A/N: Thanks to everyone who's still along for this crazy ride and to the newbies too. I hope you all enjoy. And please, please, please… let me know your thoughts. Reviews are awesome! This chapter was a little difficult for me to write, but I hope it came out okay.
Thanks again for the reviews guys! I can't tell you how much they spur me to continue on this story.
To GloomDusk: Yeah, I looked into the books a little just to see if there was some inspiration there. It's good to mix things up, right? As for Sookie's dreams, well, yeah… Eric's being a jerk… but as much as we all love Eric, he does have some growing up to do, even at 1000 years old.
To Chibichibi98: Arabella's certainly got an advantage at spying, being able to read minds and such. But she's also smart and uses the knowledge she gets to her advantage. At least that's how I hope it'll come across. I wanted her character to not have to rely on everyone else all the time.
To Kpkisses: Here it is. I hope you like it. Sorry it took so long
To Hudini43: Glad to hear you're liking it! Hopefully I'm not too wordy
…
I knew that I needed to find Jason, and hopefully figure out what happened to those missing vampires as well, but nothing, n-o-t-h-i-n-g, could prepare me for what I saw in that basement. It felt like I had been transported into a very sick and twisted horror movie, with my brother Jason as one of the stars. There was some freaky shit going on down here in this basement. I wiped my eyes in disbelief after taking a quick look around, trying to assess just all I had to deal with down here.
After coming down the stairs, I found myself standing in the middle of a large circular central area that was surrounded by four prison-like cells that lined the perimeter. They were all separated from one another and from the center area by floor to ceiling silver covered bars, each having its own silver covered barred door. The first things that caught my eye in the room to my far left were three hospital gurneys, two covered with blood and guts and lord knows what else. It looked like something exploded on those tables, you know Alien style. There was also dried blood and guts on the back wall of that cell and all over the floor. The middle gurney had a dead body on it, I guess it was human? I don't know how long the body had been there, but it must have been a while, because that body was starting to decompose. I had to cover my nose and mouth with my hand or else I was going to lose that fabulous Tuscan wrap from earlier in the day because it smelled something fierce. There was also a bunch of medical equipment; like monitors, tubing, instruments, etc. The next cell looked the same as the first, except maybe everything in there had been there a little longer, because it looked and smelled even worse, if that was even possible. The cell after that looked like it had been cleaned down and set up for new 'patients'. The last cell… the one to the right of me… that was the one that Jason was in. "Oh my God, Jason, what have they done!" I shrieked in horror, tears forming immediately.
My heart just ached seeing Jason there, lying unconscious on a gurney in the middle of the room. He had IV's stuck in both of his arms, the tubes of which were strung across the room with the ends hanging an inch or two over the mouths of the other two individuals lying on gurneys in the room. They also had their own set of IV's, but I couldn't tell where they went from where I was standing. 'Those two must be the missing vampires.' I thought to myself, still trying to make sense of the scene before me. If I had to venture a guess, this set up was to allow Jason's blood to drip into their mouths; that is if they were awake. Right now, the vampires were in their 'dead' state, and should be for a little while longer. I could tell that Jason was still alive though, because I could see his chest was rising and falling, albeit pretty shallowly. He was in a very deep sleep, so deep that I couldn't even pick up on any dreams. I had never tried to force my way into someone's mind that was that deep in their consciousness, so I was a little afraid to try now, especially with my brother. But, I didn't think it would help matters now anyway, so I didn't try. My main concern now was getting them all and myself out of this hell. 'Why would the church torture the vampires and Jason like this? I don't understand; why this set up?' I thought as I pulled on the door to the cell Jason was in, but unfortunately it was locked. 'Shit!' I thought as I looked around me to see if there was anything down here that could help. 'A set of keys hanging somewhere would be nice.' I thought to myself. As luck would have it, there were no hanging keys, but there were three refrigerators, a couple of folding chairs, folded and lined up one against another at the back of the room, five gallons of bleach, a mop and bucket. That was it. 'I need to find those darn keys to these doors.' I decided to take a quick look in the fridges before heading up to see if Luna knew where they could be. I knew a neighbor who used to hide extra keys in her coffee tin and another used to hide his in his cereal box, so it didn't seem so strange that a set of keys could be in one of the fridges.
