My panic only increased over time as I waited for something, anything, to happen. I had crawled into a dark corner in the room, folding into myself so as to keep from being noticeable while I thought over my options. My top plan at that moment was to wait of course. If I was lucky, Corentine would find Jacobi rather quickly, and then he would ultimately find me. But I didn’t tend to be lucky…

If I was unlucky, whatever bond I had created between Corentine and I would be sealed off just as my bond with Jacobi had been the minute she left. Perhaps this would turn her back to rogue and leave her running around bloodthirsty away from this place, leaving me forgotten in the dirt. Or she could find Jacobi and he could ultimately decide I’m not worth the trouble and abandon me, if he hadn’t already. Or, and this I feared was the most likely, Vincent could realize I’ve been left alive and kill me himself before Jacobi or Corentine are able to do anything about it.

My only other option would be to run, despite Corentine’s warning. Only I found myself feeling rather weakened after the fight with Corentine. I suspected it had something to do with whatever I had done to cure her of being rogue. If I were to attempt to run, I wasn’t sure how far I would be able to go before I passed out from exhaustion. I wanted to curse myself, but something told me I was already cursed at this point.

Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t too long before the silence around me was interrupted by a large crash in the distance. I couldn’t identify what it was. It didn’t sound so much like a bomb exploding, but more like what I imagined a tree falling through the ceiling would sound like. Regardless, I was rather jumpy and squeaked at the noise, listening intensely for fear of whatever it was.

After the initial crash, there wasn’t so much as the sound of a pin dropping for what felt like a full minute. And then there was chaos all at once. Extreme blasts were thundering in intervals, with the accompanying shuddering of the landscape around me. It was as if someone was trying to knock this entire building down, which would be fine with me normally except that I was still in it.

My cowardice was at war with itself. One part of me was terrified of staying where I was. Another part of me was afraid of running. Neither option seemed intelligent, seeing as I had been told to stay put but now was at risk of being a victim of some earthquake-level attack on the building I was stuck in. Another blast reverberated throughout the building, causing me to cry out in fear. It had been even closer that time.

Screw this, I hissed at myself. I pushed myself from the ground, bolting blindly out of the room faster than I could think. The speed I usually had to drive myself to achieve came quickly this time, as if that hunter part of me had been waiting to be released. I flew through the hall, despite the dust that had risen in the air. Or was it smoke? The building was definitely being destroyed.

I didn’t know where the exit was. I ran without direction, grasping at random doors as if they would open to the outside world just by me wishing it to. While it was unfortunate that each one tended to be locked, it was better than running into Vincent. I assumed he was busy with the explosion occurring around me. I grasped for another door, panting in panic. And then I heard the most beautiful thing in the world.

“Elysia!”

Jacobi’s voice roared in the distance, searching for me with a level of rage and desperation that took my breath away. I froze in my steps, twisting towards the direction it came from, and ran without second thought towards it. I reached for him with my spirit, my fear diminishing over my own type of desperation. I felt the witches’ seal give only a little with my reach and it was enough for me to push even harder through it.

Just the brush of Jacobi’s spirit was enough to make me dig into what strength I had to race for him. I tore against that seal with more fervor than ever before, relishing in delight as that cold emptiness was being replaced by his warm, electric power each step I took closer to him.

When I tore around a corner and flew into an opened area in the building, a loud eruption crashed so close that it caused me to halt sharply. I watched as the wall of the building crumbled as if it were made out of straw. I wasn’t sure what caused it to crumble, except for the massive hole that had been created through it just beforehand. I turned my gaze from the destroyed piece of architect to the opposite end of the room.

Jacobi was almost unrecognizable. His clothing was torn and dirty, nearly as destroyed as the wall behind me. Blood splattered across his form in random places, though I couldn’t see any visible wounds. He stood furious, eyes blacker than death itself and fangs extended dangerously. I could only stare at his frightening figure with near-wonder, almost enthralled by the power I could feel pulsing from him.

As he spotted me, he wavered, lowering his hands which had been clinched in fists at his sides. He looked at me as if he didn’t believe I was actually here. Had he thought I was gone, either having run away or been killed? It didn’t matter. I only hesitated a moment longer before I began to run to him, wishing nothing more than to feel those dangerous arms wrapped around me once again.

