Vile Blood by Jen Golembiewski - HTML preview

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Chapter 14

 

Sarain raced up the spiral staircase. Her dress ripped up the leg in the process; she ran in long strides jumping from step to step causing the fabric of her dress to stretch until the point of tearing. It felt like she couldn’t run fast enough no matter how hard she pushed herself. But Sarain was back under the office before she knew it, she grabbed a hold of the trap door that was weighted down by a heavy desk on top and threw it open without trouble.

In the room above she noticed that the employee she had left unconscious was gone; she didn’t care, but figured that he would most likely have assumed that she had just taken off, since an alarm was never called. Odds were that no one would even know she had been there until they found the body of the vil sang she killed waiting down in the tunnels below.

Sarain ran out of the office, never bothering to fix the desk. She pushed past people on the way to the exit, knocking a few completely over. She didn’t care who she hurt, she just needed them out of the way. A couple of club goers shouted profanities at her in protest, but little else was done. The large guard took notice of her rampage, and tried to stop her on the way out. He grabbed her by the waist while saying, “Slow down.” But Sarain simply elbowed him in the gut, causing him to wretch forward and let her go. She didn’t think he ever actually recognized her.

She sped down the club stairs and out into the street. The night air was cold, but Sarain could only feel the heat of rage growing inside her. How could she have left Kit alone? Why had she stupidly believed that Winston wanted a fair fight? Of course he wouldn’t fight fair; he had demon blood coursing through his veins. But why play these games? No, it didn’t matter, this was her fault; she took Kit in, and then she failed to watch out for him.

As Sarain’s anger grew, her legs began to move faster; they felt like they were on fire while her surroundings started to blur. Cars went weaving by, some blaring their horns, but she didn’t have concern to move out of the street. Miles of road rapidly went by in a flash, and soon Sarain was drawing up on her house, or what remained of it.

Her home lay in rubble; charred pieces of wood and cinder sat where her house once stood. She knew this meant that once the demons realized they couldn’t get in due to the barrier that they instead burnt her house down, hoping to make its occupants come running out.

But what of Kit? Had he stayed in the burning building or did he run out to be captured by the demons? Sarain wasn’t sure which of these gruesome fates she preferred, but she had no hope of finding Kit alive.

She climbed into the wreckage and searched through the still hot and smoking debris with a temperature so high that it began to melt the rubber on her shoes. She stepped through where her living room had once been, where she had spent meals with Kit and had watched him sleep. Part of a wall that used to divide into her bedroom still remained, but the bed and her belongings were gone, all turned into ash.

Sarain glanced around and saw no sign of Kit. She prayed for once that he had disobeyed her and left the house before the beasts had ever come, but she knew that this was just a desperate dream. Nevertheless she had to try; “Kit!” she yelled out, hoping for an answer. Silence. “KIT!” she screamed again, but still nothing. She would have given anything to hear the boy’s voice at that moment.

Sarain could feel the tears welling up in her eyes; she had lost the closest thing she had had to family in a long time, and it was her own misjudgment that had led to this misfortune. Grief started to overcome her, so much so that she almost didn’t hear the footsteps sneaking up behind her. A sudden snap of wood caused Sarain to go shooting up, her machete in hand, and she spun around to face the prowler.

A group mixed with both vil sangs and full blooded demons stood before her. They had evidently been waiting for her to return, but Kit was definitely not with them, they must have already disposed of him. Sarain found it funny that they would work together; demons normally looked down on vil sangs, but she figured that they must have made an exception for her. There were fifteen total, more than she had ever faced at one time. The vil sangs would be easier to pick off. She could in no way manage to pull off killing the whole group, but if this was going to be her end, then she would take as many with her as she could.

The beasts rushed her within seconds. Sarain dodged the first couple of lunges, and sliced the head off of a slower moving vil sang. A slimy looking demon dove at her feet, and Sarain jumped up over him then came crashing down on top of him, thrusting her blade into his back and all the way out through his chest; she was fairly sure that she got through to its heart.

Next, a vil sang charged her, but he did so in a sloppy manner, leaving himself open for Sarain to drive her blade into his gut and rip it upward, slicing him mostly in half. Shortly thereafter, two demons lunged toward her, one on either side. Sarain was able to slice one across the chest, but the other successfully tackled her to the ground. It dug its claws into her back, and she could feel it ripping away at her flesh.

The other creatures took this cue to horde in; eyes glowing and fangs exposed, they swatted and clawed at her. The vil sangs mostly punched and kicked, a few egged the others on. Sarain took the beating without even so much as a scream; this seemed to disappoint a few. The thrashing went on for a few minutes until finally one of the demons stopped to say, “Enough!” It spoke in a deep hoarse voice, and said, “You know the drill, the master wants her alive.”

Alive? Was killing her not enough? No, Sarain thought to herself, this must mean they plan to… Sarain choked up blood as she struggled to cry out, “Just kill me!”

One of the vil sangs, who now looked like just another pale man, gazed down at her in disgust. He brought back his fist, and the last thing she heard was, “Shut up, meat!”

Everything went black after that.

Sarain’s vision was blurry when she came through. She felt dizzy, like the walls were moving, and then she grasped that she was being dragged. It was dark, but after a moment, she recognized where she was; in the tunnels under The Purge. She felt limp and broken, too weak to fight the beasts that were moving her. She was in the hall heading towards the master’s chambers, but then she realized that they were turning. They were taking her in the direction of the door that had given her chills earlier, and she was going to find out what lied behind it that sent waves so strongly to her that it called out to a sixth sense.

Sarain began to struggle, using what little energy she had. One of the creatures carrying her looked down at her and said to the other demon, “It looks like the girl is awake, let’s hurry before she causes us more trouble.”

They quickened pace, and Sarain began to scream. She thrashed hoping to break free, but only made a ruckus. The door creaked opened and she was pulled inside.