Immediately, the pressure released and I took ragged gulps of air, coughing hard enough I tasted blood on my tongue. When I looked up I saw Lunas standing by the stairs, eyes wide with a mix of horror and anger.

All fell silent and still as he stormed forward. The man holding me let go as Lunas advanced on him with a growl deep in his throat. "You'll pay for that."

"I-I'm sorry." The man said. "I didn't-"

Before he could finish his sentence he was cut short by Lunas shoving him into the wall and viciously ripping his throat out. He made a gurgling sound as his eyes went wide, then he dropped to the ground, dead, blood gushing from his open neck and pooling around his head. I heard Melody sob, but I was too shocked by the brutality Lunas had displayed in his anger.

Then he wirled on me. "And you!" He grabbed my arm, tight enough to bruise. "You're more trouble than you're worth at this point."

He turned to the other cultists. "Get rid of the rest of them." He snapped before pulling me towards the stairs none too gently. "You're coming with me. We're going to snuff out this rebellion once and for all."

However, Lunas didn't make it two steps when Jasper, who was still pinned to the floor, shouted,"Like hell!" and kicked a rolling table near his feet. It skidded across the floor and straight into a counter with a bunch of lab testing material on it, causing the tubes and beakers on the table to go flying and crashing. The chemicals must not have been a happy combination because when the mixture splashed across an open flame the entire counter top caught fire.

Instantly, the vampires panicked. "Get something to put it out! Quick!" They shouted.

Jasper took advantage of the confusion and scrambled away from his captor to grab my arm. "Let's go now!" He said.

Colby picked Melody up in his arms and we shoved past Lunas and up the stairs. Enraged, he shouted for someone to get us, but everyone was too preoccupied with the fire. We made it too the top of the stairwell and Jasper asked, "Which way?"

"Ah... left?" Colby replied, seeing only a door to our right. We followed him hopefully, but then skidded to a halt as cloaked vampires came running to help with the fire. "Right! Definitely right!" Colby said, backpedaling.

Jasper grabbed a torch off the wall and threw it on the ground in between us and them, and the carpet caught the flame, spreading with the leaking oil. Then we started running back the way we'd come.

This time we didn't hesitate to open the door. Inside we found what looked like a boiler room and immediately, we all paled. "There are gas lines in here." Jasper said. "The fire will reach here in minutes and they'll blow."

With a glance back, it was obvious that the vampires were losing the battle with the fire and it was getting closer. We ran to the door on the other side of the boiler room. There were three new halls. We turned to Colby. "Do you recognize any of these passages?" I asked.

He looked unsure. "I don't know..."

Jasper and I glanced at each other before he made the decision. "This way." He said, pulling me along beside him as we ran for left one. We were almost to the first torch when we spotted the ladder. "There!" I said.

Then the first section of the boiler room blew. The explosion knocked us all forward. Jasper and I fell on our knees and Colby almost dropped Melody. "Shit." He muttered, glancing back as he steadied himself.

I blinked, my ears ringing from the blast and disorienting me. Jasper also seemed to take a minute to shake himself back to reality. When he did though, he got to his feet quickly, pulling me up too. "Come on!" He said urgently.

The second explosion was closer than the last, but it didn't hit as hard. We made it to the ladder and Jasper pushed me up. I threw the top off and crawled out. Then Jasper came up and the two of us helped pulled Melody out before Colby heaved himself out of the manhole. Just as he did so, the ground shook and the ladder we'd just been using was engulfed in flame that shot out of the manhole like a volcano.

We all hurried a safe distance away, breathing hard as we watched the flames burn. Wow... My head fell against Jasper's shoulder in relief as I thought about how that could've been us. It seemed Jasper had the same thoughts, his hand curling around mine tightly as he rested his head back against the alley wall.

Colby was the first to speak. "Hey, you guys?" He asked. We glanced at him. "I don't know what kind of crazy shit you're into, but I don't think I'd recommend this for date night."

Jasper snorted with his eyes closed. "I think that's a given."

"I'd kill him." I muttered, squeezing Jasper's hand.

Melody was the only one who remained silent and when I peeked at her, she seemed to be glancing back and forth between us and the exit. Colby was noticing the same thing and he wrapped a firm hand around her wrist. She tensed and stared up at him nervously.

I pulled away from Jasper with a frown. "You're scaring her." I said, pulling her away.

"We can't just let her roam..." He said.

I shook my head. "I promised her we'd bring her home."

Jasper opened his eyes and frowned at me as Colby said, "We don't even know where she lives."

He had a point. I turned to Melody who had been listening to our debate with growing anxiety. "Can you tell us where you live?" I asked.

She stared into my eyes for a moment before she ubruptly looked away. She pointed to the sewer system we'd just escaped from. Jasper sighed. "They probably wiped her memory to keep her from being able to function properly." He said.

"Then what are we going to do?" I asked. "We can't keep her as a hostage and I won't let you kill her."

Jasper and Colby eyed each other, looking like they were having a conversation just with facial expressions. Then Colby sighed in defeat. "Alright, alright. I'll take her." He said. "She can stay with me until we find someplace to put her."

Melody looked wary, but I smiled at her. "Colby's going to look after you, okay?" I said.

"No one would need to if someone had just left her there." Colby grumbled.

I shot him a glare. As if I could've just left her to die. Jasper spoke up for me though. "There's been enough death tonight. We don't need to talk of more."

"Yeah, whatever." Colby said. He grabbed Melody's hand. "Come on, let's get home before the authorities show up and start asking questions."

*******

Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait. I've been busy lately. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! AS ALWAYS, VOTE, COMMENT, FOLLOW, AND STAY AWESOME!

-Nekoco