نفس خون آشام فصل 24

Vampire Breath - Chapter 24

Cara and I stared at the old vampire in silence. He turned to the shelves of blue bottles.

“This is where I hid my full bottle of Vampire Breath,” he told us. “I hid it here in the empties room. I knew the others would never look here.” As he smiled, I could see his gums, soft and smooth inside the dry-lipped mouth. His smile faded. And his silvery eyes narrowed.

“I’m so thirsty,” he whispered, eyeing Cara and me. “I must find the full bottle—refresh my memory—and get back my fangs.” He dove for the nearest shelf and began pawing through the blue bottles. “Which one? Which one?” he muttered to himself. “Thousands of bottles, and only one is full.” His small, bony hands moved quickly over the shelf. He pushed aside empties, muttering to himself. Bottles crashed to the floor, shattering into pieces.

“Cara—quick!” I pointed to the far shelf. “Let’s move!”

She understood me instantly. We had to find the full bottle first. We had to find it before Count Nightwing did.

I dropped to my knees and began sifting through the bottles on the bottom shelf. Empty… empty… empty… empty… I pushed them aside one by one. My fingers moved quickly over the glass tops. I squinted hard in the dim light, searching, searching for the only full bottle.

Glass shattered on the hard floor. Bottles rolled and spun all around me.

Beside me, Cara worked frantically over a low shelf. “No. No. No. No.” She muttered to herself as she moved her hands over the empty bottles.

“You two—” Count Nightwing called from across the room. “Get away from there!” We ignored him. We kept pawing through the bottles, working faster, faster. Desperate to find the full one first.

And then—my hand landed on it.

I sucked in a deep breath when I realized it felt heavier than the others. My hand trembled as I carefully lifted it out from the others.

Yes! It definitely felt heavy. Yes! It was still sealed shut. Yes!

“I found it!” I cried, jumping to my feet. “Cara—look! I’ve got it!” I raised the full bottle up to show it to her—and Count Nightwing grabbed it from my hand.

“Thank you,” he said.