Escaped the Night (53 page)

I turned around. T
o my ast
onishment, I’d gone quite a way
s
further
down the driveway
than I realized
.
The
giant
house looked
very
welcoming
,
the
way
the windows were
all
lit up.
I heard a branch snap nearby.
I rapidly
moved
towards the house. M
y
un
easy feeling
was
growing stronger
with every passing second.
I stopped for a
minute.
I needed to listen. Silence.
I decided
to
head
off the driveway
in order to mak
e my way back
, remaining somewhat hidden amongst
the trees and shrubs
that lined the driveway
.

I pushed my
self
along while branches and twigs scratched
and pulled
at my clothes. I
kept
my hands up
,
trying to protect my face
from the incoming branches
.
This
was a much slower route
,
but I
felt a bit safer
knowing I was hidden. I looked up to see
that
I was really start
ing to close in on the house
. I was
only
about fifty yards away. For a brief moment
I debated going the rest of the way on the driveway
,
but
I
couldn’t shake
the bad
feeling
I had
.
Nope, I
’
d stay here, this
was working well so far.

Thud!
I tripped.
Branches
jabbed
and poked me as I fell
down
.
My
head
smashed into
the base of the
tree trunk
.
I cried out in pain as
the throbbing bega
n
. I touch
ed
my hairline
and felt the warmth of the blood.
Oh no, t
his wasn’t good. I tried
get
ting
up
,
but
the dizziness won and
forced me to stay on the
ground
. I lay bleeding in the shrubs
, hoping and wishing
someone would find me
soon
. Someone
that
was
on my side.

I tried connecting to Jayce. Maybe if he
sense
d
me, he
’d know where I was and
could lead the ot
hers out of the house to help
. I concentrate
d as hard as I could despite
my o
ozing and
throbbing pain
. It was no use.
I couldn’t feel him
connecting back.

Every passing
minute
caused
the pain
to gro
w more
and more
unbearable
.
I
found
it difficult to keep
my eyes open.
“Help me…
anyone?
Help!
” I
shouted feebly
. The sound of my voice pounded like nails
through
my throbbing skull.

I heard
no response, nothing but
the
unwelcoming silence.
A moment later I drifted into unconsciousness.

**********************

I awoke safe an
d sound,
tucked into
Jayce’s
bed.
Had this
been nothing more than just another
one of my
dream
s
? I
balanced myself on my elbows before
attempting
to sit
up
.
The
shocking pain i
n my head was
all too real. I
dropped back down
,
reached up
and found
bandages wrapped
tightly
around my head.

“Jayce?
Anyone?
” I called out.

A moment later he
opened
the door.
I
stared in disbelief; he
looked more beat up than I felt.

“Oh…
Jayce…
what happened?” I asked
,
p
lacing my hands over my mouth so
I
could
stop gasping or at least hide it a little
bit
better.

He
moved
slowly
towards me and sat
down
on the bed. From the look on his face, I
already
knew
I wasn’t about to hear any
good news.
“
I guess you could say, we ran into some trouble
.”

“What happened?” I repeated.

“
We met s
ome
nightwalkers down at the be
ach that
were
o
pposed to what we’re doing
and
they tried
to
stop us because t
hey
foolishly believe
Donovan
created the proper way of life. They
feel
those gifted from the night
,
belong in the night
,
and
daywalkers shoul
d stay in the light, where they
—
let us survive
.
”
He paused. “They’re unbelievably ignorant because h
e’s brainw
ashed them. There were major ca
s
ual
ties on both sides.”

“Who?” I sobbed,
t
ears flowing
. This wasn’t how it was
meant
to happen. Do
novan was supposed to be the casualty
, the only one.
My imagination ran wild. From the sight
of Jayce, I knew there’d been awful fighting going on
.

“M
any m
ore nightwalkers and daywa
lkers
joined
us
while you slept.
Unfortunately, t
he fighting
has grown
so intense,
most
of the newcomers
have
backed out and those
that didn’t,
well
there’s no way to soften it
, so here it goes, they
didn’t
survive.”

