Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

“Gabriel!” I gasped, clutching his arm. I felt weak seeing Jagger standing there smiling as if we were dinner…as if I was dinner.
“I know, I know. Stay in the car.” He instructed me.
“The car? You want me to stay out here when Oliver is over there dying?!” I screeched.
“Please, Jade, just trust me, okay? Stay here unless I motion for you to follow.”
I crossed my arms and sat back in the seat. “Fine.”
“And I’m leaving the keys here. If something goes wrong, drive away as fast as you can, okay?”
I shook my head but didn’t argue. He knew as well I did that I wouldn’t leave him or Oliver there with that creature. Gabriel closed the car door and made a hand motion telling me to lock the doors. I wouldn’t do that. What if he needed to get in quickly? Or what if Oliver did? I looked out and saw Oliver out there, not moving, his pale skin seeming more pale than usual. I put my hand on the door handle ready to jump out and save Oliver before it was too late. Gabriel seemed to hear my thoughts and turned back with a death glare that read easily. It said, “If you do anything I do not tell you to do, I might have to kill you myself.” Fine. Let him think that, but Oliver needed me. When Jagger seemed distracted, I would jump out and save him…
I rolled down the window slightly so I could hear what was going on.
“Gabriel, my brother! Come to see the show? Oh and look, you brought a tasty snack.” Jagger said with a sly grin.
“Release him. He is nothing to you. It’s Jade you want. Don’t kill other innocent lives.” Gabriel responded with such venom in his voice, I shrunk back even though it was not directed at me.
“Little brother, you should know by now that I don’t listen to you. In minutes, this boy will dead and your girlfriend will join him. Oh, and such a shame what happened to the other one that came here. He did a good job getting her to come.”
No! No! No! Not Alec too! My thoughts screamed.
My hand tightened on the door handle.
“What did you do with him?” Gabriel demanded.
Jagger shrugged carelessly. “He’s as good as dead.”
“Where is he?”
“Why should that matter? Gabriel, you best leave. If you stand in my way of my plan, I may have to take you out as well. I don’t want to have to do that but I will do what is necessary.”
“You don’t have to kill, Jagger. You can stop this and be a better man.”
Jagger laughed darkly and took a step towards Gabriel. Jagger’s expression changed from dark humor to hatred and angst.
“I do have to kill, Gabriel. I’m not afraid of what we are. We are vampires, Gabriel. We were put here to kill. That’s why we are damned to the deepest levels of hell. We are not the good guys. We are meant to kill. It’s the stupid humans’ fault for denying our existence even though we have existed for centuries. It’s time we taught them a lesson. You can’t hide from yourself forever, Gabriel. You want to kill; I can see it in your eyes. You have that desire like all of us do. There is no such thing as a good vampire.”
The responses stopped coming and I wondered if they were having a telepathy conversation until I noticed that Gabriel was looking back at me with sorrow in his eyes. He turned back to Jagger.
“You are right, Jagger. We are meant to kill.” He sighed.
Jagger smiled. “I’m glad you are seeing things my way finally.”
Gabriel shook his head with regret and for a moment, I was scared of him. Was he going to give into Jagger’s manipulative ways?
“Are you going to run away again, Gabriel?” Jagger asked so softly, I hardly heard him.
Gabriel didn’t respond. I wished I could read his mind so I knew what was going on internally with him. I looked past Jagger and saw Oliver still lying there out cold. I couldn’t sit there and listen to them discuss what they were anymore. I opened the door and slipped out. Jagger noticed and smirked.
“I knew you’d warm up to me!” he exclaimed.
Gabriel looked over his shoulder but didn’t seem to care. He just stood there, watching me with expressionless eyes. Jagger crossed his arms and leaned against a handicap parking sign. I took a step forward. Nothing changed. I increased my strides and then I was beside Oliver. In the lamp post light, he looked so far gone. I wasn’t sure if there was any hope for him. I knelt down beside him and stroked his cold, pale hand. Tears burned my eyes. For a moment, I forgot that I was being watched by two vampires. All that was there were Oliver and me. I gently picked his upper half up and laid him across my lap. I stroked his cheek, trying to ignore the fact that his blood was dripping onto me.
“So, Gabriel, will you let me have her?” I heard Jagger ask.
I looked up to see both of them staring at me. One with longing. The other with regret.
Gabriel didn’t answer. He instead turned and walked to his car. He hesitated at the door and looked back at my confused expression. He turned his head away and got into the car. He ignited the engine and drove away. I stared at the skid marks left by his tires not knowing how to react. “Well, I’m impressed.” Jagger said with genuine surprise in his voice.
