I found my way back to the hotel. But as I rushed towards the entrance of the masquerade hall, I almost knocked someone over. My feet skipped to a stop.
"Whoa...!" Joy yelped.
"Joy!" I cried out.
"Chaeng!" She said, "Oh my gosh, it's you. I saw nothing but a shadow flying towards me, but where have you been?"
"No time to tell," I said. "We have to go."
"What's wrong? Did you see Lisa?" Joy asked.
"I will tell you everything," I said. "Now we gotta go."
And when she saw the look on my face, she finally nodded. We hurried down the quiet hallway, but then I felt a strange chill creep over my back, making the hair on my arms stand on ends, but it was still a little late for the warning because two men stood blocking our way.
"Your Highness," I heard a man's deep voice come from behind us. The guys wore long black coats and sunglasses. They looked like those actors in Matrix movie. Their skin was extremely pale, almost seemed powdery. They weren't like any other bodyguards I recognized, and worse of all, they smelled like rotten eggs, as if something was rotten inside them, like the mummies or something. Not that I had seen mummies before, but they just reminded me of those corpses.
I wrinkled my nose, trying not to gag in disgust.
The previous vampires didn't smell this bad, they just smelled different. The human part of me whispered something was wrong, and the vampire part of me started stretching the fangs out. They took off their sunglasses, lifting their faces to stare at us, and I noticed their eyes had faint rings of red around the pupils. If they stood in the dark, I'm sure their freaky red eyes would glow like burning charcoals.
"The turned ones," I gasped in alarm.
"Huh?" Joy said.
"They are the undead vampires," I told her. "They have no fangs like the true-bloods, but their teeth are so venomous, a single bite can kill you."
"Wow, undead much?" She gawked at them.
"My honor that you recognized us," one of the undead guys said. "We wish you no harm if you kindly follow us..."
"Who are you?" I asked, carefully keeping my fangs from extracting out, but my gum was already throbbing.
"You don't need to know, but we know about you. Now, I understand why it was so hard to track down a half-blood. You just hide in your human shell, but thanks to that old vampire lord."
"Are you Dimitri's bodyguards?"
"No," he said. "We work for someone more powerful than that wimp. Master was right, one day you would show up to him."
"Go away," Joy said.
"Too much talking," the other undead guy said impatiently and gestured to his partners. "Just get her."
Then they advanced towards me, but Joy blocked their path.
"No one can touch my friend," she said. I know Joy was a Karate champion, but she was no match for these undead guys.
"Joy!" I hissed at her. "What are you doing? Get out of here!"
I grabbed my best friend's hand and turned to run, but the one behind us blazed his white teeth and flashed forward. I quickly turned around and kicked him in the stomach, but at the same time, another guy came at Joy. For that split second, my heart got stuck in my throat. But to my surprise, Joy held off his oversized bite with a blow, making the undead stumble backwards.
"Ow!" Joy cried and shook her hand in pain. "Is his face made of stone or something?"
I had seen Joy break yellow boards in Karate like they were paper, but if that made her complain, it means their faces must be pretty hard to break.
"Actually," I said to Joy, "They're like walking fossils."
Then again, another guy rushed in with his inhuman speed, and I had to push Joy away, but I got myself knocked over by the vampire and fell flat on the floor. The guy held me down with a sneer while I blocked him with my elbow. The foul smell emitted from his inside. I held my breath and punched his jaw sideways, causing him reeling to the other side, but he still didn't let go.
"Joy, look out!" I yelled as I saw the vampire come up and grab her from behind. He was about to sink his teeth into her pretty little neck, but Joy elbowed him in the face and landed another in his gut. She got a hold of his right arm and flipped the vampire over her shoulder. Then Joy did a twist on his joint, and I heard a sickening snap.
"Aaaghhhh!" The undead roared in pain. Joy gave another hard kick over his head and the vampire was out cold. I was struggling to free myself from the one on top of me. He was too heavy and my feet were tangled with the edge of my long dress.
"Are you a slayer?" Another undead guy growled at Joy.
"Nope," Joy said. "Just a black belt, but I can still rearrange your face."
The guy growled and charged at Joy with his vampire speed.
"No!" I screamed, giving another punch to my attacker. Then I snaked my free hand to the back of his neck and snapped his head. The guy collapsed to the floor beside me. I rose to my feet again, but before I could even stop the undead from hurting my best friend, Joy had already jumped into an attack. She did a back-flip, knocking the vampire with the heel of her combat boot in the process. The undead's bulky head snapped right up, and dark blood splattered out of his mouth. Then he fell to the floor like a sandbag.
