River of Blood

Chapter Twenty-Two

Too much information is thrown her way. And way too fast.

"Slow. Down." Lynn mutters, throwing her hand up. Evangeline raises her eyebrows, tipping her head to the side.

"Lynn, we're still not safe here. I'll let you absorb the information later."

They take off again, Lynn still feeling uneasy. How can she be in the future? She's never been in it before. Why can't she remember anything before the night Judi disappeared? Why can't she walk through walls like she used to?

Evangeline skids to a stop, and Lynn smacks right into her. Tapping her foot, she hears an echo of metal. Her eyes slowly lower to find she's standing on a trap door. Evangeline kneels down next to it, and Lynn quickly steps off. The door makes a creaking noise that Evangeline winces at as it falls open. Lynn then notices marks that don't seem to have healed on Evangeline's exposed back. Almost like...whip marks.

That can't be right. Evangeline is a vampire.

Evangeline glances back, gesturing. "Come on."

She begins climbing down, Evangeline right behind her, closing the trap door behind them. Evangeline's breathing evens out as Lynn reaches the bottom.

"Oh my god. You found her." A familiar voice says, one that Lynn would recognize anywhere.

When she turns to get a look at Judi, her eyes widen in horror. Judi has a scar running down the side of her cheek, one she definitely didn't have the last time Lynn had seen her. She' also holding hands with an unfamiliar brown haired beauty. Lynn is thrown so off guard. "Who are you?"

The girl frowns. "Is she okay?"

"She has amnesia." Evangeline answers.

"I can't remember anything since 2016." Lynn frowns. "I have no idea what in the hell is going on."

"What did Evangeline tell you?"

"That the human race knows the supernatural exists." Lynn glances at Evangeline, whose eyes have gone dark.

"Did you neglect to tell her how they found out?" Judi asks a frown on her features.

Evangeline clears her throat. "What exactly do you remember?" Evangeline's voice is soft as she glances at Lynn. Lynn feels her cheeks heat up.

"I remember Judi going missing and then...nothing."

Judi's eyes widen. "That seems like decades ago now."

"It's only been four years." Evangeline runs a hand through her black hair.

"Four years...has a great impact." Judi gives Evangeline a pointed look. "You know that."

Evangeline grits her teeth. "Alright."

Evangeline's hand comes down to grip Lynn's tighter, and tugs her into one of the side rooms. Lynn is shocked by this movement, but doesn't question it as she sits down on the edge of the simply bed across from her.

"Okay. So...simple story?" Evangeline hovers near the door. "Basically, I died. Again."

"Wait what?" Lynn interrupts. "You died for a second time?"

"Turns out that when I was born they didn't realize that I had angel blood in my veins that's been dormant in my blood stream until I took a bullet...anyway," Evangeline rolls her eyes. "So I died, and that caused repercussions I didn't know would happen. You see...I was the key to keeping the supernatural race a secret. When the supernatural got word that I was dead – even for a moment – they retaliated. The exposure...was bad. Humans were prepared, apparently. From all the mass media and shit. They took them down and now..." Evangeline swallows thickly and turns the sapphire ring on her finger. "A lot of us were captured," Evangeline winces, touching her arm lightly with one hand, "And...well...let's not get into that." Evangeline takes a deep breath. "They started experimenting with our DNA. Turning it into medicines. Like vampire blood...it now cures any disease besides cancer. No one knows why it doesn't heal cancer, but it doesn't. Unless it's...mine."