My Vampire Bromance

Chapter 28: An Awful Situation

There was no saving Brinley. By the time the three of us ran into the hospital room, she was dead.

"Nurse!" Jenna screamed out. "Nurse! There's been a murder in room 222! There's been a murder in room 222!" The hospital staff cut her off, running towards Brinley's room where the gruesome crime had occurred. Brinley lay in her bed as if asleep, yet when they moved the sheet, her head rolled onto the floor. Something had drunk her blood and then tore her head from her body as if in a rage.

I closed my eyes, feeling faint all over. I should have told Jenna sooner. I should have connected the dots. Victor stood behind me, holding my arms in his strong hands as he looked around for a sign of the other vampire. "He's still here," he said softly to me.

"What?" I felt myself trembling in his grip.

"I can smell him," Victor leaned down into me.

"What do we do?"

"Stay together," Victor said. "Do not leave my side." he turned to Jenna, who was struggling to stay conscious.

"What the hell is going on?" Jenna gripped my hand tightly.

"A vampire," Victor said.

She looked up at him, frightened. "Do you do that to people?"

Victor shook his head, "I used to when I was young. Not anymore. The frenzy gets better with age. That is unless you lacked self-control when you were a human...then it never does."

"Oh my god!" Jenna cried. The hospital staff rushed around Brinley's dead form. A nurse barreled past us, dialing 911 on the phone. I had no idea how police were going to be of any help.

"Keep your head about you," Victor said.

Jenna glared at him, "Really? Is that what you have to say? Right now?!" I agreed it was in slightly poor taste, but what choice did we have. I closed my eyes, listening to the doctors assessing the situation in the room, the nurses gasping, the clerk on the phone with Brinley's parents, and the shrieking that ensued, and then...

"Jesus, what happened here?"

I half expected it to be Thomas Langerty behind us, but when I turned, I saw Clark. "Shit! Jenna, are you alright?"

Jenna flew into Clark's arms sobbing.

"Why are you here?" I asked, still paralyzed.

"You three! Get away from the door! Come sit down. We need you to stay for questioning when the cops get here!" a doctor yelled at us.

"Of course," Victor answered, leading the rest of us to sit down where he pointed.

As we walked, Clark answered my question, "Jenna texted me. She said you all were going to check on Brinley at the hospital and that there was some issue. Something about the murderer having it out for her and that you're dating a guy now, and that the guy your dating is a...vampire?" Clark raised both his eyebrows in concern. I knew how it looked. He thought maybe Jenna was losing it.

"Oh," I gnawed the side of my bottom lip while tugging a stray strand of my hair.

"So is Jenna losing her shit or?...No offense, Jenna," he made a face as her jaw tightened.

"No, no, Jenna is completely in her right mind. But, um, Brinley's dead. Decapitated, actually."

"No fucking way!" Clark's brown eyes met mine. "Shit! What are we still doing here?"

"They need to question us. We're witnesses now." Jenna said softly. She began to cry. Victor, who was sitting beside me, reached into his breast coat pocket and produced a red silk handkerchief.