My progression was halted by a set of different arms, causing me to scream once I knew they belonged to someone else altogether.

“Elysia,” Jacobi called out, stepping to help me.

“I will kill her if you make one more move,” Vincent snarled, his hand wrapping around my neck just under my jaw in a threatening manner. He clearly intended to break my neck, which I was sure I couldn’t recover from as easily as a vampire. I could feel his claws, sharp and extended, scraping against my skin dangerously. I froze in his grip, afraid if I struggled I would have my throat slit rather than a broken neck.

“Let her go,” Jacobi hissed angrily.

“Shall we make a bet about your Mate?” If being called Jacobi’s Mate startled him any, he didn’t show it. Vincent breathed in my scent specifically to make a point and I closed my eyes momentarily, my heart throbbing in my throat under his claws. “I bet I can slice her head off before you can reach me. We’ll see who wins. I must warn you, I do have an impressive record. I guess you could say… I practice.” Jacobi tensed, as though preparing to take Vincent up on his bet, and Vincent’s grip tightened, drawing blood from my neck. I winced, whimpering against my will, and it was enough for Jacobi to hesitate.

“What do you want, Vincent?” Jacobi spat. He clearly wasn’t willing to risk losing my head.

“Well, let’s keep this simple. You give me your life and she can keep hers,” Vincent responded shortly, scraping a single claw against my flesh slowly. “Once you’re dead, your coterie will need a new Master. My Xander will come crawling back to me. And, even better, your Kindred.” He chuckled, deep and low, causing a repulsive chill to run over my skin. Jacobi seemed to think over the choice, which sent me into a different type of panic.

“No, Jacobi! You-“ Vincent cut me off by tightening his iron grip around my neck. I bit down on my tongue and began to struggle viciously. I wouldn’t just sit back and let Jacobi kill himself to save me.

“Choose quickly, Jacobi. Your mate is beginning to irritate me,” Vincent growled dangerously.

Jacobi only paused a moment before relaxing slightly, as though giving up completely. His eyes reverted back to those golden brown orbs, which were trained on me carefully. I fought against Vincent even more desperately, wanting to scream for Jacobi to stop. I wasn’t worth it. My life wasn’t more valuable than his. He was a Master of the wealthiest and largest coterie in the United States. I was just… some girl; a daughter of a vampire hunter without a family.

“I want your word, Vincent. My life for hers,” Jacobi demanded his voice low and sincere.

“You have my word, Jacobi Bryant,” Vincent declared simply. Jacobi watched him for a second, as if mulling over whether or not his word was trustworthy, but then began to turn around in order to bare his back for a killing blow. Vincent’s grip on my neck lessened as he prepared to attack once the opportunity was at its peak.

I inhaled sharply.

Just as I began to scream in horror, another body collided solidly into Vincent and in return into me. I was knocked viciously from Vincent’s grip, folding across the floor, and hearing before feeling the crack of fractured bones at the sheer force of my release. My breath was lost as my momentum was halted by my collision with a hard wall. I struggled to breathe, having the air knocked out of my lungs, and then gasped before swallowing as much air as I could.

By the time I drew my eyes to what had interrupted Vincent and Jacobi’s deal, a lot had apparently already happened. Corentine was sprawled on the ground not too far away, a hole in her stomach where Vincent must have dug his claws into after she did her full body slam into him to get him to release me. Jacobi was fighting Vincent, tearing into him with an animalistic fury, after apparently having pulled him away from ending Corentine’s life.

Vincent swiped at Jacobi’s neck with his lethal claws, missing when Jacobi jerked away only for a half second. That second was long enough for Vincent to slide his feet from under Jacobi and plant them against his abdomen, propelling Jacobi into the air and sending him to crash through another wall. After the loud explosion, I finally knew why the building had sounded like it was being demolished before. Obviously, throwing vampires through brick walls was similar to wielding a wrecking ball.

Vincent glanced back at me, his features terrifying, and looked back to where Jacobi was advancing without hesitation. I knew where this was heading. I scrambled to move to my feet in an attempt to get out of the way. But Vincent had his plans. I made perhaps two steps before those repulsive arms were wrapped around my waist, swinging me away from my escape.

