Taken (The Vampire Legends #2)

Hunter ran up the stairs as quick as he could to find Benji and Rachel quickly getting dressed. Benji was standing at the foot of his bed and Rachel was sitting straight up in bed, fidgeting with her sweater and looking petrified.

“You have to listen to me,” Hunter said. “You have to leave now!”

“What do you mean?” Benji asked.

“There’s no time. Pack your things. I know a place that’s safe where we can hide,” Hunter said.

“What are you talking about?” Rachel asked.

“Violet knows everything and she’s out to get both of you. She won’t stop until you are both dead,” Hunter shrieked.

“But why?” Benji retorted.

“She’s roused her entire coven the Greslins and they’re going to be here soon. You don’t have time. Move now!” Hunter prodded.

“Wait a minute,” Benji remarked. “Why did you tell her where we were?”

“I didn’t tell her. She already knows. Don’t you get it? She can hear everything. She is evil. You don’t understand this girl.”

“Well thanks for giving us away,” Benji said, with a upset look on his face.

“What do you mean? You’re the one that started this! You’re the one who opened your big mouth and got yourself in this mess in the first place,” Hunter said, angrily.

“Are you kidding? I didn’t do anything,” Benji said, sticking up for himself.

“You’re selfish, Benji, just like you’ve always been. You’ve not only jeopardized yourself, you’ve jeopardized our whole coven. And all for a human,” Hunter said, looking directly at Rachel.

Hunted and Benji start walking towards each other as if to fight. Hunter threw down his jacket and rolled up his sleeves.

Then, Rachel held out her hand, and put it in between the two brothers and said, “Wait a second, guys. This is clearly all my fault. This is not Benji’s fault. Please don’t fight. I really don’t want to be the cause of any troubles. I’ll just go away and I’ll never come back. Maybe that will fix things.”

“You don’t understand, it’s too late for that. Nothing you can do can change it now. They’re already on their way here. They will be here any second. And they won’t stop until they kill you. Both of you!” Hunter exclaimed.

“So then why are you here Hunter? If they’re all coming here, then why are you risking your life to be here right now?” Benji asked.

“I came to warn you. You’re my only brother.”

Hunter softened, and Benji gave him a look of gratitude.

“So where do you propose we go?” Rachel asked.

“We can’t just run from these guys forever,” Benji said. “We have to stand and fight.”

“Now is not the time. We are too outnumbered. We wouldn’t stand a chance. The Greslins have powers that you wouldn’t even conceive. I know a place where we will be safe. I know a--”

Suddenly, there was a loud crashing on the roof, and before Hunter could finish his speech, the three of them looked over at the window. There, up against the glass, was the ugliest face they had ever seen. It was the face of a creature, and a face of pure evil.

Chapter Twenty

Rachel could not believe what was happening. Her heart was pounding out of her mouth. As she looked to the window and saw the hideous creature, its face up against the glass, she was in awe to realize that such hideous and fantastical creatures really existed. She felt terrified, and if Benji and Hunter hadn’t been at her side, she would have shrieked and ran for her life.

Rachel felt Benji’s cold hand on her wrist, and just as he opened his mouth to say something, suddenly, there was a noise on the other side of the house, coming from the front door. It took Rachel a moment to realize what it was: police sirens.

A moment later, there came the sound of a megaphone: “This is the police! Come out with your hands up!”

Rachel turned back to the window and saw that the creature had disappeared. For a second, she began to wonder if she had ever even seen it at all.

Benji tugged hard on her, and she found herself sprinting with he and Hunter through the house, to the front door. They all stuck their heads up against the glass, and as they looked out, Rachel was horrified to see that several police cars were pulled up on the lawn, in front of the house, their sirens flashing.

“Oh my God!” Rachel said. She could feel her body shaking. She didn’t know what was worse, those hideous creatures, or the sight of all these police. She felt certain that she was going to go to jail, that her life was over.

“What are we going to do?” Rachel asked.

“We have to get out of here, now!” Hunter said. “We have to take the secret exit,” he said, looking to Benji.

But Benji stood there holding firm, his jaw set, still looking out the window. “No,” he said. “We have to warn the cops. The Greslins will eat those policemen alive. We have to save them. We have to give them a chance to get out of here.”

