Bloodbank

Sixteen

I was running.

Bare feet, against hot, hot sand, invading every crevice on my soles, under my toenails, grainy and hot.

I stumbled, away from the building, collapsing in the sun just a few metres from the shadow of the mansion.

Brushing the sand from my eyes, blinking in the harsh light, I squinted towards the house. And a silhouette stared back. Dark eyes, glinting barely in the cool, contained in his own black-rimmed prison, the shadow. Tenebris.

I panted.

"You can't touch me out here." I yelled, my voice hoarse and grainy like the sand that now coated every leg hair and fingernail.

"It's me or the desert, Ebony."

I awoke, gasping for water, for air, for reprieve. The cool bunker, my hands on Scott's bare chest, cooler still.

"Ebony?" He asked, voice dark and full of sleep, green eyes staring quizzically at mine.

Bewildered, I reached around. That voice... the voice from the auction. But still no face to match it.

Nathan appeared beside me, impossibly fast, a glass of water in his hand.

"Here, it was just a dream," he said, hand rubbing my arm. Scott was sat up now, brow creased cleanly down the middle.

"What was it about?" Asked Scott.

"I... I was in the desert," I gurgled out between mouthfuls of water, the grains of sand somehow still present in my throat.

"With Mason?" said Nathan

"No," I frowned, cool water trickling down my throat but seemingly having no effect on the soreness, "Tenebris."

"It was just a dream, we won't let him anywhere near you," soothed Nathan, before he turned to Scott, who seemed entirely out of his element, "Go get her something to eat."

I shivered as Nathan took me in his arms, one cool hand stroking my hair and the other wrapped around me protectively. It seemingly took hours for my breaths to steady and the taste of heat to leave my sandpaper tongue, but in Nathan's arms it didn't feel so bad.

"Are you okay?" He asked, pulling away and staring into my eyes. I nodded, and Scott appeared in the doorway, waiting.

"What is it?" I asked, clearing my throat, ghosts of tears that refused to come present on my lashes.

"We're out of food."

*******

We sat around the table in the bunker, and right on cue my stomach rumbled, seemingly echoing around the concrete walls of the kitchen.

"We can't use Ebony's blood, it would draw too much attention." Nathan said, fingers drumming on the table.

"I only have two litres of A positive left," Scott said.

"And I'm hungry," I grimaced, contributing nothing overall to the conversation. 

We sat in silence for a few moments, but glancing at Nathan, I could see the cogs turning in his head.

"So we mix the blood types together."

Scott's eyes widened, "And we add water."

They both leapt to their feet, Scott rummaging through the kitchen cupboards and producing a jug and funnel. Nathan grabbed the two sachets of A positive from the fridge, handed them to Scott and then retrieved a third, empty blood bag, tube attached. He approached me.

I nodded, arm outstretched, not entirely sure on how this was going to work. What type would they sell it as? Wouldn't it taste strange, like two different wines and water? But the two vampires would know more than me, and they appeared to have confidence in their scam.

Nathan rubbed my shoulder with one hand, the other inserting a needle into the crook of my elbow. I winced. The clear tube began to fill with dark red, swirling down through the tube and slowly filling the bag. He handed me a glass of water, and I chugged it, hoping the liquid would fill my empty stomach.

My focus was heavy on a spot on the floor, attempting to dismiss the strange sensation of being drained of blood. Out of the corner of my eye, Scott began to decanter the A positive into a jug, filling each to a third, and then filling another third with water. The red diluted slightly, into a pinkish, translucent mixture, and Scott took a sip of one, frowning.

"Needs more blood," he muttered, and then added a little more A positive into each, the colours darkening to ruby red. But compared to the blood bag that was now half full of my own blood, it was far too light, my blood being more crimson.

"Nathan, taste this," Scott called Nathan over, who took a sip and nodded slightly.

"With Ebony's, I think we just may..."

But his words began to slur in my ears, the edges of my vision swimming and spots darting across my eyes. I gasped, sliding out of my chair, but before I hit the floor, Scott caught me.

"Too much!" Nathan gasped, removing the needle from my arm and thrusting another glass of water towards me. The world around me darkened, but I drank the water and Scott's strong arms held me up until everything returned to normal. I closed my eyes, breathing for a moment.

"I think that's enough of that until we get some food in you," Nathan said, brows knitted together in concern. I nodded, head resting against the table. Scott added my still warm blood into the concoction and handed a jar to Nathan.

He took a sip, lips dyed red.

"It tastes like-"

A heavy knock stopped his speech, metallic and echoing through the bunker.

KNOCK

KNOCK

KNOCK

We all looked up in unison, towards the stairs that led to the outside, darkened in the night.

"Hey guys," said a voice, lilted and playful, "Pizza delivery, for Ebony."

Mason's voice echoed down the stairs, seemingly repeating over and over again in my eardrums.

He'd found us.

AUTHORS NOTE

hey queens, i updated! things are really getting spicy. Dont forget to comment and like, comments make me go back to this story and remind me to write it whoopsie. have fun and stay safe kids. bye for now

xoxo moist