Hollywood's Bleeding (Colby Brock Fic)

Part 3

"So, do you like, wait for an animal to come by or do you watch and follow?" Colby asked as they got out of the rental car. There were two other vehicles in the parking lot of Golden Anniversary State Park. He had no idea if this was a slow day or if it was just never busy.

Dawn smirked, adjusting her brunette ponytail, and shook her head. "Just observe, Colb."

He huffed lightly, but kept his mouth shut. They began their trek on the open trail. It wasn't long until Dawn went off the path and did her own thing. Colby followed close behind.

They went on for another twenty minutes or so before Dawn slowed to a stop and looked around, and sniffed the air. He noticed her ear twitch too; that's unclear if it was a vampire thing or something she adapted from the wolf's blood. She moved forward to the left and peeked carefully around a tree. Colby didn't dare to move as his steps were not as pins-and-needles quiet and there were fallen leaves and branches everywhere.

There were a few more seconds of dead noise and he swallowed hard, trying to control his breathing. He did not want to be the reason she lost her meal. He was amazed by how she hunted so meticulously. Suddenly, she pounced on the animal she had her eye on.

Colby figured it was safe to move and look, though he sort of regretted it as he saw his girlfriend sink her teeth into the doe. It wasn't that bloody. It was the slurping sounds that disturbed him the most. He walked away a little bit so she could finish alone and do what she needed to clean up any evidence. He didn't know what she would do with the dead doe's body, burning in the woods didn't seem ethical or safe.

He busied himself with sifting through stuff on his phone. He could tell that it was much later in the afternoon now as the air grew denser and his clothes felt damp. The hairs on the back of his neck stuck up, which didn't happen often. It was only in instances of being in the presence of ghosts and interacting with them. Colby cautiously searched and went back to where he'd left Dawn. She was gone and so was the doe.

Colby figured he would stay until she came back. She was probably taking care of the doe before they'd go back to their hotel room. The hairs on the back of his neck stuck back up and from the corner of his eye he saw a blur. It was a split second of black and then it was gone.

This couldn't be good.

He backed himself up against a tree and pulled his cell out of his pocket to call his girlfriend. As he was about to hit call, a hand grabbed his wrist and he looked over to see Dawn holding a finger to her lips.

"There's another vamp," she mouthed.

Something told Colby that it wasn't a vampire who also fed on animals as an alternate source of iron. She gestured for him to slowly begin going back the way they came. He observed she'd lengthened her fingernails without having her fangs and red eyes apparent. He hoped he'd be able to have that much control if she accepted to turn him, though he wouldn't have the claw nails.

He calmly inched forward despite the goosebumps that lined his arms underneath the sweatshirt.

Dawn jumped in front of Colby and tackled the person who followed them. She didn't waste a single second as she tore her hand through the girl's chest and pulled out a greyish purple heart that blackened almost immediately due to the air exposure. She took deep breaths as she stood up, and dropped the lump to the ground.

"We need to get out of here. That was one of the vamps I was tracking. Their friend could be close by," she spoke evenly and wiped her hand on her jeans.

"What about the body? It's not safe to burn stuff out here."

She shook her head. "The wild animals will take care of it. Trust me." Her jaw set and Colby knew not to question her further. She definitely had more expertise in this than him.

As he backed away and turned around to finish the hike back, he was met with a male face; eyes red as dawn and fangs extended.

"Colb, I need you to run, now."

He backed away and ran in the opposite direction, but the vampire dashed to catch him. Dawn was a millisecond behind them. He held Colby's head, craning his neck to expose his soft flesh.

"I can't decide if I should kill him for you tracking us and killing Lisa or..."

Dawn stiffened and knew she had shown too much emotion for Colby. "Not a good idea, Nate. It's only business."

"This seems like a perfect trade transaction then. Enjoy the new addition to your team."

Nate sunk his teeth into Colby's neck and he yelled out with tears immediately brimming his eyes. Then Nate was gone and Colby's body fell to the ground like a rag doll. He struggled against his own blood that filled his throat, or at least that's what he thought it was. It burned horribly.

Dawn perimeter checked the couple miles of forest around them and couldn't find Nate. One of the vampires she was supposed to kill this weekend for the sake of the movement not being pushed further forward, but now she would gladly just kill him for the sake of Colby.

She rushed back to him and saw his body shaking uncontrollably. Tears flooded her eyes as she lowered herself to her knees and pulled him onto her lap. Dawn forced him to remove his hand so she could observe the damage. The venom was definitely already halfway through his bloodstream. If she started now, she could get most of it out and he wouldn't turn. But it would require her to taste human blood and she had no idea if she'd lose control again; that's a risk she was willing to take.

Dawn brought her extended fangs closer to his neck and Colby choked out, "No... No, don't Dawn..."

"But you'll turn, Colb. It's only going to get more painful."

"Just... Stay... W-With me... Okay?"

The water slipped down her cheeks now and she hugged him to her. "I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

Colby breathed heavier, clenching his teeth in an attempt to help stop the searing that covered his entire body. It was like a wildfire traveling through him from the inside and out. Now, he couldn't help crying out in pain once again and one of his hands held onto Dawn's denim jacket.

It would be another hour or so of the venom ripping through his bloodstream and rebuilding his DNA to fit the supernatural abilities. Then there was one final step to complete the transformation before he'd truly be part of the dead. She wasn't going to tell him about that, she'd just get it over with.

A while later, Colby's screams stopped, and he was silent. So silent. A layer of sweat formed around his skin underneath his clothes. Everything was numb. The numbest from any sort of physical pain. The venom had made its way to his mind and he saw how it picked apart his cells and reformed them. That was a memory he would be fine with forgetting. If at all possible.

Dawn felt Colby relax finally and his heart rate slowed down to almost no beat. She felt her own heart crumble at the thought of what she would have to do to complete it. It's a myth that if he didn't have human blood within the first 24 hours that he'd perish. She'd have to get him to drink animal blood though and get him under control before going back to the city. Who knew how long that'd take and what excuse they'd have to come up with.

"Can you stand up?" Dawn questioned.

Colby didn't respond and kept quiet for a bit longer before his body forced itself to inch away from her and begin to get up. When he was sitting up, she went for it and quickly snapped his neck.

His body went limp to the ground.