In My Veins (26 page)

My shoulders ached. I woke up in the stupid warehouse
or factory or whatever it once was but now abandoned place.

The man had tied my arms behind my back
and my legs together. I was sitting on the concrete floor against a cold wall
with water dripping somewhere. The dripping sound is getting annoying but I
didn’t care about anything. I just wanted to go home to James.

It was so cold.

I’m scared…
I
wanted to see James. Was this morning the last time I would see him? Was our
last conversation in person, “Good morning, I’ll see you after work.” I told
him I loved him in person this morning right? I couldn’t remember.

I cringed as I heard a painful yell from
a distance and a door slam.

Soon after a door from a distance opened
showing some light into the big concrete room. Windows were boarded up so I
didn’t have a good look at it before. Now that I saw it better … I knew for
sure it was the same building Collin took me to. Was it Collin who brought me
here? I felt that it was a man when I saw a glimpse of the hand, but I didn’t
see a face. I blacked out before I could.

I saw the silhouette step towards me and
judging by the figure it wasn’t Collin. He has a different built. The man had a
chair in his hand as he walked towards me.
Is he going to hit me with it?

He was in front of me sooner than I
would care for him to be and was staring at me with a look of disgust. He had
messy hair, an unshaven face, a ripped up t-shirt and dirty jeans. He twisted
the chair and sat in front of me.

He smiled, “Hello Karina.”

“Who are you?” I asked.

“How rude of me, my name is Tamas
Kasparov.”

Kasparov… Kasparov…

“Yes Andrea Kasparov is my grandmother.”
He smiled, “Heard you were looking for her.  She passed away
unfortunately. Old age. But some of my cousins said you were looking for her.”
he studied my face, “I knew of you and your vampire boyfriend before that
though.”

“He’s not a vampire.” I mumbled.

He laughed, “You’re right. The sharp
teeth and blood cravings are totally normal for a human.” He said
sarcastically, “He’s a monster… a vampire to be specific. If it looks like a
duck, sounds like a duck, it probably is a duck.” He shrugged as I glared at
him.

I decided not to talk. No point in being
pissed off before I die.

“You’re really pretty.” He said leaning
forward and lifting my chin up, “Too bad your contaminated by a filthy blood
sucking vampire.” He said as he backhanded my face. I was too shocked to feel
pain. I glared at him.

“There are so much of them too.” he said
staring at the ceiling, “There are…well there
was
…even children
vampires.  Vampire celebrities…Vampire millionaires... Vampire gypsies… they
even contaminated my people.” He laughed, “Not anymore. Anything to make it
that filthy humans like you don’t fall in love with one of them and have their
vampire babies.”

I heard the yell again, “Who is that?”

He laughed again, “The other idiot
vampire you associate yourself with. Collin is his name right? I’m surprised
you’re okay with James after that idiot upstairs bit you. That’s when I knew
for sure those two were monsters.  I followed Collin to this very building
and made it just in time as your lover and the other fought. I saw the bleeding
from your neck and knew for sure what happened. What about the other one?”

David…

“Where is he?” he asked.

I remained quiet.

His laugh changed to an expression of
anger and he back handed me again. “Answer me when I fucking talk to you!”

“He’s not one of them.”

“Bull shit I saw him run you out of here
like a fucking cheetah.” He stood up and kicked my left shoulder so I would
fall on the floor. My body hurt so badly.

“Your lover vampire should be joining us
anytime now. I left an ‘accidental’ address under your purse.”

This is a trap for him?! James please do
not come…

“Hopefully he brings the other one with
him so I won’t have to look for him after I’m done killing you three.” He said
as he started walking away.

“Did Andrea really die of old age?” I
asked making him stop.

“She was old when I killed her. That’s
what she gets for helping your demon friends. I’ll see you later sexy.” He said
as he opened the door and disappeared outside the building again.

*
*
*

I laid on the cold floor staring at the
direction of the door.

Please don’t come James…

I missed him. And if I were to die
tonight I want to see his face… but if he comes…

I heard Collin yell again. What was he
doing to him?  Maybe I can try to open this stupid tie and go up to him.
He sounded like he was in such agony.

I struggled with the knot behind me but
felt it getting tighter. I stopped struggling once I heard the door crack open
slowly. The light slowly enlightened the room as it opened.

I saw a familiar silhouette. Heat
prickled into my body and I knew it was James.

“James, no go away, it’s a trap!” I whispered
knowing he would hear me. But he ignored and dashed towards me.

“Baby!” he said and got on his knees in
front of me. He sat me up straight and cupped my face. He kissed me and studied
me, “Where are you hurt? I smell blood …” he said as he started undoing the
knot on my ankles and my arms.

