Emmerson & The Guardian

Stronger Than You Know

        When I awake, I am face to face with, Blaze?  Surely, I’m still dreaming.  He’s holding me in his arms, and I’m no longer bound.  I have bandages around my wrists where the barbed wire gnawed away my flesh.  “Em, I’m getting you out of here.  We don’t have much time.  I’m so sorry.”

“Where are you taking me?” I whisper.

“Far away from here.  I am not going to let him hurt you.  I am not going to let anyone hurt you, baby.”  He holds me tight.  I have no strength to stand.  I’m dead weight, but it doesn’t seem to faze him.  I can feel the darkness trying to pull me under again, but I fight.  I fight to stay awake; I fight to hold on- I fight it.  In this moment I don’t want to think about how Blaze rejected me when he realized my true being- I just want to hold him.  I look over towards my wrists, and he’s bandaged me to the best of his ability in his haste to get me out of the ‘room’.  A shudder runs all the way down my spine at the thought of the cavernous room I was held in.

        He knows this place like the back of his hand, thought I suppose he should, it’s his facility.  He is weaving in and out of hallways with ease.  I notice the lighting to be dim and I want to close my eyes, but the smell of seared flesh and death are too strong when I lose one of my senses.  It’s a disturbing combination, and it overwhelms me, and clouds the mind.  I lift my head off his shoulder when I notice we have stopped.  I feel the pained emotion before I see the alarm in his eyes.

“I need you to do something.  And I am so sorry I'm asking this of you.”

“What?”  He lifts a knife from his back pocket and holds it in his open palm.  It’s an intricate dagger really.  One from medieval times that is jewel encrusted.  

“I need you to remove my tattoo.  I can’t go on the journey we are about to with it.  I need you to cut it off.”

“I-I can’t do that!”

“Yes, you can.  You are so much stronger than you know Emmerson.”

He’s serious.  Blaze is serious.  How am I going to do this?  I peer at the extremely sharp shiny metal of the knife.  It’s clean and has an ornate handle.  It looks much like the stake that Freddie had in the room he held me captive.

“You have to do this Em.  I need you to do it.  You are going to have to be strong because there is going to be a lot…”  He takes a deep steadying breath before finishing his sentence.  “There’s going to be a lot of blood, Emmerson.”

        The word hits me like a wrecking ball.  Blood.  It’s such a simple word.  Meaningless to most.  It’s an entire world wrapped up into one small word.  Blood.  Blood.  Blood.  The word reverberates through me repeatedly.  I haven’t been subjected to blood since I was 13.  How am I going to remain calm enough to do this?  “You will do it.  You will do it because you love him.”  This is the first time in a long time I’m going to listen to my subconscious.  I reach for the knife.  Tension- is all I can feel oozing from every pore on his body.

“This will hurt.”

“Yes.”

“Are you ready?”  He nods.  “Lift your sleeve up.”  He lifts his sleeve up and I kiss his bicep.  “Relax.”  I recommend and he does.  He is staring at me, or through me.  Blaze Giles is scared and so am I.  I grasp his arm with my left hand and hold the knife close to his arm, I take a breath, and then pierce his skin.

“Aaaagh!”  He screams in pain, then grits his teeth.  “Don’t stop!  Finish!”  He pleas

        I continue my cut.  The knife easily tears his flesh.  One stream of blood trails down his arm.  My breath is held.  I know once I inhale the sweet metallic scent will intoxicate me, and it will cause me to lose my composure.  I look up under my eyelashes to see Blaze’s horror-struck expression, and then I realize my fangs have retracted subconsciously, and I’ve began to salivate slightly.  “Hold it together.  You have to pull yourself together!”  I contemplated an explication but decided to continue my meticulous incision.  Once the circular cut is complete, I pull the knife out of his arm, and peel back a small flap on the top of the cut.  Then I perform one last swift slice, and it’s done.  He looks like he’s going to feint.  I throw the skin flap to the ground and put the dagger in the back of my jeans for the time being.  Then begin damage control on Blazes wound.  

“B-bbb.  Ugh.  Bite your wrist.”

        Without thinking I lift my wrist up to my fangs and bite down hard.  I didn’t even feel the bite because my fangs are so sharp.  Then much to my surprise Blaze grabs my wrist and brings it to his mouth, and takes in a long drag of my blood.  His head flies back, and his eyes screw shut tightly like he just took a shot of whisky.  After a few seconds his head levels out, and his eyes slowly open to meet mine.  

“Blaze!  Are you ok?  Why did you do that?”

“I needed you to heal me.”  He says matter of factly.

“I can’t.  I ‘we’ can’t do that.”  I air quote ‘we’ because surly he knows vampires can’t heal people…

“Yes, you can.”

“Blaze, I don’t know what you think you know, but I can’t do that.”

“Emmerson, I know more about you than you do.  And you already healed me, your blood has healing properties.”

