The Garden of What Once Was

CHAPTER ELEVEN

As Ember paced around in the study, she debated between staying put as Reed had told her or leaving to see what was happening out there.

    "Um, Reed?" Ember barely even whispered, afraid to raise her voice. "Anybody...?"

No response. At least one of them had to have heard her calling them, yet none of them answered. All that she was met with was the sound of silence. Damn it! She stomped toward the door, pulling it open without any hesitancy. There wasn't anything strange in the hallway. Sighing with relief, Ember stepped out of the study, believing that she was just being paranoid. Her relief vanished when she came upon a body lying on the floor. She squinted, and slowly it dawned on her that it was Reed. Quickly, Ember sprinted over to his side, kneeling on the ground.

    "Hey, talk to me," She hissed under her breath. "What happened to you, huh?"

Her question was answered, not by Reed but by the blood that was dampening the light fabric of his crewneck. The redness was centered in his left and right deltoids. Judging by the holes through the shirt, he had been shot twice with what looked to be grade-A lamiacida suppressors, the best quality suppressors in the world.

"Wake up already!" She slapped him in the face, desperate to see him open his eyes. "You're supposed to be immortal. Don't tell me you're going to let this kill you, idiot!"

    "Re-...!"

A bloody hand clamped over her mouth, silencing her before she could yell loud enough for the intruders to become aware of her presence. Purple irises peeked through his eyelids as he struggled to fully open them. It was tempting to just let himself pass out, but he couldn't rest until he knew the others were out of harm's way. Though, with his wounds, he was unable to do anything. The only other person who could help him was a damn human. But, for once, he trusted a human. His weak hand rose upward, pulling Ember down so that her ear was beside his face.

    "I can't move much. Whatever they shot me with must be pretty strong, so I can't do anything but you can."

His voice was low and garbled. If it wasn't for the fact that Reed had pulled her closer to him, she wouldn't have been able to understand a single word.

    "There's a total of three Montclaire High-tiers in the house. It's dangerous, but...I know you can do it."

    "Do what?" She shook him, trying to get him to finish his sentence, but he was knocked out cold.

His head fell to the side as blood dripped out of the corner of his mouth and onto the floor. Now it was solely up to Ember to somehow outsmart three Montclaire High-tiers by herself. That would be a piece of cake if it wasn't for the fact that she was a human, not a vampire! Freaking out was not going to make things any better though. Taking a moment to clear her head, she sharply sucked in a large breath of air. Think, Ember, come on! She may not stand a chance against a High-tier in hand-to-hand combat, but she did know of a particular vampire that could. Mr.Kreo. With her fingers crossed on her left hand, she used her right to fish out Reed's phone from his pocket. Thankfully, Reed hadn't bothered to put a password on it. She swiped through his contacts. Surely, the most powerful High-tier in the world was bound to have Mr.Kreo's contact information saved. If he didn't, she would be up shits creek without a paddle.

    "Mr.Kreo...." She mumbled to herself. "Gotcha."

Instead of calling the Elder, Ember typed a message filled with multiple spelling errors that even autocorrect couldn't fix. She didn't have the time to worry about how readable the text was though. Her finger pressed down on the blue arrow, sending the text to Mr.Kreo. Now all she had to do was stall those High-tiers until he came to the rescue, which was easier said than done. Ember was in no way shape or form a skilled fighter, but she was quite good at sneaking around. Before she left, she took the scarf off her neck and tied it above the wound on Reed's arm. Then she tip-toed back down the hallway, focused on finding a bathroom. It may just be an old wives' tale, but it's rumored that running water interferes with a vampire's ability to hear. Her pace picked up into a full-on sprint. The longer it took her to find a bathroom, the higher the possibility that the others would die.