Vampire Kisses (gxg)

Chapter 25

Her mind caught up to her ears and eyes. The loud noise, the blooming rose. Mr Baker had been shot.

For a second, Penelope felt pure terror that she was next. That the man behind the footsteps would shoot her through the heart before she got a chance to react, and she'd be left a gurgling soon-to-be-corpse like him.

And then Chris appeared next to her. "Penelope? Penelope?" He asked, shaking her shoulders. She didn't respond, she just kept staring at Mr Baker. She had him for two years. He had been kind to her. But he'd just tried to strangle her to death. And he was dead.

She wasn't sure to be sad that the man who she had once known was dead or happy that the man she now knew he was wasn't able to kill her. She felt a feeling in her stomach, worse then butterflies, like an army of ants was trying to claw its way out.

Quickly, she rose to her feet. She stumbled forwards, almost collapsing into the hedges. She used some of the buried branches to carry the burden of her weight as she heaved, heaved again.

After a few seconds, when she felt the sting of bile leave her throat, she stood up again. She felt dizzy still. She grabbed the water bottle from Chris' outstretched hand, and poured it over her face before drinking it.

When her breathing returned to normal, Chris asked her, "Are you okay?"

"I think I'm fine," Penelope said. She stood up to look at Chris. His eyes were wide, and he was shaking like a leaf caught in a storm.

"Christ, are you?" Penelope asked.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm good," he said slowly, as if trying to convince himself.

"Where's Aubrey?" Penelope asked.

Chris shrugged. "She ran off."

"You think she's going to tell?"

"Maybe," Chris said.

"We'll have to burn the evidence," Penelope said, kicking her foot out towards the body.

"That can wait," Chris decided. "Where's Victoria?"

Penelope's heart started to race again. She was still inside, fighting with the elder vampire. Who knows what could have happened in the four, maybe five minutes that she had been outside for.

Instead of replying to him, Penelope started running. Her footsteps blended into the sound of her heartbeat. It pulsed through her ears, through her brain, down her throat, to her heart. She tried to remember tips about breathing. She thought it was called square breathing. But it wasn't helping.

The grass, slick with cold dew, crunched beneath her feet. It turned into the thudding concrete of the pathway, and then to the hollow echo of wood. She had forgotten to bring her flashlight, and so she navigated by the dull glow of Chris' behind her.

They emerged into the chapel. The pews were all but splinters now, black and red re-used blood coated the floor in places. As she continued to run in, Penelope searched for the Principal and Victoria.

She saw them underneath the Saint Peter's cross. The bottom part of it had cracked off and splintered. Victoria's face was crusted with blood. The older vampiress had her back towards Penelope, and was hunched other, either injured or crouching for an attack. It looked as though she was unijured, while Victoria was trembling.

The principal lashed out at her, a punch. It hit, and Victoria was sent flying. Penelope winced. It took everything in her not to cry out for her girlfriend.

How could she help? She was just a human. Getting herself involved would kill her, and Victoria would never forgive her for that.

A shimmer of light caught her eye. The gas! She has spilled it earlier. Now was the perfect time to use it.