Marked: a Vampire Romance (11 page)

She’d come up from the stairs to see Adam crouching over her mother, pressing his shirt gently against the wound on her stomach. Charlie was right behind her, pale and shaking and convinced a hungry fleet of vampires was lined up right outside the door. That was the only thing that kept her from stumbling and sobbing. She had to be strong for him.

Gold was never going to see her mother alive again. They wouldn’t have time to fight and rage about her decision to be with Adam. The responsibility for training Lily would fall to her. And she’d barely had time to say goodbye.

But there was no time to waste. Every second that Lily spent out in the woods was another moment that Okano could torture her. Gold was going to stop him. Then she would kill him and save her sister. At least one person was going to make it out of this night alive. She and Adam left Charlie beside her mom with strict instructions for him to call the ambulance five minutes before sunrise.

They walked around the house and into the woods behind. The forest was dense and she could sense Okano’s presence thick within the trees. It surrounded her, so fully saturating the land that she could not get a trace on where he lurked. The woods should have been alive with bugs and small animals, but the only thing that moved was the slight wind in the trees.

The rapidly brightening sky gave her enough light to see by, but as her vision became clearer, her worry grew. “You should go back,” she told Adam when they came to a clearing of birch trees. Pale light fell across the ground, delicate and deadly. “You can’t get caught out here. The basement doesn’t get any sun.” It had been intended to save her relatives from vampires, not shelter one, but she’d make an exception.

Adam shook his head and rubbed his hand absently down the opposite arm. It was chilly, but even without a t-shirt on, he didn’t show it. “A few more minutes. It’s not bad yet.”

She didn’t waste time arguing. Every minute they wasted put both him and Lily at risk. She looked for any sign of a struggle. There was only one clear path through these woods. It led out to another farm after a few miles. Broken twigs and the occasional drop of blood told her they were moving in the right direction. But Okano had a long lead on them and the only thing they could do was keep moving and hope to find him in time.

Adam walked beside her and reached down to squeeze her hand. “I love you, Gold.”

She closed her eyes as even more emotion flooded her. She wanted to tell him the same thing, but with the stakes as they were, she couldn’t force the words out. All she could say was, “Tell that to me tomorrow.”

He raised her hand to his lips and brushed a kiss against the back of her palm before dropping it and saying, “And every day until the end.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. She wouldn’t contemplate the end. Not yet.

A bush beside the path had been completely flattened as if a body had fallen over it and rolled around. There was blood on the leaves. Adam took a sniff and met her eyes. “It’s human.”

Lily.

They were minutes from sunrise and still only tracking. Gold was about to tell Adam to leave when they heard a scream. All thoughts of sunrise momentarily forgotten, she took off running. That was Lily.

Gold veered off the path and vaulted over a fallen log, branches from the leafy trees swatting at her as she moved toward the sound of her sister’s voice. Okano’s presence became even thicker, the woods feeling positively evil and imbued with the demon that dwelled within him.

With a running jump, Gold hit the side of a ravine and slid down feet first. Bark scraped against her, cutting up her arms and tearing off a fingernail. She barely felt it. Adam was right behind her, jumping rather than sliding into the ravine and landing in a crouch.

“Human blood in there,” he said, nodding toward the cracked entrance to a cave.

“I sense him.” She’d never felt a vampire like this before. The evil surrounding her was thick enough to make her want to vomit.

The entrance to the cave was nothing but a dark crack in the wall of the ravine. They’d be entering blind and there was an enraged vampire inside who held her sister hostage. He could kill her before she crossed the threshold. Gold pulled out a sharpened stake. Her knife could do more damage, but it wouldn’t kill a vampire. And Adam was a weapon unto himself.

She and Adam pressed themselves up against either side of the narrow cave entrance. Thick tree roots had grown over the rock, making the door barely bigger than shoulder width. Adam pointed to himself and then the door, indicating that he’d go in first.

He was the stronger one, the one who could take more damage. It was the smart move. Gold nodded.

They moved in, Adam stepping first and Gold right behind him. It had been dark enough outside that there wasn’t much of a shock to her system in the dim light of the cave, but sight was still minimal. Gold crouched down near the cave wall, making herself a smaller target while she looked around. Adam did the same.

Her eyes found Okano almost immediately. He wasn’t paying any attention to them, his entire being focused on a small corner of the cave. A corner where Lily’s cries echoed out. She sounded terrified and angry as a spitfire, but she didn’t sound injured.

The vampire was in a worse state than she could have imagined. The night at the hotel he’d been wearing an expensive red shirt and dark slacks. He would not have been out of place in a board room or a nice restaurant. Now, three weeks later, those same clothes were stained with blood and other fluids.

Gold caught sight of his hands in flashes as he worked to tear away at the wall beside Lily. It seemed that Lily had managed to wedge herself into a corner too small for him to reach. It was a last resort, but at the moment it was saving her sister’s life. Gold’s hand tightened on her stake as his hand flashed again. His fingers had curled in, nails having grown impossibly fast and thick, forming crude claws.

