Enjoy

xo

Chapter 6

Blood Lust

They'd been travelling for a good few hours in silence, aside from the nervous sobs of the HYDRA soldier they forced to march in the centre of their ranks. Sarah dragged up the rear, keeping a fair few paces behind them, moving in the shadows of the trees caused by the moonlight.

They took a break after a good five hours of walking, stepping off the road they were walking along to rest amongst the trees, out of sight. Dernier was beginning to struggle with his knee and Bucky looked around for Sarah. He saw sitting under a tree a good ten metres away from anyone else, darkness covering all her features from being seen, the only thing that gave away her position was the red of her eyes piercing through the darkness.

He made his way over to her, stopping in front of her. Her eyes didn't move to look at him. "Sarah, Dernier could use some dressing on his knee," he said, bending slightly to try and meet her gaze. He saw her eyes shift slightly, and she leant forward into the moonlight and what he saw made his breath hitch in his throat.

As he looked upon her face, all the wounds she had suffered fighting against HYDRA had mostly vanished and her skin appeared to be smooth once again, just the tiniest of slivers of a wound on her cheek. Her fangs still protruded from beneath her top lip and her eyes seemed to have become a little more crimson as the night had progressed.

"Does he want ME to treat him?" she asked quietly, her face void of any expression once again.

"There's no one here who can do it properly," Bucky replied, being careful to keep his voice even and calm, regardless of his surprise. It was half true, she was the properly trained medic, the others could certainly do the job, but it was her specialty.

She sighed and stood, brushing herself off before beginning to pull bandages from a bag she kept strapped around her waist. She moved silently toward the spot where Dernier and Jones were resting, Dernier's injured leg out straight in front of him.

When they saw her approaching, Jones sat up straighter, eyeing Sarah nervously, while Dernier simply smiled at her. She crouched down beside Dernier, occasionally murmuring to him in French, not meeting anyone's eyes, although Bucky was sure she was well aware that everyone was watching her.

She finally patted Dernier on the boot, moving to stand up.

"Je vous remercie," he said very quickly, still smiling at her. She gave a slight grimace. "je suis content que tu sois là."

She raised her eyebrows at that, giving a small smile in return but saying nothing as she turned her back and returned to her post. Bucky looked from Sarah to Dernier, before moving to sit next to Jones. "What did he say to her?"

Jones seemed hesitant to reply at first but answered quietly. "He said thank you, and I'm glad you're here."

That made Bucky smile slightly, glancing back towards Sarah, sitting in the darkness.

"Is she…" Jones began to ask.

"Our medic? Yes. Yes, she is." Bucky looked pointedly at Jones. His eyebrows raised slightly in response, before glancing back towards the darkness where Sarah was no doubt watching and listening. Jones gave a small smile, nodding.

Steve set them off marching back towards base again, the sun was beginning to rise above the trees, the morning light beginning to flow through the sparse branches of the pine trees around them. They weren't far from base now, and Morita had radioed through to SSR to let them know they weren't far out with an injured team member and captive. Phillips was sending someone out to meet them, but they were still a few kilometres off meeting them, for their safety.

Jones was still hanging back from the team, although all her wounds had healed throughout the night and she looked reasonably normal again, apart from the teeth and eyes. Steve had noticed in the morning when she reported in to check on everyone for any wounds or frostbite that her eyes had become an even darker red, all signs of the brown he had seen there in their first meeting completely gone. She also seemed very lethargic, her features gaunt in the early morning light.

He glanced back to check on her, noticing that she had dropped further back than she had before. Bucky, who was walking beside him, also looked back, his face immediately concerned when he saw her. He began to slow, almost stopping to wait for her to catch up. She looked up towards them, grimacing slightly as she approached Bucky.

He saw Bucky say something to her but couldn't quite catch what it was he said. What he did catch was the moment she began to pitch forward, collapsing to her knees.

"Whoa! Jones!" he shouted, calling everyone's attention to the medic. He sprinted back as Bucky was quick to reach down, stopping her from falling further onto her front. He held her up, bending down slightly so he could try and look at her face as Steve quickly knelt down in front of them.

"Sarah, what's going on? Are you okay?" Bucky asked, concern evident in his questions and face as he peered at her.

"Get away, it's not safe," she said between shallow breaths. She seemed to be struggling with something, staring off between the two of them.

"What's not safe?" Steve demanded, trying to sit Jones up onto her knees, but she leaned forward again, putting her hands onto the ground. He noticed she seemed to grip at the ground with her nails, her black hair falling across face and hiding a majority of her features, but he could see that she seemed to be in some form of pain. "Are you hurt?"

