I can turn right and go down another hallway, or I can take the stairs in front of me and go up.
I was completely out of it when Nikolaos moved me to the room we were in. I don’t remember going down any stairs when we left the bar, but something tells me up is the way I want to go.
Grabbing the rail, I take the stairs two at a time until I reach another floor. On this floor, the stairs continue up and a hallway stretches to the right.
This hall is familiar somehow.
Deciding to trust my instincts and where my feet lead me, I follow the hallway until I hear soft, muffled moans and skin slapping against skin.
Pushing through a door to the right, I find myself exactly where I want to be—back in the club.
The patrons seemingly oblivious to what’s going on beneath them, the club looks almost the same as I left it. The booths are still full, overflowing with vampires playing with humans, and Ambrose is twirling Charity around the dance floor.
The only difference is there’s now a blond vampire I don’t recognize sitting at the empty bar, watching the very door I just stepped through.
Hoping he’s waiting for the bartender to come back and wasn’t left on guard duty, I skirt to the left, venturing closer to the booths.
Keeping my eyes trained on the vampire at the bar, I tune out all the wet disgusting noises coming from beside me. Prepared to run if he so much as twitches.
The vampire doesn’t twitch. Watching me for a moment, he looks back to the door I came through and frowns.
Thinking he’s not interested in me, I risk taking my eyes off him and look to Ambrose and Charity.
If I run now with no one really paying any attention to me, I could probably make out the door.
But I’d have to leave Charity behind…
I’m not going to lie, running and just saving myself is tempting at this point.
She is, after all, the reason I’m in this situation in the first place.
I know though that I could never live with myself if I did that. If our roles were reversed, I hope she would try to help me.
Trying to think up a way to get Charity away from Ambrose, I move closer to them.
Once I move closer though, the vampire at the bar looks at me again. Face tightening with concern, he practically jumps up from his stool.
My pulse quickening with the fear that he’ll come for me, I make the mistake of taking a hasty step back.
This draws Ambrose’s attention.
Head twisting in my direction, Ambrose’s red eyes lock on me and he comes to a complete stop.
I have one heartbeat to feel my soul leaving my body in pure terror before Ambrose pushes Charity away and jumps on me.
Launching through the air like a pouncing big cat, Ambrose grabs me by the shoulders and takes me down, pinning me beneath him.
“My Marked,” he hisses in my face, his fangs dripping with streams of salvia.
Temporarily stunned from my skull connecting with the floor, I can only stare helplessly at him.
Receiving no resistance from me, Ambrose drops his head and sinks his fangs into my neck.
The pain is instant and excruciating.
When my shadow bit me in my dreams, the pleasure I felt was orgasmic.
Here, in reality, there’s only burning agony.
A burning agony that makes me writhe beneath Ambrose and scream.
Rearing back, Ambrose looks down at me in horror. He has just enough time to lift his fingers to his bloody lips and touch them in dismay before he’s tackled by the blond vampire that was watching me from the bar.
The two roll away from me in a ball of hissing fangs and claws.
My arm trembling, I lift my hand and gingerly touch the wound on my neck. Yanking my fingers away when I feel a sharp, stinging sensation.
Looking at my fingers, at my blood, makes my head woozy and my stomach twist.
My mouth fills with spit and I have to swallow it back as I slowly get to my feet. I don’t know if I’m going to puke or…. need a drink of water or something…
Shaking the pain and haziness from my brain, I force myself to get another grip.
I still need to grab Charity and get the hell out of this place before someone else tries to stop me.
Resisting the urge to look back, I tip-toe around the two vampires rolling around on the floor and walk over to Charity.
Abandoned by Ambrose, she just stands in place where he left her, completely motionless.
Grabbing her by the arm, I pull her with me, dragging her to the doorway that leads to pure blackness.
I’m terrified I’m going to get lost in the darkness, but the faint increase of the throb coming from my mark propels me forward.