Inferno

ALEXANDER

The manor was ablaze quicker than I could have ever imagined. Fire danced up the walls, consuming everything in its path. Tapestries that had been around for centuries vanished in seconds, ancient paintings crumbled into ash, and the luxurious Egyptian sheets were reduced to smoldering remnants.

In no time, the fire had devoured the rooms, the floors, and the ceilings. The manor was a fiery spectacle under the morning sun, and we were trapped with no escape route.

The manor was filled with the sound of screams. The cries of the turned vampires trapped beneath the floors echoed through the burning building. They were stuck in a room that was on fire.

I could hear Caroline, desperately trying to escape, screaming as the sunlight hit her, and then diving back into the flames. The sounds of my parents—my father’s silent groans, my mother’s gasps of shock and soft cries—filled the burning manor.

I took off running. I lost sight of the turned vampire. The walls around me were ablaze, the ceiling was a canopy of fire, and the heat was suffocating.

The air was heavy with smoke. Breathing wasn’t an issue for a pureblood like me, but it was messing with my senses. I found myself charging toward a door, yanking it open, only to be met with my bedroom and the harsh morning sun.

I was disoriented. I slammed the burning door shut and ran in the opposite direction.

Amidst the roaring flames, I heard a heart-wrenching scream.

Jessica.

She was in distress, crying out for help.

I zeroed in on her cries, leaping over burning furniture, crashing through walls, and jumping from one floor to another. The fire grazed my skin. My sun-inflicted wounds hadn’t healed, and I felt every flame, every bit of heat against my raw flesh.

I clenched my teeth; even having my throat torn out by my ex hadn’t hurt this much.

“Pleeeeeease help!” Jessica screamed.

I pushed past a burning dresser and found her, trapped under a marble column, trying to shield herself from the morning sun that had broken through the shattered wall of her room.

She could probably have lifted the column herself, but she was weak. She hadn’t been consuming enough human blood, and she was in a state of panic.

Her petite body shook under the weight of the marble column. Her tears of blood streaked her soot-covered face as she whimpered, clutching at the cracked stone as if it could offer some protection.

“Jessica!” I yelled, dropping to my knees to avoid the lethal rays of the sun.

“Alex,” she sobbed.

Her face was drenched in bloody tears, her skin marred with black, burned patches, and her body twisted and broken under the weight of the column.

Her crimson eyes met mine, and I saw deep despair. She was sobbing, unable to articulate her words. She started to reach toward me, her small hand extended.

But when the sunlight touched her skin, she screamed in agony and pulled her hand back to her chest.

“Jessica, don’t move!” I yelled over the crackling of the fire. The ceiling above us was engulfed in flames—it was about to collapse. We wouldn’t survive that.

Jessica whimpered and continued to struggle, her eyes now fixed on the ceiling. She wasn’t listening; she was in a state of panic.

I lunged forward, gritting my teeth and focusing solely on my sister. The morning rays hit me square in the chest, searing deep into me and setting my blood on fire.

I grunted in pain, diving down to the ground next to my sister. She immediately grabbed my hand, pressing it to her bloody face.

“Please don’t leave me,” she pleaded.

“I’m not leaving you,” I managed to say through gritted teeth.

“Don’t leave me, Alex!” she cried.

“I won’t!” I snapped. “Jessica, look at me!”

I grabbed her face and forced her to look at me. Her eyes were wide, her small mouth trembling in fear.

“I will never leave you! Got it? I am your brother. I will never leave you!”

“Promise?” she gasped.

I nodded vigorously. “I promise, Jess. Now, I’m going to lift the column. When I do, we won’t have any protection from the sun. Run in that direction, okay?”

I pointed to a gaping hole in her wall that once led to the main hall.

“Okay,” she agreed.

“Okay.” I nodded, releasing her hand, though she whimpered and clung to the marble column. Despite the fire, it was still cool to the touch.

I braced myself against the stone, stealing a glance at Jessica.

“Now!” I yelled, launching the pillar into the air. It soared over Jessica’s small frame, and sunlight poured into the room.

Jessica let out a scream. Her leg was still broken; she hadn’t had time to heal. She rolled onto her side, teeth clenched, allowing me to grab her arm and fling her toward the hole in the wall.

Just then, the ceiling groaned loudly and began to collapse. I slid behind my sister, slipping into the hole and the fiery corridor just before the ceiling gave way completely.

We were out of time.

I scooped up Jessica, cradling her in my arms, and took off running. The manor was designed and sealed to allow us to live above ground without overheating or coming into contact with the sun.

