Back To You

Chapter 7

Being carried about over someone's shoulders after a heavy meal was literally the most stomach-churning experience ever. Aidan struggled to keep his dinner down as his body jerked about while the vampire continued running. The kidnappers dashed through the woods for a time before reaching a large clearing of tall grass, running even faster than before. By his crude estimate, the creatures were doing at least fifty-five miles per hour, almost twice the speed that the fastest human had ever done.

When he was certain he wouldn't be able to keep it down for much longer, Aidan did the only thing he could. He raised his foot as high up as it could go before bringing it down with full force between the vampire's legs. The effect of his actions was instantaneous, with the vampire stopping in his tracks, dropping Aidan flat on the damp and mushy ground while clutching his abused groin in a half-crouch.

On his end, Aidan was left clutching at his foot, which felt like it had just kicked a lump of solid steel. 'Nutcracker's nuts!' The poor man internally screamed while massaging his foot until the pain had ebbed a fraction.

Gritting his teeth, he reached behind his head to untie the cloth gag, then chanced a look at the still bent-double man; although it was dark, the little available light allowed him to glimpse the face of his kidnapper for the first time. The vampire was deathly pale, with eyes the colour of caramel toffee, matching the colour of his hair. Presently, his face was contorted into a painful grimace, his lips pulled back to reveal small, sharp fangs that began extending till they reached over his lower lip.

"You little shit!" His voice was slightly high-pitched and nasally, although Aidan wondered if it sounded that way because he'd just been kicked in the family jewels. From behind him came an unsympathetic chuckle as his other captor spoke up in an unfamiliar accent that Aidan couldn't place, "Well, human, that was a ballsy move."

The vampire laughed at his own lame joke as Aidan twisted around and squinted, trying to make him out. He was as equally pale in complexion as his companion but with short, dead-straight hair matching the ink of night, and dark brown eyes sparkling with humour. Without waiting for the other vampire to recover, the dark-haired one reached down to lift Aidan.

"I will puke all over you if you even think of throwing me over your shoulder like some ragdoll," Aidan threatened, trying his best to discourage the vampire with a glare.

"No worries, I'll just carry you in my arms like a princess," he drawled in reply before doing just that. "No more excuses for chundering all over the place, yeah?" Aidan gritted his teeth as he was once again carried off in the second captor's arms, but at least he didn't feel nauseated. On and on, they ran past grasslands and fields of crops, never stopping. The speeds they were going felt more like a fast car ride than a run.

There was an unspoken tenseness in the atmosphere between the vampires the longer they travelled, as if a time limit existed to getting where they wanted to be. It took Aidan a while to realise that the vampires were out in the open, with nowhere to hide from the fast approaching dawn. They had a deathly deadline to keep, or else the two were toast, the burnt-to-a-crisp kind.

"There it is!" The caramel-haired vampire excitedly shouted while pointing at a speck in the distance, madly rushing towards it even as the night sky continued to lighten. They were about a kilometre away when Aidan could finally discern a small cottage, out of place in the otherwise deserted lands.

Once they were nearer, Aidan noticed that although the structure was old, it was in solid condition and sealed tight with all its wooden shutters closed. Someone opened the door from the inside as his captors dashed in before slamming it shut.

The dark-haired vampire placed Aidan back on his own two feet before saying, "For a moment there, I thought I'd need my sunnies," while pretending to put a pair of sunglasses on his head.