Revamped (23 page)

Within minutes, I had taken down the entire horde of vamps and was ready to enter the building. Unlike my previous visit, when I had carefully picked the lock of the side door, this time around, I simply kicked down the front door, splitting it in half with my foot. I didn’t care about the noise. I wanted Viktor to know that I was coming for him. I made my way across the lower level of the factory, tearing apart every room in a desperate search for my uncle. He was nowhere in sight, but I was confronted by another small group of attackers. Escaping the fight with only a minor scrape to my arm, I moved to the top floor, screaming out Viktor’s name. The same scenario greeted me—no Viktor, just more rogues.

The basement
, I suddenly realized. I barged down the stairs into the dark underground, my mind filled with only one goal—find Viktor and take him down. I found the disfigured vampire in the same room where, just a week prior, he had attempted to kill me. In one hand, he held a long, sharp dagger; in the other was a large, silver revolver, undoubtedly full of vampire blood bullets. Next to him on the wall, bound in heavy chains, tears streaming down her face, was Ethan’s mother. She attempted to yell at me in warning, but the gag across her mouth prevented any sound from coming out. She hung her head helplessly, her face full of panic and regret.

I turned back to Viktor, my eyes blazing.

“Well, how nice of you to finally show up,” he spat in his cold, slimy voice. “Come to avenge your poor daddy?”

I pointed my sword at him, charging in anger, ready to rip his heart out. He blocked my first slice, but the second caught him right across his only good cheek. He grunted in pain, swinging at me with the large knife. I swiftly dodged the blade, jabbing his chin with my elbow, and sending him stumbling to the floor. Just as he was about to hit the ground, he regained his balance, firing off two bullets at my head. They grazed by my temple as I continued swinging my sword. Drawing on my extensive training, I fought a good fight.

Within a few minutes, I had succeeded in disarming Viktor of his gun. I pushed him against one of the dilapidated basement walls, my sword tight on his throat. Panic filled his eyes, but then his menacing lips twisted into a smile. A faint crackling sound emitted throughout the building.

“Just in time,” Viktor sneered as a familiar voice filled the room.

“
Dawn
,” the voice over the intercom belonged to my father. “
I guess you’re still not ready to talk.
”

Suddenly, Viktor, Amelia, my sword, the basement—everything around me—faded. The only thing I could focus on was my father’s voice.

“I’m making an exception and setting aside my hatred of answering machines just this one time.”

It was a voicemail he had left on my phone last night, I realized. The night he kept calling and I didn’t pick up. The night he died.

“I want you to know that I miss you. Very much. I can’t stop thinking about our fight. I hope that, one day, you’ll be able to forgive me for everything I’ve done.”

At the sound of my father’s booming voice, my hands began to tremble. My grasp on the sword against Viktor’s throat weakened. For a brief moment, I no longer had any idea where I was or what I was doing. That moment was enough for Viktor to seize his blade out of my shaking hand and drive it sharply into my chest.

“I’m so proud of you, Dawn,” my father’s said as I fell to the ground. “Always know that I love you.”

I woke up in chains, my hands and feet securely bound to the wall next to Amelia. Viktor towered over me, a crooked smile painted across his mangled lips, his black eyes feverish with frenzy. “Nice touch with the intercom trick, don’t you think?”

I wanted to spit in his face, but my throat was parched. Instead, I moved my head to the side, looking away from him.

“You see, I finally found that secret little cottage in Angel Creek last night. I came looking for you, but, alas, you weren’t in. Your phone happened to come in handy, though. You kids these days are so careless with your gadgets,” he tisked.

As he spoke, I tugged at my chains, struggling to pull them from the wall. I had been weakened by the stabbing, causing my effort to be slow and stilted.

“Imagine my surprise when the message on your phone told me where your daddy was going to be last night. I paid him a visit and set my revenge plan in motion. The explosion on the boat was a splendid idea, wasn’t it? I believe they call that
poetic justice
,” he laughed wickedly. “I meant to take you out before I did anything to him; I wanted to make him watch as he lost yet another daughter. But alas, Plan A went awry when you decided to disappear on me. So I had to move on to Plan B. That’s okay; this plan is turning out to be even more fun.”

“What’s Plan B?” I asked, trying to distract him as I worked on loosening up the chains. My right hand was slowly making progress. One of the bolts had budged a little.

