Not to mention I had promised his younger brother Sam to come back the very same evening, which was most likely hours ago at this point. Yet another broken promise...

New tears blurred my vision & quickly annihilated them with the back of my hand, flinching as my demolished wrist screeched in pain. The screen of my phone came to live with a single tap, revealing three numbers that caused my heart to drop: 

7:23am

So I had been here all night after all...