Bloodlines: Blood Link

Punishment

Alexander carried me to his ruined car, buckling me into the passenger side, which thankfully still had a door attached.

“I'll get someone to pick up the doors and fix the car tomorrow,” he muttered, more to himself than to me. Of course Alexander was afraid of vampires, but I always admired the way he controlled himself so well, how he remained so calm. I wished I had his fortitude. I wished I was as strong as he was.

Alexander insisted on carrying me into the house, though I was capable of walking on my own. He was the one covered in dirty street water, but he stripped off my damp clothes first and helped me into my favorite flannel pajamas.

“Sleep, Eryn.”

“Where are you going?” I murmured, exhaustion already tugging my eyelids closed.

“Shower. I'll be in soon.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead before leaving.

I dozed off, but images of Samuel, his blood-lust clouded eyes, his curved white fangs, his powerful grip around my throat, kept popping into my mind. Only when Alexander returned, smelling fresh and clean from the shower, and gathered me into his arms did I finally drift off into sleep.

I didn't want to go to work the next morning, but I knew that I didn't really have a reason to stay home. If people were to cower in their houses every time they had a close encounter with a vampire, no work would ever be done.

My car was still at Barnes' office, so Alexander drove me to work. I was especially grateful for my escort this morning. I didn't think that Samuel would give up so easily, and he had been bothering me for a few weeks now, though he had never touched me before last night.

“I might be a little late,” I told him as he dropped me off at the door. “I have work left over from last night to catch up on.”

“No problem. I'll work on getting the car fixed. Diego might be able to rig up something temporary until I can get a repair order.”

In a world where we were not much better than cattle, everything was regulated to a ridiculous degree, making it an ordeal to do anything. Everything had to be approved by our vampire superiors, and that took time.

John was feeling much better, as evidenced by his chipper demeanor.

“Good morning, Eryn,” he greeted me.

“Morning, John. Feeling better?”

“Almost as good as new,” he boasted. “I've got another year guaranteed to me – well, as good of a guarantee as you can get nowadays – and I'm grateful to have that much time.”

I smiled at him and set my keys down on my desk. “Well I'm glad you've found a fresh outlook.” I wish I could shake this depression that had been lingering over me for the past couple of days.

“Did you finish the filing last night?” he asked, getting back to business.

“No, I didn't have time. I'll get on that right now.”

The day went by fairly quickly. I only took a small break for my small lunch, which I didn't really feel like eating but forced myself to consume anyway. A particular statement for a supplier got messed up, forcing me to push my other work back while I bickered back and forth on the phone with the belligerent receptionist on the other end, getting it straightened out. Before I knew it, the clock read five o'clock, and I still had another hour's worth of work to finish.

John was packing up his things when I dialed Alexander's phone.

“Hey, I just wanted to tell you that I'll definitely be late,” I said, organizing a sheaf of invoices while I held the phone to my ear with my shoulder.