In Dreams: Bleed Out

Do Not Threaten My Family

I looked beyond the Nurse to see a large, burly man entering the room with a shotgun in his hands.  He cursed as Alexandre struggled to his feet.  I snarled, glaring at the Nurse briefly before racing around her towards the man.

"Son of a b***h!"  He yelled, trying to aim at me as I bolted straight for him.

"Carys, no!"  Alexandre cried, the pain in his voice outweighed by the fear.  In a rage, I snatched at the shotgun, burning my hands, but not caring, and flung it as far as I could from us.  Teeth bared, I dragged my nails across the man's abdomen.  Not fatal, but painful certainly.

"What the hell are you?"  He shrieked at me, clutching at his torn skin and muscle fibers.  He may never do sit-ups again, but judging by the looks of him, he didn't do too many to begin with either.  I heard a crash behind me and Alexandre snarled.  I turned quickly to see the Nurse had tried to sneak up on me while I was occupied with her friend.  The syringe she must have had planned for me was now embedded in Alexandre's chest.  He had knocked the Nurse halfway across the room into the metal shelving.  Alexandre panted as the Nurse slid to the ground, unconscious.  I snapped my attention back to where the man with the shotgun had been, but he was gone.  Alexandre was losing his footing, so I steadied him and slowly lowered him to the ground.

"How bad is it?"  I asked desperately.  "What can I do?"  Alexandre's eyes closed sluggishly, his heartbeat slowing.  "Alexandre!"  I yelled.  He opened his eyes.

"Sedative, massive dose...so tired..."  Alexandre mumbled, his breathing wheezed a bit.

"But the virus will burn it off quickly, right??  I asked with fear.

"Too much...blood loss.  Organ damage.."  His eyes closed again and I shook him gently.  Then the sound of my nightmares repeated in real life.  The nurse laughed and I found myself on my feet and in front of her in an instant.

"Who was your friend?"  I snarled through my teeth.

"Why do you care?"  She laughed again and I stepped on her ankle and ground it under my heel until it cracked.  She yelped.

"Because I'm trying to decide which one of you dies first."  I responded coldly  "And your answer might buy you some time."  She struggled to free herself from me so I reached down and dragged my nails down the leg she was trying to free.  The clothing split instantly and blood welled up in the little furrows.  I dug into her skin.  The sickly sweet smell hit me again.

"What's wrong with you?  What's that smell?  Is it medication?  Diabetes?"  I tilted my head, hadn't I read diabetes gave off a fruity smell?  The Nurse gaped at me.

"What happened to you?  How are you like this?"  Her eyes turned greedy.  "Why do you get to live?"  She screeched at me.

"At one time, I might have showed you, but you smell wrong.  And you threatened my family."  I laid a hand on my stomach and gestured to Alexandre with the other.  "I promise you, if he dies, I will dig you up from Hell itself to punish you again."  I growled at her.

"Oh, he'll definitely die.  I always use enough sedative to kill.  I'm not inhumane after all.  I don't want my patients to suffer."  She cackled.  I snarled again and slapped her across the face hard enough to stun her and jerked her to her feet.  "When my partner find you, he'll make sure to kill you too...Carys."  She said my name lovingly and slid a finger down my cheek.  "And your baby too!"  She shrieked and aimed a blow at my abdomen.  My reflexes allowed me to dodge, but it still enraged the vampire and motherly instincts in me.  Add on top of that Alexandre's injuries and she had lost all chances of surviving our encounter.  I grabbed her arm and bent it back against the shelf behind us until I heard a crack, then I kept going, leaning all my weight and anger into it.  The Nurse screamed as the joint popped and the flesh tore loose at the elbow.

