Exsanguinate

by Killion Slade

  I grabbed his hand at my mouth and shoved his fingers further in. My back molars crunched hard like a nut cracker to bite off his fingers. I ground my jaw back and forth, stripping off flesh between my teeth. His blood gushed into my mouth filling it with hot, coppery spurts. The beast relinquished his hold with a grunt of pain and let go of my face. I fell backwards away from him.

  In an instant he grabbed me up by the arms and shook me until I became a rag doll in front of him.

  He held me there, panting. Face-to-face. Time stopped. My eyes tried to focus. Light shined up through my gauzy straps. For a split moment of time, milliseconds of reality, his eyes softened. Spider web creases around his eyes made him look almost human. He looked at me with an intense fire in his eyes as they glowed red. He glanced around us and put me gently on the floor.

  RUN!

  I froze, cemented to the ground. My legs refused to budge. My body failed me. Utterly paralyzed, I couldn’t move. Then I realized my back was pressed up against the stage. When his eyes met mine once again, they were wide and conscious. In that moment, I emblazoned his image forever on my soul.

  Two words escaped him enveloping me in rotten breath. “Help me.”

  I wasn’t sure if what I saw, and what I heard were the same thing. My head throbbed with the rush of blood pounding in my ears. He crushed me closer to his chest, knocking the wind out of me again. His voice whispered into my ear, “Please, help me.”

  Are you fecking kidding me?

  Anger flooded my brain synapses, and dumped adrenaline into my bloodstream. My heart pumped new vitality throughout my body. I gained clarity and a sense of peace when he released his grip on my arms. I stepped back with caution and grabbed a shoe not far from my hand on the stage.

  Breathe, Cheyenne.

  I looked at his face once again. My exterior remained calm while the raging torrent inside overtook my entire body. In an instant, I spit into his eyes and swung the shoe at his face. This stunt gave me just enough time to ram my foot into the inside of his knee, bending him over as I slammed my fisted hands down against his shoulder.

  Knowing there was nowhere left to go, my verbal assault spewed forth. “Asshat. Ask me for help? What the hell, you whacked out jerk wad!”

  He grabbed me by the hair and yanked me back towards him. His hands stretched my neck in an unnatural arc to the left. He pressed against pressure points in my shoulder, and I became an instant rag-doll once again. Knowing he was going to snap my vertebrae like a green bean, I was no longer able to defend myself.

  Anger coursed through me. All I could do is watch him in paralytic horror as my heart pounded out of my chest. Black dots clouded my vision. He held my neck on display, his bountiful feast awaiting him. I watched as he licked his lips as he watched the rhythm of my carotid. The stench of his fetid breath, heaved vomit up into my mouth. He tenderly lavished my neck, stroking it, kissing it, and sucked on the throbbing artery pulsing viciously under my skin.

  “911 is this an emergency?” The voice from my bra came just in time to hear the devil sink his teeth deep into my neck and suck out my life force.

  A million thoughts, memories, and emotions flooded through me in an instant.

  Beano. Dakota. Sunburned weekends at the beach. Daddy. The smell of burning orange peels. Sheridan. Why didn’t I ever get around to making a will? Cuban sandwiches from Larry’s Deli. Roxas. Why didn’t I go sit by the waterfalls? Was this how my life ended? Why didn’t I pay attention to my dream this morning? Quest Failed.

  My eyes saw a flicker of emergency lights or it could have been the white light everyone talked about when they die. Somewhere off in the distance police sirens wailed.

  Dreamily the sirens accompanied the screams, and the horrors of my insane dream. I blew dandelion seeds across the lawn and watched Dakota in the tire swing. Mom baking banana bread. Sheridan pouring glasses of lemonade. I fell to the floor and crashed in a heap. Beano running in the water trying to catch the waves. Sobs faded further away. The painful bliss of my recurring nightmare finally ended. After all these years, it was over. The Red Man finally got me.

  As I laid there shivering, in the numbing cold, I prayed that with any stroke of fate from the Norns, and I lived through this, I would never, ever be the dumb bimbo who ventured into a haunted house again.

