Serpent Twins: The Fall

Red Eyes

Chapter 1: Red Eyes

Dayton’s POV:

I was leaning against the car with eyes closed, smoking quietly, alone in the dimly-lit parking lot at basement when hearing a loud squeaking tires, brakes, and banging door. I sucked hard, dropped my cigarette butt, and stepped on it, curiously turning my head to the noisy source. I couldn’t see anyone from the driveway, but I could hear faint groans and moans from far around the most corner of the parking area. I raised my eyebrow.

What the hell, who were still f*****g at parking lot these days when the hotel is upstairs?

Normally I would just keep my own goddamned business, but as I was feeling bored of waiting for hours, I took out my phone preparing to record any scenes I caught.

These people need some lessons.

I walked in stealth mode like a fool with my phone ready to record when I heard someone hissed and kissing sound echoed in the large parking lot. I started to record when seeing two shadows were pinned to each other on the wall. I got myself hidden behind the concrete column for better angle and scrunched my nose when seeing them better with one hand recording.

What the actual f**k. They are both males.

One was wearing a grey suit and the other was all black. And I left quietly back to the car in disgusted. Making a scene with two homos was the last thing I need.

Everyone knows I’m a stupid bigot.

I got in the car and intended to erase the automatically saved video, when noticing red dots in the screen. I scratched my scalp as I didn’t see that when recording. I zoomed in and almost dropped my phone in utter shock when realizing that the man who was wearing all black suit wasn’t passionately kiss the other, but he was biting the neck of the other man in grey suit, taking large gulp of blood with glowing red eyes. I rubbed my two eyes using my right hand, replaying the video.

I almost jumped in shock when suddenly my phone vibrated once. It was Mr. Knight, asking for a pick up to the lobby. My shaky hands caused it slipping down to my lap and accidentally the video was replaying. I grabbed my phone, held my breath, and turned on the car.

I need to get out of here.

When the car was on the parkway, I felt my heartbeat increased as I have to pass through the corner whereas I saw those two earlier. I looked to my left and sighed for a relief when seeing an empty corner. I stopped for a minute to look around and went up to the lobby.

Soon after seeing Mr. Dylan Knight and the raven hair secretary at the front hotel’s lobby, I quickly pulled over, got out to open the back door for him. I gave him a nod as respect and closed the door as Miss Pearson told us that she wanted the front seat, she opened the door herself before letting me to open it for her. I went to driver seat and gave apologetic look to my boss who were sitting quietly at back.

“I’m sorry for my delay, Sir,” I blurted out.

He nodded, “It’s alright. Let’s have Miss Pearson home first.”

I felt a relief as his tone was cool and calm. I would like to ask him whether he wanted to take him back home first, but I didn’t since he clearly said Miss Pearson first, so I started to drive and smiled to Miss Pearson.

“It’s at Washington Heights, Mr. Booth,” she showed me its google map on her phone.

I politely nodded, “I got it, Miss.”

I tried to set a route in my mind how to reach Miss Pearson’s apartment and then go back to the Upper East Side, when I had to stop the car for the traffic lights. It was glowing red from a far.

Just like those eyes in the basement. Were they real? Did I see real things?

I didn’t smoke any pots for fifteen years, so I doubted if I was hallucinating.

Maybe I should show the video to Mr. Knight as he isn’t superstitious person as I am. There’s no such thing as vampire, right?

I scratched my nape, experiencing the sudden chills. As the traffic light turned green, I heard front cars horning to the most front, so I took a slight left to avoid the traffic jam. I saw a black expensive sedan was stopped right in the middle of the street. It was probably broken down. I passed the car and had to postpone the urge to tell Mr. Knight about those red eyes and neck biting things until getting to less traffic road. When we were, I tried to find timing as he seemed quiet, scrolling to his phone. I exited the busy road and took Henry Hudson Parkway to avoid the downtown traffic. I took couple glances to Mr. Knight.

“Do you have something to say, Dayton?” suddenly Mr. Knight asked from behind.

I couldn’t see his face as we were already on highway with dim lights.

