Sanja

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Run

"Take one more step human and you're both dead."

I whipped my head around, half of my body in the warmth of the house and the other half dangling in the midnight breeze. There, accompanied by two malicious-looking vampires, stood an older man. He was tall and slim. The darkness of the hallway shadowed the top half of his face, and only a grim pair of chapped lips and aged teeth glared at me. The words he spat trickled from his tongue in a slow and thick tar, entirely hardened once they reached my ears.

I possessed no thoughts whatsoever. I was entirely incapable of the slightest movement or reaction, let alone a verbal response. I was hollow. 

"Sir," Jose broke the silence with a shakiness hence unknown to even myself, "I believe you are mistaken here."

Something akin to a surcharge of electricity fired at Jose, knocking him against the wall. The entire hallway rumbled and he instantly collapsed. I gasped as the man approached the limp boy, picking him up by his torn sweatshirt like a rag doll. "You defy this coven's rules, you suffer the consequences, boy." He dropped him instantly, averting his gaze to me.

I trembled as he approached the window where I sat, the moonlight behind me slowly revealing the top half of his face. His features undressed me of all my pride and human initiation—in front of him I was nothing. I was hollow.

"As for you," he spat, "you've had your fair share of disobedience. Come down from there and get on your knees, and I will spare you for the time being." His words were slow and thoughtful. My heart rate skyrocketed.

You can make it, Sanja. Just jump.

"Primus," a distant voice roared, "she is not to be spared!" Emerging from the shadows was a certain Dale, out of breath and all shaken up. "She is to be eliminated in this instance! This filthy excuse of a pet has defied authority time after time." He regained his stability and glared at me with unexplainable malice. "Sir, kill her!"

Once his words had flown out of his mouth, Dale threw himself in my direction, arms extended and fangs bared. Just as he was about to reach me and tear me to pieces, his body was flung out of the way and he crashed into the opposing wall.

"No!" exclaimed the Primus, rage spewing from his entire body. "You will wait for my command! You will all wait for my command!" He paused after each word, emphasizing their importance to him and his reverence for authority.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Jose regaining movement. He was hinting at me to go with slight head inclines. Meanwhile, the Primus had gone off on a tangent about the lack of respect he had witnessed. Just as I was about to turn and jump into the moonlight, another voice roared from the other end of the hallway. This one, however, was far too familiar to ignore. I stopped, once again frozen in my tracks. I whipped my head around. 

There he stood, drenched in blood and sweat—a walking corpse. "Your reign has come to an end." The man I was certain I had previously murdered stood in the moonlight, radiating with nothing but revenge and hatred. However, it was not me whom he was glaring at. Instead, his eyes bore into the Primus and the other men, who in return snarled and lunged at him. In a matter of seconds, the hallway erupted into a chaos of screams and quarrels and even the defeated Dale somehow ended up in the mix. I took the opportunity and swung my legs out, gripping the windowsill as I lowered myself onto the exterior trim. Jose rushed over to me and exclaimed: "I shall hold them back. Run as far as you can and do not wait for me!"