Lifeline (Chills Fanfic)

37 - Autumn

It isn't hard to find the nearly-feral vampire in the holding cells. Dylan is in a cell alone, and when I am placed inside the same cell as him, well ....

Dylan looks at me as I walk into the cell, and he looks at the vials in my hands.

"Dylan? Do you .... can you hear me?" I ask.

He blinks. But he doesn't say anything.

I look at the yellow and blue vials. I can make him worse, or better. I have no idea which one is going to make him sick. He then starts to walk towards me, slowly, and he bares his teeth, limping as he walks, as his leg was cut. He snarls as he gets closer to me.

"Dylan please," I say. "I'm just trying to help you."

He looks away, then ice explodes out of the ground and bursts up, slamming into my hands and throwing the yellow one to the floor, where it shatters. I swear under my breath. Dylan stands over me, and he casts ice up around my hands, and I step back, my shadows flaring and blooming across the cell.

Dylan steps closer to me and grabs my wrist.

I flinch at how hard his grip is, and I think I see his features sadden. Make him ingest this. I look down at the vial again, and then I make my choice. Blue. Blue for his ice. Blue has to be the healing one, and since the yellow one is broken ... I have to make a choice.

So I decide to go with blue.

Dylan steps closer to me, and he strikes out with his ice again. I fall down, and then I play dirty and kick his legs out from under him, which is too easy because he's wounded.

"I'm sorry." I scramble to his side, crawling on all fours. I open the vial and pour it down his throat. He coughs and sputters, but in the end, it goes down.

Tears fall down my face as I hold him, thrashing and snarling and trying to bite me. I just keep feeding him the blue liquid.

"Dylan, please ... come back to me."

He suddenly stops thrashing. He stops, his eyes close. I hold him close in my arms, crying over him.

"I think I .... I think I love you," I say. "Please, can you hear me? I need you, you're my best friend. Please come back to my side."

He blinks up at me, but I'm still crying. Then I feel him touch my cheek with his hand. I look down at him, and he is looking up at me and smiling.

"D - Dylan?"

He smiles. "Yeah. I'm okay. Thanks for saving me."

I laugh. "I'm the one who got you in this mess, but okay."

"No, you didn't. Zeke did. Not you, okay? It wasn't you, Autumn."

I smile at him and he sits up, then leans closer and kisses me. I'm stunned for a moment, unable to move, and then I kiss him back, softly and nervously. He smiles against my kiss and hugs me. We pull apart and he presses his forehead against mine at an angle. He smiles again.

"Thank you," he says.

"You're welcome," I say.

He helps me stand up and we look at the cell door.

"Time to help Arlo," I say.

Dylan nods. "Let's go."