He was a wild animal, all traces of humanity washed away in blood madness, his hunger having become the driving force of his being.

She spared one more glance at Adam and they both nodded. Okano was not making it out of this cave alive. He’d mortally wounded her mother, tortured her sister, and now trapped the man she loved because there was no way for Adam to make it back to the house in time.

Gold had never been more motivated.

She gripped her stake tight and then called out, “I’m here, Lily. Just hold on.” That got Okano’s attention. He jerked around, his face covered in mud and blood, eyes wide, irises red, the white of his eyes black. There was no pretending he was anything but a monster.

The second he stared at her seemed to drag on for hours, and then Okano was rushing, moving across the room in a blinding flash of speed. There was no technique to his attack, and Gold was ready to meet him head on. She sunk to one knee and used his momentum against him, flipping him over with almost no effort, flopping with a resounding thud onto his back.

But before she could stake him, he’d flipped himself back onto his feet. He took no time to steady himself, instead swiping at her with those wicked claws. They were dark with blood. Her mother’s blood.

She wanted to look over to check on Lily, but any distraction meant death. She was aware that Adam was somewhere near her, but the quarters were too close for both of them to take on the vampire at once.

Okano got too close, his claws raking against her dominant arm. Gold bit back a cry of pain and punched out, hitting his throat and feeling the flesh give way. Okano stumbled back and she pressed her advantage, swiping across his cheek with her stake and drawing blood.

But she got too confident. He grabbed her wrist, dragging it up to his mouth. Gold struggled, trying to pull it back. She was not letting him drink her blood. There was only one vampire in the world who got to do that. Her stake was in the hand he controlled, but it wasn’t her only weapon. Unfortunately, if she reached for her knife, he’d bite her.

They both fell sideways as Adam tackled Okano, breaking his grasp and freeing Gold.

She scampered back and let the two men fight. She rushed over to the crevasse where Lily had barricaded herself. “Can you get out?” she asked her sister, trying to reach in to take her hand. The hole that Lily had found was barely a foot wide. It was amazing that she’d fit at all.

“Is he dead?” Lily demanded. She didn’t sound frightened anymore, but there was a core of steel telling Gold that the girl planned to remain hidden until it was completely safe.

“It’s after sunrise, the woods are safer than in here.” That decided Lily. She grasped Gold’s hand, but before Gold could pull her out, she was wrenched back into the fray, Okano turning his attention to her.

She vaguely heard Lily yell after her, but her attention turned completely to the fight. They grappled, Gold trying to protect her blood while Okano went for any available vein. He wasn’t even trying to fight her. He only wanted to feed.

Okano flipped her over and she heard something crack before she felt a blinding pain in her wrist.

Broken.

He jerked her around, flopping her against the ground again, and her head banged against one of the large rocks strewn about the floor. Gold’s vision went blurry. Time stopped. She couldn’t move her hands and her feet felt strangely tingly.

There was a whooshing sound in her ears and her entire vision narrowed to the monster kneeling over her, claws raised, ready to rip out her throat and feast.

She blinked and in a rush, time resumed. She saw the shaft of sunlight behind Okano and tried to jerk her hips up and unbalance him into the deadly blaze, but his grip was too strong and he couldn’t be moved. She struggled, pushing against him with both hands, ignoring the pain of her broken wrists.

They’d ended up near the cave entrance. All she needed to do was make him fall into the sun. But she didn’t have the leverage.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. He bent over, hands planted on either side of her head. She smelled the putrid stench of his breath and saw the blood and skin caught in his yellowed teeth.

Gold rolled her head to the side, trying to see Adam just one last time. He’d shrunk back into the corner, trying to help Lily and keep out of the sun at the same time. Their eyes connected and she felt the bond between them like it was a physical thing, a chain binding their hearts together.

“I love you,” she said, just before Okano’s teeth grazed her throat.

Before he could fully slake his thirst, his weight was lifted off of her and she heard a crash as two vampires broke through layers of moss and tree roots lining the entrance to the cave. Sun streamed in, the entrance to the cave suddenly twice as large.

Okano screamed and the smell of burning flesh assailed her nose.

“Adam!” Gold yelled and jumped after him into the bed of the ravine.

Gold landed on Adam, arms splayed out, trying to cover every inch of his skin from the weak stream of sunlight that had broken through the tree branches. She could smell the charred ruin of what was left of Richard Okano, but the pile of ash and cloth next to Adam didn’t look anything like the vampire he’d once been.

But Adam wasn’t burning.

They were frozen for a moment, lying on the damp ground. There was no way that Gold could shield Adam completely. He should have been a pile of ash, but there he was, completely solid, right under her. Gold sat back up and looked down at him.

