Of Blood and Friendship
"You're infected," says Martin.
"I am not!" I deny.
"Are too!"
"Stop it."
"Stop what?"
"I'm not kidding."
"Neither am I!"
A little over a week ago, I had a little mishap. Seems I sort of accidentally drained a fleshcrafter. It really wasn't my fault. I though Ralph was dead and I sort of frenzied and, well…you know how that goes.
I woke up this evening and rubbed my face. I felt the skin move. Seems I accidentally rearranged my cheeks. I panicked and ran to Martin. He fixed my face for me. Then he tells me I contracted vicissitude from the fiend.
Martin is one of them, so I guess he would know. Unlike a lot of vampire powers, vicissitude isn't taught. It's contracted. Like you'd contract a disease. Now granted, the chances of contracting it from feeding are a 1000 to one…
"So how do I get rid of it?"
"What do you mean, get rid of it? You can't."
"Of course I can."
"What, you think you just eat somebody who got a penicillin shot and it goes away?"
"No! Of course not." I was kind of thinking a direct injection of penicillin might…"
"You're just gonna have to learn to deal with it. I can teach you a few things so you don't turn yourself into the Elephant Man again."
"This sucks."
"It could be worse."
"How's that?"
"You could have eaten one of the kooks and contracted dementation."
"You're right, it could be worse."
It can ALWAYS get worse. And it usually does. Welcome to my unlife.
"By the way, the spawn of Satan called. He sounded worried."
"What do you mean, Ralph sounded worried?"
"It was on the machine. Something about YOUR hunter." He says "your" as if he was an irate parent pushing responsibility for a child's bad behavior on another parent.
I just nod and go for the phone. It's been business as usual between me and Ralph since the incident last week. The only thing he was upset about was that he was unconscious when I frenzied. He thought it would have been really cool to see it and said he would have to figure out some sort of concealable camera so if it happened again he could catch it on film. I had to remind him I don't cast a reflection and I don't photograph. He replied that he'd have to experiment with digital and heat sensors.
Boy has no danger sense whatsoever.
Heather, on the other hand, hasn't returned my calls since I left her basement last week. Must be something about a vampire going into frenzy and eating another vampire that rubs hunters the wrong way. It's not like I did it on purpose. But she had to shoot me with three phosphorous rounds to knock me out before I did something really bad. She admitted she thought about killing me. I'm not mad at her for saying it or thinking it. I'm grateful she didn't. But she's upset at me for putting her in that position.
Or maybe she's mad at herself for not doing what it is she's supposed to do.
So I call Ralph to see what is going on.
"It's 10 PM," he says. "Do YOU know where your hunter is?"
"Ralph, don't start."
"She's been slumming for the last three days."
"What do you mean, slumming?"
"Haven't you been out?"
"No." I've been laying low for the last week. I had a lot of healing to do. Martin's been playing nurse to me and making sure I was fed. He's a dear that way. A slightly deranged, masochistic dear…but a dear nonetheless.
"Charlie told me he saw her take out two vampires all by herself!"
"Charlie?"
""Yeah, you know, he's the werewolf that…."
"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Go on." Talking about werewolves, even if they are Ralph's friends, makes me nervous.
"Anyway, she's been on a mission. I heard her talking to another hunter on the phone and she said she's killed like a dozen in the past few days."
"She was talking like that around you?"
"No. Don't be silly. She'd never talk like that around me. That's why I had to bug her phone."
"You what?!"
"Well, how ELSE am I supposed to know she's in trouble. Hummmmmm?"
"What did the other one have to say?"
"Well….not really….nothing important…"
"Liar."
"Nothing, it's just…"
"It's not Heather you're worried about, is it?"
"The voices talk to each other, Alex. He said the heralds told him you tainted her. He said he understood she couldn't kill one she knew personally. He asked her is she wanted him to handle it."
He stops. He's waiting for me to ask the question I don't want to hear the answer to.
"As far as you know, has she destroyed anybody that would be missed?" I avoid the obvious question.
"I get the feeling she's been focusing in Sabbat territory."