When I opened the first fridge, I was shocked at what I found. It wasn't the keys, but instead I saw shelves upon shelves full of red vials of liquid. There had to be hundreds of them in there if not thousands. 'Holy shit! This is a V-lab.' I thought as I finally understood what was going on down here. Even though I was standing in the middle of it, it was still hard to believe that this church, now granted, a vampire hating church, but a church none the less, was running a V-lab. 'This has to be how they've raised all the money needed to build this compound and such. Oh my God, once the vampires find out…' I stopped that train of thought as I knew what I needed to do. I needed to take pictures. This had to be stopped. Steve Newlin had to be stopped. This was madness and he was using my brother in the process. So, I pulled out the cell phone Eric had given me and took pictures of everything, the nasty prison cells, and the vials of V in the fridges, everything that is except for Jason's face. I couldn't bear to see his face in anything related to this. I knew that eventually I'd have to hand these pictures over to someone and it would break my heart if something like this got out with Jason's face on it. Not only that, it would probably just break Jason.
After taking the pictures and putting the camera back in my purse, I heard the door opening at the top of the stairs. 'Oh God, I hope that's just Luna.' I thought as I eased myself towards the back of the room, bracing for what, I didn't know.
…
Luna was sitting behind her desk, folding the song sheets that she had been working on before. This at least would give her a realistic reason to still be sitting there if someone were to come into the office. She was humming along to the radio when she saw the office door open.
"Luna, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be taking that new recruit around?" Gabe asked with a leer in his eye. He always thought Luna was attractive, but Steve said she was off limits because she actually was smart and got a lot of work done for him.
"Ahhhhh, yeah, but I pawned her off to Katie. I still had a lot to get done here." Luna said waving one of the song pamphlets in the air. "Besides, it's not like it's that hard to take someone around here. I'm sure Katie will do just fine."
"Do you know where they are now?" Gabe asked as he smiled to himself, thinking about taking the pretty blonde newbie off of Katie's hands and showing her his own personal tour. Snapping out of his thoughts he added, "And which Katie? There's got to be at least fifty of them running around here."
Sure, there were tons of Katie's in the church, but the particular one Luna was referring to now didn't exist. Luna had made her up. However, for as involved and in the loop as Gabe was, there was no way he knew everyone and everything going on in the church, even he couldn't deny that; the church had just gotten too big. Luna also knew that Gabe wouldn't know shit about the Church's volunteer work. It didn't interest that self-serving prick in the least. "Oh, the Katie that works in our Volunteers of the Light program. You know… the one that's off-site, near the Meyerson Symphony Center that helps the underprivileged."
"Oh, yeah, right. You sure you don't know where they are now?" Gabe pressed.
"Nope, no clue. Sorry." Luna said and then added, "Is there something I can help you with Gabe?"
"No. I just need to check on something in the Utility room." Gabe said with a sick smile.
'Shit! I have no way to warn Mary Elizabeth.' Luna thought. It also occurred to her that no matter what occurred down in that basement; Gabe would know she was a traitor. How else would Mary Elizabeth have gotten down there without her knowing about it? Luna knew she would have to protect herself and possibly Mary Elizabeth, so she started to go around the office, picking up the various pieces of the dismantled tranquilizer gun that she had stashed around in different places, like flower pots and hidden compartments in desks and started to assemble it as quickly as she could. She hoped that she would make it down to the basement in time to help her new acquaintance.
….
I heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs at a fairly fast pace. Soon, I saw who it was, and it wasn't Luna.
"What the hell are you doing down here?" Gabe asked shocked and pissed to see me in this lair.
"I shouldn't be surprised that you had a hand in this. You're sick. You're a sick perverted bastard." I replied with venom.
"I knew the minute I first saw you that you were probably nothing but a fang-banging slut. No one who looks like you would come by themselves to this church. Who sent you anyway? Which vampire are you working for? Gabe asked creeping closer to me.
"I'm not a fang-banger or a slut!" I shouted and then said, while pointing at Jason, "That man lying on the middle gurney over there is my brother, Jason Stackhouse! You have no right to treat him, or anyone else like that! It's vile and disgusting and barbaric."
"Oh, so you're his sister. Well, that's unfortunate because now your family will have to mourn two losses instead of just one. You should have just let him be missy, because you know I can't let you leave here; not with seeing all this. But what I could do is give you your greatest pleasure before you die." Gabe said licking his lips in the most disgusting way possible as his thoughts centered on having his way with me, consent or not.
"Don't take another step towards me. I'm warning you." I said to him as I pressed myself up against the silver bars at the back of the room, trying to put as much distance between him and me as possible.
"Or what? You're going to stomp your foot? Call for your mommy? Or… Maybe you're going to yell? Sorry to burst your bubble blondie, but no one's going to hear you scream down here. That is no one but me; but lucky for you, I like screamers." Gabe said with an evil smile as he began to charge at me.
