Blood Slaves Ch. 07

"Sara," Elyse said suddenly, from her spot on the floor.

She was still on that one elbow, having crawled over to Heather's side now, and smiled sinisterly at me as she shook her head slowly. "This is far from over, I hope you know."

I bit my lip, exhaling slowly and nodding.

"We'll be waiting."

I set Kimberly down against the wall, right below the broken window where Lisa and Mike had entered through earlier, and hoisted myself up, climbing outside. I quickly turned around and reached in with both hands as Lisa lifted Kimberly for me to pull her out, then did the same with Morgan, who was at least conscious enough that she didn't feel as dead-weight as Kimberly had.

"Come on," I said, turning back towards Lisa. "Your turn."

Lisa reached up, taking my hands and I started pulling.

Her feet rose from the basement floor and she banged her knee against the wall, as I tried to pull her through the window, my strength dwindling slowly but surely making me struggle just a little bit. "Almost there," I said, grunting as I pulled harder, and finally, she was out and back to her feet faster than any of the rest of us.

"Let's go," I said, as Lisa grabbed Morgan, one of her arms slung over the redhead's shoulder and I picked Kimberly up again.

"My car's parked by the main road," Morgan said, as we started moving as fast as we could in our injured state.

"You know something red," Morgan said to Lisa.

"You pulled through for us...gotta say, when you left before I got back to that building I didn't think you'd be coming back. Not to fight for us anyway."

"Don't kid yourself," Lisa scoffed. "I came back for Kimberly, not you."

"Why Kimberly," I couldn't help but ask as I held my unconscious friend over my shoulder and we made haste towards the car.

"She's still human," Lisa explained.

"We came to slay the nest and save Kimberly."

"Oh," I said, a bit out of breath. "But...n-not me?"

Lisa glanced over at me with a blank stare at first, and I have to admit that I almost felt hurt to know that she wasn't interested in saving me anymore...especially, after the night we had shared while Morgan was out.

But after a few moments, she smiled at me and even though she didn't say anything, I got the feeling she had come back for more than just the reasons she had listed.

We hadn't been running for more than a couple of minutes when I looked up and saw Morgan's car parked off to the side of the road just up ahead. I was relieved for that, since my fatigue was starting to catch up and I had caught myself stumbling a few times, struggling not to drop Kimberly.

We got to the car and I slid into the back seat, pulling my friend in with me and laying her head in my lap.

Morgan moved around to the driver's seat, grunting in pain as she slipped behind the steering wheel and turned the ignition. The car started and she looked over to the passenger seat, as Lisa grabbed at the door and pulled it open.

Just as she was about to jump into the car, something grabbed her by the throat and squeezed...an invisible force that none of us could see, we never would have known anything wrong except when I noticed her hesitating, I looked up and then heard her choking.

She grabbed and clawed at her throat and Morgan reached across the seat to grab her and pull her into the car, but before she could reach Lisa was yanked backward by the invisible force.

"Lisa!" I shrieked, as I opened my door and looked over the roof of the car to see Amanda standing at the side of the road, holding the Hunter in both arms with a huge grin. The second that Lisa was in her grasp, Amanda released the psychic hold around her throat but her arms would never let her slip away, even as the Hunter struggled to break free.

"Amanda, let her go now!"

"Sara, just go!" Lisa screamed. "Forget about me!"

"NO, we're not leaving you!"

"Morgan, drive now!"

Even Morgan hesitated, looking back over the seat at me...I ducked back into the car and looked her dead in the eyes, shaking her head to tell her not to think about it and that it would be wrong. She hesitated still, but I could tell Morgan didn't know what to do or how to save Lisa.

"Just go," the Hunter screamed again, more desperate this time than the last as Amanda opened her mouth and hissed, sinking her fangs into the girl's neck.

Lisa yelped in pain, grabbing at Amanda's hair and trying to pull her away as her legs gave out and she sunk to the ground, bringing the Vampire down with her.

"No!"

Using her energy to do so, Morgan yanked me back into the car and the door slammed shut as she did the only thing she could think to do...she did what Lisa had told her, to do.