  Chapter Twelve

  Interlude

  The Caedis Vampyre Coven

  Orlando, Florida

  Lord Stovall, the Nauclerus Vampire of the Caedis Vampyric Coven, called an emergency gathering on the bow of his ship. His dark skin glimmered in the reflection off the lamps hanging from the marina’s dock. The night sky offered nothing but blinking stars and the warm whispers of wind through the cat tails over the lake. The coven met in response to reported attacks after the Halloween massacre.

  “I’ve gathered you here tonight because we have reported sightings and bizarre events growing on Twitter and throughout the instant news sources. Humans are talking about the unexplained attacks on both animals and humans all across the city. Police are baffled. But that isn’t a surprise.”

  Quiet titters of laughter funneled through the group.

  “Of course, we know it is most likely from a rogue vampire or another supernatural blood demon which is openly killing,” Stovall continued.

  “What about the Weres? They’ve had a lot of Central American packs recently come through here. Made a damn mess of things,.” a voice cried out from one of the irritated coven members.

  “How do we know it wasn’t one of them?” came another voice.

  “I understand your concerns.” Stovall raised his hands to quiet the questions. “However, reports from the area werewolf clans state that all pack members are accounted for and had not been in a known fugue on All Hallows Eve. Since we don’t know exactly what type of creature has committed the attacks, all supernatural beings are being tasked to find it and bring it to justice in front of the Queen. We need to move fast. The bitten neonate transformations are waking up and they need to be assimilated or eliminated. We are setting up a team now.”

  Amicula Darkrose, the coven’s leading member of the IHR team was called upon to lead the Interspecies Human Relations unit. Lord Stovall knew she would most likely be the best choice to hunt and find the newly turned vampires from the horror massacre, but he also wished to give her something to do to get her out of his hair. Amicula, the niece of the Vampyre Queen Civetateo, knew the power she held in her position and wasn’t afraid to use it. Stunningly beautiful with a rare, exotic beauty, she also knew no man could ever resist her.

  Khaldon Seters, the coven’s best technology cleaner, was called upon by the elders to flesh out any fledglings still in the hospital. He needed to scrub their dossiers, and coordinate the absterger teams of the victims. From Egypt, the direct descendant of Sekhmet, the Egyptian Warrior Goddess, Khaldon stood six feet tall with long black pharaoh hair he held back with a beaded tieback. Dark silken skin combined with a technological mind brilliant enough to make the heads of the geeks at Microsoft swim, made Khaldon a force to be reckoned with.

  Lord Stovall walked to the edge of the yacht where Amicula and Khaldon stood, and addressed them both. “We need you to align yourselves earnestly with the sucklings to teach them what they’ve become. Darkrose, you must enact the EST – Emergency Suckling Termination – procedures of either induction or elimination. Educate the victims about how to embrace the vampire within and execute control of their thirst. For if they do not, we must terminate their threats of exposure. If they are unable to accept the new existence, then coordinate with Khaldon to eradicate the nuisance and put it down.”

  Amicula, acknowledging her assignment, bowed deeply to her Lord.

  Stovall turned to Khaldon. “Seters, infiltrate the hospital computer networks and erase any patient records Darkrose identifies. Get a tally as to how many need erasing. We will gather the resources needed for decontamination. Clean up all traces and complete a thorough dossier on eac
h suckling. Family, friends, employment. Cross reference common denominators. Leave no evidence of the patients who must be destroyed. Wipe the minds of the humans who have interacted with these patients. They must be forgotten.”

  Stovall turned to address the rest of the coven council. “I am working closely with Queen Civetateo to determine if this is a rogue vampire. Where has it gone and why did it attack in a public place? There are unanswered questions about this unauthorized human attack, and we’ll need assistance from all area covens to reel in these neonates. At this point, if we don’t get these sucklings and their appetites under control, we could easily have a vampire apocalypse on our hands.”