“No, Sir,” I replied, but on second thought I think this is my chance, “Actually yes, Sir.”

“Care to share?” he sounded like genuinely concerned.

I tried to arrange my sentences for the intro as I don’t want to be judged of having delusion before seeing the video himself, “I’m sorry, Sir. I was late because I was encountered with something weird at basement…”

I didn’t have the chance to finish my line when suddenly a car hit hard to the left back side of our car causing me to lose balance, hit the roadblock on the right side, and the airbag blew my face hard giving me a blackout for few seconds. I was woken up with spinning head and blurry sight, but I could still hear Miss Pearson’s scream.

“Miss Pearson? Mr. Knight?” I shouted their names first before looking around, trying to get my composure back.

I turned my head to the backside and saw Mr. Knight was sitting in awkward position, covered in blood, being pinched to the bent left door. There was a bumper car pinned to the side whereas Mr. Knight was pinched. The front passenger’s door was already opened wide, with Miss Pearson was nowhere in sight. I heard Miss Pearson’s sob from the outside, I quickly tried to unbuckle my seatbelt but it was jammed.

“Please, don’t come any closer!” she cried out.

My mind went wild as the situation appeared to be intentional crash. I tried again to unbuckle and succeed.

“Miss Pearson?’ I yelled, reaching out to opened front dashboard’s compartment to find my gun, but I couldn’t find it, and the compartment was almost empty, instead I felt a dowel stick in diameter of seven inch that I took from Mr. Knight’s warehouse this morning for my daughter’s school project. I grabbed it and pulled out my limp right foot to the left door, as the right side of the car was pinned to the concrete roadblock. I no longer hear her voice. My heart was beating crazily, I clutched on the wooden dowel stick.

When I was about to go out from the car, I started to hear sirens roaring from far, but I could sense a dangerous shadow with a hissing sound approaching fast, remind me of the thing at the basement. So, using all of my strength I stabbed the shadow hard. He was a man, a young man in black suit. He was growling angry with glowing red eyes, I had never felt this scared in my whole life as I was trembling when he grabbed by my arm and tossed me out like a feather. I landed on the asphalt hard, badly injured on my head and hips. The last thing I remembered was another two shadows circling and I felt my neck roughly pulling up with burning sense with my daughter’s face flashed in my mind.

Kimberly’s POV:

I took a glance at my wrist watch, it was 08:55 p.m., thirty minutes after my fourth surgery ended, only three hours before my birthday. A lonely birthday this time. I sighed heavily, putting the pen down on the desk to have my arms up above my head, relaxing stiff muscles after sitting, checking out several reports for half an hour after performing four surgeries from morning until evening.

My mind was drifting to same hour last year, when I was excited to have birthday surprise from my boyfriend, Daniel Bradshaw, and when he got on his knee proposing with big diamond rock ring in front of my dad and friends. The happiness lasted only few hours before I caught him cheating with Esther Lee, his former girlfriend, at his prestigious plastic surgery clinic during lunch time. That jerk did it in his unlocked office, they were sitting on big couch with hers on top of his groin, not knowing that I came to surprise him in return of birthday surprise he gave me. Strangely I didn’t even cry when shoving back his worth fortune diamond ring to his hand, still Esther dared to make an excuse since I didn’t give myself to him, he had to fulfill his needs somewhere else.

What a couple douche bags.

I should have thrown away the lunch box I brought to their faces instead of taking it back with me. He tried to meet me everywhere and even to get my divorced parents involved five months ago, yet I stood for my final decision. No room for cheater. He was my first boyfriend I met through my senior colleague in Baltimore, rumored to be a womanizer, but since he had never pushed himself during our dates, being the gentleman all the time, I thought it was just rumor, so I gave into the relationship after dating for two months. I just couldn’t believe I would fall for someone exactly like my father. The only good thing was that I miraculously managed to keep myself untainted for seven months of our relationship.

Thank God.

I have never been actually in love with him, so I suffered nothing, but humiliation.

I sighed and closed my eyes for few seconds to relax my eyes. When I was about to get back to the notebook and files on desk, I heard two knocks on my office door.

“Come in,” I said.

