Chapter 19: Stairway to Heaven

The smell of smoke began to rise, he knew there wasn't much time.

Adrian had a plan,

It was only a matter of knowing when to execute it.

He met his face with Katrina's,

Fear was the only thing behind those gray eyes.

"Hurry up, boy," his father growled, the raging tone in his voice grew stronger.

"You were brought into this world for one thing and that is to kill.

I'm not going to stand here and watch you waste the seven hundred years of your life just so you can be beside some filthy mortals.

So hurry up and finish her, before I take you both out…"

Adrian sighed, looking her in the eyes once more before leaning in towards her neck, causing her to scream.

"It's going to be alright."

A soft whisper lingered in her ear.

a gentle, reassuring silence filled the room.

After that moment, Adrian turned and lunged.

Wrapping his hands around his father's face, he tackled him to the ground.

As the two started to wrestle, Katrina gasped, attempting to free herself from the shackles around her wrists.

Continuing to struggle, she could feel a bony hand wrap around her head,

The woman smiled down at her, her bright red lips reflected off her pristine fangs.

"Come with me, darling.."

"No!"

Katrina shouted as she kicked the woman in the stomach, causing her to stumble and bash her head on a wooden shelf, knocking her unconscious.

She struggled once more until she was able to snap the rope from the wall,

Setting her free.

She grabbed a long metal bat off the shelf as she observed the man.

Adrian groaned as he was thrown across a table, his father dragged him to the ground, wrapping his hands around his son's neck.

"I should've never brought you here. Feeding into your dumb fantasy."

Adrian wheezed as he choked, trying anything to release the raging grip of his father's hands.

"Your brother's already failed me. You were supposed to be the one to carry on our family's legacy,"

The rage continued to burn in his eyes.

"But you… You only ended up being my biggest regret."

He could feel his eyelids grow heavy, he couldn't breath, couldn't speak.

Until the blurred sight of a familiar figure kept him awake just a bit longer.

"Yeah, well y'know what…" he wheezed as his voice strained.

"You can take your hatred for me…"

He let out a breath of a chuckle,

"And you can shove it up your ass, dad."

Katrina swung the bat across the man's head.

Groaning as he froze, the man collapsed to the ground.

A sudden silence filled the room, the only sound being the crickets outside.

Adrian took in a deep gasp as he could finally breathe again.

He took in a few deep breaths, looking around the room.

Katrina fell to her knees. She couldn't control her shaking as she began to sob.

"Hey, hey, come here,"

He took her hands and sighed.

"Jeez, I'm so sorry, I should've never dragged you into this."

"Y'know, I always knew there was something different about you, but this-"

She sniffled, "this is a bit extreme."

"Yeah, well, at least I didn't end up being a werewolf or something."

They both chuckled to each other, hands still intertwined as they sat on the wood floor.

"Hey, Adrian… I-"

"Shh…"

He stopped her mid-sentence,

The smell of smoke grew stronger as they could hear crashing from the roaring flames down below.

"We need to get out of here."

Katrina yelped as he picked her up, carrying her out the door and to the stairs.

halfway down the staircase, they could see the living room up in flames,

Colors of orange and yellow lit up the house as the fire consumed furniture, walls, floors… even on the ceiling.

The atmosphere became suffocatingly hot,

It was getting hard to breathe.

Adrian chuckled as a sly smile tugged at his lips,

A smile only a crazy person would give.

"Hold on tight."

He grunted as he leaped over the stair rail,

The wood was beginning to warp under the heat of the flames.

Katrina held on to his shirt as they marched through the fire,

A loud crash sounded, the wooden shaft from above fell to the ground in front of the front door, blocking the main exit.

Adrian let out a frustrated grunt before bolting into a sprint, headed for the large window on the side wall.

Katrina shrieked,

Time seemed to slow as she opened her eyes, tiny shards of glass floated around them.

She never even heard the glass shatter.

The impact to the ground knocked the air out of their lungs as they rolled onto the grass.

The chilly air seemed to hit them like a thousand bricks,

Bright moonlight shined down like a spotlight.

The two laid on their back and watched the house burn down,

Flames continued to roar as smoke rose from out the windows and up the chimney.

There seemed to be a faint muffled sound of wood crashing from inside.

"Well," Adrian looked down beside him,

Two small packs of skittles scattered in a pile of candy on the grass,

He picked them up and gave one to Katrina.

"Happy Halloween. Let's never do that again."

"Yeah." Katrina agreed as she took the candy.

"Gosh," she let out an exhausted sigh, rubbing her eyes.

"Tonight doesn't even seem real. I mean to think, I find out my neighbor ends up being a vampire. No one is ever going to believe that."

Adrian's solemn eyes drifted to the ground, they hadn't even noticed the faint sirens coming up the neighborhood.

"I understand if you want to leave." The sadness in his voice seeped through as he spoke.

"I mean, you know who I truly am now. It must be terrifying…"

Katrina's eyes gleamed as she gave him a reassuring smile,

"I'm not terrified," placing her hand on his shoulder, he began to weep.

"I've seen who you truly are as a person. You're not a monster, not some dude who likes to suck blood, No. I believe you simply have a heart of gold, Adrian."

He gave a soft smile as he wiped his teary eyes. "Actually," he sniffled,

"I gave up on blood a long time ago. I've discovered Pop-Tarts to be way more satiating."

The two of them burst into chuckles, a moment that was soon interrupted by sirens as a fire truck pulled up to the house, followed by two police vans.

Adrian chuckled as he held her hand,

"Come on," he helped her to her feet.

"Let's get you home, I'll deal with them."

They held each other's hands as they walked,

As if nothing the world throws could ever get to them again