“No!” I didn’t want to hear new
s
like this.

“The group
sent
to the vampire house never made it back. Allayna, Fadan, Keita were
all
killed. Donavon
showed up
alone
and
didn't take to their c
ompany to
o
lightly. The unicorn travelling with them managed to get
away from
the house. She
made it
back to
warn us, but s
adly,
she passed a few hours ag
o from her injuries
.”

I sat upright
; sadness
turned to pure anger. I clenched my fists and pounded them against the bed
, despite the pain I was in
.

Jayce continued, “My group
lost the vampire. Taina, the werewolf is injured
,
but I think s
he’
ll be okay in the long run. Layla
was also
injured,
but
has
very
minor
injuries
compared to everyone else.”

I reached my breaking point. A rage boiled inside
me
that I’d never known
or felt
before.
I would’ve fought
until death, ripping
Donovan
into pieces
had he been close enough
. Donovan was going to die and I was set on doing it my
self. After all the lives stolen and
the loved ones
he’d taken
from me
, it was enough to ensure
that
I’
d feel no remorse. He
made me and now he was
about
to regret everything about me.

“I need to find
Gabriella.” I tried to stand, but my
he
ad injury had other plans
. I spun out
and
lost
my balance.

“You must rest,
” Jayce said
as he tried
placing
me back in
to
bed.

I fought him off
and
managed to stumble
a few steps
towards the door.

“You’
re so stubbor
n.
Do you
remember
how it
happened
,
Shanntal? Do you know where
they found you?”

I stopped
. It took a minute
before the events
came back
into my mind.
“
Yes, I know where I was
,
Jayce.
I walked there
myself,
”
I snapped.

“And?”

“Well, I
remember
having
an
un
easy feeling
because
I couldn’t find t
he four nightwalkers
that were
keeping watch
.
I
followed Daray
down the driveway
when he
left
,
trying
to spot the others.
Something didn’t feel right
to me
, so I got off the driveway and took
cover in the bushes.
There was
no sign of
them so
I was
coming back to the
house and tripped.”

“Oh you found them alright, you tripped over their corpses!”

“
W
hat?”

“Donovan
was
near
, but w
hen Daray
arrived
he retreated. I never tho
ught the
day would come w
hen I’d be thankful to know
Daray was around. But I am. If he hadn’t
come when he did
, who knows what would have happened. Kale
b told me you wandered off
by yourself. What were you thinking?”

“
Really?
Donovan
was
here
?”
I was quite surprised.

“Yeah, and from where you and the nightwalkers
’
remains were found, he was really close.”

“Jayce, we have a huge problem.” I
began to
panic
.

“What?”

“I
couldn’t tell
he was here
. Wi
th
all these nightwalkers around
, m
y body’
s adapting and
I can’t sense him.” Donavon was too strong and we needed a way to know when he was close.
The
extra edge
we
had just disappeared
.

Jayce
stared with
a blank expression.

“Are you able to
connect
?” I asked.

“No. I’ve tried. I wanted to get a feel for him. See how he th
inks
and
what
his plans
are
, but
I can’t reach him.”
Frustrated, he ran his hands through his hair, trying to see if it would be enough to stimulate
the
connect
ion
.

Things
really
weren’t going as planned. We w
ere
banged up and
bruised
,
and
this wouldn’
t lead to a victory in our favor. “Jayce, please help me
. I need to
get to Gabriella. She’s got the ability to
heal our wounds and w
e
’ve got
to be ready
be
for
e
nightfall.”

“Fine, alright! Only because I
really hurt
and if she can take this pain away, I’m all for
it.” He placed his arm
s
around
me
for support
and we made our way downstairs.

There wasn’t a body in the house that wasn’t
battered. Things were
really starting to look bad. What if we were in over our heads? What if Donovan’s strength made him invincible?
What if this was a battle with no end? Was I ready to be held responsible for more lives lost?