Page 36 of Missing Piece
“Just come here. Now.”
“Ophelia, I can’t hold this much longer!” he heard Adam shout over the banging in the background.
“Adam? ‘Phelia?!” Vincent stared down in horror as the phone call ended. The beast clawed at the inside of his chest, gnawing on his ribs as panic crashed over him.Adam’s in danger.
He looked up at Luka, his eyes wide.
“Go,” Luka rasped, rubbing his throat as he used his damaged vocal cords for the first time in years.
Vincent flung open the front door, not even bothering to check that the sun had fully set or shut the door behind him. He nearly ripped the car door from its hinges.
Retrieve him.
Protect him.
Bring him back.
Chapter Twelve - Adam
Adam kicked his leg against the sink of the powder room, his back flat against the door as he leveraged the full weight of his body against the solid wood. Each impact shot through him, the screeching screams and scratches sounding like nails on a chalkboard. Ophelia pressed against the wood beside him, her switchblade in hand.
“How long?” Adam gasped.
“If he really guns it, six minutes,” Ophelia responded. She grimaced as the door bowed inwards. Even though they had barely managed to reach the nearest room with a lock before that little thing scrambled down the stairs after them, she looked calm. A little out of breath, but no amount of breathlessness could shake the calm that seemed to settle upon her features like a permanent mask. Like this was just another day for her.
Adam wished he could feel the same. His body already ached when they got to the bloodstained home, and pressing himself to the wood and absorbing every attempt that creature made to bust through was tiring him out a lot faster than he expected. Being locked away for the past month, lacking his usual daily activity of searching for a fix, musthave weakened him more than he realized. He never felt this fragile.
“Will it hold?”
“Not for much longer.” She pressed her ear to the wood, pulling back before the next blow landed. The sound of creaking and cracking filled the small space. “Cut it out!” she shouted.
I’m going to die in a bathroom with this little psychopath.Adam gritted his teeth as he pushed back harder, trying desperately to brace himself between the sink and the door to keep it closed. He could hold it for six minutes, right? There was enough of his tough old shell left to do that. He just had to hold the door shut long enough for Vincent to show up.
“What is that thing?” Adam asked as the banging began to slow, the screeching sound behind it turning into sobbing groans and whines.
“That little abomination is the reason you don’t see child vampires,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how good you are, you can’t control those little shits. They’ll feed until they pop and then feed some more because they’re injured.”
Who was he kidding?There was no way he could hold this shut for six more minutes. He wasn’t sure his body would make it another thirty seconds. But the sound of the chain rattling on the other side and the sobbing moving further away made him realize the banging had stopped. He lowered his foot from the sink slowly, glancing down at Ophelia. “Is it gone?”
Ophelia’s ear pressed to the wood again. “No,” she whispered. “There is someone else out there with it.” She reached into her boot, pulling out another switchblade and thrusting it towards Adam. “Aim the sharp part away from your body.”
“I’m aware,” Adam whispered. “Are we going to have to fight that thing?”
She bobbed her head from side to side. “It’s likely. Can you fight?”
“I’ve been in a fight before.” Adam swallowed his pride as he glanced at her. Of course, he had been in fights. He started most of them. But there were always nerves involved, some level of amping himself up, but she was still like a statue. He thought life had put him through the wringer, but whatever her life had been up to that point, it was clearly worse.
How could she not be freaked the fuck out?
If the bathroom had a window, he would have crawled out of it by now and taken off for the road in any direction. Anyway he could get away from the thing that had scrambled down the stairs after them so fast that it seemed like it was coming at them on all fours, covered in blood and emitting that horrible sound. Adam had only seen the black eyes and too many sharp teeth before ducking into the powder room with Ophelia. If that was a vampire-child, it barely resembled what Vincent looked like when he let that side of him show. This was something more monstrous, like consciousness and logical thought were gone and the only thing left was some kind of snarling beast.
“Aim for the major arteries. The neck is the easiest for the carotid artery, but if not, try to get under the collarbone, the inner thigh, and the elbow. Stab and saw. Blood loss can kill a vampire if you sever enough arteries,” she said, quickly touching each spot on Adam. “If you can, cut the fucker’s head off.”
He was too surprised to pull away when she tapped his inner thigh. He just nodded grimly.
“Humans,” came a woman’s voice from beyond the door. “Humans, come out. We just want to talk.”
“No thanks.” He glanced at Ophelia, expecting to see her glaring at him, but she only smirked, repositioning herself against the door so she could continue to help him hold it.
