Bag of Blood - Vampire Mystery Romance (12 page)

"I suppose there's no need to shoot
you
," her best friend told her. His eyes softened. "And I don't want you to see me kill somebody. How about I strangle you first; that way, you don't have to be scared anymore. See? I do love you. And if I make it look like Gabriel shot
himself,
I suppose I can play it off that
he
was the one who killed all the girls." In her terror, Lena practically laughed out loud, long and humorless like a hyena.
Love? LOVE? Has he ever loved anybody in his entire life? It's all a
lie! Still, she had one last triumph before her almost certain death; Leslie had told her that fingerprints and DNA were already taken from Robert's victims. His plan would not go through; everyone would know Gabriel was innocent.

Gabriel, understanding her plan, stood and, with his newly-freed fingers, was quick to rip the tape from his mouth. He gave a fearsome snarl, throwing his body on top of Robert, sending Lena flying through the air, where she once again smacked against the wall. Gabriel's momentum sent Robert to the floor, his finger hitting the trigger and sending a bullet straight into the wall by the dead girl's body. The blast was so loud Lena could feel her ears ringing.

Growling like an animal, Gabriel wasted no time in plunging his massive fangs into the blonde's neck, ripping and tearing as he fed like a dying man. Robert yelled out in pain, and in an instant had shoved Gabriel away from him. Gabriel, his eyes now feral in their glowing redness, turned his gaze to Lena. Before she even had a chance to hold her hands up to protect herself, she was rolled onto her stomach, Gabriel on top of her. A searing, burning pain rang throughout her whole body, shocking her into stillness, as he buried his fangs to the root into the middle of her back. He twisted his head this way and that to sink his teeth as deep as they would go, destroying whole chunks of flesh as he did so. She actually felt his other, normal-sized teeth go into her skin, his fangs were buried so deep.

She was sobbing now, weeping and begging for help, from anyone. Her vision was going white at the edges as she struggled and scrabbled, trying to escape the weight and pain as gulp after gulp of blood was sucked at a dizzyingly rapid pace from beside her spine.

Just as she had begun to go limp, the door was blasted open once again. She wasn't facing the door and assumed it was Robert, escaping the room as fast as possible. Suddenly, the weight of Gabriel was gone and more hands were on her, whipping her up to her feet. She swayed violently, her eyes cloudy; Elliot's face swam into her distorted vision, and something heavy was shoved into her arms.

"LENA!" Elliot shouted into her ears. "Take Belinda and get out of here!" He shoved her towards the door and she looked down; in her arms was the terrified-looking kindergartner. She didn't understand; everything was so foggy… turning around, she saw Robert, Gabriel, and Elliot all engaged in a full-out, teeth-baring, snarling battle. The girl in her arms let out a wail, and her injured arm throbbed painfully underneath the weight. She was barely able to stand.

Blood dripped from her body onto Belinda's hair.
How pretty,
Lena's muddled mind mused.
Her hair is so white, and my blood is so red.

"GO, Lena!" Elliot howled. A bullet whizzed so close to her that she actually saw Belinda's hair ruffle.
Why is he here?
Lena thought.
Am I dreaming? And why a little girl…
Obediently, she stumbled away from the brawl, trying to find her father. She could barely see as blood began to drip its way over her eyes.

"Turn left," Belinda said, her voice eerily calm. Lena was too unfocused and dazed to do anything but follow the child's instructions; she was so weak she could barely walk herself, let alone carry somebody else; the child's feet dragged in the snow.

"Now go straight. Your father is looking for you." Lena lurched forward, the sounds of the screaming from the sports room growing fainter and fainter as she stumbled her way across what felt like miles of snow.
Am I dead?
She thought distractedly, falling to her knees, unable to move any more.
Is this even happening?
She heard her father's voice from what felt like a very far distance.

"Lena! Lena, where are you?" she tried to open her mouth, but could not speak.

