Chapter 9

All four men rushed to his side, calling out, trying to revive him but to no avail.

Deciding that they should get him comfortable, they settled him on Richie’s bed, eyeing him carefully.

Standing hands on hips, Dave shook his head, licking his lips nervously.

“What the fuck now? Call a doctor?”

Obie pointed towards Jon’s mouth.

“No doctors. How do we explain that?” Large fangs peeked from his lips, he was panting and snarling, sweat covering his forehead.

Tico sagged onto the bed next to Jon, feeling his forehead, he grunted.

“Ok I don’t know how a vampire is suppose to feel, but I don’t think he is suppose to be burning up? There is something seriously wrong with him, what we gonna do?” The thought of losing one of their own was staring them in the face.

“We have to find her.” Richie’s dead calm statement had their immediate attention.

“Who?”

“The bitch that started this all, she might know what the fuck is going on. I’m going to hunt her ass down and bring her back. She started this, she will finish this.”

Obies’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

“Whaddaya  mean…she finish this?” 

Grim determination shone in his dark eyes.

“If she can’t fix him then yes….it’s time to take him out of his misery. I love him like a brother, but he doesn’t deserve this…none of this shit.”

Shocked thoughts flitted through the men’s minds; it never occurred to them that Jon might be dying.

Throwing a few clothes in an overnight bag, Richie barked out orders.

“Keep him comfortable, try and get his fever down. If he wakes up tell him where I went. You look after him, ok?”

“What if he gets hungry? How do we feed him..WHAT do we feed him?”

Richie’s hands stilled.

“He told me that he could survive on bloody meat. It’s not ideal and it won’t keep his strength up forever, but if you need to get it to keep him alive…you do it, you slaughter the damn pig yourself if you need to!”

His longs legs carried him towards the door, turning around..his grim face warned them.

“You guys, be safe. I don’t know what’s going on with him, he might get worse ..you know…the thirst thing…just look after yourselves. Call me if anything changes, I’ll be back as soon as I get that thing.”

And with that he was gone.

~~~

It didn’t take him long to track her down, she was still working nights and still serving the same pub, just as Jon described it.

She was a cute red head, he had to give her that, but now that he knew what she was, she wasn’t quite as attractive as he pictured her.

Fucking bitch.

Her head whipped towards him, her eyes pinning him down.

Yeah, I was talking about you.

She came over, her hips rolled invitingly as she made her way around the tables.

“Would you like something to drink?”

He shook his head, his eyes watching her cautiously.

“Nah but I have something to discuss with you. When can you head out of here?” Richie gulped at the thought, it better be somewhere safe. He wasn’t about to become a damn vampire.

“So you know.”

“Fuck yes I know. You turned my best buddy…my brother into a fucking bloodsucking serial killer.”

“OK sssssssshhh…dammit keep your voice down. Give me half an hour?” She looked around hastily.

“I’ll be waitin’.” His heart was threatening to tear from his chest but this had to be done for Jon’s sake and dammit he was going to save him. Whatever it takes!

She kept her eyes on him the remainder of the shift, her thoughts zooming in on his jumbled, terrified discussion with himself.

By the time they headed out, she exactly knew who he wanted to see her about.

“Where do you want to talk?”

He locked eyes with her.

“Don’t play fucking games with me, anywhere quiet but not secluded.”

He saw a flash of red in her eyes and he shivered.

Oh hell.

“So…tell me. You came about the pretty boy…Jon?”

Sitting with a cup of steamy coffee in his hands  a few minutes later, he conveyed the reason for his strange visit.

“You’ve read my thoughts already so I’m not going to beat around the bush. He is gravely ill, no pun intended…. I dunno what the fuck he did, but he killed two girls in one night. Came back, slept his ass off and when he woke that evening he hit the carpet.”

She was listening intently, her pale features, serious.

“To be honest, I’m surprised he is still alive.”

The bottom of the cup hit the table noisily, his eyes were blazing. He was a good looking man…dark, tall…and his blood…hhmmmmmmmmmmm…smelled divine…his feistiness made him even more attractive.

She took a whiff into the air, her eyes drifting close for a moment.

“Don’t start you vamp shit on me! What the fuck did you mean? You left him to die? Are you fucking mad?”

Her eyes drifted open, red, glittering eyes.

Settling her hand on his, she scraped a nail slowly over the pulse.

“I’m a vampire….we don’t care , we don’t feel sorrow…we don’t feel ANYTHING but let me explain.  If you become the sire of a new vampire, you are suppose to train them, be by their side until you know they will be able to sustain themselves…I didn’t do that with Jon..so he must be quite the vampire by now.”

“Oh fucking whoopee! He is THE vampire alright…kills left and right, feeds sometimes twice a day…almost killed his damn wife ..and then he had to run off and mutilate two perfectly innocent girls. They were teens for God’s sake! He mauled them to death or let me put it this way…the coroner suspect and wild animal attack. Is that how you all do it?!”

Pride shone in her eyes.

“Well , well he had grown up to be quite a vampire.”
 

Richie jerked forward almost spitting in disgust.

“Listen you damn screwed up bitch….ouch!”

He watched in dismay as the burning on his wrist showed a tiny cut, a trickle of blood oozing from it.

As if in slow motion he saw as she turned the nail around that did the damage and watched in disgust as she licked the droplets from it.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh…you taste like pure sin.” She whispered, her fangs growing just a tad lower.

“Stop this right fucking now! I’m not your blood bank for the evening. I need your damn help, my friend is dying and unfortunately I think as ironic as it sounds..the one that wishes him dead is the only one that might be able to help him! ” Richie was shivering with rage.

Leaning back in the chair she looked at him, really, fully looked at a man…. A mortal that’s loves his friend so much, even if he was a creature of the night, to come and face another vampire, not knowing if he would walk out of this alive.

“Tell me everything you know. Details….I need details.”

Richie would have been in awe and somewhat proud if he would have been able to read her mind and discover the respect she felt and the solemn promise she made to herself to not feed from him.

It was her full intent the moment she laid eyes on him earlier that evening. It was rare to find a human that felt that it was his duty to protect a vampire. Jon must have been a good man in his previous life. Did she do the wrong thing to turn him? Did she create an unstoppable monster? Only time would tell.