Fang slid out from underneath the chains and eased himself down to the floor next to me. Leaning against the alter, he reached out and took my hands, pulling them into his lap. My heart skipped a beat at the thought of all the wonderful words about to fall out of his mouth in appreciation of my daring rescue. It wouldn't surprise me if they sang ballads of my amazing exploits fraught with peril for future generations to learn from.
"You shouldn't have done that, Red," he said examining the torn skin on my palms and frowning.
Okay...so much for that little fantasy. "Yeah, well...you shouldn't have dragged me into the den of you ex-girlfriend." I tried to pull my hands away from him, but he kept them firmly in his grasp. "I'm fine. You can let go," I muttered as those pesky butterflies continued to do the Macarena in my stomach.
He shook his head. "You're not fine. Lead is lethal to vampires and judging by these cuts, you have contaminated your blood."
"Is that why you have those?" I nodded to the marks marring his chest. Dark, blistering burns and bruises crossed over his pecs and blemished those amazing abs of his. It was like seeing someone had drawn a mustache on the Mona Lisa.
"Yes." He sighed heavily and I could see how tired and weak he was.
Looking down at my wrists, I noticed other than being a bit red and raw from all the pulling and yanking, they weren't near as bad as Fang's.
"I don't think it bothers me."
He gave me a skeptical look with that damn raised eyebrow. Did I say I missed him earlier?
"Look!" I jerked my hand out of his grip, tugged up my sleeves and showed him. "I've been chained up just like you, only I don't have any marks." I turned my wrists this way and that under his nose.
Still he continued to give me a dubious look.
"Listen, Fang." I stood up, wincing at the pain flashing through my body.
Holy Moses on a pogo stick! I don't think there was an inch on me anywhere that didn't ache. Maybe I should have used that membership to the gym I got last Christmas for actually working out rather than stopping in from time to time for a complementary muffin.
"We don't have time for this. I will gnaw on a number two pencil later to prove it to you, but for now, we need to get a move on before Cruilla wakes up."
That got his attention. "Wakes up?" He staggered to his feet, his eyes wide in surprise. "But I heard a gunshot?"
"Oh...did I forget to mention your psycho girlfriend shot me?" I muttered, bending down to pick up a good length of chain off the floor.
Taking the links, I wrapped them around my shoulders Mexican Bandito style. My thinking was, if vampires were allergic to lead, then I would give the next blood sucking leech who came after me in a hostile way one hell of an allergy attack. Besides, it looked pretty darn cool to boot. Winner, winner chicken dinner.
Fang whirled me around to face him. "Where were you shot at?"
"OWIE!" I yanked my shoulder away from him. "Right where you just jammed your thumb, you moron!"
Ignoring me, he shoved the chain to the side and ripped my shirt open.
"Hey! What are you doing?" I tried pulling away from him, but he held me fast.
"I'm looking at your shoulder," he said flatly, slapping my hands away.
"You could have just asked," I griped, looking down at my now tattered turtle neck. First my shoes and now my shirt. What the hell did these vamps have against my wardrobe? "Well? How does it look or did you just want to play doctor?" I suddenly got a little warm at that thought.
"It's knitting together," he answered with a frown.
"That's good right?" I tilted my head down and tried to look at it.
"Yes...faster than normal, but yes." He stared at me as if I had grown horns or something.
"Awesome possum," I grumbled, turning away from him. The way he was looking at me was unsettling. "Let's get going before any more of your clan shows up. I've had about all the vampire hospitality I can stand."
He grabbed my hand before I made it out of the cell. "They are not my clan...not anymore."
"Great! Can we go now?" Not that I wasn't flattered by his claim, but I wasn't looking forward to running into Druilla again anytime soon. Or Nico-lame. Or Vincent. Or any of those five goons who jumped me...hmmm...my list of people I didn't want to run into was getting rather lengthy.