“WHAT?!”  I look down to Blaze’s bicep, the exact spot that had a huge gaping hole in it moments ago, only to find a perfectly healed arm.  There isn’t even a scar where his tattoo once ornately decorated his skin.  I feel my head beginning to get fuzzy, and I feel like I might faint.  

“How?”  Is all I can rasp.

“I promise to give you all of the information I know as soon as I have you to safety.  You need a pick me up though…you’ve lost a lot of blood today, and I need you strong enough to protect yourself…”

        The intense pain of remorse washes over Blaze.  He is asking me to feed from him.  He knows I haven’t drunk blood in years because it goes against everything I want to believe in, but I know I need it to make it out of here alive.  God, give me strength.  I nod and square my shoulders.

“I will try not to hurt you…”

“I trust you.”  An intense calm washes over me.  I can do this.  I am Emmerson Fisher, and I am a vampire.  But after the last few days, I’ve realized I’m so much more.   Without another thought, I grab his arm and lift his wrist toward my mouth.  I allow my breath to begin again.  Once the scent hits my nostrils- it stings so good.  Intoxicating.  My fangs extend, and my eyes close as I sink my teeth into his soft flesh.   “Mmmmmmmmmm…” I moan in appreciation, and bring his wrist closer to my mouth

        He tasts like heaven.  His blood is like what I’d imagine alcohol to taste like after ten years of sobriety to an alcoholic.  Like a smoker would feel after his first cigarette in a year.  I feel rejuvenated, and take one last drag before running  my tongue around the edges of the tiny fang wounds.  When I open my eyes, Blaze is no longer cringing in pain.  In fact, there’s a different emotion in his eyes.  One I’d never expected to see.  Love?  Lust?  It’s more intoxicating than the blood. 

“Thank you.”  When I look back down at the wound it’s replaced with new skin.  The tiny holes from my fangs are slightly transparent compared to the rest of his arm.  Not scarred.  The longer I look at it the better it looks.  It’s healing before my eyes.  I did it.  I had an ability that I never knew possible.  Blaze reaches for my hand, and his other hand reaches for the bandage on my wrist.  He begins to unwind the wrap, and much to my surprise I’m healed too.  He makes quick work of the other bandage on my opposite wrist.

“My blood healed you, and your blood healed me.”

“I was so afraid I wouldn’t be able to stop.”

“You did though, Em.  You did so good baby.”  He kisses my forehead and wraps his arms around me.  “We have to go.  I am going to need you to be on your guard.  I am going to call for Henry with the car.  He is already aware of the situation.  And given the fact that almost all my employees are siding with Freddie there aren’t a lot of people I can trust, but I trust him with my life, and yours.”  Before I have time to react Blaze has his phone out and dials Henry.  They speak in a cryptic dialect about where to meet.  Blaze presses the end call button without saying goodbye.  He is all business.  He’s worried about our safety.  And honestly, I am too- especially after seeing what Freddie is capable of.

        We weave in and out of a few more rooms.  It’s impressive how large this facility is.  I have so many questions to ask Blaze, but I know now is not the time.  Once we are away, and in a safe place- then I will inundate him with questions.  We reach a metal door at the end of a hundred-meter-long hallway.  We stop before opening it.  The sign over the door says, ‘Emergency Exit’.  He pulls out his phone and redials Henry.  “We are here.  Let us know when you are in front of the sidewalk…Ok.”  He looks down at me.  His jaw is clenched, and his palms are sweaty.  “When I push the bar in to open this door the alarms will sound.  We have to run, and run fast.  Once we get to the end of the tree line there is a sidewalk.  Turn right and Henry will be waiting with the car.  I’m going to be following you Emmerson- in case they start following us.”

“What will happen if they are?”

“Don’t worry.  Just get to the car, and Henry will take you to safety.  Then I’ll meet you later.”

“Please don’t leave me alone!”

“If all the stars align you and I will be together for the rest of forever.”  With that Blaze kisses me on the lips. Hard.  Deep.  Like it could be out last.  He pushes me away, and I see his eyes are welling with tears threatening to expose his vulnerability.  He pushes the door open, and I begin to run.  The heels he gave me are toast at this point.  I kick them off into the shrubs and continue toward the car barefoot.  I glance over my shoulder, but Blaze isn’t there. He isn’t anywhere.  “NO!  Do as he said.  Go to the car!”  My subconscious is right.  I must go to the car.  Even if I am capable of helping him- I wouldn’t know how.  I finally see the end of the tree line, and to the right is a sidewalk.  I turn, and I can see the BMW.  The door is open and waiting for me to jump in.  I stop before getting into the car and look over my shoulder once more.  No sign of Blaze.

“Ms.  Please get in.  We need to go.”  I do and before I have the door closed Henry stomps the gas, and the car lurches into the darkness.