Chapter Twenty-One: The Chasing:

Five of them were in the sky. They too wanted that bounty on her head. All of that blood, all of that gold. This plotted on how to split it up. The wisest one had her eyes closed.

“She’s here,” she said. The other four looked at their compass.

“Where?” their leader asked.

“On the ground,” the compass said. “Moving north.” The other vampires looked downwards.

“Let’s the go!” the leader shouted. All five of them shot down towards the ground.

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Lauren froze as a faint flutter caught her ears.

“In the sky,” she said. Fred looked at her outside of his rear view mirror.

“What?” he asked. Lauren opened her eyes and turned around in the car.

“Listen to me,” she said. “Don’t ask questions and drive where I tell you to.” Her tone of voice told him everything he needed to know.

“Gotcha,” he said. The shop owner clutched his steering wheel. Lauren dug her nails into her seat.

“Good, now turn right,” she said.

“Yes ma’am,” Fred said. He turned his car right down an alley. Lauren trained her ears to the sky. One… No, two… No, three of them. One on the left. Another to the right. And third behind them. But, they weren’t moving to attack. Lauren gulped. I don’t like this. Why aren’t they attacking us? Her eyes shifted above her.

“Should I turn?” Fred asked.

“Huh? Uh yeah…” she said. “Go into the darkness.”

“You sure?” he asked.

“Yes,” the vampire replied. Her voice trembled.

“Hey, you’re doing great,” Fred said. He looked to see Lauren staring back at him. He smiled.

“I’ll take you out of the city if you need to,” he said. “Give me the word and I can drive like we’re driving out of hell. She shrugged her shoulder.

“That won’t work,” she said.

“Excuse me?” he asked. Lauren put her hand over her eyes.

“They will just keep chasing me,” she said. “Running won’t work.”

“Okay, so what are you going to do?” Fred asked. Lauren put down her head.

“Keep driving,” she said.

“Huh?” he asked.

“We’re going to lure them away,” Lauren said with a growl in her voice. “I have no choice, but to fight.” Fred turned straight into the darkened alley. The female vampire braced herself.

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The compass stayed where she was in the sky and closed her eyes. She smirked as she could heart Lauren’s heart racing. The target’s existence alone perked her interest. How could a vampire survive the sun with just a few drugs in their system? She figured she might as well get the answers before her companions killed the target. The compass held up two fingers and started chanting under her breath.

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Lauren looked around when she felt someone was watching her. She could felt a cold breath on her hair and the back of her neck. The vampire turned around, but saw nothing but trash cans and stray animals walking around in the alley behind them. The vampire held her breath.

I know you are there. Why don’t you come out and shows yourself? What are you, scared? Lauren was about to open her mouth when her whole body froze. She didn’t even get a chance to reply.

“Lauren? Lauren?” She could barely hear Fred’s voice as she felt herself pulled upwards and away. In her mind, she tried to reach out to her driver. She couldn’t scream out.

Suddenly, Lauren looked around and found herself surrounded by a veil of darkness.