River of Red

XXVI

My horror doubled as the events crashed into me.
Domitius had stabbed in the heart with a stake and thrown off a cliff.
Two people looked ready to kill.
Two men surrounded me.
Two eyes I watched them through.
Two times I screamed in my mind.
I realized that I knew one of the men, he had been a frequent visitor in my nightmares.
It was deep voice.
He walked closer to me.
"Well," he said in perfect English, "I don't like what you did to my friend." His voice was menacing, vengeful.
He tilted his head to the side, "Horrid thing, I rather hate you."
With that afterthought, he launched himself at me, and his concrete body slammed into me at supernatural speeds. I tried to concentrate, to throw him off me, but the teeth that sunk into my shoulder made it hard to think. He ripped and gouged my flesh, cold blood trickled out of the wound, and he hurriedly lapped it up with a moan of pleasure. He gripped both my hands, and bent them until they popped. My vision was swarmed with blackness, it caressed the edge of my mind with sweetness.
I was too far unconscious to register any of the pain that bombarded my body.
A loud snarl ripped through the air. The sounds of an evil fight reverberated through the air: growls, yells, snarls, and hateful words.
I slowly regained my bearings. The haze that flooded my mind receded. My hands ached, my shoulder burned, and I had a massive headache.
But I was alive.
Slowly, I sat up. Pain flew through me, but it quickly faded away like the tide. The left half of my shirt was completely gone, which left only a strapless, ripped bra. Every inch of my body was covered with blood, but there were no cuts or gouges that indicated I had ever been harmed.
Peculiar.
Most peculiar.
My eyes finally took in the scene before me. Domitius had deep voice pinned to a tree by the throat. The impossibility of him being alive was exponentially large, but happiness swelled in me like a balloon. Deep voice groaned and struggled in his grip. Domitius looked like he was only holding a feather against the tree, not a person.
"Hello, Kevin. It's been a while since I've seen you. It looks like you still like picking on girls." Domitius tsked, "and we can't have that."
Deep voices face turned purple, though not from oxygen loss, from the pressure of trying to keep his head on his own body. Domitius sighed.
"Kevin, I'm deeply sorry, but I can't have you coming about killing my... " He paused, completely at ease holding a man against a tree, "friends."
Domitius increased his hands grip on the man's neck, and watched with a disappointed look when blood dropped from his deep voices irises.
And he pulled off his head.
Deep voices now lifeless eyes stared at the sky in a form of terror, his mouth open and horrified. Blood poured from gaping wounds in both his head and body.
My stomach dry heaved.
Domitius was suddenly there, pulling me into his arms and making calming noises. I buried my face in his earthy scent, and tried to get the image out of my head.
There was a sudden branch snap. It was no animal, for they couldn't make a snap that loud or sudden.
It had to be a person.
Domitius leaned his mouth to my ear.
"Don't move a muscle."
His arms wrapped around me, almost like an embrace of happiness and relief.
He launched us off the cliff.
I would be proud to say I didn't scream, but I did.
Very loudly.
All the way down.
When we landed in the water, Domitius put his body under me as to take the brunt of the impact. That didn't mean it didn't hurt for me too, though. In fact, it hurt like a bitch. Angry screams and yells followed us down. My eyes popped open underwater only to see Domitius take my hand and gesture for me to follow him.
I did.
Even though I had never swam before, I soon got the idea when I watched Domitius ahead of me. He kept a hold of my hand, and dragged me in an unknown direction. The water was dark, but was crystal clear and bright with my upgraded vision. I looked behind us, and saw at least two dozen vampires floating about, searching for something. I realized it was probably me.
I wondered momentarily how they hadn't seen us, as I could see them, but just when I thought that, and just my luck too, one spotted me. It gestured to the others, but they were all too far away to pay attention, so the man swam after me in a quick, professional way. I tugged on Domitius's hand, and pointed to the man with frenzied eyes.