Mouth agape, Adam patted his chest. He couldn’t even form a complete sentence, croaking out, “This is…” and trailing off.

“How?” said Gold. She was afraid that if she stopped touching him he’d dissolve into a puff of smoke and ash.

Adam was still amazed. “I'm…”

“You're…” she spoke at the same time, but neither of them knew how to finish it.

“Confused,” Adam decided.

“Human?” she asked.

He shook his head and pushed up off the ground, sitting up. “I don't think so.”

Did that disappoint her? She wasn’t sure. He was alive. She was alive. Lily was safe. Okano was dead. They’d sort out the particulars later. Gold stood up and offered Adam a hand. He was covered in mud, but made no move to brush it off. Instead, he swept her up, hugging her close and capturing her mouth, kissing her until she couldn’t breathe.

Gold wrapped her other arm around him but winced when she put any pressure on her broken wrist. Adam immediately pulled back. “Are you hurt?”

“It’s nothing. We should get you out of this light. What if—”

“Um… Gold?” She turned around to see her sister stumbling out of the cave. Lily’s hair was a mass of knots, her face covered with dirt. Her shirt was torn and Gold saw a few scratches, but otherwise she seemed unhurt. Dirty and bruised, but okay. Lily’s eyes darted between Gold in Adam’s arms and the remains of Okano.

Gold almost stepped back, but Adam tightened his arms around her. “This is my… Adam,” she said, still unsure of the proper label. ‘Boyfriend’ felt too small. And she refused to use the term ‘lover,’ especially around her fifteen-year-old sister. “Adam, my sister, Lily.”

They nodded at each other, both unsure of how to treat this situation.

Then Lily's eyes widened and she grinned with the glee that only a little sister could muster. “Mom is going to kill you when she finds out you have a vampire boyfriend!”

Lily was laughing, but it was like a bucket of ice water being dunked over Gold, sweeping away the jubilation of their survival. “Mom! We’ve got to get back.”

She clambered up the side of the ravine, helping both Adam and Lily up after her. Then she took off running, knowing they were both only a few paces behind her. They tore through the woods, covering the ground that she and Adam had trekked through in less than half the time. The cave was less than a mile from the house, and now that they were sure of the path, it took less than ten minutes to make it back.

Gold exploded into the back yard and saw blue and red lights flashing in front of the house. She looked back to see Lily outpacing Adam by a few steps. Their eyes met and the assurance in his gaze was strong enough for her to find the strength in herself to keep moving. She was terrified by what she’d find, but that didn’t mean she could ignore it.

She also couldn’t let Lily go unprepared. She turned around and hugged her sister, her wrist flopping awkwardly. “I’m glad you’re okay,” she said. “You did good. Really good.”

Lily clung to her. “What’s wrong with Mom?”

“She lost a lot of blood. It might be bad, what we see. If you want to go inside and have me take a look first, I’ll understand.” Since Gold wanted to bury her own head in the sand, she’d never hold it against her sister.

“No, I need to see,” said Lily.

“Okay.” Lily had faced down a vampire on her own and made it out, so she was mature enough to make this decision. Gold stepped back and let her lead them around. Adam kept his distance a few paces back, understanding that this was a family moment. His presence kept her standing.

When they got to the driveway, what she saw floored her. Her mom was strapped to a stretcher, but she was smiling and her color had improved from deathly pallor to mildly nauseous. She was still in rough shape, but no longer looked like she would die at any moment. Gold and Lily rushed over.

Gold grasped her mom’s hand with her unbroken one. The paramedics took a step back, giving them a moment. “We did it,” said Gold. “He's gone. Lily's safe.”

Her mom nodded, pain etched in the lines on her face, “Good. What about…?” She trailed off and looked over Gold’s shoulder. Her smile faded.

“He's still here,” Gold replied. They’d have a reckoning about it later. Gold couldn’t wait if it meant her mom would survive.

One of the paramedics, a blonde woman with a blue baseball cap, came up to her and tapped her on the shoulder lightly. She was so professional that she didn't comment on the fact that three injured people had just run out of the woods covered in dirt and blood. “Miss, we need to get going,” she said. Then she caught sight of Gold’s bruised and rapidly swelling arm. “Wait, what's wrong with your wrist? You should come with us as well. This looks broken.”

“Go with them,” Adam said, standing beside Charlie and Lily. “Get your wrist treated.”

“You stay here,” she said before he could insist on coming to the hospital with her. “What if this doesn't last?” He was standing outside and the sun was rapidly rising. The morning was brightening and he needed to get inside. “Watch the kids,” she added, though with daylight dawning, they were safe from most threats.

Both Charlie and Lily made sounds of protest.

But Adam stepped up to her and cupped her cheek, giving her a thorough kiss. “With my life,” he promised.

With a final wave back to her sister and her cousin, she climbed into the ambulance, and once they loaded up her mom, they were off.