Before I could even think, I just acted. I lifted one of the folded folding chairs with my telekinesis and sent it flying at Gabe with such force that he was thrown back against the brick wall behind him. The legs of the folding chair hit the wall with such velocity that they embedded themselves into the bricks behind his neck, so tightly in fact that the chair crushed his larynx, thereby killing him. His eyes remained open though, shock in them to the very end.
My knees gave way and I fell to the floor as I realized that I had just killed that nasty man. 'Oh my God, I have a body count now!' I couldn't help but think to myself. Killing Rene, or Drew, whoever, that was in self-defense with video verification and everything. Killing Gabe in the middle of a V-lab in a vampire hating church… how on earth was I going to get away with this and get Jason out and those two vampires. 'Oh God, I killed someone in a church! Does God give a pass for special circumstances?' I looked down at my hands, almost as if to ask them how they could have done what they just did, but to my shock and horror, I saw a glowing pale blue light hovering over them. 'What the hell?' I thought as I heard more footsteps. I quickly shot my hands behind my back, hoping that the light would extinguish itself, seeing as I didn't know how it happened in the first place.
It was Luna that came running down the stairs at this point. When she got to the bottom of the staircase I could see her holding a gun of some sort in her hand at the ready. She stopped though when she saw Gabe, dead, hanging on the wall by the rooted folding chair, almost as if he were stapled to the wall by that chair. She lowered her gun when she saw me cowering on the ground at the back of the room.
"Do I want to know?" Luna asked curiously.
"No. You really don't." I responded, my voice slightly hoarse, trying to hold back tears.
"Fair enough. Guess I didn't need the gun after all." Luna said, as she tucked the gun behind her back, in the elastic of her skirt and maneuvered her shirt over to hide it. She had a file on Gabe as thick as a phone book filled with lots of dirty deeds that he had done in the name of this 'good' church. His death was no loss; in fact, it was probably a Godsend. After looking at Gabe and me, she finally took a good look around the little shop of horrors that lay before her. "Oh my God. I had no idea this was going on down here or I would've done something sooner." Luna said, trying not to throw up herself.
I knew I had to push through my momentary lapse of inner strength and come up with a plan. I wasn't going to let these assholes get away with this. So I stood up, keeping my hands behind my back and said, "I know Luna. I don't think anyone would've guessed what was going on here. We need to get them out of here quick."
"Yeah, Gabe coming down here wasn't a good sign. Usually when he comes down here it's because Steve sent him. I'm afraid if Gabe's gone too long, Steve might come himself to see what's up." Luna said looking around in disgust.
"Do you know where the keys could be for these cells?" I asked her, as I was slyly trying to see if my glow-in-the-dark hands were back to normal. Thankfully they were.
"Probably in Gabe's pocket." Luna said tossing her head at Gabe.
"Oh. Yeah. I guess I'll go check then." I said reluctantly. It wasn't like I could ask Luna to frisk him. Nothing like pickpocketing the guy you just killed though, even if he was an asshole.
So I walked over to Gabe and felt into his front left pocket. There was nothing there but three condom packets and a couple of tablets of Rohypnol. Suddenly I didn't feel so bad about offing this guy. Then I checked the front right pocket. Bingo! There was a key ring full of keys. "I think I have them, but we'll have to see which one works." I said to Luna as I turned to walk over to Jason's cell. I dropped the keys in surprise though when I noticed one of the vampires was staring at me.
As I bent over to pick up the keys, I glanced at my watch quickly to see what time it was. I couldn't help but think, 'The sun should not have set yet; why was he up? Is he going to be friendly? He doesn't know me from the next person who's been down here doing lord knows what. Oh God, how much did he see?'
After my inner musing I slowly turned my gaze back to the young looking vampire with dark cropped hair again and saw him give me a small, sad smile. Somehow I knew it would be okay. At least that was my hope.
"I'm Arabella. That man lying in the middle is my brother Jason. I'm going to do my best to get you all out of there as soon as I can. Is there anything that I should know about before opening this door?" I asked the young looking vampire.
"Yes. You need to press that red button on the wall behind your friend before opening the door or the alarm will go off. And the key you need is the one with the blue tip on it." He replied in a weakened voice with a slight accent that I couldn't place.
"Oh, okay. Thanks for that. Luna, can you press that button for me?" I asked Luna who was standing right in front of the button in question.
"So it's Arabella, huh?" Luna said with a smile.
"Yeah, it is. Can you please press the button so I can get them out of there?" I said impatiently. "We can play the name game later." I had to get Jason out of there.
