Tracing Lines of Red

Tracing Lines of Red (chapter 6)

In the middle of the night, I sensed a vampire's aura. It wasn't Raven. It was similar, but it couldn't be him because he was right in front of me.

"Raven." Shadow said. I glanced at him. He was stiff and tense. And....angry? "What's he doing here?"

"No idea. I'll go check." he replied, standing up. "You two stay here."

Shadow pulled out a knife, from his pocket or something, and started polishing it.

"Who is it?" I asked. "You can sense him too? Why is his aura so similar to Raven's?"

He looked up from the knife. "Because they're brothers. The person you sense, is the vampire who murdered my family. His name is Arthur."

"I assumed he was already dead."

"I wish." he scoffed. "I've been checking if there were any jobs to assassinate him. But apparently none of the other hunters think he's committed any crimes worthy of death. I can't just kill him because there are rules. There's a delicate treaty between vampires and hunters. Hunters will only kill if a vampire has killed at least ten people in the past month and if they don't live with their master. If they do live with their master, they're excused and the master takes responsibility."

"How many has he killed this month?"

"Nine. Just one more and I'll chase him down."

There was a sudden crash and the building shook. I got to my feet. I could smell Raven's blood. We raced to the front door.

Raven had crashed into the wall. There was blood all over his shirt. Arthur stood, towering over him. They both turned to us.

"I told you two to stay inside!"

"Ah, so these are your cute, little servants."

In the blink of an eye, he was standing right in front of us.

"You." he said, staring at Shadow. "You were meant to be my servant. I was going to turn you into a vampire. It's a shame you're still human."

"I'd rather not be a blood sucking monster like you." Shadow said. He was spinning the knife in his hand, itching to sink it into Arthur's heart.

Arthur ignored his comment and turned to me. "Oh, you smell delightful. A newly made vampire. You still smell a bit human. That'll wear off soon. But right now, I can barely resist."

"Stay back. My blood doesn't belong to you." I can't believe I just said that, but it doesn't matter. As long as he stays away from me.

He laughed. "Do you really think that would stop me? I don't care who you belong to. I still want a taste of your blood."

My eyes flashed red once again. "I'll be the one tasting your blood, sir."

I attacked. Of course, I had no weapon. Just my fangs and my bare hands. But that won't stop me. I threw a punch but he caught it easily.

"Did my dear brother teach you nothing? How about you become mine and I'll teach you everything and more?"

I squirmed in his grasp, but he was strong. He twisted my arm around and suddenly my back was against his chest and my arm was being held high. His arm snaked around my waist and he lowered his head to my throat.

"Stop!" I demanded. I quickly used my other arm to elbow him in the ribs. Rather than falling backward, he simply grabbed my other arm and began to continue where he left off.

Something whizzed past my head and Arthur howled as a knife was embedded in his shoulder. He quickly let go of me. I hurried over to Shadow's side.

"Thanks." I said, giving him a small smile.

"I've been wanting to inflict pain on this person for years. You just gave me another reason to do so." he said, an determined look on his face. "Go help Raven. He looks like he's about to pass out."

I fell to my knees near Raven, not sure where to start. I lifted his shirt. From what I could tell, he had several cracked ribs and a huge gash on his chest. All of which was still bleeding heavily.

A pang of hunger struck me. But I ignored it and focused on healing him instead. When I was done, I almost passed out. My energy was completely depleted. Raven was unconscious, recuperating from the blood loss. I turned to see how Shadow was doing. They were fighting. Suddenly, Shadow must have had a blind side, because he was sent flying. Straight toward me.

I scrambled to my feet and spread my arms wide. We both crashed to the ground and I hit my head hard. I smelled my own blood. Shadow quickly got up, reaching a hand out for me to take. I reached out, but before I could get up, something slammed into me, again.

It was Arthur. He pulled me to my feet and before I could do anything, he used his arm and impaled me, his arm going through the other side. I gasped, choking on blood.

"I could easily rip your heart out. You wouldn't want that, right? Don't stop me when I drink your blood."

Shadow tackled him and his arm slid out of my body, thankfully without taking my heart. I was losing blood, fast. I don't have the energy to heal myself and Raven was still out. Even if he was awake, he would be extremely hungry since he lost a lot of blood too.

I looked up. I saw Shadow fighting Arthur. Putting him in a headlock. Getting slammed to the ground. Blood flying everywhere.

Blood. Flying. Everywhere.

I felt energy coursing through me. If I could get some blood, I wouldn't die. Even now, my own blood was spilling everywhere. Shadow was working hard to keep Arthur from biting me. Raven was out. Arthur was losing to a vampire hunter. I grinned, my fangs glinting, itching for some flesh to sink into.

Sneaking up behind Arthur, I kicked his back and then jumped on top of him. I wrapped my legs around him, locking my feet together. I held his arms in place with my own. Shadow grabbed his knife and stabbed Arthur. That little thing wouldn't kill him but the scent of blood was driving me crazy.

"You'll regret coming here." I snarled in his ear. "You'll regret hurting Raven. You'll regret almost killing me. You'll regret every single thing you've ever done. I won't be your blood donor. You'll be mine."

I bit him, blood spraying all over my face. It tasted absolutely wonderful. Shivering with delight and extreme longing, I gulped down his blood like there was no tomorrow.

He fell backward, crushing me with his weight. I heard several of my ribs crack. But his blood was amazing. He's a strong vampire, both him and Raven. They both come from a strong lineage of vampires, hardly tainted with human blood. This blood, it was great.

Arthur reached up and grabbed my head. Ripping me off of his neck, he tossed me and I crashed into the wall near Raven. I quickly used my newfound energy to heal all my wounds.

"I'll get you for that next time." he growled. Ooh, scary. "I'll be back. I lost too much blood." He shot a glare at me and I grinned at him.

Shadow walked up to me, an evil grin on his face.

"Nice job. At least now I know not to mess with you when you're hungry."