Christmas Consort

Vampire Judge and Jury

Ridley stood on the threshold of the home he had visited so many times before. A home he always looked forward to visiting. A home whose most recent visitation was one of struggle, violence, and blood.

Lara's body shook. Her voice cried where her eyes were incapable. The story pouring past her quivering lips was a jumble, almost incoherent. Ridley looked at his drawn blade, down at Silas, and back again. He had never hated the gurkha knife nor his duty so much.

He stepped into the house and shut the door behind him, too hard. Lara jumped and let out a squeal of fright.

"Just this once, Ridley. Please. This is my fault. I'm the one who brought her home. I thought...I thought she wanted us, to be with us. She was looking for us. She said so. White-eyes, she said. So I brought her back. Please, Ridley, please--"

"No second chances, Lara. You know that."

She muffled her protest with a hand over her own mouth and watched Ridley steal over to Silas, crouch beside him and sniff the air. Ridley's steel blue eyes stared down, but Silas refused to meet his gaze. Looked instead across the space to the young woman.

Something was familiar about her. Ridley sniffed the air again. Frowned. Her head was turned away toward the wall. Ridley stepped over her body.

"When I...when I, you know, went to stake him he shoved back and she hit her head. I think she'll be okay." Lara rushed over wondering if he recognized Kylie. "I'll take her to the hospital myself." She reached for her. "I'd rather not be here when..." she whispered.

Ridley's hand shot out and clamped down on Lara's wrist. "Leave her be."

Lara squeaked and pulled back. "But her arm and her head. I don't know how much blood she's lost and--" She had a hard time meeting his steely gaze, but she did it. Till he turned back to Kylie.

"Listen to her heart. Strong. Steady. Blood pressure a bit low, I'd say. She's hearty though. A fighter." He rose and released Lara. He untucked his shirt, used his blade to neatly cut a strip from the black poplin, and lay down his weapon.

Lara's eyes flitted to the blade, to Silas, and back to Ridley. He ripped an opening in his skin, wiped his fingers through his blood and applied it to the young woman's injury.

"What...what are you doing?"

"Some of us have healing our blood," he said. "Not just in the venom. It can come in handy." He had already healed and had to rip a new section of skin to apply his blood to the head wound. "Since she's survived the bite all right, this shouldn't have any adverse effects." He wound the strip of shirt around her forearm. Then cut another to wrap around her head.

"I've never heard of such a thing," said Lara.

He stood looking down on his handiwork. "Yeah, well. Silas couldn't do it. Didn't know about it. I suspect you can't either." He saw her glance to his blade. He retrieved it from the ground and stepped back over to Silas.

Lara noted that Ridley was already referring to Silas in the past tense. Her tight shoulders moved down an inch, relaxed.

Ridley crouched beside Silas, his elbows rested on his knees and his left hand rested on the right. The gurkha hung down from his loose grip.

Lara braced herself. "Please..."

Ridley sniffed the air deeply. Let his breath out in a long measured exhale. "Quite a struggle wasn't it?"

Lara tried to smell what he did in the air. She looked over the blood trail to the hall and back. The string of lights unplugged and half out across the floor.

"Yeah. I tried to...to--"

"Did she say who she was looking for?"

Lara wanted to back away. Would he read something into that? Why was he delaying? She took a step toward Kylie.

"Lara. I know this is hard for you. It's hard for me too. I know exactly how you're feeling. Caught between their world and ours, between the innocent and the deadly. It can't have been easy for you."

"No. It wasn't."

"Who was she looking for?"

"She said she shot someone...someone like us. He wore all black." Behind her Kylie stirred. The vampire blood was going to work. Lara tried to keep her fear in check. If Kylie woke up too soon...

"I should take her to the hospital. Don't you think?"

He ignored her question and gripped his blade tighter. "So you thought she was talking about me?"

"Maybe. I wasn't sure but Silas was. And Kylie wanted to thank you, she wanted to stick around to see if it was you. You know?"

Kylie's foot twitched.

"Shouldn't we do something? I can at least lay her on the bed in her room...I mean, in the guest room."

"No. Best to finish things here first." He gestured at Silas and waved her over. "If you've got some goodbyes to say, now's the time." He waited.