  Khaldon dutifully bowed his head in obedience to Lord Stovall while he shot a wry smile to Amicula.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Interlude

  Amicula Darkrose

  Amicula signed into the ExsanguiNation portal with her avatar and wrote on a piece of virtual parchment paper. Before sealing the parchment with the crimson wax, Amicula re-read her letter to her aunt, the Queen, one last time to ensure she left out no detail.

  My Honorable Queen Civetateo,

  Lord Stovall called an emergency meeting tonight. I have been as assigned head of the Interspecies Human Relations unit. I get to enjoy the critical task of deciding which humans live and which ones die in our choreographed experiment within the theme park.

  How deliciously convenient for us.

  After Lord Stovall dismissed the coven, he gave me explicit permission to handle the sucklings as I see fit. Seems as though most of the humans should be well utilized, wouldn’t you agree?

  Our infiltration into their coven is complete. Even if several of the humans do survive, if they are perceived to be acceptable candidates, we’ll be sure to keep them for either the blood trials or the blood orchards. Exceptional ones, might be considered for some of our longer term ventures.

  Lord Stovall assigned both Khaldon and me to the same task removal unit, so I must demonstrate caution and not to allow either of them to learn too much.

  Our strategy is in full swing. I will have Ludovic and Edric pick up the survivors and take them to our testing facilities. What a grand opportunity for free meat. Hands down, I would say your idea was truly a chaotic success. Perhaps now, we can push through your next level of testing on the Solunarae blood, to determine how humans can handle it. It ought to be entertaining to see how it affects their unborn fetuses as well.

  I will continue to send you communiqué, via this secure channel, keeping you informed of our progress.

  In Your Honor,

  Darkrose

  As Amicula’s avatar folded the virtual paper and dribbled hot wax onto the edge to seal it, she recalled the respect Khaldon held for Lord Stovall during the meeting.

  Amicula remembered the way Khaldon once respected her. Once held her so long ago. Once loved her. Her thoughts relished the words on her tongue. One day ... one day soon. Khaldon will revere me in the same manner as he did before. When I am Queen of the Vampyre Nation.

  Amicula hit the send button and her electronic emessage inside the game was delivered.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Orlando Hospital

  “H-Hold on, I’ll get the n-nurse.” My father squeezed my hand.

  My vision blurred as I tried to focus. My head felt woozy, like a swollen watermelon full of rancid beer.

  Did anybody get the license plate number of that Moose? Dear God – am I still alive?

  I wrapped my fingers around his hand, and I tried to smile. Who knew the twelve muscles required to smile could hurt that damn much? Everything hurt – from the follicles on my scalp to my toenail polish. I dropped the smile and decided to go for the drugged-out patient look instead of the I’ll be okay, Dad look, ‘cause right at that moment, I didn’t have enough energy to care.

  “Are you th-thirsty? I have some water.”

  When he mentioned water I realized how my parched body ached. Even though I knew better, I could’ve sworn I’d sucked down several sandpaper milk shakes. If extreme thirst were an Olympic event, I must have medaled for sure.

  I tried to nod and found any neck movement caused excruciating pain. My father pushed the button on the bed controls to raise the head of the bed. I contorted in to an upright position to reach the water straw, but my muscles cried out in protest.

  “Stop. Please stop!”

  My ribs continued to crack. Whimpered cries shed silent tears onto my plaid hospital gown. My father pushed the nurse call button again.

  At once, he lowered my bed back to the original position. I wasn’t sure which was worse, going up or down. Any movement left me in a haze of pain.

  Finally, the torture device they called the hospital bed stopped moving. Daddy supported my neck for me to drink through the straw. My tongue and mouth savored the icy goodness; it must have been days since I had anything to drink.

  Swallowing the water, however, was a whole different story. I could’ve sworn to the Pope himself that my dad gave me a can of liquid Sterno to pour down my throat and lit it on fire. My neck muscles seized when I tried to swallow. Violent coughs brought up globules of blood and other thick nasty stuff out of my mouth. I spit it out and dribbled the mess all over the front of me. Terrified to take another sip, I pushed the cup away from my face even though I desperately wanted the wet relief in my mouth.