"You need…to…get…away…me."

"Sarah, we can help you," Bucky said soothingly, grasping her on the shoulder and trying to get her to sit up. "Whatever's wrong, we can find a way to help you."

Her face shot up, exposing her face, and both Steve and Bucky could see her eyes were glowing red again and her teeth further exposed. "You can't…" she breathed. "I need blood, you have to get away from me before the blood lust takes over."

Steve glanced at Bucky, who furrowed his brow in concern. They were not prepared for this.

"How long do we have?" Bucky asked, not letting go of the medic.

"Maybe half an hour, if that. I can smell your blood, I can hear it, pumping through your veins, its…not good," she stammered, looking gravely at the ground. Bucky looked back at Steve and then back to the rest of the squad who were waiting and watching in anticipation.

Steve chewed his lip thoughtfully for a moment, considering how they were going to get out of this. "I don't suppose animal blood would tide you over?" he asked, half-jokingly. If they could at least quell the problem for the time being until they got back to base, he was happy to go along with it.

"You think I didn't consider that? The animals in this area fled the moment the war moved in," she scoffed, sitting up slightly so she could pin him with a mocking look.

"Right, of course."

Bucky seemed to be considering something, and before Steve or Jones could argue, he had begun to try and hoist Jones to her feet. "Come on, the sooner we get you to base, the better."

"Are you insane? Get away from me!" she exclaimed in exasperation, feebly trying to pull her arms from his grasp, as Bucky began to sling her arm over his shoulders. Steve looked to his friend as he tried to pull the woman to her feet, before taking her other arm and slinging it across his shoulders too, earning him an incredulous look from her. "Wha-"

"Bucky's right, the sooner we get you back, the better. Let's move."

They both began supporting her back to the base, the squad, looking somewhat relieved, as they began hightailing it back to base.

Jones sighed as she removed her fangs from the blood bag in her hands, licking her lips and then her fangs to remove any evidence of blood from her face. Already she was beginning to feel better, her instincts under control again. She glanced to her right, at the three empty bags beside her on the gurney, guilt beginning to wrack at her insides and make her feel sick. This blood could have been used for injured soldiers, but instead it was used on her. She dropped the bag on top of the pile and leant forward, putting her weight on her arms.

She retracted her fangs, running her tongue along her top lip once to ensure they were fully retracted, before moving to get up.

"Feeling better?" came a voice from the entry of the tent. She jumped, immediately lowering into a slight crouch, her fangs automatically shooting down again. She blinked when she saw Steve standing there. She pouted in annoyance, retracting her fangs again and straightening. "Sorry."

"How long were you standing there?" she demanded, eyeing him suspiciously. It wasn't often people were able to sneak up on her, humans especially, but considering she had just fed, and her instincts were now relaxed again, wasn't completely implausible.

"Long enough to see you looking miserable," he answered honestly, motioning to the pile of empty bags on the gurney. She bit her lip in response, grimacing as she looked back to him. "Care to explain?"

"Did the Colonel not already tell you?" she retorted in annoyance, certain that he would have gone to the Colonel demanding answers.

Steve smiled sympathetically. "I figured it would be better hearing it from you. I'm sure you had your reasons for not telling me sooner?"

"I tried to, remember? In the bar?" She picked up the empty bags, moving to dump them in the bin, the residual smell of blood making her feel ill in the stomach again. As soon as they were in the bin, she caught the familiar scent of Bucky, hearing his footsteps approaching the tent. She groaned, causing Steve to raise his eyebrows expectantly.

"Sarah!" he called, appearing behind Steve, causing the super soldier to look at him in surprise. "Are you okay, Sarah?"

She sighed and scratched the back of her neck, closing her eyes while she tried to quell her frustration at the men before her. This was not going anything like she had imagined it would. "I'm fine, thank you."

"That's a relief," Bucky said smiling, moving to walk into the tent, but Steve put a hand across him, giving a small shake of his head. It made Jones smirk slightly. Steve was scared of her, but strangely, Bucky wasn't. Bucky pinned Steve with an annoyed glare, but Steve didn't remove his hand.

"Buck, I was just going to have a private chat with the Lieutenant."

"Why shouldn't he listen in, Captain? It affects him too, doesn't it? The whole squad should be here for it, that way they can all voice their concerns about having a monster on the team. Even though I did warn you." She pinned him with a somber look, the weight of her own words weighing heavily on her.

"That's not what I meant, Jones, I just want to know what exactly I'm dealing with," Steve replied calmly, looking pointedly at her.