"Easy tiger. No problem. Here goes." Luna said as she hit the button.
"Sorry, I just really want to get my brother out of this place." I said to Luna as I put the key in the keyhole and turned it. It worked and now I was able to enter the chamber.
I hurried over to Jason first and unhooked the IV tubes that were attached to his arms. There were track marks all over his bruised inner arms and even some on his inner thighs. Seeing some Band-Aids on a nearby table, I placed them over the holes left by the needles. He was still in that deep sleep though. I didn't know if it was from a drug or too much blood loss. It didn't matter at this point. All that mattered was getting him out of here. "Oh Jason. I'm so sorry this happened to you." I said with tears in my eyes as I ran my hand gently over his hair soothingly, like Gran used to. Then I turned to the awakened vampire.
It was then that I took notice of the silver netted bracelets over his wrists, ankles, around his neck, and across his abdomen that were digging deeply into his skin, causing his skin to burn with noticeable vapors that were visible now that I was standing so close to him. I had to turn my head for some fresh air, well, as fresh as it was going to get down there, because the vapors from the burning skin smelled worse than a dead skunk lying on the road in the middle of a hot summer day.
"Oh my, I'm sorry I didn't notice that before, let me take those off." I said as the vampire nodded in approval.
As gingerly as I tried to remove the silver shackles, it was impossible to not also rip off skin and tissue with it. Thick blood also oozed from the exposed flesh. The vampire cried out in pain as I nearly vomited at the sight.
"Oh my God! I didn't know that would happen. I'm so sorry!" I cried out as I winced in a mixture of worry, guilt and naturally some disgust. This was just about some of the nastiest stuff I'd ever seen.
"No…. no….. this is not your fault young one. You were not the one to place these on me. I knew that would come. Please continue and remove all of them… quickly. I will heal." The vampire said, panting and clearly in pain. But, I could see he was true to his word as he was already healing where the silver had been taken off. It honestly was a truly amazing sight to behold – skin and tissue rebuilding itself. It felt like I was watching a miracle in action.
"Okay… here goes. You ready?" I said to him, waiting for his approval. After he nodded, I ripped the rest of the shackles off; the vampire crying out in pain with each yank.
More tears formed, even though I knew they wouldn't help anything. But seeing this; causing someone pain like this, especially someone that obviously had been through some sort of torture already, it was a lot to take. "I'm so sorry." I said again, and yet it didn't seem enough.
"Tears from a human, over me." The vampire said as he reached up and wiped the wetness from my face. "It is wonderful to be surprised after all this time."
As soon as all the silver was off of him, he ripped out the tubing that was attached to his arms; the holes closing up almost immediately. It was then that I saw the tubes were attached to a machine that loaded his blood into vials. He saw what I was looking at and smashed it, taking me somewhat by surprise.
"Do not move." He said in a calm and caring manner. "There is something I must do."
I stood still as I watched him move at lightning speed, grab a wooden stake that was on the same table I got the Band-Aids from, and then drive that stake through the other vampire. Shock now gripped me, and Luna as well, as we saw blood and guts splatter that half of the room, and, of course, all over the young looking vampire as well.
Along with that shock, I now stood in absolute fear and confusion. 'I thought these two were supposed to be from the same nest… and friendly. What the heck is going on here?'
"Do not fear young one, regretfully it had to be done." The vampire said to me with a forlorn look, as he tossed the stake from his hands, before he then turned to Luna and said, "I must ask you to move to the other side of the room for a moment, if you don't mind. There is something else I must do."
Luna nodded, but moved over to me instead, thinking it might be safer by my side.
We understood why he wanted us out of the way as we watched the vampire throw the three refrigerators all around, crushing them, causing thick red liquid to ooze out of the mangled bits of metall all over the ground. With everything that had been done in this basement at this point, I honestly didn't think it would be possible for it to look more gruesome, even if we tried.
After he was satisfied that the damage was complete, he stopped and stood unnaturally still, looking at both of us, his head cocked slightly to one side, seemingly trying to figure us out. It was then that I saw he had numerous tribal looking tattoos all over his torso. Those tattoos suited him much better than the ones Longshadow had. Longshadow's tattoos made him look unrefined and crude, but the ones on this vampire, they were like a work of art; beautiful, eloquent and fascinating.
Breaking out of my study of the vampire, I said, "Ummm…. I need to get my brother out of here soon. He doesn't seem to be doing very well." I said hesitantly. I didn't exactly know what this vampire's story was yet. Shoot, I didn't even know his name. And unfortunately I also didn't know if he would help.
