dies…if her need for you does not kill her first.”
“It’s a chance I’m willing to take to give her back to her father… alive . Is there anything that will break the hold?”
“Yes, but only one of surety.”
“What? Tell me, I’ll do anything.”
“Your death, or bring her over where she cannot be with her own. The very ones that you wish to return her to.”
“Then we’ll find another way.”
I held my wrist over her mouth, but she clenched her jaws, saying “no” over and over to the point that I bent down and took a small amount of her inside myself, so that I could control her thoughts. “Now drink.” She opened her mouth and took in the fluid that I offered. Jacob turned his back and walked around pretending to check for other things. She choked and my blood spilled out the side of her mouth. Jessie put her hand on my arm, and nodded that it was enough. I watched as the girls flesh became brighter. Her eyes rolled backwards as her back arched off the table.
“Hold her down,” Jacob called out coming back to us. “Place this in her mouth. Hurry!”
I put the end of the small hilt of the blade he handed me into her mouth. She bit down as the convulsions hit. Her arms and legs came up like she was having spasms, and every muscle tightened at the same time. After a few minutes she calmed, and soon fell into a deep sleep. Jacob explained that she would rest for a time then wake to a healthier feeling. I tried to thank him for stepping in and helping, but he simply reminded me of the future that would come because of my actions. While we were having yet another round of a few choice words, we hadn’t noticed that Sydney had been looking around the large room, more than likely for more survivors. It wasn’t until he screamed that we realized we had been so involved with our spat, that we weren’t keeping our minds on the most important things around us—each other.
“Sydney, where are you?” Garvin called out.
“Here, down here.”
He had fallen into some kind of pit that was full of the floating remains of hundreds of dead bodies. He was gripping the side of the wall, pressing his face into his arm. When we called down and asked if he was all right, he only begged that we get him out. Jacob removed one of the chains that was hanging and lowered it down to Sydney. He had to lie on his stomach, while Garvin and Derek held his legs, in order to reach Sydney’s desperate grasp. As we started to pull him up, the small form of a decayed infant floated right by his face and he fell back into the slime, blood, and gore. He yelled and started kicking it away. He grabbed the rope and almost pulled us all in with his manic movements.
“Sydney, look at me,” Jacob yelled.
“Look at him Sydney,” Garvin concurred.
Sydney looked up with more anxiety than I had ever seen on his face. It clearly emphasized what he was witnessing of the horror of what had gone on and now remained in the grips of the pit. We pulled him out and he immediately put Garvin in a death hold. Garvin pushed the gore away from his face, then told him that nothing could harm him and that we were about to take care of the one who had done all the cruel things that he had seen thus far. Sydney was the newest to our bloodbreeder family and needed more from his maker at times than the rest. We left them for a few seconds and found the door that would lead us out of this hell. We were now as ready as we were ever going to be and things were going to move much faster once we left this area. We all needed our heads on straight from this moment on.
“You’re going to be okay, Sydney. You can stay here with Lilly if you want.” I squatted down next to him and Garvin.
“I’m not staying down here, Renee. I’m fine, it’s just…” he paused shaking his head. “I can’t believe anyone could do this sort of shit.”
“The thing is, Sid, I think we’re going to see this sort of thing everywhere we go.”
“Not at our
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley