Chapter 37: :Inject Me Sweetly: Chapter Thirty-Five

There’s no feeling that can compare to the sensation of taking off high heels after a seemingly endless night of dancing. It was like jumping into a cool reservoir on a sizzling hot summer day. I sighed deeply, closing my eyes, and sinking back in to the comfortable leather couch I’d parked myself on. In only an hour, the somehow still lively guests would be urged to leave the manor and then I could go to my room and sleep for a century.

“Emily!”

Reluctantly, I opened my eyes to see Jack hovering over me, grinning handsomely, his long hair now down from its ponytail and cascading down his chest. I smiled weakly at him. “Hi, Jack.”

“You look exhausted,” he commented.

“Thanks.”

Grinning, he took a seat next to me on the couch. “I have something I want to talk to you about before I head out.”

Curious, I turned my body so I could face him. “What’s that?”

“Actually,” he started in a quiet voice, leaning his head closer to mine, “I was outside earlier, on the balcony, taking a breather. From below me I could hear whispering and when I heard your name, I decided to eavesdrop a bit. They were talking about kidnapping you.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. “What else did they say?”

“Um, well they were talking about how they’d kill Rutherford— I’m not sure which one— to get to you since you’d most likely be with them. They also mentioned the best time to get you was while everyone else was leaving the ball.”

“Who are they?”

His face became hard. “Ashton and that crazy bastard Luca. Are they serious, Emily? Are they plotting to kidnap you?”

“I…” I hesitated, unsure of what to say. Was letting Jack know what was going on a good idea? What if he was a double agent and just telling me this to throw me off guard for when Ashton actually decided to make a move?

“Is that definitely what you heard?”

“Sebastian!” I cried, relieved to see him. He’d know if telling Jack was the right thing to do.

A frown was set on his face, his arms crossed. “So he didn’t leave earlier like I’d hoped. He’ll make his move at midnight then?”

Jack’s eyes widened. “Wait, are you serious? He’s plotting to kidnap a human? Why would he do something so stupid? He’ll get in serious trouble!”

Sebastian nodded gravely. “What’s worse is what he’s planning on later.”

“Sebastian, we should tell someone—”

“No,” he interjected, “We must absolutely avoid creating a scene about this. No one else can know besides those who already do.”

Jack furrowed his eyebrows. “Why…?”

Sebastian shook his head. “Never mind, Jack. Thank you for informing us, but please forget about what you’ve heard. It’s dangerous to Emily if anyone else finds out about this.”

“Sure,” Jack agreed, sounding apprehensive. “Make sure nothing bad happens to her, Sebastian. I really like her.”

I grinned. “Thanks, Jack.”

“I like her too,” Sebastian agreed, placing a large hand on my head and messing with my hair. “We’re going to do our best. I need to talk to Emily privately now, so if you’ll excuse us…”

“No problem,” Jack responded, pushing himself up from the comfortable couch cushions. “See you two later then.”

I nodded, waving quickly to him. “Bye!”

“Emily, come with me,” Sebastian urged, snatching my hand into his and gently pulling me off the couch.

“Where to?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he started dragging me toward the exit of the ballroom. Before we went through the door, he whistled like he was calling a dog. I glanced around, completely bewildered. As far as I knew, none of the Rutherfords owned any canines. What was the whistle for?

My question was answered when Vincent, Joel, and Solomon all suddenly emerged from the ballroom, serious expressions on their faces— well, Vincent and Solomon’s. As always, Joel had that happy-go-lucky look to his eyes. It was hard to even just use the words Joel and serious in the same sentence.

“Ashton’s planning on grabbing Emily as soon as the ball ends so he’ll have the cover of everyone leaving,” Sebastian informed the trio, running a hand through his hair. “We should lock Emily up in my room—”

“Whoa, no,” I butted in, staring at him like he was crazy. “You can’t just lock me up somewhere! I won’t let you guys put yourselves in possible danger for me and hide like a wimp, Sebastian.”

He frowned at me. “There’s nothing you can really do.”

“So being placed in a room where if Ashton found me I wouldn’t be able to escape is a good idea?”

“We’ll send Vincent with you—”

“No,” I interjected again, shaking my head. “That’s a stupid idea too. If Ashton decided to get violent, you’ll need all the help you can get.”

Solomon nodded in agreement. “She’s right, Sebastian. And if there were a target Ashton would go after that wasn’t Emily, it would be Vincent. Remember he knows Vincent’s the closest one of us to her.”

“But Emily is a human, no offense,” Sebastian added quickly. “What can she do against him?”

