Bloodbank

Twenty Two

It had been a week since Nathan's death, and Henry's body was already decomposing in the back yard.

Each day, we hooked me up to the blood bags and took as much as I could give, and then mixed the blood to Scott's taste. It was lucrative, with Scott going to night markets and trading the blood as type C, and I felt he was taking good care of me. Each night, we'd go through the same routine.

"Are you sure this much is ok?" He would ask as we drained an extra pint.

"One step closer to freedom," I would reply.

I was surprised that Mason hadn't found us yet, but I supposed it was only a matter of time. Until then, we needed to build our wealth and come up with a plan. The problem was, the Lord was untouchable, and that extended to Mason.

"Can't we sue him?"

"No."

"Hire an assassin?"

"Won't work."

"I go to his mansion with a bomb strapped to me?"

"Ebony."

Though it had only been a week, the routines that confined me to the house, for my safety as Scott urged, had begun to bore me. I hated to admit it, but the pacing like a wild animal was reminding me of my time in the bloodbank. I found myself begging Scott to go for a walk at midday when the vampires would be hiding lest they be baked to a crisp, as he knew all to well, with his skin still sensitive to heat. But his answer remained the same.

He'd just drained the second pint that day when I asked for a seventh time.

"No."

I clenched my fist, it taking everything in me not to have a tantrum. "I'm going crazy."

"We have a back garden. Go run a couple laps in it," he said, securing the blood bag and unhooking my arm.

"I'm not a dog, and there's a decomposing body there."

He ignored me, and began to collect his things together to leave for the market. I stood in his way, stared straight into his eyes and put on my best persuasion face.

"If you don't let me leave the house now, I'll leave during the day when you can't stop me."

His lips hardened into a straight line at this, and something flashed across his features that I wasn't able to fully recognise before he murmured, "fine." and I was too distracted by the grin that had split across my own face.

Leaping to my feet, I spun in a circle and kissed him quickly, the energy built up from the last week resurging like a wave, ready to crash.

*****

I'd seen a few vampire markets, but this was by far the largest. The moon was full overhead, illuminating the rows upon rows of brightly coloured market stalls in a silvery glow. I found myself drawn immediately to the closest stall, selling necklaces with bottles for blood as charms, bouncing on my heels to try and expel my pent up energy. 

Scott's arm wound protectively around my waist, him evidently nervous at having me near so many vampires. I couldn't help but think of that first market we had visited together, when our circumstances were different and he had held me against my will, and how much had changed since then. And how drastically our relationship had changed, brought together by a mutual enemy.

I moved on to the next stall, entranced now with hundreds of small, darkened bottles. I picked one up, assuming it to be rare, aged blood, but instead I was met with a skull and crossed bones symbol. Poison.

"Why is there a poison stall? Isn't this illegal?" I asked Scott, turning over the blue bottle in my hands to read the label; only effective on humans.

"Not much is illegal anymore," Scott replied, as if he had forgotten I'd lived most of my life in a bunker to this point, "the entire blood trade is essentially human trafficking."

I swallowed, placing down the bottle carefully, as though it could shatter and kill me at any moment. Another poison caught my eye, this one reading slow acting.

My thoughts appeared to still suddenly as I turned the bottle over in my hands. I was somewhat aware that Scott was speaking to me, yet he was muffled, underwater. Slow acting poison. A plan began to form, my lips parting as I turned to face Scott, shaking him.

"I go to his mansion with a bomb strapped to me," I whispered urgently, shaking the poison, and Scott's mouth fell open, him catching onto my plan instantaneously.

"You want to poison the Lord?"

"We send me in and I slip him some of this, it can't be that difficult," I said, reading the label on the poison, despite not recognising a single word.

Scott furrowed his brow, and I could almost see the gears turning in his head. Finally, he said, "no. That's too messy."

He snatched the bottle from my hand, despite my protests, and placed it back on the stand. The bottles clinked together as he rummaged through them and produced a smaller, black bottle.

Breathless, he held it up to me, "we inject this into your blood. He drinks from you, and gets poisoned. It works faster on vampires than humans, he'll be dead in minutes and I can get you an antidote."

"Wait, so you're on board with going straight into the hands of our enemies?" I said in disbelief.

"We can't outrun them forever."

"And Mason?"

"Tenebris' men will scatter once he's dead. We can draw out that traitor's death," he lowered his voice, cold arms wrapping around me as he pressed his lips to mine, "nice and slow."

I smiled, kissing him back. He turned to the vendor, who appeared to be dozing off.

"Do you have an antidote for this one?" He asked.

"No," the man replied, taking the bottle and examining it, "but the cure is equal parts Devil's Claw and type B."

"Perfect," Scott said, exchanging a bag of my blood for the bottle. The man looked surprised for a moment upon seeing the blood type, but accepted it nevertheless, and we turned away knowing we had overpaid.

"How are we going to get those things? I'm type C." I asked Scott, who had placed his arm over my shoulders as we began the walk back to the house. He stiffened at my open declaration of my rare blood type, but continued when nobody outright attacked us.

"The blood we can get once we reach Tenebris' mansion," he smiled, the bustle of the market disappearing behind us.

"And the Devil's Claw?"

"It's a flower. I spotted a plant at the safe house."

"What? Won't Mason's men be there?"

"It's a risk we have to take. We're going back."