There were no underground cellars, no bunkers to escape to. The only place I could think of was the tunnel leading from the main hall to the trapdoor on the mountain.

I sprinted through the wreckage, Jessica’s heated skin chafing against mine. I could feel her tiny arms clinging to my neck, her face buried in my chest as she wept.

“Hang on, Jess,” I reassured her. “I won’t let you go.”

I dashed into the main hall. It was still mostly intact; the furniture and tapestries were charred, but the marble floor and walls weren’t on fire.

My footsteps echoed loudly as I raced through the ruined space. The portrait of my grandfather and great-aunt was destroyed, a gaping hole revealing the tunnel that beckoned me.

Without a second thought, I plunged into the tunnel. It was hot. Blistering. But there were no flames.

I ran deeper into the mountain until I was near the trapdoor, then I set Jessica down. She whimpered in pain. Leaning against the tunnel wall, she hugged her knees and sobbed.

I crouched down in front of her, gently taking her hand. Her skin was hot, but it was healing. I could see the burn marks fading. She would be okay.

I exhaled a small sigh of relief. “Jess. I need you to stay here, all right? I’m going to find Callie,” I said softly.

Her crimson eyes widened.

“No, you promised you wouldn’t leave me,” she gasped, reaching for me and wrapping her arms around my shoulders.

“I won’t, Jess. I’ll be back. I need to find Callie. I need to make sure she’s safe.”

Jessica whimpered, holding me tight, then slowly let me go.

“I’ll stay here,” she assured me. “Come back, Alex. Promise me?”

“I promise, Jess,” I replied, ruffling her hair and forcing a smile. “I’ll come back for you. No matter what.”

She nodded.

Leaving her to heal, I sprinted back through the tunnel. The roaring flames drowned out all other sounds, and the thick smoke made it impossible to smell anything.

As I burst into the main hall, smoke billowed in from the right wing. The ceiling was cracked. It wouldn’t burn, but it would collapse. Time was running out.

“Callie!” I found myself sprinting, shouting into the smoke, closing my eyes, and straining to hear any sound.

Voices echoed from the turned-vampire room—they were still trapped. I would rescue them after I found Callie.

I could hear the manor creaking, snapping, popping, belching out huge clouds of smoke. Then I heard a whisper. Very faint, but unmistakable.

Mother.

I rounded the corner, and there she was.

Flames danced on the walls behind her, casting flickering shadows over her crimson gown. Her silhouette was a calm oasis in the midst of chaos, her face eerily peaceful.

She clutched the heavy jewels around her neck. When her eyes met mine, her lips curled into a slow smile—a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“My son!” she called, her voice sweet, as if we weren’t standing in a burning inferno.

I didn’t let her finish.

I rushed to her side, hoisted her up, slung her over my shoulder, and ran back to the main hall. She whooped in my arms, reaching for the flames as I ran.

I didn’t have the mental capacity to pay attention. I just took her to the tunnel and tossed her in.

Jessica crawled toward us, throwing herself into Mother’s arms. Mother wrapped herself around her youngest daughter and cooed.

“I’ll be back. Watch her!” I pointed at Mother, speaking to Jessica.

She nodded, her eyes wide with fear.

Stepping out of the tunnel once more, the mansion shuddered violently, let out a horrifying scream, and the stone ceiling of our main hall collapsed.

The stones snapped, and the bright sunlight was suddenly welcomed into the core of our home.

I narrowly escaped the falling debris, hurling myself back into the tunnel’s entrance. The sunlight was intense, burning brightly at the mouth of the tunnel.

I stumbled back into my sister and mother. They looked at me, speechless.

“You can’t go back out there,” Jessica whispered, her voice barely audible.

“The sun is too harsh,” Mother concurred.

I just looked at them.

“Callie,” I murmured.

“She’s clever,” Mother reassured me, nodding. “She’ll be hiding somewhere. She’s a fighter. I know it. I can feel it.”

I felt a knot in my stomach, my heart constricting.

Jessica buried her face in my chest, her petite body still shaking from silent sobs. I held her close, my chin resting on her hair. The scent of smoke clung to us, enveloping us like a cloak.

Mother sat a little distance away, her eyes fixed on the tunnel entrance.

When I brought up Father, her face hardened, but her voice remained steady.

“He chose the flames,” she stated, almost as an afterthought. “Maybe he thought he could control them.”

Her words hung in the air like soot—heavy and suffocating.