Ezra woke to Lillian still cuddled close against him. He
lay there for a moment, her arm a lead
weight across his chest. She looked so peaceful in the deadened state of
vampire slumber. He almost wished she didn’t have to wake up and face her
emotions. But she was still a new-born, which meant she still had a few
blissful hours of sleep before her body and mind became active again.
A twinge
in his stomach and a pressure in his gums had him finally crawling out of bed
and plodding down the stairs. To his surprise, Gabriel was sat at the table
reading a dog-eared novel, so worn that the front cover was practically dust.
Ezra sent him a curious look before opening the fridge and noticing that there
was only one bottle of blood left. He took it out and poured around a third of
it into a saucepan.
“I
think it’s been a decade since I last saw you reading,” Ezra commented.
Behind
him, Gabriel grunted. “Trust me, it’s not ideal. But our living room is ruined
so it’s not like I can relax on the sofa and enjoy the telly.”
Ezra
turned on the hob. “You do have a TV in your room.”
“I’m
not hiding away in my room. Sucks enough being stuck in the house.”
“Hey,
we went on a drive last night.”
“Yes,
to bury a body.”
Ezra
frowned, stirring the heating blood. “Well, looks like we need to take a trip
to the butchers anyway.”
“But
we’ve only got Lillian’s coupons left. She’ll have to go.”
“I’ll
go with her.” Ezra turned. The novel was now closed on the table. “Wanna join?”
“Another
family outing?”
Ezra
smiled. “Despite the circumstances, it’s nice having us all finally on the same
page. Solidarity, you know?”
“What?
Now that our only forms of escaping this trio are either dead or scared of us?”
Ezra
turned back to the hob. “Like I said, not ideal circumstances.” Circumstances
we could have avoided if you had both just listened to me. Ezra’s jaw
clenched. His fangs unsheathed and sliced through his tongue. His own blood
exploded in his mouth, the taste mixing in with the smell of the heating animal
blood. The world tilted and he lost his footing. A familiar fuzzy feeling scratched
the backs of his eyes. The sensation that spiked right before his eyes turned
black. He steadied himself, shook his head and sheathed his fangs. The feeling
lingered then faded away. He casted a look over his shoulder but Gabriel was
too busy picking at the ruined spine of his novel to pay him any attention.
Ezra
cleared his throat and poured his blood into a mug. “Have you drunk tonight?”
“Yeah,
a little. But as soon as Lillian wakes, we should head out. Feel like I’m gonna
need more to get through the night.”
Ezra
sank down into the chair opposite Gabriel and looked down at his mug of blood.
There was still enough in the saucepan for another mugful but it definitely
wasn’t enough.
After
finishing his mug and refilling it, Ezra stood at the threshold of their living
room and casted his eyes across the mess that was still left behind. Black
blood filled the grooves of their wooden floor and he knew it was still sticky
to the touch. Pink swirls stained the paintwork on the walls and had stained
the wallpaper. The destroyed coffee table had been thrown into the basement,
but the legs were scattered about the house – makeshift weapons for them to
easily grab in case their break-in wasn’t a one-time thing. Ezra smirked,
remembering the meme that Mitch had showed him depicting that very scenario.
Gabriel
appeared at his side, gazing at the blotchy, sticky sofas longingly. He had
another mug of blood in his hand. They both sipped at their drinks.
“We’ll
be able to properly clean them, right?” asked Gabriel.
“They’ll
need a deep clean. And you know no company will set foot in our house. It’d
probably be best to just throw them out.” Ezra looked to their boarded-up
window. “Let’s just shut the door and pretend this room doesn’t exist for the
time being.”
Ezra woke Lillian
reluctantly. He had wanted to leave her alone, but the butchers would have been
shut by the time she had woken up naturally. She didn’t particularly seem pleased when Ezra
told her they had to take a trip to get more blood, noticeably wincing at the
mention of leaving the house.
Her
movements were sluggish as she left his room to get dressed. Ezra made his way
back downstairs and heated the remainder of the blood so he was able to pass it
to her as soon as she entered the kitchen. She smiled appreciatively but there
was a lack of warmth in it.
