The Terrible Twelve

Chapter 6: The Decision

Ian Le Armurer made his way through the back entrance of his hotel building. He had never liked drawing attention to himself and going through the front entrance was one way to garner that attention. The sun was setting in the west and Ian could feel his back begin to sting and itch as the rays penetrated his dark clothing.

He grunted but continued moving towards the local hospital. As soon as he had made it to town he had found the biggest hospital in the vicinity. He didn't want to hunt while he was here so that he could better focus his attention on what he needed to do and not his next meal. He was going there now to visit a friend.

"Well hey there, tiger." Kate leaned against the counter in pastel scrubs and bracelets dangling from her wrist. Kate was a relatively new friend for Ian, one that he had made purely for the purpose of stealing blood from the donation office.

"Hello to you too." Ian leaned his hip along the counter and smiled at her. He didn't particularly like Kate but she was useful.

"You here for some dinner?" Kate winked at him.

Ian gently lowered his fingers and brushed them across her skin. He stared into her eyes and pushed his will onto hers. "I'll take the usual and a couple extra please. A Negative, if you've got it." Kate's eyes lost focus and she nodded simply before turning and passing through a door behind her.

Ian waited a couple of moments for her to return with what he needed. When it came to getting his food, he always pushed people rather then relying on their curiosity. There were two ways to get what you needed from a human. You could rely on their morbid curiosity, their need to figure out why things are the way they are. Or you could push your will onto them. While humans were always curios about what could kill them, sometimes their will to live pushed through that and messed things up. Pushing people was always easier and usually didn't have any lasting affects as long as you didn't mess with too much. When you started messing with memories it got a little tricky.

Kate emerged from the back room with a brown bag full of A Negative and a smile on her face. She liked to help her new friend out when he needed things like this. She liked to think that it made her special although once he was gone she could never quite remember him until he returned.

"Thank you sweetheart." Ian winked at her as he took the bag from her. "I appreciate it.

As soon as he turned, the smile disappeared from his face. It hadn't felt right flirting with her now that he had Viridian but he had to do what he had to do. This was for Viridian after all.

Ian made his way quickly to his car and drove to her house. If he was lucky she had been sleeping all day, gaining her strength, and she wouldn't be too hungry. If he wasn't lucky, he was going to be getting an earful from a very angry newborn.

He parked outside and entered the porch just as the sun was finally leaving the sky. He knocked on her bright door and waited for her to answer. He could hear shuffling footsteps coming his way and the smile on his face grew from polite to genuine.

When she opened the door, Ian couldn't help but laugh. She was so beautiful to him it was crazy that he'd even found her in the first place. "Good morning Viridian."

"Morning?" Viridian squinted and rubbed her eyes. "It's like 7 in the evening." She shifted aside and let Ian in past her before closing the door behind them.

"How did you sleep? Everything ok?"

"I slept pretty well. It was a little weird but nothing hurt or anything." Viridian yawned again as she lead him back to her room. She crawled into bed and snuggled under the covers.