Page 102 of Loving A Vampire Is Total Chaos

The coast is clear, so I approach him. His eyes are closed and at first I don’t know if he’s awake or not.

“Valen,” I hiss as loud as I dare.

His eyes peel open slowly and widen at my appearance in his room.

“We’re blowing this popsicle stand. Come on.” I jerk my thumb over my shoulder and get to unplugging him from the tubes. I’m not a nurse, but it doesn’t matter. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

He seems a little out of it from the collection, but I run over to a large storage fridge in the corner. Pleasantly surprised to find my hypothesis correct, I grab a few bags of blood and shove it at him to drink. Valen doesn’t question me and quickly gulps them down. Hopefully it wasn’t his blood because that’s kind of weird, but I guess not any worse than drinking a random person’s blood.

The puncture wounds on his arms heal before my very eyes and I’m reminded of how muchmorehe is than me. Hopefully once we’re out of here we can get to know each other like normal friends. Knowing Zav, though, he’ll get jealous and need to supervise. Maybe I shouldn’t tell him he bit me before Zav did.

We must look like an insane pair right now. Him with his long, limp hair and ratty old clothes. Crimson dripping down his chin and onto his bare feet. Me with my dirt and blood encrusted pale skin. My outfit isn’t much better than his.

“Do you have any idea how to get out of here?” I whisper, peeking out the door to see if anyone has noticed our shenanigans.

“No,” he answers, sounding stronger than ever before. “Whenever they bring me up, it’s straight here and back down.”

“Fuck. I guess we’re winging it then.” It’s probably foolish to hope for a clean break but so far so good. “Let’s go.”

Valen grabs my hand and squeezes it.

“See you on the other side, Celine.”

I hope he doesn’t meanthe other sidelike the afterlife.

I nod back at him and steel my resolve.

Valen and I step into the hallway and make it to the other side when the door opens. A vampire is just walking through and spots us in front of him with a face full of shock. Faster than I can track, the vampire’s heart is ripped out of his chest and his head is knocked off his body.

I turn to Valen who holds the bloody heart and looks a little shell shocked himself at what he just did. It seems like he acted on instinct but I’m sure it’s been a long time since he last felt strong enough to do that.

“Fuck,” I mutter when I spot the handheld remote that’s now flashing. A big red button has been pressed by the vampire just before he died and from the sounds of pounding footsteps, he’s informed the cavalry of our escape. “We’re fucked.”

“This way.” Valen grabs my arm in an attempt to keep me up to speed with him, but it’s hard when my feet keep getting tangled up.

I’m panting and the urge to dry heave is overwhelming. He must get fed up with how slow I am because he hoists me upin his arms. Between my blood and the bags he consumed, I guess he’s feeling well enough to carry me and I certainly won’t complain if it gets us the hell out of here faster.

Careening down the hall so fast my hair blows around us, Valen blindly follows something. With his vampire senses fully functioning, I trust he knows what he’s doing.

“Wait, we need to check for Zav,” I panic, reminding Valen. I can’t be for certain that Genevieve doesn’t have him chained up somewhere around here too.

“I’d smell him if he were here. Now that I’ve tasted your blood, I can sense the connection.” He calms me down and continues to navigate the maze of halls and doors.

Relief floods me. Zav isn’t here, so hopefully that means he’s safe. I can’t contemplate the alternative.

My stomach rolls at the speed in which Valen’s moving. He stops in front of a door and opens it, shoving me in. I’m in shock and realize I’m surrounded by cleaning supplies. I have no idea why he’s done it and then hear the absolute chaos outside the door.

I peer out to see Valen going head-to-head with a few vampires. Even with his imprisonment, he’s holding his own well, and I know having me to protect would’ve been too much. Whenever any of the vampires get close to the door, he slaughters them. It almost seems like a renewed sense of motivation has sparked inside of him.

One of the vampires manages to jump on his back like a feral raccoon and he shakes to dislodge them. They land a bite and tear a chunk out of his shoulder. Valen grunts in pain, and I know it hurts like a bitch, but he doesn’t react otherwise. Getting a firm grip on the vampire’s arms, he flips them over his head and stomps on their chest when they land. His bare foot quite literally goes through the vamp’s chest.

What the fuck is Valen? I don’t think he’s your typical vampire that’s for sure.

First wave of vampire goons down, Valen shows some fatigue and leans against the wall for reprieve. It won’t be long before he burns through the blood he’s consumed and then it’s bad news for us. To make it this far and end up right where we started would be unfortunate.

I just want to get home to my grumpy cat and unhinged, sunshiney vampire. Ava was probably waiting to scold me, I needed to call my dad, and I’d be lucky if I still had a job at the end of this.

We’re not left alone long before another group of vampires come bursting down the hallway. Valen weighs his options and swings the door open fully to grab me in his arms again before darting away, taking our chances elsewhere.

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