“Plan B is all about getting what rightly belongs to me—the presidential position,” he spat. “You see, with your daddy gone, there will be a re-election shortly. That social networking attention-seeker Twitbrook is a shoo-in, so I need to go bigger. I devised a fool-proof way to make the public love me even more.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked, feigning interest. My right hand was almost free.

“I came up with a plan to reintroduce myself to the world and garner sympathy votes,” Viktor responded, pointing over at Amelia. “That’s where this pathetic failure of a woman comes in handy. Tomorrow morning, a story will leak to the press with all the details about her research with Vampiricol. Imagine this, a nutty scientist, greedy for power and money, kidnaps the president’s daughter to drain her of her special blood—and during such a tragic time for the vampire nation!” He laughed out loud at his own sick joke. “So while she’s draining this poor girl, a noble warrior—that’s me, in case you haven’t guessed—comes in and saves the day. He kills Amelia and tries to rescue little Dawn. Though, it turns out that the poor vampire girl is already all drained. She doesn’t make it out alive. How sad.” He grinned proudly. “You and Amelia are dead, and I’m suddenly an overnight hero.”

“That’s why I can’t simply stab you, Dawn,” he said, pressing his twisted finger deep into my chest wound. I gritted my teeth, forcing my face to stay inert, not allowing him the satisfaction of seeing my pain. “There will be an investigation into all this, I’m sure, so, to properly cover my tracks, I’m going to have to wait a couple of hours for this wound to close up before I can drain you dry.”

“My father made sure that you were ostracized by the entire vampire population for what you did to Aurora,” I said coldly. “No one in their right mind will vote you into power, Viktor.”

“Well, I’m sure he also told you that he sent me off to die on a boat filled with dynamite. I’ve kept a low profile for over a hundred years, living a pathetic life of misery and poverty. Thankfully, enough time has passed. Everyone thinks that I really am dead. I’m just going to come back to life with a whole new identity. Won’t that be fun?” He laughed, jabbing his finger into my wound again. “Kind of like you, huh?”

At that moment, I finally succeeded in freeing my hand. I yanked it away from the constraints of the chain, swinging at Viktor with all my might. The blow caught his cheekbone and sent him tumbling to the ground. As he attempted to stand up, I worked on freeing my other hand. Before I could break free, he drew his gun and shot a bullet through my right wrist.

“Now, now, girl,” he sneered angrily, wiping the cut on his cheek. “Don’t make me hurt you again. I told you, you need to be fully healed for this to work properly! You’re just wasting my time.” With my wrist temporarily weakened, he refastened the chains, adding another set midway up my arm. “Now be good and heal up fast while I go prep the drain room.” He walked out, locking the door behind us.

I twisted my head in an effort to get a better look at the chains. Gathering all my strength, I pulled at the metal. It didn’t budge. I was weaker than usual; too weak for the reinforced iron. The fight with Viktor had exhausted me and the bullets in my wound were slowly dissolving, spreading vampire blood through my body. It didn’t help that I hadn’t had a proper meal in well over a week. If I was going to stand a chance of getting out, I would need to feed.

I knew from my previous experience with the poison that fresh human blood would be the perfect answer. I looked over at Amelia. If we both moved towards each other, she would be just close enough for me to reach an artery in her neck. I shuddered at the thought, a nauseating feeling washing over me. Some vampires had no problem drinking human blood right from the source, but the way I was raised made the whole process seem taboo. I much preferred the brand name labels that came wrapped in neat little packages to live donors. But that was no way to think at this particular moment. Viktor was planning to drain me as soon as the wound on my chest had closed up, which meant that I only had about an hour or two left to live.

How do I approach the subject with Amelia? I wondered. The last time I saw her, she was waving a gun in my face. For all she knew, I would drain her. And perhaps, I was entitled to that action, I thought angrily. She was, after all, responsible for much of the mess we were currently in.

“Miss Summers?” I began wearily, avoiding Amelia’s eyes. “To get us out of here, I need to break these chains. To do that, I need some, uhh,
blood
.”

I could tell by the empty look in her eyes that she had already surrendered to Viktor’s plan, feebly accepting her fate.
What’s the point? He’s going to kill us anyway
, her gaze seemed to say.

