Rylie Cruz 2 - How to Date a Vampire (25 page)

With my snarky comment, she lunged. I darted
to my right.

Quinton jumped on Sophie, tackling her as if
they were on a football field. Well, I hadn’t expected that turn of
events. She hissed and he pinned her to the ground holding her
hands.

“Get off me, you stupid fool. I’ll have your
head on a platter for this.”

“I don’t think so, Sophie. This is where it
ends. I won’t let you do this.”

They rolled to the left, alternating between
Sophie on top, then Quinton. Wow, she was stronger than she
looked.

While Quinton rumbled with Sophie, I ran
over to Jack. “I'm going to get you out of here. Do you hear me? Do
you understand?”

He mumbled something, but the message was
incoherent. “Can you nod if you understand me?” I asked.

He nodded. Well, that was some progress. I’d
take any acknowledgement at this point. I struggled with the rope
fixed firmly around his wrists, but it was wound tightly, fastened
with a secure knot. Sophie was an evil bitch for what she’d done to
Jack. I struggled but couldn't get a strong grip on the rope. I
glanced over my shoulder and saw that Sophie was making progress in
breaking free from Quinton. My time was running out, I sensed it.
Sophie would break free from Quinton soon. She'd swoop in on Jack
like a vulture. I wouldn’t be able to free him if I had to fight
her.

Sophie had to have known I would come for
him. She didn’t care; she probably loved to fight. After several
seconds, what seemed like forever, I loosened one of the knots,
then slipped his hand out. After fumbling with the other, I
loosened the other one, and freed his right hand.

“Come on Jack. Can you stand up?” I pulled
on him, trying to help him to his feet.

He mumbled again. Had they drugged him? He
wasn't making any sense.

“What are you trying to say? Do you
understand me, Jack? I need you to get up. Nod if you understand
me.”

He nodded, but I didn't think he was really
comprehending what I was saying.

“We have to get you out of here.” I reached
down and placed my arms under Jack's armpits. I had to lift him and
carry him out of there. But being half-turned and completely out of
it wasn’t helping matters. It didn’t make the process any easier.
It would be tough to carry a grown man and run at the same time. I
had werewolf strength, but there was only so much I could do. I
grunted while hoisting and heaving him to his feet. He wobbled back
and forth a couple of time, then I righted him. He made eye contact
with me, and for a moment, I thought there was a glimmer of
recognition in his eyes, but then he looked away and my hope
faded.

“We’re going to run. Okay, Jack?” I
struggled to pull him up. Holding on to him for much longer would
be impossible. I wasn’t that tough, was I?

He nodded, but he had no idea what he was
consenting to. I thought he’d agree to anything I said at this
point. I sensed Sophie nearing us like a panther sneaking up on its
prey. I knew she was somewhere just out of my line of vision. She
was just waiting for her chance to pounce.

“Jack, you are going to have to run. We have
no other options.” I spoke the words and he agreed, but would he
run? Did he really want to be with her like she said? Had he really
come of his own free will?

“Sophie is watching us. She's going to
attack at any moment.”

As the words left my lips, Sophie pounced on
my back.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

How to Date a Vampire, Rule #28:

Follow rules 1 through 28 and you can’t go
wrong. Almost.

I tumbled to the ground, letting out a groan
as my shoulder smashed against the concrete. That was going to
leave an ugly bruise. What had happened to Quinton? I glanced
around until I spotted him fighting with another vampire in the
corner of the room. It was Nelson from the graveyard. Without
warning, Sophie lunged on top of me and I pushed to free her grip.
With her face just inches from mine, her exposed fangs were all I
saw… well, that and her smeared lipstick and mascara streaked
across her cheeks.

Just my luck. If a werewolf wasn’t trying to
kill me, then a vampire stepped in to take its place. This was
crazy. Why couldn't these paranormals just act normal? Do their
paranormal thing without getting me involved.

I rolled Sophie around on the dirty concrete
floor and managed to punch her as my transformation began. I needed
to shift quickly so I would have the extra strength. But it would
be almost impossible with her on top of me. The hair slowly began
to spread across my body. My eyes changed to their usual
animalistic glowing hue and my canines lengthened in my mouth. She
probably didn’t realize that I could bite better than her. I bet
she hadn't bargained for that. Her slender little fangs were no
match for my thick choppers.

