Sweet Blooded

Thirteen: Intruder

On the night of the party, I laid on the couch in the locked study, wrapped in the blanket I’d drug down the hall from my room, propped up on the cushions, wishing that I’d brought an extra book with me. I reread the first few pages of the same book, over and over, processing nothing. I’d been locked in the study for what felt like days. Surely, the night was over. The party couldn’t possibly have carried over into the dawn, could it?

The only noise I’d heard all night was the crackling of the fire and the shifting of the burning logs as the flames wore them down. But it wasn’t as soothing as it usually was. The warnings Gabriel had given the night before had left me on edge, and I listened carefully for any noises creeping down the hallway, through the locked study door.

Eventually, I did hear something. My heart leapt into my throat when I heard a distant click, the latch of the front door. Then slow, steady footsteps. The hairs on my arms stood up immediately, as I didn’t recognize the sound. It didn’t sound like the twins, or Gabriel. Maybe Talia?

“Gabriel…” a smooth, feminie voice floated through the door from further down the hallway. 

I stood quickly, the blanket falling to the floor, as I backed away from the door. I found I’d backed myself up against the wall just next to the fire, trying to find comfort in its warmth. The distinct click of heels, definitely a woman, inched closer and closer to the study door. But it didn't sound like Talia.

When the owner of the heels reached the study, they stopped. Only a second later, the door knob rattled, straining against the lock. There was a low, nearly inaudible chuckle before a grinding noise, and then a crunch, and the door swung open.

I stood frozen for a long time, staring at the open doorway, but only the shadows spilled in across the threshold. I listened hard, hearing nothing, no hint of who’d opened the door. Carefully, trying to walk as silently as I could, I crossed the study, peering hard into the halls and willing my eyes to see through the shadows. But the hallway was empty, no one in sight on either end. 

I crept down the hall, just as quiet, constantly looking behind me for signs of the intruder. The only other light came from the fire in the living room. The cheery decorations were still up, and suddenly seemed much more malevolent than before. I crept closer to the fire in the hearth, wondering if it were the noise that I’d heard and mistook it for footsteps. 

Suddenly, I regretted leaving the study. Forget how the door opened, no one was home. If Gabriel were to come back and find that I’d exited the safe room against his wishes…

I turned quickly, intending on hurrying back to the safety of the study. But I stopped short, backing up violently, when I came face to face with a waterfall of raven hair and bright, crimson eyes. Frozen under her predatory stare, I was helpless except to watch as a reaper-like smile spread across her porcelain face, revealing her elongated incisors.

“Oh, how cute. Gabriel’s keeping a pet mouse.” Her nostrils flared and her pupils narrowed slightly, before she had her hand at my throat.

I trembled uneasily, as she wasn’t strangling me- not yet.

“Ravena.”

The intruding vampire whirled around, the long black gown she wore brushing against my bare feet. I inched away from her, having nowhere to go but to the side. I barely registered that Gabriel had suddenly appeared in the foyer. He crossed the room, stopping just paces away from the woman when he noticed me behind her.

“What are you doing up here?”

“Oh, I was looking for you. I thought you might have retired for the night. And then, I thought I heard a mouse in your study. So I let it out.”

My chest screamed for me to take a breath, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t chance that she might take notice of me again, since I’d finally realized why she looked so familiar. I’d heard her name before, too. The vampire who had mauled the other girl with the blue chip at the auction. 

Gabriel noticed me edging along the wall and motioned with his head for me to come to him. But I stared wide eyed at him, my feet suddenly solid blocks of ice. Gabriel’s eyes narrowed, and the fear of what would happen if I directly disobeyed him was enough to make the ice thaw. I took a step forward, and another, and had just cleared Ravena’s side when I was brought to a halt by a vice-like grip on the back of my neck.

An embarrassingly strained whimper escaped my lips as Ravena yanked me back against her body, her hair spilling over my shoulder and tickling at the exposed flesh on my shoulder. I whined when I felt her breath on my other shoulder as she inhaled deeply.

“I can’t believe you’ve been hiding a blue chip from me,” she pouted, her breath trailing along my shoulder and closer to my neck than I cared for. 

“Ravena…” Gabriel’s tone was a warning I’d heard him use on Lukas and Markus before. It didn’t seem to work on Ravena though. The sharp sting of a pair of incisors pressing through the top layer of skin on the side of my neck elicited a sharp cry which was cut short when her icy hand moved from my throat to cover my mouth. 

“Ravena!” Gabriel’s voice boomed loud enough that even my panic was squashed. Ravena pulled away, straightening her head up to look at Gabriel, and I felt a warm trail of blood running down my neck. 

Gabriel growled quietly, motioning for me to come to him, and this time I didn’t hesitate. I stumbled forward, and he grabbed my arm, holding me at a small distance just in front of him. He didn’t look down at me, he stared over my head at Ravena. The hostility radiated from her in waves, I didn’t have to turn around to imagine her expression.

