ohn began to awaken, trying to decipher his surroundings. Sitting up, he felt a sharp pain shoot through his head. He’d taken a blow to the head, knocking him out when he fought Rafael. Focusing his eyes, he looked around at the mop bucket beside him, cleansers on a shelf, a mop and broom setting against the wall. He realized he was in a storage room. Getting up, his knees wobbled and he leaned against the wall to get his bearings. “I need to get out of here to warn the others,” he thought. He tried to open the door, but it was
somebody let me out,” he yelled.Rafael grabbed an arrow and reached for his bow while everyone watched Sage, mesmerized. Security personnel looked over in his direction just as he grabbed the bow from under his cloak. “Hey!” the security person yelled. “Hey, you!” The crowd turned, startled to see whom the security guard was yelling at, and bystanders tackled Rafael to the floor, the impact snapping both the bow and arrows. “Over here!” a man yelled. “Get him,” the director said, “that’s the man the police are looking for.” Cristian grabbed Sage during the commotion to get her out of the ballroom. Photographers stepped in front of her, trying to take her picture, but the cameras malfunctioned. Using her kinetic power, the fuses short-circuited, and the lights in the whole hotel went out. Chaos ensued as the partygoers tried to run out the room nearly trampling each other.
Jillian and Christopher looked around and saw glowing eyes as the coven made their way out of room. “Did you see that!” she exclaimed.
“Stay calm, everyone,” the director said. “The lights will be turned back on in any minute.” Cristian and Sage ran out the side door that they came in and headed for the kitchen. “Cristian!” his mother yelled behind him. He turned around and his parents gasped, staring at his glowing eyes.
“Let us help you,” she said.“What are you doing here, Mother?” he said. “I couldn’t stay away, because I knew she would bring you trouble,” Jillian replied.
Anna came out the door looking at them sternly. “Anna, get Sage out of here,” Cristian said. “I have something I have to do.”
Cristian stared at Sage as she and Anna ran around the corner. Rafael bit a patron’s arm that was holding him down. They screamed, releasing him; he got up and ran out the door, trying to see in the darkness, while he was shoved back and forth from the fleeing hotel guests. John continued to beat on the door, yelling, when suddenly the door was torn off its hinges. Lisa peered inside. “John,” she said. “It’s Rafael,” he said. “He’s here.” “I know, I’m trying to find the others so we can get out of here.” “Let’s go,” John said.
In the darkness, she could see Cody looking through the crowd. “Cody,” Lisa yelled. They embraced. “I’m glad to see you.” “Have you seen the others?” “No we were separated during all the chaos,” he said. “We need to find Queen V and get out of here,” she said. “You’re telling me!” Cody replied.
She threw her head back and saw Billy on the ceiling looking down at them grinning and waving. “Why don’t you join me?” he said. Cody looked up and chuckled. “I should’ve figured you’d find a way around the crowd,” he said.
“Where’s Samuel and Daniel?” John asked. “I don’t know yet,” Billy said. “The roof,” Lisa said. “Let’s check there.” Billy climbed down, while Lisa grabbed John, and they ran into the stairwell and flew up the steps to the roof. “
What took you so long?” Daniel said. Samuel was standing beside him. “This was the best place to come after the blackout,” he said. “Anna?” Daniel asked. “I saw her headed toward the side door where Cristian and Queen V went,” Cody said.
“Rafael is here,” John said. “I had a run-in with him.” “We need to go find them before he does—” he continued, “he had murder in his eyes.” “Maybe we should split up in groups,” Daniel said. “Lisa you, Cody, and John will look for Queen V and Anna; and me, Billy, and Samuel, we’ll look for Pearson.”
“Sounds good to me,” Lisa said. “Then we’ll meet up here afterwards” he said. “That’s agreeable,” John said. “As long as we work together as a team, nothing can go wrong,” Daniel said.
“I don’t have time for arguments, Mother,” Cristian said barely, concealing his irritation. “You need to go home.” “I can’t do that, Son,” she said. The generators kicked in, causing the lights to flicker on, and Cristian’s eyes squinted with the sudden change.
He looked at his parents. “I made my choice, Mother and Father,” Cristian said. “I chose Sage, and my life is with her. You gave me no choice when you refused to accept her in my life. I love her, and that will never change.”
“Don’t be so sure, Son,” his mother said, pursing her lips. “What is that supposed to mean?” “Nothing in life is certain,” Jillian said. “That’s what I mean.”
“Good-bye, Mother,” Cristian said, turning his back and walking away. Christopher placed his arm around Jillian as she fought back the tears.
Cristian walked around the corner and was about to take the stairwell when he was grabbed forcefully from behind and shoved into an empty dining area. He attempted to turn around but was thrown across a row of tables as they broke and splintered underneath him.
Disoriented, he looked up and saw a masked man dressed like Zorro standing over him. “Pedro,” he mumbled, surprised. Pedro lifted off his mask and stared at him triumphantly. “Yes, the one and only,” he snarled. “You thought I was gone for good when you staked me, didn’t you!”
Cristian started to stand up, but Pedro stepped on his chest, holding him down.” “Sage told me you would regenerate—I just thought it wouldn’t be this soon.”
