1

Sal

What the fuck just happened?

My head pulsed as a ringing noise blared in my ears. My hands were tightly wrapped around something, warm flesh against my cold hands. A hand cupped my chin, bringing my eyes upwards to him. His mouth was moving, but I couldn't hear him.

Each word had his split, double-pierced tongue wiggling at me. He was incredibly handsome, sharp jaw with tattoos coming to a halt at his neck. His ears were full of gauges and more piercings than I could count. He was pale, though, and probably needed more time in the sunlight.

"Psalm? Can you hear me?" His voice finally broke through the ringing.

Then I remembered the explosion and Kennedy.

Kennedy wasn't herself before she exploded like a bomb. She wasn't answering my calls, and red runes crossed her pale skin. Then just as she reached the gates, boom. Father Nero's body took most of the blow from us hitting the ground.

Looking towards the gate, I saw a rock wall that wasn't there before. Father Nero must have used alchemy on the ground to protect us.

"Psalm! Are you okay?" He snapped at me, pulling my face back to his.

"Are you?!" I questioned, hands running over his body. My cold fingers warmed against his toned body, which I didn't expect with all the cookies he ate. I became painfully aware of how close our bodies were as I was basically on top of him. Abs rippled under my touch as we both sat up.

"As much as I love this skin-to-skin contact, we will have to save it. We have company," Nero muttered, reaching into the air and saying, "Arma."

I glanced around the rock wall, seeing at least a hundred vampires on the prowl and entering the gates that were supposed to protect us. They were never supposed to be inside the walls that wrapped around all of the surviving cities.

A weapon appeared between us, chains with daggers on the end of them. One chain clanked as Nero pulled off one of the daggers and handed it to me.

"Go get help from the bishops. I'm sure they are already up by now. Let people know to evacuate the area," Nero ordered, standing. The wall he created from alchemy was taller than he was, which was hard to believe. Not a lot of people could do this kind of magic and make it as stable as Nero did.

My fingers looked tiny as they wrapped around his chin and pulled it to my face. He blinked at me, not expecting it. "I am not leaving you to fight them. What are you, stupid?"

"Very," he answered with a smirk on his lips.

"Over my dead body," I snapped.

His massive hand engulfed my waist, and he pulled me flush against him, dagger pressing to my chest. My head tilted back to look up at him. "That can be arranged, Psalm. You are a rookie, and you will obey my commands."

Why did my heart just skip a beat?

"Go get help. I can hold them off."

Pushing back, I stared at him, hearing the vampires getting closer and entering the academy from different sides. He was right; I was just a rookie with barely any knowledge of the magic. "Fuck!" I snapped, jabbing a finger into his chest. "If you survive this, I'll bake every cookie in the book for you."

A hint of a small smile hit his thin lips. "Deal. Now go!"

My finger wrapped around the handle of the dagger before rushing to the door we came out of. A vampire was quick, closing the space between me and the door. I prepared my weapon to stab him in the heart when a twin dagger flew and jabbed him in the neck. Glancing over my shoulder, Nero winked at me.

I felt horrible leaving him, but he ordered me to. Soon the vampire will be wreaking havoc, and we need help. There were rookies here; most of them unable to wipe their own asses.

Outside, the first waves of vampire creatures were attacking. I felt the magic of Nero filling the air, willing me to get help faster. Rushing down the hall towards the bishops, I pulled on the fire alarm, sounding it off.

A hell seeker slid right in front of me, stopping me from continuing. I slid to a stop, dagger in hand. Hell seekers, the ones that will eat you whole, almost like you didn't exist in the first place.

The seeker smirked at me, mouth seams breaking to unhinge its jaw. He wanted to eat me whole, and I wanted to kill this mother fucker. Toxic spit dripped from his lips, burning holes into the hall's floors.

The halls began filling with stupid rookies, all running from the scene. The seeker tried to reach for one of the students, and I acted, shoving my right arm into the mouth of the vampire and shoving my right hand down his acid-filled mouth. Like a cigarette, a red amber crossed his body, leaving the skin to turn to white ash. His spit burned through my clothes on my arm, but not my skin.

