A/N: I don't even know where this came from...
As the razor breaks my skin
I feel relief from my sin
The cut grows deep in size
I close my eyes and start to cry
Things too late I realize
And slowly I begin to die
What a lovely day to be alive! The sun was shining through the skylights, and the racers were working on their cars; on the whole, things were running pretty smoothly as far as she could see. If only she didn't have so many responsibilities around this place...
Lani hummed quietly to herself, taking inventory in the med lab of the Acceledrome. It was just something that had to be done. Basically, she was making sure they had enough gauze, antibiotics and pain medication, just in case of injuries; there was always the distinct possibility that someone could crash, so they had to have this stuff around. But as she checked the supply of bandages (?) she noticed something wrong.
There was nearly a quart of AB+ missing from the fridge.
"Huh," she whispered; "that's wierd."
Monkey munched happily on a banana, bobbing his head in time to Nine Inch Nails as he went over his checklist for the day. A little more on his plate than usual; change Rat-ified's oil, do some figuring on the new Nitrox 3 1/2 formula, work on the 'drone'. It wasn't really a drone anymore, though; Monkey reprogrammed it to be a little... dumber, and he didn't really have all the parts he needed, so it wasn't the most moblie thing in the world, but it was something to do, and Monkey had truly felt more at home in the garage than on the track. In any case, he'd decided to call him 'Sparky'.
Monkey chuckled to himself, taking another bite of his banana, and Taro eyed him strangely.
"What?"
"Nothing," the Japanese native said, shaking his head, and Lani entered their section of the garage. Taro tensed up a bit, and Monkey swallowed, smiling. She smiled back uneasily, incredibly creeped out by this particular Maniac.
"Hi," Monkey said nervously.
"Hey. Umm, this is gonna sound...wierd," she started.
Monkey's heart skipped a beat. "Yeah?"
"But do you guys know anything about the missing blood?"
His fantasy shattered, the Maniac mechanic's shoulders slumped. "Oh," he said, dissapointed, then furrowed his brow. "Wait, what?"
"Someone stole a couple pints of blood from the fridge in the infirmary."
Tork had just turned the corner, and grimaced, taken aback. "Eeeeew," he said. "That's disgusting!"
"I know, right? You think you know people! Honestly," she answered. Lani sighed. "Well, if you guys don't know anything, I guess the mystery continues. Thanks anyway!"
She walked away, but that was alright; Monkey loved the view.
Nolo sipped a glass of orange juice, handing Kurt a welding torch; the two Teku were making some minor adjustments to their cars, refilling the Nitrox tanks, nothing out of the ordinary, when Lani stepped up to them.
"Hey, guys," she said, smiling.
Nolo nodded in greeting. Kurt raised an eyebrow, then got up off his knees, dusting himself off. "Oh, hey, Lani. What's up?"
"Nothing good, as usual," she answered.
Nolo sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh, God, what now?"
"You, uh... wouldn't happen to know about some missing blood, would you?"
"What?!" Kurt exclaimed. "Oh, ha ha. Very funny."
"No, seriously!" she said. "Someone filched, like, a quart of AB+ from the med lab! It's really wierd! Not to mention creepy."
Nolo scrunched up his face in disgust. "Oh, that's just nasty. Bet it was one of those filthy Maniacs."
"Yeah, that's why I asked them first..."
Down the hall, Shirako had heard everything the three of them said, and shivered at his childhood fear of vampires. Oh, man that was gross. The young Japanese went back to the kitchen and addressed his blonde teammate. "Hey, Vert, there's a vampire among us."
The blonde nearly choked on his Cocoa Puffs. "What?!" he exclaimed, his eye twitching.
Shirako eyed him carefully before continuing. "Someone stole some blood from the med lab. I think Lani said it was AB+."
Vert relaxed, but only a little bit. "Dude, that's majorly icky," he said with a nervous laugh. "Wonder who it was?"
"That's what I intend to find out, Vert," Lani told him as she entered the room. "I'm on my way to check out the security cameras right now. This sicko's not gonna get away with this."
Vert sank in his seat almost imperceptibly. "Great," he said, taking another bite. "Just great."
Oh, God, he was so totally screwed. When they found out what he'd done... what would they think? It's not like anyone got hurt, but what he was doing was still really taboo. But he couldn't stop! Even if he wanted to, which he didn't. And sooner or later, it would get even worse. He wouldn't be able to control his thirst, maybe even start attacking people.
It made him sick, what he was becoming. How could you love something so much, and be so very disgusted by it at the same time? It was only a matter of time before they came for him.
Tears falling from his eyes, Vert sank against the wall, down to the floor, and drank down the precious red liquid from its plastic pouch, savoring every drop.
Karma gulped, looking away from the screen, and Lani shook her head.
"Oh, Vert," she said sadly.
On the monitor in front of them was footage from late the previous night, footage of the infirmary in which Vert Wheeler, a blonde haired blue eyed all American son, was shoving four units of AB+ into his jacket pockets. He stood for a moment, looking around, then took one back out, ripping off the top. He upended the pouch into his mouth, gulping it down with an ecstatic expression and licking the spilled bits from his lips and fingers.
Lani pushed her chair away, getting up. "Okay, I've seen enough," she said, and switched back to the screensver.
"What do we do?" Karma asked. He was her teammate, but she wasn't sure what she should tell the Teku. Hell, with something so out there, so dangerous, maybe she should tell the Metal Maniacs, too. "I can't believe he would do something like this. What's wrong with him?"
"It's actually a pretty common perversion."
Lani and Karma turned, gasping, to stare at Vert in the doorway.
"It's called hematohagia, or vampirism, depending on who you ask, and it's not so strange. People do it all the time."
Lani stared at him in fear, swallowing hard; "Vert, you've done some pretty gross things. But that's okay! You're sick, but we can get you help. We won't hold it against you, Vert. Please, stop this."
"You think I don't want to?!" he yelled at her. "I've tried, but it's an addiction! If I stop I'll die! I need this Lani! I need this."
He was so angry he could barely see straight, and before he realized what was going on, Taro and Porkchop were pulling him off of her. Monkey held Lani protectively, checking her pulse with a pained expression. Nolo slapped his teammate.
"Vert, what the Hell is wrong with you?!"
Vert breathed heavily, licking Lani's blood from his lips. He hadn't even realized he'd bitten her. Monkey gasped just a little and whispered softly to his not so secret love. She was lucky Karma screamed. He'd only gotten a little nip in; it wasn't the wound that had knocked her out, but his hands around her throat. Her eyes flitted open for just a second, and she moaned in Monkey's arms.
"No,don't," she whispered.
"It's alright, sweetheart, he can't hurt you anymore," he said, holding her tight. "You're gonna be just fine."
She looked up at him, confused, and lifted a hand to her neck, coughing. Lani became aware of a warm wetness on her shoulder, and looked at the blood on her hand. "What happened?"
"He bit you." As always, Taro was perfectly concise, and twisted Vert's arm as he spoke. The blonde cried out and snapped at his hand in retalliation. He hissed at his captors and Nolo shook his head.
"I thought I knew you, man. What the fuck?"
Vert looked around him, what had happened seeming unreal: Lani in Monkey's arms, Monkey too furious at Vert to enjoy it. Taro glaring daggers in his direction, Porkchop gripping his arm so tight he was cutting off the circulation. Nolo forsaking him.
Slowly he realized he was caught and began to cry.
That thing at the top has nothing to do with anything; I just heard it somewhere and it sounded cool... Yeah... I don't know...