~O~

Loran was a mess, for lack of better terms. His skin was charred where he had been struck by Zoran's attack, making it look as if he had been through a fire rather than being attacked by his own brother. Blood pooled around him on the asphalt street and continued to spread out. The gray-haired Vampire whimpered and gasped for air. Shun stood by, unsure what to do to help.

Sinclair had knelt down in the blood that circled Loran and placed a hand on the gray-haired Vampire's shoulder. "Loran, I need you to calm down. We can't help you if you're not calm." Shun knew what the Vampire Lord was doing. He was trying to get that right moment in time for Loran to make eye contact in order to put his mind at ease.

Shun recalled several times that Sinclair had done the same to him, one being after the raven-haired teen had lost all control and killed his grandfather. The memory still caused him pain, even if he knew there was nothing he could have done to prevent it from happening. Shun shook the memories away and asked Sinclair, "What do you want me to do?"

The Vampire Lord looked up from Loran to Shun and said, "Try and find something that we can use to cover his wounds to stop the bleeding so he will be able to start healing quicker." Shun looked around for something that would do the trick. His eyes scanned the area that surrounded them until they fell on a dollar store nearby. He ran up to it, seeing that all the glass in the door and windows had been shattered, more than likely during the initial attack of Zoran's Blighted Vampires.

Shun stepped through the broken door and began to hunt for something he could use to help Loran. Paper towels, cheap rags, either would work. The white tile flooring on the store was drenched in blood, just like so much of the city. Shun walked over several puddles of the crimson liquid as he scanned aisle after aisle.

At one point, he had to stop walking and leaned against a metal shelf to catch his breath; he was still exhausted from holding up the barrier. Shun took a short moment to regain some energy so he could continue on. When he felt that he had rested long enough, he continued to navigate through the abandoned store. He finally found an aisle that housed paper towels.

Most of them were knocked over on the shelves or tossed on the floor. Those on the floor had absorbed blood into them through the plastic packaging, making them useless. Shun sidestepped those and grabbed two rolls that sat on the shelf, the kind that had their own individual packaging, making them easy to carry.

He silently hoped that this would be enough to help with Loran's injuries, but if not, then they could always come back for more. However, Shun didn't really want to return to the blood-spattered store again anytime soon; all this store did was remind him how everything had gone to Hell and back in a few short hours.

With the paper towels in hand, he hurried out of the store, nearly slipping on one puddle of blood as he left out. He caught himself before falling to the floor, regained his footing, and hurried back to where he had left Sinclair. When he got back, he saw that the Vampire Lord was still tending to Loran, and still trying to use his telekinetic powers to calm the gray-haired Vampire.

Shun handed the paper towels to Sinclair and told him, "This is all I was able to find, but there's some more if this isn't enough." Sinclair nodded, a silent thanks, then tore into the packaging and began tearing off paper towels. He then placed several on Loran's bleeding wound. Almost instantly, the paper towel was soaked through. As Sinclair worked to stop the bleeding, he said, "I've been trying to calm him down, but he won't sit still long enough for me to connect with his mind.

At this point, I'm hoping he wears himself out so I'll be able to." Shun could hear the desperation in the Vampire Lord's voice, and there was good reason for it, too. Loran was too valuable to the Clan, and especially with Clan members that had sustained injuries during the fight with the Blights, he was even more necessary.

Sinclair, who was still placing paper towels on Loran's wound, looked up at Shun and said, "Could you please go and check on Alucard for me? I didn't think Loran's injuries would be so severe, so I didn't think it would take me this long to get to anyone else." Shun nodded.

"No problem," he said and hurried over to where the second-in-command still lay. Alucard, after being thrown aside like a rag-doll by Alexander, still hadn't moved. Shun knelt down beside the second-in-command and was able to see a thin line of blood trailing down from his forehead. Alucard's right forearm also appeared to be broken, something that would take some time to heal, seeing as he was part human. Carefully, Shun placed two fingers on the second-in-command's neck and felt a faint pulse, the sign of life.

Turning around to face Sinclair, Shun said, "He's alive, just unconscious. A few broken bones, but I believe that's it." Sinclair nodded and said, "Good…..Good." Shun stood up and returned to Sinclair's side. He noticed that Loran's bleeding had let up some, and relief washed over Shun. He at least knew now that there was some progress being made.

Loran had also stopped his writhing, which gave Sinclair the perfect chance to shut down the gray-haired Vampire's mind, and he took it. Loran's gray eyes instantly gazed over and stared off far into the distance. His breathing slowed and relaxed, and the pain that had been twisted on his face also began to vanish. Sinclair wiped sweat from his forehead and said, "There, that's done."

