Escaped the Night (56 page)

Donovan
strolled over
and
sat on top
of me
,
pinning me
to the ground
,
as I lay helpless and
injured.
I kicked and squirmed with every ounce of strength I could find
,
but wasn’t
strong enough to
move him. He was in control
now
.

“You’ve surprised me,” h
e said
,
cocking his head. “I didn’t think you had this in you. Q
uite the
fight you started there.”
His
cold fingers
dragged
down my cheek.
“I must admit…
I actually
rather enjoyed
it.”

I squirmed. My skin burned
from his icy touch.
I needed to get up and find
help. I couldn’t do this on my own. Why ha
dn’t Kaleb or Jayce sensed
I was in trouble? I needed them
now
more than ever
before
.

“Th
inking about ca
lling for help?” His tone came out
sharp as
razors.
“Do it! I want them to watch you perish.”

“Why me?”

“You got in
the way. That’s all. You were never
supposed to be
come immortal. W
ith you gone, well,
things
can go the
way they were meant.”

“I didn’t ask for this,
” I said, looking in
to
his cold eyes.

“I know you didn’t. But, I promise you,
I will kill anyone who tries
protect
ing
you.”

“No!” I said.
The f
aces of Jayce, Kaleb, Kael and the others flashed through my mind. “Please,
just
leave them alone.”

“Oh yes!” he taunted. “They will disappear, just as easy as your family did. Now, call them. I want them to witness your ending.”

I didn’t respond.

“Why won’t you call them?”
He grew impatient.

I wasn’t going to play this game the way he wanted. I wouldn’t grant
him the satisfaction he craved.
So I remained silent.

In retaliation
,
his fist
smashed down hard on my face.
I cried out and turned my head over to the side
,
trying to prot
ect myself. His vulgar
act
caused
my lip to split open.
The tas
te of
salty blood
filled my mouth
as it spilled
out of
the fresh
wound.

He
dragged my f
ace back towards him as his fingers
play
ed
with my blood. “Answer me!” he ordered.

Something was different
now; his touch no longer hurt
as it
had
before.
An urge came over me and
I
sucked o
n my bottom lip, drinking
my
blood
and
shockingly
, this made me feel
str
ong again.
I
surged with
a growing power
, starting
in the pit of my stomach
. S
oon
,
it
overshadowed any pain that I
felt, s
o I chose to ignore
Donovan
knowing how
much it
would anger him.

“Answer me, stupid girl.”

I
smirked instead of
respond
ing
and
he hit me again.
More
blood flowed, t
his time from the other
side of my mouth. I relished
it
and
welcomed the
pain for another minute
and then
—
the unspeakable happened.

Fangs
ripped through my gums with
a euphoric sensation.
I felt powerful, superior even.
Letting
out a horrific snarl
,
I
pu
shed Donovan up off me like he
was
nothing more than a feather. He smashed through the trees
,
sending debris flying everywhere.

I picked myself off the ground and stood for a minute
,
taking
time to feel my
fangs
and admire my new
ly acquired
strength. The vampire had
finally
come out in me. He’
d pushed
too far and made me too an
gry. He
let the beast loose and now h
e
was about to
me
e
t his match.

I started towards him and to my pleasure he seemed shak
en that I was coming for him.
“Scared?”
I
called,
quicken
ing
my stride.
I
reached over,
uprooted a tre
e and threw it
at him
, causing him to
fall
to the ground. As he tried to stand, I latched onto
another
so I could
take joy in the satisfaction of
knock
ing
him down
again
. I felt invincible. I kept throwing blow after blow
a
nd
didn’t give
him much of a chance to
fight back.

The best pa
rt of my new powers was that
I
had
no regrets
doing this. All my remorse and
my compassion,
was
buried deep within.
Rage, resentment and bitterness
were the feelings
coming out now. The memories of my family, Ginata and her parents
,
Garrison
,
and the many other friends that died because of this beast,
they
took
me
over. This
monster was
going to pay for their deaths
and he was going to do it by losing his
own
life
.

I was
consume
d with my increasing rage. I was
strong, wild,
and
fie
rce and
I had
one thing on my mind
—
destroy Donovan. I beca
me
so
lost in my dar
k thoughts
that I
d
idn’t notice
when
he
took
hold of a nearby tree.
SMASH! I flew back from the
delivered hit
. Branches scratched me and
leaves flew off
in every direction as
I sailed through the air
landing
upon
a bunch of broken branches, which
inevitably helped bre
ak my fall. I picked myself up and
shook
it
off. No pain.
I
never really felt
a thin
g.
Dusting myself off, I did what needed to be done,
I charged
again.

WHACK! WHACK!
My
newly arrived vampire stone hands
pounded
against Donovan. The sound resembled rocks
smashing
together over and over again as we fought.
The thought of what he’d done to my family
fueled my fury as I
hit
him
over and over again
.

Our battle continued on fairly e
ven
ground
over the next few minutes.
One problem arose and we
both
notice
d it about the same time
that
we
slowed the pace of our fight. We were
both
immortal so
there wasn’t a
ny easy way to kill each other.
In truth, I wasn’t even sure I
could stake
Donovan and thankfully h
e
wasn’t taking advantage of the
fact. Fighting
wa
s just using up all our energy and w
e w
eren’t even doing damage to one
an
o
ther. Only
the surrounding forest
felt the brunt of our
run-in
.

In a
last attempt to battle, we lung
ed up
towards one another colliding
in
mid-air. The encounter sent us flying back in opposite directions. I landed hard on
a rocky part of
t
he ground, but to my surprise the fall
didn’t
hurt me
whatsoever
.
My
skin
grew harder and thicker as every
minute
pa
ssed. I was changing rapidly;
the v
ampire within was almost
completely
free.
I welcomed the much-needed break; my new experience of fighting was absolutely exhausting. I’d never done hand-to-hand combat
before and it was nothing like
I expected it
to
b
e. I thought I could hurt him and he’
d feel
pain, but
I w
as wrong. He was made of stone; n
o heart lived in him.

“Not so bad is it?” he asked
smugly
. “Why couldn’t you
have
jus
t accept
ed
the fact
that
you shared m
y gift? You
tried so hard to fight it,
but
just
look how much you’re enjoying it. Life
only gets better
from here
.”

“G
ift? You call this a gift? You’ve ruined my life! Y
es, y
our
CURSE
has consumed me
, I’ll admit to
t
hat
, but all y
ou’ve
really
done is
bro
ught out the worst in me. I don’
t thank you for
any of
this
.
I hate you more
than ever
. I WILL NEVER
WALK THE NIGHT!”

He
chuckled. “My young opponent, i
t’s already done. You’ll never walk during the day again.” His taunting laugh echoed through
out
the forest.

“Liar! You lie!” I cried out. It couldn’t end li
ke this. It just couldn’t.

The rain eased
,
or at least I couldn’t feel it any more. My blood grew colder as more minutes passed
by and my skin
fully hardened
. I felt like I
was wearing a protective
suit made of thick ice. So many changes
had
occurred
that
I didn
’t even feel like myself
. It was true. I really was one of them now.
He’d brought out the beast
and I didn’t know how
or if I could
turn myself back.
Tears should have flowed
, but
none came. My heart broke on the inside
, but
thanks to my new demeanor I couldn’t show
any of the pain
I felt. I stomped my feet and screamed out in utter frustration.

Donovan
sat with an evil grin as he watched my unfolding.

I looked down at
the hardened
skin
covering
my body
. It didn’t even resemble m
ine; it
looked so pale, so dead.
I
reached up,
felt my fangs again
and cringed. They were
so
sharp, completely lethal.