The vampire walked over to where I was standing and sniffed around me before saying, "You smell of Eric."
"Really?" I said confused, turning my head to sniff by my shoulder. The vampire let out a small chuckle.
"What's our next move here folks? I don't think time is on our side." Luna said.
"Right. Okay..." I started. "Ummmm, would you be willing to help us?" I asked the vampire.
"Yes, of course. Your brother was helping us gather information and has suffered much in doing so. I will do what I can to assist." He replied with no hesitation, as if it was a foregone conclusion that he would help.
I let out a sigh of relief, because honestly I didn't know how I would get Jason out of here without some help. He was still out cold. Then thinking out loud I said, "The church is probably filling up with people… families and children… now. Right Luna?"
"Yeah, people should have started pouring in around ten minutes ago. It'll fill up pretty quick though. Looking at the time, I'd guess that the doors will close in twenty minutes or so. Everyone knows Steve likes to keep his lock-ins on a tight schedule." Luna replied, looking at her watch.
"Okay. We don't want to involve those people or cause a panic. That would be bad. Besides, it's not like those people had anything to do with this. Is there a way out of here where we can avoid the masses?" I asked her.
"Yeah, I think I know of a couple of exits, but they may be monitored by the flunkies from the Light of Day Institute." Luna said, rolling her eyes.
"Who are they?" I asked.
"Idiots who think they are on a mission from God to save the world from vampires. They walk around the church at night with stakes and silver, but to be honest with you; those boys would piss their pants if they ever came in contact with a real vampire. They are nothing but boys with toys. But still, if one had a lucky shot… that's all it would take, right?" Luna said, glancing at the vampire in our presence, who gave her a slow but understanding nod.
"What about cameras? I noticed they're in a lot of places." I asked, still thinking about things.
"Yeah, they are in most common areas, the welcome center, as I'm sure you saw, the parking lot, and a couple other places as well." Luna said, thinking on it out loud.
"Is there a way to knock out the cameras; possibly erase everything from today or even for the whole week?" I asked, thinking that we probably don't want the security cameras picking up our escape, just in case these crazies tried to use it against the vampires down the road, and more importantly, at least to me, to leave no trace of Jason or me at this God-forsaken place.
"Yeah. The main security and camera terminals are in the Welcome Center. If the transformer out back behind that building is knocked out, it will fry the system like popcorn. That should delete everything they have. The idiots were trying to save a few bucks and never got around to getting a back-up system." Luna replied.
I turned to the vampire and asked, "Do you have enough strength to zoom out of here with my brother?"
"Don't you think we have a bigger problem than his strength right now? You know, something that's big and bright and glowing in the sky right now…" Luna reminded me.
"Oh crap, that's right." I said fretfully.
"It won't be a problem tonight. I can feel the weather patterns. Nightfall will happen much sooner than normal tonight due to a large storm brewing. I actually anticipate being able to go outside in five minutes or so." The vampire said to our surprise and appreciation, but then added, "But to answer your first question, yes I do have some strength left, as you have seen here, however I will not lie; some blood would be beneficial. I am quite old, so I don't need as much as most, but I was also drained of quite a bit. I don't know if I would be able to fly without some."
"I see." I said quietly. I could tell by Luna's thoughts that she wasn't about to trust this vampire enough to let him bite her. I on the other hand had no choice. I had to get Jason to safety.
"You can bite me. It actually will work out better that way I think in the end anyway." I said and then continued, "If we make it look like a vampire break out down here, Luna can keep her position here at the church; keep spying. If I have bite marks on me, no one will suspect that I had anything to do with it. If you… by the way, which vampire are you, Farrell or Godric?"
"Godric. Did Eric not give you information?" Godric asked curious.
"Yes, but very little. He didn't seem to want to… no… it was more like he couldn't talk about you, at all." I answered truthfully.
"This does not surprise me." Godric said with a faraway smile.
Knowing I didn't have time to play twenty questions about his relationship with Eric, as much as I would have liked to, I said, "Okay, well, if you can fly out of here with my brother and off to safety without attracting too much attention that would be great. Oh, and if you can take out that transformer, even better."
"The plan is sound. I can do what you suggest." Godric said, finding this very pleasant smelling human before him very surprising indeed. "But, I would be remiss if I didn't offer some of my blood to your brother; to heal him quicker. He has earned that right." He added after thinking a moment.
"No!" I shouted quickly. After a moment, I added, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to offend. I know that your blood can do wonders, but I also was told that there are dreams that come with it. No offense here, but my brother is as straight as an arrow. If he were forced to have dreams with the two of you in certain… situations…I think it would throw him over the edge."