Loran's vacant gaze then shifted to something far behind Shun, and in a slurred voice, he muttered something. "What was that?" Shun asked. Sinclair shook his head and told him, "Don't worry about it. Loran's out of it right now. More than likely it was just some gibberish." However, the gray-haired Vampire muttered the words again, and it didn't make sense that somebody who was incoherent to repeat the same thing twice.

"Can you say that again? I didn't quite catch that," he said. Sinclair simply shook his head. Loran's gaze locked onto Shun, and in a somewhat clearer tone, he said, "A…..Alice…Gone….." Shun furrowed his eyebrows and turned around to face where he had last seen Alice at. And sure enough, she was nowhere to be found, the only sign that she had ever been there was Alucard's flintlock pistol that she had used.

Panic rose up within Shun. "Alice!" he shouted, "Alice!" He had been too busy earlier with helping Sinclair with Loran that he hadn't even notice her disappearance. "Alice!" he shouted again. He then turned to Sinclair and asked, "Did you see where she went?" He shook his head. Shun's heart pounded with adrenaline. It was getting darker by the minute as night fell, and there were still Blighted Vampires left in the city.

She didn't exactly know how to fight, even though she apparently knew how to fire a gun, but she no longer had that weapon. She was defenseless. Shun turned to Gillfrey, who had also been called to assist with Loran, but hadn't really done anything other than watch, and asked, "Did you see where she went?"

The Count shook his head and said, "No, I didn't. It's not my job to keep an eye on her like she were a small child." Shun growled. He was in no mood to deal with Gillfrey's cynical attitude. Then, Runo stepped out from behind the building that she and the others had hidden behind during all of the madness. There was still fear in her eyes, and he noticed the tremble in her hands.

His friends were scared, and with good reason too, seeing as all the things that they had seen and heard the past several hours. Nervously, Runo pointed towards a nearby alley and said, "I-I saw Alice go down t-that alley right there." Shun nodded and relief flooded over him. At least he knew now what direction she went. He then turned to Sinclair and said, "We have to go after her. It still isn't safe in the city right now."

The Vampire Lord was silent for a moment before finally saying, "You're right. There are still Blights running around. Albeit, not as many as before, but they'll be much more active once night is completely upon us." He then turned to Gillfrey and said, "Could you please do me a favor? Take Loran and the four humans over there back to the enclave while Shun and I go looking for Alice."

Gillfrey was silent for a moment, and for a second, Shun was certain that he was about to deny Sinclair's request. Then, the Count sighed and said, "Alright, I'll transport them back to the enclave. I'd prefer not to leave Carson behind, though, but I have no idea where he is currently in the city."

Sinclair stood up from where he knelt beside Loran and said, "Carson is smart. He'll figure out you're no longer in the city and return to the enclave. And if Shun and I encounter him while we're searching for Alice, then we'll inform him of where you are at." Gillfrey nodded and walked over to Loran's side.

He then turned and looked at where Dan and the others still hid. "Come on, it's time to go," the Count said flatly. The four friends looked at Shun, their eyes fearful and distrusting. Shun gave them a single nod and said, "It's safe. Go with him. I promise nothing will happen to you."

They were hesitant for a moment, then, one-by-one, they approached Gillfrey. When they were all by him, the Count snapped his fingers, and vanished instantly, taking Loran and the rest with him. The only thing that remained was a faint mist of ice that floated in the air and drifted to the ground.

Sinclair turned to face Shun and said, "Come on, we better hurry and find her before it gets too dark and the Blights become more active." Shun nodded in agreement and fell in step with the Vampire Lord as they started down the alleyway.

~O~

Alice had stopped running long ago. Now, she simply walked and stumbled along, exhausted, both mentally and physically. She would almost lose her footing on trash that littered the alleyway and fall, but would always catch herself before this could happen.

Blood pounded in her ears, and her head screamed in pain. Nausea and vertigo also held a firm grip on her. She wasn't sure if this was from the running, or from all of the day's events finally catching up to her and hitting her with full force.

The walls of the alleyway tilted back and forth on its axis, making every step difficult to take. She finally stopped walking and leaned against a damp brick wall. The moisture on the bricks was soothing against her skin/ She didn't realize until the cool touch of the wall that she was burning up.

Alice, no longer wanting to stand, slid down the wall until she reached the ground. She sat there, not carrying if it was filthy. Her vision would blur in and out of focus, which only intensified the vertigo. What's wrong with me? she silently asked herself.

