Follow the Bloodshed (The Executioner Trilogy Book 3) (15 page)

Chapter 25:

Running for our Lives

Once Beth was settled I made my way to the cash registers where I thought a first aid kit would be. Bed, Bath and Beyond wasn’t exactly known for carrying first aid supplies so we would have to make do with what they had in the kit. I had my bow in hand with an arrow cocked and ready to go just in case with my silver tipped machete tucked snuggly into its sheath on my back.

I went off alone, knowing that it probably wasn’t the best idea but doing it anyways. Gordon, Chase and Sam hadn’t gotten back yet from scoping out the rest of the store and Beth was bleeding too badly for me to wait. She needed stitches. If Chase happened to find the kit before I did that was okay. That would just mean I took a second round to make sure we were safe and sound in our hideaway. I passed the section of the store that displayed dinnerware and glassware; glass and ceramic crunching underfoot with every step I took. I tried to be as careful as I possibly could be under the circumstances, but the Converse sneakers weren’t exactly made for stealth.

My breathing was ragged and I was starting to sweat from the anxiety. Nothing like the end of the world to suddenly get you to exercise. Even if it only meant being so scared it was like exercise, right? That was how I was choosing to see it. I would be all right seeing the anxiety any number of ways as long as the perspective helped squelch the terror I was feeling.

I was nearing the cash registers so slowly I felt I would never make it there. Putting one foot in front of the other and keeping my eyes peeled in all directions, I passed the large bin in the middle of the floor that held plastic water bottles of different colors at what they said was a great price. To be honest, I was more interested in the Dyson bladeless fan towards my right. I could feel sweat trickling down my back in rivulets, soaking my clothes and causing my hair to stick to my forehead and neck. It was annoying but it would have to stay until I was sure I could get to the kit without incident. Once I came to stand in front of the counter, I lowered the bow and arrow, keeping them both in one hand as I sat on the counter and spun to the other side. I jumped off of the counter, my Converse sneakers making a soft plastic thump on the floor as I landed, and turned to search on the shelves underneath the countertop. Within seconds the kit was in my hand and I was standing to hop the counter again to go back to Beth.

Once I spun back around my eyes met those of onyx. Gordon stood in front of me with a look of irritation, quickly replaced by a mixture of different emotions. It finally settled on a fiery heat I could feel flowing through my body and into my cheeks. My bow and arrow were sitting on the counter beside me, my fingers grazing the smooth wood as we looked into each other’s eyes. Bright green into deep, deep darkness. I didn’t realize how each nerve ending was on fire until he moved closer, reaching up to graze my cheek like he had been waiting for the right moment. My eyes closed, taking in the soft touch of his callused fingers. His skin has been so smooth before. Hell had changed a lot of things for us, but only for the better as far as our relationship was concerned. We had realized how much we actually meant to each other then. I wouldn’t change our time there for the world. Not only for bringing us closer, but bringing us our little bean.

I could feel his warm breath on my face, causing a few strands of my hair to graze my face in soft wisps. I opened my eyes, finding his face to be much closer than it had been and his body between my legs.  A crooked smile crossed his lips and I melted. He truly had no idea what he did to me, did he? Even in the direst of circumstances his touch, his smile, and his love caused a ping of desire to flare inside me. I let out a contented sigh and he leaned forward, kissing me gently.

The spark was ignited and within seconds my hands were moving through his hair and down his shoulders to his back. I could feel his strong muscles moving underneath smooth skin and it set my nerves on fire. My hands moved underneath the hem of his shirt as I felt his hands move up my thighs. My breathing was heavy, coming in short gasps of excitement. This little bit of alone time was what we needed. I wasn’t worried about who would come around the corner anymore. I was only worried about us.

I couldn’t get a full breath and I couldn’t keep my hands from exploring every part of his flesh. His own fingers were on my bare skin as they continued to browse, sending chills down my spine as a sweet heat licked through my body. He pulled away from me long enough to say one thing.

“I love you. I need you to know that.” He paused, taking in a deep and shaking breath. “If anything happens to me I want to make sure you and our child know that.”

I could feel my brow furrow as confusion rolled over me in waves. What was he talking about? “Nothing is going to happen to you.” I paused and stared into his eyes. They were glittering with unshed tears like he knew something I didn’t. “What’s wrong?”

He was silent at first, but the words started to flow out of him and what he said made me freeze. I didn’t know how to comfort him, and my heart inflated with the feeling of love that only comes when you realize how close to losing each other you just were.

