"We couldn't find the necklace in the warehouse, and Sarah didn't smell her cousin anywhere near the place," Henry begins, he's sitting at the bar, facing you, Eric, Pam, Margot, and Sarah. The long-haired vampire is behind the bar, now that you're closer you can see the old scars on his face and tattoos covering his arms. He's drying a glass he washed with a white rag, not looking at any of you. Eric introduced you earlier, his name is Longshadow and he seems like a pretty old vampire. And kind of a weird guy, too. The five of you are seated at a table, and all of you have drinks, courtesy of Longshadow, "But we did find some files... and some very fucked up torture devices." He says, looking down at the glass in his hand forlornly.
"Don't get all cryptic on us, what was in the files?" Pam is asking both Sarah and Henry, very impatient. She's leaning back against the chair, in a different outfit. She did a quick change when they arrived, into a more casual outfit. A black leather jacket over a low-cut dark purple T-shirt, with tight black jeans and high-heeled boots. Eric is wearing the same thing as he was earlier, a grey V-neck and blue jeans paired with checkered vans. He isn't as dressed up as he usually is. Normally he was wearing similar clothes to Pam, a leather jacket and dark jeans. His outfit puzzles you, as things involving him often did. If you were in his position, opening up a bar and sitting on a fancy throne on a stage, you would probably dress up a little more.
Henry looks up from his glass of blood, taking a sip before he answers, "They're working on something," He says after swallowing a mouthful of blood, "Something that can hurt vampires." Longshadow stops drying glasses and pays attention to what Henry's saying, strong, toned arms resting against the bar, rag still clutched in his tan fist.
Pam tilts her head, "Oh my fuckin' God Henry, get to the point." She says through gritted teeth, shaking her head. Understandably, she's agitated with the vampire after telling him not to be cryptic. He seemed to do the opposite of what she said. But it can't be helped, he's a ball of angst.
"It's some sort of IV bag filled with silver and a UV light bullet." He says. You didn't know much about UV rays, just that they caused skin cancer. But obviously, they were dangerous to vampires too if the look on their faces were so serious. Even Sarah seemed afraid.
"What do UV lights do to vampires?" You ask, taking a glance at the vampires around you at the table, and then at Henry. He's wearing a long-sleeved white button-up shirt with black slacks and black dress shoes. He takes another sip of his blood and doesn't say anything. You've never seen a vampire drink blood out of a glass, or at least you didn't think you did. You probably would've remembered it if you did.
Eric answers you instead of him, "They burn us like the sun does, that's why we don't go tanning." You suppose it's a joke but he isn't laughing or even smiling, nobody is. Pam didn't even laugh and she usually did at the worst times. You grimace at the news, they're making torture devices for vampires. Not even torture, if a vampire was shot with one of those, they would probably end up exploding into a pile of blood and guts. You couldn't imagine dating a vampire, especially if they somehow died in front of you. There wouldn't even be a body to bury.
"Oh," Is all you say, taking a sip of the beer in front of you as you settle further in your seat. You didn't like beer very much, but you would take any liquid right now. The past few days, you drank a lot of alcohol. After this one beer, you would stop and drink more water. It wasn't healthy to drink every night, especially at your age. When you were 40 you'd become an alcoholic, not at 20, your "prime", but you would never call it that.
"Did you smell anyone else in the warehouse?" Pam asks Sarah, sitting back and resting her elbow against the back of the chair she's sitting in, looking over at the shifter. She's wearing a navy blue T-shirt and black shorts that fall to her mid-thigh. You supposed shifters didn't get cold, it made sense but you were a little jealous. You got cold pretty often, earlier you were nearly freezing before you were attacked.
Sarah sighs deeply, "Yeah, it hasn't been too long, the traces of them are weak. But they're there." She says, sharing a secretive look with Henry. You notice and furrow your eyebrows, you'd get to the bottom of that some other time. There was already too much going on, you couldn't worry about that along with everything else that was happening. You would never admit it, but you were worried about the people sitting next to you, especially Eric. You wouldn't tell him that, his head would probably grow 3 sizes.
"Are we going tonight?" Margot asks, cracking her knuckles. You didn't know her, but she didn't seem capable of violence. Her fairy-like features and short height make her seem sort of innocent in a way. She's a vampire, yes, but she was very kind to you, and she did save you after all. She was so graceful you were kind of looking forward to seeing her in action.
Eric looks over at you and then at Margot, "No, we'll go tomorrow. I'm sure their scents will be there tomorrow evening." He says, Sarah clenches her jaw but doesn't say anything. She's not mad at you, she just wants to find her necklace. She had no idea what they were using it for, but it can't be anything good. What use could they have for a necklace with some ashes inside? Even if she is angry at you, it wouldn't bother you, this whole thing affects her a whole lot more than it does you. She had a right to be angry at you. You need rest, you're not feeling weak by any means, Eric's blood helped with that. But you still need to get back to the hotel, change and go to bed.
