Dear Tempting

Pulse

Reid watched as the cecaelia collapsed onto the ground. The gun shot rang loud through the air as the creatures screamed at the death of their sister. Their teeth were chittering and it sounded odd to Reid above the water. Three more shots went off, successfully killing three more creatures. Reid saw each bullet slide through their skulls and spray blue blood onto the boards of the dock. 

Her head was filled with confusion as she watched, one by one, the creature's slumped to the ground dead. The sound of each one even more sickening than the last. Who was shooting?

Natalia swore loudly and moved back over to Reid. She raised her arm above her head and brought down the handle of the gun, knocking Reid over the head with the butt of the weapon. Her head swam for a moment before her vision cleared again. Stars dotted the area and Reid know she would have a bump later. Natalia was strong but not strong enough to completely knock her out. 

"Reid," a voice shouted, sounding more like a question, from the lower level of the house. Reid stiffened at the voice. Gruff and hard filled with menace. 

"Reid!" the voice shouted again, more urgently. Her head spun.

Natalia raised her gun to Reid and glared angrily down at her. "Who is that," she seethed quietly. Reid knew her words would be just loud enough for him to here and thudding footsteps sounded on the stairs a moment later. Reid knew they were meant to be heard. No one could sneak up on her, not one but him. He wanted them to hear him coming. Natalia moved her gun from Reid's face to the door and her hands shook as she gripped the pistol tighter. Reid didn't think she really knew how to shoot the thing. 

Xavier stepped through the door his gun raised at Natalia's direction. Then, in a flash, it was pressed against her temple. His fangs nearly pierced his lip. Natalia was too slow to react and she quickly switched her gun back to Reid's direction. 

"Drop the gun." His teeth were gritted and he sneered through them. One hand was up holding the gun out, cocked sideways, and the other was clenched at his side. His knuckles were white. 

"No thanks," Natalia replied delivering the same angry glare. Gone, was her frightened demeanor from the day before. Natalia moved closer to Reid pulling a blade out of her back pocket and slowly moving it towards Reid's leg. 

"It won't hurt me to shoot you," Xavier said raising his chin. His green eyes were clouded over in rage. Reid swallowed hard. Her head was fuzzy and she was trying hard to focus on either one of them. 

"It won't hurt me to shoot her," Natalia said nodding at Reid. The knife inched closer to Reid's leg and she shuffled away trying to gain some distance.

"Drop the gun," Xavier snarled.

Natalia shot the gun, successfully hitting Reid in the thigh. The gun was back up to Xavier in a flash. Reid let out a grunt of pain as the bullet plowed through her skin and cracked a scale under the surface. She felt the shards dig in all around and the blood instantly started to pour out. 

Another gunshot went off. Reid struggled to focus around the pain. A bullet hole was embedded in the center of Natalia's forehead. Blood ran over her face, coating her nose and rolling into her mouth. Her eyes were transfixed on absolutely nothing as she coughed once, spitting blood, and fell to the ground. 

Natalia wasn't dead, she would be severely injured, but that would be because of the bullet used. A normal bullet will slow a siren or a mermaid down but only a bullet coated in rust will kill a sea creature like herself. Rust attacks the body and spreads like wildfire with the salt - destroying bodily organs like a chemical reaction. As long as it was pulled out Natalia would survive. 

Xavier then pointed the gun on Reid. For a moment, she thought he might shoot, end it all right here, but then the end of the pistol raised to above her head and fired. The cuffs on her wrists split in two and Xavier pulled her into a sitting position. Reid's hands fled to her leg in a rush of pain. She hissed as she felt her broken scale shift. Her eyes went fuzzy again and the edges of her vision went black.

Blood pooled in her lap and Xavier's eyes darkened at the scent. Her blood was different somehow. Sweeter and saltier and something else. And it was everywhere. It ran through her fingers, spilling onto the bed. 

Red covered everything and she felt her mind slipping away as she was drained of her strength. Xavier noticed her wavering focus and quickly picked her up. Blood ran onto his shirt. He swallowed down his thirst. Never once had he wanted another's blood like this. 

Xavier knew they were waiting at the bottom of the stairs and he pulled his gun out of the waistband of his jeans. He rounded the corner and pulled the trigger. They fell to the ground with that same slimy thud that they had outside. He dashed out the front door, Reid falling unconscious.

He didn't know how to help her, if she was really dying or if she was just passing out from lack of blood. She wasn't a vampire, now that he was sure of. Her blood was strange and foreign, it was unlike anything he had ever smelt. Her head on his shoulder left her throat exposed to him. His gums throbbed. 

Xavier felt her breathing grow shallow and he took off town the road. He had to get her back to the house. Both his siblings would kill him if something happened to her. Daniel had some sick kind of fascination with her and Reid had been the first friend Rebekah had had since she turned. 

"Beka, grab some blood," Xavier yelled as he ran through the front door. "Daniel, get the door," Xavier snapped rushing down the hall to his own room. 

Placing her on his bed, he adjusted her so her leg was straight in front of her. Her pulse was like something else entirely. It was fast, really fast. Vampires barely had a pulse, if at all, where Reid's seemed to be beating out of her chest. The noise distracted him. 

Xavier clenched his teeth as he reached into her leg to pull out the bullet. Something sharp cut his fingers and he yanked them out in a rush. His own blood ran down his finger mixing with hers. Confused, he grabbed a pair of medical tweezers Rebekah had brought in. Quickly reaching in, he extracted the bullet and threw it to the side. He reached in one more time to remove... glass? Opaque iridescent glass. It had to be glass. What else could it be?

Xavier set the green thing in a bowl and Beka got to work on taping up the wound. The gauze was wrapped all around her milky thigh, the massive vein in her leg throbbing. He pulled a needle from the supplies and shoved it into Reid's arm. He taped it down and attached an IV hose to the end of it. Rebekah hung up the blood bag and watched it slowly drip into her arm.

He watched her for a moment. Watched the blood seep through the gaze, listened to the way her heart beat eraticly... He pushed a strand of red hair out of her face.