Obsessed

He nodded, a worried expression on his face.

Maria took another deep breath, willing the lucid part of her to take control, to tell them what she so desperately needed to.

“Vampire,” she said through her gritted teeth. “Vampire. War.”

Officer Marlow’s face paled.

“Go on,” she urged Maria.

Maria licked her lips. It took every ounce of effort she had to stay present.

“Kyle,” she said through a grimace. “Leader.”

Officer Marlow squeezed Maria’s hand. “Kyle will lead a vampire war?”

Maria squeezed back and nodded.

“Scarlet,” she added. “Only. Hope.”

Officer Marlow exhaled and sat up straighter. “Do you know where Scarlet is?”

Maria gritted her teeth and spoke as carefully as she could. “With Sage…the castle.”

Suddenly, a deep pain started inside Maria’s brain. She screamed out and clutched her head, pulling her hair into her tight fists. Instantly she knew that the sane part of her was being overpowered once again by whatever damage Lore had done to her. She was slipping away.

“Help me!” she screamed.

She began pulling against her shackles and thrashing wildly.

Panicking, Officer Marlow stood. She looked over her shoulder at her partner.

“Call it in,” she commanded him.

She tried to calm Maria but the girl had lost it. She was screaming over and over. The door bleeped and the psychologist rushed in.

“What happened?” he cried.

“Nothing,” Officer Marlow said, backing away. “She just flipped.”

She paced away as the psychologist tried to calm Maria and stood beside her partner.

“Did you call it in?” she said, panting from anguish.

“No,” he replied tersely.

Officer Marlow frowned at him and reached for her walkie-talkie. But Officer Waywood leaned forward and grabbed it from her hands.

“Don’t,” he snapped. “The Chief doesn’t want to hear this crap. He’s got his whole squad to look out for and you want to bother him because some crazy kid thinks there’s a vampire war!”

Over the sound of Maria’s screams, Sadie Marlow spoke in a hurried, insistent voice.

“The Chief sent us here for a reason. Why would he want to question a so-called ‘crazy kid’ if he didn’t think she could help? Kyle wants Scarlet Paine. That girl,” she pointed at Maria, “is the closest we’re going to get to finding her and maybe ending this thing. If she knows something then I’m pretty sure the Chief will want to know.”

Officer Waywood shook his head.

“Fine,” he said, shoving the walkie-talkie back at her. “It’s your career on the line, not mine. Let the Chief think you’re a lunatic.”

Officer Marlow snatched the device from her partner and clicked the button.

“Chief? It’s Marlow. I’m down at the institute with the witness.”

The walkie-talkie crackled.

Officer Marlow paused, weighing her words. “She says there’s going to be a vampire war. Led by Kyle. And the only person who can stop it is Scarlet Paine.”

She looked up at her partner’s raised eyebrows, feeling like a fool. Then the walkie-talkie buzzed again and the police chief’s voice rang out.

“I’m coming.”

CHAPTER SIX

Scarlet coughed and wiped dust from her eyes. Her mind swirled as she tried to make sense of what was happening around her. One moment the Immortalists had been advancing on her and Sage, the next moment there’d been a tremendous explosion that rocked the castle. Then the ceiling had caved in, bringing with it brick, wood, and heavy slate tiles.

Scarlet looked around and found that she was in a cocoon of rubble. It was so dark she could hardly see. Thick dust clogged her lungs, make it difficult to breathe.

“Sage?” Scarlet cried into the darkness.

Something stirred beside her.

“Scarlet?” came Sage’s voice. “Is that you?”

Scarlet’s heart leapt as she realized her beloved was still alive. She scrambled over boulders and debris toward the hunched shape of Sage. Once she reached him, she pressed her lips against his.

“I’ve got you,” she whispered.

“Scarlet, it’s too late,” he countered.

But Scarlet wasn’t listening. She slipped her arms around his naked torso and pulled him to sitting. He slumped, weak, barely able to hold his body up.

“What happened?” he said, surveying the damage, his voice little more than a croak.

“I have no idea,” Scarlet replied.

She looked around again and this time started to notice the tangle of Immortalists sprawled across the floor, or trapped beneath ceiling beams and clumps of brick and stone. Flames rose from several different areas like strange orange shrubbery.

Octal lay motionless on the floor. His staff lay beside him, snapped clean in half, and the cross on the tip that had been used to pierce Sage was aflame. Scarlet couldn’t tell whether Octal was dead or not but he certainly looked like he wasn’t going to be doing any harm for the time being.

Then Scarlet recognized the twisted metal fuselage of a military plane amongst the rubble. She gasped.