A male nurse wearing his blue uniform came in bringing file folders. It was Glenn, my assistant. He was quite tall with blue eyes and brown hair, charming face and personality, only a year older than me, but his wife was already expecting. He came over and put the files on my desk.

“You were looking like s**t, Doc,” he chuckled.

I smiled feebly, knowing that he didn’t really mean to say bad thing as he always mocked me when I was working late. Glenn kept refusing to call me by name at work even though I asked him countless times to call me Kimberly or Kimmy like my other colleagues.

“How could you keep covering Doctor Robert’s duty, I pity you. You should spend birthday night with new boyfriend instead of getting double shift,” he continued to scold and raised his thick raven eyebrow in displeased.

“Speak to yourself, Glenn,” I mocked him back.

He knew I wasn’t into anyone and never interested to talk about it, but he was actually like a brother to me, we’ve been working together for nearly three years and comforted me during rough days.

Glenn raised his two hands up, “Hey, I need the money for my preggo wife and unborn child here. I need the overtime pay,” he laughed.

Just when I intended to get back at him, my cellphone on my desk was ringing, I grabbed it and heard loud voice from ceiling speaker.

“Doctor Vanderwood, to ER immediately,” a woman’s voice echoed.

I stood up, along with Glenn hurriedly to ER. I picked up the call before closing the door behind and caught up to Glenn’s walking pace.

“Yes?” I answered.

“Kimmy, we’re going to receive four Caucasians, three males and one female from car crash. We need help here,” Dr. Bradley told in distressed voice, my senior from med school in Baltimore who was attending doctor in ER, his friend at P&S was one who introduced me with Daniel.

“Noted. I’m already on my way,” I hit the call end and faster my pace and got hand sanitizer next to elevator’s wall and put on my gloves.

The moment when I arrived at hectic ER in three minutes later, several paramedics were standing near the entrance, a stretcher cart pushed down the hall passing us to a bank of elevators with a body covered in white sheet on it, a body was moved to the bed, and another on the right with medical staffs swarming all over the bed, attaching the life supports and hemodynamic monitor to the body on my right. Entrance door was then abruptly opened bringing another trolley bed with Dr. Avery and two male nurses.

I spotted Dr. Bradley, in his early thirties wearing glasses, peeking out behind the cubicle curtain that was barely covering the bed. He handed me a file on clipped board.

“I’m sorry, we’re out of hands, Kimmy. One was taken to the morgue just now, with multiple fractures, male in his forties. Just please help me checking for the next bed, female, around twenties with multiple fractures and possibly internal hemorrhage, while I’m with the third one here,” he requested.

I saw sweats building up on his forehead. I nodded and widely opened the cubicle curtain on my left and saw Glenn already there, checking the patient’s pulse from her right wrist. Two resident doctors with a female nurse came circling the bed.

“Vital?” I asked to Glenn.

“I’m sorry we just came after being called and didn’t have a chance to check her, Doctor Vanderwood,” a resident doctor only a little younger than me informed.

I nodded to him, understood the situation.

“It’s either DOA or BID, Doc,” Glenn shook his head.

I was no longer seeing paramedics to ask, so I lifted her left wrist to check the pulse myself, it was none. I checked her two eyes and those hazel were no longer responsive. We had lost her. I glanced to the defibrillator on the tray table, feeling hopeless for this brought in dead patient, until I saw there were black and purple bruises all over the body. She was around early twenties with black hair in pony tail. She was young and beautiful, but looking badly pale as I saw her dried tears, cuts, scratches, and swollen cheek and lips. I felt sad for her.

“Scissor,” I raised my palm to female resident next to trolley tray.

She handed me a scissor and I carefully used it to tear off her jumpsuit from the chest area, I stopped, noticing slightly bruised mark on her left chest.

“Help me, please,” I asked to the male resident next to me to tilt the body to the right side to examine her back.

Using scissor, I made a long cut from collar down to her back when noticing her left back was ripped off. I lifted up the top and gasped.

“The heart, where is it?” I murmured in shock.

