نفس خون آشام فصل 19

Vampire Breath - Chapter 19

My hands scraped the dark stones of the wall.

I struggled to grab on to something—anything!

But I was falling too fast.

My feet kicked. I thrashed my arms. The wind rushed up at me as if trying to push me back up.

Was that me howling like that?

I was falling too fast to hear my own scream.

And then suddenly I stopped.

Stopped screaming. Stopped falling.

A black shadow swept around me. I felt something sharp dig into my shoulders. Hot breath grazed the back of my neck.

I heard a loud flapping sound. A fluttering heartbeat.

Gripped inside this shadow, I felt myself being pulled up.

I twisted my head back—and saw two glowing red eyes. The hot breath poured from its dark gaping mouth.

It’s going to eat me! I realized.

I’m trapped inside this red-eyed shadow. Trapped in its talons as it carries me higher. Higher.

And then darkness surrounded me.

I landed somewhere. Landed hard on my feet with a loud thud.

The darkness lifted. I opened my eyes and saw Cara. Her mouth dropped open in amazement. “Freddy—!” she choked out. “Freddy—?” I spun toward the big open window to see the giant bat that had carried me back to the kitchen. Its wings flapped against the floor. The red eyes glowed angrily from its big, ugly face.

It saved our lives! I realized.

I collapsed to my knees. I grabbed the side of the stove to hold myself up.

I’m okay. I’m going to be okay, I told myself.

I raised my eyes to the enormous bat.

It started to shrink. It tucked itself inside its black wings. Wrapped the wings around its body.

The wings melted into a cape. A purple cape. And as the cape swept back, Count Nightwing appeared.

“You made a serious mistake, young man,” he scolded sternly. His strange, silver eyes burned angrily into mine. “Did you think you could fly?” he demanded with a sneer. “You are not ready to fly—yet!” “I—I—I—” I was still shaking too hard to speak.

“When I turn you into a vampire, you can fly every night,” Count Nightwing snarled. He lowered his face close to mine, so close I could smell the decay of his pale skin. “Don’t try to escape again,” he growled. “It is a waste of time. And the next time… I won’t catch you.” I swallowed hard. I held my breath, trying to force my heart to stop pounding so hard.

Count Nightwing turned away from me. Swirling the purple cape behind him, he floated past Cara, through the kitchen.

He stopped at the door and swung back to us. “Don’t just stand there,” he ordered. “Come help me find the Vampire Breath. I know it’s somewhere in this wing of the castle.” He grabbed his pale throat. “I’m so thirsty… so thirsty.” His silvery eyes locked on Cara, then on me. “I must remember where I hid my fangs. Hurry. Help find the Vampire Breath. It’s somewhere nearby. I’m certain of it.” Cara and I had no choice. He stood at the doorway, waiting for us to follow him.

Holding on to the stove, I pulled myself to my feet. Then I followed Cara through the kitchen to the hall.

“Perhaps I hid the bottle in the royal guest room,” Count Nightwing said, talking to himself. He pushed open a door and vanished inside the room.

Cara and I kept walking. The hallways appeared to stretch for miles ahead of us. Door after door after door. And this was only one wing of the old vampire’s castle.

“Are you okay?” Cara asked, studying me as we walked. “You still look kind of shaky.” “I am kind of shaky,” I confessed. “After all, I fell off a cliff!”

Cara shook her head. “It isn’t going to be easy to escape.”

“We can’t escape,” I replied. “The castle was built up here on top of the cliff to keep anyone from escaping.” She brushed a strand of black hair from her eyes. “We can’t give up, Freddy. We have to keep trying. As soon as he finds his fangs, he’s going to turn us into vampires.” “That’s why my first plan is the best,” I insisted. “We have to find the bottle of Vampire Breath before he does. Maybe we’ll get lucky. Maybe we’ll find it first.” “But what will we do with it once we have it?” Cara demanded.

“Mainly keep it from him!” I declared.

I pulled her into the next room. We both gasped when we saw the coffins.

Dozens of them. All lined up perfectly in four rows, the length of the room. All open.

“Another vampire bedroom!” Cara cried. She shivered. “It’s so creepy, Freddy. Look how many there are!” “The vampires are all out somewhere, swooping around, searching for blood to drink,” I said. “But soon they’ll be flying home. And when they see us…” Cara gulped. “We’ll be their dessert!”

“Uh… maybe we should search for the Vampire Breath in another room,” I suggested. “Somewhere away from these coffins.” But then my eye fell on something. A coffin against the wall.

A closed coffin.

“Cara—look at that!” I whispered, pointing. “All the other coffins were left open. That’s the only one with a closed lid. Do you think—?” Cara squinted at the closed coffin. “Weird,” she murmured. “Very weird.” My brain whirred with crazy ideas. “Maybe it’s an empty coffin,” I suggested excitedly. “Maybe no one sleeps in that coffin. That would make it the perfect place. The perfect place to hide a bottle of Vampire Breath.” Cara held me back. “Or maybe a vampire is sleeping in the coffin,” she warned. “If we open the coffin and wake him up…” Her voice trailed off.

“We have to look inside!” I exclaimed. “We have to take that chance.”

We made our way to the coffin. I stared at the polished, dark wood of the lid. I cautiously ran a hand over the smooth wood.

Then, without saying a word, Cara grabbed one handle, and I grabbed the other. And slowly, slowly, we began to lift the coffin lid.