Growing Wildflowers | WLW

Petunia

I push through the swinging door gently, like if I walk into the next room quietly enough, I can vanish when shit inevitably hits the fan. Instead, the image in front of me freezes my blood in my veins, roots my feet into the concrete.

Sophie's facing away from me, her arms outstretched by her sides, fingers twitching, her head angled back like she's about to be demon possessed and start crawling backwards on all fours. Her neck is bent at all the wrong angles, her body defying gravity by the way it's leaning toward me. Fat tears leak from her all-black eyes and roll down the sides of her face, dripping on the clown mask by my feet.

I swallow hard, still holding the door, fighting everything in my body telling me to run, to leave her behind.

"Soph—" I try to swallow again but my throat is cracked dry.

I force my eyes to travel the length of the hallway. Leah's at the other end, her hand outstretched, her forehead angled toward Sophie, her eyes ablaze with that ruby color, but she doesn't respond to my presence. She doesn't know I'm here. She must go into the hallucination with her victims.

I step around Sophie, careful not to touch her as I move. I'm not sure what can snap Leah out of her trance but if she realizes I'm here before I can clear the hallway, I'm screwed.

Sophie looks worse from this angle, dark veins running up the length of her neck and spreading in her cheeks; her jugular jutting unnaturally. Her voice plays again in my head. She can't hit us both. A small whimper escapes Sophie's lips. The noise turns my fear into a bubbling anger in my stomach, and I use the brief flash of emotion to push into a sprint. I don't give myself time to think, only run as fast as I can at Leah.

Something takes over. Something primal. The vampire in my veins. I leap at her when I hit the halfway point of the hall and tackle her to the ground. Her eyes lose their glow as my arms wrap around her body but it's too late. I have the upper hand now. We hit the ground hard and tumble through the double doors into a connecting room. I scramble so that I'm behind her, wrap my elbow around her neck and pull back hard, until I hear the throaty choke indicating I've cut off her airflow.

We both know it doesn't matter though. I can't keep her in a chokehold until daylight. She reaches up and swings at my face. I try to brush her off but not before she pulls the mask from my face. I ignore it. Let her know I'm the one who's going to kill her. Let her regret every time she stepped into my jail cell and tortured me until I pissed myself or threw up on my own shirt.

I prop my foot against the doorframe and push my body back. Her neck pops. She hits my arm with both hands, letting out a gurgle of attempted words. How does it feel to be on the other end for once? I can't tell if I say the words out loud or not. I'm too focused on the way her neck stretches, withholding a gag, every emotion fighting for dominance in my stomach. I turn my body, use my leg to pin hers to the ground. I'm about to crank her head to the side hard, decapitate her when...

"Let her go, Gwen," Sophie orders. When I hesitate, she adds, "Now."

I push Leah away from me and jump to my feet while she clutches her neck with both hands, letting out a mix of coughs and gags.

A few of the other blood suckers, still masked, jog into the room and head towards Leah as Sophie pushes me to the back of the room.

"What the fuck are you doing?" she whispers as if the other vampires won't be able to hear her.

"I'm sorry, are we not supposed to kill the woman who's been torturing vampire-kind for centuries?" I throw my hands out in exasperation.

She shoves my mask against my chest. "No," she snaps back. "You're not."