Vampires (AU)

Part 11

Why do I do this arghhhhh

~~~

Louis fell to his knees, holding the handle of the stake that was planted into his breastbone. His eyes were wide, mouth slightly open. Blood poured down his chest in a grisly waterfall, pooling around him.

"What did you fucking do that for?" Harry was screaming at Zayn, pushing him away from the vampires. "Why did you do that? Why?"

Even Zayn could hear the agony in Harry's voice as he screamed himself hoarse, forcing him away from the staked vampire.

"Niall." Liam was beside me in an instant, voice quaking but trying to keep calm and blank out Harry's pain. "Have you got anything I can use?"

I handed over my first aid kit, relieved beyond anything that I'd brought it. Liam unzipped it, uttering words of thanks, and rifled through it. He looked pleased when he pulled out the padding and bandages, then examined the ointments. Liam chose two tubes, a small bottle of medicine and then used a stone to grind up a tablet into powder.

"Lou, I need you to lay back for me." he said soothingly. I knew he'd be sending emotions in Louis' direction right now; calm, calm, numb, numb.

The blood was still pouring, and Louis was weakening. Groaning, he lay back on the cold concrete, the stake sticking out grotesquely from his chest. Liam supported his head as he carefully fed him the medicine mixed with the powdered tablet. I watched as Louis' breathing slowed significantly, and his eyelids dropped. Unconscious.

"We haven't got long, he'll wake up soon. Human medicine doesn't last long for vampires." Liam began to ease the stake out of Louis' chest, and apply the ointment. It stemmed the blood as he poured more and more onto it. But not enough.

I was used to seeing vampires bleed significantly more than humans, since vampires consumed blood and it was stored in every muscle, every fibre and every cell of their bodies, but I was still shocked by the pool now surrounding Louis. Liam was kneeling in it.

"Harry, I need you." he said quietly.

Harry looked over. His face pale, tear stained and anguished. "What do you need?" his voice was hoarse from shouting.

"I need you to talk to Louis in case he wakes up, to keep him calm if he does. You're the only one who can do that."

Harry nodded, wiping his eyes and casting a last look of pure betrayal in Zayn's direction before leaving him and approaching us. He knelt down in the blood, shaking, and took Louis' hand. I saw him tracing patterns on Louis' palm, whispering words of comfort my ears couldn't pick up.

"Niall I need you to take over with the ointment as I apply the padding and wrap the bandages." Liam continued. I took the bottle from him, but he wasn't finished. "And Zayn?"

Zayn, who was still pressed up against the shelving that Harry had pushed him to, looked shocked to be addressed. He'd probably been contemplating making an escape while he could. He was so shocked that he was even civil to the vampire he'd just tried to slaugher. "Yeah?"

"I know how opposed you are to us, since you just tired to kill us, but you have to do this. For Harry, if anyone."

"What do you want me to do?" Zayn asked bitterly.

Liam paused before saying, "For Louis to live, he needs to drink some of your blood."

"No way." Zayn said. "No fucking way. Can't Niall do it, like he always does?"

I sensed that the last part was an insult, but ignored it. I couldn't afford to get angry now, as I pounred the ointment carefully and Liam bandaged. The blood was stopping now.

Harry looked up. "You staked him, Zayn. It has to be you."

"Well, no."

"Do you want him to die?" Liam asked in a low voice. "Because he will. And then I don't know what you're going to do. Harry will hate you. Niall will hate you. And I, I will hate you. Then who will you have left?"

He'd stuck a chord. Zayn looked at him, stunned. Then he said in a very different voice, "Cara. I'll have Cara."

"No, you won't." I told him. "She drove me here. I'll tell her everything that happened. She loves Louis, you know she does. If you've killed him, she'll hate you too."

"Emotional blackmail is pathetic." Zayn said gruffly. "Fine, I'll do it."

"Thank you." Harry's voice was quiet. "Thank you, Zayn."
"What do I have to do?"

"Louis? Louis, are you awake?" Liam whispered. He sat him up slightly, and his head lolled forward. "He's still unconscious."

Suddenly, Louis gave a great gasp, and his head shot up, only to fall again. "Hurts." he whimpered.

"Louis can you hear me?" Liam continued. "You're going to have to drink, can you do that?"

"I'm tired." Louis's voice was barely audible. "Can...I sleep?"

"No, Louis, you can't sleep. Not yet. You have to drink first." Harry said urgently. Louis's head drooped again, and he pulled it up, his hand under his chin. "Zayn get down here, fast."

"What do I do?"

"Kneel beside him. Lean down as if you were going to hug him." I explained. "His arms will go round you and pull you down. Don't fight it, let him. Then he'll bite."

Zayn looked terrified. There was no other way to describe it. Wordlessly, he did as I'd told him.

Louis' eyes focused on him, and then darkened. He pulled Zayn close to him, and Zayn began to struggle.

"Zayn, relax. It'll be fine." I soothed. Then I remembered that it was Zayn that caused this in the first place, and changed my mind. It was his own fault.

But Zayn listened to me, and allowed Louis to move him before offering his arm to the vampire. The bandage was starting to get bloody now as Louis shifted, but it wouldn't matter soon. Liam, Harry and I stood, holding our breath, and watched as Louis sunk his teeth into Zayn's wrist. Now we could only hope.

Zayn was unconscious almost immediately, and it was a few long minutes before Louis' eyes turned back to normal and he pulled away from Zayn, gasping. The wound on his chest hadn't healed, of course, but he'd gained blood and his strength had increased. The puncture would soon start to heal. Louis stood up, a little disoriented but steady.

"Harry?" was the first thing he said, his eyes scoping out my friend in the gloom.

Harry all but ran to him, wrapping his arms round Louis and burying his face into his neck. "I'm so sorry, Louis, I'm so sorry." he was saying. "I couldn't...I didn't want...I-"

"I'm okay." Louis rubbed his back, reassuring him. "I'll be fine. It'll all be okay."

Liam turned to me. "Thank you."

"For what? Having a go at you, ignoring you, hurting you?" I shook my head. "I was an idiot."

"You weren't an idiot. You came when we needed you."

"You told me you loved me and I ignored you." I said softly.

Liam's eyes were bright. "That's happened to me more than once. I'll get over it."

"No. Don't get over it. I...I love you, Liam. But I was too frightened, too shocked, too angry at what you'd told me to accept that you loved me, too."

"Not that I can blame you. I should've told you."

"If you had, I would've never known what an amazing, lovely person you are. And I'm glad I do."

"I'm glad, too." Liam gave me a watery smile. He held his hand out. I took it, and squeezed it.

"So where do we go from here?" I asked him.

Liam shrugged. Then he said, "Niall? Will you go out with me?"

I looked at Liam. "You still want that?"

"More than anything."

"Me too."

"So will you?"

"Yes. Definitely."