Tall, Dark & Lonely

Page 43

“Shut up,” she groaned.
Chris laughed. A few minutes later they were driving through the center of town. “Whoa! Hold up! Go into that parking lot!”
“Chris!” she warned, she was not in the mood for games tonight.
“Go in the parking lot!” Chris sounded more urgent.
She stopped the car. “Fine.” She started to turn in the parking lot. “What the-”
“-hell is he doing kissing another girl that’s what I’d like to know.” Chris bolted out the door and started running towards Ephraim.
******
Ephraim pushed Eve away. “Get the f**k off me.”
She kept herself tightly against him. The window behind him shattered violently. He tried to jump away, but Eve tightened her grip and kept him pushed against the car. Two large hands shot out and wrapped tightly around his arms and waist. Another set appeared from beneath the car and hugged his legs. Yet another was suddenly around his neck. He heard the movements, but too late it seemed.
Eve backed up, laughing. Her fangs dropped as she eyed him. Ephraim was normally stronger than any vampire, but three vampires holding him like vice grips was too much even for him. They were crushing him. The one on top had him in a good choke hold.
He couldn’t move. “What the hell do you want, Eve?” He tried to struggle against the hold. They wouldn’t give an inch.
She laughed lightly. “What the Master’s always wanted of course, Ephraim. Your blood.”
“I told you, Eve, my blood will not change any of you. You’re not the first vampire to steal my blood. It won’t work!” It would kill her, but he wasn’t about to tell her that.
“I don’t believe you.” She moved back in and pressed a kiss to his neck. He tried to struggle. “Don’t be selfish now. I think you can share. Just think how nice it will be to share the sunlight with your closest friends. I just want a little taste before we bring you to the Master.” She sank her teeth into his neck.
He squeezed his eyes closed and half screamed half groaned. She was sucking on his neck viciously, greedily. She was afraid she would be stopped before she took enough. What she didn’t know was that a spoonful of his blood would kill her, slowly. The amount she was stealing would probably kill her within a few minutes.
She pulled back. “Well, boys, don’t be shy. If you wait until I’m done there won’t be any left.” She struck his neck again.
On the other side of his neck a new set of fangs sunk it. The man hiding in the car sunk his teeth into Ephraim’s side and ripped the skin violently. The one holding his legs did the same. They were too greedy to do this right. The blood was going to come out too fast for them to catch it all in their mouths.
“Hey, ass**le!” Chris yelled.
Ephraim forced his eyes opened and looked over Eve’s head to see Chris running towards him. Madison drove up right behind him. The headlights hit him full blast. He knew the instant Chris saw the entire scene, he froze.
Madison jumped out of the car and started running. Chris grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back.
“Get out of here!” Ephraim yelled. “Go now!”
“They’re eating him!” Chris yelled.
“Let me go!” Madison fought against his hold.
She watched helplessly as four vampires fed from him. It didn’t look like they were being gentle. Blood was streaming from their bites onto the ground quickly. All the color in his face was gone. His head dropped back and she got a good look at a black man on the right side of his neck and a blonde woman in front of him, latched onto his neck. She was holding Ephraim by the back of his head so he wouldn’t disturb her bite again.
Loud growls filled the air. She watched as the black man shook his head violently while keeping his teeth in Ephraim’s neck. Blood began pouring from that wound at an astonishing rate.
His eyes shut and he roared. “Go now!” It was soon followed by a scream of agony. The man on his torso pulled back dissatisfied with the flow of blood and ripped into Ephraim’s arm.
“No! Ephraim!”
His head dropped to the side. He was out. The vampires tightened their hold on him so that he wouldn’t drop to the ground. They weren’t about to lose any blood when they were this close to their goal.
“We have to get help, Madison!” Chris tried to drag her back.
The blonde woman pulled back smiling. The bottom of her face was covered in red blood and shined grotesquely under the headlights. “Oh, don’t rush off on our accounts we’d….we’d..” Her hand went to her stomach. She moaned softly and then groaned. “Why does it hurt?” She dropped to the ground and started screaming.
One by one the men released Ephraim to grab their stomachs. They were thrashing and screaming as Ephraim fell to the ground with a loud thud.
“Grab him!” Madison finally managed to get away from Chris. He was too stunned to hold her at the moment.
Madison reached Ephraim. “Oh, god no.” His throat was practically ripped out. He was covered in so much blood. “Chris!”
“Madison, you have to leave him! He’s going to turn into one of them.” Chris’s eyes were focused on the blonde's open mouth as she screamed. Her fangs glimmered in the light.
“Chris, I need your help!” Madison screamed.
That made him jump and reluctantly focus on her. “Okay, okay, okay, let’s just get out of here. We’ll bring him to the emergency room.”
“No, I have something else in mind.”
********
“A tub? Are you crazy? I can see his f**king windpipe and you put him in a tub?” Chris’ body shook. “He’s going to die, Madison! We have to get him some help!”
“No, he needs to be here.” She left him to go into his room and grabbed the key hidden under his DVD player and unlocked the mini fridge.
“I’m calling 911, Madison. He needs help.” Chris grabbed Ephraim’s phone and began dialing.
Madison lunged for the phone. “No, trust me.”
“Trust you? He’s dying and you want to do what? What the hell are you going to do?”
She turned her back on him and packed her arms with bags of blood. “I’m going to feed him.”
“A-are those what I think they are?” his voice sounded weak as he stared nervously at the blood in her arms.
“Yes, don’t worry, Chris, he’s a good guy.”
“He’d better be,” he mumbled.
Madison went into the bathroom. She heard wood snap behind her. “What are you doing?”
Chris walked into the room holding a homemade stake. “Sorry about the chair, but you understand.” He stood protectively over Madison with the stake raised and ready to drive it into Ephraim should he make a wrong move.
“Let me feed him and everything will be fine.”
“No one’s stopping you.”
“Punk,” she mumbled.
“How are you going to feed him? He’s unconscious,” Chris pointed out.
“Good question. I could pour it down his throat, but he wouldn’t swallow. I need his fangs to come out.”
“He has fangs?” Chris squeaked.
“Yes, now if I could get them to drop we’d be in business.” She gently pried his mouth open and pressed the bag to his teeth.