The Net: "The Need For Blood": Chapter 3

"Oh my God. Um OK, Jacob you just lie back down and I'll be right back!" Angela said, getting up and going to the door.

"Don't leave me, Angel! Please don't!"

"It's OK, I'll be back soon!" And with that, she was gone.

She came back awhile later with a small bag and a mug. The bag she put on the table, the mug she took to the bed. She gently lifted Jacob's head off the pillow and put the cup to his lips. "Here, drink this."

"No. Angel, I won't. I can't. I told you before I'm not going to drink this." He pushed the cup away.

"Jacob, you don't have a choice. I'm not just going to stand aside and do nothing while you starve to death."

"Angel….."

"Drink."

He looked up at her. His eyes were filled with sadness. "Angel, I don't want to hurt you. Please don't."

"Jacob, come on, you have to. I don't want to lose you, no matter what happens, you're still my best friend. I don't care if you have to drink my blood to live. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you alive. Now, will you please hurry up and drink this?" She put the cup back to his lips and he reluctantly gulped it down. "Why don't you go to sleep for awhile, I'm sure you'll feel much better when you wake up."

"Angel, you're not going to leave me, are you?"

"No, I won't leave you." She put the cup on the night table and lay down beside him. "Just close your eyes and go to sleep. I'm not going anywhere."

She put an arm around him tentatively. When she did, she could feel his ribs slightly less than before. Her blood was working fast inside his body. They both fell asleep and didn't wake up until it was dinner time and Angela got up to draw more blood for Jacob with the needle from the small bag.

Everyday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, she would draw a cupful of her own blood and give it to Jacob to drink. And everyday, he got stronger, his ribs and bones stopped showing, and his fangs receded completely into his gums from lack of use. He started to leave the hotel room more often. They would go out and do things together, like shopping, or going to the movies. They began to have a life again, except for the fact that Sean Trelawney was still chasing them and Jacob couldn't eat in public.

"Angel, don't look now," Jacob said one day while they were out on the street. "But Sean's standing over there. He saw us! Run!" Jacob grabbed her arm, and together they ran up the street.

"In here! Hurry! He won't find you in here!" Angela and Jacob followed the youngish voice into a dark doorway.

They slipped through the door and into a dark room. Hands thrust them into a closet and closed the door behind them, just as the main door was pushed open menacingly.

"What's this? Who are you? What's going on?" an elderly man's voice asked.

"I'm looking for a teenage boy and a girl in her twenties. They came in here," Sean said.

"No. No one came in," the older man replied. "No one's been in here for years besides myself. I think I would know if someone else was in here."

"Yes, well, I'm very sorry to disturb you."

The door was opened and shut, Trelawney having left the building. The closet door was opened allowing Jacob and Angela to come out. When they did, they found Mariano standing before them.

"Mariano! What are you doing here!" Angela asked.

"Just helping out an old friend. Come on we've got to get you out of here and out to the Compound. Thanks Dad," he said to the older man. "No time to explain! Let's go!"

Angela and Jacob were shuffled out to a waiting car out back by several men wearing dark clothing and carrying heavy machine guns.

"What's the Compound?" Angela asked when the car was underway.

"We've formed a military group and we were just waiting to find you two. Now that we have, we're ready to move."

"What does that mean?"

"We're attacking Praetorian Headquarters tomorrow."

"You know where it is!"

"Just found it. And tomorrow, we go in."