You would have to be so darn tall and have all that leg, wouldn't you? You are as heavy as an ox woman.
She jostled the vampire mightily as she struggled to carry her but it couldn't be helped. The vampire floated in and out of consciousness, saying all sorts of things, half of which didn't make sense. But some of what she said made all too much sense and the words flogged her onward.
“They are coming. You know it, don’t you? You can feel it. We both can feel it. They are coming for you. You are so sweet, like a ripe plum. They won't let you escape. I want you. We want you. You can't escape. I will have you. You are mine and I am yours my little Suvy. My blood is the key. You cannot gain entry without me. My bloo… my blood is the key. You will never escape. You are ours, forever.”
Desiree gritted her teeth and kept moving.
CHAPTER 6
Desiree decided not to look back. Even when she heard sounds behind her that triggered every defensive instinct in her and demanded that she whirl around, she only plodded along, struggling with her burden. Meilin was not heavy exactly, she was just… unwieldy. She followed the sounds of traffic until the sparse trees gave way to a small clearing. Ahead, above on a small rise, was a highway with cars cutting through the darkness with individual nimbuses of light. As she crested the rise, businesses came into view across the highway, including the hotel. She laid Meilin down as gently as she could as she waited for a gap in traffic large enough to cross safely.
Meilin murmured softly at her side but thankfully she could no longer make out any of it. It surprised her but she never even considered abandoning the vampire, her captor. It wasn't in her to leave anyone, even a vampire to die if she could help. And leaving Meilin right now would be no less than that, leaving her to die. She reached down and brushed some errant strands of raven black hair from the woman's lovely face and found the locks wet and heavy. The move revealed the long gash on the temple and she winced involuntarily. Despite the fact that she was looking for it specifically, it was very hard to notice and when she did she gasped in shock. The skin around the wound was changing from fair to a lifeless, chalky gray. She traced her finger along the graying area and nearly snatched her hand back. The skin there didn't feel like skin at all. It was coarse and rough, like old dried out wood. A flake no bigger than a pinprick broke off and fell away to the ground at her touch. Desiree jumped up with a gasp, her hands unconsciously smoothing her skirt at her sides. Oh no, this is not good. I have to do something!
She tried to feed her again, jamming her wrist hard against the woman's mouth but it only served to further muffle the already unintelligible rantings.
“Drink!” She cried desperately, tears forming in her eyes. She wiped them away angrily and stood again. The sparkling gleam of purpose now shown in her eyes even made more prominent for the fact that they glistened with unshed tears. She waited patiently and when the opportunity came, she scooped up the vampire and hurried as best she could and made it across the highway.
She sighed at the thought of leaving her new clothes but going back to the room was completely out of the question. Had she been crazy enough to risk the almost certain probability that her new enemies would reacquire her where they had first found her, the suspicious looks people were giving her as she carried Meilin would have stopped her anyway.
“She's just drunk,” She lied when two women inquired.
Meilin certainly sounded drunk the way she continually babbled on incoherently. Desiree declined all offers of help, even going so far as to slap a man's hand away when he moved to take her burden.
“No! No,” She said again more calmly. “I just need to get her home so she can sleep it off.”
Unfortunately, the move unbalanced her cargo and she was forced to stop a moment as she leaned against the wall to steady herself. That did it. Several people moved in to help but it was the same man, partnered with another taller man that managed to take hold of Meilin. Desiree noticed that the two men weren't too particular about where they placed their hands as they tried to take Meilin considering that they continually managed to put them in the wrong places. Her anger flared like the whole matchbook struck at once.
“Back off!” She demanded fiercely, the sheer weight of command and authority in her voice freezing everyone in their tracks. “Keep your sleazy hands off her.”
She pushed roughly at the first man, sending him careening into the opposite wall with devastating force. He hit with a crunch and then slumped to his knees groaning pathetically. The plaster of the wall where he made contact looked as if a car had collided with it. Everyone stared in shock, Desiree as much as anyone.
“Look, the woman is hurt,” She heard someone say in a shrill voice that broke the silence. She turned to the voice and found an older woman pointing accusingly in her direction with a gnarled, bony finger. What? I am not hurt… but then she remembered that there would still be blood on the side of her head, though the wound was no more. Thankfully Meilin’s long, thick hair covered all her injuries. At least for the time being.
“Someone should call the police,” She heard another woman say. Mind your own business you nosey Heifer.
Desiree stopped responding to any more inquiries or offers of help and made her way to the car as quickly as she could. She awkwardly opened the passenger door and managed to get Meilin into the back seat without dropping her or roughing her up too badly. She jumped into the driver’s side and adjusted the seat forward, damn giraffe, but couldn't even back out because several people were behind the car, the glow of their cellphones marking them clearly as they held them up towards her.
“Move!” She yelled angrily, sticking her head out of the window to look back at the gawkers menacingly. When no one complied, she revved the engine and they scattered like the filthy vermin that they were. Before long she was barreling down the highway, the hotel dwindling out of sight behind her. She passed a sign that read, San Francisco 248 miles. That should be less than four hours. I can do this.
“Hang in there, Vampire Girl.” She whispered, glancing back. I can do this.
She wasn't on the road very long before she noticed the glow of the low fuel sensor and let out a stream of profanity with such passion that one would have thought she was her dad after being unjustly defeated while playing Call of Duty.
She pulled into a Shell gas station and took the first available empty slot. A couple was exiting the store as she pulled to a stop and drove off, leaving her vehicle as the only one left at the business. She glanced to the back seat and tsked not unlike Meilin as she smoothed the woman's rumpled skirts that had bunched up to a scandalous height. Meilin did not stir at the contact. She got out of the car and walked into the convenience store, knuckling her back with a grimace. The place was empty inside and it took several moments before a woman a few years beyond middle-aged, with gray-streaked hair came bustling from the back.
“Do you have a restroom I can use?” Desiree asked in reply to the woman's offer of service.
“Bathrooms are only for paying customers.” The woman replied in a rough voice that sounded as if she had been smoking a pack of cigarettes a day since infancy.
Eyeing some of the food on display, Desiree snatched up a cold sandwich that was neatly cut in half diagonally, turkey and cheese judging by the colors. She then opened a small refrigerated box at the counter and removed a bottle of water that was fogged with condensation and slapped them both down on the counter, along with her debit card.
“And 30 bucks on whatever pump that black car is parked.” She added as she pointed outside.
The cashier managed to completely convey her opinion about Desiree and young people in general with a single grunt.
“Bathroom’s back there.” She said, jerking a thumb behind her with one hand as she handed her a wooden board about the size of a large eraser with a key dangling from it with the other. Desiree tried to take the key but the woman held to it fast in a gnarled talon.
“What’s this about?” She
muttered, eyeing the side of Desiree’s head critically. “You been causing some kinda trouble?”
She looked Desiree up and down even more critically. “Yes. You’ve been about some trouble, be my guess.”
Desiree snatched the key away and smiled overly broadly.
“Why whatever do you mean?” She said innocently and walked away. She heard the woman grunt again.
The restroom was very small but surprisingly clean all things considered. She looked in the oft tagged mirror and winced. She couldn't make out much of her reflection but what she could see looked a hot mess. Her hair was all over the place and her once fine clothing looked as if she had been playing hide and seek in a dumpster. She brushed brambles off her blouse that she had no idea how she hadn't noticed before and set to washing the dried blood from the side of her face. After 5 minutes or so she still admittedly looked a mess but at least her hair was now in a decent ponytail and she no longer appeared as if she had been part of a bloody crime scene.
She made her way back to the register and picked up her food and card. She gave the cashier another mocking grin as she opened the water and took a long drink.
“Now you have yourself a most blessed night.” She said in a most overly polite tone and walked out. She heard the woman grunt again and laughed aloud.
The sandwich was unwrapped and nearly finished before she made it back to the car though she hardly tasted it. Her mind was on other, more important things. She was almost finished pumping gas and was stuffing the final bits of her meal down her mouth and was contemplating going back into the store to get more when a police officer pulled up behind her car. She swore in a manner that was in no way ladylike. The cop exited the patrol car and walked slowly her way.
“Hi.” She greeted cheerfully while the cop was still far off. The cop shined a light into the car as he got closer.
“Is there a problem sir?” She asked in as innocent a tone as she could muster.
“We had a call about 2 women in a black BMW,” He began and took a good look at Desiree, paying particular interest to the state of her once fine clothing. “That they may... be in some kind of trouble.”
Desiree didn't like that pause. As if he were going to say something else entirely but changed his mind. She replaced the pump more than a dollar left to go. She regretted it immediately when she noticed that the officer seemed to take note. He seemed to take note of everything.
“I am just driving my friend home,” She offered nonchalantly. “Had a bit too much to drink.”
“Have you been drinking tonight?” He asked suspiciously.
“No, sir,” She replied without pause. She smiled and tried to sound self-assured. “Designated driver.”
The cop eyed her a moment before turning back to the car. He peered in a moment before tapping on the window lightly with his flashlight.
“You OK miss?”
“Out cold,” Desiree stated quickly. She didn't like the sudden look on his face so thinking as fast as she ever had before she added, “She just got a promotion and we were out celebrating. I guess she overdid it.”
“Can I see some ID?”
She fished through her coin purse and handed over her military ID.
“Military,” He said appreciatively and handed the ID back. “Appreciate your service.”
“It is an honor to serve,” Desiree replied by rote.
“Well, you get your friend…” He began but trailed off as another police car pulled in behind his own. A stout woman nearly as tall as Meilin but probably near to double her weight got out and the male cop moved to greet her. They both stepped away, talking softly for a few moments. The only words Desiree could overhear were girls and Military. It wasn’t for lack of trying.
The new cop was eyeing her suspiciously, with a scrunched-up face and her thin lips drawn up so tight that her mouth looked like the business end of an elderly alley cat. Desiree took an immediate and distinct dislike to the woman. This one is going to be trouble.
