VI
I dash through the rooftops, perceiving as nothing more than a blur to any humans that might catch my shadow. I Would be faster but I'm still injured. Violet's right arm is hanging on my neck and her pain makes her dig her nails into my neck. I can see the house now and I speed up. I almost kick the front doors off their hinges.
"Who's there!" Dimitri calls. I ignore him and make my way to Dr. Crane's office.
"Hey! Wait!" Dimitri calls again.
I knock on Crane's door with my foot.
"Doctor! We have an emergency!" I yell, Violet screams again digging her nails in my neck again. Crane opens the door in a panic.
"What, what's going on?" He said, i rush Violet to a bed.
"She was struck by a poison oil knife." I said.
"Oh dear that sounds bad, let's see the damage." Crane said. I take off Violet's jacket. She is still clutching the wound spot.
"Violet, we need you to move you arms up ok?" i ask her, she shakes her head no.
"It hurts to much.. I can't let go.. " she said.
"Just hold on to my arm Vi, it's the same thing." I know it makes no sense but it worked. I guess the poison is starting to effect her mind. She grips my right arm very tight. I pull up her shirt with my left.
"Ho-ly-Shit.. " i say.
"Indeed." Crane responds.
"What? Is it bad?" Violet asks in a panic.
"It's nothing we can't handle, Vi. Your going to be ok." I asure her. The wound wasn't healing and the skin around it was pale and get vanes were visible under her skin.
"Have you seen anything like this before, doc?"
"Not exactly, but similar. I'm going to need a sample of her blood and run it through some tests. In the mean time, try and feed her some blood." Crane takes an empty syringe and needle and pokes it into the wound. Violet stars freaking out and screaming, almost breaking my arm.
"Stop! Please! It hurts!" She screams.
"Please, try to keep her still!" Crane says
"Calm down Vi, relax. Hey, look at me. Look at me, it's going to be ok. It's only going to last a moment." I tell her. I hold her waist down. "Go ahead, Doc." He tries again, Violet can't help but struggle, but she is weak from the poison. She screams the whole time Doc is extracting the sample. The blood in the syringe looked black.
"Good, now try to feed her." Crane said.
"Yeah." I try to get up and get the blood but Violet wont let me go.
"Please don't leave me.. " She said in a weak voice with tears.
"Don't worry, I'll be right back." I say slipping my arm out. I get some blood in a cup with a bending straw. I try to feed her.
"Here you go, I know how much you love bendy straws." She smiles and drinks some.
I pull up a chair next to her bed and hold her hand. She's fading, she's going to be unconscious soon. I've never seen her like this before. I'm flooded with memories of when we met.
(Flashback 1920)
It was a day or two after I had become a newborn. All newborns are kept in the basements in case they cant handle the pain of the physical changes. Your gums will be intensely sore as your fangs come in. Being able to hear everything without the luxury of tuning it out. Your skin so sensitive that a slight breeze would have an icy burn. Your eyes sensitive to even dim lights, and the seemingly endless thirst for blood. All these factors can weigh heavily on a mind. We are made as comfortable as possible with the basements being as furnished and put together as the rest of the house, minus a fridge full of blood naturally, they come feed us 4 times a day. The basements has enough room to house 30 or so newborns with bedrooms, bathrooms and living spaces. Being my third day I was far from a stable state of mind, much like everyone else. There had already been a few confrontations where a newborn got ripped apart just because she sneezed too loud and those who did it were put down because they were a danger to everyone else. I've always kept to myself never talked, never got involved. Until one day i noticed a girl with brown, mid length curly hair curled up in the corner of the main living room weaping. I go sit next to her.
"Hey, how are you holding up?" I ask her. She peeks her head up and looks at me, tears all down her face.
"What does it look like?! I'm falling apart!" she yells.
"No your not, you've lasted longer than most of these people." I put my hand on her shoulder and she violently flinches.
"No!..everything hurts..." She cries.
"Yeah sorry." i say. She looks at me, trembling.
"How are you so calm? Aren't you in any pain?" she asks.
"Not as much as everyone else. When i initially changed i was unconscious and recovering from injuries. By time i awoke, my fangs had come in and my skin was only tender. Now I'm just dealing with the noise and light.. And thirst. It's still not that easy but its manageable." I stand up and offer my hand. "Come on, you gotta move." She looks at me confused.
"Why..?"
"You need to push through the pain. It won't go away easily with just time." I say. She looks at my hand, then back up to my eyes. She takes my hand and struggles to stand.
"What's your name?" I ask as I help her walk down the hall.
"Teresa."
"It's a pleasure, I'm Chris."
"Where are we going..?" she says as we pass a few vampires glaring at us.
"There's a place i like to go when things get rough. I think you'll like it." I smile at her.
