I stared down at the wounds in my chest, unable to believe what I was seeing.
Blood. Streaming out of my body, pumping with the rhythm of my heart.
I was bleeding!
"How?"
More to the point, how could I make it stop?
A rush of movement caught my eyes and my hand snapped out to snatch the barrel of Kyle's gun. He made to tug himself loose, then snarled; "Monster! You're a fucking vamp!"
I backhanded him across the jaw, spinning him around.
The violent movement sent waves of agony through my ruined chest.
"Gah!" I staggered back with a hiss.
In my time, soldiers were trained to take advantage of a staggered enemy. That training remained true, and I barely managed to bring my arm up to block the stake aimed for my heart.
The sharp wooden point pierced my forearm, splintering bone as it speared all the way through. More blood spurted from my arm, running down to drip off my elbow.
I couldn't take my eyes off it. I could feel the blood pumping out of my body as though each drop was a bead connected on a string. The string-like connection lingered even as the drops fell away as though they were still tethered to my body.
I felt my heart thrum as the drop impacted the ground and seemed to lay there. Trembling.
Was this how it felt to die?
Suddenly, my head whipped back as Kyle's fist rocketed into my jaw. I fell flat on my back, watching as blood misted from my mouth and fountained into the air above my face.
The flow of time slowed, but the flow of my blood raged like a torrential river.
The bloody mist hung over me and my awareness felt sucked into it. I whirled towards it, a moth captured by light.
As soon as I entered, I could feel the universe freeze around me.
Then, slowly, I began to see the mist wasn't a mist at all.
It was instead a floating sea of individual drops so fine they were almost imperceptible on their own. I drifted among their number, trying to understand what I was seeing.
As I passed through them, I was sure I was imagining that they quivered towards me as if carried on a gentle tide back to me.
One of the documentaries Vela had left me to watch had discussed blood in detail. But I hadn't really understood how it could be made of smaller and smaller things to the point that the idea of blood being a liquid was ridiculous.
Yet, looking at the mist, I began to understand.
The flow of blood wasn't a flow of one thing. It was a flow of many.
Each drop of blood was made of countless smaller drops which could be divided into infinity. An infinite number of individual drops moving with a singular intent.
As this thought occurred to me, I felt a sharp flash as though a bolt of electricity soared through my body.
My hands whipped up without thought, grabbing Kyle's wrist as he plunged the stake at my heart. With a growl, I wrenched hard. Bones shattered in my grip.
His scream was somewhat pleasant to my ears and eased the agony burning within the holes in my chest.
"Bastard!" The words tumbled out of his mouth as he started kicking and trying to reach another stake. "I'll fucking kill you!"
I tugged him down against me, legs wrapping around his to keep him from kicking away from me. Now that I had him, I wasn't letting him go. The Thirst demanded I drain him for the trouble he'd caused.
He let out a squeal as my fangs lunged for his throat.
Footsteps pounded up the stairs.
Heavy.
Too close!
"Get offa him, you bloodsucking shit!"
Crack!
The boot to my head sent me rolling, but I refused to let my victim free.
Coughing blood, I scrambled to my knees, holding the young soldier like a shield. One hand around his throat. Ready to snap it.
All it'd take was one little twist.
Drawing my lips back into a feral snarl, I glared at the little trio of soldiers whose guns were aimed directly at me.
"Let him go," the middle one growled. His blue eyes bored into mine.
I knew the look which lurked within them.
He was a man of experience. A man of war. A man of murder.
"Who are you?"
"You know who we are," he snapped, pointing at an insignia on his chest. A hammer and a stake forming an X. I'd never seen it before but guessed it meant they were vampire hunters. "Now, let him go."
"I don't know who you are," I said, my thumb squeezing into Kyle's neck. "Or why you are in my home."
That made him pause. "Are you shitting me?"
"You're mortals." I pursed my lips, thinking. "Are you servants of the Cloaked? It would be strange for Sabetha to trust mortals in this way. But perhaps she's changed her ways."
"A fledgling," he sighed. "It's just a fucking fledgling."
"Can't see why the Renfields are protecting a fledgling, though," the tall man next to him said. "Especially one this old. Bet his fangs are limp. You sure there ain't a nest in here?"
"Weren't told nothing about a nest."
"Doesn't mean it ain't here," the tall man countered.
"True."
"I won't ask again," I told them, tilting Kyle's head to the side. My shield moaned, cradling his broken arm. "Who are you?"
"Alright," the blue-eyed man said, lowering his gun. His tone was softer, but I wasn't fooled by his sudden kindness. The others hadn't shifted their aim. "I get it, pal. You're confused, right? Well. I'm sure you didn't want to be what you are. And you don't know why you're feeling the urge to drink blood. I bet it's been difficult…"
"You've no idea," I murmured, my eyes drifting over the blood spatters on the ground. Was it my imagination, or were they moving?
