I’ve no choice. There’s no other way out.
I sprint towards the cycle, hastily lifting it up to seat myself on top. I twist the throttle, and the bike roars to life. I gulp back fear as the wall of creatures rev their own bikes, their foul, ragged breaths drowned out by the thunderous sound of the engines.
I push off from the ground, the bike surging forward. It’s now or never. Speeding around the ring, I lead the creatures on a wild chase. Adrenaline barrels through my veins as I fix my eyes on the people who are supposedly “awake.”
I have to save them. I have to get them out of here.
I weave between the oncoming bikes, sending them sliding into the dirt. But it isn’t enough. My heart sinks as the ring begins to expand, growing wider by the second and moving my goal further away. The circus lights and the crowd all fade away as I now race through a never-ending sea of sand. Great dunes erupt all around, and the lurching, dropped-elevator feeling in my stomach returns tenfold.
How can this be happening? I need to get out of here.
As creatures snarl and snap behind me, another motorcycle pulls up on my left side. I glance over to see it’shim. My eyes widen as the mysterious man with gleaming red eyes edges closer towards me, hand outstretched. My body yearns to give in, to reach out, take his hand, and feel his skin on mine.
Instead, I clamp my jaw tight and focus on the weight of my bag still slung over my body. Two stakes left. He is a vampire, after all. He may not have killed my mother, but he deserves to die simply for being the abomination that he is.
“Trust me,” he yells over the sound of the engines. “You can’t outrun them. Take my hand!”
I squint, sand irritating my eyes, and search for another way out of the never-ending desert.
He calls out again. “Come on! We don’t have much time!”
He scoots forward on his seat. My stomach clenches, realizing what he wants me to do. The thought of my body being flush against him sends my head into a spin. I stab the mental image the same way I want to drive a stake through his spine.
“You can’t be serious!” I yell back, just as another sand dune erupts from the earth directly in my path. I brace myself to go straight through it, but luck is on my side as I pass over it. My bike drifts away from the hot vampire. I squint into the distance; the spectators have disappeared. Fear trickles down my spine at the thought of them all being swallowed up by the wasteland, claimed by the vampires.
Nothing but miles and miles of endless dry sand stretches all around. Sweat beads on my temple despite the wind whipping around me.
I have to make it through. There must be an end to this madness.
I don’t know much about magic, but it can’t be infinite.
In all the myths and legends surrounding vampires, magic was scarcely mentioned and never in detail. Now I know those myths barely scratched the surface of the truth. The thought of these disgusting monsters having access to more power than I ever imagined makes my task ahead seem impossible. It’s even more chilling when one of them chases me down, riding close enough for me to smell his cologne.
Leather.
Musk.
Red flags.
I burn for him, hotter than the Sahara sun at its peak. No, that’s not concerning in the slightest.
Once I reach the bottom of the dune, the mysterious man pulls up close enough for me to see the desperation in his eyes. That damn intoxicating smell of his clouds my judgement. I can’t think about anything else when he’s this close to me.
“It’s now or never!” His deep voice has the hairs on my arms standing at attention.
I frantically weigh my options. I can keep going, eventually running out of gas and being eaten by the creatures. Or I can jump on the back of his motorcycle. Both are equally as scary.
My mind is made up for me as a canyon abruptly splits the desert directly in front of us. I don’t hesitate to grab his hand and propel myself off my bike and onto his. I cling to his leather jacket. Wind and sand whip through my hair as he angles away from the canyon. I glance back to see my bike turn to flecks of ash.
“What the fuck?” I mutter.
“That’s what happens if you die in the inbetween. Now hang on tighter or you’ll send us both to hell.”
Reluctantly, I do as he says, all while trying not to touch him too much.
The sound of the creatures’ motorcycles begins to fade. I take a few moments to close my eyes and steady my breathing before looking behind us. They’re all falling back as if they’ve been given a silent command to cease their hunt. Relief floods me, until I realize I’m on the back of my enemy’s bike with zero control over where we’re going. As stealthily as I can, I reach into my bag still strapped tight across my chest.
I close my fingers around the stake.
