Bloodbank

Thirty Three

The dress was the most comfortable thing I had ever worn.

It was a white silk, draped so that with movement, the curves and hollows of my hungry body were revealed. The narrow straps left my neck and jutting collarbone exposed, perfect for Tenebris to feed on me.

My steps were agonisingly slow down the darkened hallway; I did not want to meet my fate. There was too much uncertainty - would I even survive long enough for Tenebris to drink from me? Would Scott give me the antidote after I had just kissed Mason?

I caught my reflection in a mirror as I walked past. My cheeks were hollow, eyes sunken. My skin hung off my bones, the tattoo from the bloodbank still holding ownership on my neck. As much as I didn't want Tenebris to drink from me - I didn't want it to hurt, which it would - and I didn't want to be weaker than I already was - I also wanted it to be over. I wanted everything to be over, to be left alone for once in my sad existence.

I moved past the mirror. It was ironic that Tenebris even owned a mirror, given the lore around vampires, which I knew to be false. I'd seen Scott preen in multiple mirrors.

I quickly realised I was stalling - thinking about everything other than what waited for me at the end of the corridor that seemed to go on forever.

I pressed on, into the dining room.

**

I was expecting the room to be large, but it was cavernous. The ceiling was high enough to span multiple storeys, carved from dark, luxurious wood. In the middle lay an enormous dining table, with Scott sat at one end and Tenebris at the other. When I closed the door behind me, it echoed. An attendant approached from the shadows, almost making me jump from my skin, and led me to my chair.

"I was told you weren't feeling well earlier," Tenebris said. His voice seemed to surround me.

"I'm fine now, thank you," I lied. The attendant pulled out my chair. I sat, and he returned to the corner of the room, where he couldn't be seen.

Scott had a wine glass in front of him, a vintage bottle of blood beside him. The attendant placed a steaming bowl of risotto in front of me. It smelled divine - the most delicious thing I had ever, and would ever, smell, yet I could only take small, polite bites. I was sure I would only throw it up later.

Tenebris ate nothing; he simply watched me eat. And waited.

For a moment, the only sounds filling the space were the scrape of my fork against the porcelain as I scooped up a couple grains of rice at a time. Then Tenebris began to speak, and the open space suddenly felt much closer.

"Scott tells me he found you in a bunker, is that right?" he said. I swallowed, nodded, and he continued, "do you know why you were down there?"

"The nuclear war?" I knew it to be a fact, but I posed it as a question.

"Yes," Tenebris smiled, revealing his white teeth. The smile of a shark, "the same war that created vampires. All that radiation in the air, it had to go somewhere. You just weren't one of the lucky ones."

Of course he would think that he was the lucky one here.

He turned his attention to Scott, for the first time since I had sat down, "I understand that there is something between the two of you. A budding romance? Love?"

I scoffed; I couldn't help myself. Tenebris turned back to me, his eyebrow raised. He seemed surprised that such a noise could come from me. As the silence began to suffocate me, I realised he was expecting me to elaborate. I picked up my glass of water, covering my mouth, and said, "It wasn't love."

"What was it then?" Tenebris smiled.

"Convenience."

Tenebris began to laugh. A low, dark sound, it travelled around the room, bouncing off its corners, returning to my ear. It sounded as though there were ten of him. But his laughter ended as quickly as it had began, an eerie ghost of the noise thinning from the air.

"And why is that?" Tenebris probed. Scott shifted in his seat, eyes downcast. He couldn't look his father in the eye - and seemingly couldn't speak unless spoken to, either.

"He's a liar," I replied.

Tenebris smiled, "he is many things. Including that. One of several reasons I disowned him. But he came back to me. Like a stray dog, desperate for the love of its former owner."

"I believe you hired Mason to take me back to you." Scott spoke for the first time.

The air became cold, cold enough to raise goosebumps on my skin. Tenebris' face darkened, "I hired him to retrieve Ebony, who you stole from me. I plan to punish you for that in due time."

Tenebris stood, and began a slow walk down the side of the table. At first, I thought he was approaching Scott, but his eyes remained on me, even as he continued to speak to Scott, "you only took her to spite me. I could not allow you to get away with that."

Scott's hand, on his stemmed glass, turned white, his knuckles threatening to pop free. Tenebris reached me, his hand stroking my jaw for a moment.

"I like you. You have a politeness that many of my humans lack," Tenebris' arm snaked around the back of my chair, his other arm planted in front of me, pushing away my risotto, "Let's hope you stay on my good side for longer than they did."

My body was screaming at me to shrink away, to run from this predator. But I held myself in place, my eyes reaching Scott's. He would anchor me.

Tenebris pulled my loose hair out of the way, and tilted my head at an angle. I shivered at his touch, his hands colder than even Scott's.

"Either way, I'm delighted to add you to my collection," Tenebris said, his voice low. For a moment, my lip trembled in anticipation, my hands shaking below the table. Scott held eye contact, his posture anxiously straight. He betrayed no emotion on his face. Mine, I was sure, was the picture of terror.

Tenebris sank his teeth into my neck, and all I knew was pain.