The Price of Blood

Chapter 32

*Author's Note

Some people may find this chapter distressing.  Please read at your own risk.

Emily x*

I could tell you about how fast we ran. Or the pain of running. Or how all I could hear in my head was Jake trying to get in, trying to work out where I was. I was determined to try and convince him that I had just run away. Or something like that. I don't want to fight him, some people will say that makes me a coward. But I personally don't think that cowards try and risk everything to save those they love, and fighting those who seek to do this will just cause more harm. So I'm being a pacifist. For now at least.

The tunnels we are running through, almost like headless chickens, clutching our sides to try and conserve our energy, were once used to transport gold, silver and other precious ores and stones up and down the mountains by purchasers at the bottom, in exchange for wine from the top.  Well, it wasn't wine.  The ceiling is low, and decorated with carvings of grapes, teeth and glasses.  As if you need anymore hints.  The wooden cladding masks a strong brick structure of warrens and warehouses that confuses me so much, makes my head swim.  We twist and turn through the rabbit hole, trying desperately to not think about the peril we are facing.  MY fear is tangible, and after the stress becomes too much, I clasp my back pocket, trying to find solace in my panic..  Wait a second... shit! Where is my knife? I can protect myself without it, but it makes me feel human. Maybe I dropped it in the pandemonium of getting through the tunnel. It drifts from my mind now, as I watch the darkness continue to run down the mountain, terrifying, and yet real.

It is then that I realise that the knife is at my neck. I freeze.

"Jake?" I gulp and then turn around to see Lauren gripping it's red handle, her tears streaming.

"You promised..." She weeps, "that you would tell me what the hell is going on? You expect me to believe everything you've said?"

My heart starts to thump even harder.

"Put the knife down and we can talk, please?" I say carefully, "I don't want to hurt you okay so if you put the knife down I can tell you everything."

Her eyes, wet with tears, glisten with some kind of ravenous curiosity, as she continues to grip Kenny's red, clammy hand. I think for a moment that she is going to let it go, but she keeps it there, steady."

I'm not putting this knife down if you don't tell me." She says shakily, "you think I'm taking the piss?"Her anger shows her English side, and her eyes  fix me with a stare so determined that I know that I must answer her queries and relent.

"I saved your life," I try, "you owe just as much to me as I do to you. You're lucky I care for you, otherwise you would be dead."

She seems to appreciate this, and gives me a small nod.I sit down and she follows me, still holding the knife to my throat. This is the fourth time in half the days, and I must admit I'm still not used to the rush of terror that one feels where there is a weapon at your neck. Guess it will help me with my empathy for those I have killed.

"Well, I am a vampire, but you already knew that..." I begin, "however I'm not that different from you, or you."

With this I indicate to Kenny.

"My only difference is the makeup of my blood."Lauren looks suprised, which pleases me.

"You weren't expecting biology to have anything to do with it did you?" I ask, and she shakes her head, "well I have a faulty gene, a mutation if you will, that removes the inhibitions from my brain that tell me not to harm my fellow man. A side effect of this is a slow heartbeat and a blood supply that only can achieve active transport if I drink my own blood type from another living creature. My blood is approximately 50% my own and 50% other people's. If the balance is wrong, or I drink the wrong blood type, I die. That's why I mainly keep to animals."