Chapter 22
Piper
Isat on the couchin my bedroom, flickering through the channels on the television trying to find something to distract me from the anxiety of waiting for the hunters to finally attack when Angus came bursting through the bedroom door.
“Get up, you need to get going,'' she grabbed at me from the couch and I scrambled to my feet.
“What's going on? What's happening?” She tried to pull me towards the door and I dragged my feet behind me.
“The vampire hunter's found us. We have to get you out of here.”
“Wait a second, they're not going to hurt me.” I told her, pulling my arm away from her. “I was one of them, don't you remember? If you stay with me, I'll protect you.”
Agnes paused, turning back to me and her back to the door. “It's not them I'm worried about. Remember what will happen to you if they find us?”
“Yeah, I remember what Caleb said, but I can't let you get yourself hurt by trying to help me. You have to get out of here. They won't stop to think about whether or not you're a good vampire; they'll just kill you.”
The sound of fighting grew closer to the doorway the longer we spoke. Worry covered Agnes's face and I saw that she struggled with what she should do. Suddenly she stuck her hand in her pocket and pulled something out and handed it to me. “Here, take this, it will at least provide you with some kind of protection if Caleb comes for you.”
I took what she handed to me, my eyes moving from her face down to my hands quickly before going back up to hers. “A stake. How did you get a stake?”
“Don't worry about that right now, worry about keeping you and your baby safe.” Agnes glanced down at my stomach and then back to my face.
“What about you? Where are you going to go? You could stay here, I'll protect you.”
“Not if you can't protect yourself from Caleb. He’s my master. I have to do what he says. If he told me to turn on you, I would have to.”
That did present a problem. I blew out of breath and rubbed my forehead with my fingers. “Then what are you going to do?”
“There is an escape route through the basement that'll lead me out of here. I'll get out of here through there. You just worry about getting yourself and the baby out.”
I grabbed her hands, keeping her from leaving. An emotion overwhelmed me for a moment. “Will I ever see you again? I feel like this time we've been together has been...”
“I know I feel the same way too.” Agnes squeezed my hands, a sad smile coming across your face.
I opened my mouth to say something else but then her expression changed to surprise and then pain overcame her face. I jumped back as the sharp point of a stake came out the front of her chest.
Agnes grunted and her hands went to the stake before she glanced back up at me once more and then fell to the ground dead.
Caleb stood behind her. A calm expression on his face. “I told you what would happen if they found us.”
“Now hold on a moment,” I backed up, holding the stake that Agnes had given me behind my back. “Have you spoken to Tuma and Odetta about this? Are they okay with you killing me because how am I supposed to know that they were going to come? I didn't tell them to come.”
“You can't lie to me, Piper. I can read your mind. I know and you know that you told your little vampire lovers where to find you and of course they could not keep their mouths shut and now here we have the vampire hunters on our doorstep or rather in the foyer down the hall. Now either you can let me kill you or let them kill you.”
I snorted and smiled. “What makes you think they're coming to kill me? I'm the one they're coming to save. It's you who should be worried.”
Caleb's lips curled up into the first smile I'd ever seen on his face and it wasn't a pleasant one. “Either way, you'll be dead before they get here.”
He dashed for me, his fangs bared at me.
I pulled the stake out from behind my back and dodged left, swiping at him but missing.
Damn he was fast.
I ran around the bed. Caleb came at me from one side. I jumped over the mattress and scrambled away from him but Caleb was right there nipping at my heels.
“The longer you draw this out the more it will hurt,” Caleb explained in a bored tone that made it seem like killing me was just an everyday task like cleaning the dishes or taking out the trash.