She
wandered back out of the room in search for her coat and boots.
“How’s
she doing?” Gabriel asked lowly.
“Not
great,” Ezra sighed. “She stayed in my room last night. She’s seemed to stop
crying but she feels so… lost. I reach out to her and it’s like she’s been
ripped full of holes.”
Gabriel
frowned. “I can’t imagine what she’s going through. If I hadn’t stopped myself
with Becca. If I’d…” He shook his head and folded his arms across his chest.
“Just doesn’t bare thinking about.”
The streets were
empty up until they reached the high street and even then, Ezra only noticed a
few gangs of youths lingering outside a convenience store, and a woman walking
her dog.
The
shutters of the butchers was halfway down like last time he had visited but the
three of them paused when they crossed the road and got a better look. There
were dents in the metal, like someone had gone at it with a hammer.
Ezra
entered first, followed closely by Gabriel and Lillian.
The
shop was a mess. Ezra pressed Lillian close to his back protectively as he
scanned the scene. Steaks, sausages, burgers and all other sorts of meat were strewn
about the counter and the tiled floor like someone had dived over the display.
“What
happened?” asked Gabriel.
Ezra
felt Lillian’s fingers dig into his sides through his hoodie. A fearful
whimpering sound brought his attention to the back room. He followed the sound,
keeping Gabriel and Lillian at his back. More whimpering sounded when he pulled
back the heavy plastic sheet curtain and entered the back room. Stainless steel
worktops ran along the walls. It looked like the shop had only been half
cleaned. There were still lumps of offal in the sinks, and blood smeared the
worktop. Blood droplets marred the floor tiles.
Ezra
dabbed his finger into a tiny puddle of blood and lifted it to his nose. His
fangs sprang free at the scent.
Human
blood.
He
sent a look to the other two and Gabriel read it perfectly. He took hold of
Lillian’s coat sleeve and pulled her towards him. Fear flashed in her eyes as
she lost contact with Ezra. But Gabriel held her close and took a step back
towards the doorway just as Ezra had mentally instructed.
Ezra
closed his eyes and tuned his hearing. He listened out for the whimpering and
caught a muffled voice.
“Oh,
God, please. Please, save me. Please.”
It
was coming from the walk-in fridge.
He
crossed the room and paused, his hand on the handle, before throwing open the
door.
A
terrified shriek caught him off guard. Behind him, he heard Lillian echo the
terror.
Lyle
the butcher was crouched in the corner of the fridge, a bloody cleaver clutched
in both hands. He stabbed the air, his face scrunched up in anger and fear. The
fizzling feeling hit the back of Ezra’s eyes again. He clenched his jaw to hide
his fangs.
“Come
to finish me off, eh?” he bawled.
There
was a messy wound on Lyle’s bicep. The blood was glistening. Fresh and oozing.
Ezra
lifted his palms. “We just came for the animal blood.”
Lyle
sneered. “They only told me about you three. Didn’t tell me there were more of
you. Barging in here trying to tear me to pieces. I ain’t going down without a
fight, I can promise you that!”
He
shakily got to his feet, not taking his hands off his cleaver. He jabbed it
towards Ezra some more. “C’mon then.”
Ezra
saw himself lunge. Saw himself tear open the man’s trachea. Saw his own face
red with blood.
He
shook away the invading images. His hands turned into fists by his sides as his
gums throbbed and jaw ached. That wasn’t him. He could control himself.
“I’m
not here to hurt you. Another vampire did this to you?” he asked, trying to
stay calm but his hunger climbed up his throat and added a strain in his voice.
Lyle
charged, a battle cry ripping from deep within as he swung the cleaver. Ezra
jumped back, narrowly dodging a clean slice across his middle. He sensed
commotion behind him then Lillian was at his side. Her eyes trained on Lyle’s
wound and the whites in them clouded over with inky black. Her fangs
unsheathed. Lyle cried out again and took a swipe at her. Lillian swerved and
knocked him to the ground. She went to straddle him but Ezra grabbed the hood
of her coat and tore her away, throwing her into Gabriel.