He paused and then nodded his head. With Fang hot on my heels, we charged down a long spooky corridor straight out of Dracula's castle. Considering we were both vampires, the irony was not lost on me. Now this was the macabre shit I had thought I would run into when I went into Fang's lair.
Funnily enough...I think I would rather have the pristine décor of the Martha Stewart on steroids than Elvira's wet dream come true, I thought as I ran through yet another puddle of something slimy and foul. Seriously...they needed to call the Merry Maids, ASAP.
Before long, we ran into a door. Not literally. It may be dark down her, but our night vision was still working perfectly. Reaching out, I tried to open it, but it was locked. Drat! Who locks a cellar? Rather untrusting these vampires were.
"Can you do your little master key magic on this?"
Fang strode up and passed his hand over the lever, but nothing happened. No little happy snick could be heard.
"I'm too weak," he mumbled. Pushing me out of the way, he grabbed the lever and gave a mighty heave, ripping the thing right off its hinges.
I laughed, entering the dreary little room. "If that's weak, then...," I turned around just in time to see him stagger against the wall and slump down to the floor. He was so white, if it had been snowing...he'd be invisible. Running over to his side, I threw myself on the ground next to him.
"Fang! What's the matter?" Reaching out, I touched his shoulder. His skin was cold and rivers of sweat flowed down his face. He was grimacing in pain, his lips peeled back from his fangs as he panted shallowly.
"You need to move those shelves, Red." He inhaled raggedly. "Get into the caves and run, don't look back. Find Mason. Tell him...what happened and have him contact Lucien. They will help you."
"What about you? I can't leave you here." Listening to the hoarse sound of his breathing was freaking me the hell out. I felt like that slave gal in Gone with the wind. I don't know nothin' 'bout birthing babies, Miss Scarlett!Some people were born to be courageous leaders in bad situations...I was not one of those people.
"The...lead...it's in my system. You have to." He moaned and leaned out to cup my face. "You can do this. You are my feisty Red. If anyone can find a way...you will." He gave me a tight smile, his normally glowing diamond eyes...faded and dull.
A tear rolled down my cheek and he rubbed it away with the pad of his thumb.
"No time for tears, Red. Now go." His hand fell away from my face as he flopped back against the wall, closing his eyes.
Jumping up to my feet, IÂ ran over to the shelves he had pointed to and shoved them clear across to the other side of the room in my panicked state. Flour, canned goods and a grocery store of other items crashed to the floor. Whoopsie...my bad. But, true to his word, there was a door covered in cobwebs.
Taking a deep breath and hoping I didn't run into a ginormous spider, I stuck my hand through the webbing and quickly opened the latch. Pulling my hand back, I turned into a Kung Fu master trying to get the sticky stuff off. Poking my head in, I rolled my eyes at the stagnant smell of it. Seriously, why does everything around here have to smell like a freaking sewer?
Unwinding myself from the chain, I chucked it into the cavern and headed back over to Fang. Grabbing one of his limp hands, I pulled him over my back, fireman style.
"What the hell are you doing?" he complained feebly to the back of my thigh.
"Saving you," I said, making a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. I didn't have my spoon shovel anymore, but I'll be damned if I was going to lose him too.
"I told you to leave me behind, dammit."
I laughed drily. "I haven't listened to you since the moment we met, what makes you think I am going to start now?"
Fang's struggles, as weak as they were, funnily enough...weren't helping. I was carrying over six feet, 280 pounds of unwieldly vampire, but, thanks to my super strength, he was like toting around one of those silly Chihuahuas those rich girls seemed so fond of. That is, if he would stop flopping around like a fish.
I lugged him a good ways into the tunnel before I set him not so gracefully on the damp dirt floor. Cringing at his muttered curse, I apologized and hightailed it back to the door and closed it. Spotting a metal bar, I struggled to lift the heavy, lead beam across the door. Leaning against it, I wheezed for a bit. That should count for a week's worth of cardio, I thought dragging my sorely out of shape body back to where I left Fang. Along the way, I ran into my chain and picked it up. Towing it behind me like a blanket.
