Struck (A Vampire Novel) ✔

Forty-Five

My panic only increased over time as I waited for something, anything, to happen. I had crawled into a dark corner in the room, folding into myself so as to keep from being noticeable while I thought over my options. My top plan at that moment was to wait of course. If I was lucky, Corentine would find Jacobi rather quickly, and then he would ultimately find me. But I didn’t tend to be lucky…

If I was unlucky, whatever bond I had created between Corentine and I would be sealed off just as my bond with Jacobi had been the minute she left. Perhaps this would turn her back to rogue and leave her running around bloodthirsty away from this place, leaving me forgotten in the dirt. Or she could find Jacobi and he could ultimately decide I’m not worth the trouble and abandon me, if he hadn’t already. Or, and this I feared was the most likely, Vincent could realize I’ve been left alive and kill me himself before Jacobi or Corentine are able to do anything about it.

My only other option would be to run, despite Corentine’s warning. Only I found myself feeling rather weakened after the fight with Corentine. I suspected it had something to do with whatever I had done to cure her of being rogue. If I were to attempt to run, I wasn’t sure how far I would be able to go before I passed out from exhaustion. I wanted to curse myself, but something told me I was already cursed at this point.

Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t too long before the silence around me was interrupted by a large crash in the distance. I couldn’t identify what it was. It didn’t sound so much like a bomb exploding, but more like what I imagined a tree falling through the ceiling would sound like. Regardless, I was rather jumpy and squeaked at the noise, listening intensely for fear of whatever it was.

After the initial crash, there wasn’t so much as the sound of a pin dropping for what felt like a full minute. And then there was chaos all at once. Extreme blasts were thundering in intervals, with the accompanying shuddering of the landscape around me. It was as if someone was trying to knock this entire building down, which would be fine with me normally except that I was still in it.

My cowardice was at war with itself. One part of me was terrified of staying where I was. Another part of me was afraid of running. Neither option seemed intelligent, seeing as I had been told to stay put but now was at risk of being a victim of some earthquake-level attack on the building I was stuck in. Another blast reverberated throughout the building, causing me to cry out in fear. It had been even closer that time.

Screw this, I hissed at myself. I pushed myself from the ground, bolting blindly out of the room faster than I could think. The speed I usually had to drive myself to achieve came quickly this time, as if that hunter part of me had been waiting to be released. I flew through the hall, despite the dust that had risen in the air. Or was it smoke? The building was definitely being destroyed.

I didn’t know where the exit was. I ran without direction, grasping at random doors as if they would open to the outside world just by me wishing it to. While it was unfortunate that each one tended to be locked, it was better than running into Vincent. I assumed he was busy with the explosion occurring around me. I grasped for another door, panting in panic. And then I heard the most beautiful thing in the world.

“Elysia!”

Jacobi’s voice roared in the distance, searching for me with a level of rage and desperation that took my breath away. I froze in my steps, twisting towards the direction it came from, and ran without second thought towards it. I reached for him with my spirit, my fear diminishing over my own type of desperation. I felt the witches’ seal give only a little with my reach and it was enough for me to push even harder through it.

Just the brush of Jacobi’s spirit was enough to make me dig into what strength I had to race for him. I tore against that seal with more fervor than ever before, relishing in delight as that cold emptiness was being replaced by his warm, electric power each step I took closer to him.