Serum

-Twenty-Nine-

I spun and raced out of the room as fast as possible, nothing more than a blur bolting past the other vampire guests in Lana’s home. My wrist still burned as I made my escape into the fresh evening air and I couldn’t suppress my growl as I glared down at it. The skin had slowly started to stitch itself back together and I estimated that by the time we reached the church, it would be nearly healed over. My mood, however, was another matter, especially as it registered that Lana had sliced off a good sized portion of skin along the side of my wrist and down my thumb. It had to be three or more inches of tissue removed, almost like someone had taken a vegetable peeler to my hand. I was so absorbed in examining it, I didn’t even hear Conner as he came up behind me.

“Are you ready?” Conner asked quietly, and then as my surprise and pain zinged across our mental link, he automatically bared his teeth and tensed up. “What did she do?” He demanded, his voice deathly quiet now. Every muscle in his body was tense, as if ready for attack. Unconsciously, I clamped down on the mental link, closing off any more of my emotions before he could get to them. I would not be responsible for a war between the leader of the vampires, and the one who I was now afraid cared more for me than he did for himself. I sighed. Things had suddenly become complicated again.

“Let’s just go.” I responded sullenly. “We need to get back before the hunting parties start out.” Conner merely nodded, but his angry gaze did not leave my face, so I quickly turned to block him from view. “Daniel, Tara, Tod, can I speak to you please?” It came out a bit short, but I tried to make sure it was polite. The three vampire youths exchanged a look before huddling closer.

“You guys understand that you’ll be sticking it out with Conner and me? And that we have a hiding place that only three people knew about, which will now be six when counting you three? You understand that this is our refuge, our place to hide from the world, from both worlds, and that we want no one else to know about this place?” My voice definitely held a cutting edge as I questioned them. The anger I was feeling at Lana was getting redirected towards them. It wasn’t fair, but it was happening. The three vamp teens nodded at each of my questions. Short quick nods, to show me that they understood. A few more furtive looks were exchanged and even darted at Conner, but he just stood to the side with his arms crossed, not interfering. “Good. Now I won’t swear you to secrecy or anything, but I do ask: do not tell anyone where our place is, and don’t come there unless invited or in great need. Again, this is our refuge, and we’d like to keep it that way.” I urged, meeting each of their eyes. Daniel and the twins seemed to grasp what I was asking, but they couldn’t really know the full scope of the issue. Heck, I wasn’t even sure I knew the full scope of the issue. Each one of the youths mumbled agreements and promises to hold to what I had asked and I nodded in return.

“Ok then, I guess it’s time we head out.” I looked nervously back towards Lana’s house. Inside, I could hear the vampires beginning to get stirred up. Someone was speaking harshly about human hunting parties, and it didn’t sound good. When I turned back again, Conner was watching me, but this time something different was glinting in his eyes. I blinked. I was pretty sure that was what they called a ‘come hither’ stare. I found myself swallowing harshly and making a strange noise as I cleared my throat. “If you don’t mind, it is your house after all.. so I thought you should lead.” I told him, with a dizzy shake of my head. Gently touching his arm to show him my idea for keeping the younger vamps safe, I pushed a mix of emotion and memory across our link. Me remembering as a kid how my parents would walk one in front and one behind to protect me when my footing was unstable, and the strong emotion to not say anything so as not to worry Daniel and the twins even further. Conner’s head jerked once, nodding at my unspoken request. He would lead, I would follow. In this way, maybe we would all arrive at our home safely. I noticed Conner was still staring straight into my eyes, the intense heat there nearly enough to make me fan myself.

“Mm, mm, mm.” Daniel had his hands on his hips behind us, shaking his head. “What did I tell you?” He jerked his chin in our direction and Tara twittered. I heard an unmistakable “get a room” from one of the boys, I thought it might have been Tod, but maybe not. Conner glanced harshly at them, then before any notice was given, leaned in, brushed a quick kiss across my lips and then raced down the sidewalk. The teens howled, and cheered before following quickly behind him, while I stood frozen for a moment, stunned. When I finally pulled myself together again, I ran after them, worried I had left them unprotected for too long

It was hard going, that run. Just like you’d expect to see in humans, no two vampires are exactly alike. So no two running speeds in our group seemed to match. Conner set a quick pace that I was surprised I had no problems keeping up with. Tara was lithe and quick, but just a tad bit slower than Conner, her twin brother lagged behind with Daniel, who I could tell was just plain exhausted. I had to continually force myself to stay behind the group. I felt the need to hurry faster and faster, just to get there and get it over with. To the human eye, we would still resemble weird blurs streaking down the street like an afterimage on film. Blink and we’d be gone. But still, the speed wasn’t fast enough for me, even though I had agreed to be rear-guard and so was stuck going what felt like an incredibly slow pace.

Daniel suddenly slowed even further, and I quickly caught up with him. Grasping his arm in my left hand, I pulled him along to help him keep up. He turned haunted eyes to me, eyes full of fatigue, strain and a spark of fearful insanity.

“I’m…not gonna…make it…Adrian.” He panted, eyes wild. I gripped his arm tighter. While it didn’t inhibit my running, I realized how uncomfortable it might become for both of us if I had to run much longer pulling him along.

“You are too going to make it.” I replied stubbornly, realizing I sounded like a fifth grader. “Look, it’s just a little bit further, and we’ll be there. Besides, you wouldn’t want Tara to see you wimp out would you?” I had hit the mark with that comment, judging by Daniel’s embarrassed blush. Either he had a slight crush on the girl, or he was still in that ‘competition’ age where guys were always trying to prove themselves stronger than girls. He tried valiantly to keep up with me, but I noticed he was once again slowing.

“…so…tired…hungry…” Daniel’s words were beginning to slur, making it hard for me to understand. I shot him a worried look.

“Aww, come on Daniel, you aren’t gonna make me have to carry you, are you?” I moaned in mock exasperation, trying to keep his mood up. Daniel’s eyes lit up slightly with the joke, and he moved just a little faster. “I bet you’d like that though, wouldn’t you?” I teased. “It would make Conner jealous..” I sing-songed. I thought it was working, Daniel seemed to be distracted from his running, huffing a gasped laugh between stumbling steps. I was beginning to worry, remembering Conner’s words about how a vampire could literally go crazy with hunger. Our group rounded a corner and I could feel Conner look back over his shoulder, worry evident in his eyes, but I was looking ahead. “Yes! Look! There’s the church! See, told you you were gonna make it.” I ribbed Daniel, but as we jumped lightly up on the curb on the opposite side of the street Daniel collapsed with a muffled thump.