Walking in the Shadows (35 page)

“How the hell did someone find out where we were?”
s
he demanded as her eyes darted across my dying body.

Lily
noticed my cell phone on the floor
,
and she rushed forward
,
punching me in the stomach. “Did you text someone?”

The door burst open
,
and Tad
was there
with a
gun pointed at Miss Jennings. His eyes met mine
, and I knew exactly what he wanted me to do. I used
what strength I had
left
to fall over to the right just as his bullet burst out of his gun too fast for Miss Jennings to react. In the
same instant she hit the
wall;
I hit the floor
,
sending the bowls of my blood everywhere. I was dripping
in my own blood
,
and the rest of the room was dripping with it too.

“We
told you to wait!” a
policemen
yelled
,
rushing in the door after
Tad with
his gun
rose
.

“She
’
d be dead alread
y. She
’
d have shot her,
” Tad
snapped as he
rush
ed
forward and
unti
ed
me.

Policemen
flooded
into the room
,
handcuffing Lily
and rushing towards Miss Jennings
,
who lay bleeding on the floor behind me.

“Is she dead?” I gasped for air
as Tad pulled me into his arms. I could
only just
feel his touch
,
and that scared me more than the fact
that
the world seemed toneless and empty
.

“Who gives a shit?” Tad cried
as he lifted me up.

The world was becoming darker by the second
as it blurred
into
nothing.
I couldn’t
feel any part of my body but my h
eart.
It
seared with pain
;
I didn’
t w
ant to die in his arms. I didn’
t want him to carry the burden of my death.

“I love you Tad,
”
I whispered
as the world faded into nothing.

Seconds seem like a lifetime when the life you lived is slowly drained out of you by those who care not what you felt, hoped, or dreamed. When the darkness comes it is all consuming, there is no light and there is no pain. It is the never ending loss of hope that now consumes me as I die in his arms.

Walking away fr
om death is more frightening tha
n death itself
. D
eath threate
ns to take you and the only way back to life is to find the pain and concentrate on that feeling
.
You know if you feel
the aches of life that
you are still alive.
I h
ad lost my senses
as I was
devoured by
the intense agony of what was happening. This was not what I
thought death would be.
They said it was peaceful and easy, but t
his wa
s not true for me. The
feeli
ng of hopelessness was endless pain
,
and I
felt myself fighting for the physical
pain to envelope
me and
to let me know there was
something, anything left
. I needed to know that
I would not leave
Tad
empty
as I
had been without
him.
Had death been like this for my parents? Had they fought wi
th no one to save them? I knew I was still alive and with that thought
the searing pain in my head and the intense heat radiating up my arms
returned
. I woke
up
s
creaming at the top of my lungs
,
but stopped the second Tad’s face came into view. I ignored the pain and grasped his face leaning forward and pressing my
forehead against his
.

His hands were on my face.

“
Thank God,” h
e whispered
,
and his voice was hoarse from crying.

“You saved me. I have nothin
g to live for but you,
” I confessed
without thinking
.
“I’ve loved yo
u since
I first
saw you
,
and I couldn’
t die knowing that I would leave you
alone
.”

His Adam’s apple rose a
nd fell as he gulped back tears.

“There’s
no pain in the world comparab
le to the thought of losing you,
”
he said
,
holding my hand to his lips so that his voice was muted.

I put my head back against the pillow
,
feeling exha
usted from the effort of moving.
After a long moment of just staring at each other I finally s
aid
,
“Is she dead?”

“No, I just took out her shou
lder with the bullet, but they’
re both in jail now,
”
Tad explained
,
and his voice trailed off before he continued
,
“There’s something you should know…about your parents
’
death.”

“What?”

“It was one of your parents
’
co-workers…Carla…
she did i
t with Jennings,
” Tad told me
.
“Your theory proved right. Jennings was running a cult of pe
ople who wanted to be vampires. They were people
who had someone to seek revenge on. She brainwashed them to let her kill those people.
”

“Wha
t did my parents ever do to her? Nothing!”
I found myself sobbing in shock.
My parents had been good people. There could be no good reason to have them killed.

