Tainted Blood (21 page)

“Guess not.” Bobby said, then turned back to Brian. “I don't think you're going anywhere, Kid, except maybe the hospital.”

Brian shook his head in frustration, tears welling up in his eyes. “We need to rescue Heather.”

“And how do you propose to do that? You can't even walk.” Bobby said it more like a statement of fact than a question.

“Blood.” Brian said flatly, knowing all too well what Bobby's reaction would be.

“Now listen here!” The old man began as he stood up and took a step back. “I'm all for rescuing Heather and taking one for the cause and all, but I'm drawing a line when it comes to letting some blood sucker sink his teeth into my neck.”

“That's the spirit,” Carl said as he walked up behind Bobby and patted him on the shoulder, causing the old man to jump. “One less blood sucker in the world can't be a bad thing.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Bobby knocked the young man's hand away from him.

“Just what it sounds like.” Carl gave him a wolfish smile, then turned to Brian. ”Mack says to tell you that our mutual problem is taken care of, and to let your people know.”

“And just how the hell is he supposed to do that if he's dead?” Bobby shot back at him as Brian watched. He could see Garn being led out of the building by Mack. The older werewolf had no rope or chains or anything that would force the lycan to do anything the other wolf wanted, and yet the older wolf just followed sheepishly behind him.

“Not my problem.” Carl grinned at Bobby then turned and followed after the two other departing lycanthropes.

“A lot of help that one is.” Bobby huffed at the back of Carl.

“Here...” Meryl said as she walked over and bent down in front of Brian. The smell of her filled his nose even before she had brought her neck down to his level. A burning hunger filled him as she did, the memory of her taste came rushing back into his mouth, as she began to unbutton her shirt.

“Like hell you will!” Bobby's voice boomed. The older man stepped up and grabbed Meryl's shoulder and attempted to pull her back and away from Brian. If it hadn't been for the pain and his inability to move, Brian would have already moved forward and began to drink from the well that was Meryl's neck.

Instead, all he could do was lean forward somewhat and helplessly watch as the one thing his body desired more than anything else was pulled back reeling and off balance away from him.

“Uncle,
no
!” Meryl shouted as she fell off balance to the floor, falling on her side. “Brian will die if he doesn't feed.”

“You don't know that. You don't know anything about them except what you've read. I've lived with one.” Bobby's eyes widened and Brian thought the man's face changed into something looking more like a mask of rage than the calm bearded thing he had known for the last year.

“What I know is that he's not going to make it.” She said as she picked herself up off the floor and pointed at Brian. “Look at him. Do you want that on your conscience?”

Brian had to admit that he couldn't remember a time where he felt so weak and weird. He wasn't all that sure that he was going to die. As far as he could tell, he just had a few broken ribs, and unless they had pierced his lungs he would eventually heal. Meryl's blood would make things go a lot faster.

“Nonsense.” Bobby turned away and shrugged. “He's a vampire, last I heard they're all undead, so there's no way that's going to kill him.”

“You just said he was in a bad way.”

“For a human I mean.” The old man corrected her.

Meryl stared at her uncle defiantly. He could see that she was on the verge of a losing her temper. He doubted that Bobby was going to stop her much longer. The truth be told, he didn't really want her to be stopped. When Meryl's blood was in him he never felt so alive, and the anticipation of it was almost killing him. The want for it was almost beyond his control.

“Fine!” She yelled, then tuned and flung herself at Brian. Her suddenness took everyone by surprise, including Bobby. The old man stared dumbfounded as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing, as she pulled her shirt down over her shoulder and stuck her bare neck into Brian’s face. To be fair, Brian had no time to think about it. Or for that matter to
say
anything. His fangs pierced the side of her neck as liquid fire began to flow into his mouth. His body had reacted without any conscious thought on his part, not that he was going to turn her away if she had offered.

Regardless, there was no turning back now. The liquid fire that was her blood now rushed through his entire body as gulp after gulp he swallowed. Brian opened his eyes surprised to have found that he had closed them. Bobby was directly behind Meryl, even now pulling for all he was worth in an attempt to pull his niece away from Brian.

Meryl, for her part, had turned her face as much as she could to try and look into Brian’s face as he drained her. Her mouth was open in what appeared to be a grin as a moan escaped from it. Not of pain, but of pleasure. Brian was sure of that. He wasn't sure how she was enjoying this as much as he was, but she certainly appeared to be. The taste of her blood and her close bodily proximity of her made him feel deeply aroused.

He was grateful that she now obscured his groin from Bobby's view. If Bobby was having a fit at the moment, he certainly didn't need to see what was going on with Brian below the belt at that moment.

“Damn it, Brian, let go of her!” The old man shouted as he tugged with all his might. Brain could hardly feel it however, as his body had put Meryl into a death grip, and now with here blood flowing through him, he doubted anything could pull her away from him. Still, he wasn't trying to kill her, and he was sure he had taken more than enough.

The problem was he didn't want to stop. She tasted oh so good, and she felt almost as good as she tasted.

