I don’t know how long I sat there, frozen, staring at the vampire. He stared back, a grin on his face. It’s not until I notice that the yellow glow of the afternoon sun is shining on me that I start to shout.
“Let me out!” I want to go over to the door and bang on it but it’s on the dark side. Where he could get me. The smell of the blood on my arm must have given him strength.
“Please, you can’t leave me alone in here with him! He’ll kill me!” I hear the guard shuffle.
“It’ll be a quick death I promise. I’m too thirsty to make you suffer.” He says. My face scrunches up in disgust and I kick his face. He falls back and tries to grab onto my leg but I pull it back into the sunlight. He hisses and bares his fangs. Freak.
“You deserve to be in there. You’re a traitor.” The muffled voice of the guard says. I hit the floor with my fist.
“That’s a lie!” I feel myself panicking again and my chest starts heaving with sobs. I run my hand through my hair, it’s still slightly damp. “Please let me out.” I manage to say in between gasps for air. I try to calm myself down; I don’t want to get into hysterics. There’s no reply. I sniff and hear the vampire chuckle. I glare at him and he laughs harder.
“Just you wait human, I haven’t had blood for nearly a month now.” He sneers.
I pull my knees to my chest and try to stay in the warmth of the sun. Then it hits me. I smile; a plan is forming in my head. The vampire kind of looks freaked out. Good. He won’t know until nightfall.
I lean my head back against the wall and close my eyes, suddenly feeling worn out. Maybe I’ll have a small nap until then.
***
I watch her sleeping.
Her brown, lively eyes are now shut, the dark lashes casting shadows on her cheeks. I watch as her chest rises and falls in rhythm. In. 1, 2, 3. Out. 1, 2, 3. She was definitely asleep. Her dark hair curls onto her neck, which now appears to be ivory in the moonlight, I can make out the network of veins under her skin. The light summer breeze wafts her scent over to me and I edge towards her, inhaling it. The chain makes a slight noise and I freeze. She moves slightly but doesn’t open her eyes.
I shift closer. The scent is becoming more powerful, I can feel my fangs extending over my lower lip. The pain is excruciating the first few times, but one gets used to it. I shuffle closer until I am right next to her. I can hear the snores of the guard outside. By the time he awakens it’ll be too late. I lower my mouth to the curve of her neck.
***
He screams and leaps back, clutching his leg. The gun was loud. I can hear the guard trying to unlock the door, but it sounds like he has a lot of keys. I have time. The vampire moans in agony, clutching its leg where the wooden bullet penetrated it.
I raise the gun again and aim for its heart. He stares at me and shakes his head, holding up his hand. My hand raises too, the chain linking the two of us lifting it up.
“I'm assuming you want to escape.” He rasps. I pause.
“If you kill me, you’ll have to drag my body around with you. You’ll never make it.”
“Shit.” I mutter. The vampire grins and I get up and walk over to it and hold the gun to its head. I lean over and pull out the bullet from its leg, and turn away in disgust as the hole slowly begins to close up. He stands up and I move away, as far as the chain will let me.
The door finally opens.
“What’s going on-” he stops mid-sentence as he sees the gun pointed at him. I hold a finger to my lips and he nods slowly, his eyes wide with fear.
“I want my backpack.” I say quietly. He nods and heads out of the cell. The vampire and I follow, trying to make as little noise as possible. The guard hands me my bag and I give it to the vampire who stares at me. I raise my eyebrow and he takes it.
“Show us the way out.” I say to the guard. He hesitates. I press the gun to the side of his head.
“Do it or I’ll shoot you, and then let Dracula over here clean up your mess.” The guard blanches as the vampire’s fangs extend. He begins to slowly walk and we follow in silence. The tunnels are eerie in the dark, and beams of moonlight shine through the holes. The guard slows down.
“Hurry up.” I say. The guard looks back at me. Shit. I know that look. Before I can do anything he opens his mouth.
“MAX! THE PRISONERS ARE ESCAPING!”
Bastard. I shoot his leg as I run away, the vampire running beside me.
“Where are we going?” I shout to it.
“I think I remember the way!” he shouts back. I can hear people waking up and some of them running behind us.
“Why didn’t you say that before?” he shrugs. Idiot.
I look back and see that there are around five of them chasing us. We turn a corner and I recognise the exit Tracy and I used to get to the showers. We head towards it and I hear a gunshot. That wasn’t me. Crap. I didn’t think they’d have guns. I duck as I hear another one and we leap though the doorway.
I hear the waterfall crashing down ahead of us. It’ll lead to the river. Out of here. I look at the vampire and he nods at me. We carry on running and jump simultaneously into the pool of water. We stay below the surface and head towards the waterfall, the vampire has my backpack on and can swim quite well, despite the fact it hasn’t had blood for a month. We swim under the waterfall, bullets’ flying past us but their aim is rubbish, there’s not enough light.
The pressure from the waterfall pounds down onto my back, pushing me deeper into the water. I swim forward but I don’t know what direction I’m going in. My lungs are screaming for air. I feel a tug on the chain and try to follow it but I’m too weak.
***
I grab her from around the waist, kicking to the surface of the water. I can see she is about to blackout. Our heads break the surface and she splutters. I swim over to the river bank and hoist her onto it, taking off the backpack and placing it next to her. I then hoist myself up and she coughs, a stream of water coming out of her mouth. She rolls over and coughs a lot more, the gun still in her hand. I hit her on the back, causing more water to come out and she jerks away from me.
“What are you doing?” she snaps.
“Saving your life.” I say. She scowls, and I can smell her blush.
“I guess we’re equal then.” She says, twisting her ponytail, trying to get rid of the water. She sniffs and hoists her trousers up.
“There they are!” Both our heads shoot up.
***
Crap.
He picks up the backpack and we start running again, our arms moving in synch otherwise the chain will weigh too much. I can hear the others running behind us, I don’t think they’ll catch us but we don’t stop. We head into the forest, ducking from all the branches. I hear another gunshot. Mine is taken from my hand and I look up in shock as the vampire turns, still running and fires. I hear a thump. He gives me my gun back.
“What are you doing!” I shout, jumping over a small log. He looks at me in confusion.
“Shoot them all!” I say, and give him back the gun. He frowns and I hear three more shots, all followed by thumps. We stop and I bend over, clutching my knees, trying to catch my breath. I put on my rucksack and stand back up.
