Blood Relations - Chapter 20

Saturday, November 15, 1997

Vicky licked her lips, and then she drew in a gasping breath through her nose when a hand clamped over her mouth. Her eyes snapped open, and she saw Emil hunched over her on the bed. The whites of his eyes were replaced by a pulsing web of blue blood vessels, and his corneas had a bright sheen, a cold-blooded killer’s intense glare.

He set a finger to his lips, dropping his hand before he whispered, “We need to leave now.”

Vicky didn’t have to ask why by then. Her senses were too sharp, and her throat was dry and rough. Her tongue rasped against the roof of her mouth, and her fangs ached like she hadn’t fed in months.

The urge to feed was unnatural, a side effect of drinking the nightmare blood they’d taken from Amber. The recognition of the symptoms removed any questions of what was wrong, or where they were going. They were both falling into a bloodlust; that was what was wrong. Wherever they were going, it was to indulge in an orgy of food.

Emil kept his search moving through residential areas, remaining silent aside from his panting breath. Hunger clawed at both their stomachs, but Emil was looking for something big, a group of humans large enough to burn out the feeding frenzy in one attack.

He finally found it around ten, a house party in a massive two story brick home. At any other time, Vicky would have objected to breaking into the house for meals. But the hunger in her stomach drove her past the point of maintaining her few convictions.

Vicky cut the phone lines while Emil broke into the garage to shut off the breakers. On her way back around the house, she jammed a chair under the knob of the back door, just in case someone tried to run that way.

What followed could have filled the script for an entire horror movie. Emil waited for the young master of the home to come and check the breakers, and Vicky moved to the front of the house to slip though the front door.

Killing the teen with lethal efficiency, Emil emerged from the garage and waded through the partygoers with a bowie knife, dropping victims with a speed and precision that froze most of the humans in their tracks. Those that ran, Vicky took down herself.

The heavy metal music both masked the victims’ terrified screams and provided a surreal beat to the rhythmic movements of both vampires.

The stereo was playing a cover of Sympathy for the Devil from Guns N’ Roses when Emil leaned over to turn down the volume. They started to feed in the following silence, taking long drinks from each wound, though they let plenty of the blood spill into the carpet.

Emil was again creating a scene to baffle the police. The evening news would be full of morbid details about the brutal act, but no one would suspect the deeds were done by vampires.

After all, vampires always left fang marks, didn’t they?

For half the night they fed, resting between fits of gorging. The nightmare blood was like a potent drug, an aid for the appetite that  kept Vicky high on the edge of the most perfect bloodlust. But though she quickly tired of the high, it stayed with her until the victims were cold and tasting spoiled.

When the mystical blood burned itself out, Vicky stood in the living room gawking at the carnage they’d left behind. Dead teenagers lay mingled in a sticky pool of blood, every single body laying face up to reveal their frightened death masks.

It was far more gruesome than anything Vicky had ever done before, but what troubled her wasn’t the act. It was how much she liked killing under the influence of the  same blood which was draining the life from her partner.

They returned home without speaking to each other. Emil was lost in his own troubled thoughts, and it showed in his brooding glower and his rapid pace.

Vicky wondered if he felt just as dirty for liking what he did.

Ellen met them at the door, her soft smile bringing hope to Vicky. “You’ve found something?”

“I’ve been reading Amber’s memories, and Dimitri showed her a healing spell,” Ellen said. “I haven’t tried it yet, but I think I can handle casting it.”

Emil heaved a tired sigh, and said, “God, I hope so. I don’t think I care to go through leeching her again.”

Ellen made a small laugh, waving a hand at his questioning look. “Never mind.”

“Do share,” Emil insisted.

“I just find it funny when a vampire calls out to my deity.” Ellen’s smile became sarcastic before she turned away from Emil to ascend the stairs. “It’s...suitably comforting.”

***

Ellen focused her will and laid her hands on Amber’s shoulders. Calling to the toxic blood, she drew the fluid out through Amber’s pores, covering her body in a sheen of red. The film lifted away from her skin and evaporated in the air as a violet smoke. Ellen turned her will next toward repairing the damage, but for nearly a full minute, Amber lingered on the edge of unconsciousness.

Ellen sent her an impulse, Open your eyes.

Amber did, and then sat up slowly.

“How do you feel?” Emil asked.

Amber blinked at him, a smile warming her face before she nodded. “Really good, actually.” She got to her feet, nodding after a brief inspection of herself. “Yeah, I’m—” Vicky swept her into a tight embrace, and then Amber wheezed out a pained breath.

Ellen laughed with relief and said, “Ease up, Vicky. She can’t breathe.”

Vicky loosened her arms, and Amber raised her head to smile at her partner. But Vicky couldn’t return it no matter how much she wanted to. Relief tore a hole in her emotional dam, and all of her anger, fear, and guilt rushed out of her in a torrent. Her normally calm face crumbled as tears began to spill over her cheeks.

Amber raised her hand, and Vicky dipped her head. Amber’s thumb swept a path through the first lines of tears, staining Vicky’s skin blue. There was no way for her to catch or dry the flood, nor was she trying to.

Leaning her head into Amber’s soft caress, Vicky whispered, “I thought I was going to lose you.”

Amber’s smiled again and nodded. She wanted to say something flippant, but instead she raised her other hand to cup Vicky’s cheek and brush away Vicky’s tears.