“Brian!” Bobby yelled again.

It was hard, but he had to let go, so he did. Meryl rolled to the floor away from him as Bobby fell onto his back the moment Brian let go, cursing as he did so.

“What in the hell was that about?” Bobby shouted as he picked himself up and rushed to Meryl's side, lifting her head and looking intently into his barely conscious niece's eyes.

“Are you all right, Honey?” Bobby whimpered as he waited for a response from the girl.

She smiled at him, and sluggishly sat herself up. “It was awesome,” She sighed with a smile.

Bobby began to raise his voice and berate the poor girl, but Brian didn't wait to listen. While the two of them had been picking themselves up, Brian entered the secret door that Garn had emerged from. Through it was a dark stairway, which lead down into a small room. Within the room, he found the metal door that he was sure was Heathers'.

Without waiting for anyone else, Brian grabbed the door handle and pulled with all his might, only to realize it was still locked. With a second, more determined tug, the metal groaned as the lock broke out of the metal door frame, revealing a small cement room just like he had seen in his dream walks. Heather lay unmoving on a small cot in the far corner of the room.

“Heather!” Brian yelled as he ran to her side.

The woman he had been searching for made no movement. Her blonde hair was disheveled and dirty. She wore only her bra and panties, but worst of all Brian could see multiple puncture wounds on just this side of her neck alone, as well as down her arms and sides, and even the insides of her thighs.

He reached down and picked her up into his arms as his vision began to blur with tears. The smell of blood was fresh upon her, and he could see that several of her wounds were still seeping blood. Brian lifted her up as high as he could, so that he could place his ear onto her chest. The faint sound of her beating heart greeted him to his joy and amazement. She needed help and he wasn't sure if his blood would be enough. Turning, he ran out of the little cell, carrying Heather as fast as he safely could with her head dangled limply from his arms.

Through the cafe and past his two friends he ran, only yelling over his shoulder briefly that he was going to the hospital to save her. He couldn't risk waiting on the truck or an ambulance. He had the strength that Meryl's blood gave him, and he decided to rely on that and his speed.

****

Several blood transfusions later, Brian found himself waiting outside her room. An officer was inside taking Heather's statement. Brian hadn't considered the ramifications of what would happen by bringing her to a hospital. All he'd known was that she needed help, and it seemed like the best place to get it. He wasn't sure what he was going to say if the officer questioned him. If somehow he was going to be in trouble, then so be it. Heather was alive, and he wasn't going to be sorry about that.

A hand on his shoulder caused Brian to jump and spin around, uncertain if he was being attacked or not.

“Jumpy, are we?” His aunt smiled at him as he found the source of the interruption of his thoughts.

“What are you doing here?” Brian said maybe a bit too sharply. The fact that his nerves were at their limits, and that he was still hopped up on Meryl's blood didn't help matters too much.

Jenn frowned as her smile faded away. “I was going to tell you, good job. But I can see you could care less.”

Brian simply nodded. He didn't need to get into a fight right now, especially as the cop was now coming out of Heather's room and walking towards him.

“I need to ask you a couple of questions.” The man said as he was flipping through a small tablet that he had been taking notes from Heather with.

“That won't be necessary, Officer” Jenn spoke up and headed him off.

“Oh yeah? And why is that?” The officer responded, looking a bit irritated with his aunt.

Brian watched as his aunt produced a wallet or some such thing and flipped it open in the officer's direction. The man stopped with his mouth open as if he forgot what he had been saying. Jenn took the man's arm in hers and began leading him away from Brian, talking in a hushed tone with the officer as they went.

“Brian?” Meryl's voice sounded behind him.

“Yeah?”

“How is she?” Meryl walked up to him and took his hand.

Brian looked down at their two hands. Her soft skin felt warm to the touch, and seemed to feel made perfectly for his. Meryl's scent surrounded him and began to fill his mind with thoughts primaeval for her. He realized the only thing he wanted to do right now was to pick her up, and to take her away to a secluded spot where he could have the girl he had just barely met only a short while ago. Instead, he turned from her and released her hand.

Her blood screamed inside of him to not let her go.

“She's doing fine. I'm headed in now to see her.”

“Do you mind if I come?” She asked sweetly.

Brian shook his head as he began to close Heather's door in front of her. “I need some alone time with her.”

He heard Meryl say that she would just be waiting outside as the door shut.

Heather smiled at him as he walked over to her side, her eyes twinkling with something he couldn't distinguish.

He'd done it. Against all odds, he had rescued Heather, killed a vampire, helped capture a rogue werewolf, and somehow he hoped he might have even mended his relationship with the girl of his dreams.

He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips. To his delight, she returned the kiss. All in all, it was a pretty good end to what started as a bad month. What could possibly happen to them that they couldn't deal with now?

A knock on the room’s window from the hallway caught Brian’s attention. Meryl stood with Bobby and Jenn, and the three waved at them.

Now he just needed to explain the month to Heather.

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