Boss Level

Anna

The moment we entered the cabin, I headed straight for dad. I gasped out loud when i saw his bruised chest. His shirt had been ripped open.

"Dad? Dad?" I could see he was trying to lift his head. But being so weak, and so beaten up, he couldn't manage it.

"Anna, come on. Untie!" Isabella whispered, and we quickly began to untie his hands. Who ever had tied him down certainly did a foolproof job of it, because even I couldn't manage it. Isabella got a knife from her pocket and cut through the rope smoothly, missing his hands. I looked at her in surprise.

"Thanks!" I mouthed.

Soon we had him free but then there was the matter of getting him out the door. My dad didn't weigh ten pounds anymore.

We lifted him up together. Quietly and quickly headed for the cabin door. As soon as we stepped outside, we heard footsteps behind us coming up from below..

"Anna, run!" Isabella said insistently. I turned to her, shaking my head.

Standing my ground I said. "No! You helped us this far, I'm not going to just leave you."

She rolled her eyes, but never the less we turned to find three very unkempt vampires treading their way to us from a hatch at the far end of the cabin.

They had eyes for us like a meat lover has for a hamburger. I gulped.

I took out a stake from my belt and just as I was about to throw it at one nearest to us, a stake went flying past me at the speed of light from behind. I turned and saw Sophie standing at the door way ready to throw another one. The first one had hit the first vampire right in the chest and he went down.. I gawked at her.

"What, you're not the only one who does archery." She smiled excitedly at the challenge.

I turned back quickly before one other vampire jumped on me. I was almost doing limbo as he forced me to bend backwards but I managed to stab him quickly in the arm. He backed off then and then went another stake flying from Sophie. It was like she'd brought a bow and arrow with her but lone behold it was just her arm that was making these magical stakes knock down the vampires. Unfortunately for us, these guys were much older and stronger than I had imagined.

The first vampire that Sophie managed to knock out, pulled out the stake himself and came crawling towards me. I turned to run but he was too fast and grabbed hold of my ankle, pulling me down. I screamed. Isabella, taking a break from fighting another vampire, bent down to stab the one dragging me towards the hatch.

She pulled me up. I shivered as he began to convulse and die.

"Woah! Thanks Isabella. I thought the first stab would have killed it." I said through gasps of breath.

She continued to fight with the second vamp.

"No, if they take them out quick enough, they can heal." She said through arm movements. I took my sword from my satchel and slashed out at another incoming vampire. I looked around me. We started off with three angry vampires. Now, not including myself, Joel and Isabella, we had four more come at us as well as the two lying dead on the floor.

"HELP!"

I turned to see Sophie struggling to keep off a vamp that had made its way around us. I cursed that Joel had said she could come along. I was against it the whole time. I knew that is she came along something bad would happen. And now it had. Or was.

I snapped out of my daze and crossed over to Sophie but Joel got there first. He grabbed a stake and punched into the back of the vampires neck. It screeched loudly so much we all �" except the other vampires �" had to cover our ears.

"Sophie, retreat, NOW!" I tried to get across to her. She wasn't paying attention. I couldnt blame her really. When you have angry vampires trying to kill you, it's bad enough being a fellow vampire. But when you're a human, filled with delicious blood �" well you get the idea.

"Stop this madness, NOW"

We all turned towards where the hatch was. Turns out there were more levels to this game than I thought. There was also a Boss Level. I know, bad analogy. Blame my brothers constant Mario gaming.

I looked to Sophie and Joel and noticed Isabella was creeping backwards out the door.

I didn't hesitate to call her on it.

"Isabella, don't you dare think about leaving!"

"Yes, Isabella. Do come and join us. You have so much to tell us." The main guy/vampire had a creepy calming voice. He was at least six foot and wore a full out grey business suit. No horns though. Weirdly enough, he looked as though horns would have suited him. Being the vampire version of the devil, after all. I found myself doing a mental fashion consultation on him as he continued to stand there observing the destruction that, considering the size, didn't spread past the door way.

Isabella grimaced but then changed her face to a smile. Walking back into the cabin, she closed the door as everyone else in the way had moved to see her.

"Now I want all my workers to go back downstairs. Well, all those that can walk." he added when he saw three of them collapsed on the floor, somewhat dead, and two of them with several limbs missing.

The three of us continued to be silent but we noticed Isabella was about to put up a fight. Personally, I didn't put her as much of a fighter.

The remaining, alive, vampires limped their way down the hatch and the boss closed the lid.

"So lets all sit for a moment and collect our thoughts. Ah I see our hostage as escaped." he commented when he spotted the chair by the fire had rope lying by the side.

"Please, let our friend go. She has nothing to do with our father." I almost shrieked. He smiled briefly, looking towards Sophie who was standing, and completely shaken, by the door.

He waved his arm.

"Very well. You, girl, at the back, may leave."

With barely a hint of realisation, she, in a manner of words, legged it. I'd never seen her move so fast.

The rest of us turned back to look at the guy. He can't have been older than 30 in human years. Then plus a few hundreds. Or thousands. I just couldn't be sure.

"Sit!" he ordered. We collapsed, in sync, to the floor.

Isabella obviously knew the power of him because she was positively scared shitless.

"Now, Isabella, would you be so kind as to explain this unsightly display?" He snapped his fingers and a chair came flying into his hands. Soon he was sitting, legs crossed, hands in lap. Like he was the Godfather.

I pictured him with a cat in his hands. Freaky.

She hesitated for a second when she noticed Joel was looking at her carefully.

"Well, Sir. I'm afraid, there has been some major miscommunication. You see, Arthur didn't do anything wrong." She stopped suddenly when she noticed his mouth turning upwards into a sort of snarl.

"Oh really? And what might, in your opinion, have happened? Because, correct me if I'm wrong. But I have proof that one of his children, besides the known born vampire, was also made against our approval. Hence braking our now broken truce." He smiled eerily, as though he was so happy to be there. With three younger vampires sitting on the floor like school children. Although the dead vampires around us did kind of notch down the PG rating.

I heard Isabella take an unnaturally deep breath before answering.

"I... I..." She looked at Joel who was shaking his head. She nodded briefly. I understood what was happening. He didn't want her to admit it, but she felt compelled to say she changed him. In doing that, her life as she knows it, could well be... in jeopardy.

The boss was looking at her with an impatient expression.

"Come on dear, spill it. I don't really want to come over and make you." But he said it with a smile, as if he really did want to.

"I changed the child, sir." She hid her head in her hands. I shivered. Was it cold in here? Or was it someone walking over my grave?

He stood up slowly from his chair, face sullen. He took a step forward - about to walk over to her, I assumed �" but stopped. Coming up to myself, I tried to keep my breath. Being front of class did in no way have it's benefits. No wonder so many students preferred to sit at the back.

"You girl. You are Arthur' born vampire, correct?" I looked up to him, trying my best to be natural.

"Yes sir."

"And this boy is your brother, also a vampire, but by looking at him I can tell he was made. Correct?" I heard Joels intake of breath and the boss's head turned quickly, like a tiger watching prey.

"Correct." I whispered.

"Sorry?" he looked back at me. A sadistic look on his sunken face.

"Correct, sir." I said louder, straightening my back.

"Well," he smiled at Joel, "in that case, you can go, girl. I want to speak to these two alone." he motioned for me to leave. I didn't feel I had the power to demand to stay. I stood up to leave. When I walked past Joel I read his thoughts. I mouthed, "sorry" and then when I passed Isabella I mouthed "you're dead!" and left the cabin at the speed of light. I had to find my dad.