Innocent Blood

Innocent Blood (Chapter 31)

Chapter 31

    We stared at each other in the dark. “You wouldn’t kill me. Why would you do that?” Her eyes lowered and she let out a sigh. “It’s the best option.”
“Best option for who?” I screeched.
“Everyone. If you knew what Marius had planned for you, you would thank me. He wont stop.” I couldn’t even speak. I sat in silence, dumbfounded. “I didn’t know you were under the King’s Protection,” her eyes flicked to Aristaios for an instant, “I don’t know if that would have stopped me. It hasn’t stopped him.”
“What does it matter to you? You helped Marius to hide her, you watched as he beat her up, passed her around like some cheap blood-let. He took everything from her, so that if by some chance she did manage to get away, she had nothing to go back to! What I don’t understand, is why you’ve went against him now.” This was Aristaios, voicing what I couldn’t. But, why was he so angry about it? “Aristaios…” I whispered weakly. I didn’t want him to get as worked up as he had been earlier.
“Have you ever been in love? Because it’s the only way you could understand why.” There was a pause, none of us spoke and after seeing that Aristaios was going to listen, Kate went on. “Did I ever tell you how we met?” She directed at me, I just stared at her, not knowing where she was going with this. “No, I didn’t” She laughed, “I was twenty at the time. Oldest daughter in a poor family of six. I was 10 weeks gone, with a baby who’s father denied her.” She dropped her eyes as though shamed by this admission. “Life back then was different to how it is now, having a child out of wedlock… I didn’t want to shame my family and we barely had enough money to feed my five growing siblings. And then Marius stepped in, promising to take care of me, he could take me away and give me everything I could ever desire. Even my child would want for nothing.”
    “He came for me in the night, waiting for me at the back gate. I climbed out of my bedroom window and went with him, never looking back. For years it was just the three of us, he gave me the life he had promised. I‘d hopelessly fallen in love with him by then.” When she spoke again, she had lost her dreamy tone, instead, she spoke as though she were reciting lines of a story she didn’t care for. “One night he brought some friends home, one of them was supposed to have brought someone to serve them and whatever had happened, he didn’t bring anyone, so, of course, they got thirsty. He asked me first, and obviously I wanted to keep him happy…” Here she drew a long breath, “he only done that twice more after that night, when he realised how much I hurt. He hated himself for making me suffer like that, he turned me that night so that he wouldn’t ever get tempted again. So, that’s when he started bringing women home to serve, he didn’t keep them very long, after a few months he would let them go.”
    “But then one night he brings you home.” Her voice changed again, taking on an accusatory tone, aimed at me. “He wouldn’t let me near you for days. I thought you were just another one of his servers, but it became apparent pretty quickly that you weren’t.” Kate made a noise that sounded like a mix between a sigh and a groan. “I should have minded my own business. The more I asked about you, the angrier he got with me. He was treating you, the way he used to treat me, in the beginning. But he had changed, the Marius you know, that’s not really him. It was you, you done something to him, your blood drove him mad. The longer you stayed, the further he drifted from me.”
    It became quiet when she stopped speaking. I watched her for a moment, I could see her shoulders jerk slightly as she sobbed but she made no sound. It was horrible, feeling compelled to comfort her but not wanting to break the silence by shuffling over to her and risking Aristaios mistaking it as an attack on me. Aristaios sat now, with his back to us, looking up toward the sky, but I had no doubt that he was listening just as intently as I had. It took a good few minutes for her sobs to settle and by the time she spoke again, my head rested against my knee caps, I was half-way between waking and sleeping.  “The point is, he is a different person now, because of you. He’s become mad in his desperate pursuit of you. But if you weren’t here for him to pursue anymore, he’d become sane again. He wont give up while your still out there somewhere, that much I’m sure of.”
    Kate paused as she changed position, so that she was kneeling and leaned forward. “I know now that he had no intention of letting you go. And I think you know as well as I do that he will find you." Aristaios turned now, not to look at Kate, but to look at me. I nodded because I did know in the back of my mind, that he eventually would find me. "That's enough." Aristaios snapped, already on his feet. I looked between the two vampires. Kate had shrunk back against the side. I made a move to crawl out of the van when she placed her hand on my ankle, “How much further?” She barely whispered.
“I don’t…” I began, looking at Aristaios to supply the answer.
“It’s a two minute drive.” He answered dryly. “We’ll be there in no time, don’t worry.” He said mockingly to Kate. She put her head down and spoke quietly.
“Would it be possible to walk the rest of the way?”
“No.”
“Why not?” I asked him as I climbed out of the van and dusted myself down.
“You have no shoes, for a start.”
“Yes I do.”
“It’s too far for you to walk.”
“You said it was a two minute drive, that’s like a five minute walk?”
“Five minutes for us, for you, about twenty minutes.” A delicate smile pulled at the corner of his lips and I could see that I was winning this. “You cant walk in heels, give her your shoes.” He said to Kate, who had emerged from the van much quicker than I had. My eyes bulged when she immediately began to take off one of her flat, black pumps. “Don’t be ridiculous!” I jumped over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, “I’ve got my own shoes in the front.” I heard Aristaios sigh beside me, but I paid him no attention. Kate began to rub at the back of her knees and then at the back of her neck, all the while Aristaios watched her through slitted eyes.
