A Reason To Stay {THE LITTLE VAMPIRE) RUDONY [COMPLETED]

Chapter 9

Tony was in the car crash again. He was calling for his parents desperately and they, just like always, remained motionless in their seats. The car horn was blasting continuously, his father’s head lying across the steering wheel. They weren’t restrained by their seatbelts this time, their bodies contorted without constraints. “Mommy! Daddy! Wake up! Why are you sleeping?” 

Glass slowly flew through the window as if it were suspended in the air. A sallow light seared Tony’s eyes as it strobed sickeningly. “Mommy? Daddy?”

They both suddenly whirred to life and sat up, whipping their heads around to look straight at Tony. Their faces were pale and eyes an empty black. He screamed and they melted to the floor, vanishing in a dark oozing pit of tar that sucked him down.

Tony was running. Wind whipped in his face as he sped through the forest, tripping over fallen branches and roots, constantly looking over his shoulder. Everything around him was a blur of murky trees and leaves, only moonlight there to guide him. He felt the beam of a flashlight stinging his back. 

“Get back here you little runt!” Rookery’s voice was sharp and clear behind him, the garlic smell of his breath burning under his nose. Tony had to keep running. But just then he felt a quick, painful jab in his back that sent him tumbling to the ground. Dry leaves and grimy mud caked his clothes as he slid over the slick ground. “Gotcha!” he cried triumphantly. Tony turned over to blink up at him, and the man placed his heavy boot on the boy’s stomach. He pressed down, sharp pain shooting through his body. He screamed, his chest heaving as he tried to find room to breathe.

“Look at you, you pathetic brat,” he snarled, shining his flashlight directly in his eyes. “You couldn’t save him, and now you can’t even save yourself.”

“Him?” he whispered almost inaudibly. Suddenly he saw it, a clearing in the thick fog that had encircled the two. He turned his head trying to get a better glimpse of the thing that was lying against a tall, coal-black gangling tree. He squinted, trying to see it through the fog as well as the inky darkness. Rookery sighed impatiently. When Tony blinked, the body was closer than before, almost touching his arm that was stretched out along the mud. The thing was covered in blood; he could barely make out who it was, and the teenager strained his eyes trying to see them. 

He reached out to stroke a finger softly along the being’s cheek, and suddenly he knew who it was. The smooth, pale skin, the sharp jawline, the spiked black hair. “Oh, Rudolph,” he whispered. Tears began to form in his eyes, and he gulped for breath with the man’s foot still on his chest. He tried to reach out for the vampire again, but Rookery wrenched him back, now slapping him across the face, pulling out a stake from his belt. 

“W- wait!” he sobbed, gasping for air. “I- I need to help him! He- he’s my friend! I love him!”

“You pathetic, useless creature,” he growled. “Can’t you see you’ve already done enough? He’s dead, because of you.”

He stood over Tony, raising it up, preparing to drive it through his chest. 

Rudolph came into view from over Rookery’s shoulder. He was crying tears of blood that dripped in thin streams down his pale face. “Why would you do that to me? I thought you were supposed to protect me. You are weak. I never should have trusted a lowlife like you.”

“I- I’m s- so sorry,” Tony was crying now, hot tears trailing down his cheeks, blurring his vision. He watched Rookery bring it down and shrieked as he felt a sharp pierce, the stake running through his heart, a burning pain engulfing him.

Tony woke with a start, screaming. It took him a few seconds to realize he was okay, back in his own room. He threw off the blanket wrapped around his body, clutching his chest. He tried to breathe slowly, but could only gasp for air, hyperventilating. Tears fell down his face, landing on his shirt as he tried so hard to get his breathing back to normal, but each pull of air felt like it had forced its way back out immediately. Then he heard a confused coo from the bed. Oh shit.