Bare Your Fangs

Chapter 4

   Then I came back here, I lived with Lilith and assumed my tile as chief. I never forgave myself for that day, and I doubt Daniel ever will either. I didn't take my eyes off Daniel, I worried that if I looked away he would be gone. I brushed my fingers through his bloodstained hair. He let out a quiet groan, his breaths had a coarse crackling. His eyes fluttered open, and he struggled to keep them that way. 

   "Shit, I didn't mean to wake him up!" I thought as pulled my arm back. I nervously watched his dark, distant eyes struggle to keep the light inside them. He was in a lot of pain, I wanted to help him, but I couldn't do anything. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. What I said didn't matter, all I could do was sit and watch. All I could do is take care of him. He seemed ashen, starved and weak. It boiled my blood that my people would do this under my nose. I took a deep breath and calmed myself. Nothing could be done about the past. 

   "You..." I heard the weighted whisper of my friend. Though weak his voice was cackling, full of anger. I tensed up briefly, forgetting to breathe for just a moment. Daniel's mind seemed clouded, like his words were just beyond his reach. Unable to put his bitter, hateful feelings into words, he turned away from me. 

   "Daniel... I'm sorry." I muttered, gripping the fabric on my trousers. Daniel winced at the words, he hated it. He hated it like he hated me, and I had no words of comfort for him. Anything I said would only make it worse. I didn't expect him to forgive me, all that mattered to me was that Daniel was alive. In a way I was happy. I never thought I'd see him again. I never thought I'd be able to reach out and run my fingers through his short blonde hair again... but he will probably never look at me again with anything other than hatred. 

   I turned my attention back to him. His body trembled, occasional whimpers could barely be heard, and his breathing was unsteady. I could only imagine how much it hurt to have your body torn apart and put back together again. What scared me more was Daniel himself, he hated vampires. From the day I met him he had only one goal, to kill vampires. Now he was becoming one himself. He would sooner kill himself that be bitten, and I worried that he would do just that as soon as he got the chance. I reached towards his frail body, putting a hand on his shoulder. He flinched at just my touch, tensing his shoulders and curling his arms to his chest. I pushed my feeling of anger into the back of my mind to focus on Daniel. 

   Has he eaten or drank anything? Gotten blood yet? I sighed, letting my head drop to look at the floorboards only lit by the bit of light that shone though the rain clouds. I knew the answer, when he didn't want something to happen it didn't, he was always like this. Like a child when it came to things he didn't like. 

   Behind me Lilith crept in, she was quiet as she slid in through the now open door. She continued quietly toward me and leaned close to my head, as not to let Daniel hear her. 

   "Michael, Let's go." She whispered. She grabbed my shoulder and hand, lightly tugging me so my hand slid off Daniel, who I presumed passed out again. Lilith held my hand and we quietly left, shutting the door behind us. As soon as we turned the hallways corner into the kitchen we stopped and Lilith turned to me, crossing her arms and looking up at my face. 

   "Lilith I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake him-" I began, but she quickly cut me off, 

   "It doesn't really matter, he never stays awake long anyway." She sighed and looked toward the open window. Her face was not one of anger like I thought, it was worry. She had to take care of Daniel and I alone for three days. She pressed her lips together for a moment before letting out a sigh and dropping her arms to her sides. 

   "Daniel refuses to eat or drink anything. Hell I even tried forcing it down his throat but he coughed it back up." She began, putting a hand on her forehead and sliding back the hair that was in her face. I griped the skin of my palms, He was doing as a feared. He would never drink human blood if it killed him, and it will. "Wait, human blood? Maybe... if it wasn't human blood he was drinking?" I thought. Pure blood vampires were, interesting. We deified the rules of normal vampires. Other vampires can drink our blood as a replacement to human blood, given it wasn't ideal but it worked. 

   Without another work to Lilith I opened a drawer and pulled out a knife. I quickly walked away to Daniel's room before Lilith had a chance to realize what I was thinking, or realized I had a knife. I peeked through the door briefly before walking in and locking it. Daniel would not be happy about this. I crept up to him and set the knife on the chair just beside his bed. 

   "Daniel?" I whispered as I gently rubbed his shoulder to wake him up. He jolted awake, putting his back against the wall and curling his arms around his head. "It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you." I reassured, smiling at him, I gently pushed his arms down and sat on the bed next to him. He continued glaring knives at me. Part of me hesitated. Would he be happy like this? 

   I tried to push the thought out of my head but that is all I could think of as I picked up the sharp blade and put it against my forearm. Daniel was no longer looking at me, rather he was curled up into a semi-ball with his arms blocking his head, shaking. He was afraid of the sharp silver knife I held. I quickly sliced my arm, for a brief moment I felt nothing, then it began to burn and ache as blood dripped onto the floor and bed. 

   I tossed the knife aside, to a table neither of us could reach. He flinched when the metal collided with the hard wood. For a few seconds I just sat there. I did not want to overwhelm Daniel, though I doubt that time would calm him. I tried to reach over to him with my unscathed hand, but he hit it away with a hiss. It took a lot of strength for a starving fangling to fight bloodlust like this. 

   "Daniel you aren't hurting people, please." I tried to reason. 

    "No, no no no no." He stuttered, covering his ears. He held his breath, he did not want to feel this. "Stop it!" He Yelped, Throwing his head into the wall. I quickly grabbed his arm and yanked him onto my lap. He screeched and scratched but I refused to let go. 

   His shattered legs were no use to him, no matter how hard he tried to kick at me it only send sharp pains through his body. Tears formed in his eyes and ran down his cheeks. He tired himself out quickly and buried his head into my stomach. 

   "Stop being stubborn Daniel." I sighed, pulling my bloody arm close to him. He flipped around and sunk his partially grown fangs into my arm. He wasn't trying to pull away anymore, his hunger instead was more powerful than him. I gently put a hand on his head, rubbing the back of it like I used to, It always calmed him when he was stressed.