“I will take you down, vampy. You think
you’re so tough. I have more strength than you thought, huh?” I
kicked her off me and jumped up to a standing position. She tumbled
backward, releasing a loud grunt. She jumped up easier than I’d
expected though, and stood in front of me again. Sophie lunged
forward once more.

Still not fully turned, I swung my arm,
cutting a slice through the air. My fist was about a mile from this
floozy’s face. Perhaps I needed to check out that punching bag at
the gym. Or, quit running with the paranormal crowd. It was kind of
hard to ignore them when you got sucked into these situations. But
I was ready to turn in my paranormal members card.

I stumbled forward, throwing my hands in
front of me to keep my face from becoming one with the pavement. If
only I could fully change. Quinton pulled me up by my shirt.
Somehow, he’d broken away from the other fight to lend me a hand.
As soon as I righted myself, stumbling until I was upright, Quinton
lunged at Sophie again. What? Was I seeing things? Had I been
knocked out cold and this was some crazy dream? Nope. I was fully
awake. He was actually helping me. Score one for team werewolf. His
fist met with Sophie’s face. Nice shot.

“Good one, Quinton,” I yelled. Was I
cheering on the vampires? What bizarre world had I stepped
into?

Before Quinton had a chance to respond,
Nelson zipped around behind Jack and placed him in a headlock. My
skin continued to tingle. The burning and pulling raged through my
body, stronger than it ever had before. I clawed the front of
Nelson’s face, forcing him to release his grip on Jack. Before Jack
had a chance to escape, the male vampire attacked Jack again.

It didn’t take much for the vampire to knock
Jack out this time. With his lack of blood, he was weak. Jack
tumbled to the ground, then the vampire turned his attention to me.
He reached for my arm, but I jerked it out of his reach. Before I
got very far, he rushed up behind me and yanked me back toward his
body. My stomach churned with the slightest touch from him, but I
was able to control my queasiness. As he pinned me against the
wall, I realized he was stronger than I expected. But I didn’t
worry. I could take him down if I had to—one kick to his nether
regions would do it.

With one big wallop, he tumbled to the
ground. Within a second, he stood, but his back was facing me. As I
attacked the back of Nelson, I continued to try to shift into
werewolf form. He stumbled around with me on his back.

When I whacked his head, he stumbled
backward and tripped on a concrete block that sat on the floor. The
husky vampire fell backward, hitting his head on the ground. The
loud thud rang out. He lay motionless, out cold to the world.

After I managed to break free from the male
vampire, I jumped up. Sophie still struggled with Quinton. Why was
he helping me?

When I glanced over my shoulder, Jack had
disappeared. Had he ran outside? Or had another vampire grabbed
him? Leaving Quinton fighting with Sophie, I took off down the long
catwalk, not sure of what creature might jump out at me next.
Doorways lined each side, and at any moment, someone or something
could jump out at me. I finally reached a broken out window and ran
over to it.

There was nowhere else for me to run. I
peered down at the alleyway below. The jump wouldn’t be far, so I
figured I had to take my chances and go for it. Being in werewolf
form would make the jump relatively easy. There wasn't much time; I
had to make a go of it. The vampires would find me soon. I wouldn't
be of any help to Jack if they caught up with me. I jumped up onto
the edge of the window, took in a deep breath, and in one fluid
movement, leapt into the alleyway.

The pads of my feet hit the pavement with a
loud thud. Thank goodness for being a werewolf in times such as
these. Although if I wasn't a werewolf, probably none of this would
have happened in the first place. But that was neither here nor
there now. As I stood there, I decided it was best if I didn’t
shift completely. The little bit of hair on my body would disappear
soon. It would be easier to travel around the market without excess
hair. No matter my clothes had rips, tears, and dirt smeared all
over them. I looked around the alleyway and no one was around.
Everything was calm as if any ordinary day, unlike the chaos that
had been going on in the building. Birds perched on the rooftop
chirped and humans on their normal routine sounded in the near
distance. The alley flowed into the street behind me.

