The Knight of Slaughtaverty

Chapter 20 - Boys are Weird... Even when They're Men

This can't be happening! This can't be happening! This can't be happening!

I can feel Ransford's pain and suffering, both physical and mental as if it were my own. It is dripping from him, along with the blood trails running black down his fingers, splattering on the ruined rug.

Why is he doing this to himself?!

A girl with long, stringy dark hair, sitting crouched at his feet, turns her head to hiss at me; her mouth is wet with blood, drizzling unhindered down her chin.

I breathe in frightened puffs, very close to hyperventilating, when she gazes at me with black eyes devoid of any humanity. Sniffing the air, she slowly runs the tip of her tongue over her sharp canines, causing fear to ripple coldly down my back, digging its sharp talons into my skin.

Are canines called fangs when they look like that?

I can see that all these girls have them (whatever they're called) when the other three also turn their unwanted attention to me. What kind of Vampire nightmare am I trapped in now?! 

I don't like vampire movies and novels! I want to wake up now!

I'm torn between running to Ransford and away from him because my need to be with him and save him is trying to override my logical instincts for survival, screaming at me to get out of here. I step closer, my eyes frantically casting around, looking for a weapon while I'm shaking so badly that I doubt that I would be able to hold it in my hands if I found one.

"Not her," Ransford mutters, and all four girls snap their attention back to him. I groan in pain, my heart lurching, seeing their sharp teeth sink into his neck, his wrist, his arm and his thigh, creating fresh springs of blood for them to enjoy. If it hurts me this much, how bad mustn't it be for him to endure?!

He finally lifts his eyes to look at me, the irises blinding white lights in the blue-toned darkness. They hit me with a force hard enough to expel my breath in a rush as I'm propelled backwards, ejected from the room, weightlessly reversing along the route I came. The furniture and walls are a blue blur as I travel, unable to fight the powerful push.

Nooooooooooo! I need to get to him! I need to save him, though I have no idea how.

I'm trying to scream, trying to fight the force, but I am powerless against it, and in mere seconds of blinding speed, pushed through a dizzying haze of half-recognised hallways, I land on my mattress, bouncing on my back.

"Ransford!" I sob.

Soul-scarring, kill-your-friends and eat-a-fairy gangster rap stabs me in the head, and I open my eyes with a horrified grunt, stretching out a hand to find my phone on the nightstand and end the torturing noise. It is morning, and I chose that puke-inducing piece of non-music for an alarm tone because it would definitely not inspire me to hit snooze and hear it again in five minutes.

I've lost so many work hours; I want to be up and at it as soon as possible today, and I am, therefore, not allowing myself the luxury of waking up in five-minute increments. Alaric might already regret hiring me because I'm constantly sleeping on the job!

Stretching, I sit up with a yawn, pleased to see my phone screen informing me that it is Wednesday, the day after yesterday, not Wednesday, a week from yesterday. It is rather disturbing that verifying this has become part of my waking-up routine now.

I am amazed at how well-rested I feel today! That capsule of Liam's did wonders. I did not wake up even once last night. There were no weird dreams, no hovering men playing Batman to my sleeping beauty, just pure rest.

Nothing strange happened at all!

Last night, I closed my book, turned off the bedlamp and fell asleep, waking up seven hours later, roused by that horrible alarm. I'm refreshed and eager to start my day. All the gloominess I'd been fighting since my arrival at Peace Haven has dissipated. With a spring in my step, I dance to the bathroom to prepare myself for the day. I'm looking forward to some antique appraising fun!