"We are over here, Mr. Thresh!" Belinda shouted back. "Please, please hurry!" Lena nodded, grateful, even as she curled deeper and deeper in on herself in the snow. She didn't even feel cold, though her grip never left Belinda's shoulders, curling her body protectively around the child.

She heard the crunching of feet on the snow as her father approached. "Lena!" he exclaimed, horror in his tone, and that was all Lena heard as she slid deeper and deeper into the blackness.

Her eyelids felt as if they were glued down, she had to struggle so hard to open them. But when she finally was able to see her surroundings, she wished she hadn't bothered.

Pain screamed from every angle; her face, her body, her back. She was lying on scratchy white sheets covering a sterile-smelling bed, belly-down. At first she thought she was naked, but after glancing at her body she realized that she was wearing a paper hospital gown, untied at the back to leave the skin above her waist completely bare. A glance at her hands told her that her fingers were wrapped in a mitten-like gauze, save for her left thumb which had a corded device clipped on it that was attached to a bedside machine, monitoring her heartbeat. Each inner elbow had a tube punctured into her skin, which led to two bags hanging from metal stands. One bag dripped clear fluid into her veins, the other, she knew, gave her somebody's blood.

She couldn't move much from where she rested, bound and trussed like a turkey in her bandages, but even without looking around she knew immediately where she was, and why she was there. She held still and waited for something to happen.

Soon enough, wearing fresh-looking scrubs and a pair of comfortable tennis shoes, a middle-aged woman entered the room. She didn't dither about as she checked the papers pouring out of the heart monitor, examined the levels of the fluid pouring into Lena's body. The woman touched Lena's back and Lena could hear the rustle of paper, could feel cold cream pouring over her skin. She was a little surprised to discover that a small portion of her back had absolutely no sensation at all.

"How long have I been here?" Lena asked, her voice coming out croaky, like a dehydrated toad. The nurse jumped.

"Lena Thresh!" the woman exclaimed, putting a hand over her heart. "I didn't know that you were awake. You should have said something right when I came in!" the woman shook her head, clucking her tongue. "Never mind. I'm Nurse Carla; the ambulance brought you here late yesterday afternoon. It's about 10:30 pm, a day and a half later. Would you like some water?"

Lena nodded, and then wished she hadn't. When she moved it, the pain in her head went from
noticeable
to
unbearable
. "Aah!" she cried out, cringing.

"Don't move your head, sweetie," the nurse told her, fetching a bottle of water from a miniature refrigerator and sliding a straw into it. "You have a partial concussion; your skull is cracked and your brain is bruised." She helped slide the straw past Lena's lips and held the water for Lena to slowly sip as she processed the information.

"What else is wrong with me?" Lena asked, dreading the answer but needing to know just the same.

"Cracked left zygomatic, that's your cheekbone, the hinge of your left humorous and radius is very much shattered, that's your elbow, some various cuts and bruises, and…" Carla paused, as if uncertain she should add the last bit.

"Please tell me," Lena asked.

"Extreme musculature damage in your upper back. Honey, whoever it was that did this to you shredded several inches of your back, removing some of the muscle completely."

Lena felt oddly calm, considering she had never broken a bone before in her life and she now had a gaping hole in her back. "Thank you," she told the woman politely. "Can I have some more water?"

Nurse Carla obliged, and then turned to leave. Lena's unusual calm disappeared the instant she headed towards the door.

"Don't leave me!" she couldn't stop herself from crying out. Her nurse turned around. "Sweetie," she said, using a tone that implied she had said the same words before. "The Philadelphian MediCenter is a perfectly safe hospital with top-notch security. There is nobody inside or outside the hospital that could even try to hurt you and get away with it while you are here." Though she sounded like she was reciting a text book, her wide brown eyes looked at Lena with sadness.

"I understand…" Lena whispered, feeling embarrassed at her outburst. "But I still don't want to be alone right now."

"I can send your mother in to see you," Nurse Carla offered. Lena's eyes shot open wide.

