Surviving Paradise (Full Draft Version)

CHAPTER 32

CHAPTER 32

Pain was all he knew.  Sharp stabbing shards of pain everywhere.  Sometimes one area pounded or pierced more than another, but for the most part, his entire being was excruciating.  Consciousness was returning, and instinctively he fought it, because it's sub was his only relief.  Yet, if he wanted to get out of here, wanted to warn the others, save the others, he needed to force back from that dark painless state.  Having learned the hard way, Will did not open his eyes.  Every time he did, or made a movement or sound, it seemed to be a green light inviting anyone who wanted to kick or hit him again. 

Fuck, fuck.  Hadn't he told Allisa, he did not want an affiliation with even Ash?!  And yet in the end, he had willingly let her jab him with that short needle of fate.  To ease her mind, that something wouldn't happen to him.  And because of it, something had happened to him!  Hell they were all in deep shit.

So clearly, he remembered how he had argued with her, not wanting even a drop of leech blood mixing with his.  But the disappointment in her eyes, the fear in her voice had won him over.  Surprisingly, he had barely given it another though.  Ashton's blood might have mixed with his in some morbid contractual agreement, but he had never felt owned.  Ashton was still simply his best friend. 

Because he had never given it another thought, he had wandered into this lair of his old acquaintances, forgetting that he had been coerced by Allisa to become something this group despised.  A ward.

“Gillis!”  Russell, his old buddy, had met him at the door to The Hideaway.  Will had texted him just prior to exiting his car, and perhaps Russell had not said anything to the others in that few seconds, because they had looked up from their cards truly surprised to see him.  Russell had a date and after another fist bump, had taken his leave.

Unfolding some bills from his pocket, Will had joined the others at the poker table, and before he could work a question about Ashton into the conversation, one of them had brought the subject up.

“Heard that leech you live with has taken himself some wards.”

It made Will sick at his stomach to hear Ashton referred to in that derogatory way.  Although Will might call a leech, a leech, Ashton had never been thought of that way to him.

“Yeah.  Well that is how the system works.”  Will had replied, tossing in his ante, but a prick of unease pervaded knowing he was one of those despised wards.

To withdraw from the blood bank, a vampire had to have a human making deposits on their behalf.  Besides being a necessity to the species, blood seemed to be like candy.  They liked it.  More was better, so some vampires had many depositing on their behalf.  Wanting more, some leeches even bullied people into becoming wards.  Not so with Ashton.  Ash ingested the minimum every other day or so, and now that he was required to, had the minimum deposits going into the blood bank.

Watching the cards flop, Will had spoken again.  “He's not a target, right?  I mean out of all of them out there, he is one of the decent ones.”

“Decent and leech should not even be in the same sentence.”  The scoff had been loud as the bets were placed.

“Is he considered a target?”  Will had repeated as the turn hit the table.

“They all are.”

“That is the stupidest shit.”  Will had held up the betting as he blasted them all in his gaze.  “Some of them mind their own business, have the minimum wards who I might add volunteered.”

“Bet or fold.”  The bark had come from somewhere to his left.  “Then tell us why you care so much Gillis.  Are YOU one of these volunteer wards?!”

And that is when he had felt it.  The mistake in coming here.

Outnumbered by seven or eight, he had put up a vicious defense but was now laying on the floor, and had been for who knew how long. 

At some point, his phone had bleeped, and his spirits had jumped knowing Allisa was worried about him, looking for him.  But the device must have been removed from his pocket the first time he passed out, because the sound came from a table a few feet away from him.

Will had watched as one of them left the poker table then laughed in delight to find his phone unlocked. 

“Lissa with the heart by her name, wants to know, 'Everything okay?'”  The voice that read the text had  gone falsetto to do so, and this brought a round of cackling laughs.  “Are you breaking curfew Gillis?”  A firm kick had been delivered to his stomach, and then the poker game had resumed as he fought to get his breath back.

The blackness had come again.  There was no conception of time but when he came to once more, they were no longer sitting around the table.  Moving his eyes, he had seen that they were clustered  here and there.

“Obviously that is a myth.  The leech would be here by now if such a blood bond existed with his meals.  Send the girl the address.”

The thought of Allisa or any of them coming to this place had shaken Will into a fully cognizant state, and he had moved, maybe made a protest, only to bring three sets of feet his way, more injury, then blackness. 

The next time he had come to, he had been disoriented, thinking a hurricane shook the metal building.  The guys were screaming in terror, things were breaking, but it was not the howling winds of a hurricane battering at the club.  It was the enraged growls of a furious vampire.

