by Yirak, Laura
“We must try. I have to, please just do it.” Patrick stood up and walked over to the table with the bags, needles and tubings, it was a bloody mess. So he rolled up his white sleeve as high as it would go showing just muscles and veins.
“Okay.” Nicholas was doubtful. “One more bag.”
The blood bag filled quickly as Patrick had a strong pulse, he watched in interest as he had never donated blood before. Nicholas withdrew the needle from the bend of Patrick’s arm and Patrick held pressure there. Then he just clamped the tubing and went immediately to Alesta piercing her in her neck this time as he had already poked too many holes in her arms.
The blood went in slower almost like it was being rejected by her somehow. Nicholas squeezed the bag with his hand and forced it in.
“This has happened each time. It’s like her body doesn’t want the blood. I can’t explain it. I knew this would happen. We may lose her.”
“What else can we do? There must be something, you‘re vampires, immortal, strong, surely you can think of something.” Patrick watched in worry then began pacing, “I can’t lose her.”
“Me either,” Nicholas said.
It was slow now as Cara had left for the night, dinner had been served. Judy just got to cleaning, dusting and after that paperwork. She wondered what Patrick was up to, then Alesta. Allister had checked out late, and looked as though he didn’t want to leave. She had gotten used to the old man, lingering around, telling his stories, oddly enough she thought she might miss him, he was after all her first guest.
“Excuse me?” A female voice said.
Judy looked up not expecting anyone to be there as she had heard no one enter. There was a small thin woman standing with long platinum blonde hair, dressed in a light blue dress, which looked as though it had been slept in.
“Oh hello,” Judy said. “How may I help you?”
The woman showed no expression what so ever and she just rudely stared at her giving no answer. In fact as Judy took a c look at her through her green rimmed glasses to match her tartan uniform the woman looked, well, odd Judy thought. Something was off.
“Do you need a room, we have vacancies.” Judy put her hand on the computer mouse to look up the register trying to ignore her growing unease.
“I don’t need a room,” the woman said almost sounding bitter.
“Well, we serve supper if you’d like,” Judy said. “We have a honey glazed ham with steamed turnips and…..”
“Supper? Sounds nice. I’m quite…..what could you say…..famished.”
Judy noticed a slight accent with the last word. It was an accent that had obviously been trained away, Russian perhaps?
“Well I can show you through here and I can get everything ready, would you like some wine or some water, we have pop and…..”
“No thank you, not my taste.” The woman followed Judy into the Great Hall.
Judy persevered with the strange visitor as she did not know what else to do with her, “Please, have a seat.”
The woman did and Judy set a table setting before her. Judy felt eyes on her though she didn’t want to look, couldn’t look. She had the creeps. Why did she have to be on alone with the weirdoes? Where was Patrick when she always needed him?
“I’ll go get things ready for you. You sure nothing to drink while you wait, not even some water?”
“No,” the woman said and that was it.
Upon Judy’s return with a full plate of food, there was no woman sitting where Judy had left her and the lights were out. Everything was still. Judy huffed and turned back into the kitchen. There she sat the food back down on the metal counter, looked at the plate a minute then decided to eat a piece of turnip.
“Such a waste…..such a strange person,” but she still had the creeps.
She heard a little squeak from somewhere, Judy poked her head back out into the Great Hall.
“Hello?” Her voice did not echo like usual, the air felt thick.
Something with tiny legs moved behind her, Judy turned and just missed whatever it was only hearing little steps. Then there were more, this time from different directions, all around, all above. The hair on her arms stood as fear latched on. Little black shapes were moving everywhere, scurrying little bodies with little skinny tales.
Judy screamed as she saw all the tens of little rats coming towards her, she ran into the main entry way and then outside, still screaming, the dark fury rats chasing her, opening the door after her. She made her way to Alesta’s but as she hit the tree line, they hit her, scratching their way up her legs, ripping through her tights. She fell to the ground in pain, in sharp agony, they clawed at her arms, climbed in her hair, she tried to throw them off but as she did, they climbed back on. She ended up curling up into a tight ball with her hands on her face weeping for them to leave her alone.