“And where are you headed?” The woman asked casually as she walked up.
Casual but also with an undeniable sense of arrogance. As if she were quite accustomed to getting answers when she asked a question and promptly. Desiree noticed the male officer roll his eyes but he did appear to be following her lead. The woman was clearly the senior officer.
“I don't have to answer that. It's none of your business where I am going.” Desiree found herself saying before she could catch herself. She winced internally but decided to barrel ahead. It really wasn't any of this woman’s business and she definitely didn't like her attitude.
“I haven't done anything wrong and I haven't been drinking.”
The woman eyed her a moment longer, her suspicion seeming to multiply by the second.
“We got a call earlier about 2 young women driving a black BMW. That there may be some foul play going on.”
“And claims of assault,” The male cop added.
Desiree didn't reply, she honestly didn't know what to say and the three just stared at one another until the female cop broke the silence.
“Check the girl in the car and make sure she is OK. No!” She added to Desiree as she moved towards the car. “You stay right where you are.”
“You can't just…” Desiree began but the cop cut her off harshly and with more than a small amount of satisfaction judging by her tone.
“We are well within our rights to ensure that the young woman in the back seat, your friend is unharmed.”
She said, friend as if putting imaginary quotation marks around it. Desiree scowled. The female cop motioning the male cop forward.
“Check on her Picquette.”
Desiree tensed as the officer tapped on the back window again with his flashlight.
“Are you OK in there, Miss?” He asked in a loud voice. There was no response. “Now you have to give me some sign that you are OK or I will have to enter the vehicle to check on you.”
“I told you that she was out cold,” Desiree stated scathingly but both officers paid her no mind. She cursed herself for thirteen kinds of idiot. She should have seen to cleaning up Meilin even before she saw to herself.
The cop opened the car door and crouched down, his head disappearing inside. He stood back up almost immediately cursing aloud. Desiree closed her eyes and sighed audibly.
The cop emerged from the car with his gun drawn and the female officer moved towards her with a look of pure satisfaction, cuffs in hand.
Just then Desiree noticed the silhouette of a man lurking in the shadow of the building. She could make out none of his features, yet she knew instinctively who he was. She gasped unconsciously like some poorly acted anime character and the female cop’s head whirled in the direction she was looking.
“Friend of yours?” She asked.
Her mind raced frantically for a way out of the seemingly hopeless situation. An idea began to form and she jumped on it like a live rattlesnake in a nursery.
“Don't let him near her,” She stammered. “He did that to Meilin! He kept hitting her and hitting her! He said he would kill her for trying to leave him.”
The female officer hesitated, giving her a strange look before turning back, but the shadow of the man had faded out of sight behind the building.
“Call it in,” The female cop said after a moment.
“I will call for medical as well,” The cop she called Picquette said nodding.
Before Officer Picquette could make a move, he was suddenly flying through the air, only to come crashing down atop the hood of his own squad car. Desiree was not surprised to see the vampire standing where the cop had been. He looked down and smiled wickedly when he saw Meilin’s prone form.
With a soundless shriek, Desiree moved without thinking. She slapped the cop’s arm away that still held her own and bolted for the car. The sound of a gun being fired made her flinch involuntarily but she continued moving. She had taken her eyes off him for only a fraction of a second, yet when sh
e looked up from her flinch, the vampire was nowhere to be seen. Desiree whirled around, trying to look in all directions at once.
The female cop had her gun drawn, looking every bit as terrified as Desiree felt. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the male cop roll off his car, but he did not rise from where he fell. Suddenly the vampire was behind the female cop and before Desiree could cry out, he grasped the cop by the back of the neck and lifted her off the ground.
Desiree didn't hear it, she only saw the flash of light from the gun and suddenly she was falling. She fell back and kept on falling back until the night sky was all she could see. She heard several gunshots over the next few seconds before she could gather her wits. She found herself clutching her stomach and had to will her hands away. She stared at them in confusion for a moment. It was as if she had washed her hands in dark red paint. She slowly became aware of the fact that she had been shot. She rose unsteadily to her feet and tottered there for a moment before she could gather her balance. The vampire was standing there staring right at her. The female cop lay sprawled at his feet like a discarded doll.
“I can help you,” He said to her in that deep, resonating voice of his. “There is no reason for you to suffer needlessly.”
“I don't need your help,” She said defiantly.
As if on cue she began to cough violently and ended having spit several times before she cleared all the blood from her mouth. She felt as if she were going to be sick and her head spun so much that it reminded her of the time she was on a merry go round in the 3rd grade. The boys wouldn't stop spinning it until her friend Constance lost her grip and fell off, breaking her arm. Her death grip on the side of the car now, just as on the bars back then, managed to keep her on her feet.
He smiled at her knowingly but made no move to come closer. If he had intended that smile to be soothing, she thought he had failed miserably. It was the smile of a dog watching quietly in a corner while the burglar climbed the fence into his domain.
“What will you do?” He asked. “You can hardly stand.”
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