The floor didn't feel that uneven. But they were definitely creeping across the floor.
Toward me.
"Right. So, we're from the Helsing Group."
Helsing.
I raised my gaze back to him, momentarily forgetting the blood.
The name meant something.
"You recognise us now?"
I shook my head. "It means nothing to me."
"We kill vamps," the tall one said, hawking up a globule of spit and sending it to spatter against the wall.
"And rescue fledglings," the blue-eyed one said quickly. "You can be cured, you know."
That was a surprise, too. It was beginning to look like a night full of surprises.
"Really? How?"
He smiled, mistaking my curiosity for genuine desire. "Well, it ain't an easy process. But with garlic and holy water, it can be done. It just takes time to purge the virus. And maybe hurts like Hell. But it's better than becoming a monster, right?"
"You're saying it's a virus?"
"That's right."
"Interesting."
"Look, it's just like the flu, okay? You've had the flu, haven't you? We can help you get over it, I promise. Then you can go back to your normal life." He gave me a wide smile which was meant to make him trust him. It wasn't working. "You got family?"
"Family?" I frowned at that. Did I have any family? A cold feeling rippled across my heart. It wasn't a nice feeling. "I don't think so."
"Well, we can help you find them if you do. Maybe you've got a wife. Kids. Grandkids, too, by look of you. I bet they're real they're real worried about you." He licked his lips. "So, why don't you let Kyle go, and we can go reunite you with them? After you're cured, of course…"
"With garlic," I said. "And holy water."
"That's right."
"How strange," I said, adding these details to everything else I'd learned about vampires. "They're made by drinking the blood of another. So, like a virus. But it can be undone with simple garlic and holy water? Hmm. What's so special about holy water?"
The blue-eyed soldier blinked. "It's, umm, holy?"
I stared deep into his eyes, feeling the connection between one predator and another. There was no challenge between us.
Just the calm acceptance of our nature.
"Holy?" I resisted the urge to laugh at him. "In all my years, I've never encountered anything I would consider to be holy."
"All your years?" He suddenly looked nervous, his fingers tightening on his gun. "Exactly how old are you?"
Letting my eyes drift as though I was pondering his question, I saw the puddles of blood were slowly merging into larger puddles that inched across the floor. Even the streaks on the wall were sliding faster toward the ground.
My spilled blood. Drawn to me as if the room itself were bleeding in my direction.
"I am very old."
"That's not an answer."
"No. I suppose it's not."
"You remember your name, fledgling? Maybe that'll help."
Now that I thought about it, I could also feel blood still leaking out of the bullet wounds. But it felt odd. It itched. Like the blood was reluctant to leave. And as it slid down my skin, it trembled.
I hadn't noticed that.
The puddles, too, were rippling steadily as though the floor was shaking.
But it wasn't any movement from the earth which was causing them to ripple.
It was me.
Because it was trembling in rhythm with my pulse.
"My name? I do remember that, now you mention it."
"Well? Are you gonna tell us?"
"You haven't introduced yourselves, so I don't see why I should." I squinted at him. "Besides, you invaded my home, mortal. I would say you should know whose home you invaded."
"Just kill it," the tall one yawned. "It's the Renfields we're after. This is a waste of time."
"That's Mason," the blue-eyed mortal said. "He's new, so he's a bit twitchy around vamps. I'm Frank. Mister Quiet behind me is John. There. We introduced ourselves."
I stared back at him, keeping my expression neutral as an intriguing thought slipped into my brain. Was the blood moving on its own?
Or could I control it?
"Hmm," I murmured, preparing to push my awareness towards the closest puddle to test the theory.
"Hey, Frank?" John had his gaze fixed firmly on a thin dark crimson line as it slid down the wall. "There's something weird about this vamp's blood."
I winced.
I was out of time.
"It's him!" Kyle blurted suddenly, reaching up to wrap his undamaged hand around mine. Hoping to keep me from moving. "Dracula! It told Ken that's who it was! It's Dracula, Frank! Dracula! Kill it! Kill it now before it's too late!"
Their eyes went wide. Confusion first. Then recognition as my name sank in.
Finally, as Frank's eyes caught the grin widening on my face, fear.
I liked that.
Then Mason pulled the trigger and bullets drilled into Kyle's writhing body, turning him into a corpse. He died without a scream, which impressed me.
However, it left me without my human shield.
As his body slumped, a hail of bullets slammed into my exposed chest for a second time.
I didn't like that.