"She's here?" Lena felt a shocking wave of relief cover her like a warm blanket; she hadn't known until now how much she wanted her mother right now. Carla smiled.

"Yeah, Hun; hasn't left. I take it you want to see her?" Lena nodded mutely, and then winced.
Ow ow ow…

"I'll go get her," Carla said, "But then I have to see to my other patients. If you need me, press this button," she pointed to a blue button on a clicker by Lena's hand. "If you need pain medications, press this one," she indicated a triangular gray button, and then left the room.

Barely a moment had passed before her mother came barreling into the room.

"Oh, Lena!" her mom gasped breathily, sinking onto the chair by Lena's bed. "My baby. I'm so happy you're awake. They wouldn't let me in to see you until you woke up and gave your consent; they say victims of abuse need the control…"

"Abuse?" Lena asked weakly. Her mom struggled to maintain a perky smile, but she could see the devastation in her mother's eyes, the false notes of the smile even as her mom's lips trembled.

"You were beaten, Lena, don't you remember?" her mother asked. "They told me amnesia was one possible result of brain damage…"

"No, I remember," Lena answered, her voice quiet. "I don't have amnesia. But… could you tell me what happened after I went out of commission?" she tried to keep her voice light.

"I was just changing my laundry," her mom said, always having to get the full background in before divulging into a story. "I was putting the colorful clothes in, you know, the reds and blues and…" at Lena's patient stare, her mother cleared her throat. "I got a phone call from your father; he was calling on your cell phone. He didn't tell me
anything;
just that you had gotten hurt and that an ambulance was coming from you." She snorted, shaking her head. "He never gives
any
details; I had no idea what was going on."

"So what did you do?" Lena asked.

"What do you
think
I did?" her mom rolled her eyes. "I got into my car and probably broke several laws with the way I drove to your school." Her mother was clearly trying not to stare at Lena's back, and it was creating an uncomfortable aura in the room. Lena decided to break the ice before it got too thick.

"You can look at my back," she told her mother. "If you want to. I haven't seen it yet, but if you want to see it…" she had gathered that the wound was covered with a thin layer of some type of sterile paper, probably to keep germs out.

"I'd better not," her mother answered. "I don't want it to get an infection from my germy hands or something." Though her excuse was valid, Lena could hear the fear in her tone; her mother was genuinely afraid of what she'd see underneath Lena's bandages.

"Anyway," her mother continued to speak. "I got there about the same time the ambulance and police did. Your father looked like he was about to faint, but he just ended up throwing up in the bushes. And then things got really confusing… the police came out of nowhere with Robert and Gabriel and… some blonde vampire… and they were all in handcuffs."

When her mother said Robert's name, Lena's heart rate must have picked up; they both silenced to hear the heart monitor briefly going crazy before settling back down. Lena gently nibbled on her lip.
That's not good…
she mused, trying to distance herself from the reality of being afraid of her best friend's name.

"Elliot was in handcuffs?" she asked, her voice unusually high. "Why?"

"I don't know!" her mother answered, sounding frustrated. "Everything was so crazy, and some little girl was running around shouting orders; it was nuts! I just took your father home; because he looked so sick. And then I followed the ambulance to the hospital and nobody's told me anything since then."

"Nothing at all?" Lena asked, feeling dread sink into her stomach. Her mother probably expected her to tell her what had happened. She didn't want to talk about it, not any of it. And sure enough…

"Please, baby, tell me what's going on!" her mom begged. "What happened to you?" she shuddered, looking at her daughter; her bandaged hands, her swollen purple face, her taped-up elbow and paper-covered back.

And so Lena launched into her tale, speaking in short sentences, trying to get the whole sordid mess on the table. It was much like vomiting; painful and burning, but a relief to get out of her system after every heave.

"Girls started to die." Lena explained shortly. "Two months ago; a girl at our school was killed. Then on Halloween, another girl, and when dad was in his surgery, a girl went missing. Gabriel went missing, too." Her mother nodded, confusion in her eyes as she struggled to take in what her daughter was saying.

