Capítulo 3: Chapter 3: The Sewers

*The Alleyway*

I watched Mordecai bolt around the corner in pursuit. I knew better than to question his order, so I turned and ran around the other way just as I had been told. The alley was like a maze, and all the buildings looked the same to someone who had grown up on the feedlot out in the country. I had no idea where I was going, but I stayed on target following that scent.

It all happened so fast.

I had barely made it around the corner before I heard a thud and was slammed with the scent of fresh blood. I staggered back a few paces, pinching my nose to block it.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Mordecai exclaimed, catching my attention, as he was slumped against a wall struggling to stagger back up to his feet. His fingertips were dripping crimson with someone else's blood. The target ran in the opposite direction, and I paused to check on Mordecai.

"HE'S WOUNDED! GO AFTER HIM," shouted Mordecai.

"O-Okay!!" I gasped breathlessly.

I stumbled back and ran back after him. I had only just caught a glimpse of his scent before it seemed to drop out of thin air. I looked around, searching for him frantically.

Did he go up the walls!?

My heart was beating so hard it was hard to focus on the sounds around me. I forced myself to calm down, closing my eyes to focus. After a few moments, I heard something out of the ordinary, a metallic rattling coming from underneath.

I was standing on a maintenance hole cover.

I didn't have time to consider my options, and I was about to lose him! I reached down, popped the cover back, and dropped down, chasing the pungent scent of blood into the sewers. I could tell his pace had slowed, but he was still fast.

I ran around one corner and then another until I finally saw a glimpse of his blonde hair as he slid behind a massive steel door.

"STOP!" I shouted, watching it begin to slide closed.

I didn't have time to think. In a split second, I made a decision, arched forward, and began to shift, still running towards the door. The change was as natural as breathing to me now, and though I rarely ever shifted, it gave me the boost of speed I needed.

Adrenaline rushed through my veins, and the hair on the back of my neck began to darken and grow. My fingers ached and cracked as claws extended and scraped the ground as I leaned forward onto all fours. Then with one incredible push off of the earth to give myself momentum, I rushed to the door.

I nearly did not make it. With the door less than a foot away from slamming shut, it caught me in the side as I rushed through, knocking off my momentum and throwing me into an uncontrollable roll into a wall onto the other side. I slammed into something hard enough to break it against my back, knocking the wind out. The door came to a violent halt, slamming shut and locking into place with a loud mechanical click, sealing the room behind us.

I groaned in pain, rolling forward to stumble back onto my feet. My back was throbbing. My head was spinning as I finally looked around the room.

It was small, like some maintenance closet built into the sewers underground. There were only a few feet of cement construction before it broke away to raw earth, leading to a dark tunnel. There was a cot and a small fire pit. The large steel door that sealed the room was attached to a lever.

A lever that was now crushed thanks to my dramatic entrance.

"Ugh, are... you... crazy?!" I heard him groan.

He was leaning up against the opposing wall, clutching his chest. He had a massive gash from his right shoulder down to his left hip in the shape of Mordecai's claws. It had ripped through his white t-shirt, staining it red.

I carefully looked over him, scanning the injury. Blood had begun to pool up around his feet, and the wound had been severe enough that I wasn't sure if a human could have survived it, but this guy seemed to be still trying to stand despite it all. I shifted slowly back to my human form as I stood up and faced him.

"Uh, y-you good?" I stammered awkwardly.

"Does it look like I'm good?!" He exclaimed angrily, stumbling up onto his feet.

He held one foot up, leaning his entire body against the wall behind him.

"You guys are resilient," he continued, "don't you ever quit?! And you broke the d*amn door!"

"Uh, well, I just got here, so," I mumbled, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly before what he had said finally sunk in.

"Wait... it's broken!?" I exclaimed, finally taking a proper look at it.

Sure enough, the metal had folded in on itself from the hit, and the lever used to control it had been smashed to pieces. I stepped up and tried to pull it open by hand. It creaked and groaned but wouldn't budge.

"You're a vampire, can't you pull it with your super strength or something," I said, struggling with the frame.

"Says the wolf!"

He scoffed and dropped back against the wall. "I can't pull that door it's layered steel! I might have been able to before, but your piece of sh*t friend took care of that...," he mumbled, sliding down the wall.

I watched the blood streak down the wall as it followed him to the floor. My eyes went wide as I stood dumbstruck at the sheer amount of blood this vampire had already lost. How was he still talking? I finally gave up on the door and stepped back, staring blankly at him. I tried to figure out what to do.

He clutched his leg with one hand and his chest with the other. He was breathing heavily through a clenched jaw. I could see blood already staining the pale hair that stuck partially to his forehead and tangled up with the wall behind him. He looked to be in a great deal of pain.

