Love and vampires

“Who’s there?” he demanded, and my heart sped up. He did not sound happy.

“Answer me!”

I was out of time.

Gathering myself, I sprung at the lock, hearing a curse behind me. With a vicious twist I turned it and the knob at the same time, spilling myself out into the corridor with my momentum, just as a chunk of wood came flying off the doorframe.

My mind tried to process the splinters of wood that swirled around me as I gained my feet and pounded for the stairs, my legs finding a second wind through adrenalin. My breath screaming out of me, I hit the stairwell door just as I heard something ricochet off the steel door and I gained the stairs.

I practically dove down them, counting landings as I hit them, my brain interested only in survival. I could hear the pounding of feet behind me, and the terror of being pursued almost froze me. My heart threatened to beat out of my chest, and I couldn’t be sure that I wasn’t screaming.

With just two floors to go, something hit my cheek just as pieces of concrete wall shattered next to me. I pushed my exhausted body forward, asking it for more speed.

I cleared the last landing and had the door to the lobby in my sights. As I pounded down the last flight of stairs, I drowned out the sound of him closing in on me, knowing that any second I would feel a hand in my hair that was streaming out behind me, feel the pain as he yanked me back by it.

So when I hit the lobby door and fell out of it, I was completely surprised to not have him right behind me.

I was equally surprised to see Charlie, the night guard, leap up from the desk and hurry toward me.

“Miss! Are you alright?”

I scrambled to my feet, turning to watch the stairwell door, but it didn’t fly open.

Charlie came to a stop next to me, looking from the door to me.

“Miss?” he questioned, his hand on my elbow.

“I was being chased.” I said, turning to look at him. Just before I passed out, I saw his eyes widen as he looked at my face.

The first thing I noticed was cold hands on my face. The second thing that pierced my consciousness was a stinging sensation in my cheek. The third thing I noticed was a huge sigh of relief blow my hair back from my forehead.

Then I heard his voice, the relief in it palpable.

“She’s coming around. Back off, Charlie, let her breathe.”

I opened my eyes slowly, his brown eyes slowly coming into focus. They were the most glorious sight I could see at that moment. I tried to sit up, but firm, cool hands held me down.

“Don’t sit up. Paramedics are on their way.” His hands were on my shoulders, curiously cool through my blouse. I looked at him, crouched next to me; my guardian angel.

“Where is he?” I whispered, my throat sore. I remembered screaming as I came down the stairwell.

I watched a shadow cross his eyes, and then he was looking up at Charlie, those eyes cold.

“Any trace of him?” With a tone equally as cold as his eyes, he questioned Charlie, and I watched Charlie shake his head.

“No, Dr. Macgregor. I found where he had tapped into the security cameras. He had them set on an hour loop. Carlos and Robert are looking for his point of entry.”

“Well, he couldn’t have bloody well jumped off the roof, now could he? I want all access ways checked, all venting ducts and elevator shafts combed over, all receiving docks monitored.” Gareth stood to tower over Charlie, his voice rising with each word until he was shouting. Charlie looked nervously from Gareth to me, lying on the floor. I took pity on poor Charlie.

I made a whimpering sound and tugged on Gareth’s pant leg. He dropped into a crouch next to me as quickly as he had stood up, and gently touched the side of my face that stung.

“Does it hurt? I could give you something for it, if you wish.”

I watched a spasm move across his face, like he was in pain, and he twisted his head away. He took a deep breath and turned back to me, a smile on his face.

“Are you okay?” I said, swallowing past the pain in my throat. I tried to sit up again, but he gently pushed me back.

“Am I ok? I’m fine. I just hate seeing you hurt. You shouldn’t be worried about me though, not with a bullet graze along your cheek.”

“What!” I sat up too quickly for even his hands to stop me, and I lifted a hand to my face. I could feel something wet and slightly tacky where I touched my face, and a furrow in my cheek. I quickly ran my tongue along the inside of my mouth, counting teeth and feeling smooth skin on the inside of my damaged cheek.

He moved to kneel in front of me, coming out of his crouch. Taking another deep breath, he took my hand away and held it in his, and I could see blood staining my fingertips.

“You were shot at, Anna. Charlie found bullet holes in two doors and in the stairwell. How you aren’t dead is completely beyond my ken.” His voice broke on the last word.

He hung his head over our joined hands, and I could feel a tremor move through him. His head dipped lower, and he gently kissed my fingertips, the ones covered in blood.

I don’t think I saw him move away from me, but my brain was still recovering from shock, or I was still in shock. One second he was next to me, the next he was fifteen feet away, his back to me. Tremors were coursing through his big body, his hands clenched at his sides.

“Gareth?”

What had I done? I put my hand back to my cheek, pulled it away and looked at the blood on my hand. I looked to Gareth, a thought forming in my mind, one that made as much sense as him not having a heartbeat.