Page 4 of Love Lives
Weird, though, how easy it was to forget who Aldrich was. My mind flashed back to our first meeting. He’d had blood on his face then. Blood and a self-satisfied smile because he’d just cut off another vampire’s head. Nope, Aldrich’s presence was definitely not something I should get too used to.
I closed my eyes and strapped the oxygen mask back on my face, fighting sleep. Even if I didn’t want to like Aldrich too much, I didn’t want to watch him die in my dreams either.
Chapter Two
At half pastthree in the morning, the streets surrounding the hospital were basically empty. Aldrich ran around in his ocelot-form, scouting for people. Preferably people who were by themselves. He should have done this earlier, really. He couldn't believe his hair had lost its color. As if he was a freshling.
Hunger gnawed at the inside of his stomach. Now that he was owing up to the fact that he needed blood, the desire to feed couldn't be ignored.
If only it could be Remy's blood...
No, Remy wasn't fit enough for Aldrich to drink from him. Even if the mortal had offered, Aldrich would have declined. He'd have hated himself for it, but he'd have declined. And Remy hadn't offered, anyway.
It was part of what made him so interesting. Aldrich had always enjoyed a good hunt. He'd get his prey eventually.
Just as he was going to get blood tonight. The faster the better.
His nose led him down a quiet road, until he could see a gas station up ahead. One of the few places still open at this time of night. It was perfect. Aldrich trotted up to the small shop attached to the gas station, changed back into his more human form, and waited.
As luck would have it, he didn't have to wait very long. Only a few minutes after he arrived, a young lady came out of the store. Aldrich put his vampire reflexes to good use, grabbing her by the arm and dragged her around the corner, out of view of the shopkeeper and anyone who might be pulling up. With one hand on her mouth, he stopped her from making too much noise. It was a routine maneuver by now. Before the woman even really had a chance to complain, Aldrich had his teeth in her neck.
She was AB negative. A good mix of sweet and sour and an extremely rare find. On a different night, he might have celebrated his good luck. It wasn't often that he got to drink AB blood outside of his favorite club--and even they had it in stock far too rarely. Tonight, though, he didn't care what kind of blood he was drinking.
He was only doing this because he had to.
For a moment--or maybe even two moments--he contemplated taking every drop of blood he could wring out of this lady. The more he drank, the longer it would take before he'd have to go out on another feeding trip, after all. But that would mean killing the woman. The mortals, his 'new coven‘, would disagree with that.
He didn’t like the idea of playing by somebody else’s rules, but as long as he did, he had a better chance of accomplishing his own goals: Number one, stay alive. Number two, fuck Remy.
Once he’d had enough blood, he ripped himself away from the lady's neck, laid two fingers on her forehead, and erased himself from the woman's memory. She was still conscious, still functional, only a little dazed. She would be fine.
Aldrich wiped the blood from around his lips and left her there. His batteries weren't completely full yet, but full enough. The worst of his hunger had been sated, at least, so he made his way back to the hospital, less than an hour after he'd left it.
He'd expected to find Remy sleeping when he stepped back into the room, but the mortal was still awake. Remy put his phone down and squinted at him as if he had trouble focusing his gaze for a moment. "You're back early."
"I didn't have to travel far."
"You look better." A smile started to form on Remy’s lips, then died. "Where exactly did you get your blood?"
Aldrich considered lying. Just how would Remy react if he told him he'd attacked an innocent lady? He and his siblings lived with vampires, but did they really understand the full extent of what that meant? Maybe not. Many of the vampires in Aldrich's new coven had grown unexpectedly soft. Even his former partner.
Aldrich was not headed down that same road.
He sat in the chair he'd abandoned only a little while ago, propped his chin on the back of his hand and leaned forward, making sure to let his fangs show as he smiled. "Where do you think I got it?"
Remy frowned. "You can't have made it all the way back into the city, so I guess you didn't get it at that club."
"I wasn't going to leave for that long."
„Did you steal from the hospital?“
Aldrich laughed. He could have done that, sure, but with all the staff around, it was way too much hassle. He kind of liked the mental image, though, of himself waltzing into another patient's room and drinking from a transfusion bag while the nurses stared on in horror.
Still, live-blood had been the better choice. It would keep him going for longer.
"I did not steal from the hospital."
"Then..." Remy swallowed. "You didn't kill anyone, did you?"