As my eyes adjusted to the sunlight, I
spotted Quinton. He hovered over Jack, his mouth pressed to his
neck. Jack didn’t move. It was as if he was already dead. I
couldn’t bear to think of it.

“Get your fangs off of him,” I yelled. “Step
away from Jack.”

Had Quinton pretended to help me just so he
could get to Jack? He’d had me fooled. Quinton didn’t stop his
attack; he didn’t look up when I called out to him. Apparently he
had one mission and he wouldn’t let a little thing like a werewolf
stop him. He wanted Jack drained. He wanted to kill him. Why hadn’t
he tried to kill me when he had the chance?

In super werewolf mode, I ran down the
alleyway toward Jack. But before I reached his side, Sophie jumped
out in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. “You didn't think
you'd get away from us that easily, did you? You aren't nearly as
smart as you think you are.” I glared at her, not backing down.

“Yeah, well, you're as dumb as I know you
are.”

She frowned, not quite sure if I'd insulted
her or not. As I moved to zip around her, she pulled out a gun and
pointed it at me. Again with the weapons? Didn’t anyone fight the
old-fashioned way anymore? Weren’t her fangs weapons enough for
her?

It didn't look as if there would be a way
out of this situation. She had me cornered, and a bullet was kind
of hard to avoid. As she perfected her aim, with venom in her eyes,
I was pretty sure she wanted me gone. Like permanently gone. Just
like Jack. Getting rid of both of us had been their mission all
along. There was a lot of stuff I still wanted to do with my life.
I wanted to see Jack again. I wanted to spend time with my family
and Jennifer. I wanted to continue being a matchmaker; I liked
playing Cupid. Sure, I had made mistakes in my life, and now I
couldn't correct them. I couldn't fix this mistake. No matter how
hard I tried.

But what else could I have done. I should
have tried to work this out before it came to this. Before Jack had
been, well, I couldn’t think about it right now. But would there
have been a way to work it out with the vampires? It wasn’t as if
we could sit down for a little chat over tea… delicious steak
dinner, or maybe followed by a slice of lemon cake. They looked as
if they had made up their mind about the outcome regardless of what
I, or anyone else, wanted.

I readied myself for what was about to
happen. Well, as much as you can ready yourself for a bullet. I
sucked in a deep breath. There wouldn’t be any escaping this
pickle.

“I don't know why you're doing this. It's
not over just because you get rid of me. You know that, right?
Jack’s done nothing to you. I won’t allow you to get away with
this. My family will be looking for me, have you ever dealt with
angry werewolves?”

She scoffed. “Oh, I'm sure it's over. I'm
not afraid of your little werewolf family. They don't instill fear
in me or anyone for that matter. You all look like a bunch of weird
stray half-dog half-humans who have the mange.”

“You think you’re a funny girl, huh? Well,
you won't be laughing when these so-called ugly werewolves rip your
throat out. They’ll make your life a living hell and you’ll pray
for them to shove a stake in your heart.” Wow, I was kind of
scaring myself. “So just remember that when you pull the
trigger.”

“I'll keep that in mind.” She aimed the gun
at my chest. A silver bullet right in the heart. I never figured
that would be the way I’d go. This was the second time I’d had a
gun pointed at me in the past few weeks. My ex-client had wanted to
take me down the same way. Why did I attract crazy people? Was it
some kind of cosmic pull?

I closed my eyes. I didn't know what else to
do. Running wasn't an option. She would shoot. I could lunge for
her, but she would shoot me then, too. What good would I be to Jack
if I was dead? I closed my eyes, but the shot didn't come.

When I opened my eyes, Jack was in front of
me.

“Step to the side, Rylie.” Sophie pointed
the gun at Jack, her eyes full of more determination than ever.

“Jack. How did you get away from Quinton’s
fangs?”

“I won’t hesitate to kill you,” Sophie
said.

I couldn't believe my eyes. Jack had gotten
away and was now standing between me and a bullet. Would he really
take a bullet for me? I couldn't let him do that. I'd never get
over losing him, much less allowing him do something like that for
me.

“No, Jack, I can't let you do this.”