As soon as my arms were free I wrapped
them around him and started crying, “We have to get out of here it’s a trap…”

He lifted me and was about to run
towards the door but I squeezed him to stop. Collin yelled again. I’m sure he
hears it better than I can.

“Is that Collin?”

“Yeah… the wannabe slayer guy has caught
him too…”

“I’m not a wannabe.” He said from behind
the door. James heard his voice and growled, “Don’t even try opening the door
it’s locked now.”

James ignored it and proceeded trying to
open the heavy door. “It is locked…” He tried to pull it open using his
strength but it wasn’t working.

“There’s no way out. Windows are bolted
shut and are too high for you to jump anyways. Even for you vampire demon. See
the plan is: I’m going to leave you two here to starve. Judging from what I
have learned about vampires, should be only a few hours for James. Once he’s
hungry he’ll eat you and get rid of you,” he said referring to me, “and soon
after that James will be hungry again if he hasn’t killed himself from what
he’s done and I’ll get rid of him too.”

James continued to growl. Tamas mumbled
something I couldn’t hear making James even more angry.

“James…” I said and his expression
quickly softened as he looked down at me. I rested my head on his chest just
happy that I could see him one last time, as selfish as it was.

“I’d never hurt you…” he mumbled and
kissed the top of my head.

“I know…” I said taking in the scent of
his cologne, “Put me down…you’re going to need your strength.”

He glanced around and dashed us to the
wall again. He sat with me on the floor and took me in his embrace. “I’m not
letting you go again…” he mumbled.

We’re probably going to die here
anyways…
I thought.

“I’ll save us…somehow.” He mumbled
studying the room and cringing every time we heard Collin scream.

“Is he being tortured?” I asked.

“Yeah… but not how you’re thinking. He’s
having hunger pains. Hunger pains are way worse for us. For normal people
hunger pains to this extreme don’t happen till at least a day of starving. For
us…its five hours or so and only gets worse.” He said in thought, “Thankfully
you aren’t around him. He wouldn’t be able to resist…”

“I thought he was the one that did this
at first…” I admitted.

“I knew it couldn’t be him. Especially
after what he did for us…”

“What did he do?” I asked curiously.

“He…went to Lana for help.  He
asked if he could somehow give up his freedom of one day being normal and being
a monster permanently if it somehow made me change back to normal. She tricked
him…and made him a monster permanently.” He explained.

“Oh my…” I said still hearing him yell.
How did Jennifer not love him for real, “Tamas killed Andrea…”

“I figured… apparently Tamas and Lana
are the only ones that still think this curse is a curse. The rest started
helping us, especially Andrea. Once they heard of her murder they were too
scared to help so they started acting like they know nothing.”

“Oh…” I said sadly thinking of all the
lives we put in danger from meeting with them. Collin yelled again, the most
painful sounding yell I had ever heard.

“He’ll pass out soon…” he said trying to
comfort me. “This will be good for him and you. If he’s passed out…less of a
chance he’d attack you. And he won’t be in pain.”

Hours passed and I sensed him start to let go of me
slowly. Before I realized it… He was at a good distance away from me. Far
enough for my safety and close enough, for my safety yet again.

“James?” I asked as he cringed. He’s in
pain…I can feel it.

“Yeah?” he struggled.

“When did you eat last?”

“Around two…” he said, “I took bites of
the food for taste when I was cooking around seven…”

“James…”

“I won’t hurt you…” he said reassuringly
and accidently let out a painful groan.

“I know you won’t…” I said as I saw him
cringe again. He’s hiding the pain from me. If Collin is…
was
… yelling
like that before it must be way worse than what he’s acting out.

“James, maybe you could….you know…”

James glared at me, “I’m not going to
bite you.”

“You’re in pain James…” I said getting closer
to him.

“Please don’t get closer baby… I can’t
do it.” He said struggling.

“You’re being stubborn…”I mumbled.

“And you’re being crazy… I’m not going
to put you at risk.” He said then cringed not being able to hold back another
yell.

I felt myself start to cry at the sight
of seeing him in pain and I couldn’t do anything. I got closer to him and tried
to sooth his pain the best I could.

He yelled again and held me tightly his
fingers digging into my waist. He buried his face in my neck and I felt his
lips on my skin before he pushed me back and pushed himself away from me. “I
told you not to get closer.” He growled.

“You’re in pain James!” I yelled and was
angry at myself for crying.

His expression softened, “I’m
sorry…” he said, “I just…I can’t hurt you.”

He was soon next to me and he held me against
his chest. His breath was staggered and a low growl was in his chest that he
couldn’t control, “As soon as that bastard opens the door… he’ll regret even
thinking about hurting you.” He mumbled.

A while later, maybe an hour or so
later, I felt James’s grip on me loosen. I looked up and saw that he his head
was bobbing back and forth. He was in and out of consciousness. He was losing
it.

“James?”