So they did.
Their little teasing squeaks were gone, their little sharp claws unhooked, but Judy didn’t move as now she was so terrified that she was completely frozen.
A whisper came, “I like my victims scared to death.”
Judy tensed up.
“Makes the blood hotter, move quicker, taste sweeter.”
It was the woman. It was a nightmare. Maybe Judy was dreaming again, maybe this wasn’t happening, she began to tell herself. She waited, but the voice did not come.
“Harassing my Judy,” came another hiss.
Judy looked up to see a dark shadow, “Ian?”
The shadow vampire jumped at Balara and pushed her back through the trees, all Judy heard was a struggle, and she dared not look, but then couldn’t help it. She made her way to the trees and pushed some damp branches down. Ian was on top of the platinum blonde mess, doing to her as he tried to do to Judy so long ago on the water side, though this time he was successful.
Balara lay with her mouth open; Ian sucking something from her, the sound was like the wind. He took Balara’s damned existence and her damned energy and sucked it all out of her. All that was left was a still, peaceful-looking corpse, as beautiful in life as in death.
“This is my first,” he whispered. “I’m feeling a little overwhelmed, like I might explode or…..my…..” Ian stumbled back.
“Ian.” Judy watched the shadow moving around as if he was dizzy. It was hard to keep an eye on him as the night backdrop kept him in camouflage at times. “You helped me?”
“Aye no problem at all, no problem at all.” He hit the wet grass and just lay there.
“What are you doing here?” Judy was confused suddenly by Ian’s presence, “Didn’t you leave?”
“I live here now.”
“What?”
“Alesta never told you?”
“No, she didny.”
“Probably didn’t want to scare you. I’m here now, around. Not going to interfere…..well except for this sort of thing, you could call me a watch dog.”
“I don’t understand. I thought you didny like us.”
“No, no opinion really, just wanted to be noticed, bored, don’t really know.”
“Just like that?”
“Yes.”
Judy tried to pull herself together and sat next to him as she wasn’t sure what to do, “What was she anyway?” she finally asked looking over at the body.
But Ian gave her no answer.
“Stay here,” Nicholas said, “I’ll be back.”
“Where are you going?” Patrick was kneeling next to Alesta, holding her cold hand in anticipation.
“We need something more,” he said.
“Like what?” Patrick asked only to notice Nicholas was gone.
“Alesta, wake up. I’m here now. I’ll never leave your side.” Patrick leaned his head down on the edge of the gold coffin. “I love you. I remember the day we first met. It was the middle of winter; I was almost out of money, patience and everything else.”
He raised his head to look at the sleeping Alesta, “You greeted me at the front door, and you were waiting there
like you knew I was already coming. Now it makes more sense. I was cold and wet from my long evening walk. I wasn’t even sure that I wanted the job in the first place and you smiled. Your red lovely smile, one I had never experienced before. You said, “Come in from this awful weather.” You sat me by your fire and interviewed me for the job. I felt as though I had known you before, but I convinced myself at the time that it was just your beauty, but it wasn’t. I was falling for you upon our first greeting. You hired me on the spot and offered me to spend the night. Of course I couldn’t take you up on your offer to stay over but I thankfully took the job. Happily took the job. I walked home that night and the weather did not even faze me one bit, and even when I got into bed I didn’t sleep for one second all night.”
He paused and watched her for a few seconds more, “Oh Alesta, please wake up. It’s your birthday in a few days, all are coming. Everything is ready, the roses as you asked, beautiful reds and pinks, the band, the caterers. It’s all in order, you can’t miss it. I have something special for you, been working on it a while. The tux, it came, I’ve never worn a tux, it’s ready. We are all ready.”
