Fear and Blood

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Ly opened his eyes slowly, but closed them again as the light hit him. The sun was bright, too bright, and it was seeping through the blanked Rome had thrown over him. Burning him. His skin felt like it was on fire and his eyes stung, even while they were closed.

The radio playing softly, some stupid slow love song that he didn't know, but at the moment he in way too much pain to care about Rome's choice of station. She was sitting next him, he knew, because he could feel it. He had been around her, obsessed over her, long enough to know when it was her, even without sight or sound.

The events of the past few hours were a blur, but he vaguely remembered having done something that upset her. The last thing he remembered clearly was her visit to his bedroom, everything after that was like a strange, confused and painful dream.

The car drove over a pot hole and bounced violently, sending sharp, intense waves of pain through Ly's body and causing him to grown out loud. The blood that had seeped from his shoulder was now dry, sticking his shirt to his burning skin and making him even more uncomfortable. The sun was warm on his skin, making him sweat, but he still felt so cold.

“Ly?” he heard Rome's voice, low and concerned. “Are you all right? I'll find somewhere to stop soon and take a look at your shoulder. I would have done it sooner, but I was worried and I thought we should get out of the city as soon as possible.”

“Don't stop,” Ly grunted, gritting his teeth against the pain that was spreading throughout his entire body. “Just keep driving until we get to wherever it is we're going. I don't want to risk anyone seeing me.”

“Uh...are you sure?” Rome asked. “You were bleeding quite a lot and I don't know if the wound has closed yet. It might be better if I just take a quick look.”

“No,” was the strained reply. Ly's voice was harsh and his breath was coming in short, sharp pants. “I don't want to be in this damn car for longer than I have to. I still don't know where we're going or where we are we now.”

“We've been driving for about three hours,” Rome said, thinking it better not to protest further. Ly sounded really bad and she didn't want to tire him out needlessly. “We're headed for one of my families houses. It's in the middle of nowhere and we hardly ever use it anymore so no-one will be there. From what Alex told me when he visited, my parents and my brothers should be at our house on the south cost.”

“Your parents house,” Ly groan, every word sent pain through his body, which he tried to ignore. “You can't be serious. What were you thinking? That will be the first place the police look for you when they realise you've run off.”

“No they won't,” Rome responded. “The house isn't a recorded address and my family used a different last name when we lived there. My father thought it would be safer that way. He has this major obsession with our families safety.”

“What reason could your family possibly have for needing to change your last name?” Ly said, sounding a little angry and annoyed. “You humans have life so easy, I see no reason for you to have to hide.”

Rome hesitated, not knowing how he would react to the news that her father was once a vampire hunter. It might have been better if she could add that he had never killed anyone, but that would be a lie. She wasn't meant to know about what he had done, but she had overheard her parents talking about it once when she was younger. It had scared her at first and she had found it incredibly hard to believe that her quiet, cheerful father had ever done something so horrible. The fact that her father had killed made it easier to accept Ly having done the same.

The sound of sirens coming closer saved Rome from having to answer. She looked out of the revision mirror to see a police car just behind her, signalling for her to pull over. Ly began to protest when he felt the car slow down, but Rome was panicking too much to really listen to what he had to say.