"So yesterday, dad went to pee in the trees at my school; said it was an emergency. I went wandering on my own and found Gabriel and the dead girl who went missing. Gabriel was all tied up; when I tried to let him out, Robert came in."

Her mother gasped, shock and disbelief in her eyes. "Robert?" she asked, astonished at the pain in her daughter's face, deeper than any bruise.

"Yes," Lena said, unable to keep the tiny sob from her voice. "He hit me… told me he had killed them all, had kidnapped Gabriel. He told me his mom killed his father all those years ago. He smashed me into the wall a few times." She knew she was over-simplifying, well,
everything
, but she couldn't handle much more of this. The alarmed look in her mother's eyes didn't fade.

"Robert…" her mother whispered, no doubt thinking of the countless times she had returned home from work to find that very boy in her kitchen, helping Lena struggle through her English homework, watching movies and pigging out on popcorn. Lena tried to swallow the lump in her throat.

"Robert was going to kill me too; he had a gun, so I untied Gabriel. He hadn't had blood or any other food for weeks, was so hungry he lost his mind. He tried to attack Robert, but Robert pushed him off. Gabriel was so hungry he attacked me instead."

"And that's how your back…" her mother trailed off, understanding, mingled with horror and revulsion, in her eyes. "But how did you get out?"

"Elliot came in. He's my other vampire. I never really complained about him like I have about Gabriel, so you probably don't even know who he is. We're kind of friends, I guess. His sister was the little girl running around," she explained. "He pulled Gabriel off of me, started fighting Robert and Gabriel to get them away. I was holding the little girl, and fainted when dad found me, I guess."

The two sat together in a long, drawn-out silence. Her mother's hand fluttered over her head, pressing gently into her hair with the greatest of caution, as if afraid Lena would shatter into pieces. Lena stiffened at the contact, but held still, allowing it.

"You probably need sleep," her mother finally said, reaching for Lena's pain medications button. Lena allowed her mother to push it and almost immediately began feeling the blissful, dizzying blackness overcome her.

Over the next three days, Lena continuously made it a habit to press her medication button every time she managed to wake. She just didn't want to be conscious, didn't want to think anymore. Didn't want to feel anymore. Through her blurry, brief wakeful-sessions, she had jumbled memories of visits from her mother and sister, and once even from her father. She couldn't make out more than a few echoing words before the drugs in her system mercifully dragged her under once more.

Soon, though, even this wasn't working for her. The medications provided strange dreams for her, and every dream managed to evolve into the worst of nightmares. Each nightmare managed to end up with Robert,
her
Robert, with the lovely clear eyes and the smile that had always made her grin. "I love you, Lena," he would whisper to her. "I love you," he would continue to say, even as he wrapped his hands around her neck. "I love you," he would repeat as his hands crushed her into thousands of glistening fragments.

"I know what you're doing, and you need to stop it." Lena struggled into consciousness, eyes flicking open to focus on her sister's face remarkably close to her own.

"Huuuh?" she slurred. Her face felt wet; she had been crying in her sleep again.

"
I know what you're doing
," Vanessa glared. "You're trying to get out of
feeling
. And you need to stop it right now or you'll make it a
thousand
times worse."

"What do you know about it?" she tried to sound tough, responding to her sister's aggressive tone.

"I know what it's like to try to get out of feeling. Sex. Drugs. Booze. Cutting." Vanessa listed off everything she had tried, ticking them off of her fingers. "None of it works, it just leaves you feeling rotten."

"Tell you what,
sis
," Lena snarled, bearing her teeth. "The next time
your
best friend tries to
murder
you, then we'll talk. Then we can talk on equal grounds on feeling rotten." Her threatening edge began to wear off as tears started to slip uncontrollably from her eyes. "When a vampire tries to dig out your spine with his teeth. Then and only
then
can we talk."