After being betrayed by the ones who she cared for most, Cleo must make a decision as a war breaks out between vampires and humans-- which side she'll take in it.
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"Walk straight," the vampire behind me ordered and I didn't have to turn around to know he still had his gun pointed at me.
I didn't reply, struggling to walk back toward the funeral home. Uncontrollable, full-body shivers wracked my body, unbidden. My heart pounded in my ears and goosebumps covered my skin. What was going on? Why was this vampire after Claude? What did he want with me?
I knew I had to collect myself, but the fear of the gun behind me made it hard. If guns were illegal here, how did he have one? I'd never even seen any of Claude's security with them. Were they perhaps working alongside hunters?
We entered the building again and the sound of chaos met my ears immediately. People were screaming, yelling, crying. Then what sounded like a gun firing multiple times and once again I froze up, my body refusing to move any further... until something cold and rough pressed against the thin fabric of my dress. Fear seized my lungs again and I found it hard to breathe, wondering what kind of scene I was about to walk into as I forced my legs to move.
We entered the main room of the parlor where a tense silence had settled after the havoc. My eyes scanned the crowd, a gasp being ripped out of me as I saw one, two, four, six, bodies scattered on the ground. Blood soaked the carpeted floor beneath some of them, and once again, the image of my father bleeding on the marble ground entered my mind. Bile rose in my throat and tears burned in my eyes as one of the injured on the ground groaned and tried to sit up, I quickly searched the room for Kaz before attempting to run over to them, to help, to save them before—
A rough hand grabbed at the back of my dress again before I could make it three steps. "You're not going anywhere."
"Let me go!" I said, my voice hoarse from my dry throat. "They need help—"
"The world will be a better off place without them."
I turned to look over my shoulder at the man holding onto me, his eyes cold and cruel, lips curled into a snarl. "What... what do you even know about them?"
"More than a piece of shit human like you do."
I tried to pull myself out of his grasp, hearing more groans of pain from the injured vampires. "Let me go!"
"I told you to stay still!" he snapped back, yanking on me hard, making me fall over backward. I didn't fall all the way to the ground as I lost my balance, his hold on my dress keeping me hanging, and then he roughly set me to my feet again. "Just shut up and don't move."
The crackling sound of a mic filled the room and drew my attention to the podium, where another rough-looking man dressed in all black and with long brown hair tied up into a ponytail stood. He adjusted the microphone stand, a sharp electronic noise coming rough, and making my ears ring. "Do we have everyone's attention now?"