"I understand young one and do not take offense. Your brother has suffered greatly at the hands of these abusers. It would do him a disservice to further pain him. I will take him back to my nest where he will recuperate at his own pace and in comfort. No one will harm him there." Godric said with a head nod at me.
"Thank you… for understanding and for helping my brother. He and my sister are all I have left." I said, as a single small tear fell down my check.
"No more tears young one. We should begin before anyone else comes." Godric said as he lifted Jason off of the gurney and the three of us walked up the stairs, treading carefully to avoid the blood and wreckage on the floor.
…
Once up the stairs, we were glad to find that the office was still empty of other people. Godric suggested that he make the utility door looked like it was bashed from the inside out, to further the story of the vampire break out. Luna and I agreed. So, he placed Jason down gently on a small sofa in the room and quickly kicked the shit out of that door.
"We have to make this quick. Oh, and before I forget, Godric, can you take my purse as well? I don't want to leave any information about me here. Wait! First let me get something out." I said as I fished in the purse for the car keys. I didn't want to leave that beauty here for these assholes to get a hold of; what would Eric say? "Luna, here are the car keys to the silver Mercedes CL63 AMG Coupe parked by the Welcome Center. I'm not leaving without that car. We're going to figure out a way to drive out of here with that thing come hell or high water." I said with conviction, but then added. "Oh, where should we drive to?"
Godric responded, "Do you know how to get to the nest?"
"I was only there once. I don't think I could get back there. Oh wait, it might be programmed in the GPS system, but I'm not sure. I didn't check that out yet." I answered honestly.
"It doesn't matter, I know where it is. I'll get her there. Okay, let's do this vamp. It's time to do your thing. Times a-wasting." Luna said, anxious to put the plan in motion before anyone else came in.
"Are you ready?" Godric asked me. Even though he knew she was somehow tied to Eric, he also knew she had never been bitten before. He could sense it.
"I think. Will it hurt a lot?" I asked softly. I was a little scared to be honest.
"You will feel a slight pressure at first, but it will be quite pleasant shortly after, or so I hear. I've had a long time to perfect my method." Godric said, not in a cocky way, but rather with a reassuring smile.
"Okay, I guess the neck then, right? That would make the most sense?" I asked unsure.
"Yes, that would work. Why don't you sit on that desk over there?" Godric said as he motioned to a nearby uncluttered desk so that afterwards she could lie down somewhat comfortably.
"Okay. But it needs to look like an attack…" I replied as I sat and waited in uneasy anticipation of my first bite.
"You'll be fine. I promise." Godric said in my ear, which honestly did wonders to calm me, before plunging his fangs into my neck.
The sensation was just as Godric said it would be. I felt a slight pressure when his fangs first pierced my tender skin, which caused my breath to hitch. And after that, it was just as he said it would be. To say the feeling was pleasure would be an understatement. It was ecstasy, pure and simple. I could see why fang-bangers would give their blood if every bite was like this. But after a short while, I started to get lightheaded. It felt like he was taking too much as he was starting to take larger drags of blood from my neck. "God…dric…" I said slowly, as my eyes went slightly wide and then felt heavy. Panic was setting in as I started to feel a little disoriented.
"Godric! Stop!" Luna yelled at the vampire as she grabbed his arm and I slipped from consciousness.
Godric pulled his fangs out immediately. The combination of almost being bled dry and the beyond amazing taste of this human was a deadly combination. Well, there was no way she was just human. He knew the taste, but it had been centuries since he had the pleasure of savoring this intoxicating elixir. Leave it to his progeny to find such an exquisite creature. He was glad that the shifter was here to pull him back to reality or he may have bled the poor girl dry.
"I… I… apologize. That wasn't supposed to happen. I had more blood taken from me than I had originally thought. Thank you for stopping me." Godric said to Luna and then added, "She will be fine."
"She better be because we still need to get out of here too." Luna said in a huff.
"She will wake shortly. Some orange juice and food will do her good as well. I am going to take her brother to safety now. You know what to do." Godric said as he picked up Jason.
"Yes. And, as for you, take the second hallway to the left, turn right and head out that door. Now HURRY!" Luna said, shooing him with her hands.
"Your deeds will be looked upon with favor at our nest shifter." Godric said before bolting out of the office and onto his next part of the plan. It was time; night had fallen.
….