“When we were in the house surrounded by those things I thought our number was up, and I knew if I didn’t make it out of there I would make sure you did. At any cost. I’ve never once doubted your abilities or how strong you are, but when faced with everything we’ve been faced with you start to wonder when your luck will run out.” He sighed, turning his eyes slightly away from my stare. “I just have this feeling that it’s running out a lot faster than it should be. I don’t know why, but I can’t get it to go away.”

My mind was running through the words he just said and. I knew he had to be right. At some point our luck would run out, but I didn’t think it would be anytime soon. I knew we had plenty of time. I knew, because of our child, we would come out of this; if not to save the world ourselves, then to raise a child that could. From what I knew about who I was and what I was born to do I had a gut feeling Lilith was my foe to take down and that I would. Even if it wasn’t foretold, I would so my child would have a better world to live in despite that there were monsters under the bed, hiding in the closet, and in the shadows. I wouldn’t give up on that.

“Gordon,” I breathed, placing my hand on his cheek and turning him to face me. “We are going to create a world our child can live in and we will raise them to be someone who can change the world for the better. Even if we aren’t there to see it. Our child will be the savior of humanity and give them something to live for again.” As I spoke the words, I felt them to be true. We would get out of this; we would raise our child; we would change the world. Everything may have seemed like it was falling apart now, but what we would come to do would change our future.

“How can you be so sure?” he asked. It was a question I didn’t have an answer to. I felt it in my mind, my heart, and my soul. He had this gut wrenching feeling of exactly the opposite. I wasn’t sure how to make him see what I did, but I guessed that would come with time.

“I just do. I feel it.” I let my hand slide down his cheek to come to rest on his chest. His muscles were tense underneath the smooth fabric of his shirt and I wondered if there was anything I could do to ease his mind. His thoughts seemed to be running a mile a minute based on the look on his face. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?”

He grinned that lopsided grin I loved so much and placed his hand at the nape of my neck, pulling me towards him. He kissed me again, his soft lips condensing me into a puddle. We could’ve stayed that way forever, but then I remembered Beth needed me. I pulled away from him, heart pounding like I had been running a marathon, and licked my lips. I heard him moan at the sight.

“I need to get this back to Beth,” I said as I tapped the first aid kit next to me with my index finger. He looked at it and seemed to remember we weren’t the only two people in existence.

“I guess you do,” he teased, “This isn’t over.” When he said the words, he pointed a finger at me in a joking manner, a giggle escaping me without permission. He picked up the kit by the small handle and began guiding me back to Beth as I picked up my bow and arrow, slipping the arrow into the quiver on my back. As we walked we still had our eyes peeled and prepared for anything, but we knew there wasn’t anything in the store by now. You couldn’t be too careful. Between my trip to the front of the store and the sweep they did, we had covered the whole place. We hadn’t even seen a bug. Despite the fact, I still felt like I could jump out of my skin at any moment.

Once we made it back to Beth, Chase was sitting beside her on the bed, holding her hand and pushing her bangs out of her face with a gentleness reserved for those you loved. The look on his face confirmed it. Sam was standing at the top of the display bed, arms hanging over the top of the makeshift headboard. They all looked so tired. I took my place on the other side of the bed and opened the kit. We were lucky this one had what was needed to do stitches because most of them weren’t. Granted, the person who put the supplies in there grabbed thread and a sewing needle, but it would do in a pinch.

While I went to work on Beth’s arm I felt uplifted notwithstanding my grim work. There was nothing great about having to put stitches in someone who didn’t at least have a shot or two of whiskey to numb their senses. Nothing fun about it at all, but she was so strong and held back her screams as tears of pain streamed down her cheeks. The stitches I had had recently were my first time with them, but Beth had them more times than I could count. She should’ve been a pro at this by now. She did well enough and once I was finished I took two Tylenol out of the bottle in the kit and made her take them. She declined anything to wash them down with.

“Now, all you need is a little rest,” I said as I watched her lie back on the fluffy pillows encased in white cotton. I longed for a nice soft bed to sleep in, but I let her and Chase have it. We could always make a very comfy place on the floor somewhere in the store with some bedding sets.

Gordon, Sam and I made our way to the shelves where all of the plastic wrapped bedding was stored, pulling out the ones that looked the most comfortable. We grabbed a few pillows as we made our way over to the other side of the store, Sam turning towards the back half of the store to give us some privacy.

