BloodRose

20.2. Aulis

I jump to my feet and Alias's head snaps toward me. He and Kyle are struggling to hold back Hannah who's gaze is fixed on one thing and one thing only.

I see a flash of blond somewhere below my waist and then my thigh is being gripped in a vise. The little girl has wrapped her skinny arms around my leg and buried her face in the rough jean material. I feel water and realize she is crying again.

I look back to make sure Hannah is still contained and then scoop the child up into my arms. She is nearly choking me now so I stop breathing. Hannah is slowing down in her efforts to get loose, but the firelight is still in her eyes as she looks at the ground. Alias' grip relaxes. The change is slight, but it's all the encouragement Hannah needs. Her muscles tense.

"No!" I shout, but it's too late. She slips away and her brown eyes are unrelenting stone as she charges.

I spin and her outstretched nails scrape down my back as I kneel and shield her prey with my body. I feel the tips of fangs brush my neck before Alias and Kyle have her again. She is screaming now and the girl is crying louder. I try to sound as gentle as Kyle as I pick her back up. The fact that my own voice is shaking is not helpful. "Shhh. You're okay. You're okay. You're-" A tangy smell fills my nose. I go rigid.

Vampire blood is stagnant. It has no smell. The noises around me fade. I can't hear Hannah screaming. I can't hear the girl crying. The only sound is the thumping of a heart, the one living heart in the cell. I unpeel her arms from my neck, Hannah must have nicked her. My hand comes away. A small smear of blood colors my palm pink. I stare at it. My fangs sharpen in my mouth.

I look at her face, but it's not hers anymore. Margaret is staring back at me instead. I half throw the girl down and back as far away from her as I can. When she runs after me I swing my arm in her direction.

"Stay back!" I shout. She hesitates, but keeps coming, crying even louder now. I don't know if she'll ever see me as a friend again, but better afraid and alive than dead. I bare my fangs and hiss as menacingly as possible. She screams and runs back to the opposite corner.

I fold my knees up to my chest and bite my own lip to keep myself from doing anything I'll regret. No, no, no, no, no. In the space of a breath, everything goes quiet, but not like when my hunger drowned out the noise. Now, there really are no sounds. I look up slowly as shock silently settles in the cell. Alias is holding the girl in his arms. She isn't crying anymore. Hannah is unconscious on the ground and Kyle is laying still next to her.

"Alias," I can't keep the horror off my face, "What did you-?" I shake my head and my eyes find the blood staining his beard.

"I had to," he says, "It was the only way." He sounds like a psychopath until she takes in a halted, shuddering breath and coughs.

Relief and nausea compete for my attention.

He sighs, "I turned her. I had to. I promised." The words are barely a whisper and I can already see guilt racking his frame. He sets her down in my lap and walks to where Hannah and Kyle lay, their necks snapped. Alias runs his hands through his hair leans his head against the wall, his gaze a vacant stare directed at the stone ceiling. His promise. He turned her to keep me, the others, and himself from wanting to hurt her. Her breaths are stiff and jilted, the lifeblood slowly draining from her neck. She is healed in seconds, but remains unconscious. When she wakes, I won't have to imagine her loneliness and confusion. I have lived it.

No one speaks. Kyle stretches his stiff neck and walks over after a while. He takes one of my hands as he slides down the wall to sit beside me. We still say nothing, just sit.

"Mommy? Daddy?" The first words makes me sick. I still don't know her name and yet somehow, I am going to have to help her through this. We all are. Even though she is sitting in my lap, her wide, sea blue eyes lock on Kyle first. She jumps into his arms and he rubs her back as she sobs into his shoulder.

"Hey," he says, pulling her away so he can look her in the eye, "What's your name?"

She sniffs, her breath hitching too much to answer.

When I speak, her head whips in my direction, "It's going to be okay. I know you're scared, but we just want to help you. Can you take a deep breath and tell us your name?"

The girl makes an effort to calm her breathing, "M-my name is-is S-Sa-Samantha." At the last word she reburies her face in Kyle's chest. He nods at me.

"That's a pretty name. Samantha," I start, "You're going to be okay. We're going to help you, alright?"

I look over to Alias. The expression on his face is one I've seen more times than I could count. Guilt.

Before I can begin to tell him it's not his fault, a familiar clang echoes around the cell. The reptilian voice follows. I plaster on my best glare.

"Well, well, well. Interesting choice."

"Bela," I say, condescension dripping from the word. Kyle lets out a bark of laughter at the name and simply holds up his fist. We fist bump. "What do you want?" Talon frowns, but doesn't stoop low enough to ask what the joke was.

"You have failed the test and you will pay the price."

"What test?" Or more importantly, what price?

The next face to enter my line of sight is the one I've dreaded the most. The Augur leads a line of people. They are bound and gagged, but their faces convey all the fears they are unable to give voice to.

Alias is standing now, the shame gone from his posture, replaced with aprehension, "What are you doing Garret?"

No answer but the glint of metal in his hand. It flashes. He doesn't hesitate goes down the line, that little glint ending so many lives. Kyle keeps Samantha's head turned away and her ears covered. Black lances through my vision. In seconds, I am at the bars. I don't know if anger or hunger pulled me here, but it is undeniable fury that roots me to the spot.

The pools of blood are calling to me, but my eyes remain locked on those of my enemy. My vision now tinged red. The conflicting expressions of indifference and triumph in his eyes start to blur together in my anger.

I swallow. "Stop." One warning.

He does not heed it.