Blood Ties (NaNoWriMo 2015)

Thirty-Six

"What?" I gasped even as the priest yanked me out of my chair. His skinny frame shook, eyes glazing over even more. "Are you nuts?"

"Come!" He exclaimed, throwing me over his shoulder with a surprising amount of strength, I should have expected it I supposed, his being a vampire and all but his appearance was certainly deceiving. "There is no time!" I didn't have any time to respond and neither did anyone else, Archie tore out the room, door banging shut behind us and I felt my stomach stay behind as he sprinted off through the manor.

I really hope I don't get sick, I thought as he took a sharp turn down the stairs through the business office. "Where are you taking me?" I demanded but once again I was completely ignored by the priest. He took another sharp turn, down into an unfamiliar hallway. Odd, I thought I'd explored every inch of the office. The walls were different than they were upstairs, stone like an old castle ruin.

A few breathless seconds later and I was deposited onto a stone alter where Archie yanked a hair from my head and tore open his arm with his fangs. Then he deposited the blood and hair into a gold bowl and began chatting in some language I couldn't recognize. His eyes were open wide, entirely white now and I sat up, frozen on the alter as I watched with morbid fascination. What the hell sort of witchcraft was he attempting? Was he trying to turn me into a toad or something in some mad idea that it would protect me?

Archie started to seize up, veins bulging up so I could see each one through his skin. His eyes rolled back into his head and I screamed. Was he having a seizure? Could vampires even have seizures? The priest collapsed to the ground then, the liquid in the bowl turning blue and I jumped down, startled but unable to run. What if he was hurt? Archie had a chance to hurt me the moment he yanked me from the room, he hadn't done it, (save for pulling a bit of my hair earlier) if he wanted to hurt me he'd have already done it.

"Hello? Archie?" I poked at the priest who seemed out cold to me. Did he maybe have epilepsy? That could explain his sudden collapse. Could vampires have that condition? I wondered how I could check to make sure Archie was still with me, the standard stuff such as a pulse was not really an option with him.

"Ugh," the priest opened his eyes, groggy and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"You're alive," I said and then my relief turned into hot anger. "Now what in the hell did you just do?"

Archie sat up, appearing dazed like he'd been hit with a breath of sospor and grinned at me, I noticed then he had a few missing teeth. Guess he was born before dental care was a mainstream thing. "I thought when Damon told me what he'd done," he mumbled, talking more to himself than me. "But I didn't dare believe, not until I saw you and that aura."

Okay, he must have hit the floor harder than I thought. "You need to see Doc," I said, grabbing his arm and pulling him to his feet. "You just had a bad fall, you must've hit your head. Doc can help you."

"And the way Damon's aura connected to yours," he continued to chatter on. "I didn't dare believe, but this is a sign."

"Move your feet," I told him. "Left, right, one foot in front of the other, you learned how to do this as a kid. You got this."

"Zalam has chosen you," Archie gripped my shoulders, bony hands digging painfully into me. I was going to bruise I was sure of it. "She knew Damon would need you, she made sure  you survived."

I wondered if I could pick the priest up. He was certainly a scrawny fella, maybe he'd be light enough for me to carry over my shoulders. "Yes, yes," I said dismissively as I tried to pry his hands off me so I could pick him up. "Zalam is very important and she wants me to bring you to Doc. Let's go, just let me go and I can carry you okay? You're a bit unsteady on your feet."