Who Let The Vamps out?

Nyx pulled Noah from behind the boxes and his phone slipped out of his hands, clattering on the floor. The group of vampires stared at Noah, surprised and confused. Aleksei’s eyes narrowed.

“I was really expecting something more,” frowned Nyx, sniffing Noah who flinched. “He doesn’t smell as sweet as I was told.”

Nyx’s grasp wasn’t nearly as gentle as Aleksei’s, and Noah felt like the bones in his arm were being crushed.

“Oh, my bad, am I hurting you?” Nyx pouted, but he didn’t loosen his grip. “Humans, such delicate creatures.”

He looked up towards Aleksei and smiled innocently. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Let. Him. Go,” he snarled through gritted teeth.

“Now why would I do that?” He grinned. He then turned his gaze towards Noah who squirmed in his grasp. “Oh, how rude of me! I haven’t introduced myself, have I? I’m Nyx, Aleksei’s cousin. And you must be Noah, I’ve heard so much about you.”

Noah didn’t answer.

“Quiet little one, aren’t you? Anywho, how are things with Aleksei? I’m sorry that you have to deal with my cousin’s terrible mood swings, it really mustn’t be pleasant being around someone so broody,” he sighed, shaking his head. “He’s been on this absurd diet.”

“That’s his choice,” Noah interjected. Nyx blinked at him before bursting into laughter.

“Brave one, aren’t you? Aleksei always loved the feisty ones. You should have met his ex-”

“Nyx!” Aleksei boomed, his baritone voice rumbled the room like thunder. Everyone stood silent in fear, except for Nyx.

“My dear cousin, I’ve warned you so many times that humans are nothing but a weakness,” Nyx implored. “I could crush the boy’s arm like a twig.”

Nyx then let out a loud gasp. “I have a brilliant idea! How about I let Noah go in return for something else?”

Aleksei didn’t answer, his hands clenched so hard that his knuckles turned paler than his natural skin tone. Nyx wrapped an arm over Noah’s chest and pulled down the collar of his shirt, revealing his skin and shoulder.

Nyx traced a hand over Noah’s collarbone and Noah felt goosebumps crawl down his spine.

“He feels so warm,” Nyx whispered, his lips inches away from Noah’s earlobe. Noah tried hard not to cringe. “He’d make a delicious midnight snack.”

Furious, Aleksei took a step forward but Nyx clicked his tongue.

“Another step and I’ll snap his neck in half,” he warned. “If you want me to let you go, then how about you drink an ounce of human blood? I have a pile right behind me.”

Everyone turned towards Aleksei, wondering what he’d do: he turned his gaze towards Noah’s mossy green eyes. Noah was scared and yet, his eyes softened ever so slightly when they looked into Aleksei’s eyes.

When everyone stared at Aleksei, Noah mouthed, “Trust me.”

“Blood,” Aleksei ordered.

Their eyes widened in shock. Was Aleksei really willing to drink human blood for Noah? Even Nyx couldn’t believe his ears.

“Roman, hand him a blood bag,” Nyx murmured. Roman hesitated at first, but he reached into a box and gave it to Aleksei.

“You don’t have to do this,” Roman whispered, knowing how much Aleksei would resent himself afterwards.

Aleksei smirked coldly, his eyes piercing into Roman’s.

“It physically pains me to hold myself from ripping your tongue out of your mouth right now, so I advise you quietly step away from me,” Aleksei informed, his threatening glare making Roman stiffen. “You’re fucking dead to me.”

Aleksei raised the bag to his mouth and his fangs grew from his teeth, sinking into the plastic bag. Noah watched, wide-eyed, as blackish-purplish veins grew around Aleksei’s eyes. His pupils morphed from bright blue to a color as black as the void.

He felt his cells and body react as blood trailed down his throat, adrenaline pumping through his veins. The sickly sweet and metallic taste felt oh so familiar. He didn’t know whose blood it was, just like the millions of other lives he had taken in the past. Past or present, he didn’t care.

His exhaustion vanished within seconds and he found himself wanting more, but the bag was already empty. He threw it to the ground, wiping the blood on his lips with the back of his hand. Strength and power flowed through his veins, his body coming back to life.

His once foggy mind was now as clear as crystal. As much as he wanted to hate the feeling, he loved it.

The blood on his teeth tasted like a tragic poem, like unwanted religion; like the way Noah looked at him.

Aleksei glared at Nyx who was grinning like he had won the lottery. Nyx could see the monster awaken in Aleksei’s eyes, the chaos inside their darkness.

The demon deep in slumber had finally awaken.

“You did it,” Nyx cackled. “You’ve finally-”

He felt something sink into his chest. Nyx’s eyes widened, looking down. Noah had grabbed the syringe in his pocket while Aleksei had distracted everyone and injected the liquid into Nyx’s heart, hitting a vital organ.

Nyx’s grip loosened and Noah pulled away, taking a few steps back while the king fell to one knee, clutching his chest and gasping for breath.

“Don’t underestimate humans,” he spat before running out of the room. One of Nyx’s servants were about to go after him but Aleksei blocked his path, his tall height casting shadow over the vampire.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He smirked.