“Get
her outside!” Ezra cried and Gabriel obeyed, the two of them becoming a blur as
they sped out of the shop.
Lyle
was rolling on the floor, crying into the tiles. The cleaver had been knocked
from his hands.
Ezra
shook his head. The butcher wasn’t his problem. He had an out of control
progeny to take care of.
He
turned and paused. A cold shiver ran up his spine as Silas’ voice whispered
through his mind.
Take
care of her. You know what you have to do.
Ezra
sheathed his fangs. No. Not Lillian.
.
.
.
Outside, Gabriel had
Lillian pinned against him with her back to his chest. She writhed in his hold,
clawing at his arms to try and rip herself free. Her eyes were still black,
hollow pits; the veins beneath them thick and pulsating.
She
spotted Ezra and lashed out, fangs gnashing together like a rabid animal. Ezra
froze. He’d never seen her like this before. Her mannerisms. The way she seemed
to have taken a backseat in his own body and let something else, something feral
and savage, take the wheel. She was acting exactly like the stranger vampire
who had attacked him.
Ezra
held his palms up, trying to show her he didn’t wish her any harm. She still
thrashed against Gabriel. Gabriel’s teeth were bared as he struggled to contain
her, his fangs glinting in the light of the streetlamp.
“Lillian,
it’s me. It’s Ezra. Your Maker.” He stepped closer and she snarled, saliva
dripping from her fangs.
He
reached for their bond and winced at what he found. Their tie. It felt… tainted.
Slick with something wrong. He tried to grab hold and slipped. And on the other
end he could sense her. The holes he’d found before had filled with something
foul, like an infection in a wound.
Something
black flashed in the corner of Ezra’s eye and then Gabriel and Lillian were on
the ground. Somebody was on top of Gabriel, a knee pressed hard against his
ribs. Lillian crawled free and sprung to her feet.
The
attacker growled and sneered and snarled as it grabbed at Gabriel’s jacket. It
was another vampire. This one female with cropped black hair. Gabriel grabbed
her head, hands on either side and pushed back as her fangs inched closer and
closer to his throat.
A
garbled cry ripped from his mouth as he pressed his thumbs into her eyes. Lillian
grabbed her from behind and tore her off, throwing her against the wall of the
butchers.
Everything
was happening so fast. With their vampire speed, the fight was just a mess of
dark, blurry shapes.
Ezra
tried to focus. Tried to organise his priorities.
Lillian.
Get Lillian to safety.
Ezra
wrapped his arms around his progeny from behind. He could feel all her muscles,
heavy and solid like concrete. She managed to tear herself free and lunged at
the stranger. And then Gabriel joined in the fray. The three vampires punched
and kicked and clawed at one another. Ezra could tell Gabriel was trying to
grab Lillian to pull her away but Lillian was responding with fury. The
stranger, between the two, bit and clawed at whatever came her way.
It
was time. He had to. There was no other way.
Ezra
gulped hard. An icy sensation spread across his heart as he opened his mouth
and commanded, “Lillian, stop.”
Lillian
suddenly froze, like a toy with a dead battery. Her arms dropped to her sides
and she turned to her Maker obediently, black eyes wide and expectant.
A
scream ripped from the stranger. She spun from Gabriel and plunged her fist
straight through Lillian’s chest. Deep inside, Ezra felt their bond snap like
and elastic band -a plug ripped from its socket- as Lillian exploded.
Blood
and gore splattered so violently that Ezra was knocked into the road. He lost
his footing and fell. The back of his head cracked against the asphalt and
everything went black for a moment.
When he came to, he
opened his eyes to blurry redness. He groaned, swiping thick, lumpy blood from
his eyes. There was a hollowness in him, so stark it made him gasp and wretch.
He
pushed himself up onto his elbows, the back of his head still throbbing, and
tried to focus on his surroundings.
The
pavement looked like the butchers sink.
A
sob lodged in the back of his throat at the sight of Lillian’s coat in the
centre of the gore. He turned to find Gabriel but he was gone, along with the
stranger.
Ezra got to his feet and spun in a slow circle.
The street was empty.
He was alone.
And Lillian was dead.
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