Chapter 117

I felt the cave drawing closer, but I couldn’t say how I felt it. It was like a weird cold that was drawing closer. Goosebumps raised on my arms and my head started to pound.

I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t have to see everything go dark when we entered, but I felt it like a dark blanket over my senses. It was oppressive like someone had dropped a weight on my mind and it was crushing it to mush. My ears were ringing and I could feel some sort of warning at the back of my mind. I just didn’t have a word for it. I just knew that something was about to happen and it would only get worse the longer I was in the caves.

I was about to tell Candido that I didn’t feel good. I knew if I did, he’d make it better somehow. He was always making me feel better.

Then, the jeep rocked like something had slammed into it and sent us into a tailspin. I felt Candido tighten his grip on me and tense as he tried to keep us in place. Something hissed nearby and I heard someone scream in pain.

“Shit!” The jeep jerked and turned. I didn’t open my eyes so the world just felt like it was spinning around me.

The jeep was spinning. Candido tightened his grip on me with one hand before swiping a hand overhead. The jeep stopped spinning suddenly. The tires screeched and I clung to Candido a little tighter.

“Keep driving!” Vanessa yelled. “We can’t afford to turn back! Armageddon!”

“I’m trying!” Candido yelled.

“There’s too many of them!” Someone else cried as the jeep rocked again.

“Candido,” I whimpered. “Make it stop.”

He stroked my hair. “It’s going to be okay, Hedy. Just hold on.”

“Fuck, I can’t see!”

“What the hell—ah!”

Candido let me go, and I clung to him, keeping my eyes shut as the jeep rocked and jerked. I felt like if I opened my eyes, I’d lose my mind. The pressure in my mind wasn’t letting up. It felt like it was getting heavier and heavier, but I couldn’t say why or what was doing it. I could hear the sounds echoing around me. Then, they would go dead silent as if I couldn’t hear anything. Like my ears had stopped working. I couldn’t even hear my own heart beating.

I smelled fire then nothing, then cold earth and blood splashing through the air. The scent made my mouth water and my stomach churn. It was all too much. It had to stop. I was going to throw up.

“Candido, make it stop,” I pleaded. “Please make it stop.”

“Just breathe,” Candido said. “Don’t let go of me.”

The jeep skidded to a stop. We lurched forward and Candido came to a sudden stop, but I went flying into the darkness. I screamed as I felt my grip on Candido slip.

“Hedy!” I felt his hands grazing mine, trying to catch me, but he didn’t, and then there was nothing but space and darkness as I flew through the air. I grunted as I slammed into a hard wall of stone and slid to the ground. My whole body hurt. It was throbbing. My face hurt like I’d broken my nose or something. Tears were streaming down my face as I curled up in place.

“Candido?” I called. “Candido?”

I heard him at a distance. His voice was growing more distant, but he wasn’t calling for me.

Was he even looking for me? Was he thinking of me? I couldn’t feel him no matter how I tried to pull on our connection. Then, I heard nothing. I had been plunged into a deep silence and darkness. I couldn’t feel anything—not my breath, not my heart beating. I couldn’t even feel the cool stone beneath me. I opened my eyes to pitch-black darkness and my heart started to race. I reached out and felt solid wall in front of me. The wall behind me vanished and I felt sick.

“Candido! Candido!” I cried, struggling to my feet as the ground started to shift and wobble beneath me.

I fell to the ground as my legs gave out, too weak to hold myself up. The ground rippled like thick waves of water, tossing me around before it shifted sharply and threw me into a wall. The wall I landed on shoved me back and I thought I heard Vanessa’s voice.

“Armageddon, no!”

“Candido!” I screamed, hoping he’d hear me and he’d come like he was supposed to, the way he always did.

The ground lurched up and I slammed into a hard ceiling that dug into my back. I thought it might have broken skin before I fell and slammed into the ground or another wall or a different ceiling. I didn’t know. The space kept shifting around me like it couldn’t make up its mind.

It felt just like before in the alleyway but so much worse. This felt malicious like someone was just trying to batter me. Like they were playing with me.

The cave spun me around until my stomach heaved and I bent forward. I threw up and felt it splatter in my face before I dropped to the ground into a puddle of my vomit. It started soaking into my clothes.

The only thing I could think of was that I didn’t want Candido to see me like this. I would die of embarrassment. I bet it was in my hair. I could feel it stinging my eyes.

Silence and stillness fell around me. I heard the sound of a jeep’s roar echoing from far away.

Then, the ground gave out beneath me, and I went tumbling down into darkness. The ground curve and turned slick beneath me like a slide, but I couldn’t see anything. I screamed and flailed reaching for something to slow me down or stop me.

The further I fell and slid, the more afraid I grew. Then I saw flashes of golden lights like the sun peering through the rock around me, illuminating little specks. The lights went dark then turned blue.

Then, I was falling through more darkness. I screamed and almost choked as the pain that shot up my legs as I landed in dark water. It hit my legs like a brick wall. I couldn’t tell how deep it was or if there was anything in the water with me, but I knew I had to get out of it. I struggled upward against the currents, but they wouldn’t let me go. My lungs started to burn as I started to spin around and lose what little strength I had.

I needed air. I couldn’t breathe. I was going to die if someone didn’t save me. Where was Candido to save me?

I gasped for breath as I was tossed out of the water by something that scooped me up and flung me. I grunted and screamed as I felt something crack and break. It felt like my shoulder and the pain radiated through my whole body.

I fell to the ground and curled up on my side. I shuddered and tried not to cry at how much it hurt.

“Candido? Where are you?” I sniffled. “Where are you?”

I heard footsteps coming closer to me. I lifted my head.

“Candido?”

No one spoke. A soft glow began to form over the person’s head, slowly revealing a face I had only ever seen in a portrait.

“Mom?” I whispered, shocked. My eyes burned. Was I dead?

Then, I went still. This woman wasn’t my mother. Her features were similar, but not exactly the same. Then, her eyes began to glow like the sun.

My heart raced.

Vampire.

I remained still, staring up at her as she simply looked at me. The pain was starting to pull me under. I couldn’t keep consciousness.

“… die…” she said as if she at once very close and very far. “… to do… much… can’t… mother…”

My mother? She knew her. She had to, but who was she.

She placed a hand on my head. I flinched in fear, but her hand simply rested on my head and stroked gently. Her hand was warm. The light started to fate.

“… again soon,” she said. “… survive.”

Then, she pulled away from me and started to walk away. I felt the ground start to shudder and shake as something large began to lumber toward me. I looked towards the sound and saw two eyes glowing like moonlight coming towards me.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to get away. I wanted to ask why she was leaving me alone with this beast that was going to rip me apart, but I couldn’t get the words out.

The pain was fading. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t feel anything as even the light of its eyes started to fade and the world started to go away.

“Candido?”