Vampires Suck

Chapter 41: Neverending Nightmares

We discovered Sheriff Ramirez to be true to his word about the patrols as we arrived at Diana's house. A house down from hers sat a squad car, and as soon as we passed, the policeman nodded to us from inside. Diana gave him an awkward and tentative wave before turning to me with her eyebrow raised to which I let out a short laugh in response. Finally, I parked in front of her house and we got out, taking a moment to stare at the home. So much had changed over the past few days, and yet from the outside, it looked so peaceful and...normal. Birds chirped their pleasant melodies, beams of sunlight peaked through the leaves of the tall trees in her front lawn, and her front porch was still as pristine and inviting as ever. With how serene the atmosphere was, I could almost believe that the strange events of last night hadn't occurred.

We trudged up the walkway to her door, and Diana pulled out her key, slowly unlocking it. Finally, she opened the door, and the sight that met us was a vivid reminder that last night was in fact very real. Dried blood was smeared all over her tiled floor, ruining her once white tiles. Scraps of fabric from my now non-existent shirt were strewn about carelessly, along with the arrow that had been pulled out of me and the crossbow it belonged to. I hadn't even noticed that there was a broken vase and several bits of broken glass; it must have happened during Diana's panic after shooting me. All in all, it straight up looked like a murder scene—minus the body.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Diana suddenly voiced, sounding very much like she was trying her hardest to reign in her disgust. Looking over, I saw that she was in fact much paler than usual, and I couldn't stop myself from chuckling.

"Since you're so adverse to the sight of blood, why don't you go pack up your stuff while I clean up this mess?"

Diana looked at me in surprise then. "Really? Are you sure?"

I rolled my eyes. "Normally I'd have you help me since you did shoot me last night—" this caused her cheeks to flame up in what I could tell was embarrassment and shame. I was never going to let her live that down.

"Hey! I'm really sorry about that alright? I mean, at least I missed your heart!"

I glared at her then. "You hit my shoulder! That is, like, only a couple of inches away—I'd hardly call that a miss!"

Although I could see the guilt in her eyes, she merely shrugged stubbornly. I knew that was all I was going to get for now so I shook my head and let out an exasperated breath.

"As I was saying, as much as I would love for you to help, it wouldn't really do us any good if you added onto the mess we're trying to clean by throwing up on it."

It only took Diana half a second to mull it over before she agreed. "Touché, vampire."

Tiptoeing cautiously over the floor in what seemed like an attempt to avoid stepping on blood, I knew her efforts failed as soon as the distinct squish of the soles of her shoes stepping on the sticky blood was heard. I glanced at Diana's face then, and pressed my hand to my mouth to stop myself from laughing out loud at the expression of absolute horror that she wore, her gray eyes as wide as a deer in headlights. Giving up on her previous method, she hopped from one foot to the other until finally she made it past the blood and to the clean floor, kicking her shoes off upon making it to the base of the staircase.

"Just—uhh—let me know when you're done. Mop is in the pantry in case you forgot."

I cleared my throat and hid my smile before replying, "Got it, boss."

I hadn't even finished my sentence before she hastily disappeared upstairs.

Chuckling to myself, I headed toward the kitchen and found the mop she was talking about. Looking under the sink, I grabbed the mopping solution and a bucket. I filled the bucket and brought it and the mop back to the foyer, about to start the process of mopping when I saw a glint of light out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look and immediately my eyes widened.