IZEL

Alek didn't give me much information as to how he found me or what exactly was going on. 

We were running through a corridor with more windows than walls. I looked out the windows as I ran, and there was havoc left, right and centre. Vanquishers were taking down vampires and—

What the heck?! 

There were vampires fighting vampires too. Was I seeing that right?

Alek handed me back the dagger after I promised not to kill myself. I'd asked for a sword but he said the dagger was simply for protection because I wasn't in any condition to fight. The corridor split into two sections, and a vampire appeared from the left side.

I tightened my grip on the dagger, ready to attack if given the chance but the vampire surprised me by saying, "this way." And we actually followed his lead.

I ran with the Vanquishers, keeping my eyes on the vampire and when he noticed me watching me he simply winked. A vampire just winked at me? 

I was beginning to wonder which realm I was truly in.

"Are you sure I'm not dreaming?"

"Yes!" Alek shouted, "if you ask me that one more time I'm taking the dagger back."

I zipped my lips back together and continued running.

Gradually, the corridor started increasing in width and there were now more doors. We ignored all the ones we ran past and headed to the one at the end of the corridor. It was a massive golden door, with so many details engraved on it.

"Circle," Alek suddenly said and all the vanquishers stood all around me, keeping me enclosed between them, making an effort to make sure not to leave any gaps between them.

"No matter what you do," Alek said, and when I looked up I realised he was speaking to me and only me, "don't stop and don't try to escape. Got it?" I nodded, "good, keep your head down and allow our movements to guide you."

He lowered my head for me before finally opening the grand doors. I kept my eyes focused on the ground and noted how shiny the tiles were. Around me, I heard grunts and shouts and immediately knew there were fights going on in this room too.

Suddenly, Alek entered the circle as well and I felt him wrap his arms around me, holding my head against his chest. "I didn't trust you enough not to look."

Wise man.

I allowed myself to be guided by him and the others. "What don't you want me to see?"

"Doesn't matter."

I felt my heart sink when he said that, remembering it was something Jaeger used to say. I took a deep, shaky breath, willing myself to focus on getting out of here rather than on memories of Jaeger. I closed my eyes and focused on the sounds, there were constant clangs from swords hitting against each other, which was weird because vampires didn't usually fight with swords. If it wasn't for Alek, I definitely would have looked.

I heard another door open and assumed we'd finally reached the other side. I expected we'd continue moving forward, but instead, we began shuffling backwards, fast. Alek suddenly held my hand and led me out of the circle. I looked up and saw that a group of vampires had just entered, stopping us from exiting. The vanquishers started fighting them and Alek dragged me away from the fight, no doubt because he thought I was too weak to fight. He wasn't wrong though, so I didn't argue with him, but simply followed his lead.

This room was a ballroom, a bit too fancy to belong to vampires though. Alek held me behind him, slowly stepping back till my back was against a wall and he was against me.

"This is a bit too much don't you think?"

"My job is to protect you, so that's what I'm doing."

"No, you're sandwiching me between a wall."

He chuckled, "seriously? Making jokes, now?"

"Always."

I started- "stop looking around," he said and I stopped looking around before I'd even started.

"Why don't you want me to look around?"

"Because there's nothing you need to see." He said then began leading me back to the door once it was clear, though out of the 15 Vanquishers that circled me, there were 7 left. We were so close to the exit when more vampires appeared, forcing us back into the centre of the ballroom. Behind the vampires were vanquishers. It seemed as if the vampires were running away, but I knew that wasn't the case.

"The vampires are bringing the battle here," I told Alek.

"I know," I heard him mumble as he brought me away from the battle once again.

"We have to fight with them."

"We can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't risk losing you again."

I clenched my fists, ready to object, but something about Alek's expressions topped me. "Fine," I bit out, "we won't run towards the fight," I threw my dagger and it hit the back of a vampire that was about to attack one of the vanquishers, "but neither will we run away." 

I made to pick up a sword from the ground, the owner of it was probably dead anyway, but stumbled when I lifted it, taken aback by the weight. It was heavy.

"See? You're too weak."

I sighed, defeated, but then noticed a belt of throwing knives around a corpse. "I've still got my accuracy though."

Alek hesitated but got the belt for me, tying it around my waist before placing his back against mine. We fought back to back, just as we used to do. The ballroom was packed with vampires and humans. I couldn't attack any vampire I saw because I wasn't sure which ones were on our side and which ones weren't.

It'd been a while, but the way we fought together, it was as if we had never been apart, though I was slower and a lot more clumsier. The vampire numbers were dropping faster than the Vanquisher numbers though, but that was only because most of them had started retreating.

One... by one... by one... they kept retreating. They saw that their chances of winning this time were low. Very low.

