Chapter 10.5

Vera's hands shook as she turned the pages of the book and her foot tapped against the chair leg restlessly. She had been drinking coffee all evening in attempt to keep herself awake and now she was so jittery she could hardly sit still. But she wasn't going to risk falling asleep when Amias was out there roaming about looking for her.

In an attempt to throw him off her trail, Vera had taken the train to a nearby town and was holed up in a hotel room for the night. It was crucial that she find something to stop him before he managed to hunt her down. So far the book hadn't provided anything helpful, but she was determined not to give up.

The curtains fluttered against Vera's arm and it drew her attention to the window. She couldn't remember opening it, but she was so delirious from coffee and lack of sleep it was possible she just forgot. The sun had begun to peek out over the horizon and the clouds were turning a beautiful orangey pink.

Deciding to take a short break and get breakfast, Vera made her way downstairs skipping the dining room entirely and going straight on to the kitchens. She picked up another carafe of coffee and some sweet rolls and waved off the enthusiastic maid who kept insisting on helping her carry the tray. As she made her way back up the stairs, juggling the tray while fishing the room key from her pocket, a familiar voice drifted up from the lobby.

"...looking for a girl in her late teens. She's blonde and quite tall. Have you seen her?"

Vera froze in place, holding her breath as she waited for the maid's response.

"I'm not sure, sir," the maid lied. "We have many customers here. Why are you looking for her?"

"We met at an excavation recently and she captivated me, but she left before I got the chance to win her over. I was hoping to find her and convince her to run away with me."

"How romantic," the maid replied. "She must be very special if you are going to all this trouble to find her."

"Oh, she is," she heard Amias say. "And I would do anything to keep her by my side forever."

Vera felt a combination of fear and exasperation at hearing his reply and at hearing the maid's dreamy sigh in response. If the maid had any idea of the creature she was talking to that sigh would have been a horrified scream.

She sat the tray down on the floor as quietly as possible and rushed into her room to pack her things. From the way the maid had been talking to Amias it was only a matter of time before she told him which room she was staying in and she needed to be far away by then.

She peeked out the door and looked down the stairs to see if the coast was clear. The maid still had Amias's attention so Vera was able to sneak past unnoticed. They seemed to still be discussing her from the few comments she managed to catch on the way out the door. The only problem was she had no idea where to go once she was outside. Amias had found her in less than a full day and she had no doubts he could do it again. Her only option was to keep moving temporarily until she figured something else out.

It was a good thing she had had plenty of coffee because the train station was far from the hotel and she would have to walk there if she wanted to keep from being noticed. A chair flew through the window over Vera's head and she flinched back as it struck the ground very near her left leg. She could hear Amias inside the hotel raging at the poor maid for letting her escape.

He would be coming back outside any second looking for her, so Vera took off at a sprint toward the train station, cutting behind buildings and staying out of sight as best she could. It would be a miracle if she made it, she knew, but she wasn't giving up just yet. Not when her family needed her.

Once she was about three streets away from the train station, Vera began to notice something peculiar. People had stopped what they were doing to watch her. No one was moving to stop her, but they were all staring at her with a strange stillness that scared her. She knew Amias must be behind it and tried to pick up her pace. Unfortunately, however, she wasn't used to long distance running – or any running. At all. So after making it another street over she had to stop. As she panted for breath the people who had previously been staring at her began to shuffle toward her slowly. They had ben watching and waiting for this moment she realized - or at least Amais had. Her breaths began to become even more labored with her panic and Vera's mind went totally blank.

"No more running," all of the voices chanted at once.

Vera fought to think of a plan as the possessed people closed in on her. She searched the alleyway for an escape, but the people had surrounded her on all sides and her back was against the wall.

Amias broke his way through the crowd to stand directly in front of her and she noticed he was once again possessing Kareem. She glared at him even though she felt like crying and begging for mercy she knew he wouldn't give.

"Stop this madness, Vera. Come home," he ordered her.