The blonde man stands up, looking at his progeny and then back at everyone else, "Everyone go home, get some rest," He says, and the vampires disappear from the bar. Longshadow stays behind and Eric looks at him, eyes hard, "You too." He says, and Longshadow walks out of the bar normally.
"Pam," He says and said vampire stands, following him through the bar and into the office. Sarah stands up with a sigh and you follow suit, following her out of the bar and to your car. You fish through your pocket for your keys, unlock the car and sit in the driver's seat, starting it before Sarah gets inside.
When she does, she looks at you, "Are you alright?" She asks, and you know what she's referring to. Your run-in with the vampire earlier that night. You aren't traumatized or anything, but you would be more careful at the bar from now on. You'd pay more attention to your surroundings instead of Eric. And you were sure Margot or Pam would keep an eye on you during your shifts, and Eric would hear if anything happened. Unless he was gone.
"Yeah, I'm all good. Just worried about you." You answer honestly, catching your friend off guard. But she knows why you're worried about her. Finding Jenna's body traumatized her, she had to endure 2 years of therapy just to completely process it. And now, after all this, she would probably have to go right back to Dr. Nicholson. Her finding out someone took Jenna's necklace made her relive every second of that night.
"It's nothing therapy can't fix," She says gruffly, turning the radio on so you won't talk about it anymore. She can't right now, you understand. You shift gears and reverse out of the parking lot, humming along to the song playing from the speakers. It's a song you've been hearing often, probably a new one.
As you drive along the dark road, lit by an occasional lamp, you wonder what sort of dream you'll have when you go to sleep. You look in the rearview mirror at the black garbage bags full of clothes. You'd still have to carry those inside. With the vampire blood in your system, it would be a piece of cake. But all you wanted to do was go to bed, and so did Sarah.
Distracted, you don't notice the man standing in the middle of the road, "Watch out!" Sarah cries, breaking you out of your trance. You gasp and look up, you're about to hit someone. You step on the brakes, swerving so you don't hit him. In the process, the car flips and lands on the side of the road in a ditch. It felt like everything happened in slow motion.
You whimper and look over at Sarah, she's no longer in the car, "Sarah?" You call out weakly. It hurts to talk and to breathe. You're suspended in the air, your seatbelt the only thing holding you up. Painfully digging into your shoulder and pelvis.
"Don't move."
With all the strength you can muster, you let out a scream as you turn to face the source of the voice, it's Eric. Your racing heart begins to slow and you release a deep relieved breath, "Eric," You call out softly, blinking a few times to clear the fogginess from your vision, "Is Sarah okay?" You ask, tugging at your seatbelt.
He holds his hand out to stop you, "Hold on." He says, and you do. You trust him. You stop moving and just wait. He walks away and you furrow your eyebrows, is he leaving you? You gasp, rocking back and forth and getting dizzy all over again as the car is flipped back over. You hold a hand up to your head and groan, your head hurts so bad. You must have smacked it against the window during the accident, that explained all the broken glass and the blood dripping from your head. You grope at your scalp, hissing through gritted teeth as you make contact with the gash in your head. Hopefully, you didn't have a concussion. That would be shitty.
"Someone was in the road, I think I hit him, is he okay?" You call out to nobody, jumping as Eric appears next to your window once again. He pulls the car door open, ripping it off in the process. Your eyes go wide and you frown, you supposed it didn't matter. Your car already flipped over. You couldn't see the damage yet, but it was probably bad. You reach down and unbuckle your seatbelt.
Before you can get out of the car, Eric wraps his arm around your shoulder and slides his other arm under your legs, lifting you up and out of the car. You wrap your arms around his neck and bury your head in his chest. He reaches down and presses two fingers against the wound on your head, gathering some of your blood. He lifts his hand to his mouth, pressing his fingers against his tongue. You're slightly disgusted but not surprised. You can't see his reaction and you won't be able to, all you hear is a sigh, and you turn your head, resting your ear against where his heart would've been beating if he was alive. The world is a flash of colors around you and after a few moments, you're back in the basement, dizzy again.
Eric looks down at you for a moment and then opens both of his coffin lids, gently setting you down inside. His coffin is bigger than Pam's and has a red interior with two red pillows. Two people could fit in here, and you hate yourself for it but you're hoping he'll sleep in there with you. You sit in his coffin and look around his room, breathing in his scent before looking over your shoulder at him, "Did you see Sarah anywhere?" You ask, your voice scratchy.
His face is unreadable as always, "No, and I didn't see any man either." He says, sitting down on the couch across from you. You shift so you're facing him now. Looks like you'd be drinking his blood yet again. And you weren't even trying to get injured. It just happened. Maybe you're clumsy, or just accident-prone. But those are the same if not similar things.
"What if he took Sarah?" You gasp, looking down at your hands, covered in blood again, just like your face and hair. If he took Sarah, it was your fault. You should've just braked instead of swerving, maybe she wouldn't have gotten taken so quickly. You should've been able to stop him.
