Two Eyes, Two minds, Two Fangs

Chapter 44 - Inanimate Captor

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I took a small sip of the juice box I held in my right hand, my stomach tender from the lack of food over the past 48 hours. My left hand was entwined with Nial's, our fingers tangled in the sheets that surrounded him.

"What's happening to us, huh?" I whispered, so no one could hear. Not that anyone outside the four walls of the room cared. I just wanted this to be private... our moment. I looked up at his face, the bruise around his eye having reduced from a bright purple pool, to a shadow of brown and green. His nose was sat at a slightly jaunty angle, a strip of tape over the bridge reminding me of how it was brutally broken. The tube that was inserted up his nose and down into his stomach made the mess of bruises and cuts on his face look even worse though and the plastic pressed into his skin made ugly little dents and hollows in his usually smooth flesh. I sighed, taking another careful sip of juice before setting the carton down on the cheap, old rubber floor that made the hospital look even more dull and drab than it already was. The dull colours were becoming oppressive, and even the charms - the logo that identified a Hunter - which Millie had brought along to decorate the room, didn't make any considerable improvement. I doubted anything would though. The situation was dire, and a bunch of flowers or a shiny get well soon card wouldn't make any difference to Nial or his health. A nurse came in, did her routine check-up, and left me, without a word. She simply glanced up at me, a pitying, pathetic sympathy in her eyes that wouldn't change anything. I counted the seconds that were lost as I sat there and thought about everything. I was adopted; and I didn't care, not really. I supposed it hadn't sunk in yet. I knew it was a horrid thing, that my mother had died, I'd been lied to, and I'd been living a lie, but the pain wasn't mine yet, it didn't belong to me. It would all hit me eventually, hard. Leo though, had showed me more pain in his eyes than I had imagined anyone could survive, and that had, unbelievably, strengthened me to face the facts. I thought about it like an outsider, and I'd come to a theoretically brilliant conclusion: I was adopted, so I had some say in where I lived and who I lived with, right? It couldn't be that hard to have myself moved, to live with Leo as my guardian. It killed two birds with one stone; it kept my parents, or guardians should I say, safe - despite how I wanted to hate them - and it enabled me to stay with Nial and to keep us safe and together. If we get out of this mess first, my brain reminded me.

Next, there was my blood. If it truly was that valuable, and it really was damaging me as much as we had considered - causing me to cough up the stuff, never a good thing - then something had to be done about it. I couldn't possibly be the only one in existence, and if perchance I was, then I certainly can't have been the only one in existence ever. Research. Something had to be out there to tell me what to do, how to help.

And the vampire that was after me - Cheung? Was she aware of my blood, like the vampire from the gym had been, Adela? Was that why she was after me?

I was side-tracked from the questions on my safety as Adela's words played over in my mind and infected my thoughts. ‘I thought I meant more to you than this.’ She and Nial, I was certain, had been in some form of relationship. The fact that she was clearly powerful and so very strong, and knew about my blood from just smelling me, didn't worry me. It was obviously a skill few vampires had, otherwise Leo and the others would have been able to tell right? It probably should have concerned me more, but it didn't. It was Adela's beauty and seductive nature that made the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end. I was worried, always, that Nial would realize he could do better than me and find someone else. Call it teenage insecurities, but they weren't helped by the stunning vampire who clearly wanted more from my boyfriend than just a friendly wave and some kind words. It scared me more though, that Nial had looked so stricken when she had been waiting- no, raring to spill the beans on what had gone on between the two of them, romantically. He had shaken his head and glared her way in warning, almost threatening her into silence. The only reason he might not want me to know, is because it still means something to him. It hurt, deep down, even though I didn't really want it to.