Beneath A Casanova {#1}

Part 16

Part 16

There was so much blood. As a vampire, it was right down in his instincts to embrace the fact that blood had spilt, but he felt nothing more than fear at the moment. He had never been so sickened by the sight of blood before; had never been so afraid at the sight of the growing pool.

“Dante, where the hell are we?!” Sky demanded from a corner of the large basement he had transported them all to. “I can’t call for help if I can’t speak the god-damned language!”

“We’re in Venice, my palazzo.” He replied absently, still hugging the unconscious girl in his arms. He could feel the warmth of the liquid on his fingertips, and even as Sabrina tried her best to put pressure on the wound, it was obvious that Lexi was quickly losing too much blood.

“I don’t speak Italian!” Sky shouted back, but there was a quick flurry of Italian curses before Dante was dimly aware of his descendant rushing to the phone. The quick rant in his home language through the phone was loud, and the weight in Dante’s heart only lightened a little at the knowledge that emergency services were on the way.

Alvron tried to get a response from his best friend, but nothing could wake the woman again as Dante’s heart dropped further. She couldn’t…

Her bravery had been something Dante hadn’t seen in a long time. She knew she was powerless against the Russian mafia, even if they were human, but yet she had braved everything and told him to get the others first. He hated himself for listening to her. He should have just teleported her first. If he had left Sky or Sabrina, at least they could hold out much longer.

But Lexi had been clever, running to Chris’s room to look for weapons. Dante knew she had dropped a flash-bang from how the Russian mafia had seemed entirely disorientated, but it most definitely disorientated the woman herself. The surprised expression on her face when he grabbed her teleporting away was a dead giveaway. He had thought they were safe, but the wet blood running down his arms told him otherwise.

“Dear gods above, can someone explain something to me?” Dante distantly heard the annoyed demands of Jack Crowley, and looked up and around to find his fellow vampire friends slowly waking. Here in Venice, the sun had already set, and was well into the night.

“Is that blood I smell?” Jean-Jacques’s voice was filled with doubt and irritancy, and Dante realized a very important fact.

Vampires were hungriest upon waking up.

Dante wasn’t sure how instincts weren’t setting in for him, but he knew it wouldn’t apply to his friends as he clutched on to Lexi closer, looking around wildly at the hunger-tinged eyes of those he considered his family and friends as they latched on to Lexi’s bleeding self. Dante knew that self-control was setting in place for every single one of them, but the smell of blood was just too strong…

“I have a stash of blood pills upstairs. GO.” Dante warned in a low growl, and it was by pure control that his family members understood. Without second thoughts, they disappeared one by one, removing themselves from the situation. They knew they were no help hungry.

The wait for emergency services took almost too long, and by the time the ambulance sped away with the cold body of an unconscious Lexi, Dante’s heart was about to break. Still, for safety’s sake, Sky and Alvron hitched a ride with the ambulance while Dante stayed back with Sabrina to sort things out.

“You are shaking badly, mon ami.” Louis observed worriedly as Dante sat restlessly on his couch, staring at his blood-coated fingers. He hadn’t even thought about washing up. Every part of him wanted to go to the hospital and wait. “You need to calm down.”