Up In Flames [Original Story] ✓

Possible partner? I think not.

Shocked, I turned to June. She matched my shock perfectly: Eyes wide open, mouth slightly agape and utter confusion written all over her face. 

Right in front of us, there were two vampires fighting. A girl, probably sixteen and a middle-aged man. The female vampire was losing, her shoulder tainted with blood and her movements becoming slower with every move. Her hair was sticking in every direction and her grey dress was tainted with sweat marks and other stains. More sweat droplets fell down her face, making her face glisten under the moonlight.

This made no sense. The legends, this has never happened before.  I thought this couldn't happen.

I took my wooden stake and did a run behind the male vampire who was too busy attempting to fight the girl to notice my quiet sets behind him. I slashed the male vampire in the back, digging into him until he dropped with a loud 'thud' to the floor. As he fell, he used his last strength to bring down the female with him.

I moved the dead vampire from the girl and prepared to kill her, raising the stake and preparing to plunge into her body when she yelled out, grabbing my hands in an attempt to stop me.

"No! Please, I'm on your side!" Vampires are prideful creatures. Even the youngster wouldn't dare beg for their life's. Was this a new trick they had been developing? Not convinced by her antics, I lashed only to be stopped by June. I gave her 'are you serious?' look and she pulled me up, pulling the mysterious girl too.

I took my knife from my boot and cut the vampires head. I kicked the body and it turned to ashes, the soul returning to the underworld. The ashes quickly dispersed into the wind, carrying the story of what had happened here with them.

"And you are?" I crossed my arms in front of my chest, doing a quick analysis of the girl. Her eyes were returning to their normal colour, a teal-blue colour. She light, olive skin and dark brown hair like autumn leaves. She was rather skinny, clearly underfeed which is odd has vampires don't require much to be healthy, they only need to eat once a month. She was quite short, making her seem younger than she probably was. Her face gave the idea she was in her teens, couldn't be older than 15, perhaps even our age.

"Ellie. Ellie Simms." She extended her bloody hand but I didn't shake it.

"Why exactly were you fighting with another vampire? Better yet, how?" I raised my eyebrow and saw June shot me a glare. I ignored it. "I thought vampires had a blood pact to never hurt each other, no matter the clan?"

"Art let the girl be she-"June was cut off by Ellie Simms.

"It's fine. I hold a grudge against vampires, a big one. So big I started hunting them. I never made the blood pact, I wasn't meant to have even survived so they never made me do it. I'm not part of a clan." She concluded, hugging her body tightly.

"Have you been blessed by the gods?" I raise an eyebrow. Perhaps that would've allowed her to remain alive.

"Nope. One hundred percent vampire." She declares, sounding everything but proud. "Please just help me? Just until I'm better? I promise that after I'll be out of your hair."

Before I could go any further into my interrogation, June took a hold of her arm and started walking our of the hallway, grabbing her shopping bags along the way.

"We'll take you home and get you fixed. Then, we'll see what to do alright?" She said, trying to sound nice for Ellie Simms but I could tell she was saying it through gritted teeth because of me.

"This is insane June! We don't know if she's saying the truth! She could be a weapon we don't know anything about her!" I whispered into her ear, walking fast beside her. 

"She's just a kid! We can't leave her out there like that! Not to mention if she doesn't like vampires she could provide helpful information regarding them. Anything, even if just a location I can hack CCTV cameras to find out more, follow their moves. Even if she gives us a detailed face, I could run it through the system and begin tracking their movements. Anything she can give is better than nothing and you know it." She talked through gritted teeth, her grip on Ellie Simm's arm tightening with every word.

I sighed loudly and rubbed my temples, staying slightly behind and texting my dad to not freak out when we get home, making him freak out over text instead.

/// /// ///

My dad was in the basement, or as he calls it 'his study room'. He seemed so focused on his studies he didn't even notice us entering the house so we had plenty time to collect thing such as alcohol and cotton to heal her minor wounds. 

Due to my excessive fighting, I knew exactly how to heal them. However, she had come out of the battle pretty badly injured so June settled for a healing shower.

Whilst I prepared Ellie Simms bath, June used her linguistic and charisma skills to, unfortunately, try and convince my dad to let her stay.

I heard a knock on the door and saw a naked Ellie Simms. Her body was worse than I had imagined, her bones sticking out, her ribcage visible and her breasts were rather small compared to most girls her age. She looked extremely self-conscious but I had seen worse. 

"The water should be fine so you can get in." She put her feet delicately on t bathtub, almost as if she would break if she didn't. She sat down and slowly lied down.

I put a purple rock onto the water and watched it bubble.

"Before you ask, I'm assuming you've never seen one of these before, it heals wounds. I would hate to waste it on you but June forced me to use it. If you stay in the water for at least 20 minutes most your wounds should only be scars." I finished.

She nodded understandingly and waved her hand in the purple water, letting it run through her fingers. Her brown hair was flowing behind her in the water and she closed her eyes, relaxing into the water.

"There's some shampoo and conditioner here," I pointed at the edge of the bathtub "There are two towels here and some basic clothing" I closed the toilet seat and out the folded towers and clothes on top. 

I put a new sponge and some of June's body wash next to the shampoo.

"Enjoy." I gave her a fake smile and closed the bathroom door. I made my way to the living room where my dad and June chatted calmly.

June sipped on her coffee and her and my dad looked at each other for a brief second.

"Artemis we've come to a conclusion." He said carefully as if he was approaching a dangerous animal.

"Please dad, don't sugar coat me." I sat down next to them both.

"It's a final decision." June noted and sipped her coffee again.

I death-glared her and made a gesture for my dad to continue.

"She's staying."