The clanging was still sounding, and now that Alek wasn't holding my head against him, and now that there were little to no vampires left, I could try to locate the source of the sounds.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

I realised the sounds weren't coming from our level, so I looked up and I was right. Two figures were fighting on the balcony. The first I identified as the Zas, the second—

My breath suddenly left my lungs as I was tackled to the other side of the room.

"Didn't think you'd escape that easily now did you, human?" That voice, I knew that voice. It was laced with a venom that made me tremble in fear. I'd never been more afraid of a vampire than now, not only because it was the Quearus, but because I was still weak and wouldn't be able to defend myself efficiently.

The Quearus pinned my hands to the floor and looked me dead in the eyes. "Let's make this fast shall we." And she wasn't kidding. She brought her fangs to my neck and sucked. I didn't have enough physical strength to push her off or pull myself from her grip, I—

Suddenly the two figures fighting fell from the balcony, one had tackled the other. My vision blurred, but I noticed the figure of the one that had tackled and landed on the Zas throw a dagger right toward us, and into the ribs of the Quearus. The Quearus roared, but that distraction was all I needed to free my hand from her grip, grab the dagger from her ribs and plant it into her chest instead. Her eyes went wide from the shock, but she didn't die. I tried to shove the dagger further into her chest and reach her heart, but my strength wasn't enough.

The Quearus laughed wickedly before removing the dagger from her chest and stabbing it right through the palm of my hand that had stabbed her. I screamed, jolts of pain running through me. She'd brought it down so hard that it went through the tiled floor, pinning my hand to the ground. Any kind of slight movement burned.

The Quearus removed the dagger from my hand, tearing my hand further as more pain crashed through my body. "Die, Vanquisher," the Quearus growled, aiming the dagger at my chest. This was it.

I shut my eyes, tears spilling through. I only hoped my death would be quick. 

The Quearus' weight was suddenly no longer crushing me, holding me down, and I realised it had been tackled off of me. I opened my eyes to see and angled my head to see the Quearus brawling with—

Jaeger.

My heart stopped. Only to start again, beating tenfold. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real. This shouldn't be real. This was real.

It was Jaeger. Despite how bloody and beaten and battered up he looked, he was fighting the Quearus with a renewed strength, and a different kind of fire in his eyes. One hit after the other, he didn't go down, but neither did the Quearus, not until he managed to get the Quearus into a vulnerable position where he swiftly grabbed one of the daggers from the ground and planted it where it belonged. In the Quearus' heart.

Panting, Jaeger stood up and faced me, and something in his expression softened at the sight of me. His expression suddenly hardened as his eyes flickered behind me and only when someone grabbed me by my neck, forced me to my feet and held a dagger against my neck did I realise why.

It was the Zas.

He wrapped his arm around my neck, holding me against him like a shield while keeping me still by holding the dagger to my skin. Slowly, he walked backwards until his back was against the wall to make sure no one could surprise attack him from the back. 

"Move, and she dies," the Zas warned, and the whole room seemed to go still, and it was only then that I realised that all the vampires except for the ones who weren't fighting for us were either dead or had fled.

"Wow," the Zas laughed. "You really have a lot of influence, don't you darling?"

"You're... as good as dead," I croaked out.

"Mm, well so are you. If I die, you're dying with me," he pressed the dagger against my neck for emphasis.

I flinched, which made Jaeger take a step forward. 

"Ah, ah, ah," the Zas warned. "Don't try me."

"You really are a coward," I found myself saying. "You're holding me captive like this because—"

The Zas only laughed humourlessly, "I'm not stupid, darling. I know when to fight, and when not to. And right now, it's the latter. However," he added, raising his voice, "that doesn't mean I'm giving in. I'm going to walk across the wall to the exit, and you're going to let me, or else she dies."

That caused an outburst. The vampires didn't mind letting me die, but the Vanquishers did. 

"We can't let him go to save one Vanquisher!" A vampire shouted.

"He deserves to die, no matter the costs!" Another shouted

The vampires began moving forward but the vanquishers stood in front of them, stopping them from going any further and risking my life. This wasn't going to end well. One wrong move and they were going to start killing each other. I couldn't allow that. 

My eyes found Jaeger's and he slowly shook his head, knowing where my mind was wandering off to. My life wasn't worth all the trouble, and the Zas did deserve to die. The vampires were right, we couldn't let him go, and I definitely didn't want to be the reason he remained alive.

'I'm sorry,' I mouthed to Jaeger, knowing my words wouldn't be heard over the outcry.

'Don't, please don't. Don't leave me.'

'I'm sorry.' My eyes burned and scorching tears rolled down my cheeks. 'I love you.'

Jaeger's face fell and he sped toward me, but it was too late. I lifted my good hand to the dagger the Zas held and pressed it into my neck.