Cries of a Love Bat

Pete’s P.O.V.

The plan was easy enough. Will, Brendon, and Ryan would go stall at the front door – whatever they had to do to stall was their problem. Evangeline and the rest of us were going to find somewhere to get in. When we got in, we’d find Emily then run. But we were all still nervous.

Evangeline was brave, I had to give her that. She didn’t have to come with us, but she wanted to help. She wanted to show William she could do something.

“Are you sure?” William asked Evangeline.

Ryan and Brendon convinced us that we should get Will to come along with us. They said he’d be a big help, especially if Gabe found us.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I trust them.”

“You’ll keep an eye on her right?” he directed to us.

“Yeah, we’ll watch her,” Joe supplied.

They hugged quickly, and William said, “Be safe.”

“Alright,” Ryan interrupted. “We should start.”

Evangeline walked over by the four of us, standing next to me. Will, Ryan and Brendon all turned to go down the block that lead to Gabe’s house. We had get going.

“Ready?” I asked. They all agreed, so we took off in the opposite direction of the other three.

We were eventually able to get to the back of the house – cutting through backyards and hopping fences. Patrick went up to the door, and not to our surprise it was locked.

“Now what?” Andy asked. We looked around, searching for another way in.

Evangeline was the first to speak. “Window.” We looked in the direction she was pointing, and saw a small window on the bottom side of the house.

“I can’t fit,” Patrick said immediately.

“I can,” Evangeline said smugly. “Just break it open.”

“She’s right,” Joe added. “I don’t see anything else that would work.”

I walked up to it slowly, crouching down to peer inside. Andy came next to me, flashlight in hand. “It leads to the basement,” I explained. “You’ll have to go in and find your way to the door.”

“Easy enough,” she breathed.

I kicked in the window, the glass going everywhere. “Watch out. You cut yourself and you’ll be dead.”

She raised an eyebrow, but quickly realized what I meant. “Oh, blood. Yeah, I got it.” She got down, and slid through the window. I looked in, and saw she made it safely to the bottom.

Patrick came up beside me, sticking another flashlight through the hole. “Keep it on the ground. They’ll be more likely to catch it if you’re shinning it at the walls.”

He pulled his hand back when she said, “Okay.”

We waited for a while – ten minutes at the least. Patrick was pacing, and Joe took a seat with Andy on the dirt. I stood a few feet from the door, listening to see if I could hear anything.

“Should I try fitting through?” Andy eventually asked.

“No,” I said. “Give her a few more minutes.”

“Will said to watch her,” Patrick rambled. “This is clearly not watching her. What if something happened? What if she got caught and they have her locked up like they have Emily?”

“Patrick,” Joe warned. “Breathe.”

He adjusted his hat, and then stopped pacing. “How long has it been?”

I was going to answer him, but the faint pat of footsteps perked up. “Shhh.” They got closer, and slowly and carefully the door opened.

“How’s it going out here?” Evangeline asked.

“Oh, thank God,” Patrick sighed in relief.

“You okay?” I asked, joining her inside.

She nodded, but glared at Patrick. “Did you think to bring extra batteries?” She shook the flashlight.

He was accompanied by Joe and Andy, who snickered silently. “No.”

“It’s okay,” she whisper-shouted, handing him back the dead light. “I only tripped up the basement stairs.”

“Sorry,” he cringed.

“Ew! Dude,” Joe grimaced. “You smell that?”

He was right, it did smell. “Humans.”

“Dead?” Evangeline gulped.

I nodded. “Let’s spilt up. I’ll take Evangeline, and you three go together. We’ll take this floor, and you guys start up on the second.”

“Kay,” Andy approved. The three of them walked out of the back room we were in, and out into a hallway.

Evangeline and I walked into the hall after them. We kept walking, when she finally tugged on my sleeve. “Should we start checking rooms?”

I stared at her for a while, kind of lost. “Yeah…I’ll take the ones on the right, you can get the left.”

“Pete…” she wondered, grabbing ahold of my shoulders. “You don’t look so good.”

I bit my lip, and then pulled away from her. The room was spinning, but it wasn’t a dizzying thing. I shook my head, trying to get it to stop. Evangeline placed a hand cautiously on my arm. “It’s okay, I just…haven’t eaten in a while.”

“Oh.” She dropped her hand, and took a step back.

“I’ll be fine, just start checking.”

Every step felt like a thousand miles. I slugged closer to the one of the doors. Reaching out to touch the handle was painful. It seemed like just doing that took hours. Halfway through turning the knob sharp nails dug into my shoulder. I let out a low hiss, and shivered when cold breathe washed over my neck.

“Do you think we are stupid?” I turned around, coming face to face with Vicky. Her nail ripped through me shirt and into my skin. “We knew you were coming.”