All of her pain and symptoms suddenly grew stronger, causing her to cry out and fall to her side on the disgusting ground. Chills racked her body, and her chest grew tight, making it difficult to catch her breath. She gasped for air when she realized she couldn't breathe, and shortly after this, started to send her into a panic.

Then, Alice heard the sound of a door creaking open. She looked up and saw a rectangle of light and the silhouette of somebody standing in it. She must have been in an alley behind an apartment. The person she saw cautiously stepped away from the light and towards her.

And even though her vision was blurred, Alice could tell it was a small child, a boy that couldn't have been older than seven and no taller than Marucho. "Miss, are you okay?" he asked as he continued to slowly approach her. As he neared, Alice heard a beating in her ears, and at first she thought it was her pounded headache getting worse. However, she realized that this was a different sound.

It was the sound of a nervous, little heartbeat; the boy's. The sound of it, the sound of blood being pumped through this child's veins faster than normal because of adrenaline, made Alice's mouth water. She then felt as her canine teeth elongated into fangs, and that was when she realized what was happening to her.

She was falling into Bloodlust. The little boy was almost right in front of her now. "Miss? What's wrong? Do you need some help?" he asked. His voice was filled with innocence, too much for Alice to handle. She pressed her back against the alley wall and told the boy, "Get away. Get away, now!" Alice kept her hand over her mouth to hide her fangs from him.

The boy tilted his head to the side and asked, "Did the things that attacked the city hurt you? They tried to hurt me and my momma, but we hid really good in the apartment and they didn't find us. Now, they're all gone and it's safe again." Alice shook her head. No, it's not safe. You're not safe, kid. You need to leave, now. Alice wanted to get away before she hurt this child, but her body had gone rigid, ready to strike at any moment.

It wasn't listening to her mind. At this point, her body was acting on pure instinct, the instinct of a Vampire. "I'm sure if the monsters hurt you, my momma could help make you feel better. She's really good at that," the boy said with a proud smile. This was breaking Alice's heart.

The boy took another step closer to her, then jumped back. "Ow!" he shouted and sat down holding onto his foot. Alice saw that the boy had been barefoot and stepped on a piece of glass. A thin line of blood leaked from the wound, and Alice caught the coppery scent. This sent her Bloodlust into overdrive. There it was, sitting right in front of her. An easy victim.

The boy started shouting for his mother to come and make his wound better. Alice slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, her eyes locked onto the boy's throat, which twitched as he sobbed and called for his mother. Somewhere deep within her subconscious, Alice was screaming and trying to fight against this savage instinct to feed, but that was buried deep in her mind now, a place where the rest of her brain and body couldn't hear it.

Alice felt her muscles coil up, much like a snake's does when it readies itself to strike. Then, with her eyes locked on her target, she drew her lips back, revealing her fangs, and tackled the boy. He screamed and flailed, but the moment she sunk her teeth into his neck, all the fight went away.

There was no more screaming, no more crying, only dead silence. Alice took in greedy gulps of the boy's blood, but the moment it hit her stomach, pain stabbed at her gut, and she coughed up what she had drank. Not understanding, she went back and took more of the crimson liquid from the child's neck, then coughed that up as well.

Being so far gone into her Bloodlust, she didn't remember that it was only Shun's blood she could drink thanks to their Imprint. So, because of this, she continued to take more of the boy's blood, only to have it purged from her body, not understanding why she wasn't satisfying her thirst. Then, when Alice tried to take another drink of blood, she found that there was none left in the child's veins.

She had consumed all of his blood, leaving nothing but an empty shell behind. Still desperate and running off an animal-like instinct to feed, she tried to get some more out, a last drop, but none ever came. Her Bloodlust intensified after that, sending shooting pains through her body.

Alice fell back over onto the ground and writhed for a few minutes because of the pain. Then, when that died down, she laid there, twitching occasionally, and stared at the dead body of the little boy that she had killed. But because she was deep in Bloodlust, she didn't feel remorse for killing him, or even repulsed. All she did feel was an inhuman desire for there to be more blood in the boy's veins.

Last week has been really insane for me. I almost lost a best friend, did lose one friend, and developed a hatred for my ex that I had resumed dating and then broke up with because he was ultimately the cause of me losing these friends. So, yeah. But I'm happy to be done with him. He was nothing but a toxic person, and I'm much happier without him. But hey, that's life. People come and go, right? Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, so read and please leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~