"No point beating yourself up over it, we'll find Sarah. And we'll kill whoever took her." He promises from his spot on the couch, casually leaning against it with his legs sprawled out lazily in front of him. You look up at him, there's some blood on his shirt from where you rested your head earlier. Though, earlier was just a few minutes ago.
You clear your throat and it doesn't work, it just hurts, "Thanks by the way," You sigh as you hear your voice, still scratchy, "For saving me." You knew who you'd mention at Thanksgiving dinner when Sarah asked who you were thankful for later this year.
"Consider it compensation for me not making it in time earlier," He says with a shrug, "I felt your pain, and it didn't stop until you woke up," You raise an eyebrow, "I didn't like it." You sigh and shake your head he didn't feed his blood to humans often, if he did, he would probably be used to this. Frankly, you don't give a damn if he doesn't like it. You'd prefer sex dreams and superhuman strength over going to the hospital.
You scoff, "Well I'm sorry I'm such an inconvenience to you." He sort of hurt your feelings so you would be a brat for a second, you deserved to be one. You went through a lot tonight. Maybe you'd join Sarah for therapy when she went again. You would need it. Eric rolls his eyes.
"You know that's not what I meant," He sighs, patting the spot next to him on the couch, "Come here." He commands and you do, lifting yourself and stepping out of his coffin clumsily. He doesn't move to help you and you don't mind, you're too out of it to care. You sit down next to him on the couch and he grabs you, holding you sideways in his lap.
He bites into his wrist and brings his arm down toward you. You grab his arm and lift it to your mouth, wrapping your lips around the bite mark on his wrist, tentatively sucking at his sweet blood. You close your eyes and grip his arm tighter, sinking your teeth into his arm. He strokes your head, resting his palm against the back of it as he watches you drink his blood with lidded eyes. The more you drank from him, the better it felt every time. Now, you're less disgusted by it. A few years ago you would've gagged at the thought of what you were doing, but currently, you didn't mind at all, greedily swallowing warm mouthfuls of Eric's blood. After a few more mouthfuls, he pulls his wrist away from your mouth and you watch as it heals before your eyes. It's actually sort of cool in a way. You slide off of his lap and onto the couch next to him, pulling your legs up and resting your chin against your knee. It always felt awkward afterward.
Gasping, you jump up from your position on the couch, "Wait!" You cry out, "My clothes!" You jog over to the door to his room, but before you can pull it open. You watch a blurry figure pass through the door. It closes so fast you almost blink and miss it, you whirl around, Eric's gone. You sigh deeply and turn around, shaking your head. You walk back over to the couch to sit down and wait for Eric to return with your clothes. You didn't want to sleep in bloody clothes. You could live without a shower for a day, but the clothes had to be changed if you wanted to sleep comfortably.
Not long after you sit on the couch, Eric returns, both of the garbage bags clutched in his fists. One of them is full of Sarah's clothes. The other is full of her clothes too, but they belonged to you now, "Thanks," You say as he drops them in front of you, you dig through Sarah's, pulling out a T-shirt and some shorts for you to sleep in. When you look up, Eric's gone, what a gentleman. While he's out of the room, you begin to change, first peeling your jeans off of your legs, followed by your shirt. Your shirt is easier to take off, and you notice some blood under where the collar of your shirt would've been. You would just have to wait until you could shower again. You didn't know if there were any showers in the basement, probably not, and you wouldn't ask right now.
After you're done changing, Eric returns with a bottle of water and a small bag of chips. You're surprised, but not really. This felt like deja vu. He's done this before, with the rice, you remember. When you first met him, you didn't think he would be as nice as he is. You wouldn't want to be his enemy, not after he flipped a car over and tore the door off. If he was powerful enough to do that, what else could he do? Turn into a bat and fly? No, definitely not. You would've seen that already if he could.
You open the bag of chips and pull a few of them out, greedily stuffing them into your mouth, "Thank you." You say with your mouth full, embarrassing yourself. Manners are important to you, so important that you didn't swallow before you thanked the man. You hold the bag of chips in between two fingers and unscrew the water bottle cap, gulping down half of its contents.
Eric looks at you from over by his coffin, amused, "You're welcome." He says, crossing his arms and staring at you like you're an alien. You ignore him in favor of curbing your hunger for the moment.
After you're done eating you stand and crumple up the bag of chips, walking over to the small garbage can next to the couch. Weird place for a garbage can, but you weren't judging him. It was more convenient for you, "I'm tired." You say, and he steps aside, away from the coffin. You raise your eyebrows, you were expecting this, but not really. It still managed to surprise you.
You climb back inside his coffin and lay down, he closes one of the lids, covering the lower half of your body. It's warm inside, you're on the left side of the coffin, head resting against one of the soft red pillows. The room is dimly lit by a lamp on a side table and it goes out, you close your eyes, drifting off.
He wakes you up a few hours later, climbing into the coffin and laying down beside you, closing the top lid as he does. You're not fully awake, all you do is hum and snuggle closer to him for more warmth. Coffins didn't have blankets, you don't understand why.