Immortal Bodies

Chapter 9--Saving Annaliese

His nails were slicing into her forearm tightly, through her jacket, so tightly that she had to gasp in pain. "Who are you?"

"Wiho am I?" he asked in a croaky growl--an inhumanly growl, something that sent shivers down her spine.

Annaliese tried to jerk away from him, but all that did was tear more marks into her skin with a searing sensation. "Let me go!"

"We gave him a choice," he said quietly. "We gave Dylan a choice, and he didn't choose to take it."

"Dylan?" She could hardly believe it--she didn't want to believe it. Had he been forced to help this person? And why? What was going on anyways?

"Now come on, we've got to get you to the Gatekeeper."

"The who?!" Her voice shook; her body trembled. The bones in Annaliese's body went ice cold at the malicious-sounding name.

He laughed. She couldn't see his face because if was drenched in deep shadow, but she knew already that this was going to be bad, and the Gatekeeper, whoever that was, was not a person you wanted to cross.

He brought his other hand up to her throat--and tightened his grip there.

And the last thing she felt was the choking pain and the taste of blood.

***

"No!"

"Riley, calm down," Dylan said, pressing his back to the cool, brick wall. "Annaliese isn't dead, they're just about to take her to the Gatekeeper."

"Yeah, yeah I know that part, but what about the part where we save her?"

 "Look, I don't think Isaac made that call twice."

 "What makes you say that?" Riley swallowed hard, fear consuming her like waves in the ocean crashing over a small child.

 "The fact that he came to us for help, and the fact that they wanted me to bring her to the Keeper, and since I didn't...." Dylan's eyes remained downcast. Riley could tell he was drowning in regret.

 "Look, we'll talk about this later. I think someone faked that call, too. Let's just save her and get this over with, alright?"

"How about now?"

Riley nodded. "Do we even have a plan?"

"Fight," is the only advice he gave her, and then he ran, out in the open.

The figure snapped his head up. From what Dylan's vampire senses told him, he was a tall, skinny man, his face clean-shaven, and young, too. His blood smelled like--ugh--demon.

"Hey!" He shouted as Riley slipped past him, unseen in the revolting shadows so dark that even he couldn't see her. The alley was a creepy place, the two long walls rising high into the sea of the night, touching the stars, as a sharp wind cut through his clothes.

"It's a death trap," the figure snarled, shadows concealing his body. "You don't know what your dealing with, here, Dylan."

"Oh, no, I pretty much know everything. But we can make this easy."

"No, give me all you've got." He laughed, as if expecting Dylan's vampire skills to be a measly joke. Yeah right.

Dylan--anger flaming through him--raced towards the figure--probably about a hundred times faster than any normal human would--

And stopped.

There was no one there. Dylan whipped around. The man had a hand on Annaliese's throat--who was on the ground unconcious..

"You bite me, I kill her. Make the choice," he whispered.

Dylan had a split second to make his decision, but he made it, deciding to do both. His fangs sliced through his bottom lip as he raced towards the figure. Using all the strength he could muster, he toppled over the man and bit his neck.

Hot blood exploded into his mouth--having a venomous taste to it. It burned his throat as it slid down, like liquor.

Demon blood was disguisting.

Finally, after he was sure the man was unconcious, he got to his feet, breathing heavily. He hardly ever drank human blood, and it was a bad habit to have, but here he had to. The pull to drink the rest of it was a mental mind game, but Dylan fought it off with a desperate yank.

Riley was leaning over Annaliese, who was just starting to wake.

"Riley--what are you doing here?"

"What happened to meeting Isaac in the parking lot?"

"He called back and said he needed to meet me here," she replied, pressing her back against the wall, bringing her knees to her chest.

"You're safe now," Dylan aknowledged, wiping blood from his mouth.

"You--what are you--?" she stammered. "He said you wanted to bring me to the Gatekeeper."

"Annaliese, listen to me," he knelt down next to her and Riley, "You know about the demons, I guess, so you should know that I'm a vampire. And I never intended on bringing you to the Gatekeeper...You have to believe me."

"And Riley knows?" She asked, shock entering her eyes. "That you're a vampire?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Yeah, she does."

"But--"

"I can be in daylight because I have a necklace I wear." He pulled the thin chain to make it visible, glinting in the moonlight. "I wasn't wearing it the first day I met you, because I didn't think I needed it."

"So that's why you bit Aunt Tara?"

Dylan nodded.

"Okay, we'll explain everything," said Riley. "But right now we need to get you home, alright?"

Annaliese nodded. "Yeah, alright."

Dylan looked back at the moon, full and bright in all of it's glory, glinting upon the dark alley like on the thin chain that kept him alive in the daylight.