Scarlet Prison

Chapter 23

"Sorry I'm late, Vince," I announced, as I marched into his office. I don't think I had ever apologized for being late before, but seeing that I was several hours late, I felt like an apology might be due.

"Nova?! Where have you been? Mr. Jäger called and said that you'd been abducted. He said you wouldn't be coming in tonight, while you recover."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm a vampire, Vince. How much recovery time do you think I need?"

Vince frowned. "I think that's irrelevant. If the Mayor says you need time to recover, then you better climb back into bed and take some time to recover."

"Okay, how much did he pay you to side with him?"

Vince smiled and leaned back in his chair. "He didn't bribe me. He just offered to compensate for any financial losses that your disappearance may have caused to my business."

"How kind of him," I said, dryly.

"It is kind of him. Because of him, you can consider the last few days as a paid vacation."

As much as I hated to admit it, I needed the money. "Thanks," I said awkwardly. Apologizing and showing gratitude! I was on a roll today!

"Don't thank me, thank Mr. Jäger. Or better yet, do what he says, and go home to rest."

"But I can come back tomorrow, right?" I asked, worried that Dana had replaced me.

"You're still Assistant Manager, aren't you?"

I nodded in relief and left his office. I ran into Dana on my way out. She was leading Oksana, who looked strangely relieved to see me, to one of the feeding rooms.

"Ooo! I love you neck thingy!" Dana exclaimed, her hazel eyes alight with intrusive friendliness. Somehow I felt that Dana and Stephanie would make good friends. Maybe I should introduce them, and they would both leave me alone. But that felt like a plan that could easily backfire. What if Stephanie wanted all of us to hang out together? Then I would have to spend even more time with Dana!

"Thanks," I said, touching my black velvet choker that I had purchased to cover my spider bites. Chokers weren't exactly in style, but spider bites were a pretty human quality. A choker was the less conspicuous option. I had been lucky that Insults and Compliments, the clothing store down the street, even sold them. I had to wonder if Dana actually liked my "neck thingy" or if she was simply gawking at my weird fashion choices. Dana was the sort of person who told the truth like it was a lie, making it impossible to distinguish between the two. However, as far as I could tell, Dana was not a malicious person, so she was unlikely to go around giving sarcastic compliments.

Whatever she thought, I didn't really care. I was wearing the choker out of necessity, not to make a fashion statement. And right now, I just wanted to go back to my room, where I wouldn't be necessitated to do anything.

***

None of my strange life experiences had prepared me for what was waiting for me outside the hotel. Don't ask me how they found me or how they knew I wasn't already inside. All I know is that there was some kind of commotion going on outside of the doors of the hotel as I approached it. I was too far away to know exactly what was going on, but I could tell when they spotted me because someone pointed and shouted, and suddenly the crowd was swarming in my direction.

Run! My instincts screamed. And I did. I turned to head back where I came from, thinking maybe I could seek sanctuary at the restaurant.

"Get her!" someone yelled.

My combat boots clanked heavily on the ground, reminding me how exhausted I already felt from hiking for half the night. I spared a glance over my shoulder and saw the swarm was not at all slowed by the heavy camera equipment they were carrying. Realizing that I wouldn't make it back to the restaurant, I turned down an ally to break their visual contact with me. Then I ran back toward the direction of the hotel, hoping that I could come out behind the swarm and slip into my room unnoticed. I wouldn't be able to outrun a vampire. I especially couldn't outrun a swarm of vampire reporters. My best bet was to sneak by them.