Lifeline (Chills Fanfic)

61 - Dylan

Dylan and Autumn sit on the porch, as Naomi begins the ritual. The two of them remain quiet while Naomi works, using a red silk cord to tie their wrists together, then she fastens a blue silk band around their ring fingers.

"Is it normal to be all jittery and nervous?" Dylan asks.

Autumn looks at Naomi. "Yes, I'm wondering that too."

Dylan and Autumn both watch as Naomi picks up two candles, one silver and white, the other black and purple. The silver and white one is for Dylan, and Autumn's is the dark one.

"Yes, it is quite normal," Naomi assures them.

Dylan isn't so convinced by her words. But he lets the ritual continue as Naomi lights the candles and then sets them in a line in front of them. Autumn looks at her lit candle, and Dylan sees a small smile form on her face. His heart thuds a bit faster.

He looks at the gleam in her green and blue eyes. Her medium length, auburn hair is down in her face, but she pushes it back with a flip of her head. Dylan smiles. He is absolutely positive that she is beautiful. She is stunning.

"Alright. Now, you have to drink each other's blood for the ritual to be complete and for the link to form between you two."

"Who goes first?" Dylan asks.

"Let her feed from you, she hasn't yet, after all."

Dylan doesn't want to know how Naomi knew that. So he doesn't say anything about it as he takes Autumn's hand in his and with his other hand, he uses a knife that Naomi procured for them to use, and he knows with a certainty that this is what is right. He wonders why he didn't see it before now, but this ritual was the safest route for them to go down, especially after what they'd gone through.

Autumn cups Dylan's hand in hers, and when she first licks the wound on his arm, he can't help but laugh because it tickles. She gives him a worried look.

"It's okay," he says. "I wasn't expecting a tickle."

She smiles and starts to drink his blood. He closes his eyes as she finishes, and when he opens them to look at her, Autumn is wiping her face with a napkin. For a hungry vampire, she didn't get much blood on herself, but Dylan sees some on her anyways.

"Your turn," Naomi says to Autumn. "Feed him."

She nods and carefully cuts open her hand. He leans forward, cupping her hand in his, and he drinks her blood much like he has before. And like before, the taste of her blood is so rich and intense that it blows him away.

He takes a deep breath, leaning back so as to not take too much from her at once. She looks at him with a small smile.

"You can have a little more, if you want," she says. 

"I don't want to take too much," Dylan says.

She blushes.

Naomi gets out a pair of scissors. "Time to cut the silk ropes." She cuts them, and then looks at the two of them.  "Brace yourself."

Dylan is about to ask what she means, when suddenly his head feels like it is being ripped in half. He gasps and leans forward, and so does Autumn. She hisses as the pain spears through Dylan's brain.

He wonders briefly if she feels what he's feeling. He looks at Autumn and Naomi through blurry eyes filled with tears, and he sees something like a shadow lurking behind Naomi's shoulder.

"Naomi," he croaks, the pain in his skull intensifying. "Behind you ...."

Then, he collapses, falling unconscious.