“I had a score to settle,” Pedro said, smirking. “You staked me, and I couldn’t let you get away with it. I had to consume blood from wherever I could find it. From rats, skunks, rabbits, dogs, cats, the drunkard on the streets, leeches, and let me tell, you it wasn’t pleasant. But I was determined to get back to my physical form.” Having heard enough, Cristian grabbed Pedro’s leg and flipped him to the floor with a boom. “I see she turned you,” Pedro sneered. “Yes,” Cristian grinned smugly. “I’m just as powerful as she is.”
“Prove it,” Pedro said, kicking him with all his strength, slamming him against the wall.
Anna and Sage went down a flight of steps. “Anna, I think we should go to the roof,” Sage said. “That way, we can fly away.” “You’re right,” Anna said. They began to turn around to go back when they ran into Rafael. He stopped at the foot of the steps and looked at the two women, grinning like a child on Christmas morning opening his gifts. “Finally,” he said. His bow and arrow broken from being tackled to the floor, he only had his wooden stakes, his hunting knife, and the holy water in his arsenal to use. He took out his silver hunting knife. “I’ve waited for this day,” he said, inching forward. “I’m going to enjoy this thoroughly.”
Anna stepped in front of Sage, shielding her.
“Anna,” Sage said. Anna stared at Rafael, her eyes blacker than coal. “You have to come through me,” she warned. “A challenge—” he glowered, “my favorite.” ‘Just so you know, I never lose.” Anna smirked. He swung the hunting knife, and Anna kicked him in the groin, sending him hurling against the wall. “We have no choice, but to keep going downward,” Anna said as she and Sage ran down the steps.
Suddenly, glass shattered around them as Rafael threw an extra bottle of holy water at them, some of it splashing on the women and causing them to flinch. Anna stretched out her hand, and the shattered bottle was restored to its original state, empty of its contents. “I learned that from an old teacher,” Anna said to a stunned Sage.
Pedro pressed Cristian into the indentation in the wall, punching him. Cristian shoved him backwards as he climbed out of the hole. Pedro swung again, missing, while Cristian countered with a punch in the gut. Growing angrier, Pedro grabbed Cristian by the neck, while Cristian grabbed him by the neck, both locked in a chokehold. They continued to squeeze each other’s neck tighter when suddenly Samuel and Daniel, struggling to tear them apart while their hands were still gripped tightly around the other’s neck, grabbed them.
“Both of you, stop this!” Samuel said angrily, his eyes crimson. “The last thing Sage needs is you two still fighting over her when her life is in danger.” Both men released their grips from the other’s throat sorrowfully. Daniel, Billy, and Samuel stared at Pedro as he took a breath.
“We have to cut this reunion short in order to find the others,” Samuel said. Cristian nodded his head silently as they left the battered room.
Rafael slid down the railing, jumping in front of the women, and in one swift move, swung the hunting knife, striking Anna underneath her spiked dog collar before she could react. Blood spurted like a geyser everywhere as Sage screamed in horror. Anna wordlessly grabbed her throat trying to suppress the bleeding. She looked at a paralyzed Sage as she began to lose consciousness collapsing to the floor. Sage screamed Anna’s name as her eyes stilled.
Consumed with wrath like a sudden tempest, she looked at Rafael who was watching Anna lying on the floor.
He saw from the corner of his eye her advancing toward him, her eyes ablaze. He swung the hunting knife while she ducked her head to block it, and with a strong force of her hand, hewed it with the broken tip, embedding itself into his forehead. He screamed in agony, staggering and gripping his head as it began to seep with blood while he tried to pull the tip out. She hastily grabbed his neck about to snap it when someone appeared holding a crucifix, repelling her.
Reluctantly, she released her strong grip, stumbling back while Rafael grabbed his neck, wheezing and thanking the unseen person for their help.
“The stairs,” John said as they walked down a hallway. “I heard noises.” Lisa grabbed John as they flew down the stairwell, stopping abruptly at the horrifying sight before them. Anna was lying on the floor with a puddle of blood oozing underneath her. “Anna!” Lisa screamed.
Her eyes were still with no movement. “No!” Cody yelled. They heard the thunderous sounds of footsteps clomping down the stairs as Samuel, Daniel, Billy, Cristian, and Pedro found them huddled around a motionless Anna.
Samuel noticed some of the sapphire beads from Sage’s hair scattered on the stairs. He imagined them being strewn about during a struggle.
“Where’s Sage?” Cristian asked with a growing knot in his stomach. “She’s not here,” John said. “Rafael must’ve found them.”
“And Anna put her life on the line trying to protect her,” Daniel said tearing up. Pedro raced down the steps past a rigid Lisa and Cody for any signs of Rafael or Sage.
“This is my fault,” Cristian said, grimacing. “I should’ve never brought her here.” He noticed something shiny on the floor beside Anna. It was a necklace with a crucifix. He realized he’d seen his mother wear the necklace. He also knew she never went anywhere without it.
“What is my mother’s necklace doing beside Anna?” he wondered, falling to his knees. “Could Pearson have not only taken Sage but my parents too?” he thought, his eyes smarting. A visibly shaken Samuel tore up the steps flying to the roof, looking out toward the city in anguish knowing that Sage was in trouble. “Sage!” he yelled. “Sage!”
Cristian, reeling with guilt could only imagine the emotions coursing through Sage’s mind of her worst nightmare come true.