Noah flinched as he heard someone let out a piercing scream from the room he just ran out of.

Run, Noah, just run.

He turned around the corner, but a vampire was already waiting for him down the hall.

“You have guts, kid,” Kayla grinned. Her brown eyes morphed into a shade of pitch black, veins crawling around her eyes just like Aleksei’s when he drank blood. “I bet you taste just as delicious as you look.”

Before she could get any closer to Noah, Aleksei appeared in front of him.

“What are you doing?” She demanded angrily.

“He’s mine,” he snarled, protectively keeping Noah behind him. “Touch him, and I’ll kill you.”

“Yours?” She spat. “I had my eyes on him first!”

A dark chuckle came from Aleksei’s lips, his lips curling into a grin. “You’re a few days late, Kayla.”

She gritted her teeth and attempted to throw a punch at Aleksei, but with human blood now flowing in his system, he was stronger and quicker than before. He grabbed Kayla by the shoulder and slammed his fist against her jaw.

Noah cringed at the loud ‘crack’ that followed. Kayla staggered to the side and Aleksei grabbed her arm, piercing his right through her chest.

Kayla stood there, frozen. She looked down and saw blood stain her shirt before looking back towards Aleksei with weak, narrowed eyes.

“How could you?” She uttered.

“I told you,” Aleksei growled. “Don’t touch what’s mine.”

He pulled out Kayla’s heart and she gasped in pain, taking a few steps back before collapsing onto the ground, perishing into dust.

Noah stared at the ground covered in ashes, wide-eyed. Aleksei turned towards Noah, making sure that he was okay. He pulled his car keys out of his pocket with his hand that wasn’t covered in blood and handed it to Noah.

“Take this,” he ordered. “I’ll buy you some time, so go.”

Noah slowly took the keys, his hand grazing against Aleksei’s icy skin.

“Thank you,” he whispered, his voice hardly audible.

“For drinking human blood or murdering someone for you?” Laughed Aleksei humorously. Noah frowned.

“Alek-”

“Go. Run as fast as you can and whatever you do, don’t look back.”

Noah pressed his lips together, but nodded. “Please be careful,” he whispered before leaving. He heard voices and shouts from behind but fought the temptation to turn around.

Noah ran down the flight of stairs, almost tripping as he did. Astrid and Micka were waiting at the front door, their eyes widening with relief when they saw him.

“What took you so long?” Micka demanded, carrying a body on his back.

“Noé?” Noah asked, panting heavily. They both nodded. “Is he...?”

“He’s still alive, just unconscious,” Astrid reassured.

“Where did you find him?”

They heard snarls and items crashing from above and looked at each other with a gulp.

“We’ll explain later. First, we have to get out of here,” Astrid grumbled.

“Yeah, but how? I don’t know if I can run a mile with this guy on my back,” Micka muttered, jumping so that Noé wouldn’t slide off his back.

“I have the keys to Aleksei’s car.”

“How?”

“I’ll explain later.”

They left the castle and Noah unlocked the Porsche, throwing the keys to Astrid while he and Noah helped Noé in the backseat, strapping a seat belt over his chest.

“I don’t know how to drive,” Astrid said, throwing the keys to Micka. Before Noah could protest, Micka slipped behind the steering wheel. Reluctant, he sat in the passenger’s seat.

“I don’t think you should be the one driving,” he gulped. Micka stretched his arms and cracked his fingers, wriggling them in excitement as he stared at the fancy panel in front of him

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” he grinned, turning on the initiator and stepping on the pedal, almost crashing into the stairs. Noah groaned.

“I got this, don’t worry,” he reassured them, backing the car and almost driving into the water fountain behind. Micka finally managed to drive out of the parking lot, zooming down the road. He glanced towards the side-view mirror and let out a yelp.

“Uh, guys? There’s a vampire right behind us!” He said nervously. Astrid turned around and saw a vamp running after them and looked around her, eyeing the baby robot sitting beside Noé. She lowered the window and stuck her head out, throwing it out. The baby hit the vampire in the face and he fell to the ground.

“MY BABY!” shrieked Micka in horror.

“Saved our lives,” Astrid completed. “Now step on it!”

***

Micka parked the car in two car lanes instead of one, pulling the stick to parking mode.

“I can’t believe we’re still alive,” gulped Astrid, staring off into the void.

“I can’t believe we didn’t crash,” Noah murmured in disbelief.

“I can’t believe Astrid threw my baby out the window,” Micka whimpered. They got out of the car and Micka pulled Noé back onto his back.

“We should take him to the hospital,” Astrid murmured.

“What do we tell the doctor?” Noah asked.

“I don’t know, that he fell down the stairs? We’ll think of something.”

The boys followed Astrid to the school hospital, but she suddenly started to slow her pace before collapsing onto the ground.

“Astrid?” Micka called, quickly running towards her. “Hey, Astrid! Can you hear me? Astr...” but no matter how hard she tried to focus on Micka’s voice, her lids felt heavy. She tried to speak up, but her eyes started to close, consuming her in darkness.