Bucky looked between the two, frowning slightly before he spoke again. "No one thinks of you as a monster, Sarah. You saved all of us. Your method is a little…different, but it gets the job done."

She gaped at Bucky for a moment. Different. That's the term he used? Of all the words he could have used, different was the best he could come up with. And it was the one word that was never used to describe her kind.

She saw Steve smirk slightly as he folded his arms across his chest, his biceps forcing his uniform to the brink of existence. "So, care to tell us about it?" Steve asked, giving her a sympathetic smile again.

She sighed, motioning for the pair of them to come inside the tent as she sat back on the gurney while the pair pulled up a couple chairs inside the aid tent.

"I guess I don't need to tell you what I am. The looks on your faces told me you've all seen the movies," she said with a sly smile. Both looked apologetic but didn't respond to her jab. "In my home country of Thailand, or as it was known when I was born, Siam, we are called Phi Song Nang, or in your tongue, vampire."

"Siam? Wait…wasn't there a book about that place?" Bucky asked, looking thoughtful and confused at the same time, which Jones found quite amusing.

"It was loosely based on a tale of my family, very loosely, though."

It didn't take long until Steve's eyes went wide with realisation. "You're royalty?"

"Was," she corrected with a sigh, although smirking slightly at Steve. Trust the golden boy to have read the tale. "I was banished long ago to protect the people of the kingdom upon my father's orders. I've been roaming throughout the world since the late 1700s as a vampire, but long ago, I swore not to take the blood of the living with my own teeth. The only exception being if they thoroughly deserved it."

Bucky and Steve were both quiet, looking at Jones and it made her self-conscious. She heard familiar footsteps approaching the entrance of the tent. She scratched at the back of her neck, before clearing her throat. That seemed to snap the pair from their own thoughts.

"Okay… so how did you get here?" Steve asked, raising his eyebrows at her expectantly.

"I can answer that," came the Colonel's voice as he pushed open the tent flap, Agent Carter close behind him. Jones was quick to her feet, standing fast before the superior officer, Bucky and Steve close behind her. "At ease."

"It was actually our idea for Jones to join us here at SSR," Peggy spoke up, moving to stand beside Jones, as everyone settled down again. "Particularly after she ran into a burning building and managed to save a meagre ten family members without so much as a major injury to speak of."

Jones sighed. "Regretted it ever since," she murmured, earning her a wry smile from Peggy.

"I found her skills, although different, could prove useful at some point. And then she proved to be quite knowledgeable about medical treatment, able to sniff out problems that normal doctors couldn't," Colonel Phillips explained, standing between Jones and Steve with his arms crossed. "So, I sent her to work there until I could figure out how to better utilise her…skills."

"And that's where we came along?" Steve asked, motioning to Bucky.

"Well, you were already around…" Peggy muttered, smirking at the Colonel, earning her a warning look from the officer.

"But I wasn't really ready for this kind of thing. I'm still not sure I am," Jones explained quietly, looking sadly at the ground. "It's dangerous, being around me if I fall under blood lust."

"We're taking measures to try and figure out a way to control that," the Colonel piped up, but it seemed to annoy Jones, causing her to snap in response.

"How many times do I have to tell you? It's not something that can be controlled!"

The Colonel pressed his lips into a thin line and Jones immediately felt guilty. She tried not to raise her voice or put the edge in her voice. She hated the affect she could have on normal humans.

Steve looked at Bucky who raised his eyebrows and looked pointedly back at Steve. Jones glanced between the two, trying to decipher what they were thinking. While she knew she could easily reach out and find out for herself, but that tended to make them nervous, even without knowing what she was doing. Or give them the wrong idea.

It was interesting watching the pair though, it was like they had an unspoken language, immediately knowing what the other was thinking with only the rise of a brow or a wink.

Bucky looked back to Jones. "What do YOU want to do?"

She looked at him incredulously, her mouth slightly ajar as she stared. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly as he said, what do you want to do?" Steve repeated, smiling when she furrowed her brow at him. "Sit around here, moping about wanting to do more and dealing with the mess that comes back from the frontline or get out there and stop it before it happens?" he elaborated.

She looked away, glancing towards the bin that he had seen her drop the empty blood bags into. "But…"

"Everything else, we can deal with as it comes. It's what you want to do, that counts right now," Steve interjected.

"I'm not just something you can 'deal' with, Steve." She looked up at him finally. "And what about your men? How do we know that they even want to be near me?"

"Why don't we ask them?" Bucky asked, grinning and causing Jones to frown.

xo

Krayzee