“Listen to me, Amelia. You have to think about Ethan,” I urged, hoping to use the one person that could possibly get her out her defeated state as leverage. “I happen to know that your son would hate to see you give up so easily. He thinks you’re one of the strongest women in the world.”

Amelia perked up a little.

“I can get us out of here so that he can tell you that himself. You just have to trust me. And uhh, extend your neck a bit.” I winced at the words coming out of my mouth, thinking that I made a fairy lousy vampire. Sure, I was a strong, fighting machine, but some vampires simply had to smile and bat their eyelashes at the men and women around them to be offered necks galore. I, on the other hand, made the request sound like a dirty proposition.

To my surprise, Amelia moved closer. “Do it,” she said, extending her neck out to me. Her words came in short, muffled gasps, barely audible through the restraint in her mouth.

I didn’t need to be told twice. I closed my eyes, grimacing at what I was about to do. As I sunk my fangs into Amelia’s soft skin, gulping down on the warm liquid seeping into my mouth, I thought about how Hollywood films always made this part look so marvelous.
Why couldn’t I be a cool, conventional heroine in some flashy film
? I thought, in hopes of distracting myself from the reality in front of me.
At this point, I would have even settled for a part in a cheesy novel.
It didn’t take me long to feel satiated. Immediately, I felt a surge of power rush through me.
Hollywood at least got that part right.

I ensured that Amelia was okay, then began to work on my restraints. It was much easier to make progress with my newfound might. I first ripped the chains binding my legs, then used the strength in the bottom half of my body to twist and pull apart the hinges of the four chains around my wrists. I yanked so hard, the stone around the hinges broke apart, releasing me from the wall and sending me flying forward. Viktor hadn’t reinforced Amelia’s chains in the same way that he had secured mine, so they were much easier to pull out.

When we were both free, I ordered Amelia to search for a key to the shackles. To have a better chance at escaping, we both needed to completely rid ourselves of the restraints around our wrists and ankles.

“I watched him put it somewhere in this desk,” Amelia said frantically, rummaging through empty wooden drawers.

“We have to work quietly,” I warned as she pulled out an entire drawer, sending it tumbling loudly against the stone floor. “And fast,” I added, surveying the room for possible escape routes. The heavy iron door provided the only entrance and exit, and Viktor had locked it from the outside. I attempted to push against it, but in spite of my newfound strength, it did not budge. I scanned the room for other possible exits. High up in the ceiling was a small vent, just large enough for a body to squeeze through.

“Here!” Amelia exclaimed as she pulled out a key from a trap door in the desk. She unshackled her wrists and ankles, then threw it to me.

I hurriedly did the same, turning my attention back to the vent. If I positioned the desk directly under it and got a running start, I would be able to jump and reach the high ceiling, I realized.

“I’m going up there,” I said to Amelia, pointing to the vent. I grabbed a hold of the desk, carefully pushing the large piece of furniture across the floor. Amelia held her breath as I began my journey toward freedom. On my second jump, I reached the vent and pushed on its metal covering. The grid gave way, revealing a hole in the ceiling. On the subsequent leap, I caught the edge of the opening and swiftly pulled myself up. Looking down the narrow passageway, I was unsure where the path would lead. The only thing I knew with certainty was that the vent provided the only way out of our prison.

“I’m going to search for a way out,” I whispered, looking down at Amelia.

“Take me with you!” she cried, panicked.

“You’ll be safer here. I’ll come right back for you,” I promised.

“No! If Viktor comes back before you do, he’ll kill me! Please, Dawn,” she begged, her eyes wide with fear.

If I left Amelia behind and Viktor got to her, Ethan would never forgive me, I realized. Plus, she had offered herself as a snack earlier, so I kind of owed her.

“Stand on the desk and reach up toward me,” I instructed, as the anxiety on Amelia’s face subdued. I fastened the top of my boot-clad feet on the ledge of the opening and swung upside down to meet her outstretched arms with my own hands. She jumped, barely managing to graze my fingers. Her second leap brought her closer, allowing me enough contact to latch onto her wrists. I grunted. Every muscle in my body trembled as I began to pull us through the small opening of the vent. It was a strenuous procedure, and I almost lost her twice, but, in the end, we both managed to squeeze inside.