Alesta did not stir, he leaned in to give her a small kiss, her lips felt cold and she did not move, “I’d do anything for you Alesta, please come back to me, come back to all of us.”
His heart ached as he sat there watching, waiting for anything, something.
“Right! I think this will work.” Nicholas stood at the coffin room doorway.
Patrick got up from Alesta’s side, “More blood?”
“Not quite.” Nicholas stood to the side to let Ian through.
“Ian?” Patrick watched surprised. “What could he possibly do? What‘s he still doing here? I thought he was gone?”
“I live here now.” Ian was getting tired of the explanations.
“He needs through, just let him over there.” Nicholas couldn’t wait another second, “Try it, we have no other options.”
“Yes. I‘ll try,” Ian whispered and approached Alesta.
The scene was not as Ian expected, she looked dead, but knew she was not as he wouldn’t be there of course. His soul would be released and he would go wherever it was he was supposed to go. These were questions he hadn’t quite bothered to try and answer, thoughts he hadn’t quite gotten around to organizing.
“Right, then. Here it goes.”
Balara’s full energy had not been easy for him to contain as long as he had, it was waiting to escape somewhere, downing a vampire’s essence had been quite a lot of work and with this overwhelming surge, Ian let it all go, and he let it all go into Alesta as he leaned over her mouth that he held open with his shadow fingers.
It sounded like the wind as the energy escaped him; he felt it warm like the sun flowing out of him and into her. Alesta jolted up in the coffin, straight up as if she had been shocked by a large current.
She gasped, began to scramble about her coffin, like a frenzied fish out of water, and then she scrambled out of it around the room.
“She’s hungry,” Nicholas said. “My god,” he said as she made her way to the first available human.
Before they all knew it Patrick was her victim. She sank her fangs in so savagely and sucked away. Patrick laid there in acceptance.
“Jesus,” Nicholas cried out. “She’s going to kill him. We have to stop her.”
Ian followed Nicholas’s lead and the two of them tried to pry her off, but she was strong, and focused on the task at hand. The two of them together couldn’t do it.
“Get me one of the torches from out in the hallway. Scheisse!“ It was a sight Nicholas hadn’t witnessed before, Patrick looked like he was enjoying every second though now his eyes were closed, body flaccid.
“Ian, hurry it up!” Nicholas called out.
“Here, here!” Ian tossed Nicholas the torch and he shoved the hot flames into her back.
She cried out and pulled off of Patrick, who now lay in a deep trance-like sleep.
“Alesta!”
The crazed, frenzied, look on her face had eased up more to one of anxiety.
“It’s Patrick you’re eating,” Nicholas pointed out.
The atmosphere had turned so quickly from being somber to an adrenaline nightmare that Nicholas had forgotten that she was back again.
“Alesta. You’re back. My God!” Nicholas kept his distance as he wasn’t sure what to expect. Was she Alesta or Balara?
“I’m back?”
“You’ve been out for days now.”
“I have.”
“You don’t remember. The fight? The fight with William?”
A memory came back to her, shards of mirror crashing around her and then it all came rushing to her, “William…..he’s alive…..I never killed him…..he didn’t die…..”
“But he is now.” Nicholas interrupted her, “I had to stop him from taking you. You’ll never have to worry about him again.”
“He’s dead?”
“Yes,” Nicholas said and Ian just stood back listening, intrigued.
The news was rough all over again, the guilt slammed her all over again and then she looked at Patrick. “Oh. What have I done?” Alesta crawled back over to him. “What have I done?”
Then Nicholas knew it was Alesta, the original.
“He’ll be fine,” Nicholas said. “He’ll be out a while, but he’ll be fine. We‘re all fine.”
Alesta picked Patrick up, tartan laden, and carried him up and out of the dungeons, back to the Manor and back to his room. She tucked him into his bed and sat with him the rest of her night. She left his side only because the sun forced her to.