She shook her head. "How could you think I would go anywhere with you after what you've done?"

Her voice came out as a hysterical shriek and she took a deep breath to try and regain her composure.

"Everything I have done was your fault," he snapped. "If you had only done as I asked none of this would have had to happen!"

"Don't try to lay the blame on me, Amias! You made those decisions. I didn't kill those men, you did."

Amias threw his hands in the air. "What do they matter? They're just a few pathetic humans."

"I am so sick of the way you talk about us like we don't matter! We are just as important as your kind, more so I would say, in this realm. Go back to your own world if you don't like the people in this one!" she shouted in response.

He rolled his eyes. "I wasn't including you in that. Of course you matter. And I plan to return home, very soon, in fact. There is just the matter of getting us there without you escaping again."

Vera shook her head and tears gathered behind her eyes. "I won't go. I'd rather die!"

She once again looked around frantically for any means of escape and just happened to notice the metal ladder leading up the side of the building about three feet to her right. It was pretty high up off the ground, but if she jumped she could possibly reach it.

Amias noticed her looking at it and growled. He moved forward to try and stop her, but she made a mad dash toward it and managed to leap up and grasp the bottom rung. His hand latched down onto her leg, but she kicked out and heard something break. Vera used all the strength she had left to drag herself up another rung on the ladder, but Amias still refused to let go of her leg no matter how hard she tried to shake him off.

"You're not going anywhere, Vera. Get down off this ladder! Now!"

He jerked on her leg hard and her forehead banged against the ladder. Her ears rang from the blow but it was just hard enough to knock some sense into her. She suddenly remembered she had Halsten's knife in her bag. Cutting the hand holding onto her leg was a sure-fire way to get him to let go – at least long enough that she could get up the ladder and away.

She let go with one hand and he tried to use that to his advantage by pulling her even farther away from the ladder. Her hand dug into the satchel blindly, knowing the knife was there somewhere, but afraid to take her eyes off Amais long enough to look for it.

He wrapped his arms around her back and attempted to tug her remaining hand away from the ladder, but without his earlier sense of urgency. When she was chest to chest with him he smirked, thinking he had won.

"Let go, darling. I've got you now and there's no way I'm letting you get away again," he said, giving her wrist a playful tug as if moments ago he hadn't tried to hurt her.

She was angry and his mood swings were only infuriating her more.

"Let me go, Amias," she hissed under her breath. "I'm warning you."

"You're warning me?" he asked, laughing in her face. "You're in no position to be making threats, Vera. Now let go of the ladder, please."

She was surprised he had said please. It seemed out of character for him. Not to mention she was puzzled as to why he wouldn't get too close to the ladder. He seemed to be reluctant to touch it, but that seemed ridiculous.

Vera gasped when she finally felt the prick of the knife against her finger. Knowing she had very little time before he lost his patience entirely and decided to just yank her arm off, she wrapped her hand around the hilt of the knife and slashed upward.

The knife caught Amias in the shoulder and he jerked back from her with a gasp. Vera didn't hesitate to jump back up the ladder as fast as her body could carry her. As soon as she made it onto the roof she realized she was in trouble. Amias might have been injured, but she had no doubts he would soon use his magic to follow her up onto the building.

The train station was two buildings over and the only way to get there from the roof would be to leap across them. The distance between the buildings wasn't that far, but she had never done anything even remotely similar to it in her life. Taking a deep breath and preparing herself Vera whispered, "It's time for some thrilling heroics."

The first jump was scary, but the second was exhilarating. If there was one good thing about this whole ordeal it was that she had learned she was capable of some very brave things. The train whistle alerted her to its imminent departure and she raced to get to it before Amias. As she boarded the train with no incident it seemed suspicious to her that he hadn't caught up, but she chalked it up to being lucky and slumped down in a seat from exhaustion.

...

Here is a new chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it. Did any of you spot the Firefly quote? Remember to vote and comment please! Thank you for reading!