Vampire Hunter’s Revenge

"Pan's Pipes. Hurry!" Hanging up the phone without waiting for a response, she pressed herself closer to the wall, trembling hand pressing the blood-soaked cloth tighter against the side of her neck. She felt bad about leaving so much blood smeared all over the back entrance of a*****e whose owners didn't even know her... but at least she hadn't gone into the front room where all their merchandise was, and where their customers would be. Her body convulsed as another wave of nausea struck, and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut. She was losing too much blood. That asshole had better hurry and get there soon, or the owners would be opening their store in the morning to find a dead body instead of just a bunch of blood. Headlights flashed through the open door she had broken into, and she hoped he knew he needed to come inside to get her. As lightheaded as she was just sitting there, there was no way she was going to even try to stand up. Her phone buzzed in her lap, and when she looked down at it her vision blurred so she couldn't see the screen. Apparently she wasn't answering that, either. He would get the hint, she hoped. It felt like an eternity had passed by the time she heard hurried footsteps on the pavement outside. The door creaked open, light from the parking lot washing over her. "Jesus f*****g Christ, Eva!" the familiar voice of her partner exclaimed, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't safe yet, but her chances of surviving were better with him there. She felt him kneel beside her and slide his arms behind her back and beneath her knees. He was muttering under his breath the entire time as he lifted her off the floor and carried her to his car. There was a bit of awkward shuffling as he opened the passenger door, but blood loss made her numb to any pain that movement might have caused. Finally, she was sitting on the seat, and leaned back against the cushion to let her body relax. Her partner lifted the bloody cloth off the side of her neck and cursed again at the sight of the mangled bite wound. "Did they make you drink?" he asked her in a stern voice that was laced with worry. Eva shook her head weakly in response. "No..." her strained voice was barely above a whisper. "Turning me wasn't what they had in mind." A moment later a larger, dry cloth was pressed against the wound. It was a softer material, and smelled like his cologne. She opened her mouth to argue against him using his shirt to stop the bleeding, but no longer had the breath to form words. The car door pushed closed against her side, and a few moments later he was sitting behind the wheel and reaching across to pick up her hand. "What happened back there?" he asked her quietly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. Her face contorted in pain at the memories that were still raw. "Can't we just talk about the weather?" she whispered after a moment. "Like normal people." The man glanced over at her, his concern growing at her reluctance. "Nothing we do is normal," he replied in a lighter tone of voice. "But as long as you keep talking, I don't care what it's about." A few seconds of silence passed, and he squeezed her hand again to get her attention. "It was beautiful today..." Eva finally continued, an almost nostalgic tone to her voice. "Wish I just took the day off." He wished she had taken the day off, too, but now wasn't the time to lecture her. "Where's your bike?" A soft groan pressed from her lips and she shook her head slightly. "Doesn't matter. Just get me to Oasis... I'll take care of it later." They were already on their way to the Oasis Inn, but the man picked up his cellphone to call the owner to let her know to expect them. *** "Motherfucker!" Kristin's reaction upon seeing Eva unconscious and covered in blood, was exactly what Adam had expected from her. He carefully lifted his partner out of the passenger seat and laid her on the stretcher that the other woman had brought down into the garage. "Did she go out alone again?" she asked him as he started to push the stretcher to the elevator. Adam nodded. "I swear I'm starting to feel more like her ambulance driver than her partner," he muttered angrily. The redheaded woman paused briefly behind him. "You know she has her reasons..." she tried to soothe him. It didn't work. "Reasons won't mean jack s**t when we have to salt and burn her body!" he spat, punching his finger against the call button for the elevator car. When the doors opened, they both carefully maneuvered the stretcher inside. "How long has she been out?" Kristin asked, changing the subject back to one of more urgent importance. "She stopped talking about ten minutes before I got here," Adam replied with a heavy sigh, his gaze locking on the indicator light as the elevator began to descend. Taking the time to begin inspecting her friend's wounds, Kristin swore under her breath when she saw the bite mark on the side of her throat. "Did she drink?" Adam shook his head, still not looking at his partner. "She said no. We'll find out for sure tomorrow night." If she survived that long. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, revealing a short, narrow hallway that led directly to a single door made of solid iron. Kristin already had the key in hand and moved swiftly in front of the stretcher to unlock it. "I'll take her from here, Adam," she told him gently. "You know the rules." He sighed, as he stopped the stretcher in front of the door, running a hand through his black hair with a nod of resignation. "Yeah, I know." The woman pushed the door open and pulled the stretcher through. Before he could even think about following, Eva was taken out of his sight and the door pushed closed in his face. Normally he might have been offended, but Kristin was right. The rules existed for a reason. Even if it wasn't against the rules, he would likely only get in the way. Kristin had been taking care of vampire victims longer than he had been aware that vampires even existed. Resting his forehead against the cool iron, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Godspeed, my friend..." he whispered softly. Then he pushed himself away from the door and turned to walk back towards the elevator.