Night had fallen at last and Eric woke with a start. Truthfully last night gave him the most rest he had gotten since he found out about Godric going missing. Knowing that he had a lead on his maker and a plan in action had helped him to be able to get the rest he so sorely needed as he was pretty darn close to getting the bleeds from his lack of sleep. Also, he had faith that Arabella would be able to bring him back. He couldn't explain why he held so much faith in that human, but he just did; and his gut instincts were almost never wrong.
He turned to the nightstand and quickly grabbed his cell phone to see if Arabella had left any messages for him. There were only two.
The first one read:
Currently waiting for my background check to come back… These people are so paranoid… I bet I'd have an easier time getting into the FBI… Anyhoo… "Hot Viking"… Really?
He smiled at her cheekiness. He knew she'd get through their background check just fine though. Vampires were experts at creating new identities on the fly. That's how they survived through the centuries.
Eric then went on to read the second message…
Still alive. Having tea with Sarah Newlin. Oh and by the way, I've been asked to be the new face of The Fellowship of the Sun. Yeah me!
'What the fuck? Is she joking?' Eric thought to himself, but then considered that she probably wasn't. 'She must have really impressed them. Of course she would though, wouldn't she? She is quite impressive.' He further reflected thoughtfully as he looked at the phone. Should he text her? Should he trust that things are fine? Did she find Godric? Curiosity got the better of him and so he texted,
Glad to hear things are going well. Any other news?
He knew that she would know the meaning behind the words. He didn't want to give away their plan and put her in danger.
He also knew she might not be able to text back immediately, so he figured he'd get dressed. While putting on his dark wash jeans, he suddenly had a feeling of wholeness wash over him. The empty spaces in his being that were the result of Godric shutting down their bond were filled again. Eric was beyond elated. A smile crossed his chiseled features as he knew his maker was okay. He cocked his head towards the nightstand again as he heard the buzz of his phone indicating he was getting a text. He whooshed over to the phone and read the text.
I know you were worrying my child. I am fine. Meet me at the nest as soon as you can.
"Godric." Eric said out loud, overjoyed that his maker was okay, and more to the point, safe. But, he couldn't help but wonder, what about Arabella? Why didn't she text him back? He quickly finished getting dressed and headed off to the nest.
…
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Luna screamed as she cowered in a corner of the office with her hands over her head, looking down at the floor.
It took five minutes of that ruckus before someone happened upon the scene and truthfully Luna thought she was going to lose her voice. But she knew with all the people in the church, someone was going to come, eventually.
Matt, one of the Light of Day Institute idiots arrived on the scene first. "What's going on? Oh my God, what happened here?" He said frantic, fear written all over his face as he saw one woman screaming on the floor and another lying on a desk with blood dripping slowly from bite marks on her neck.
"There… there… there was a vampire. He came from over there, from the basement room. Oh my God, he attacked poor Mary Elizabeth. Oh my God, is she alive? Please tell me she's alive." Luna cried out, giving a great performance.
Matt ran over to Mary Elizabeth and checked her pulse. "Yes, oh thank the Lord, she's alive. I need to get Steve." Matt said because honestly, he didn't know what the fuck to do. This was his first patrol mission.
"Don't leave me here alone! What if that vampire comes back! Just get Steve on your walkie-talkie!" Luna yelled at the young man. 'Idiot.' She thought as she found it hard to keep from calling him out on it.
"Oh yeah. Okay." Matt said nervously as he grabbed his walkie-talkie nervously, nearly dropping it twice. Finally, after taking a breath and getting a hold of the device, he pushed a few buttons and said into it quickly, "Steve, there's been a vampire attack in the rectory offices. Please come quick… with back up if possible."
It only took about three minutes before Steve showed up with about ten other Light of Day idiots; all looking as white as a sheet.
"What happened?" Steve asked wide-eyed as he saw the Utility Door had been beat open.
"A vampire came from the basement and attacked poor Mary Elizabeth." Luna cried out as she was still cowering in the corner. "He just grabbed her and bite right into her. I thought he was going to bite me too, but then Gabe came in. Before he could do anything, the vampire grabbed him and dragged him down to the basement. I don't know what happened down there and I don't want to know. They weren't down there that long, but only the vampire flew out. And thank God he flew right out of the office. Gabe never came up though. I just…. I just want to go home." Luna said between a bunch of sniffling and tears. That community college acting class was really paying off.
"Oh my God. How many vampires did you see?" Steve asked, hesitantly.
"I only saw one. Oh my God Steve… do you think there are more of them here in the church? How did they get in here in the first place?" Luna asked looking around terrified, but in actuality she was just annoyed that this act had to take this long.
"No… no… I just wanted to know what you saw sweetie, that's all." Steve replied nervously. "I don't know how they got in here, but we'll take care of them." He added. "You sure you didn't go down there?"