She had messy hole on her left backside whereas the heart was supposedly existed. With such damage, she should be soaking in blood, but oddly the blood spatter was quite minimum, only at left chest area.

“Was it caused by heavy caliber weapon, Doc?” Glenn asked with a bit peachy voice.

I shook my head, “Let it be the forensic to judge, Glenn. Please help…” I glanced to another female resident next to Glenn.

“It’s Anne,” she said a bit trembling.

“Okay, please help Anne to tag and send her to the morgue, Glenn,” I ordered.

“Okay, Doc,” they answered in unison.

Anne gave me back the file and I put signature on it. Then I intended to see Dr. Bradley’s patient behind with mixed up feeling as the missing heart didn’t fit with car crash.

When I was walking to Dr. Bradley’s side, I noticed a male nurse was pushing the stretcher cart to the elevator with a body covered with a white sheet.

I called him to stop, “Excuse me, where are you taking to?” I curiously asked and came to him.

“To the morgue, Doc. BID. He was presumed dead by Doctor Avery,” he explained.

His name was Marcus, I glanced to name badge on his chest. He was in thirties with big muscular body and thick neat beard.

I had no idea suddenly blurting out to response, “May I take a look?” and hold the tip of white sheet near the presumably head of the body.

Marcus was a bit surprised but nodded, “Sure, Doc,” then picked up the white sheet.

The body was a male, around my age, handsome, very handsome with neatly gelled back blonde hair, probably six feet two inches considering the length of his tall figure occupied the bed. He was lean, good physical condition, wearing a designer black suit, but very pale, like really pale, but strangely the lips were reddish pink. It was very uncommon condition, I was wondering if he was really related to the car crash because he was just too clean, but cold dead, I added to myself. I touched the left eyelid and the cloudy green eyeball was staring blank. I closed it back respectfully and lifted up the white sheet furthermore to chest area and noticed there was a foreign object stabbed into his left chest, to the heart.

What is it? Looks like a wooden pole or stake?

I brought my face close on the chest examining the stake was torn right into the black suit without trace of blood. I furrowed my brows in confusion and sighed for his unfortunate life, then nodded to Marcus who kept staring at me curiously, signaling I was done checking. I lifted up the white sheet to cover the body back while staring at the dead face. I just couldn’t stop staring at him for unknown reason. If he wasn’t this pale and stabbed, I would assume he was just sleeping. When the sheet was on the bridge of his nose, suddenly the eyes were opened, green eyes glowing in red were staring at me. I yelped and jumped back a few steps, letting go off the sheet. I almost fell on my kitten heels.

“What’s wrong, Doc?” Marcus instantly looked at the dead body and then to my face in confusion.

“He... his eyes,” I stuttered and pointed to the dead body’s face.

They were tightly closed. Cold and died. I blinked my eyes in disbelief and suddenly got goosebumps, like a wind chill had just flown to my neck and spine. I shuddered and scrubbed my hands forgetting I was wearing gloves. My heart was beating so fast, I hold my left chest to feel it and exhaled deeply.

“Doctor Vanderwood?” he asked. Apparently, Marcus was waiting for my words in worried face.

“Ah, sorry, I’m just startled for nothing. Please proceed,” I told him and weakly smiled.

His brows furrowed deeper, “Are you sure alright, Doc?”

“Yes. Thank you,” I answered and nodded to reassure.

He smiled and put the white sheet up until the dead body’s head was completely covered and pushed the elevator button to descend. I was almost running back to Dr. Bradley’s when he called me out.

“Kimmy, I need you in OR!” he shouted out.

I was watching him and two female nurses have started to remove the trolley bed. Dr. Avery, a female in her early thirties was with them. We glanced and exchanged small nodded to each other.

“What do we have here?” I asked him.

“He has just woken up but spatting a blood clot. I think he’s suffering for internal bleeding or fractures. The shoulder’s cut wasn’t the main cause of his unconsciousness. I already asked for anesthesiologist to assist you, just in case. And I’ll go with you after this,” he uttered.

I nodded, glancing twice to the patient, recognizing the familiar figure.

Oh, my God.Dylan Knight.