Chapter 14
The shift was not going well for Alesta; maybe it was just because it was her first one back, though her greeting in report had been wonderful, with all her fellow nurses being very warm and receptive after her mysterious leave of absence.
Arterial lines were tricky if not secured properly, she had started the night with a scene of blood spurting all over the walls, ceiling and where ever it could get to, as her patient had pulled out the arterial line in her wrist and as she did so proceeded to freak out. So the first thing on the list as it can change rapidly in critical care was to hold pressure to the wrist for ten minutes, stop the bleeding, calm down the patient, call the doctor and then get to cleaning.
Housekeeping came as swiftly as possible for nightshift, which wasn’t very swift and Alesta had already cleaned up most of the mess, just a strong lingering smell of iron left over. So the little Indian housekeeper disinfected the general area leaving behind that lovely hospital smell, though Alesta could still smell the blood underneath it all. Blood was like glue, very hard to get rid of.
“Oh Monica! What a night. What a night! Why is it always the first one back that is so absolutely hellacious?”
“Hahahahhahahahaha.” Monica couldn’t stop.
“No sympathy for me?”
Monica continued.
“You bitch!”
“Alesta, Alesta! I’ve missed you so much. The place has been absolutely, terrifyingly boring to the point of…..well madness.”
“Ohhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! You bored!!!!! I don’t think so!” Alesta exclaimed, “Not with all those Doctors walking around, you giving them a smile or a wink or a…..”
“You…..You stop!!! I’m a taken woman now.”
“Noooooooo. You!!! Monica, my wild and ferocious red head.” Alesta put her hand on Monica’s shoulder.
“Och aye, tis true. Thomas and I are a thing now.”
“And what exactly is a thing according to ‘Monica.’” Alesta made a parenthesis quotes gesture.
“Exclusive.”
“It canny be true.”
Monica nodded. “It is!”
“Well…..I’m stunned…..And…..happy. It’s good news.”
“What…..You don’t look so happy?”
“I am, Monica, I am. It’s just, well; I’m all mixed up now. I wish it were as simple for me.”
> “What????? You’ve met someone? Who?????”
“I canny say.”
“Oh you canny do that to me, not now. God! You have to tell me.”
“Nope.” Alesta shook her head, her hair tightly wrapped in a bun.
“It’s that man isn’t it, your friend, uh Patrick told me about him, what was it…..Nicholas?”
“No, not him.”
“Who, someone new? The Constable?”
“Oh GOD NO. Ahhhhhh! That man, that man. A right pest he is.”
“Uhhhhh…..someone here?”
“No.”
“Oh just tell me for Christ’s sake.”
Alesta hesitated, knowing all well that Monica had had a thing for Patrick before but ended up just blurting it out, “Patrick.”
Monica went dead silent, her face serious, eyes and body smaller.
“What?” Alesta saw her shock.
“Patrick?” Monica said his name, “Now it allllllll makes sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh…..it doesn’t matter now. I’m head over for Thomas.”
“What doesn’t matter now?” Alesta acted as if she didn‘t know, “You’re my good friend, you have to tell me.”
“I practically threw myself at him, and all that time he ignored it and now I know why.”
“You mean you liked Patrick?”
“Yes and he was never interested. You know I just convinced myself he was gay or something, but I knew all along he was into someone else, just wasn’t sure. Now…..it’s you he likes and you like him.” Monica shook her head, “Bloody should have known.”
“You’re mad at me?”
“No…..no, not you, myself. Spent too much of my time on a bloke, who wasn’t even interested. Why do I do that to myself? It’s like torture.”
Alesta kept quiet and just listened.
“Thomas is wonderful for me. I think I’m falling for him, but…..I hold back, you know?”
“I know.” Alesta knew very well.
“It’s like…..I’m scared…..I don’t want to get hurt.”
Alesta nodded, it was like she was reading her mind, “I feel the same way.”