Scarlet Prison

Chapter 29

I felt a little disoriented when I woke up because instead of lying on the ground with a dead vampire on top of me, I was propped up against a wall, surrounded by three corpses and two worried faces.

"Shit, Zermia, you're pretty beat up," Ekai said, peeling back a lock of my hair that had been glued to my lip with blood.

"If I had had to fight the big one, I would be dead," Mera said matter of factly.

They both had their black masks off, and although they looked battered, I was sure they'd look good as new after a shower and some rest. I wished I could say the same about my condition. I was screwed. I could probably get a single night off of work from this, but vampires healed quickly, and I wouldn't be able to get away with asking for more. Showing up to work still battered couldn't end well.

Now that the adrenaline surge was gone, I felt the pain of all my injuries with stark clarity. The gashes on my arms throbbed, my head ached, and my shoulder was a bundle of sharp pain and numbness.

In a sudden panic, I looked down at myself, remembering my nakedness, only to find that I was fully clothed. Ekai saw my confusion and looked away in embarrassment. "Mera put your pants back on. I hope you don't mind."

"Thank you," I muttered to Mera, finding it hard to look her in the eye.

"We have to get you back. Can you walk?" Ekai asked, positioning himself to help me stand.

I brushed him off. "There's nothing wrong with my legs, but before we leave, we have to clean up the crime scene," I said, as the fogginess of my brain started to lift. "It's best that we leave the gun here, but we should wipe it for fingerprints. We also need to clean my blood off the ground and from that vampire's fingernails. If this looks like a brawl between low life vampires, the authorities probably won't investigate it too far."

Ekai and Mera exchanged a look.

"Alright," Ekai sighed, "Mera, you wipe the gun. I'll clean up the blood."

"So we're not going to keep the gun?" Mera asked, pulling it out from beneath her clothes.

Ekai looked at me. "Zermia knows vampire behavior better than we do. Do you think that leaving the gun will help prevent further investigations?"

"Yes. If we make it look like the gun belongs to them, which it does, then they will look less like victims. Vampires are always itching for an excuse to not care about vampire murders. Honestly, they'd be more upset if they found murdered humans. If all the vampires were to prance around, killing humans on every whim, there'd be no humans left. No more humans means no more vampires."

"Fine, we'll leave the gun. Right, Mera?"

Mera sighed, wiped the gun, and placed it in Abe's severed hand.

Ekai finished cleaning the human blood from the area. "Okay, are you ready to go, Zermia?" I could tell he was holding off the urge to help me up.

"You guys go back. I'm going to my hotel."

Ekai gawked at me. "You have a concussion! We're not leaving you alone. What if you die in your sleep?"

I considered that. He was right. I needed someone to help me. Someone who would know how to keep my cover as a vampire intact. "I'll have a friend come over to watch me," I assured him.

"What kind of friend? You'll blow your cover if anyone sees you like that. You'll have to hideout with us until you're completely recovered."

I hesitated, not wanting to reveal too much about Nes. "She's...undercover, like me. She knows more about vampires than I do, and she'll know how to handle this situation." I hoped.