"Where is it?"
"You'll see." We get to the far end of the hall and go through a door on the left. We go in and close the door behind us. There is a door to the back yard with rising stairs leading above ground.
"How did you find this, shouldn't the door be locked?" She asked.
"Haha, it was until i got too nosey. This is a little out of the way for an on edge vampire to care about." I say a we exit the basements. She takes a deep breath.
"Oh my.. " she whispers.
"Fresh air feels good right?"
"Sooo good.." She says. I let her drink it in for a moment. That was the first time i saw her smile.
"Are you ready?" I ask.
"For what?"
"To go to the spot? "
"Uhhh, where? " She asks. I point up. "How do you expect to get me up there?"
"I'll carry you." I laugh
"That doesn't answer the question." she says. I turn around.
"Hop on." I said.
"Seriously? " she asked with a chuckle.
"Yeah seriously."
"O..K.. " She hops on my back. "Take it easy alright?"
"You got it, your magesty." I secure her legs, I notice her eyes are shut tight. I make the 3 story jump in one shot.
"I was honestly not expecting to be able to do that." I say with a laugh. I let her down on the flat roof.
"Why would you try that with doubts!?"
"I didn't really think about it." I say. She's looking at me with the straightest face.
"Haha, relax and enjoy the view." I step to the side, or of the way. The city glowing and the stars are strong.
"It is nice... " She says as we sit. "Is this it..?"
"Not just the view, have you noticed the noise? Its almost a void, aside from the animals and leaves but is soothing." I said. I saw the realization hit her face, she deeply inhaled and slowly leaned back to lay down.
"My head.. Still hurts, but.. " She said faintly.
"Yea it's priceless..." I say looking at the sky. There were a few crows hanging around me on the roof.
"Are the crows here all the time?" she asks leaning up.
"Not this many but usually at least one, why? "
"They seem to like you." She replied. One perched it's self on my shoulder. I turn to look at it and it caws in my face.
"Yeahh, they love me haha."
"I think I'm going to call you Corvo." She says smiling.
"Why is that..?"
"New life, new name. And i never liked the name Chris." She laughed.
"Gee thanks." I laugh and look to my right at the garden. "I'm renaming you to then."
"Oh really now? What?" She asks with a confused look. I put my finger to my lips like shhh. I stand up and step of the roof. The crows flutter away. When i hit the ground i collapse.
"Oh my God are you alright?! " she says poking her head over the roof.
"Yeah yeah I'm OK, just kinda over did it! Don't look! I'll be back in a second!" I fix myself up and pick a flower growing on tge vines on the fence of the garden, i put the stem in my mouth so i could climb the windows back up.
"Violet..." I say presenting the flower to her.
"Uhh..This isn't a violet, it's a morning glory." she says laughing.
"Well the color is more the point..."
"Yea but the color on this morning glory is more of a royal purple." She giggles. I pause for a moment.
"OK I'll just keep this then." I say pulling my arm back.
"No! No...I still want it!" She grabs my wrist with her right hand and takes the flower with her left. "I was just saying.." She said holding it close.
"Your welcome.. Violet."
"Thank you.. Corvo."
From then on we've always looked out for each other, weather it was a fight or a hunt or just someone to talk to and hang out with we were always there for each other. Attached at the hip mother would say. When she ran away from the Abbandonato House, I was the one who found her. When I went rouge for a while, she was the only one who was able to bring me back. Its been over 100 years since then. I can't imagine life without her.
(Present Day 2022)
I can't stand to see her like this. Its about 4'o'clock now and the pale skin and vanes have spread to cover her stomach.
"Any progress Doc? " I ask staring at Violet.
"I nothing like a cure but, progress." He replied looking through a microscope.
"We can't just wait for experiments, we need a solution now!"
"What would you have me do, make science go faster?..Look i know this is a tough time for you, i know but you have to try to be patient."
"I can't afford to be patient! We don't know what this is, it could end her for all we know!" I yell as i stand up.
"There's nothing we can do besides wait for to me figure out a cure."
"No..no maybe.. there is one already." I kiss Violet's hand and head to the door.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Crane said.
"If Johnny had the poison, he must know if a cure. I'm going to go...ask."
"Go if you must but control yourself. We don't want a repeat of '93!" He said as i left the room. I run down the hall and up to my room in a matter of seconds. I open my door and throw my knife, getting it stuck in the wall. I go into my closet and grab my black katana. To avoid anyone stopping me, i leave through the window. It's still daytime so i have to be careful not to be seen by anyone. Its common knowledge to vampires that the Impero family own most of the clubs and party spots in the city, so I'm going to their most popular club, "The Vanilla Bar", to get some answers. The Vanilla Bar is an old warehouse covered into a strip club, you couldn't tell from the inside though.