He is the Dylan Knight, the most strikingly gorgeous billionaire bachelor. I met him once when I was attending dinner charity with Daniel last year.

“Bradley, is that?” I asked.

“Yes, it’s Mr. Dylan Knight. The cops brought him first here while the rest were with ambulance, they have informed the parents,” he told me before I finished my question.

“Okay, I need you to run a blood test and let’s have him scan first, I’ll be ready in eight,” I spoke while following them down to the hall but parting ways inside the operating room as I entered the scrub room to follow the operating theatre protocols first while they went to scan him.

Before changing into green surgical attire, a female nurse, Malory, came to me bringing Informed Consent.

“Mr. Knight’s guardian has arrived, Doc,” she told and made gesture to follow her out of the room.

A young man around my age, good looking one with dark brown hair and wary blue eyes, wearing all navy jacket over shirt and dark jeans, came over me. There were some people wearing dark suits behind him.

“I’m Ryan Knight, Doctor. How’s my brother?” he offered his hands.

I noticed he was appointed as second guardian after parents. I took his hands and smiled to comfort then explained that he was needed to sign the Informed Consent before surgery. I explained briefly about his brother’s condition as well surgery’s complications if any. He was quiet and nodded a lot, mumbling that their parents were in Philadelphia and they would be here in less than an hour by jet. I patted his shoulder and excused myself with Malory to perform the surgery.

I actually felt a bit relief since most high profiled people usually requested more experienced and well-known surgeon for their family, but they probably let me because my availability during essential time. I inhaled heavily, not feeling burden but more like greatly hope that at least this Dylan Knight should be alive, to have better destiny than the other three. My heart beat frantically after washing up my hands and putting on personal protective equipment with surgical headlight. I tried to calm my mind with deep inhale and exhale several times as my mind wildly drifted to the patients with missing heart and stabbed heart. I shouldn’t make any mistakes, fisting my fingers.

Alexander’s POV:

I was hearing all commotion around me, smelling all kind of harsh odors, typical hospital odors, I cursed while I was laying down here on the bed, playing dead. I was trying hard to contain the urge to rip off all those noisy smelly sources, to sort and concentrate on the faint heartbeat laying in the middle of those stupid humans when suddenly I heard different heartbeat and scent coming.

Sweet scent.

I tried to map the source in the dark. It was a female human.

“Scissor,” she said.

Her voice was soft but firm, until I heard her heartbeat increased, I could smell a slight fear when she stuttered, “The heart, where is it?”

I heard two humans speaking above me and they even touched my body here and there, checking my pulse and all stuffs I no longer reallycare, because I was trying to follow the heartbeat and scent of that sweet human, listening to her voice, but she didn’t talk much. I felt a thin blanket smelled like cheap bleach covering my body and I was being lifted to a metal stretcher.

When someone pushing me farther from the sweet scent, I heard she spoke and then spoke even closer. Suddenly my heart I thought I don’t have fuckingbeating. I felt a slight pain since my heart was practically pierced by this damned stake. But it was beating, and I could also hear her heartbeat quite loud. Her scent was intoxicatingly sweet. I tried so hard to close my mouth when she almost touched my hair.

Okay.

She thought I was handsome. She even had a pity on me. I wanted to smugly smirk for her naïve thought, but I could also hear another mind saying dirty things about this sweet scent human, I assumed the male human that was pushing the stretcher earlier.

Damned lowlife human.

He dared saying what to do with the mouth and imagining her two legs. This worthless human needed to behead. I was in rage, but I had to see this sweet scent human. I had to see what was she like, I couldn’t take it anymore when absorbing her faint fruity breath all over my face, so I opened my eyes for a second.

She yelled in shock. This human was beautiful. She has big blue eyes, striking blue, staring at me widely with fear, a brunette with hint of copper in a bun. She was indeed beautiful and her heartbeat almost made me deaf.

“He... his eyes.”

My, even her voice was so tempting.

Then I heard a cough and stronger heartbeat from human on the bed few meters from me. Damned. I almost blew up my plan, the reason why I was playing dead corpse here. I just don’t make mistake and now I made huge one here.