Reaper Kissed

30. Conquering Fear

"I whispered surrender..." 

She could hear the words, murmured over and over but knew that they were in her head only. They were a memory, they weren't real. But if she lost it now, she'd die. Defying every instinct, Chloe closed her eyes – fighting for control in her own mind. Conquer fear, conquer life.

Lauren left, climbing up the wall as she headed out of the room. Chloe listened to the sounds of her retreat, struggling to suppress a relieved sob. Arms and legs trembling, she scrambled out from under the table and rose shakily to her feet. Sweat shone on her forehead and for a moment, she swayed unsteadily.

                    Leaving through the hole in the doorway, Chloe hurried down the corridor. She made it to the foyer and hastily dropped to her knees next to the dead jailors side. She searched his uniform, her clammy fingers securing a set of keys. They jangled as she raised them up and Chloe stiffened, her heart about ready to leap into her throat. She looked longingly in the direction of the exit. She was so incredibly close...

Chloe clenched tightly onto the keys, their teeth biting into her slick palm. But Ryder... She glanced down at the branding on her arm. He'd been a slave owner once, perhaps his crimes were too much for her to have any right to forgive them – but... He was a changed man. And that was enough for her. Chloe turned her back on the exit, and on her best chance of survival, facing instead her blood chilling task.

She crept back down the passage she'd just come down. From above, she heard crashing noises that made her flinch and cower. The noises were following her route but from the next floor up. She can hear me, but she's not sure what level I'm on – Chloe realised. How long before Lauren searched this floor again? Losing her nerve, Chloe broke into a run. The ceiling trembled above her as Lauren charged also, her hooks pounding the building.

Chloe made it, out of breath, to Ryder's cell. She fumbled with the keys, trying them one by one as fast as she could. She heard Lauren circling the room above, her claws tearing up the place. At last, Chloe found the right key. She flung open the door and the hinges creaked noisily. Lauren dropped from the second floor ceiling and landed with a thud on the carpet, positioned directly above Chloe's head. Plaster danced down from the groaning ceiling as Lauren began ripping up the flooring, burrowing down to them.

"Ryder!" Chloe rolled him onto his back. He was out cold, his mouth slack and his eyes peacefully shut. Touching his face though, Chloe realised that he had a fever. His damp forehead was burning up and sweat was seeping into his hairline and sliding down his jaw and neck. A large ceiling panel crashed to the ground behind them. 

Gripping Ryder under the arms, Chloe attempted to drag him but the clanking of chains alerted her to the manacles secured around his ankle. She could have wept. Lauren was still ferociously tearing up the ceiling and Chloe could, once again, hear the clicking of Lauren's monster fangs. Picking up the keys, Chloe set about unlocking the manacles. They mercifully clicked open on her first attempt.

Pulling his foot roughly free, Chloe hoisted him into an upright position. His head lolled back against her, his damp skin sticking to hers. From there, Chloe heaved him up onto her shoulders. He was a hefty dead weight and Chloe's back protested, her spine jarring painfully. Staggering with his weight, she vacated the cell – slamming the door shut behind her.

Chloe's breathing was heavy and laboured before she was halfway down the corridor. Behind her, she heard the crash as Lauren landed inside Ryder's cell. Chloe wondered how long they had, before Lauren tore her way through those prison bars. Groaning, Chloe readjusted Ryder across her back and pushed her legs to lumber as fast as they could. She made it to the jailors body, his disfigured face a stark message of what was going to happen to them should they fail to escape, before Ryder began to stir.

He moaned, his nose nuzzling her hair.

"Ryder," she called urgently. Lauren screeched behind them, the piercing cry causing Chloe to shudder. She felt her knees begin to buckle beneath Ryder's weight. "Ryder, do magic. You need to do magic," she pleaded breathlessly. Ryder's eyelids fluttered closed once more. Chloe lost her grip on him and fell to her knees in a stumbling effort to keep him slung across her shoulders.

Lauren burst from the cells, her hooks on the wall of the long corridor – giving her a sideways angle. The brickwork chipped away in flakes as Lauren scuttled across the wall, her quarry in sight. Bellowing a battle cry, in a last determined push, Chloe rose to her feet and staggered toward the exit. She had one foot over the exit's threshold when Ryder slipped from her shoulders, landing in a heap on the ground. Kicking the dead doorman out of her way, Chloe twisted around and put her arms around Ryder's torso, heaving him out onto the street.

She tripped, falling backwards – her back smacking against the curb. Ryder landed heavily on top of her and Chloe wheezed, the breath knocked from her lungs. The sound of Lauren's dry, suctioning breaths was close at hand. Chloe crawled backwards, awkwardly dragging Ryder with her – her terrified gaze fixed on the prison's busted door. Lauren swiftly emerged, scuttling out into the night – her hooks causing ripples to crack across the pavement slabs.

Lauren turned her head this way and that, sniffing deeply.

"Who goes there?!" A watchman bellowed. Chloe craned her neck, horrified to see a human male flashing a torch light in their direction.

"RUN!" She screamed – but too late. Lauren sprang forward, leaping atop the man.

Chloe got to her feet, the man's screams seeming to careen and crash around her skull. She wasted no time. Seizing Ryder by the ankles, she dragged him over the ground – heaving his bulk with all her remaining strength. Looking up, she saw the watchman's hands twitching as Lauren sucked ravenously on his face.