I wasn’t sure what to say or do. Gabriel left. He left me with Jagger. He left me to die.
“Well, I guess you are mine now, Jade.”
He stepped towards me. I didn’t feel fear for once since meeting Jagger. My mind was too far off thinking about what had just happened. Gabriel left me. He really left me.
“Leave…leave her alone.”
I looked down to see that the hoarse whisper came from Olive. His eyes were slightly open. Jagger seemed to hear too and began laughing.
“Humans! Now, who should I kill first? Finish off the bloody one or go for old flesh?”
I clutched Olive closer. “Please, don’t kill Oliver.” I begged quietly feeling tears well up in my eyes knowing that my pleading wouldn’t do any good.
Jagger laughed a hollow, dark sound that was missing humor. Oliver reached up and took my hand weakly.
“I’m so sorry, Jade.” He whispered.
I shook my head quickly, flinging my tears from side to side. He smiled.
“I still love you, you know.” His voice was getting weaker.
“Stop talking, you idiot. You need to save your breath.”
Jagger laughed. “How touching. Now, who would like to go first?”
Neither of us answered. Suddenly, there were sirens from far off in the distance. Jagger jerked around to see police vehicles pulling into the church parking lot. Jagger bolted but not before the headlights hit him.
“Who is out there?” called an officer.
“Over here!” I called, not standing. I didn’t want to leave Oliver’s side.
A male officer shined a flashlight on us. The sudden bright light in my eyes made me shield my face.
“What happened here? Call an ambulance, Mike!”
“Oliver was attacked. I tried to…save him. He was about to kill me.” I responded as calmly as I could.
“Who attacked you?” the officer asked.
I sighed knowing it was pointless to give the name but I had to try. “His name is Jagger. He is the one that’s been killing people.”
“Does he have a reason to?”
I shook my head. “His killings are random. His brother told me that.”
“Who is brother?”
“Alexander. I don’t know their last names.”
“Are you hurt?” he asked eyeing the blood on me.
“No. Oliver is though. Please, he needs medical help right away.”
“Calm down, sweetie, someone is on the way.”
I looked down at Oliver who had his eyes shut again. I could see his chest slowly moving up and down. I hoped and prayed that it wouldn’t be too late when help came. I stroked Oliver’s cheek. Concentrating on him was helping keep my mind off of Gabriel.
At the hospital, the doctors managed to stop the bleeding but Oliver still was unconscious. They wouldn’t allow me to see him. Only family members were permitted to go back which frustrated me. I had to talk to him. I was getting too fidgety. I noticed that Alec wasn’t around. That worried me and it worried me a lot. Jagger had said something about he had taken care of Alec…I hoped and prayed it wasn’t what I thought it was. Monica and James were holding each other in the lobby still in shock from the event. I had been in the hospital for hours. I had watched people coming in and out with tears or with joy on their faces. It was a depressing environment. I stood up and walked back to Oliver’s room. A nurse was standing outside his door with a clipboard.
“May I go in?” I asked politely.
“Family?” she responded without looking up.
“Yes.”
She opened the door for me then closed it behind me. The room was dark except for the moon that shone in through the window onto Oliver’s bed. His pale skin reminded me of…I chose not to think of him. It would be too painful. I sat down in a beige cushioned chair beside his bed. I took his hand which was very cold. His eyes stayed shut and the only sound was the quiet beeping of his heart monitor. Tears met my eyes. He looked so…so…dead. I shook my head convincing myself that vampire attacks were just traumatizing and that he was in shock or something but looking onto his face…I couldn’t seem to convince myself of that.
It was too quiet in the room with the only sounds being the heart monitor and my quiet sniffling. I decided to talk to him. I had heard that it helps the unconscious come back. I was about to find out if that was true.
“Oliver…” my voice came out as a croak. I cleared my throat. “Oliver, I’m so sorry. I treated you badly. I dragged you into a world you should’ve stayed away from…a world I should’ve stayed away from as well. And, you mean so much more to me than I let you in on. I’m sorry, I’m really, really sorry. Gabriel…he…” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
What could I say to an unconscious person? Gabriel left me with you for both of us to die by a seemingly rabid vampire. I shook my head feeling a tear roll out of my eye. I wiped it away quickly as if Oliver would actually see it. I stroked the back of his hand wondering why I really DIDN’T have feelings for him the way he had feelings for me. He would treat me so well. He wouldn’t abandon me in my greatest time of need-especially not abandon me in a life threatening situation.