Anchor

Part 20 - Drastic measures

    Sitting in the tub, soaking my scrapes and aching muscles, I felt more at peace than I had in a long time. If I had known fighting was so freeing then I would have started years ago. Jule made me feel like a woman and not like a damsel waiting to be saved. Still, I had a long way to go but it didn't mean I was as weak as I was a day ago, and with each day I would grow stronger, maybe strong enough to go out on my own and try to live a normal life without constantly looking over my shoulder in fear. 

    I heard the door to the bedroom open and light footsteps move towards the bathroom. "Kitty, you in there?" Saphrine asked. I was fairly covered by the bubbles in the tub that I didn't care to talk through the door so I told her to come in. She stepped inside with a pile of clothes in her hands. She was makeup free and I'd never seen someone look so youthful in her soft pink, silky dressing gown and her red hair in pigtails. "I brought you some clothes of mine. My guess is they should fit you, although you might have a bit of a hard time in some of the t-shirts, big boobs and everything," she flashed me her warm smile and I returned it with a laugh. 

    "Thanks. I was wondering how far I could push my luck stealing clothes from Ben's wardrobe." I chuckled at the thought of him wondering where his clothes were disappearing to. Saphrine parked her bum on the side of the tub and began showing me each item she brought for me. Most of the clothes were dark colours and I inwardly cheered that there weren't any bright colours in the pile. 

    "Yeah, I'm sure he's really mad about you wearing his clothes," she laughed and rolled her eyes. "He'll probably have a s**t fit when he finds out I gave you my clothes to wear."

    I laughed before sinking under the water. I needed a second to process her words. A man like Ben with so much money and all those clothes would only want me to wear them as another way to flash how much money he had, there was nothing more to it, at least that's what I told myself. 

    "I've left you some clean pj's on the counter and I'll put the rest on the bed for you to mooch through," she said as she moved to the door. I could tell she wanted to say something further but as she went to speak, her mouth closed into a thin line. Just when she was closing the door behind her, her head poked through the crack and she said the words that made my stomach drop like I was on a wild roller coaster. "You're good for him, you know. It's like he's a different person now that you're here." And with that, she was gone. 

    I stood from the tub and dried myself off. I hadn't known Ben long enough to see him as anything different than what I already saw him as. I made my way to the bedroom and threw myself on top of the covers. I was exhausted both physically and mentally and it didn't help that I couldn't stop thinking of what Saph had said to me before she left.

    I quickly dressed in the silk shorts and vest that she had left for me and climbed into the bed with the lights off. I tossed and turned for a while before dosing off to the images of Stellan and Ben fighting, I hated to be the one causing all this tension between them, but admittedly seeing them fighting had sent a wave of excitement through me. 

    I was a mess, out of my depth and heading further into uncharted waters. 

    The room was pitch black when I opened my eyes. The bed next to me was empty and as I ran my hand over the sheets I was sure it hadn't been slept on. I climbed out of the bed and made my way out the bedroom. Voices could be heard down the stairs and I recognised them as Saphrine and Otto. Hers was high pitch and I detected panic in both of their muffled words. I picked up my pace, moving through the darkened hallway at the sound of glass breaking in the living room. The hairs on the back of neck stood up and terrible feeling sat in my gut. 

    "...A f*****g trap, Saph. We have to act fast," Otto said, the first clear sentence I could make out. 

    I stumbled closer, rubbing my eyes at the bright light illuminating the room. "What the f**k?" I cried out at the sight in front of me. Saph was still in her robe, her hair was a mess as if she had been mindlessly pulling at it. Otto stood a few inches to the left of her, he too looked as though his hair had been caught in a gust of wind, his oversized jumper had the sleeves pulled up showing his forearms and he wore his pyjama bottoms indicating he must have been asleep before the commotion woke him too. Sprawled out on the sofa laid the lifeless bodies of Ben and Gavin. They looked worse for wear, and if they weren't already part of the undead, I would assumed they were freshly dug up corpses. 

    The look of horror was plastered over their faces as they watched me step into view. I practically ran to the sofa the guys were on, crouching down next to them to get a better look. "What happened? Are they gonna be alright? Wha... What do we do?" I had so many questions but it seemed like a timer had been flipped and we were losing the battle. 

    "Poison." Otto's voice was jittery and he looked helpless and in shock. 

    Who would poison them? And how could you poison them? Vampires couldn't die that easily, right?

    "Otto, call Colby, we need bodies here and we need them now!" She shouted. I ran a hand over Ben's cheek and jumped back as the heat from his cheeks singed my skin. "He's burning up," I cried out.

    "We're out of time, Saph. The poisons already set in," Otto took a step backwards and his fist smashed into the wall above the fireplace. "It'll take Colby over an hour to round up enough blood to even make a dent in this... it's too late."

    Too late. I paled at his words. I couldn't let them die. Two more fatalities on my hands, no chance. 

    Saph dropped to her knees and began sobbing. What started as muffled cries soon turned to gut wrenching screams. Otto tried to console her but it was no use, she was losing two men she loved and no amount of hugs or words would fix the hole in her heart. 

    "We... no. NO! There has to be something we can do." The tears were falling full force down my cheeks. I wouldn't lose them, not today. 

    "They need blood, more than we can gather in a short amount of time. It's over, Kitty," Otto had given up, his eyes bloodshot and brimming with unshed tears. 

    I stood up. If we didn't have time to get the blood then we would have to use what we had on hand. 

    "Use me." I wouldn't take no for an answer. "Take my blood, as much as they need." 

    "You... can't... it's not... enough," Saph said between her gasps for air. 

    "It's a start though, right? Get hold of Jule, he can help too. Just... just f*****g get him." I shouted down at them. I turned on my heel and sped into the kitchen to grab something to speed things along. 

    When I returned to the sofa with a kitchen knife in hand, Otto looked like I had gone bat s**t crazy. "Call him," I grunted, the knife pressed against my wrist as the cool blade sliced through my skin. 

    He untangled himself from Saph and pulled his phone from his pocket. Jule answered in no time and through the phone I could hear the anger in his voice. He was pissed, and I was thankful there wasn't another weeping mess to deal with, his anger would drive him to help us not give up like the others. 

    I climbed on the sofa between the Gavin and Ben. I needed to act fast so I started with Ben and placed my dripping wrist to his lips. His eyes were closed and I was going out on a whim, thinking he would react to my blood. "Come on, Ben, please," I whispered. Crimson streamed down my arm and he still hadn't moved.

    A sniff behind me alerted me to Gavin's presence. I turned to find his eyes open slightly but not enough strength in him to move his head. I went to pull back my wrist from above Ben's mouth yet just as I was about to move, I felt his tongue lap up the blood from arm. Relief flooded through me at the sight but I needed to help Gavin too.