Hey Mr Bloodsucker, Sucks To Be You

Chapter 26

Cappa ~#'~

I had my hand closed around a short, stumpy blade. For a place I was used to bursting at the hinges, never enough room for everyone, seeing it completley empty made it feel kind of like  a dead thing I'd known while it was alive. It was weird. I knew there were others in the building too, doing the same thing I was, but it had a kind of vacant feel.

It had taken enough persauding to get Joanna to let me inside and help track the guy down, even more so to hand over a weapon. But it was one that wouldn't affect vampires, so it passed as okay in her books.

"Bloody Dimitri." I muttered under my breath as I crept along, climbing the stairs with a silent tread.

Somewhere in the building Robert, Lisa, Christopher, Joanna, and about thirty other vampires were all looking for one man. Or whatever he was. 

So this isn't real. Is it Human or what?

I could hear Christopher's words as I made my way down a corridor, weapon at the ready. Yes, what was he? Human, vampire, or something new?

I'd already covered my section that I was supposed to search, and I hadn't found anything. In truth, I wasn't supposed to touch the upstairs, or even go near them. That was Robert and Joanna's job, seeing as it was where he was most likely to be. None the less, it felt like I needed to check too, in case they'd missed something.

Nothing in the barracks. Nothing in the medic quaters. I ran a hand through my hair, keeping it there to hold it back off my face for a moment. Mai had always told me I should get it cut so she could see my face properly, but she hadn't said that in a long time. Come to think of it, Mai hadn't really talked to me for a while anyway.

I caught a glimpse of my reflection in one of the windows, and resolved to borrow a pair of scissors when this was all over. Maybe she'd come to her senses enough to notice.

Releasing the locks of hair, I shouldered a door open quietly and emerged into the upper floor cantine, heavy with the coppery smell of fresh blood. Again, deserted. Everyone who wasn't needed or trusted enough was gathered outside, under the impression they were safe. If the sun came up before we were done here, it'd be just as dangerous out there too.

"Cappa."

I wasn't prepared for the voice behind me. Too lost in my thoughts to hear him sneaking up behind me, I supposed. It was smooth, smug, so very like Dimitri that it trigered something in me, a violent killer urge just like in the woods with Mai.

In one fluid movement I turned round, recognising the face a little too late. His eyes widened with realisation as he tried to move out of the way, but I was too psyched up for that. The blade made contact with my target and Christopher, caught off-guard, let out a half-muffled shriek.

I'd always thought half of the pain you felt when you were fatally hurt was the fact that you knew you were going to die, and as a result, the fear made it more painful. For a vampire, that problem was practically non-existent, which in my case was lucky. I had never been stabbed before though, and the look on Christopher's face seemed to completley disprove my theory.

"Cappa!" No sooner as I had let go, he tightened a hand around the handle and pulled it back out with a grunt. "What the bloody hell do you think you're playing at?!" He managed. "What are you even doing up here?!"

I couldn't answer him. I didn't even know why I was up here, so I couldn't answer a question I didn't fully understand myself. I just looked at him like an idiot, shocked at myself, as he examinined the hole in his chest.

"What the hell?" With an exhasperated sigh, he pushed my weapon against me, and my hands flew up to greet it. "You asshole."

I flinched. "I'm sorry."

He threw up his hands in defeat. "Does Joanna know you're up here?"

"No."

He scowled, putting a hand to the wound I'd made. It was already healing, seeing as nobody ever went thirsty here, but he wasn't pleased about it all the same.

"Right. Then you've got to go. I'm taking you off site, Cappa. You're not ready for this."

I opened my mouth to complain, but somehow it didn't seem right after what I'd done. I kept quiet as he led me from the cantine, one hand around my arm and the other protectively over his injury, trying to keep his tread light as we hurried down the stairs.

 He released me briefly to talk to the guards sealing the door, leaving a big, bloody handprint around my forearm on my uniform. Normally the sight of blood would've been welcoming, but knowing where this had come from and who it had come from made it seem sickening.

What if it wasn't just Mai who was affected by Dimitri? I thought, suddenly horrified. It was true I han't been myself either. Not as bad as her of course, but this just proved something about me had been changing too.

Mai ~#~

No more shifting shapes. No strange blurring colours. I glared up at the ceiling, which only moments ago had been warped, and frowned. I was lying on what felt like roughly cut wood, with the smell of hay and musky, clean vampire hanging in the air. Slowly, I lowered a hand off my stomach and onto the edge of what I was lying on, feeling shaky. A plank, rotting at the edges. I ran my thumb along the bumpy surface, rolling my eyes around my surroundings, trying to make out the criss-crossing metal beams above my head, coated in corragated iron.

I tried to force my frozen lips to form words, but they seemed stuck. Great.

Dammit.Just how long have I been paralysed like this?

I mentally cursed myself. An irritating strand of hair was half-lying across my eyes, and no matter how hard I tried it was impossible to lift my arm any higher than a couple of centimetres. 

Dammit.

Gritting my teeth, I forced my confused mind to make sense of what was happening, and slowly, very painfully, managed to turn my head. There was a large gathering of vampires huddled round the large, square doorway, looking out at something into the lightening twilight. There was a warning shout and they all surged forwards, leaning out of the doorway as far as they dared.

From the distance, plumes of ashy smoke appeared, and a panting, smouldering vampire bowled through the crowds and stumbled into the space of what appeared to be a barn, from the looks of it. None of them were looking out anymore, and instead were huddled around the strange guy, who seemed vaguely familiar even to my mixed-up head. He had tousled feathery hair and a ruffled up uniform, and on his left arm there was a splodgy dark mess.

"We're going to have to stay in here until sunset." He wiped an arm over his forehead and glanced out into the open. "They're still searching, and it's getting light."

There were mumbles of agreement, and slowly, it dawned on me where I'd heard this voice before. In the woods, just before...just before what? There was nothing but a big, blank space where my memories used to be. I hung onto the man's name though, just in case my body released me in time to call it.