"Do NOT threaten my family!"  I screamed and went for her throat with my hands.  I dug my nails in and felt them puncture the soft tissues under her chin until an idea struck me as purely poetic.  I sliced open an artery in her neck and one in her arm, and sat her in the place she had been preparing for someone else.  I raced back to Alexandre's side.  His blood still flowed and I was desperate, so I tore open my own wrist and shoved it to his mouth.  At first there was no reaction, and the blood simply trickled out of the corner of his mouth.  His heart was still beating though, so I knew I had a chance.  I rubbed my wrist against his lips, hoping it would spark an automatic reaction.  I could feel the wound closing and the nurse started chuckling.

"What are you doing girl?  Are you trying to feed him your blood?"  She rasped.  She tried to stand, but the ankle I broke wouldn't support her weight, and her broken arm was bleeding profusely and of no use to her, wetting the floor beneath her and making it harder to stand.  I could tell she was already getting weaker from the blood loss.  I snarled at her.

"Shut up, or I'll feed him yours."  I snapped. Desperately, I ripped the wound in my wrist wider to keep it from closing and pried Alexandre's mouth back open, rubbing his throat, trying to get him to swallow.  He didn't move and I began to fear he'd choke on the blood if it went down the wrong way.  I shook him lightly and his head lolled.  Completely losing it, I shook him fiercely and screamed his name.  "Come on, please."  I cried, the baby was kicking wildly after my outburst, and I knew it was hitting Alexandre's neck and back where he lay in my lap.  I felt him sluggishly move and placed my wrist to his mouth again, urging him to drink.  "Quickly, you don't have much time!"  The Nurse started to cackle again, but Alexandre moved as the baby kicked at his head.  I felt his lips part softly on my wrist and the blood started to flow freely into his mouth.  He swallowed and I encouraged him, patting his face to try to keep him awake.  Suddenly his teeth sank into my arm and I felt the strong pull as he drew the blood from me desperately.  I sighed in relief and gripped his shirt with my free hand as my head momentarily spun.  His hand shot up to trap my arm at his mouth in an iron grip and I hear him greedily moan as he continued to pull at the wound.  I grimaced as the flesh around the wound became tight and dehydrated, but continued to babble comforting things to him.  His smell started to clear a little and I could feel myself getting a little tired.  Alexandre's eyes suddenly flew open and he looked at me, hovering over him and understanding flashed in his eyes.  He released me abruptly.

"No Carys, no.  You and the baby...  It's too dangerous."  He wheezed.  I shook my head at him, tears in my eyes.

"We'll be fine.  You're dying."  A sob escaped my lips and the Nurse cackled again from her position on the floor.  Angered, I threw a broken bit of shelving at her.  It struck solidly and she yelped.

"You didn't...kill her?"  He asked, then with worry  "You didn't...the virus?"  I shook my head at him again.

"I would never."  I spat and then relaxed my expression for him.  "There's something wrong with her, I don't want to be haunted by her for all of eternity.  But I need to get you out of here now.  The car-we have more blood..."

"I'm not going to make it Carys.  The sedative is dragging me back under.  It will take too much blood.  Get out of here.  Burn my body.  Take care of our baby.  I love you."  Alexandre closed his eyes again and I snarled, anger, fear and tears fighting for control.

"No.  I'm not letting you die."  I told him.  "This is all your fault."  I spat at the Nurse.  "I want to rip you limb from limb, but that's too good for you, and my family matters more.  So I guess I'll just have to leave you a little reminder instead."  My eyes gleamed as I raced at her.

After I finished with her, I called the cops to come get her.  I  raced Alexandre out of the building in my arms.  I used his medical kit to patch him up as best I could and then used the IV tubing to hang an IV bag of blood for him.

"Hold on for me, hold on."  I urged and drove much faster than the car appreciated towards home, hanging fresh bags of blood whenever they ran out.  His body was using them up almost as swiftly as I hung the.  He finally stopped smelling of sedative halfway home and I sighed with relief as his breathing and heartbeat became more regular.  Meanwhile, the smell of the blood was driving me insane.  I wanted to stop so badly to find something, or somebody, to eat, but Alexandre's condition was still too terrifyingly grave.  As if sensing my fear, the baby rolled uneasily most of the trip.