When I got to him, he was propped up against the wall, slightly slouched to the left and his eyes were closed. Oh shit! Dropping down to my knees, I grabbed his shoulders and shook him like a Polaroid picture.
"Don't you dare die on me!" I yelled, but he didn't so much as flinch. "Come on, Fang." I put my forehead against his, the coolness of it scaring me even more. It was like snuggling up with a block of ice. "Don't leave me, Drake," I chokingly whispered, pressing my lips to his.
He pulled me to him, not nearly as gently as you would think for a dying man. Before I knew it, his tongue penetrated my mouth, stroking it with mine. Opening my eyes in shock, his icicle gaze locked onto mine. I was so happy he was still alive, I didn't even fight him. Instead, I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him right back.
Slowly pulling his lips away, the glowing in his eyes matched mine. We lit up that tunnel like a couple of Snoopy nightlights.
I cleared my throat, ducking my head. "I thought you were dead or something."
He chuckled softly. "Do I have to go to such extremes to get you to kiss me, Red?"
My lady parts voted a big hell no on that one and my inner slut was leading the campaign. Naked. I swear...she has no self-respect.
"Umm...I plead the fifth," I said scrambling off his lap. How did I get there? Shaking my head, I noticed he was still deathly pale and breathing shallow. Though, I have to admit, my kiss did brighten his eyes some.
"Figures," he said, leaning his head back. I could see the exhaustion etched on his handsome face.
"How can I help?" I asked. Threading my fingers through his hair, I eased it back off his clammy forehead.
"There's nothing you can do, Red. The poison has taken over. I will either survive, or I won't, but in the meantime..." he sighed, "I'm afraid I will be of little use to you." A shudder racked his body and he coughed as if he had been chain smoking Camel nonfilters for the last 500 years. "You have to leave me."
I stubbornly shook my head. "There's got to be something I can do."
He popped open one eye. "I need blood. That is the only thing that can help me."
I staggered back on my heels. Yeah...I wasn't prepared for that one. On scale of one to 10, that was a plus 1000 on the ewww factor scale. Sighing, I stood up and nervously ran my palms over my jeans. Looking down at them, I noticed...amazingly enough...they were completely healed. Peeking over at my shoulder, all I could see was a small, red, puckered mark from where Druilla shot me. Damn...I regenerated faster than the Terminator.
I looked over at Fang who was getting worse by the second. He was sick, because of me. If he hadn't defended me...he wouldn't have gotten himself strapped down in the dungeon. A wave of guilt washed over me. Something I was far from use to feeling. After all, I was seldom ever wrong...just varying degrees of rightness.
Shivering, I wrapped my arms around myself. As much as it gave me the heebie-jeebies...the least I could do was help the guy out. He could regain his strength from my blood. That is...if he could drink another vampire's blood. I gulped hard and walked over to him. Kneeling down, I gently shook his shoulder. He opened his eyes and arched his brow at me. Pfftt...he still had enough energy for that.
"Why are you still here?" he mumbled. "You need to leave."
"Why does everyone keep repeating themselves to me?" I groused.
"Maybe, because you never listen."
"I heard enough to know you need blood." Taking a deep breath, I hooked my fingers under my shirt and pulled it up over my head. All the while I was thinking to myself, this was purely for medical purposes only and had absolutely nothing to do with wanting him like a contestant on the Biggest Loser wants high fructose corn syrup.
Will Fang accept Mel's offer?
Stay tuned for the next installment of FANGED to find out. Don't forget to come join the fun on my Facebook page K. M. Halandras for sneak peeks!
Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it. If you liked it please give it a vote and comments are always appreciated. If you don't see any updates here...check out my other stories Bending Steele, When Roses Collide or Stealing You Away