“I do believe you’re forgetting vampires have weaknesses.”

I tilted my head to the side. “They do?”

Solomon turned to me, offering a small smile. “Humans aren’t allowed to know what they are, but I do believe you have a good reason to know them… and put them to use.”

“Is light one of them?”

Vincent snorted. “No.”

“Garlic?”

“No.”

“Silver?”

He pulled at a silver chain around his neck. “What do you think?”

I scowled at him. “Look, I’m just guessing!”

“Obviously,” he replied, smirking.

Solomon sighed. “Focus you two. We have less than an hour to figure this out.”

“Where are Fiona and Luella?” I inquired, taking not of their absence.

“They’re keeping an eye on the guests,” Joel told me, rocking on the balls of his feet. “You know, so it doesn’t look too suspicious.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I nodded. “Right. So what are these weaknesses?”

“Don’t laugh,” Sebastian started, suddenly growing a little wary. “It’s really cliché…”

“Nothing’s more cliché than the light, Seb.”

“It’s…” He mumbled something incoherently under his breath.

I blinked at him. “What?”

Once again he muttered a few words I didn’t catch.

Vincent sighed impatiently. “Holy water. It burns our skin.”

“Holy water?” I echoed, my eyes widening in surprise. “Why holy water? Sebastian, I swear I saw you wearing a cross around your neck the other day! A gold one!”

He nodded, pulling it out from under his tux top. “Crosses have no affect. We’re not really sure why holy water burns. It might just be a joke being played on vampires because of all those movies. Or maybe because we are technically monsters in God’s eyes. Whatever it may be, it’s kind of a bother.”

“That’s kind of… anti-climatic,” I finished lamely. “I was thinking it’d be something like fire, or something.”

“Fire?” Vincent repeated skeptically, raising an eyebrow. “That’s even more stupid than holy water.”

I waved him off. “Whatever. Even if vampires are hurt by holy water, how am I going to get some in under an hour?”

“Every vampire family keeps some holy water in their house,” Solomon notified me, turning his back on me and hastening down the hallway. “Follow me.”

“Why keep holy water on you when it’s dangerous?”

“Because it’s dangerous to other vampires too,” Joel explained, wagging his finger at me.

That made sense. After traveling for a few moments, we came to a stop in front of a room with giant, oak wood doors. Solomon gestured for us to wait outside it while he slipped in for a moment. I tried to peek in, but the door shut before I could get a good look at anything. My guess was that the room belonged to Solomon and Luella.

“Oh!” Joel suddenly cried, his hand going to his mouth. “I forgot to tell you guys!”

“And knowing you, it’s important. What, Joel?” Vincent demanded.

He grinned sheepishly. “To be honest I just figured this out about an hour ago. Ashton didn’t come here alone today.”

“Luca’s with him, right?” I guessed. “That’s what Jack said.”

“Yeah, I saw Luca lurking outside when it was my turn to be on watch. But that’s not all. There are two others I don’t know.”

Sebastian crossed his arms. “Only two? I thought he’d bring more.”

“That still leaves us six against four,” Vincent said confidently. “There’s still no problem.”

I smiled, happy he included me. There was no way I was going to be a liability when this involved me. Even if I was a little scared.

Solomon returned to the hallway, a necklace in one of his hands, and a small glass bottle of holy water in the other. He held them out to me and I took them, staring at the necklace in confusion. The pendant seemed to be some sort of emerald colored rose, hanging on a silver chain. It was pretty, but not something I was expecting Solomon to have. “What’s this for?”

“That’s mine,” Sebastian informed me, narrowing his eyes at it. “Father, how’d you get that?”

“You left it in the bathroom the other day,” Solomon replied in an offhand voice. “It’s solely a good luck charm, Emily. Use it well.”

Sebastian frowned. “I want that back after. It means a lot to me.”

I nodded to him. “Okay, I’ll give it back.”

“Now Emily, there’s one more thing you need to know.”

“One more?” I echoed.

Somber expressions appeared on all the vampires faces, as if they all knew what Solomon was about to say. Shifting uncomfortably, I waited for one of them to speak up. Somehow, I figured I knew what the next person to speak was about to say.

Vincent was the one who confirmed my thoughts. “You need to know how to kill a vampire.”

“Just in case you need to,” Sebastian added quickly.

I glanced down at the holy water. “If this harms you, I have a pretty good idea of what kills you.”

Vincent grinned wickedly. “Yeah, from what I remember, you’ve watched quite the amount of vampire movies, haven’t you?”