Will almost did not recognize his best friend, the snarling lips and teeth of a beast protruded beneath feral eyes.  Ashton stood, so near, his back to the wall, slamming out a powerful arm to rid his personal space of anyone who tried to take him down.

Rolling, Will tried and thankfully succeeded in tripping one of the guys who made it to the armory.  The silver shooter clattered to the floor, and since his hands were zip tied behind his back, he kicked the specialty weapon under a side cabinet after getting to his feet.

“The girls are in the car.  A block over.  On Birch.  Go!”  Ashton growled, and seriously it was a growl.

Will wanted to protest at being sent to the car like a girl himself, but some need to set eyes on Allisa  and Jane, to make sure they were okay, overruled his sense of pride.  Most of the rooms occupants were on the floor.  Ashton has this under control. 

Backing up to the door, he swung it open-- into the morning sunshine.  In a panic, he kicked it closed behind him lest the sun's dangerous rays hit Ashton.  A groan sounded from above, and looking up, he saw a guy sprawled on the roof, bits of what looked to be a tranquilizer gun lay around the roof as well. 

Remembering the weapons to be a part of the clubs armory, he deduced that Ashton must have gotten to the guy before becoming a victim like some zoo animal.  Scanning the area, Will saw several more pieces in the grass among the wild flowers.  If there had been more than one weapon, then there had been more than one guy on that roof--

Suddenly, there, directly in front of him were the girls, each with an armed escort. 

“Turn around, open the door, go back inside.”  One of the guys with the guns ordered, and when the weapon moved to Allisa's head, Will wasted no time in doing as he was told.  In the past, too much had happened to them all from him acting rashly without thinking.

Ashton had the last guy standing in a choke hold, and easily thrust him aside as the party of five entered.

Slowly, Will backed up, standing just in front of the armory wall, but with the muzzle of the guns pressed to the girls, and his hands still tied, he stopped just short of it.  Ashton was looking dead on at Allisa's captor, and to Will's amazement, the dude let his gun fall to his side, and his dazed eyes continued to follow Ashton's every move. 

“What the--?”  His buddy let the sentence trail off jabbing Allisa with the gun, and so many things happened at once, Will could never account for the order.

Ashton growled, automatically drawing the attention of the guy from his buddy.  Allisa went limp, dropping to the floor and rolling in one of those self defense moves she and Jane had once practiced on Will and Ashton.  Will charged the two guys.  Ashton slammed into them as well.

The door opened, either by someone coming in, or one of the guys rousing enough to try to get out, or someone thinking fast enough and devious enough to let the the vampire meet the bright day.  Ashton seemed momentarily startled by the sun, and that is when one of the guys pushed him out.

“Close the door!”  Someone yelled and when it slammed shut the praise came.  “Way to go Rodney.”

One of the girls screamed, and the sound escaping Will's throat was not even recognizable to himself as he imagined his best friend lighting up like a human torch just beyond that door.  Still things were happening at light speed.  The girls were pushed away from the door as they attempted rescue, Will went for the door, and Ashton crashed through the door.

With no visible charring, the vampire resumed the fight.  Will headbutted a guy, and pulled the girls to safety before charging back to aid Ashton.  Jane screamed, and Will fell back having already been in the way of Ashton and catching a blow of the elbow.  That is when he saw it.

Ash was out of control.  Something had snapped in him.  The guy that  had held Jane at gunpoint was now being held in a vice grip by Ashton.  The growl was a deep rumble in his throat, and a vampire's feral gaze was assessing it's prey.  Ashton did not even acknowledge that he heard Jane yell his name, and Will added his voice.  “Ash!  Comon man!”

Automatically, Will glanced at Allisa to be sure she was safe, and saw that she was rocking back and forth with her eyes closed.  If that wasn't weird enough, a second growl sounded.

The vampire that jumped Ashton was a blur, shooting from the little hallway in the back where there was a bathroom, an office and a back door.

Protectively, Will moved in front of Lissa, noticing that her eyes were now open wide, beholding the vampire fight.  The tug on the zip ties that bound him, and the subsequent release of his hands was a complete surprise, and he turned his head finding her silver dagger in her hand.  Her attention was still on the fight, and when he saw her move slightly in that direction, he knew her intention.

Her small wrist was familiar in his fingers, and he gave it a meaningful squeeze.  “Wait Lissa...”

___END CHAPTER 32___