Stepping on the gas, Morgan took off and the tires screeched loudly. I screamed as I watched from the back window of the car, as Lisa was on her knees now with Amanda still holding her tightly, her mouth glued to her neck as she consumed.

It occurred to me then, as we hauled ass down the road and I watched Lisa and Amanda disappear from my sight, falling back onto the seat with Kimberly still unconscious beside me...we had made it, but not without sacrifice.

Mike was dead.

Lisa was too probably unless Elyse decided to keep her.

Kimberly was on the verge of death, having lost so much blood...had any of this been worth the struggle? Was it all my fault? If I hadn't fallen into Elyse's trap...

Better yet, if I hadn't gone to that stupid party with Kimberly...none of this would have ever happened.

I looked back down at Kimberly, tears running down my cheeks as I reached over with a shaky hand to brush her hand away from her eyes...she was cold and clammy, her breathing shallow and weak.

Was any of it...really worth it all?

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"W-Where are we going, anyway?"

We had been on the road for just under two hours now, and I swear Morgan hadn't let up on the gas pedal one time since we fled the scene. Thankfully, we were on the highway and there wasn't much traffic thanks to the snowy weather. She was well over the speed limit though, and I had to silently pray that no cops would be around to stop us...they'd pull us over if they did, and we didn't have time to stop right now, for many reasons.

The biggest concern being, that me and Kimberly both were still completely in the nude. Not like we had time to get dressed before escaping the cabin after the fight, but try explaining to a cop why two missing girls are in your back seat naked, covered in dirt and sweat?

Before Morgan could respond, I heard a soft groaning noise from next to me and I looked down at Kimberly. She was still laying stretched across the back seat of the car, with her head resting in my lap as I gently stroked her hair...and...looked like she was starting to wake.

I jumped with joy, as her eyes slowly flicked open and she blinked a few times as she looked up at me with confusion.

"S-Sara?"

"Hey," I said excitedly. "You're awake!"

"Ugh...m-my fucking head," she groaned in pain.

"What happened, I...wait..."

Sitting upright quickly with a gasp, Kimberly threw her legs over the front of the seat so she could sit straight and looked around in confusion. "W-We're not in the basement anymore," she said in complete shock.

"Sara, what...t-the last thing I remember was Amanda and Morgan fighting, and Morgan...sh-she-"

"Trust me, I'm perfectly fine."

The voice startled her and Kimberly looked to the front seat, noticing for the first time that it was Morgan behind the steering wheel. "You're alive," she sighed.

"Thanks to Sara," Morgan smiled. "And you, too."

"I saved Morgan from Amanda, but I was only able to do it because of you," I explained.

"I was too weak. You were the one who pushed me to take more blood from you, despite how exhausted you already were."

"And if not for that, Amanda definitely would have killed me," Morgan said from the front of the car.

"You think, she could have done that?" I asked.

"I don't think, I know..."

Morgan hesitated, gripping the wheel tightly as she reflected on that fight between her and Amanda. The electricity that Amanda had sent coursing through her body, the surge of pain that it caused. She shuttered at the memory and sighed.

"She was feeding on her own emotions...that was a brutal attack that Elyse taught us both, a long time ago."

"It looked like, she was electrocuting you," I said.

"She was. And if you hadn't jumped in when you did..."

Morgan trailed off, and I got the point. I let the topic drop from there, getting the sense that Morgan wasn't much enjoying the conversation or having to think about what had nearly happened to her. I looked back over at Kimberly who still looked a bit dazed and confused, rubbing at her forehead with both hands, as it still ached slightly.

"Hey," I said, rubbing the bare skin of her back.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "Just still a little tired. Where are we-"

"Upstate," Morgan interrupted, figuring Kimberly was about to ask the same question she had asked earlier.

"I'm thinking, Maine for a while."

"Interesting choice," I laughed. "What, is the whole Vampire thing making you wanna be a little closer to Stephen King?"

"No," Morgan laughed a little.

"But there are a few places out there I can think of, that would be desolate and secluded enough to hide from Elyse...perfect for training, too."

"Training," Kimberly asked.

"Mhmm...it's time for me to teach Sara to fight properly. Something I wanted to have done already, but she ran off to save your cute ass before we could get started."