“Sleep tight,” I said to Sam as she walked away, her feet dragging from fatigue.

She cracked a weak smile and waved saying, “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”  The line sent a chill up my spine because there were so many things in the dark waiting to rip our throats out.

We didn’t move far enough away to where we couldn’t get to any of them if something made its way in. Just far enough so we could all have a little bit of solitude. Tension was running high and we could all use a good night’s sleep. I walked to the front of the store and picked up a few of the impulse buys including Twix bars, a Snickers bar, and a couple of Dr. Peppers. The Snickers was for Gordon. The Twix for me. I hadn’t had one in so long I was practically salivating by the time I made my way back to Gordon. Once I was back at our little alcove I stopped and was stunned by what I saw.

He had set things up so quickly and I hadn’t expected much, but what I saw reminded me of a sanctuary. Granted, the fluorescent lights didn’t do anything for the mood, but it would do. And it was still wonderful. Comforters were spread out and there was a beautiful crimson red comforter on top that was a stark contract against the white ones beneath it. He didn’t bother to put pillow cases on the pillows. More than likely we wouldn’t be staying here long enough to get relaxed and content. There were candles set anywhere that could hold one, but they hadn’t been lit. Gordon couldn’t light anything without the help of a lighter or matches, and I hadn’t been gone long enough for him to be able to find one in the store. Then again I didn’t think I had been gone long enough for this to be completely set up like it was. He had a sheepish grin on his face and shrugged at the questioning look of awe on my own.

“I wanted to make it seem like we weren’t in the middle of the apocalypse, you know?” He walked around the large platform made of comforters and made his way to me, eyeing the Snickers bar in my hand and the Dr. Pepper in the other. He took the Snickers,, opened it, and took a large bite out of it with that  silly smile still plastered on his face. “I couldn’t light the candles and these awful lights wouldn’t help make this romantic.”

I couldn’t keep the broad smile away from my lips. I felt it reach up to touch my eyes, happy tears brimming along the edges of my lids. Out of everything we had been through I wanted to say that this was one of the most romantic parts of our relationship besides our time in front of a fire burning in Hell. That sounded wrong even as I thought it. I watched Gordon slowly chew on his Snickers bar and couldn’t look away. He had put so much thought into something he thought I’d enjoy even though our circumstances weren’t the best. Already pregnant and still trying to woo me. If only all men were this way during the apocalypse.

Chapter 26:

Silence Broken

I awoke to the sound of something hammering against the metal slide down door that kept what was outside, outside. I had fallen asleep not too long after I had finished my Twix bar and Dr. Pepper, the caffeine making my legs just a tiny bit jumpy in the middle of the night. Gordon was up so fast I hadn’t even felt him move. I was woken up by the sound which seemed to have been going for a couple minutes at least now.

“Gordon?” I asked, rolling on to my back and propping up on my elbows. My sneakers were towards the bottom of our makeshift bed and would take a few minutes to get on if we had to run. Great. He looked back at me and put his index finger to his lips, signaling me to be quiet. I rose to my knees and spotted Chase coming around the corner of a display. I waved my hands and signaled for him to stop moving. I wasn’t sure what was on the other side of the metal door, but I wasn’t looking forward to finding out.

“Where’s Beth?” I mouthed to him, not daring to make a small squeak. Silently he told me she was still in bed asleep. “Sam?” The same response. They were both sleeping hard apparently. I sighed in relief and my shoulders sagged, but the ringing of something smashing into the door sounded again, causing me to jump out of my skin.

I scrambled to the edge of our sanctuary and slipped my feet into my shoes, tying them quickly I watched Gordon slowly inch his way towards the door. If you could really even call it a door. It was made up of metal slats that clanged when it came to a close. Before I   realized it, I was on my feet and another loud bang sounded. I took a step back. Gordon was with a few feet of it and, after the last blast of sound, there was complete silence. For a few minutes nothing else disturbed the quiet, but there was no way we could be safe. Plus, we had to find Lilith and end this once and for all.

I walked up to him, nearly tripping on nothing, and grabbed his hand. I could tell it startled him by his wide eyes, but he didn’t jump. He never did anymore. It didn’t matter what was happening around us or how startled he was.

“Hey,” I whispered. “We need to get out of here.”

