I ran straight into a dead end. In the maze of alleys, the route ran straight into a bricked over wall. I looked up. More bricks tightly sealing the room. The only way out was to go back. But that was where he waited to kill me. In the dimly lit hallway, I passed my hands over the wall, searching blindly for something. Anything. Was it possible that Gregory really had sent me to my doom? Was it possible that he was in league with the vampire closing in on me?

Anxiously, I started softly knocking on the bricks, listening for even the faintest hollow of a sound. But no. The bricks and whatever lay behind them absorbed my energetic raps as if they had never existed. I wanted to scream, to cry in my panic, and let go of the adrenaline, even if it made me bounce off the walls. My heart was going a hundred miles per minute, a thousand, a million. The blood pumping through my brain felt as though it were boiling with the fear of such a death. I just wanted to be anywhere but here. Anywhere, anywhere….

I heard soft footsteps behind me, shuffles in the thin layers of sand and dust that coated whatever this sickening place was called. I did not breathe, just slowly lowered my hands from the wall and began to turn.

The figure before me was shockingly gorgeous. I had to admit that even now. Tall, pale, dark-haired. His face was angular but thin. His scarlet lips were full. His crimson, glowing eyes were hypnotizing in a dizzying, frightening way.

This would be my death.

I realized that n my last moments alive, I wanted to be doing something courageous. I took a step towards him, refusing to cry, scream, or struggle.

Suddenly, I felt the ground disappear beneath my feet and seconds late I crashed down onto some new floor that I scarcely even noticed. Then, all the lights went out as I hit unconsciousness.