Kimberly frowned, looking over at me as though she felt guilty. Like she had gotten in the way of me growing stronger and learning to use my abilities, by getting herself kidnapped by Elyse and Amanda. I smiled at her and leaned over, kissing her on the lips to reassure her that I didn't feel that way at all.

"What about me though," Kimberly asked, a few seconds later.

"Glad you brought that up..."

Morgan swerved the car suddenly as she spoke, and me and Kimberly both yelled as she pulled into the nearby parking lot of a Motel. She parked the car, shut off the engine, and then looked back at me and Kimberly. "You two wait here...I'll go get us a room, we'll settle down and talk."

I scoffed. "Wait a minute...what about Elyse?"

"I'm not worried right now," Morgan said.

"Elyse was injured in battle too, remember...as was Heather, the only one not seriously harmed is Amanda and she's not going to leave Elyse alone to fend for herself just to travel after the three of us...they'll all need to recover and regroup before they start looking."

There was a confidence in Morgan's voice, that brought me a sense of relief but it quickly dwindled when she climbed out of the front seat and slammed the door, and I was reminded that me and Kimberly were both naked in the back seat.

"Hurry back," Kimberly said, with a nervous sigh.

I looked over at her and we both laughed a bit, before sliding down on the seat so that we could stay out of sight should anybody pass by.

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Elyse' POV-

"Put her in the back of the van and let's go."

I watched, as Amanda and Heather lifted the unconscious Hunter and threw her into the back of the van, her arms cuffed behind her back and they slammed the door shut behind her. With one arm over my chest, I huffed at my cigarette and exhaled, feeling the nicotine as it soothed my nerves and I turned my head from side to side.

And my nerves were burning.

It might require more than a smoke. I was honestly craving a glass of whiskey, more than anything at the moment but that would have to wait.

Nothing I had planned over the last few days, had gone according to my design. Nothing had worked out for me and it was all because of Morgan and her fucked up desire, to come back and steal Sara away from me...again!

Making matters worse, was the fact that Sara had WANTED to go with her...again...I had tried everything in my power to break that girl, to make her submit to me.

Make her mine, forever.

She was too strong-willed, as it turned out.

More than that though, what had me the most pissed off was the fact that I had taken damage during that fight. Even after feeding on that bitch of a Hunter to cure me of the dead man's blood, I still found myself groaning in pain as I climbed into the passenger seat of the van.

It had been so long, since I'd walked away from a fight feeling sore or pain and knowing that they had gotten the upper hand on me, knowing it was because of dead man's blood at that and that it had been inflicted on me by my former daughter? I could have ripped a Hunter's throat clean out with how infuriated I felt.

I was burying that rage though, trying to keep calm and hide how I felt at the moment.

There was no time to focus on the pain of my defeat.

Had it really been defeat, anyway?

Morgan, Sara, and Kimberly had escaped sure...but I had the Hunter, and oh, what a slow and painful death she would suffer for aiding them in their betrayal.

You could argue that I could use the Hunter as bait, to draw Sara back again and have a second go at it...but I felt like that was pointless. Sara had made her choice as Morgan had, and the only reason to bring her back now would be to end her.

That meant, the Hunter had only one purpose in my custody.

We were leaving Seaway. It was long overdue, we had spent far more time than we originally intended in this shitty town and now that things had blown up and the Hunters knew where we were, we needed to get moving.

Lisa, as they had called her, would be a nice snack for the road. We'd feed on her for a few days, dragging it out nice and slow until we found our next place to settle.

Then, we would dispose of her for good.

Amanda climbed behind the steering wheel and Heather into the back seat, pulling the sliding door shut as Amanda turned on the engine and glanced over at me. "Where should we go," she asked with a blank stare.

"Anywhere but here," I said, reaching into my pocket for my cell phone.

"What about Sara and Morgan," the other girl asked from the back seat. "Aren't we going after them?"

"Of course," I replied. "We need to regroup first though. Come up with a new plan of action, before we make any moves."

"Seriously?"

Amanda looked back at Heather, biting her lip as the girl showed off that bitter attitude once again. She shook her head at Heather, begging the girl not to push her luck with me right now. She was right to fear for Heather, at that moment but to be honest, I didn't care right now.

