The House of Vampire

Chapter 11

Shi woke to screaming and a gunshot. Jerking upright, he stared at the terrified face of Lana, guarded by Scott and Greg. Scott held the gun, which he pointed at a red mound on the floor, and Greg was wielding a broken chair leg.

"Shi!" Lana screeched, noticing him. He sat up, gasping at the pain at his side. "Are you okay?"

He glanced at the figure on the ground and pulled himself to his feet. "What the hell are you doing up here?" he asked. "You didn't break the circle, right?"

"No," Scott replied.

The lump at his feet moaned, and Shi jolted towards it. Chandre lay on the ground, blood oozing from a gunshot wound on her chest. She wore a strange red ball gown that dipped wildly in front and back, and her hair tumbled wildly about her, mixing with the pool of blood.

His fingers pressed against the wound and he frantically searched for the exit. Thanking the gods that there wasn't one, he pressed his hands against the wound. It hadn't punctured her lungs, and he didn't think it had hit anything vital in her chest, but it had been close.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he yelled, already hearing the slithers and scrapes coming from the stairs. "You idiot!"

"S-she just flew at us," Lana said. "Just out of the blue."

"Put your hands on that," Shi snapped at the girl, and stood up. He gathered their backpacks and put on his pants. Digging through the pack, he found another tube of quikheal. It would only stop the external bleeding, but he hoped that it would clog up enough that she would start to heal. The slithering was growing louder, and he had no more bags of salt.

But chalk . . .

"Scott, slather that on her wound," he said as Chandre started to come to with a soft moan.

He found the pack of chalk in the front right pouch of her bag and quickly pulled out three sticks. "Get her feet," he ordered Greg. "Guard the door," he added to Scott, and together they dragged Chandre into the center of the room. Lana trailed behind, looking terrified.

Something growled, probably smelling the mixed scents of blood in the air, and he crouched beside Chandre as nails began scraping along the walls outside the room. Her eyelashes fluttered, and she moaned again. Two puncture marks marred the white of her neck, just above her jugular. Vampire bite.

"Wake up," he hissed, slapping her cheek sharply. He wanted to kiss her and make her all better, but there was no time for that. "Kiddo, wake up."

Her eyelashes fluttered again, and she stared up at him with wide, confused eyes, her jade eyes contrasting sharply with her pale skin. "Shi? Where—?"

"No time. How do you make a ward of protection?" Her forehead wrinkled with dazed incomprehension, and he held up the piece of chalk. The slow, scraping, dragging drew closer.

"A-A pentagram surrounded by two—no, three—three circles." Her voice was weak, and she touched the wound on her chest. "What happened?"

"Anything else?"

"Four diamonds at each cardinal point." She was starting to sound more lucid, and he felt a little calmer. "Everyone has to be inside the circle when it's made."

"Scott, get over here," he called, and the man hustled over. "Watch her."

The bus driver knelt beside Chandre, who was struggling to sit up, and Shi bent, slowly tracing the pentagram, struggling to make it big enough for everyone to at least sit in.

The revenants entered the room, and he quickly traced the first circle as one lunged. A gunshot rang out and one crumpled, heaving on the wooden floor. The next three charged. Shi completed the second circle, and dropped the chalk to attack the revenants. His hands Changed and he broke the neck of the first and ripped open the faces of the second and third, then broke their spines with well-placed kicks.

Two more entered the room, hissing and smelling the tainted blood of their companions. Shi was beginning to wonder just how many of the creatures there were in the mansion when Scott fired again and again, and they fell.

Whirling, Shi grabbed the chalk and hastily drew the next circle.

Chandre was struggling to sit up as he fought to remember where north and the other points were. Finally remembering, he marked them down as five more revenants surged through the door.

"How many of these things are there?" Greg yelped, and Shi finished the last mark.

Chandre leaned precariously over the circle and he lunged for her as she let three drops fall from her chest to the pentagram's lined edge. Shi jerked her back as the entire thing flared a blinding white and then subsided into a charred mark on the floor.

"What the hell was that?" Lana shrieked as they toppled onto the floor, safely inside the lines.

Shi didn't answer, but clutched Chandre to his chest and stroked her hair from her eyes as the revenants came closer and stopped, deterred by the ward. She was sagged against him, eyes closed and apparently unconscious.

Satisfied that her condition was stable, he glared up at Scott, who seemed to collapse on top of himself.

"You had to shoot her, too?" Shi snarled. Scott was more than lucky that Shi had Chandre to deal with, or else the man would be nothing but bits and bloody pieces for the revenants to chew on.

The man at least had the decency to look ashamed. "She attacked me."

Shi glanced down at his partner. Her face was paler than normal, and she looked like the vampire had drained her. Then her eyes cracked open, and she smiled faintly. His heart melted and solidified in the same moment.

Her dress crinkled under his fingers as she reached to touch his cheek. Something winked at him on her hand, and he stared at the biggest diamond ring he had ever seen. Taking it into his hand, he turned it this way and that in the dim room.

"Wow," Lana breathed, leaning over his shoulder. Greg caught her gaze, and stared too.