"I told you so, buddy," Joy said, brushing her hands together. I stared at her with a shocked face. My human best friend had just crushed two vampires with her bare hands!
"Joy," I said as I came to stand beside her. "Since when did you learn how to fight the undead?"
"About five minutes ago," she said with a shrug.
"Okay, we can't stay here anymore," I said, and we both got out of the place.
Outside the hotel, we heard screeching tires on the pavement. Then a black car pulled over in front of us.
"Get in!" Jisoo shouted from the opened window. And we didn't need to be told twice. Joy dived into the backseat as I got into the front. The engine revved and Jisoo jerked the car forward and shot out of the hotel ground.
"Did anyone follow us?" I asked when we pulled onto the highway street.
"I'm not sure," Joy said, looking out through the back window.
"What are you guys running away from?" This time Jisoo asked.
"Oh, just some martial art illiterate undead," Joy said as if that wasn't a big deal.
"Joy, they're worse than serial killers!" I told her.
"Mmm...do you mean all those guys coming behind us?" Jisoo said, averting her eyes to the rear-view mirror. I turned around and spotted two cars speeding along, one was red and the other was yellow.
"Oh, no," I said.
"What do we do now?" Jisoo asked.
"How about... um... going really fast?" Joy said.
At first, I was worried that Jisoo would pull over when the traffic light blinked yellow. She was the opposite version of Joy. But to my surprise, Jisoo was actually speed-racing, flying down the highway. Then she made a U-turn at the intersection, sending us veering against the windows. I looked around and saw the cars were still keeping up. But they also had trouble getting close, because Jisoo was pushing the engine to the max and kept zigzagging around the other vehicles. The ones who followed us had sports cars, which also made it possible for them to navigate and keep the chase. Then the headlights of another oncoming truck flashed at us.
"WATCH OUT FOR THE TRUCK!" I yelled.
"I know!" Jisoo said and steered the wheel sharply, swerving us away. We missed the truck just a few inches and then ran over the curb with a jaw-rattling thump. Jisoo yanked the steering wheel back, and we cruised into the road again. Suddenly the yellow sports car raced up next to us. Through the window, I saw many peers of horrible red-glowing eyes staring at me.
"Jisoo!" I cried.
"Hold on," she said and did this unexpected thing- Jisoo slammed her black Benz against the side of the undead's, causing them to sway off the road.
"Yeah!" Joy cheered. "That's what I'm talking about!"
But the red one bummed us from behind with a loud thump. We jolted forward. I heard Joy swear something in Russian. Jisoo punched on the gas and swerved hard onto another street and then hauled up the bridge. The sports cars followed suit. I felt as if we were in a racing tournament.
"Do you want to hear the bad news or the good news first?" Jisoo asked as we were crossing the bridge.
"The bad news," Joy decided, being the bravest one.
"Well, my car is running out of gas," Jisoo told us.
"What!" Joy squeaked. "Why on earth does it have to be now?"
"And what about the good news?" I asked. In such a crucial situation, I was so desperate to hear one.
"The good news is, we're now driving on an unfinished bridge,"
"WHAT!!!???" Joy and I screamed together.
I just wanted to ask Jisoo why I had trouble seeing that as good news. Sure enough, ahead of us, the bridge was still unlinked. There was a huge gap looming large from the middle.
"Jisoo, stop! What are you doing?" Joy yelled from the back. And the only person who looked so unruffled about it was Jisoo. Instead of hitting the brakes, she was speeding up even faster. Her foot kept flooring the accelerator like a maniac, causing the speed monitor to rise up 200 mph. Jisoo's lips curved up into a smile. She did look like a real speeding maniac.
Our car kept racing endlessly, breaking the caution bars and warning lights. Jisoo's car was a Mercedes Benz - built like a tank, but I still covered my face with both hands as the engine roared like an airplane about to take off.
And then a sharp whizzing silence deafened our ears. I felt the wheels spinning in the air. Peeking through my fingers, I could see the dark water beneath us.
Both Joy and I screamed. We were all going to end up displaying ourselves to the fish!
I tried to hold on for dear life, but it just took a few seconds until I heard the car crash onto the road again. The metal parts smashed the pavement, causing bright sparks from the bottom. My head bumped into the ceiling, but the seat belt kept me from bouncing off my seat. Our car spun around a full circle before it squealed to a stop at the other side. The sports cars behind us almost took a dive into the river.
Everything was silent. No one said anything, except the driver who cheered. This near-death experience almost gave me a stroke. My mouth was so dry as I whimpered, "Jisoo..."
But it was Joy who finished for me.
"What! Have! You! Done?!" She squealed at her.
But a victorious Jisoo just smiled and said, "Physics."
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