He nodded and followed me away from the door. We met Chase in the middle of the floor and I set out a plan of sorts. We were going to grab all of the snack food we could stick in a bag and anything else we may need while we were here. That didn’t include blankets or anything of that nature. It didn’t really get cold in Los Angeles and the slight chill in the air at night was more refreshing than chilly. We were lucky this store carried so many different things, plus a bag large enough to fit the snack foods. I would say it was enough to feed us for a week, even with my growing belly and appetite. All plumbing still worked so we filled up a bulky amount of colored plastic bottles and stuffed them in the bag. Beth was being as helpful as she could with her arm and, even though she was in a lot of pain, she did it without making a single sound.

I knew what we needed to do after we left here. We needed to find a vampire who could tell us where Lilith was. Normally I would’ve known where to look, but with the permanent dark they would be everywhere and hard to get past. Let alone be able to abduct one to interrogate.

After nearly tripping over my shoe laces that had come undone without me noticing, I finally sat down to tie them, sitting on the very edge of a display to do so. The shoe lace had turned black from our run through the streets of Los Angeles and walking all over them. When I looked up after sending the last bunny through the hole, Gordon was staring at me as he moved a few things into a bag, with a smirk on his face. I couldn’t help but smile back and had to resist the urge to twirl my fingers in my hair. That man made me feel like I was experiencing a high school crush all over again.

“What?” I asked when his gaze didn’t falter. He walked over towards me and sat down on the floor.  He planted a kiss on my shoulder, sending a shiver down my spine that had nothing to do with the air conditioning pumping out of the vents above us.

“Nothing,” he sighed as he looked at me. “Nothing at all.” It was quiet for a moment.  He took a quick breath, a question hanging in the air “What’s the plan?”

I let out an exasperated sigh. “Well, I think it would be a good idea to find a vampire to question. Only they would know where Lilith is. Or…” I looked over at him and I saw confusion at first, and it was like something clicked and terror overtook his features, causing his brow to furrow and his eyes to grow wide.

“No.” He stood up. “No.” He began to pace and I was worried he was going to wear a trench in the linoleum floor.

“Why not?” I asked as I watched him going back and forth, back and forth. He wouldn’t look at me. He wouldn’t even glance at me. He stopped, laced both hands behind his neck, and then ran one of his hands through his hair. Without hesitation he stooped in front of me with fire in his eyes.

“We can’t use my brother to find out where Lilith is. He’s too strong.”

“Too strong? Have you met Lilith?” The sarcasm flowed out of me and hit him like a tidal wave.

He sighed again and put his fingers to his mouth, like he wasn’t sure what to say next. “Lilith is strong yes, but if you think her recent vampire entourage is bad you don’t know Vlad.”

“I’ve heard the stories. What else is there to know?”

“They talked about him in Hell,” a voice came from behind us. We both stood quickly and found Sam on the other side of the display, making her way towards us. She looked well rested considering the circumstances.

“We didn’t want to wake you until we were ready to go. You looked like you needed the sleep,” Gordon managed to squeak as he watched her, black eyes fixed on her roving form.

She ignored the statement and continued. “He’s ruthless. He’s crazy, maniacal, and he kills without remorse.” She walked past us and turned back around. We trailed her every movement to make sure we didn’t miss anything.

“Yeah, I know all that.” I didn’t bother hiding the sarcasm in my voice. From all of the folklore and all the history I knew that he was a ruthless man while he was alive. His wife had committed suicide and he was never heard from again, but he had been changed before she took her own life and the monster he had become was the reason for her actions. Well, that was what the folklore said. According to the history books he wasn’t a vampire, but we all knew better now. And Gordon had known it all along, but he had no idea he would be fighting right alongside Lilith.

“What you don’t know is he’s crazy, and once he has someone in his sights he doesn’t stop. He doesn’t slow down,” Sam voiced with more urgency then she had before. What once were whispers were now nearly shouts as she said the word, the last sentence more intense.

Gordon cleared his throat and spoke up, his next words sending a chill up my spine and a stab through my heart. “He has a soft spot.”

I swallowed the anxiety. “A soft spot for what?”

Sam and Gordon looked at each other, the awkward silence causing the anxiety to creep further from my gut and up into my throat, ready to choke me. I was terrified of what their next words would be and as soon as Gordon said them I wanted him to take them all back. I wanted to forget this conversation, but I knew this wasn’t going to be something we could sweep under the rug. Not now.

“He is obsessed with Executioners.”