Hunted Predators✔️

CHAPTER NINETEEN

There are sirens in the distance as Katherine sprints into the hospital, kicking open the doors and shocking the waiting room into a brief silence. Katherine stops in front of the lady at the front desk. "Where's Darko?" Her face pales and the pen she's holding slips from her hand. "Where is he?" Katherine raises her voice. There's a frantic edge to her voice, like she's realizing Darko could be at another-

"Fifth floor."

Katherine hits the fifth floor, leaving a red fingerprint on the elevator button. She brings her hand to her mouth, sucking up the escaping blood. The elevator doors open, revealing a long hallway with many identical doors... and flowers and teddy bears outside of a door on the far right. Katherine takes off running.

A nurse looks up from the medical machinery, her face frozen in shock.

"Out. Out!"

The nurse scurries out, and Katherine slams the door, locking it behind her. Then she grabs the nightstand by the hospital bed, dragging it up to the door. Once the barricade is in place, Katherine turns around, breathing hard.

The room is minimal, with simple white walls, and windows with open blinds, lighting up the room in blocks of light. Near the window is a boy lying on a hospital bed. Katherine mounts the bed, kneeling over him. Darko appears to be sleeping, his face pale as snow, his dark eyelashes kissing his cheeks. The door shudders. "FBI! Open the door!"

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty," Katherine whispers, the corner of her lips tugging up. She pulls down the hem of his hospital gown, leaving a streak of red tracing his collar bone. Then she digs her teeth into the faded scar on Darko's neck.

Katherine pulls back, staring. Darko blinks, his eyebrows pushing together. The girl with long curly hair and a dimpled smile sitting on his lap slides in and out of focus. He blinks again, slowly coming to. Darko stares at Katherine, his head tilted in confusion. Katherine stares back at him, still trying to catch her breath. "I-" The door kicks open. It falls to the floor with a mighty bang, sending up a burst of air. A squad of police officers burst into the room.

"Hello, officers," Darko says. He leans to the left, around the girl in his lap, to nod at them. "How's it hanging?"

Katherine shifts uneasily, smoothing down her hair.

The guns fall limp in the officers' hands.

"Er... there seems to be a bit of a problem here," one of the officers says into his walkie talkie. "Well... Darko appears to be not... dead."

"Katherine?"

Katherine turns back to Darko. "Yeah?"

"You're bleeding. All over me."

Katherine glances down at her hand. The bullet wound had reopened and blood was pouring out. She covers her mouth with the hand that hadn't been shot. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Then it's a good thing we're in a hospital." He puts one arm behind her legs and one arm behind her back, lifting her out of the bed. The officers numbly watched them pass by.
...

"She's been shot in the hand," Darko tells the doctor. He set Katherine down on a rolly hospital bed. "And the shoulder," Katherine adds. "Probably a few other places, too. And I don't know if they bothered removing the bullets."

"How long ago were you shot?"

"The hand was a few minutes ago. The rest? I don't know. Maybe a week."

The doctor pales.

Katherine rolls her eyes. "I'm fine. Just give me some blood."

"I don't think I can do that."

"You can't get me blood? You can keep brain dead people alive, but you can't get me some blood?"

"Katherine," Darko says. "He's not going to give a vampire blood."

"I'm bleeding out!"

"I can perform surgery."

Katherine shakes her head. "Bag."

"What?"

"Bag! I need a bag!"

"I don't-"

"Get her a bag!"

Katherine's eyes bulge out. She covers her mouth, but blood spills out of her lips, trickling through the cracks of her fingers.

The doctor tears a hand through his hair, shaking his head as he watches the scene unfold.

"You drank your own blood for strength," Darko says.

Katherine looks at her bloody hands, wrinkling her nose.

"And now your body's rejecting your blood," Darko continues, looking horrified yet fascinated. "Reversing the healing process..."

"Okay," the doctor says. "We need to get you into surgery. Right now."

"No! Just give me blood."

"Katherine, we've been over this."

"Darko, my healing process is reversing."

"Then let him do surgery."

"I'm not paying for surgery..." Katherine coughs, speckling her arm with red. "When I can get blood for free!"

Darko throws his hands in the air. "I'll pay!" Katherine starts to protest, but is overcome by a fit of coughs. As she struggles to breath, the doctor wheels her away. Katherine blinks, shaking her head. The room tilts. Red creeps in at the corners of her-
...