"O.K., that's good." Not that it's GOOD per se that she's wandering into Sabbat country by herself. It's just the likelihood of killing somebody important is diminished. High death counts lead to blood hunts and blood hunts lead to hunters being hunted.
"Ralph, can you do me ONE favor?"
"Sure."
"Stay home tonight. I'm going out to find Heather. Don't wander out and I have to worry about you, too. Alright?"
"I got homework anyway."
I hang up with Ralph and hit the streets. I head to Heather's house first, hoping I'll be lucky for a change and catch her at home. I see a light in the kitchen. I park my bike in the driveway and go up to the door.
I knock, and a man's voice questions who I am from the other side of the door.
"It's Alex. Heather home?"
"Hold on."
He unlocks the door and opens it. His head is covered in a nest of wavy dirty blonde hair wet with sweat. He wipes his face on his sleeve. His frame is too big to deal with the summer heat without the benefit of air conditioning. "Alex, heh? She's in the kitchen. Come on in." He stands aside and I walk past him. He's a good foot taller than me, and he stares down at me like he wants to make sure I know it. I give him the old "am I suppose to be impressed" look and head for the kitchen.
Then it occurs to me that this is probably the guy Heather was on the phone with. I'm a vampire alone in a house with two hunters.
"You know, if you guys are busy, I can come back." I finish the sentence just as I hear the familiar sound of a gun pulling out of its holster.
"No, you can't."
I slowly turn around to a Magnum three inches from my face.
"Let me guess, phosphorous?"
"And hollow point."
"Damn, that's gonna hurt."
"Craig, no!" I hear Heather's voice as she comes through the door with a shopping bag.
"The warlock bugged your phones," he says. "And then reported to his master, I see."
"If Ralph bugged the phones, I'll kick his ass later. Alex wouldn't have anything to do with that."
"Then why is she here?"
"I was worried…"
"I didn't ask for your lies, wyrm!"
"Craig, put the gun down." Heather puts down the grocery bag and walks toward him.
"You want that I should let this one go, then?"
"Leave her be."
"And the warlock, I guess he's o.k. with you, too?"
"Ralph is a kid. Keep him out of this."
"So you've befriended both a leech and a warlock. I understand. I know what I need to do, then."
He pulls the trigger.
I just barely get my head out of the way, but the bullet catches my collarbone. Flesh burns and bone cracks. I lose control of my right arm as blood pours over my shoulder. Somewhere deep in the pit of my gut, the beast screams that I was set up. Control and logic can't save me now. Let it go.
I hear the crack of a wood. Craig stumbles as Heather breaks a wooden chair across his back. He whirls around and she grabs him in some sort of a weird nerve hold just along the side of his neck. His body clenches up as he drops his gun.
"I'm no more gonna let you kill her than I would let her kill you." She releases the hold and he falls backwards. She kicks his gun toward me.
"When I found you, you were crying in an alley over the limp body of one of those damn things that tried to make a meal out of you. You didn't understand what you were and I taught you. And this is how you thank me?"
"Good bye, Craig."
"Heather, listen to me…"
"Good bye."
I'm slumped in a bloody mess against a wall. Craig gives me a death glare and storms pass Heather. She picks up his gun as he reaches the door.
"Craig," she calls to him. He turns around. She throws the gun to him. "You rely too much on that thing."
"It suits me just fine." He holsters the gun and leaves.
I try to pull myself up. "Well, I guess I should go rent a steam cleaner and clean this mess up."
"I was thinking about telling the landlord I need new carpet anyway."
"He's not done with me, is he?"
"No."
"If he wants to kill me, he can get in line. But if he goes after Ralph, I'll kill him."
"No you won't."
"Heather, I know he's your teacher or whatever, but…"
"Alex, if he goes after either of you again, you won't have to kill him. I will."
"This mean we're friends again?"
"Yeah, we're friends again."
"In that case, can you give me a ride back to the club? My shoulder's kinda…."
"Yeah, that's a bit of a mess there."
"Uhmmm, the voices aren't gonna get pissed at you, are they?"
"We all have free will. They don't tell me what to do. They just give me the means to do it. Some hunters think anything that's not human should be destroyed. I just kill monsters. And you're not a monster."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence."
I needed that.
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