Eleisha ran on, catching a glimpse of Rose's black dress vanishing behind a white van up ahead, and she ran faster.
"Rose!" she called, throwing caution away. "Please stop. We'll go back to the apartment!"
She would have promised anything in that moment.
The air in front of her shimmered, and a brightly colored form appeared from nowhere… a transparent girl with magenta hair, waving her arms and baring her teeth. Eleisha swerved and smashed into the side of a car.
She bounced off and hit the concrete ground, rolling quickly to try to get up. The girl ghost was coming toward her, making snarling sounds. Eleisha crawled backward in confusion and a surprised fear that made thinking difficult.
What was going on?
"Seamus!" she called.
He flashed into view beside her.
"Go!" he barked at her in his hollow voice. "Get to Rose!"
Then he focused on the girl ghost, his angry eyes narrowing. They were both transparent, but here in this modern parking lot, Seamus looked even more like something from a bygone era with his draped plaid, hand-sewn breeches, long shaggy hair, and the sheath on his belt.
The girl ghost drew back at the sight of him. She stopped snarling and waving her hands. Her eyes widened.
"Oh, geez…," she said. "No way."
She vanished from sight. So did Seamus.
Rose screamed, and the sound echoed off the concrete columns stretching down the lot. Then Eleisha heard a loud clanking sound. She dashed forward, skidding around the back of the van, and she could not believe the sight before her.
Rose was crawling backward, trying to use one of the garage columns to protect herself… and a slender man in a long coat was chasing her with a sword. He swung hard but missed her by inches, smashing the blade against the column. Eleisha sensed no life coming from him at all.
He was one of them.
"Get away from her!" she yelled.
He stopped, letting the tip of the sword drop when he saw her. Rose looked lost and frightened, still crawling backward up against the column. Eleisha didn't hesitate.
She let her gift flow and tried to permeate his mind. She didn't know him. But if he was telepathic, he'd be able to resist the kind of attack she'd used on Julian, and he was standing so close to Rose that Eleisha didn't want to take any risks.
She let her gift flow, and she worked to soak it inside of him. He shouldn't hurt her… he should come to her… walk over to her… protect her.
His face went blank, and he took a few steps, dragging the sword. She had him.
"Eleisha?" he said.
He knew her name?
Suddenly, she felt something coming from him… a feeling of how tragic his life had been, and she could not help a wave of pity rising inside her. She wavered, and her connection broke.
He blinked, straightening and staring at her in shock. Then he saw Rose right beside him and he roared, raising the blade and swinging hard.
"No!" Eleisha screamed.
The tip of the sword sliced through Rose's throat, not severing her head, but black blood sprayed out onto the concrete.
The strange vampire backed up at the sight, as if he couldn't believe what he'd just done. But then he drew his sword arm back again. Eleisha had no weapons and her gift had failed, but without thinking, she ran forward, getting him between him and Rose, shouting, "Don't!"
He halted in midswing.
Philip's voice rang out from somewhere behind them. "Eleisha!"
"Here! We're here!" she called.
Rose was toppled to the side, bleeding from her throat. But at the sound of Philip's voice, her attacker swiveled his head around desperately, as if he didn't know what to do-or maybe he was expecting help. With one last wild look at Rose, and he turned and fled around the column, vanishing from sight. Eleisha dropped to her knees beside Rose.
"Philip!" she cried out.
He came running around the van with Robert on his heels. They both skidded to a stop, taking in the sight of Rose on the floor with her throat half-severed.
"It was one of us," Eleisha began babbling. "With a sword. He cut her and ran. Oh, God, Philip, he tried to take her head off!"
"Where?" he asked.
"There," she said, and pointed behind the column.
Philip held out one hand. "Robert!"
Robert threw him the long nylon bag he'd been carrying. Philip caught it and took off running again. But then Robert came over and dropped beside Rose-whose eyes were closed, the dark pool around her growing.
"What do we do?" Eleisha asked him. "I don't know what to do."
Wade hadn't been far behind at first, but he couldn't keep up while carrying the suitcase. He'd seen where Philip and Robert had run, so he came huffing upon the scene behind the van, unprepared for what awaited him.
The reality registered in stages.
It took him a second to realize the darkness spreading around Rose was her blood. He didn't think he'd ever seen Eleisha hysterical before.
Robert was kneeling on Rose's other side, his face emotionless.
"She needs blood right now," he said.
"Blood," Eleisha repeated in a whisper. "Would it heal a wound that bad?"
She put her wrist into her mouth as if to bite it, but Robert reached out and stopped her. "No, it won't be strong enough from one of us. Her cut is too deep, and she needs pure life force from a mortal." He didn't even glance over but said, "Wade, hurry."
Eleisha's forehead wrinkled. Then she saw Wade standing there with the suitcase. "Wade? No… that will hurt him, drain him."
"Get back," Robert ordered her.
Wade rushed over, kneeling by Rose's head. The sight of her up close left him shaken. Her throat was severed more than halfway through. "What do I do?"
"No-" Eleisha tried to say, but Robert cut her off as if she hadn't spoken.
"Give me your wrist."
"It's okay, Eleisha," Wade said, reaching out. She was beyond upset, and Robert could certainly be handling this differently-but he was right.
Maybe Eleisha realized that, because although the shock on her face melted into misery, she didn't try to stop either of them. Robert took Wade's wrist and punctured his teeth into a vein.
It hurt.
Wade didn't wince, and he let Robert guide his wrist into Rose's mouth, squeezing blood past her lips.
"What if she's too far gone to drink?" Wade asked.
But then Rose opened her mouth and clamped down on his wrist. The pain of Robert's teeth was nothing in comparison, and he couldn't help crying out. His hand… his entire arm was burning as she drained life force away from him, sucking in savage gulps. He gasped a few times, leaning over her, and he could hear Eleisha making small strange sounds beside him. Then he felt Robert's fingers on his throat.
"I'm sorry I cannot put you to sleep," Robert said to him. "Eleisha, get ready to pull him back when I tell you."
Wade's head grew light, but he could actually see Rose stop bleeding, and although her wound didn't close, the internal section appeared to be knitting together. He wondered if he was hallucinating.
He could feel his heart slowing down.
"Now," Robert barked, pulling Wade's wrist out of Rose's mouth.
Rose snarled and snapped after it, but Robert held her down, and Wade felt Eleisha jerk him backward. Then he was lying on the concrete floor, and she was holding his head in her lap, rocking him back and forth. He was dizzy and weak, and his mind wandered. Rose had stopped fighting Robert and lay quietly now.
"God, I hope no one walks by and see this," Wade murmured.
For the most part, they were hidden between the column and the van.
"It doesn't matter," Eleisha said, and she laid him down on the floor. She untucked his shirt and ripped a strip off the bottom, tying it tightly around his wrist.