Chapter 17

After his shower, which he needed a lot more than he realized, he got out and silently thanked Sarah for the larger shirt. The pants weren't such a big deal, he had always worn his pants a little larger than they needed to be in case of shrinkage in the dryer. Also, they just felt more comfortable when they were baggy.

Mark exited the bathroom while drying his hair with the hotel towel so he couldn't see that Sarah had company.

"So where we going now? I think I can live without stopping at the house. But we need to talk about-" Mark smelled them first, the horrible stench of vampires. He removed the towel from his head and saw two large men beside Sarah and a smaller man behind her with a foot long blade to her throat.

"No funny stuff there, lover boy," the smaller man said. "You won't make it to her before I can remove her pretty little head."

"Mark, just sit down and let me handle this," Sarah said, winking at him.

Why was Sarah winking? Either way, sitting sounded like a great idea. He wasn't about to take on these men. He might have put on a little muscle, but these men looked like they could snap him in half.

"Back to our conversation, sweetheart. Is his daughter really dead?" the short man asked as he leaned over to talk in Sarah's ear.

"Don't hurt her," Mark said through gritted teeth.

"I've got this, Mark." Again Sarah winked.

"Yes, I killed her to keep her from becoming a vampire. I blamed it on Mark, but it was me. He's about to be seriously pissed at me right now, so holding me hostage might not be your best move," Sarah said and winked at Mark again.

Mark got the hint now. "You killed Katie?!" Mark yelled as he stood up, shooting the chair across the room behind him.

"I'm so sorry, Mark, they would have turned her into a vampire. I had no choice." Sarah smiled a little at Mark, but just long enough to let him know he was on the right track.

The two larger men turned to look at the smaller one.

"Wait, so we can't-" Before the smaller man could finish his sentence, Sarah grabbed the blade and thrust it all the way through his leg, bone and all.

While the small man struggled in agony, trying to get the blade dislodged from his femur, Sarah attacked one of the larger men. She hit him in the chest hard enough that all Mark heard was the sound of breaking ribs,but the man didn't flinch. He threw a punch at Sarah, but Sarah was incredibly fast. She ducked out of the way and kicked the other large man behind her in the knee. Again Mark heard the sound of snapping bone as this man fell to the floor in pain. Mark could barely keep up as the three of them fought. Sarah was amazing, he doubted they even got one hit on her. Before long, both men were on the floor, Sarah had broken their necks.

"Breaking their necks will not kill them, but it does take quite a while to repair. Let's get-" Sarah was cut off mid-sentence as the foot long blade came out the middle of her chest. The small man had somehow wrenched it from his leg.

"Not going anywhere now, sweetheart," the man laughed.

Mark was overcome with rage. He ran across the room and hit the man in the head. Mark was not a good fighter, he had intended to hit the man in the jaw, but his aim was off. The smaller man shook his head and came at Mark with the blade.

"I can't kill you, but I can cut you up real good before Sariel gets here," the man said with an evil smile.

Mark wasn't listening, he was still consumed with rage. The blade sunk into his stomach, and Mark ignored it. He grabbed the hand that was holding the blade and pulled as hard as he could. The man's arm tore apart at the socket, and it fell to the floor, still bleeding.

"I'm going to fucking kill you! You killed Sarah!" Mark yelled as he grabbed the blade and drew it back to cut off the man's head.

As he swung downward, someone caught his arm, someone much stronger than he was. He saw painted red fingernails. It was Sarah. She wasn't dead.

"We don't kill!" Sarah scolded him.

Sarah removed the blade from Mark's hand effortlessly then shoved it in the smaller man's chest and said. "Payback is a bitch." Then she snapped his neck as well.

"I'm sorry, Sarah," Mark begged.

"It's ok, I appreciate the sentiment, but you're forgetting there are only two ways to kill us and stabbing through the heart isn't one of them," Sarah scolded again, much quieter this time.

"Right," Mark said, ashamed that he had let her down so soon.

"His arm though, that's not gonna heal for a very long time. I feel sorry for him-almost," Sarah smiled at the end. She was sort of devious when she wanted to be.

"We need to get out of here, Sariel is coming," Sarah said hurriedly as she ran to the door. She quickly opened the door then shut it again. "Umm, plan B."

"What's going on?" Mark implored.

"Well-Sariel is here." Sarah was searching around the room, looking for something. "So, we need to-not be here." Sarah had found what she was looking for. "In here."

Sarah pulled up a small door hidden in the floor, revealing what looked like a garbage shoot. As soon as Mark got close, he was sure it was a garbage shoot. He could smell the garbage below.

"No squirming, just get in and hold your breath," Sarah commanded.

"Yes, ma'am," Mark replied, then jumped feet first into the shoot. He was not about to argue with Sarah. She was a badass, and he clearly was not. She disarmed him with such ease, and her grip was like a steel trap. She probably could have ripped his arm off with much less effort than it had taken Mark.

At the bottom Mark tried to get out of the way as fast as he could but Sarah landed right on top of him. She ended up sitting right on his chest as he lay face up. Mark found himself wanting Sarah again. If only this was under different circumstances.

"Prince charming, I presume?" Sarah quipped.

"Prince dumpster, more like it," Mark groaned. "Not that you're heavy, cause you're not, but can you get off my chest?"

"Oh I see, I save your life, and all you can say is 'Sarah quit crushing my spleen'," Sarah said in her best Mark voice as she wiggled her way to the edge of the dumpster.

"Now that's the Sarah I-" Mark paused, was he really going to say that?

"What was that?" Sarah laughed as she removed the garbage from her clothes.

"That's the Sarah I know," Mark quickly covered. Was he really just about to say that?

"We better get moving, Sariel will find that hatch soon enough. Let's find some clean clothes- again!" Sarah complained as she looked down at her once white shirt. "I really liked this shirt."

"Yeah, that gaping, bloody hole in your chest isn't flattering," Mark joked.

"Says the guy with arm guts all over his white shirt?" Sarah retorted.

"Fair point," Mark conceded as the two of them carefully crept their way out of the alley and on to the street.

Sarah led the way down the alley, not that Mark couldn't have found his way, but he had no idea where she was going. Also, he was enjoying the view as Sarah led the way.