    The sky had brightened only a little, to a silky purple, the stars all but gone. It had to be around five am. More light allowed me to see what was on the slimy ground I had had to walk on, if it hadn't been for the tiny shards of glass sprinkled over the road, I would have avoided looking at it again. So then I wouldn't have to see the mossy green patches or the various shades of brown puddles or the mysterious debris that looked suspiciously like they had little ecosystems already established on them. Aristaios had read my train of thought, "I'll get your shoes," he said, returning with them in an instant. "Thanks," I said, taking the strappy heels from him. The soles of my feet were black with dirt and I cringed when I had to wipe off some of the tiny stones that were stuck to them. He didn't bother to lock up then van, we walked out of the lane and came out onto the street with the office buildings. The buildings were fancy. Made of sandstone, some had little faces carved into them, one had a crest of some sort above a door, which had two columns at each side. Probably converted Victorian mansions. It was unlikely that any of them were still used as houses, there were no cars on the street, no lights on and most looked like they had generic vertical office blinds fitted to the windows, shutting out the world.
    Walking had heated me up, I didn't take the jacket off, simply because I felt too exposed, but I could have been warm enough without it. Kate and Aristaios' steps were silent, whereas mine clicked and shuffled and echoed off the buildings around us. I held onto Aristaios' arm as we walked, he let Kate drift ahead of us by a few yards, obviously trusting that she wouldn't be silly enough to think she could out run him now. Kate walked with her head down, the way I imagined a prisoner on death row would walk the green mile, off to face the executioner. Was that to be her fate? I sincerely hoped not. "That's the building, just there." Aristaios said, pointing to a building three buildings away. It wasn't any fancier than the others, it didn't look to have anyone inside either. "How long will you be inside?"
“You’re coming in too.” I stopped walking abruptly. "For your own protection, of course. They won't risk having you travel without an entourage." He rolled his eyes, "even my orders wouldn't stand against theirs. Come on, you can get some rest and they'll have vehicles that will get us home faster than that old van."
"I don't want to go in."
"Why?" Aristaios asked, staring into my eyes. The power of those eyes! I think I stood staring at them for several long seconds before I managed to speak. "I... I'll just wait out here for you." He stepped closer to me, taking my chin between his thumb and forefinger tilting my head up. I hadn't really noticed just how tall he was, even in my heels I didn’t even reach his chin. "Accalia, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." His promise made my legs wobble and I fumbled forward.  
"Oops. Sorry," I giggled feeling the blood rush to my cheeks.
"Don't worry" he breathed, right before he brought his head down to reach me. He moved his hand from my chin round to the back of my neck to pull my face closer to his. I had no time to process what was happening. I lifted my eyes to look at his face, he was looking in my eyes as he moved closer to me. I sucked in a breath when his lips touched mine. They were soft, but firm. My body responded before I had the time to think about what to do, my hands moved from where they rested on his chest to clasp together behind his neck. I tiptoed higher in my heels, bringing me further into him. My knees felt like they were knocking together, they were so shaky. His strong arm around my back held me firmly to him as he traced circles on the back of my neck. The designs he traced on my skin seemed to seep into my skin and flow into my body in the same swirling motions, lingering on after his lips had left mine. I stared dazedly at him as he stepped back and away from me that heartbreakingly beautiful smile making my stomach flip. “Wait for me.” He whispered in a tease as he shot away.
    I watched as he caught up with Kate, moving so fast and silently that it looked like he gave her a start when he reached her. He guided her back to a building she had already passed. He gave a slight nod in my direction before walking up the entry stairs. I could feel myself beaming when he disappeared behind the stone porch. The dawn broke behind me, lighting the buildings and casting my long shadow in front of me. I turned to face the rising sun, closing my eyes and feeling the rays on my face, even though the air was still cool. Cold air filled my lungs as I inhaled deeply. I turned and took a few steps toward the building Aristaios had gone into. I'd taken three steps when I felt the chill come over me. My eyes had been drawn to the ground, where my shadow had been swallowed up by a much larger one.
    Cold, long fingers crawled along my stomach and pulled me against the solid surface behind me. I took in a large, shaky breath, ready to scream out at the same time that a sharp burn pierced my shoulder. I let the scream out but a hand was already tightly clamped over my mouth. The burning on my shoulder travelled further down my arm, my back and chest until I became numb from the pain. It probably took less than a second for that to happen, but time slowed, I could feel the loss of every drop of blood that escaped from my shoulder, how every drop left me knees weaker and weaker. I fought against it, fought against my heavy eyelids, fought to stay on my own feet, fought to stay alive. With as much strength as I could muster, I bit down onto the cold flesh of the hand that covered my mouth. I didn't feel the teeth leave my shoulder but I heard the sharp intake of breath so I knew my shoulder was free for the moment. I had only a fraction of a second to react, I managed a high "Ari..." before the vampire behind me recovered, clamping down on my mouth once more and cutting of my scream. A hiss sounded in my ear as three silhouettes emerged from a building in front of me. Aristaios was one of them, I was sure, but I couldn't see well enough through the fuzziness that clouded my vision. I had one thought, he found me, after everything, he found me. And then I was flying through the air, getting further and further from Aristaios.