I couldn’t see Ev anywhere, so I grabbed on Vicky’s shoulders. I threw her into the opposite wall. Not eating was a bad idea because it made me more irritable. Vicky pissing me off wasn’t helping. “Fuck off.”

She smirked slightly. “You should fuck off.”

I really didn’t want another Vicky crawling on this earth anytime soon, so I slammed my fist into her stomach. Her eyes widened, and she growled. I did it again, without even thinking. This time her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she slumped to the floor.

A door opened, and Evangeline walked out of it. “Pete, this is another hall,” she whispered, her eyes avoiding Vicky’s body. “She’s in one of the rooms.”

I followed her down the other hall, not saying anything until we reached the door. “I’ll get her, if Gabe comes by you have to get out of here, you understand?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I’ll…I’ll wait out here, and keep watch.”

I opened the door, and walked in the darkness. It took seconds for my eyes to adjust to the dark, but I saw her curled up in a few sheets on the mattress. I crouched down next to the low bed and ran my hand across her cheek.

“Emily,” I whispered.

She barely opened her eyes. Her whole face was bruised, and she was cold. “Pete?”

“Come on Emily. We’re getting you out of here,” I told her.

She weakly tried sitting up, but it was a failed attempt. “I can’t.”

“Here,” I said sliding my arms under her. “I got you.”

When I picked her up and was standing again, she curled into my chest. “Pete?”

“It’s me Em, it’s okay. I’m here.” When I stepped out Evangeline was looking at me with wide eyes.

“Something’s going on upstairs,” she explained. “There have been crashes and bangs.”

“Okay, let’s go,” I mumbled.

“But what about the guys?” she asked as we were walking down one of the numerous halls.

I hesitated before continuing. “They know what to do.”

She quickly ran trying to catch up with me. It was a while longer before she said, “Which was is out?”

“Uh-”

“The front door is that way Wentz,” Gabe whistled, coming from around the corner, pointing down the hall he just came from.

“Don’t make this hard Saporta,” I growled.

“You’re ruining my plan,” he smiled.

I shifted Emily in my arms, and then looked at Evangeline. “Keep her standing.”

She reached out and took her from me. “Emily, come on. We got to keep walking.” Evangeline was gentle, but Emily was numb – it didn’t matter what happened, Emily was too weak. Ev brought her farther away from Gabe, and then leaned themselves against one of the walls.

“You can’t win, Wentz,” Gabe stated, stepping forward.

I lunged at him. It was instinct, and throwing ourselves into the wall gave me seconds of advantage. I pushed him to the floor, ready to kick his face in when he grabbed my ankle and I was on the ground with him. He rolled over and punched my side; the force was strong enough to bust a rib.

Evangeline was over by us in moments. Her fist was up, shaking, and she threw a punch. It barely missed me, and it did little damage to Gabe, but I appreciated the effort.

Everything else after that got blurry. The room was spinning again, and Nate was in the room. When he pushed Evangeline away Will came storming in. In between getting hit in the stomach, I noticed Will bashed Nate’s head to the floor with a crack. Ryan and Brendon came into the hall next, Patrick, Andy, and Joe not far behind. It was a set of hits to the arm, and one to the head before Brendon and Ryan pulled Gabe off of me. My head was really spinning now, but I noticed Vicky, Alex, and Ryland were here too.

Vicky was crouched over Emily, ready to hit her. I practically crawled over to them. The spinning was throwing me off balance, and I couldn’t see straight anymore. Everyone was a blur of color against the whirling backdrop, everyone except Emily.

I slugged Vicky off Emily with the help of Evangeline, who seemed to be freaking out. I couldn’t hear her – it was a slur of words and spill of syllables, on top of everyone else’s shouts.

She finally pointed to Emily’s wrist, where the snake was choking a bat, and then she pointed to Emily’s neck. Two perfect holes pierced her skin, and blood dripped from them. I glanced back at Vicky, whose lips were red.

I don’t know what over took me. It could have been the hunger, the longing to ease the emptiness in my throat. It could have been my anger, the surging impulses of rage that was sending shocks into my body. It also could have been the sickness, the spinning and spiraling that made me confused.

All I knew what that when I leaned into Emily, she whispered “Pete.”

“Emily,” I said back, just as quiet.

“I love you,” she choked.

“Trust me?” I asked.

She nodded slightly. “Always have.”

When my lips reached her neck, her skin was burning. I could tell from here that she was running a fever. Someone was tugging at me, pulling me away. I didn’t move; I was tense and holding Emily under me. She was barely breathing, and she was shivering.

I quickly pushed my fangs into her skin, and began drinking her blood.