“You know I don’t like to share. And neither do you, Ravena. When was the last time you had anything leftover?”

“What’s the point of leftovers? When you have leftovers, you have to maintain them. And keeping humans alive is such...tedious work.”

I paled, staring at Gabriel’s chest. I studied his charcoal suit jacket and half undone midnight blue tie. It seemed as though he had in fact been returning from the party for the night. I screamed loudly in my head, trying to shut out thoughts of what would have happened if he’d shown up only a few minutes later than he had.

“Lukas and Markus are still at the party, so I’ll have you see yourself out.”

“Let me know when you get tired of her, I’d love to have a taste.”

I didn’t even see Ravena walk past, but the door closed with a loud snap. 

With her gone, all of Gabriel’s attention was now on me. I felt the sting of tears in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Blinking rapidly, I stared intently at the loosened knot of his tie.

“I told you to stay in the study.”

“I didn’t know who opened the door,” I whispered, my voice betraying the straight face I was trying to keep.

“And I’m sure you knew it wasn’t me, or the twins.”

I swallowed, but nodded. No use in arguing. 

The Original vampire laid his hand on the side of my neck and pushed my chin up with his thumb. I closed my eyes when he bent his head, lapping up the blood that had trickled down the side of my neck, before he placed his fangs where Ravena had only begun to pierce. I only flinched when he bore down, breaking the rest of the way through and I felt my blood running freely. 

This time was different, though. After a minute or so of the usual lapping, the bite- which normally, gradually grew numb as he fed, began to burn as though I were being bitten all over again. It took me a minute to realize, as I cried out, that he was raking his fangs through my skin as he fed, tearing at the flesh and causing even more blood to run. I felt it dripping down my shoulder, my arm, falling off the curve of my elbow down the floor as it ran. 

He caught my hands when I tried to grab him-or maybe shove him- my fight suddenly reignited by the pain. I didn’t fight the tears anymore, I let them fall. They ran down the side of my face to my neck, the salt stinging the wound that now spanned the entire side of my neck. 

Gabriel pulled away after a few agonizing minutes. I stared up at him, at the red that stained the skin around his mouth. My blood. He was normally so clean about it... Stunned, I looked down at my arm, then to the floor, where a small pool of blood had gathered on the hardwood near my feet and was steadily growing larger. I was still bleeding.

My vision narrowed, and the small pool of blood seemed to grow quite suddenly. When my knees gave way, Gabriel caught me by the arms, then dumped me onto the nearby couch where he shoved the side of his hand in between my lips. The slightly coppery tang hit my tongue before I realized he was giving me blood. Reluctantly, I swallowed, my eyes never leaving the pool of blood on the floor. Every time I blinked, the floor changed. Concrete one blink. Cream colored carpet the next. Then back to the original hardwood. I didn’t even taste the blood as it flowed freely into my mouth, lighting a fiery trail down the back of my throat and into my chest. 

When Gabriel pulled his hand away, I closed my eyes, wondering if I could make it across the rug and into the fire before he could catch me. The darkness swallowed me whole before I could try.  

I woke in the familiar darkness of my room, tucked into my bed with no memory of how I’d gotten there. My shirt sleeve felt stiff, and I sat up. Tracing my fingers down my arm, I realized that it was dried blood. Still half asleep, I got up, blindly pulled clothes from my dresser, and stumbled across the hallway in the darkness toward the bathroom.

It took a while to locate the switch, but soon, harsh white light flooded the room. 

In my state, it took longer than normal to wash the blood that stained my skin. I refused to look down at the drain, where I’m sure the pink tinged water swirled a bit before being carried away down the drain.

I left the light in the bathroom on in order to more easily find my way back to my room. The hallway still appeared empty, but somehow I could sense that I wasn’t alone in the apartment. Something told me that my door would have been locked if I were.

When I returned to my room, I noticed the tall glass on the dresser. I picked it up, noting that it still felt chilled. Somehow I knew it hadn’t been there when I first woke up. I accepted the ominous command and raised the glass to my lips. Quickly, I gulped down the sickly sweet orange juice- the entire glass, before I turned and collapsed back into the bed. 

Immediately, I yelped. There was something solid and rather pointy in my bed, just below my pillow where I was sure I’d been laying before. Scowling, I picked the book up and was about to toss it onto the dresser, before the cover caught my eye.

I brought it closer to my face, angling it so that the light spilling in from the bathroom illuminated the cover. I’d never seen this book before- it was a new book that must have been delivered along with the orange juice.

The confusion flooded through me. But the exhaustion was still there. Hesitantly, I set the book on the side of the bed, and laid back down, staring at the still illuminated doorway. After a while, familiar sounding footsteps could be heard approaching my room.They paused, and the light in the bathroom went out, bathing the room in darkness once more. Not long after, I heard my bedroom door slowly creaking shut. Then, the footsteps faded back down the hall.

I breathed out and pulled the blanket tight across my shoulders as I rolled over, returning to my nightmares.