Devil's Harvest Part 2

Chapter nine

"God what are you doing?" Billie asked her eyes wide as she watched Van grab the bag of blood out of Deaq's hands and gulped it down.

"He needs it Billie." Tears filled Deaq's eyes. "I don't know what they did to him Billie but…he needs it to live."

Billie watched as Van finished the bag and lay back on the bed, his color already improving. He used the back of his hand to wipe off his blood covered mouth. Seeing Billie's shocked look he turned away disgusted by what he had just done in front of her.

"Now you know Billie…now you know why I can't live like this."

"Van…" She wasn't sure what to say. "We're going to help you, you got to believe that."

"How Billie? The blood helps…but only for a while…I just…I just want to die. I want this over with. I don't want to live like this."

"We're not going to let you die Van. We'll find a cure for this. And in the meantime…we'll see that you get the blood you need."

Van shook his head and looked at Deaq.

"You should have left me bleed to death Deaq."

"No way partner. I lost you once, I'm not losing you again."

"You don't understand…neither of you do…It's not just the blood…it's these horrible thoughts…thoughts of…thoughts of ripping both your throats out and drinking your blood." He said as he hitched in a sob and covered his eyes with his arm. "I don't want to hurt either of you, or anyone else. But these feeling are getting stronger and stronger and soon I won't be able to fight them."

"Van, one of us will stay with you until, well until we can figure out how to help you. We won't let you alone. We'll be here for you." Billie said. "We won't let you hurt anyone."

Van gave a little laugh.

"The only thing that will help me is if you put a bullet in my brain…Or if you can't do it, give me the gun and I will."

Billie and Deaq looked at each other, they knew Van was serious.

"Van." Billie said gently. "I hate to do this but I'm going to have to put you in protective custody for your own good. We'll keep you here in the hospital but I want…"

"No Billie…I can't be locked up! Please don't lock me up!" He said interrupting her.

"I'm sorry Van but it's for your own protection. We don't know what is going on with you and until we find a way to help you…"

Van threw back his head and laughed.

"Help me! How can you help me Billie?…There's nothing you can do but put me out of my misery." Van suddenly stopped laughing and glared at Billie. "You lock me up Billie I'll kill you and you too partner." He said looking over at Deaq.

"Van, you got to chill buddy…You got to fight these thoughts you've been having. Billie's right, you need to be protected and you need to be watched to make sure you don't hurt anyone including yourself. Billie and I will track down Jason and make him tell us how we can help you. You have to trust us Van, we're going to get you through this."

"Deaq." Van squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to stay in control of his thoughts. "Promise me…promise me if I try to hurt anyone you'll kill me."

"Van…I…" Deaq shook his head and looked down, how could he promise his partner that he'd end his life.

"Promise me Deaq!" Van shouted, grabbing Deaq's arm.

"Okay…okay…I promise, if you try to hurt anyone, and we can't stop you…I'll…I'll do it…I'll kill you." Deaq blinked back tears. He prayed it was a promise he wouldn't have to keep.

Later that week

Van had been placed in the prison ward of the hospital and Deaq and Billie took turns staying with him while the other one searched the streets for Jason or any sign of the other members of the coven. As the days went by Van became more and more violent and the only thing he could eat without getting sick was blood. He became so violent that finally they had to handcuff him to the bed to keep him from hurting himself, or anyone else. It hurt them to see Van in so much pain but they knew it had to be done to protect him from himself. And to make matters worse two more grisly murders had occurred in the last few days, meaning the coven was still operating in their area. The victims, a man and a woman, were found a day apart. Both had been sliced open and their internal organs removed. Even though Van wasn't told about the murders, for some reason he grew weaker with each one. They still gave him blood to drink from the blood bank but that didn't even seem to help anymore. The doctor had no explanations. All he could tell them was that Van's vital signs were growing weaker and there was nothing medically he could do for him. They tried force feeding him through tubes but nothing helped. Both Billie and Deaq sat by his bed pleading with him to try and fight what ever it was that was slowly taking him from them. But nothing they said or did made any difference. Eventually he lapsed into a coma.

"Oh God Billie what are we going to do? We're losing him." Deaq stood at Van's bed looking down into his partner's unconscious face.

"I don't know what to say Deaq, the doctors are doing everything they can for him. We have the whole department out looking for the coven but they seem to have just disappear into the air or something." Billie walked over and stood next to Deaq. She reached over and brushed Van's hair out of his face. "He looks so young, so vulnerable…" She said as her eyes filled up. She shook her head sadly and looked away.

Then what they had been dreading happened. Van's heart monitor alarm began to beep. Nurses immediately began running into the room followed soon by the doctor who immediately began CPR. They tried to usher Billie and Deaq out of the room but they wouldn't leave Van. They stood to the side and watched in stunned silence as the doctor began to try and shock Van's heart into beating. Each time the electricity hit Van his body would jump off the bed, but even that didn't help. Twenty minutes later the doctor looked over at them and shook his head sadly.

"I'm sorry…we've lost him."

Outside in the distance a dog could be heard howling mournfully.

TBC