Huffing, I placed my hands on my hips. “I wouldn’t sound so smug, otherwise I might stake you.”

“It sounds so lame,” Joel complained, making a face. “A stake through the heart killing you? It’s stupid. That would kill a human too.”

“Where am I supposed to get a stake though?” I questioned.

Solomon frowned. “Well, I’m hoping you won’t have to use one.”

“I’m hoping I don’t either. I don’t want to be a killer,” I admitted honestly. “But if I have to… Well, I have to.”

Vincent nodded. “Good. You can’t hesitate when it comes to a life or death moment, Emily.”

“You think Ashton will get violent? He won’t want to kill me if I have the blood he wants. Why would he shorten my life?”

Sebastian shifted uncomfortably. “The thing is Emily, with the blood you have now it could still make him a lot of money if he drained it and bottled it.”

I wrinkled up my nose. “Oh, ew. No. Mental images!”

Joel laughed. “I can imagine it now. A whole room filled of blood filled bottles that say Emily on them…”

“Don’t laugh at that Joel,” I said, grimacing.

He pressed his lips together tightly. “You’re right. That’s actually awful.”

I rolled my eyes at him, knowing he was suppressing a grin. After a second I threw the necklace that was still in my hand around my neck, making sure it wouldn’t unclasp and fall off.

“Right then… Sebastian and I have to return to the ball,” Solomon declared, shoving his hands into his suit pants’ pockets. “Joel, Vincent, show Emily where she can find a stake.”

“Yes!” Joel responded, mock-saluting the king.

“Let’s go then,” Vincent said unenthusiastically, twisting on his heel and heading further down the hallway. “Keep up.”

I hopped forward a few steps and grabbed his hand, squeezing tightly. “Are you grumpy?”

He rolled his eyes. “Grumpy? No? Angry that a maniac is trying to kidnap my girlfriend? Yes.”

“Don’t worry, Em, I’ll protect you,” Joel proclaimed confidently, clapping me on the shoulder.

“Shouldn’t Vincent be saying those words?”

Joel feigned a hurt look. “Ouch, Em. Just trying to be nice.”

I laughed, but with every second my stomach was tightening. It was easy to act calm on the outside, but it was hard to blow off your body’s reactions. The butterflies in my stomach were about to make me sick. Everyone seemed so confident about being able to fend Ashton off, but I felt like they were underestimating him. It scared me a little bit.

“Stakes are here,” Vincent suddenly announced, coming to a dead stop in front of a white door.

“A broom closest?” I replied, watching as he opened the door to reveal an incredibly tiny space where a black box was.

He ignored me. “There’s a few of these closets around and each one has a stake in it. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, I don’t want you use them.”

“You mean I don’t get to carry one around?”

“No,” he said firmly.

I frowned, but nodded anyway. “Okay…”

“Emily,” he started, sounding unexpectedly serious, “I want—”

“Wait!” Joel interrupted, clapping his hands to his ears. “Wait until I’m gone. I don’t want to hear any of that mushy crap! I’ll be heading back to the ball now!”

Vincent scowled after him. “Good. Now scram.”

“You’re so cold to your best friend,” he sighed dramatically before scampering down the hallway at an impossibly fast pace.

I pushed my hair behind my ears, facing Vincent again. “What do you want?”

“Just to kiss you,” he murmured, placing his cool hands against my cheeks. “I’ve controlled myself all evening.”

“You think I haven’t?” I retorted, pushing him against the broom closet’s door. “It’s not fun having people around. If I so much as look at you they might think something weird’s going on between us.”

He brought his face closer to mine. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble,” I whispered, our lips barely brushing.

“Trouble’s my middle name,” he told me, pressing his lips firmly to mine.

This was a gentle kiss, slow-paced and soft. I clung to him, enjoying the proximity between us. Knowing this would probably be the only chance I got to kiss him for a while, I put all my feelings and effort into it. He seemed to be thinking the same thing as well.

“Hey,” he murmured, pulling away for a second before quickly pressing his lips to mine again. “I have a favor to ask of you.”

“What?” I asked between kisses.

“Stay away from me after this.”

I froze, my eyes snapping open. Vincent pulled away, furrowing his eyebrows. Unable to speak, I just stared at him. What was he talking about? Stay away from him? “What do you mean?” I finally demanded.

“If were together, that’s probably what Ashton wants,” he clarified. “It’d be better if were in separate places, that way he can’t make threats against us in front of each other.”

“Oh,” I breathed, letting out a relieved chuckle. “That’s what you meant.”

“What’d you think I meant? Stay away from me for forever after this?”