More vampires flooded the halls, and my body itched to kill each and every one of them. I wanted to watch them turn to dust, bleed, and beg for mercy as revenge for my friend.

Hands grabbed me from behind, making me twist and reel back to punch the person.

"Whoa!" Kier dodged my punch, though barely. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to him as he pulled out a gun from his holster and began blasting vampires in the head.

Pressing my palms into his strong chest, I pushed back from him. "Father Nero is outside in the courtyard!" I told him over the loud bangs.

"Take her and get as many people as you can evacuate," Kier said, pushing me into Beck.

"We should all leave," I snapped.

Kier blasted one more corpse collector in the head for the fifth time with his shotgun. Finally, it killed him, body sliding across the slick floor. The corpse collectors were the dog-like fuckers that were fast on all fours.

"Leave!" Kier snapped, and Beck tried to pull me away.

"But—"

"Are you refusing to listen to a superior?" Kier snapped. "Leave, Psalm!"

Again with this fucking bullshit? But who was I to stop stupid men from making stupid choices? If they wanted to die, then so be it.My jaw tightened as I looked at the others. They were so quick to leave everyone, but I didn't want to. I wanted to save everyone. But what was I going to be able to do? I couldn't save Kennedy.

"He'll be okay," Briar told me. "Let's go."

Pushing my messy hair back, I nodded. My eyes moved to Kier. I was almost scared to leave him. He was in his father's outfit, skirt to the floor, covering his boots and long sleeves with a white collar. Belts were around him, clinging to the massive muscles he had. He was taller and wider than Nero. Swallowing, I pried my eyes away and followed the rest of the bishops. Osiris took charge and began ordering people out of the building using the back exit.

"Are you hurt?" Briar asked me, looking at the spit burnt hole in my shirt, but the flesh was okay. We met eyes, but he said nothing further.

"What happened?" Abel asked.

I looked up at him. I thought he would still be pissed at me, but he wasn't. At least not right now.

"Kennedy exploded the same way as those two druggies. She blasted open the front gate."

Briar wrapped his chains around a rogue Corpse Collector's head and slammed him into the ground as his brother put bullets into his head until he stopped moving. "Did the vampire plan this?" Beck muttered after the echoing of the gunshots.

"Yes. Kennedy wasn't herself. She just kept going, and I couldn't stop her."

Cain, Abel's brother, shook his head. "You would have blown up if you had, like Briar did."

Briar looked up from the nightwalker he killed, wondering why his name was being thrown around.

Cain was right, but one dead versus the hundreds dying now seemed better.

Everyone pushed out the back door and rushed to the back exit of the academy.

But an army of vampires stood in the way of the gates, stopping us from leaving. Bishops fired their weapons, but something seemed to stop them—like an invisible shield. This was not vampire work. They don't have powers and magic like we do.

"Cease!" A female voice shouted, and the attack on us stopped. The vampire dogs snapped their jaws in the air, waiting for her command. Was this the voice of the one in charge? Then the female vampire appeared, floating in the air. Again, vampires shouldn't have magic.

Her face… I knew it. My heart stopped, staring at her as my world spun. I grabbed Abel's hand unable to process what the fuck was going on. Then my heart pounded at the rage rushing in my chest.

"Hand over Spectre, if you all want to live," she shouted to all of us.

The odds of being out here were not good. At least twenty to thirty of each vampire were lined up in front of us, and more were filling in behind us. There were at least two hundred kids filled in the back courtyard, all inexperienced with maybe twenty bishops.

"We don't know him!" a bishop shouted, and with the flick of her hand, his neck was snapped. A scream filled the air.

"Vampires don't have magic like this," Osiris muttered to us.

"One by one then. You will be killed until the little vigilante reveals himself. He's all we want."

"All of this for some guy?!" someone shouted.

Within seconds, a hell seeker unhinged his jaw and swallowed him, body burning down with acid. Screams and sobs filled the air.

I looked away, eyes tearing up. Abel tried to stay strong, but his hand was shaking with mine. This was hard to watch, and we both were defenseless.

"You have five fucking seconds before I let them all fucking lose!" she screamed.

Chaos ensued as students screamed and ran. They don't get far, being killed instantly.