There were more important things at hand.

I didn't need to explain myself, anyway.

If Morgan and Sara had been able to stand up against me the way they had, then they were a greater threat than I originally thought.

In that regard, I had to give Morgan some credit.

Maybe, she had been right all along. Maybe I had been underestimating Morgan's abilities over the years. Strangely enough, some part of me actually felt proud of my former daughter but even so...she was my enemy now.

If Morgan was this strong and smart, it was dangerous. Assuming she managed to form a functional Coven of her own, consisting of equally strong and confident young women, then she would pose a major threat to me and my continued existence. I could not allow that to happen.

I held my phone to my ear, listening as it began to ring and Amanda backed the van out of the driveway, starting up towards the main road. She looked over at me briefly as the phone rang in my ear and then back to the wheel.

"Who are you calling, Mother?"

It must have been strange for her to see me on the phone, I noted. Not often did she ever see me bothering to make phone calls, or bother with any form of technology.

With a smile on my face, I simply stared straight out the windshield as we came up from the dirt gravel driveway and Amanda turned out onto the main highway.

"I think it's time for a little family reunion, Amanda."

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Sara's POV-

Morgan took a bit longer than I had hoped, in the Motel's main office. Kimberly and I had to sit low in our seats, sticking close to each other so that nobody would look through the windows and notice that there were two naked girls in the back together.

I definitely didn't mind being pressed up against my best friend and new lover like that though, our soft smooth skin sticking together as we lay on top of each other and just held on to each other.

There were a few bottles of water in the back seat that Morgan had packed before coming to our rescue, and I made sure Kimberly drank more than a couple of them as we waited...she needed to rehydrate. It would help her recover from all the blood loss, though she was looking better already from what I could tell so far.

When Morgan finally came back out of the office, she opened the driver's door and poked her head inside.

"Come on, move fast."

It was dark by now, and few people were around to notice as me and Kimberly quickly slipped out of the back seat and Morgan rushed us to our motel room. Luckily, she had managed to get one that was just a few feet away from where the car was parked, and we were inside the warm room in no time.

Morgan shut the door and locked it, making sure the chain was in place for extra security, and then pulled the curtains over the windows. We all took turns after that, using the showers and Morgan promised she'd go out later and try to find me and Kimberly some suitable clothes before moving forward from here...right now though, we needed to talk.

Kimberly was the last to use the shower and once she came out of the bathroom wrapped in a pink towel, she found me sitting on the bed and Morgan in a chair across from me.

Morgan looked up at the girl, then back at me, and took a deep breath. "Take a seat, Kimberly," Morgan said, motioning for the girl to sit beside me on the mattress.

I could tell she was hesitating at first, but after a brief pause, Kimberly moved forward and climbed onto the bed with me.

"We should talk," Morgan said.

"Talk about...what?"

"What happens next," I said slowly. "F-For you."

"I already know," Kimberly sighed. "I can't go back to Seaway, right...I understand and it's okay. If I go back then it puts my family in danger. Elyse will kill them like she did Sara's Dad and Brother, won't she?"

I looked over at Morgan, hoping she wouldn't tell the girl what I thought she was about to tell her...not yet...we needed Kimberly focused, and the pain that would come with learning the truth right now would leave her broken.

I understood that pain.

Morgan seemed to know it was a bad idea, so she took a breath and revealed only what she wanted Kimberly to know.

"That's right," she said slowly.

"It's entirely possible."

"Then alright," Kimberly nodded. "I'll stay with you guys. Besides, I'd rather be with Sara now anyway...we were apart way too long as it was."

I smiled at that, agreeing without actually saying it. I didn't want us to be apart any more than Kimberly wanted, especially now that we were more than just best friends.

"That's good, Kimberly," Morgan smiled.

There was a brief silence and Kimberly picked up on the hesitation behind Morgan's voice, catching the idea that there was something more to be said and that it might not be good. "So...w-what's the problem?"

"The problem is this," Morgan sighed.

"We're at war now. What happened with Elyse today, has made it clear how the future is going to look...bloody."

"Things are going to get dangerous," I said, reaching over to squeeze Kimberly on the shoulder.