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The Elemental Four: Chapter Six

I stared at the white wood of our front door.  The painted planks were scarred and stained from years of usage, but they were still sturdy enough.  I hoped.  I focused on the plain steel bolts which I’d drawn across.  They, too, looked strong enough.

Quite frankly, I was terrified.  I’d locked and bolted all the windows and exits of our house, frantically trying to recall everything I knew about vampires.  Bulbs of garlic had been placed on each windowsill.  I’d searched the house, looking for a Bible or a crucifix, but we’d never been a religious family, so I soon gave up. 

I’d taken a kitchen knife and a meat tenderizer from the kitchen, but I still could recall the speed and strength of the vampires at the gym, and I had to reluctantly concede that if the vampires came looking for me, chances were I was a dead girl. 

I realized I was still breathing hard – too hard, considering I’d driven back and had been home for half an hour.  I tried to sit on the couch for a bit and calm myself down, but images kept popping into my head of the gangster vampire coming closer, ready to eat me…I let out a sob and buried my head in my arms. 

Oh, God, what had I stumbled into? 

A sudden thumping on the door roused me.  Trying to be as quiet as possible, I picked up the meat tenderizer and crept towards the door, heart hammering in my chest.  The thumping came again, weaker this time.  I slid back the bolts, praying it would be something non-vampiric standing on the porch, and flung the door open.  

I gasped.

“Caleb!”   The entire right side of his body from his ribs down was covered in sticky blood, a long, nasty looking cut ran down the entire length of his forearm, his left shoulder was soaked with more gore from where the gangster vampire had stabbed him, and his hair was spiked up on one side of his head with dried blood.  “Jesus!”  He grinned weakly at me, and then toppled forward, pitching onto the carpet.  I tossed aside the tenderizer and bent down to him, horrified. 

He was still breathing, but his pulse was faint and uneven.  Not really surprising, considering what he’d been through.  I glanced up, scanning my street, hoping no-one had seen.  I half-carried, half-dragged him inside, and then closed the door again. 

I rummaged around the house for first-aid supplies, managing to scrape up a lot of Advil, multiple Band-Aids and an entire first-aid kit.  Hurrying back to Caleb with my prizes, I began gently washing the blood off his arm with a wet cloth.  It was then that I noticed the small trickle of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. 

I swallowed.

I’d watched enough action films that I knew: when the guy starts drooling blood, he’s a dead man walking.  I kept cleaning, but I could feel a lump in the back of my throat and my eyes started to water. 

Caleb had practically saved my life – hell, he had saved my life – and now he was paying for it with his own. He suddenly opened his eyes, coughing up frothy blood. 

“Caleb!”

“Sh-she…escaped.  I –” He coughed again, and I gently wiped his chin, feeling sick at the sight of so much blood. 

“Shh, Caleb.  You need to rest.  You’re really…um, really hurt.  I’ll call an ambulance –” He cut me off, violently shaking his head. 

“No!  Get…get the others.  Tell…t-tell them C-Caleb needs…help.”

“What?  What others?  How?” I was confused.  His body was wracked by shudders as he coughed, more bright red blood coming up. 

“Use…the earth,” Caleb whispered, his breath rattling in his throat.  He sighed once and lay back, closing his eyes.  I inhaled sharply, feeling his pulse.