All this for a man who killed a lot of vampires, for a ghost that was said to be here. This was a massacre.

"Five!" she screamed. "Four!"

No one moved, breath being held.

"Three! Two!"

The dogs were gearing up, and bishops were trying to prepare for this.

"O—"

"I know him!" The words flowed from my mouth before I could stop them. All eyes moved to me. They tell me to shut up and stop. I couldn't. I couldn't lie anymore. I couldn't stop this from happening. But I could. I looked at Abel before dropping his hand. "I'm sorry," I whispered, but I barely knew why. Maybe I was just tired of living this lie to him.

Osiris tried to reach for me to stop me, but the crowd was already parting for me. I moved to the front of the people, ignoring the smell of death in the air.

"And where is he?" The woman smiled at me, sending chills down my spine.

I should be scared. I should turn around and run. But I was pissed and hungry for blood. She made a mockery of us and attacked when we were defenseless. I hated hiding who I was from everyone, and I hated being the reason for these killings.

I grabbed the hem of my shirt, pulling it off to just me in the sports bra and shorts.

More mobility.

"Stop this!" Beck snapped.

I couldn't.

I reached onto my right shoulder, fingers brushing over a few buttons. Pressing them, my flesh-colored arm turned off, revealing a clear robotic arm.

"Come get her," I challenged, locking eyes with the white hair vampire. She was mine.

"Kill her," the woman said, rolling her eyes, and the crowd behind me backed away as the corpse collectors were the first to attack.

Rage fueled a vengeance within, and I felt powerful. These vampires hesitated and that gave me the advantage I needed.

In a swift moment, I used alchemy to molt my robot arm into a long blade. Alchemy was the transformation of matter and my favorite magic.

Rushing forward, I leaned back far at the right time, catching myself on my good hand and piercing my blade right through two dogs who had lunged for me. I slammed them to the ground, using their bodies as leverage to push away from them. Bones cracked as I pulled my weapon free. I reached into the air, saying "arma," and pulled out my large seven-foot scythe. I twisted it and spliced another one down the middle. I punched my right hand down and killed the one below me.

"Psalm!" Beck snapped, and I looked back to see a few normal vampires rushing at me.

With my scythe and blade, all four were taken down.

My eyes landed on the girl floating above.

Her eyes were wide with horror. Eight dead in less than a minute. "Psalm??" Her voice sounded innocent when she said my name. Too bad, I didn't believe it. "Kill her!"

Waves of vampires rushed towards me, but I was faster. I swung my scythe, gripping the handle. It missed one last second, but my blade got him, stabbing his brain. I jumped up, kicking one back before swiping my leg and cracking the other in the skull, then stabbing the third.

A bullet rang through the air, and I glanced over to see Kier alive, bloody and ready to fight. His jaw was tight as he stared at me.

A body dropped behind me.

I dropped my scythe for a second, letting it disappear into my magical world that held it. I grabbed a vampire's skull and slammed it into my knee before reaching behind him and stabbing his friend.

My eyes were locked on the woman floating still as all hell broke out. Bishops and fathers fought beside me.

Together, we killed a decent chunk before the woman screeched, "Retreat. Leave!"

Rage rushed through me.

I grabbed my scythe once more before whipping it at her, trying to hit her. The magical force field stopped it, but that didn't stop me from calling it back to my hands and trying again. Again and again, I got closer to her, whipping the scythe as she backed to the entrance with many other vampires.

"You wanted me!" I screamed, punching my blade through the force field and making her jump back. "Come get me!"

She smirked a bit before she said, "It's nice seeing you, P. Or should I say Spectre?"

"Fuck you, vampire!" I snapped.

She chuckled as she and the others backed through the exit and disappeared in thin air. That wasn't vampire magic. They couldn't vanish like it was nothing.

My chest was heaving as my whole body was sticky with blood. The vampires didn't touch me once, and I took some pride in that.

My right arm was the only thing in pain. My prosthetic wasn't a good one, leaving it almost unusable. I bent the elbow, and something in it snapped, rendering it limp. With an exhausted sigh, I sat before the gate, clenching my arm and not looking at anyone behind me. I felt the need to disappear like those vampires. All of this… was my fault…