  I wanted morphine. I wanted to return to the deep, inky blackness of the netherworld where there was no pain. Please send me back to rest in the blissful arms of Morpheus.

  “Dakota? Sheridan?” My sisters flooded my mind.

  My father looked at his hands folded up in his lap. It hadn’t been a dream – what he showed me in the newspaper – it was true. The newspaper head lines – Sheridan and Dakota were missing from the Halloween Scream Nights.

  My words croaked out, “Daddy … I’m sorry … my dream … the Red Man …”

  At first, my breathing became so labored the pain was more than I could endure. I couldn’t stop the sobbing, or the ache in my chest, knowing my sisters were gone. The hitch in my breathing shot scorching fire pokers throughout my rib cage as I tried to contain my tears. I cried out in mourning for my sisters. My father hugged me as I cried in his arms.

  A young, slender nurse with dark raven hair and eyes answered my father’s call and came in to check me. “Hello, Cheyenne, my name is Amicula. I’m your night nurse. Are you okay? Are you in much pain?”

  My father sat up and we looked at the intruder.

  Feckin’ lovely. A sarcastic nurse. Am I in much pain? My sisters are most likely dead – yes, I’m in pain.

  I nodded with imperceptible movement. Knowing I shouldn’t take my grieving out on her, I noted the name on her scrubs. When I felt better, I would apologize. I’d never seen a name like that before.

  She checked her watch. “Are you ready for another dose of happy juice?”

  Happy juice? Did she mean the little morphine button of long forgotten sorrows? Hmm. Maybe, she wasn’t that bad after all. I can’t stand feeling like this.

  I gave her an agreeable thumbs up.

  She typed onto her electronic tablet. The machine that went ping over my head let out another chime, and the nurse smiled at my dad. She leaned over toward his face, patted his arm, and whispered, “She needs to sleep. Try not to upset her too much and don’t use the bed controls to move her.”

  My father politely nodded at Amicula. I wondered why I could hear her whispered words to him as clear as if she had whispered them directly to me.

  She turned back to face me and said with inarguable certainty, “You are going to be fine, Cheyenne. You have healing to do of course, but you’re going to live for a very – long – time. The doctor will be in to see you soon.”

  Without moving my head, I looked at Amicula, then back at my dad, and then back at her again. Amicula seemed so … perky.

  She smiled a practiced smile and left the room tapping on her tablet. Glad t
o have her gone, I needed to be alone. I wanted time to understand and process what had happened to me, and to see if I could remember any details about Sheridan and Dakota. Maybe I could give the police information to help in the investigation.

  Clearing my throat from thick mucus, I tried to croak out words without much success. Frogs have sounded better. “How long have I been out?”

  “It’s been a c-couple of days, Cheyenne.”

  “There hasn’t been any news of them?” My eyes pleaded with him.

  He shook his head. “No, nothing.”

  I bit at my lips to try and hold back the sobs.

  “J-just relax now, Cheyenne. You heard the nurse. There’s nothing you can do at this moment other than get better. So please, try to breathe baby. O-kay?”

  I nodded.

  My father’s face wasn’t as swollen as I remembered. I knew when he was this upset, his stuttering was worse. The doctors said the stutter came from the traumatic shock when Mom died eight years ago. They weren’t sure if he’d ever regain control over his voice in stressful situations again.

  A few minutes later, a male voice I did not recognize asked, “Good evening, Miss O’Cuinn. My name is Lloyd, and I’ll be here at your beck and call tonight. How are you feeling?”

  Unsure how to answer, I tried to wade through the fog in my head. I made a meh gesture with my hand.

  “Perhaps we’ll see how you’re feeling in the morning. There’s no hurry – we’re glad to have you back. Baby steps for now, okay?”

  I blinked at him and gave him a slight smile. I liked him better than I did Ms. Perky Pants.

  Lloyd raised the yellow bag hanging from the side of the bed for me to see. “Looks like you’re draining well. You don’t seem to be retaining fluids like you were earlier. That’s a super sign of recovery.”