"That was Mordecai," I mumbled, "and I wouldn't really say he is my friend."

My brows furrowed in concern. I was hesitant to get any closer to him, but seeing the horrible state Mort had left him in, I couldn't bring myself to leave him alone either. I pulled out a water bottle and a clean shirt from my backpack and approached him cautiously.

"I'm Aspen," I said, handing him the shirt and water bottle.

He paused for several moments, silently staring back at me with skepticism behind his eyes. He seemed to be trying to make out my motivations, but after several long seconds, he heaved a heavy sigh.

"Rilian," he mumbled, sniffing the shirt before using it to clean some blood from his chest and hands.

"Are you going to be alright?" I asked.

"What, are you worried about me?" Rilian asked bitterly. "I figured that was why you were here to start with, to kill me off or something."

I frowned, shaking my head.

"No, I have to take you back with me," I sighed. "I guess I didn't know how I was going to do that, but I never intended for you to get this hurt. Sorry for that."

"I'm a vampire. It'll heal," Rilian chuckled, tossing the shirt to the side. "Besides, I don't know if you want to be wasting your water on me anyway, we are probably going to be here for a while."

"I'm sure Mordecai will track us," I said, looking back nervously to the door.

"Not down here, he won't," said Rilian, "I made sure this was a safe room. These walls are too thick for the scent to get through."

"Wait, so NO ONE can find us?!" I exclaimed.

"Bingo, dude," Rilian said, cracking into a grin. "I don't know how you followed me down here."

"Oh, sh*t...oh h*ll...," I cursed breathlessly, "I'm dead, I'm really dead," I groaned, tugging at the door fruitlessly.

"Worried about being trapped in here with me?" snickered Rilian, who, despite not moving, seemed perfectly comfortable being locked in the same room as me.

"Y-yes!" I exclaimed. A loud creak came from the door as I pulled with all of my strength, but as I let it go, it simply clicked right back into place. "If I don't get out of here soon, I don't know what will happen!"

I glanced back to my wrist, watching the band continue counting down. Five days and 12 hours left. Mordecai and I had wasted so much time driving and searching. If we were stuck here too long, I wouldn't make it back to the feedlot in time.

"Relax, you're not going to starve to death," said Rilian calmly. "I'd eat you before that would happen."

I glanced back timidly to Rilian, a cool shiver running down my spine. He was grinning back at me, clearly amused by the look on my face. I sighed and flopped helplessly back to the floor with a thud.

"I'm worried about what they will do to me if I am late," I grumbled.

Rilian's grin fell. His eyes scrolled from my face to the time band around my wrist, and he dropped his head back against the wall, sighing softly.

"You aren't a guard, are you?" asked Rilian.

"No, I'm in my proving," I said, shaking my head. "The test was to catch you and bring you back, but if I don't make it in time, I'll fail."

Rilian tilted his head at me and heaved a sigh. "But, hey. You haven't totally screwed it up yet. I'm here, and there's another escape out of here," Rilian said, almost as if he were trying to comfort me.

I rolled my head back up, pushing auburn curls out of my face as I narrowed my eyes skeptically at Rilian. "You and I both know you aren't going to let me just take you to Brad."

"Hell no," scoffed Rilian, rolling his shoulders forward. The cuts on his chest had already stopped bleeding and had begun healing with ugly red scabs. "I've got a broken leg and lost a ton of blood. I'm not going far without help. So, it's either starve in here or show you the way out. I'll take my chances with Brad."

I watched him skeptically, trying to find any sign that it was a trick, but even if it was, it didn't matter. I had no idea where Mordecai was and was alone with this guy. It was either accepting his help or waiting until the clock ran out.

"How can you be so calm about all of this?" I asked, watching the vampire recline against the wall, clearly more at ease with me than I was with him.

"Do I have anything to be worried about? This isn't the first time someone's tried to kill me," he said with a smirk.

"How far is it?" I asked, wrapping an arm around Rilian's back to help him stand up.

"Ugh, it's usually a couple of hours of me running the whole time, but like this? Probably a few days," Rilian said, groaning in pain as he stumbled to his feet, resting his weight against me. "Jeez, you are short for a wolf...."

"Great," I said, rolling my eyes at his comment. "I'll carry you. It'll be faster."

"You sure? I feel like I'm just gonna crush you into tiny baby puppy pieces," Rilian mumbled, physically holding out a hand to compare the size difference between us.

"I'm still a wolf," I huffed, pulling my backpack around to carry on the front so I could lift Rilian over my shoulder, "and don't bite me."

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