The Cravers

31. Bad Blood.

Brenda was rushed into the vampire hospital. Nurses were quick to attend and they put her into a room. 

Jake was right behind her, his expression clouded with worry. His hair was disheveled.

I gripped his wrist. "Hey, its okay." 

He yanked free from me and headed to the room. However, one of the nurses stopped him from entering the room. "No, sir. You cannot get in there."

"I know her...she's my date. What's going on?"

The lady assured him that he'll see her soon.

We settled in the waiting room. Jake was pacing around, his head low and his hands scratched his hair. "I should've been stronger. None of this would've happened!!" He began fretting to himself.

I was tired of comforting him so I let him be. Instead, I chose to explain what happened to Bat, who was sitting right next to me. "It was two Hunters." I whispered.

His eyes widened. "Shit. How?"

"I don't know the full story, but Brenda called me for help and something in my heart said that it was urgent. I heard her say Hunter into the phone. I sped to the alley to find a Hunter latched on her neck...drawing blood." I said. "And yet, that's not what is worrying me, he fought me well. But he wasn't as hard as defeating other Hunters. It was almost as if he wanted me to win. I killed him because I didn't know what to do with him."

Bat patted my knee. His hair was disheveled and he looked wasted. "Where were you?" From the looks of it, he spent the day at a club.

"Oh, nothing. I was in the club getting drunk."

"Where are the others? I called everyone but no one picked up." I did find it peculiar that the team captain--Kingsley, did not answer me as I expected.

"I don't know about Kingsley, I haven't heard of him today but Matt was meeting up with his pals from Syracuse."

I nodded.

"How do you think they escaped?"

I sighed, my shock of how things played off was still evident in my face. "I don't know. I have no idea." I looked at my hands and just noticed that they were covered in blood. So was my clothes.

"You should wash your hands." Bat said wryly.

Ignored it, even though I had the urgency to wash them."My guess is that something odd is going on with the doors of Caves." 

All the Hunters were cast into darkness in Blood Caves. Ever since the last war, they had not seen a sliver of daylight in centuries. To see them flesh and bone in person scared the crap out of me. All my nightmares were slowly coming true. Maybe Hunters were the real reason why the deaths of the Cravers were occuring.

"Did he say anything?"

I thought about his last two remarks. 

Emerus' whore. You will fall to your knees for him!

"No, nothing. No message." I grimaced. I felt the ice bucket drop in me. Something eerie turned deep in my gut. 

Bat stood up to call someone which left me alone in the waiting room with a pacing Jake.

Few minutes later, around the corner, a messy Kingsley emerged. I was surprised to see him all sleepy and tired.  His hair was all disheveled, his white shirt askew and unbuttoned incorrectly---he looked like he just rolled off the bed. He stopped in front of me with wild and incredulous eyes. "Explain. What happened?" He pointed at my bloody clothes.