Once he saw on the man following us, he stopped swimming and turned to face him. I suddenly felt sorry for the man, for he was sure to die soon. When the man got within range, Domitius leapt through the water in an unnaturally graceful way. Before the man could react, Domitius literally ripped the man's throat out.
Thick, dark blood clouded the water, and the man slowly sank toward the bottom of the ocean. Domitius swam back to me at supernatural speed, and pulled me alongside him again. We pretty much went as fast as vampirely possible through the water. It wasn't as fast as on land, but still very, very fast.
Domitius pulled me down, into a small cave-like structure underwater. Inside, I saw that it opened up to an actual opening that was above the water line, which meant there was an air bubble. We surfaced into a cold, damp cave, darkness sliceable with a knife. The floor was sand, the little room was completely cut off from outside world, beside the little pool I treaded in. The rock was black and slick, but the sand contrasted nicely, since it was a bright, soft white. No light filtered in, but my sharp vision cut through the dark. Domitius helped me pull myself up onto the shore. The sand was silky and cool under my wet skin. Domitius stood, his head no where near hitting the roof.
I wiped my hands against my dripping face, "Are we safe?"
Safe was a relative term, I didn't know if I could ever feel completely safe again, but I might be able to feel somewhat safe.
Domitius nodded, "Close. You'll be okay with me, all of them combined would be no match against me, but I'm weak. I can't be killed but I can most definitely be harmed."
I soaked that in. Domitius was unkillable, but harmable.
He was right, I did feel a lot safer with him, more so that I should.
He walked to a corner in the cave, pretty much the only one since the cave was round, and sat. I followed him, I wanted to stay close to the safety he brought. My legs nearly gave out when I stumbled toward the corner, but I was caught by a pair of strong, safe arms. I melted into him, loving the way his chest smelled of earth and defiance even through the salt.
A sob escaped my chest, I felt utterly broken and useless. I had just seen two men murdered, and there I was, collapsed in the murderers arms feeling safe and complete. I didn't want to cry, but the events of the past nine days seemed to override my system right there. I wrapped my weak arms around his cold, wet body, and pressed my cheek to his hard chest.
I didn't mind the cold, or the water, I only cared about the  secure arms around me. He wiped my salty, soaked hair from my face that was pressed against him, and made soft, cooing noises to calm me.
I couldn't be calmed though.
Tears dripped freely from my eyes, and mixed eagerly with my already wet face. Salt water and salt water coated me, in tiny rivets down my salty cheeks.
He brought his cool hand to my face to wipe away the salty tears.
"Shh, dove, your alright. I won't let anything harm you."
His efforts barely made a dent in my worry, though. There was so much more on my mind besides that of my safety. I was plagued with worry of my mother, Nolan, Hanna, and especially of the man before me. I was afraid of what I wanted, of the dreams that haunted me, of the life I ran from. I was afraid, most of all, of the future and what it held.
My legs collapsed under me, but this time instead of catching me, he simply scooped me up in his arms and lowered me to the floor. I curled my hands in his shirt, and cried my heart out. He only held me, silent, and rubbed my back calmingly. I reflected back on my past, how normal everything was before my dad died, how nice it was to be able to eat homemade breakfast every morning and fresh deer steak at night. How my dad would always hug me and kiss my forehead before bed. How he always cared about what I had to say.
I missed him.
I hadn't had time to grieve. My mother was constantly on my mind and ass to do something. I barely got to cry. I didn't know why the grief hit me then, but I was thankfully for a shoulder to cry on.
It felt nice to finally cry, it seemed as though I held a dam back for those months, and the dam was freshly broke..
It hurt.
I laid in his lap, his arms holding my curled body to his chest. I pressed my face into the crook of his neck and inhaled his warm scent.
Even through my sadness, my eyes started to drift shut from sheer exhaustion. Being wrapped in his arms was comfortable, it was a wonderful change from the past hour, and I welcomed the warmth with open arms.
He played with my hair and whispered little nothings into my sore heart.
I finally slept.