“The rumors will fly
,
Abbi.
Everyone knows who you are now.
It’s
strewn across the news and my involvement in saving y
ou is bound to end up there too,
”
Tad added
,
sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling me up into his arms.

“
Y
ou’
ll lose your job
…
”
  I took slow deliberate breaths
against the pounding filling me head.

“Possibly
—
I can
get a new job, but I can’
t replace
you. I don’t care about my job,
”
h
e said
,
rubbing my back.

“You love your job and
you’re
good at it,
”
I retorted
,
fighting against the searing pain in my h
eart
.

“I love you
more
,
and
I
’
m good at other things too,
”
h
e teased
,
pulling away
with a wink.

The sparkle in his eye
s
made me laugh.

“Stil
l dirty though,
”
I observed with a smile.

“I coul
d be a sexy male model,” h
e suggested as he pursed
his lips in a model pose
.

“No,” I replied
pulling
at
his loosened tie and bringing his face to mine
,
the pain forgotten
, “t
hat’s only for my eyes.”

His lips found mine in an instant
, and I never wanted that
kiss to end. A cough pulled us away from one
another
,
and
I saw the nurse standing at the door.

“One of the detectives is here to speak t
o you t
wo,” s
he explained looking
at
us
.
“I thought I’
d warn you.”

Tad leaned back and straightened his tie before s
aying
,
“Thanks for that.”

“Yeah, that wouldn’
t have been good for him to walk in on,
but it was very sweet,” s
he observed with a smile
.
“I’ll send him in.”

“Hi, I’
m Detective
Todd Reed. I’m glad to see you’
re aw
ake and feeling better?” h
e asked
,
a hand held out
.

“Thanks,
”
I said
, shaking his hand briefly.

“I have a few questions because the media is asking about how we found you. We have thus far said an anonymo
us lead, but in court we’
ll need a better explan
ation. Now as I understand it, Knightley
, you were at your friend Toby
’s apartment across the way and knew that that was Abbi’s apartment. You saw the two
,
Jennings and
Lily
,
enter the building forcefully and called the police. You weren’t able to warn Abbi before
hand
,
and
you knew about the va
mpire situation because
you were there when she discovered
the body of the last victim. That was when Abbi
told you about her parents. So you grabbed your gun, which you had in your car for target practice later that day and entered the building to find Jennings holding a gun to Abbi’s head and draining her
blood out. You shot
,
and we
arrived about the time you were going in the building. Right?”

Tad was speechless for a second
,
but then gained enough composure to stutter a response
, “Yes, thank you.”

“
Now Abbi, you were smart to record the conversation for proof, but the motive seems a bit foggy. Why would Jennings assume you wer
e having a relationship with Knightley
? Is it because of the strong bond
you now share
because you discovered one of the
victim
s
together?”
Todd suggested
,
his eyes moving from me to Tad.

“Yeah, I guess so,
” I replied scared
, “b
ut I never sa
id I had a relationship with Mr. Knightley
, she just accused me
of
it.”

“This is
true and
seeing she used Lily
to frame Knightley
for the crime, it would seem she had
some strange obsession with him
that would lead to such unrealisti
c thoughts,
” Todd concluded with a nod of his head.

“
Is Mr. Knightley still under investigation because of what she said
?” I asked
,
wishing to hold his hand
,
but knowing now was not the time.

“Not at all, Jennings admitted to the crimes and took all the people she used to find
victims down with her,
” Todd explained with a curt nod.

“
I
t’s over finally
.
”
I muttered in disbelief.

“You don’t have to live in fear anymore. The vampires are all gone.”
Tad said
,
and unlike the church incident, he was very serious
.

I closed my
eyes;
it was hard to believe.