There was no time to figure out what to do. Vincent didn’t wait for Jacobi to prevent him from harming me. Something told me he didn’t have enough time to rip my head off as he liked. Instead, Vincent growled viciously just as his fangs bit into the nearest open flesh presented on my body, which happened to be my upper arm. I screamed in terror and pain, despite it only being a breath of a moment before Vincent was thrown from me and across the room. I reached for my arm in agony, where the puncture wounds were now bleeding profusely from Vincent’s surprise bite.

For a moment, I wasn’t sure what had happened. Vincent had bitten me, just to bite me? But then I felt it. A sharp pain like razors in my veins pulsed through me. I fell to the ground, grasping at my wound and cried out. Jacobi had been about to continue his fight with Vincent, but hesitated as another sharp pain pulsed through me causing me to scream in agony. A low chuckle came from across the room as Vincent rose to his feet, wiping my blood from his lips with a sense of satisfaction.

“She may be your Mate,” Vincent growled deviously to Jacobi, “But she’ll be my Kindred now. Imagine all the things I’ll force her to do once she’s turned and mine.” With another wave of dark chuckles, he was gone. I expected Jacobi to give chase, to end Vincent now while he still could. But instead he stood frozen; looking at the place Vincent had previously been standing as though struck senseless.

I felt a hand pressing against the bite wound on my upper arm as I writhed in pain; sweat building at the heat rising in my body. Through my growing delirium, I could see Corentine above me, her face a painting of panic.

“Jacobi. Jacobi, he bit her to turn,” Corentine stated the obvious, looking at Jacobi almost pleadingly. I couldn’t process what that meant. I could feel a sliver of power in my veins, reaching to connect to my entire being possessively. It could completely bypass Jacobi’s spirit, which usually protected me from other’s invasions. My body was on fire as it moved through me, whatever this was: a curse? A disease? It swam through my veins, trying to latch onto me and do what it was meant to do; turn me into a vampire.

Only, something stood out in my mind as that venom tried to progress. Whatever that power was, it was having difficulty grasping onto me. I felt it try to convert me from my human form in order to transform me into something else, but it just slid away like soapy hands on wet rock. I hesitated only a moment, and then I fought. I pushed my spirit against that power, fighting viciously for it to get out of my veins.

This is my body, I screamed in my head as if the power itself could hear me. I arched my back in pain, gritting my teeth together as I fought against it. I felt the forms of Corentine and then Jacobi hovering over me in confusion.

“What’s happening?” Corentine asked in distress.

“She’s… rejecting it,” Jacobi responded before I felt his hands brush over my face. His touch brought his spirit to life, rising in me as if trying to assist me in the battle for the rights to my body. I opened my eyes sharply, crying out.

Get out, I hissed repeatedly. Get out. Get out.

And finally, it listened. I felt the power diminish, along with whatever venom it came with. I panted, completely exhausted, as I tried to assess my body’s situation. I was still human. Somehow I had prevented Vincent’s bite from turning me vampire and bonding me to him, which would have forced me to obey his every order. I was still me.

“Jacobi,” Corentine whispered as I closed my eyes, trying to recover from the amount of strength I had just lost. “What is she?”

“I don’t know,” Jacobi answered quietly.

“Don’t worry,” I gasped from under them, “I’m still human.” I struggled to sit up, being helped by their hesitant grips. I wondered if they feared they would hurt me, as if I were a piece of frail glass. I felt the opposite, though. I felt untouchable, if only for the moment. I looked up at Jacobi with wide eyes, trying to reach into his soul to understand what dark thoughts were crossing his mind.

“Let’s go,” He told me cautiously. I nodded mutely, allowing him to pull me from the ground in order to follow him. I had expected him to be more… relieved? Happy? But then, I never quite knew what Jacobi wanted in life. One minute, he’s giving away his life to save mine. The next, he’s leading me without a second glance from a nearly demolished building where I had almost become a slave to an enemy Master as if he doesn’t care about me one way or the other. I felt like maybe I was in a bit of trouble…

What had I done, now?

---------------------------------

Update goin up... on a tuesday. Got readers on Wattpad, they choosey.

Music: Shatter Me Feat. Lzzy Hale by Lindsey Stirling