“Mmmm…?” he mumbled.

“James…baby are you okay?” I said
looking at his face. He struggled to open his eyes to look at me. I opened one
of his eyes to check on him and he was still conscious. His eyes are redder
than I’ve ever seen them as well as bloodshot. He’s starving.

“James?” I said again but he didn’t say
anything. His head fell forward and he rested his head on my shoulder. He was
surprisingly heavy almost knocking me over as he fell on top of me. He was so out
of it. He needs food if he’s going to escape when Tamas comes. The only food
available for him here is my blood.

I thought about it for a moment.

He needs me…

He’s going to be angry when he wakes
up…but it’s the only choice we both have. It’s better that one of us are alive
to get that bastard from hurting anyone else. And from the two of us, he’s the
only one who can.

How am I going to get him to bite me
though? Especially now…

I took off my jacket since it was
getting hot from him being attached to me and my eye caught the rose I brought
with me in my pocket. I immediately remembered the first time I accidently cut
myself. The day he told me about his curse.

I smiled at the thought and grabbed the
rose. There are still some thorns on it. I put my finger on it and closed my
eyes as I squeezed the thorn in-between my fingers.

I stared at my bloody finger and took a
deep breath as I smeared it where Collin had bitten me on my neck. I brought James’s
head that was resting on my right shoulder to my left next to the blood.

Not even ten seconds later I felt him
move. Almost instinctively, one of his arms went around my waist tightly
holding me close to him the other hand behind my head as he smelled the blood
on my neck. I heard a low growl escape his throat as I felt his teeth graze the
skin.

Before I could even think twice I felt
the twinge of pain in my neck. He held me close as I felt the blood going out
of me and into him. The pain was gone… but it felt so weird. I could feel the
strength and blood both leave my body. But I also felt a whisper of pleasure
enter my body. Almost as good as when we made love. Almost.

His grip loosened and I felt him stop taking
blood but not move.

He let go of me and looked at me wide
eyed, “I… I’m so sorry. I didn’t….” he struggled his eyes not leaving the sight
of my neck, “I can’t believe I…”

He was backing away from me and it took
all the strength I had to ignore the sudden pain of my neck and weakness of my wobbly
legs to go forward to him, “I did it… you didn’t. Don’t feel guilty…” I said
and the door started to creak open.

“Hello in there?” I heard Tamas say with
humor, “Have you eaten your fiancé yet? Are
you
dead yet?” he laughed.

Before Tamas even knew what happened to
him James leaped to him and grabbed him by his throat. James threw Tamas across
the room to the other side of the wall near me. James dashed to me and lifted
me in his arms and out of the room. He stopped and stared at the dark staircase
leading upstairs. “Collin is up there.” He mumbled and ran up the stairs.

James looked at me before opening the
door. He set me down and he got on his knees. “Get on my back. I’d feel better
if I was a barrier between you and Collin.”

I hesitated as I got on his back. I
wrapped my arms around his shoulders as he secured my legs around his waist. He
took a deep breath as he opened the door. Collin was passed out on the floor.

“I can still hear his heart.” He
mumbled.

Collin’s eyes shot open and he looked at
me. I just remembered I have a bleeding finger and a huge bite on my neck. I
held onto James tightly and he too held my legs.

Collin growled and jumped toward us.
Fearing the worse I cringed and closed my eyes as James swung me the other way.
I opened my eyes and saw that Collin had jumped past us and was fighting Tamas.

I closed my eyes as Collin was about to
bite Tamas’s wrist.

After a moment James patted my thigh,
“He’s done.”

I opened my eyes and Collin kicked Tamas
to the side, “Let’s go.” he said and James dashed us down followed by Collin.
As soon as we stepped out the building James and Collin both turned around to
look at it.

They both smelled something in the air
and looked at each other wide eyed. James swung me in front of him and jumped
with me in his arm on the floor. I groaned from the painful impact as his body
covered me. I heard a loud explosion and felt debris surround us. After a few
moments James lifted his head, “Are you okay?” I nodded. “Collin?”

“I’m good.” He mumbled, “we should get
going before firefighters come.”

James nodded and helped me stand up. I
glanced back at the building that was now on fire. Well…whatever it was, left
of the building.

“The bastard had planted explosives in
it. Assuming if I didn’t kill you and die, and or Collin didn’t starve to
death, the explosives would finish the job.”

James yet again lifted me, “Sorry I keep
carrying you. It’s just… you know we’re fast…” he explained. I smiled and
hugged him around his neck, “I don’t care… I like being close to you anyways.”
I said and rested my head on his chest.

After we made it a good distance away he
finally set me down. He still held my hand and forced me to stay close to his
side as we looked for a payphone to call for cab. Payphones were rare find so
we settled on a gas station we found instead. They luckily let us use their
phone as we called for a cab.