The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Part 3: Chapter 13

I sat and watched Rush's unmoving form for hours, along with a couple other fighters Connor had set to the task. I did not know much more about them than their names, Lincoln and Chael, and the observation that neither man seemed very comfortable sitting and waiting for a new and unpredictable leech to awaken.

I wasn't thrilled by the task, either, but I was fairly confident we could handle it. Besides my now usual dagger, which I kept in my hand at the ready, I also had a loaded pistol, and two fighters to back me up. If he woke up so unstable that we had to take him out, these were the best odds for dealing with leach hostility I had ever experienced.

Rush would be stronger than me upon waking, but if sparring with Marcel had taught me anything, brand new bloodsuckers were vulnerable in their lack of control. I couldn't beat Marcel in a one on one fight any longer, but if Rush proved difficult to handle it certainly would not be one on one.

Waiting for this bloodsucker to wake up was a lot more tense than when I had been sitting with Vienne, but I did not let the unnerving watchfulness of the others get to me. I did not know Rush well, but I hoped he would wake up similar to how Marcel had, skewed, but not an entirely different person.

Marcel had been Marcel, but damn, he had been cold when I sparred with him now. Gone was the sweat and the heat, leaving nothing but a quiet that nagged at my instincts.

It was almost with relief when I noticed Rush finally start to stir, similar jerking movements to those I had seen the previous night with Marcel. In preparation, I grabbed a bag of blood from a cooler and held it in front of me. No reason to let the leech think the only way to obtain blood was to attack a human.

"Rush? You okay, man?" I asked cautiously.

A low groan came out of the prone body.

"We're right here with you." I was sure he knew that we were there as much to guard him as to help him.

Rush did not respond, his eyes still tightly closed and his face contorted as if in anguish. The two with me shared a nervous glance between them, but did not say anything.

Rush tilted his head up, and finally cracked open his eye for the briefest moment. I couldn't remember his original eye colour, but even the quick opening had been enough to show me that his eyes were vivid red with his bloodlust.

I watched him cautiously. I did not know what new vampires would do, but if he was going to get violent, I was ready.

Instead of attacking, he rolled to his side and opened his eyes again, and met mine.

"Blood?" I asked, holding out a bag. I held the handle of my dagger more securely in my other hand.

"Yes," he said. I moved forward and held it out to him as he sat up, his movements carrying the same unnatural fluidity as Vienne's. He took it with a jerk, and began to drain the bag. When he was finished, he drank the next one I handed him.

Rush looked around as he finished his second bag. "This whole silent watchful thing is creepy." My two companions chuckled nervously.

"Just a precaution. Vienne had to leave," I reminded him.

"Yes, she said she would."

"And apparently turning doesn't take well with some people."

"I need more blood." I handed him a third. The younger of the other fighters, Lincoln seemed pale, maybe because he had really known Rush in life.

"But you should be fine, she said. She wants you to head to her home once you can manage it to back up Marcel, for defense. Do you remember her telling you that?"