"Uhhhh, are you kidding me Steve! Do I look like Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Why on earth would I follow a vampire looking for take-out down into a basement?" Luna yelled at Steve with a look of 'Duh!' on her face.
I started to come to at that moment. "Uhhhh, what happened?" I asked, truthfully not knowing if that bite was supposed to take so much out of me.
"Mary Elizabeth! Oh thank God you came to. How are you feeling?" Luna asked as she ran over to me, hoping that I didn't say anything incriminating in my groggy state.
"I feel a little lightheaded to be honest. What happened?" I asked again, as I was starting to get my wits again.
"Steve, don't you think we should get her checked out by a doctor?" Luna asked, the appropriate amount of worry in her voice, even though she knew Mary Elizabeth would be just fine.
With all the people standing in the room, staring at him, waiting for a response, Steve didn't know what to say at first. If he said no, they he'd look like an asshole. If he said yes, he'd have to explain why there was a vampire in the church in the first place. Unless… unless he could spin this into a vampire attack on the church. 'Yes! That's it. I'll make it look like the vampires finally made their first physical attack on the church! This is brilliant. This girl will be more than just a face to bring in new singles… She'll be the face of the wronged human; a beautiful victim. Oh this is goooooood!' Steve thought to himself before finally saying, "Yes Luna, please take this poor thang to the hospital. Keep me posted on her condition. Get her anything she needs and make sure she's nice and comfortable, you hear. And let me know when she is ready to take questions from reporters. Those vampires are going to pay for attacking one of our own on our own turf. They want a war, well, we'll give them one!" Steve couldn't keep that sickeningly tight smile from his face, in fact he was finding it hard not to giggle like a school girl with this stroke of good fortune that just fell into his lap. He was going to turn this into a PR extravaganza!
"Of course Steve. I'm going to take her right now. Do you think you can walk Mary Elizabeth?" Luna said quickly as she helped me to my feet.
"Ummmm. Let me see." I said as I steadied myself on my feet. I was a little wobbly to be honest, but with Luna's help I knew I could make it out of there.
"Take the golf cart by the vestibule exit to get her to your car Luna. We'll take care of things here. Hurry now. We need to take care of our little Mary Elizabeth here." Steve said thinking, 'yeah, we have to make sure that this girl is able to make the news tomorrow. I can't wait to see the look on Nan Flanagan's ugly ass face!'
"Oh, don't worry Steve, I'll make sure she's just fine." Luna said as she pulled my arm up and around her shoulders to help anchor me so we could get to the cart.
…
"That was easier than I thought it would be." Luna said as she drove us in the golf cart to my rental car.
"Yeah. Maybe for you." I said, absentmindedly rubbing my neck where Godric had bitten me with one hand while trying to hold on to the cart for balance with the other.
"I gotta admit, I didn't think Steve was going to let me take you to a hospital. I mean, shit, how's he gonna explain this?" Luna said as we finally reached the Welcome Center's parking lot.
"He thinks he's going to spin this into a vampire assault on his church, using me as the spokesperson for human justice or some bullshit like that." I said as I pointed to the rental car. "It's that one."
"Nice car… I get to drive, right?" Luna asked with a smile as she jiggled the keys in her hand.
"Yeah, unless you want to play bumper cars with me. I can't drive now, I can barely stay awake." I said tiredly.
"I know. Just thought I'd ask anyway, to be nice. Let's hop in." Luna said as she hit the door open button on the key fob.
"Wait. Can we check first if the transformer was blown?" I asked, leaning against the car.
"Yeah, but you stay here. It'll just take me a second. The doors are open, so wait in the car, okay." Luna said as she ran quickly towards the Welcome Center.
While Luna left to check on the transformer, I opened the door to the car slowly and carefully sank into the buttery passenger side seat. It was so comfy and warm and…. I fell asleep before I even got the door shut.
…
Godric arrived at the front door of the nest at the same time Eric did.
"Godric." Eric said as he knelt on one knee in front of his maker. "You are safe."
"Yes my child. Let's get this one into the nest before we talk. I know you have questions." Godric said as he opened the front door.
"Of course Godric, but where is Arabella?" Eric said in a flat voice, but Godric knew there was worry there, lots of it.
"I'm sure she'll be fine with that shifter. Come, wait in the living room. I'll be back in a moment." Godric said as he whisked Jason to a guest bedroom.
"What shifter?" Eric said out loud, while clenching his fists… confusion, worry and slight anger in his voice, with no one to hear but the night sky.
….