Benji reached out and grabbed the door handle, and as he did, Hunter’s hand landed on top of his, stopping him.

Hunter stared at him with such intensity. “You’re risking all of our lives by going out there,” Hunter said.

Benji looked at him. “We have no choice. We can’t let those police die. They are only humans.”

Finally, slowly, Hunter removed his hand, and as he did, Benji opened the door, and they all walked out, into the night.

The flashing lights were blinding in the darkness as Rachel followed Benji and Hunter out onto the lawn. Before them were about a dozen police officers, most of them standing with their guns drawn, and pointed right at them.

“HANDS UP!” came the voice through the megaphone.

“You don’t understand,” Benji yelled back, “You’re not safe here. You have to leave! Now!”

“WE ARE NOT GOING TO SAY THIS AGAIN. PUT YOUR HANDS UP, OR WE WILL SHOOT!”

Rachel could see Benji and Hunter slowly raise their hands high in the air and she did the same. She felt her arms shaking as she did, and felt like she wanted to cry, standing there in the bright floodlights of the police cars.

“You don’t have much time!” Benji yelled out to them. “Please! Leave now! Before anyone gets hurt!”

“GET TO YOUR KNEES. NOW.”

Benji and Hunter dropped to their knees, hands high in the air, and Rachel did, too. As they did, suddenly, several of the policeman started hurrying towards them. She saw them take out their handcuffs, dangling them in front, and she felt terrified that soon she would be in prison. She didn’t even know what she had done to deserve all this. All she knew was that she loved Benji. Was that a crime?

The police got closer and closer, now only feet away, and as one of them came right for Rachel, suddenly, Benji spoke up, “You can arrest us,” he said to the officer, “but don’t touch her. If you do, I assure you, you will regret it.”

“Open your mouth again, you punk, and I will mace it shut,” the officer said, reaching into his belt and holding out a canister of pepper spray.

At that moment, Rachel felt the hard grip of a beefy, calloused hand on her wrist, yanking her arm back, and placing a cold, metal handcuff on her wrist, snapping it into place. The metal was so tight on her wrist; she couldn’t help herself from crying out in pain.

“Benji!” she found herself yelling out, crying. “Please! Help me!”

And then it all happened in the flash of an eye. Before Rachel could even process what was happening, there was a whirl of motion before her, at lightning speed, just like that time when Benji saved her on the ferris wheel. It was like, she blinked one moment, and the next, Benji was up on his feet, somehow standing behind her, grabbing the police officer with one hand, and lifting him high off the ground. In another flash of an eye, Benji had somehow managed to throw that police officer into the other one that was approaching with the pepper spray, knocking them both to the ground like dominos.

And that was when things got even more confusing. Several more officers were still approaching, but before they could get near them, this time, there came a flurry of blinding motion from the sky itself. It all happened so fast and it was hard for Rachel to make it out in the harsh floodlights of the police vehicles, but she thought she saw black shapes descending from the sky, and landing directly on the police officers. She was sure she spotted one of those hideous creatures--she would never forget its face--landing on a police officer’s chest, reaching over, and tearing off his head in one motion. It then leaned over and sunk its teeth into what was left of his torso, screeching as it did so.

That was when the shots began. Within moments, Rachel heard gunfire all around her, and saw the police frantically shooting in every direction. Most of them aimed for the sky, to no avail, but one of them aimed right for Benji.

She called out his name to warn him, but it was too late. He didn’t see it coming, and she watched in horror, as the bullet hit him square in the chest.

“Benji!” Rachel cried out.

She expected to see him collapse, to see blood pouring out of him, to see him die on the spot. But she was shocked to see that the bullet did not faze him at all. In fact, he merely reached over, yanked the bullet from his flesh and threw it on the ground, as if it were an insect. She looked over and saw the officer staring, open jawed, in utter shock.

The bullets kept flying, and the black shapes kept descending. Within moments, it was a blood-fest, with the police officers being torn to bits. Finally, they realized that they were up against something that they could not fight, and the officers that remained tried to flee in a panic.

Several of them ran for a police vehicle, but as they did, one of those black things landed before it, picked the car up over its head, and hurled the car across the lawn, as if it were a toy. It smashed against a huge tree and burst into flames.

The police who remained started firing wildly in every direction.

And that was when Rachel felt it.