Bloodbound

15. Night of the lost ones

Once they reached the Rogers Innovative, other than Bucky everyone made their way to Steve's office. Bucky had no intention of spending another minute with these people but he knew he had to sort some things out. Hesitantly he followed the others as Steve got Pietro out of the trunk. By the look of Pietro, Steve understood he was pissed off. His pupils were darker than before. He tried to escape from Steve's grip but Steve held on tightly.

"Hey kid. Listen to me." But Pietro paid no attention to his words. "Pietro, listen to me" Steve called him again making Pietro look at him.

"I understand that it's difficult but you need to fight the urge. Okay?"

Pietro looked unsure so Steve continued, "It will be okay soon, kid. Just come with me."

Pietro nodded.

Steve led him to the back of the building. Steve opened a concealed door behind the staircase and led Pietro inside. The room was spacious and cosy. It had a freezer in one corner. Two sofas and a table were placed in the center of the room. At the back a small elevator was there.

"So, you're really old. Do you get senior discount?" Pietro laughed

"Don't get too cocky, kid. You will be part of the club pretty soon."

"How old are you?"

"Pushing 80"

Steve grabbed two packets of blood from the freezer and gave it to Pietro. Pietro looked uncertain. There was an urge in his brain to drink from a live being. Steve sensed the doubt in Pietro's head.

"Have this now. Once you get control of yourself, you can have from volunteers."

"Volunteers?" Pietro raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah. We don't have to kill unnecessarily. Moreover, it is steady supply rather than hunting on the streets."

"Oh, the Cullens" Pietro commented as he drove his teeth through the plastic bag and drained it up in no time. He had never before thought blood would taste good. The metallic taste clung to his tongue. He drank the two packets as if they were a pack of juice. Once his appetite was taken care of, he was ashamed of how he acted before. He had wanted to attack his sister and Coulson. He reminded himself that he should apologise to them.

While Pietro was drinking the blood, Steve took a small vial from the hidden locker inside the freezer. He poured it into the glass and mixed it with blood. He handed it to Pietro.

"This will stop you from going feral, kid."

"I will turn into one of those?"

"Only if you don't consume this."

Pietro took a large gulp from the glass. The drink burnt Pietro's throat as he swallowed. It had pungent odour and the fumes got in his nose. But Steve kept pushing him to drink it fully so Pietro did. After sometime the burning reduced and Pietro was able to breathe normally.

.....

Bucky scoffed. "So, this is creepy? Did you forget what you did back in the street?"

"I didn't do anything. I have no idea what happened" she defended herself.

"It doesn't change the fact that you invaded my mind. You looked into my memories. What are you?"

"Ha! You are asking what I am when you're some blood sucking leech running around the city."

"Reality check, your brother is also one of the blood sucking leeches now."

"Enough" shouted Coulson. "If you can't have a civil conversation then don't have one."

Wanda left the room and went her way to her office. She needed to be alone. Even though Bucky was being rude to her what he said was true. She is weird and her brother is a vampire. They were just normal people living their life in one of the busiest cities but everything changed now. She had never expected that the city has a whole new society living in the shadows. She knew what her brother is but she didn't know about herself. Bucky's words kept running in her head again and again. He said I saw his memories. When it happened with Howard, she didn't know what to think of it. Now she connected the dots. What she had seen in his lab was his memories. Then it hit her; Howard is a vampire.

.....

Bucky was furious at Steve. Sensing the tension in the room when Steve entered, Coulson had slipped away. Both men shouted at each other. Steve supported Wanda, while Bucky felt she had invaded his personal space.

"She is just a kid, Bucky. She too didn't know what she was doing. She is as shocked as us."

"I can't understand why you're supporting her, Steve. You know what I don't want to understand. You can be okay with someone playing with your mind but I'm not."

"She wasn't playing with our minds. She didn't trick us. The memory that we saw was real and she somehow invoked it"

"She didn't just invoke it she saw it. Not only that she reminded me of the memory that I had long wanted to forget."

"This isn't about her, is it?" Steve's voiced had softened and it was barely a whisper.

"It never was" stated Bucky. He walked out of the door again and didn't look back. He got in the elevator and went to ground floor. When he crossed the lobby, his eyes fell on the black granite placed in the corner. The inscription, 'In the loving memory of James Buchanan Barnes' caught his eyes on his way out.

*****

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