Page 9 of Those That Are Lost
Henry slouches more and crosses an ankle over his knee. “So, what have you been up to since you escaped those monsters he called a pack?”
“Henry,” I growl as Red freezes midway through hanging her jacket.
He looks at me and rolls his eyes. “Someone has to get the conversation going. You’ve both gone so awkward. I was expecting fireworks at thismeeting, not this.”
We both shoot daggers in Henry’s direction. The thought of pulling her into my arms is exactly what I want to do, but I can feel the barrier she’s erected around herself. I fear if I move too quickly she’s going to run.
A couple more seconds of silence pass.
“Fine, I’ll leave you two to get acquainted.” Henry stands. “I don’t suppose you have any blood packets, do you Aurora?”
“No.” Red’s voice wobbles. “It’s… it's only fresh around here.” I can’t decipher the look that crosses her face. Has she been feeding herself sufficiently? Was the un-glamoured version of herself she showed me in the alley another cover? Fear strikes me that she’s starving, like how she was in the beginning.
“Have you been drinking?” My concern loosens my throat.
“Yes.” Her answer is clipped but truthful. I relax a little but keep searching her gaze for what she’s not telling me.
“Okay, well, I’m going to go sample a local then. Will that bar of yours still be open?” Henry interrupts our staring contest.
“Yes, it’ll be open for a few more hours.”
With that, Henry grabs his jacket and walks out the door, leaving us alone.
I kick off my boots and coat finally, stepping into the room. Red watches every movement, remaining standing on the opposite side. Her face gives nothing away. The space between us hurts deep in my chest.
“I want to know everything.”
“Everything?”
“Yes. How did you end up here instead of West Scotia? Have you really managed to find enough blood? Have you seen any other vampires?”
“How did you get out?” She ignores my questions for one her own.
“They screwed up my feeds. I was fully expecting to die that day but Adicious surprised me. He decided to torture me instead and use my blood as bait to get you back.”
“Bait?” Red swallows in disgust as she says the word.
“Yep. They bled me, and sometimes sliced off flesh, to leave in places they thought you might be, to lure you out with my scent. They fed me enough so my veins didn’t fully run dry but kept me weak enough that I couldn’t move, couldn’t fight, or recover with any speed.”
I can still feel the knives against my flesh and the sound of my own screaming fills my ears as I talk. The pain was like nothing I’d ever known. A physical manifestation of the pain in my soul at being separated from the female now in front of me.
“That’s barbaric.”
“It’s about the worst thing you can do to a vampire. I’d prayed for death initially, and would've welcomed it most days. But then I figured out that if I was still alive, it meant that they hadn’t found you. You were still out there somewhere, out of their grasp.” I expect Red to react to that more, but she only gives the barest of nods. I carry on. “One night they accidentally fed me twice. I got just strong enough to move. By luck, or something else, the door to the cell wasn’t locked and the pack were either all in the common room or out. I managed to get into the city and find a couple of low lives to drain completely.”
“You killed people?” She does react to that, her voice not masking her surprise.
“Nothing, absolutely nothing, was standing between me and finding you once I was free. I needed my strength fast. So yes, I killed the first two people I thought looked easy in my weak state. I made sure to be in the rough areas of the city butthat was my only deviation. They were either dealers or wasters but honestly, I don’t care. They were on the street and not so high off their own products that it would affect me.”
“I—” Red goes to speak but stops herself.Does my admission scare her?I want there to be no uncertainty in her mind that I still want her, that I’m here for her. But the walls she’s got around herself are going to take a while to navigate.
“You can tell me, Red. What did you want to say?” I gentle my voice, but leave the distance between us, as much as it pains me.
“I killed someone too.” It's barely above a whisper but I see the first crack in those fortified shields she’s wearing. I desperately want to go to her, my shadows do too but I hold them at bay.
I don’t speak, just wait for her to carry on.
“From Froan, there happened to be a boat ready to depart to West Scotia. I snuck onto it. I was hiding in one of the cabins but someone came in. I remember the hunger and… and then…” She trails off, bringing her hands together to her chest, the right holding her left wrist, she rubs at the skin there. Her eyes glaze over as if she’s not here but reliving the memory. “I had to throw the body overboard.”