“Kind of.”

He rolled his eyes. “That’s stupid. Of course I wouldn’t say that.”

I grabbed the collar of his suit jacket, smiling at him. “That’s good,” I said, pulling his head down to me so I could kiss him again. “You taste like garlic, by the way.”

“Kind of ironic, since I’m a vampire,” he returned, grinning. “It was a dish someone made. I got hungry. Have you eaten?”

“Not yet.”

“You should grab something before midnight.”

I nodded, my heartbeat starting to speed up. The nervous feeling was back. This normal chatting wasn’t stopping it like I’d hoped it would. Holding onto Vincent tighter, I tried to calm myself. “Promise me you’ll be careful tonight.”

He flexed his muscles. “I should be saying that to you.”

“I will.”

“Then I will too,” he promised, sealing it with a kiss. “Now, lets…”

“Let’s?” I prompted.

He narrowed his eyes. “I have to go. Stay here.”

“What? Why? What’s going on? Did you hear something?”

“Joel’s on his way, stay here,” Vincent ordered sternly, pushing me away from him. “

“Vincent!” I called as he raced down the hallway. “Wait! Ugh! Stupid vampire!”

The silence that filled the hallway after that unsettled me. Agitated, I glanced at the closest. Vincent had told me not to grab a stake unless I absolutely needed it, but… What would it hurt to have one on me just in case? It was better than just going with solely the holy water. Glancing around the hallway, I swiftly opened the closet door and struggled to open the black box inside it. In it were beautiful wooden stakes— was it weird to call them beautiful? The polish on the dark wood was mesmerizing. It was hard to believe such a thing could be used to kill.

Closing the black box and the closet, I slid the stake down the front of my dress, hiding it carefully in-between the space between my chest and stomach so it didn’t stand out.

“Emily!”

“Joel!” I cried, twirling around, my heart jumping into my throat. Had he noticed? Judging by his look, he hadn’t.

“Come with me,” he requested, holding out his hand. “Ashton’s made his move.”

Baffled, I allowed him to lead me down the hallway. “Already? It’s not midnight though!”

“Some of the guests have started leaving,” he explained in a rush. “I guess Luca got impatient and broke into the ballroom to look for you. Luca, if you didn’t know, is one of the rogue vampires you learned about before. You know, the kind of vampire the counsel wants to throw in jail, so he wasn’t invited. Now the counsel’s hounding him and everyone is leaving.” He suddenly laughed. “You should’ve seen it! One of the girls tripped and face planted in her haste to get outside!”

I grimaced. That was mean. “Where’s Ashton?” I asked.

Joel shook his head, still grinning widely at the memory. “I don’t know. You have to stay with me though until I can trade you off to Sebastian. It’s not safe to have you by yourself.”

I nodded. “Okay, sounds good. Where are we going?”

“Out back.”

“Is outside really safe?”

“Stupid question. Luca is inside… the other two are inside. So where’s Ashton probably?”

“Inside?”

“So wouldn’t it be the safest outside?”

I blinked. “Huh, I guess so.”

He snorted. “Now I see why Vincent calls you stupid.”

“Hey!”

“Do you have your holy water?” Joel questioned, glancing over his shoulder at me. “Make sure you have it ready.”

I gripped the glass bottle in my left hand. “Okay.”

We reached the back doors that led to the dark forest. Preparing myself for the cold, I held my breath as Joel opened the door. It was freezing, like I expected. Goosebumps erupted on my skin immediately and I shivered, crossing my arms over my chest in an attempt to retain some body heat. Being outside in a dress was a bad idea.

“This way,” Joel said quietly, guiding me toward the back yard, which was lit up by the moon. “Sebastian will be here soon…”

“Wait, Joel,” I responded, forcing him and myself to a stop. “We shouldn’t be back here…”

He cocked his head to the side. “Why?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.” I really didn’t know. An overwhelming urge to run away had randomly washed over me. Like I knew it was dangerous out here. “Joel, we have to go back.”

“Emily…”

“Joel, please. Let go of me.”

He shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Why not? Sebastian will be able to find us somewhere else, I’m sure of it!”

“That’s not it,” Joel told me, his grip on my hand tightening. “Actually…”

Our gazes met. I knew at once something was different about him. His eyes weren’t bright like they usually were. His teasing smile was dropped, replaced by a wicked smirk. His entire playful demeanor was gone.

“Ah, Emily.”

My whole body tensed, my breath stopping short. There was no way… It couldn’t be…

“You’ve done well, Joel.”

Ashton.

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