Page 33 of Love Bleeds
That didn't happen, but Nicolai turned to face him. He must have feltsomethingafter all.
"What are you--" his words stopped, his eyes widened and then fell shut as he fell to the ground. "What?" he spat out, his voice full of venom as he tried to get up again only to fail. Something stuck to his neck, something that looked almost like a small dart. It wasn't anything that Crimson had done.
Nicolai glared at Crimson. "Don't just stand there!"
Crimson glared right back at his sire. "You ordered me to--"
"Help me up!" Nicolai barked, but, oddly, his words carried no weight. And Crimson realized that he could move again. As quickly as his feet allowed, he was kneeling at Luke's side, his sire forgotten.
"Luke!"
The mortal didn't respond. His skin was pale, his breathing shallow. A set of small fangs poked out under his upper lip. Traces of blood lined the edges of his mouth. Crimson tried to wipe the stains away with his thumb. They didn't come off easily. Crimson's throat tightened with panic. He couldn't stand to see Luke like this. "Come on, Luke, talk to me."
No reaction.
He had to get him out of here. He had to get help, but, how? Who would help? Who could?
A flicker of movement caught Crimson's eye from the corner of his vision. Vlad? No, the figure was too tall. It was...
It was Alice.
And behind Alice, Nicolai was cursing. "You poisoned me!"
"I couldn't resist. You make such a good target." She held a stake in one hand, raising it at Nicolai almost casually.
Nicolai looked at her as if he was about to invite the other vampire to a death match, but then decided differently. From one second to the next, he shifted forms and ran. His bushy squirrel tail wasn't stuck between his legs, but Crimson thought that was where it should have been.
He shifted his attention to Alice, who was approaching him and Luke now. Before Alice could reach them, Crimson jumped to his feet, holding his hands up to ward her off. "Don't come any closer," he very nearly hissed.
"Don't worry," she said. "I'm not here to hurt your friend." As she spoke, the sound of an approaching car cut through the night. Crimson barely paid it any mind, but Alice glanced in the direction of the sound, of the headlights in the distance, almost as if she was waiting for something, or someone. "I'm a friend," she said.
"I doubt Luke is friends with vampires."
She sighed. "Look, newbie, you can get out of the way or you can let your friend die." And while Crimson was still trying to process those words, she approached again, pushing Crimson aside as if he were nothing more than a nuisance. She went down on one knee next to Luke. "Well, this is fucked," she said, as if to herself. "If you hadjustlistened, you little nerd." That was definitely aimed at Luke, but then her eyes found the road again. When Crimson followed her gaze, he noticed the car was pulling up to the house now.
"Who's that?" he demanded. "Who are you? Can you help Luke? What did you do to Nicolai?"
"There'll be time to play 100 questions later," she waved him off. As she rose to her feet again, she snapped her fingers.
Suddenly, Crimson found himself looking at a whole other person. Before his eyes, Alice had turned into a man.
"How...?" The question died on Crimson's lips as the man flashed him a smile.
"One day you'll discover your own special talent," he said. "Mine's illusions."
Crimson nodded as if he understood, even though he wasn't sure that he did. It didn't matter, in any case. Only Luke mattered now. "Can you help Luke?" He asked again.
Alice--no, that wasn't Alice anymore--glanced at Luke's still form, and then at the car. A man was getting out of it. The man who used to be Alice waved. "Over here! Hurry up!"
A broad-shouldered man hurried over to them, his eyes growing wide as they fell on Luke. He dropped down on his knees next to Luke with almost as much panic in his expression as Crimson felt churning through his guts.
"Your blood," the illusionist said. "Hand me your wrist."
The stranger hesitated for only a moment before doing as he was told. In an instant, 'Alice' tore into the man's wrist with his teeth. The mortal didn't bat an eye. Not even when the vampire guided his wrist to Luke's mouth.
"Another vampire tried to turn him," he explained as if anyone had asked for an explanation. "I guess you guys can't be turned into vampires, though. And now Luke needs blood that isn't a vampire's. Yours should do fine."
Crimson kept his eyes on Luke, even as his thoughts raced. Why could Luke not be turned? What made him different?
