Chapter Forty-four - Part 3
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Beatriz and Sonya looked at each other for a moment, then back to Melanie. “What did she bring him?” She asked again.
“That girl from the coffee shop.” Melanie replied nonchalantly. Her eyes then went back to gaze at Zac.
Sonya looked at Kirk and he shrugged his shoulders, “Camille said he liked her before, and she thought it’d cheer him up or something. But,” he said, looking over at Isaac, “we didn’t know you guys were gonna be here.”
Sonya shook her head and watched as Beatriz stood up. Suddenly, Melanie turned her head toward the hallway, sensing Camille’s fear. “Stay here.” Beatriz commanded the girl, then she quietly left the room.
For a moment, Melanie sat there, but soon, she jumped up and followed. Of course, everyone’s curiosity got the best of them and soon, all of them were on their way down the hallway, including Isaac and Zac.
Sonya was the last to follow, shaking her head and thinking fondly of the days when she just looked after herself. She looked down the hallway to see Beatriz open the door, but before she could step in, there was a resounding slam and she was aghast to see her “shoved” back into the hallway. At once, they all stopped in their tracks, amazed at the sight. Beatriz immediately began to spit Spanish words out into the air, the only one any of them understood being “Taylor”. Sonya rushed forward, past the others just as Beatriz threw her hands out and the door opened with a crash as it slammed into the wall. Her eyes ablaze, she went through the doorway, followed by Sonya. Melanie was next, her instincts to protect Camille overpowering her fear of what she’d see inside. There on the bed, Taylor still lay next to Jill, his mouth clamped firmly to her throat and his eyes shut in ecstasy. Camille was huddled behind a chair near the door. “What is going on here?!” Beatriz spat.
“He wouldn’t let me out!” Camille cried, standing and sprinting over to Melanie’s outstretched arms.
Outside in the hallway, Isaac and Zac peered in over the shoulder of Kirk who seemed to find the whole thing funny. But the sight of their brother, holding a girl, her clothes lying around her and her head thrown back as he fed from her was anything but amusing. Isaac’s hand flew to his mouth and he turned away, his back against the wall. Zac’s eyes were glued to the scene and his eyebrows shot up when he watched Beatriz pull Taylor roughly up by his shirt and practically throw him at the door, the only thing keeping him from landing squarely against the wall being Kirk’s form, blocking the doorway.
“Dude,” Kirk chuckled, setting the boy up on his feet and straightening his shirt, “you are a trip!”
Taylor turned to look at Beatriz and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “What’s the problem?” He asked, throwing his hands out.
Melanie immediately came at him, “What the fuck were you doing, you asshole!?”
“Having breakfast. What’s it to you?” He asked.
“Did you hurt her?!” She asked, looking back at Camille.
He gave them both a dismissive glance and furrowed his eyebrows, “I didn’t touch her.” He then looked over at the bed, “Hey, she’s kinda bleeding over there, can I—“
But, he was cut off by Beatriz, “No, you may not. Were you going to kill her with your brothers right down the hallway?” She spat.
“Um, no. Does she look dead to you?” He said, looking over her shoulder as Jill stirred. She’d turned over onto her stomach and was getting herself into a position to see him better. Her eyes were glassy, but it was plain to all of them, that the only thing in the room she could see was Taylor.
Beatriz closed her eyes for a moment, calming herself. When she opened them, she had the same serene look she usually carried, but it was obvious, it was a struggle. She turned to Sonya, “Can you please take this little party back to the parlor? I need to speak to Taylor alone.”
“Of course.” Sonya replied and she took Melanie and Camille’s arms and began to pull them out of the room. Zac had backed up against the wall across the hallway, still watching. As Melanie passed Taylor, a look was thrown between them and obviously, words.
“Hey,” Taylor said to her, “she gave me a present, then she wanted it back!”
Melanie was just past Kirk, but she turned and over his shoulder, flung her hand out, connecting with Taylor’s head. Suddenly, Kirk found himself between them, as Taylor swung back at her. “Hey now! Watch it!” He said, picking the girl up and swinging her back away from the fray. Beatriz pulled Taylor back again by the collar of his shirt and rolled her eyes. Camille had rushed over to join Zac, actually attempting to put him between her and his brother, as if he could protect her from him. Zac had never seen them quarrel outside of playful wrestling or games, so this was a very strange sight to him.
Melanie shot one last look Taylor’s way, then put her arm around Camille’s shoulder and followed Sonya back down the hallway. Kirk shook his head then looked at Zac, “Women, can’t live with ‘em, can’t kill ‘em.” He grinned.
“So, how do you kill a vampire?” Zac asked him shakily.
Kirk reached over and patted Isaac on the shoulder and they all three began walking back down the hall as Beatriz closed the door on all of them. “Well,” Kirk started, “it’s not that hard. You just gotta do it really fast. It’s not that we’re immortal or whatever, it’s that we heal really fast. Our blood clots super fast and bones and tissue sort of…meld back together.” He said, entwining his fingers to illustrate his point.
“What if you cut their head off?” Zac asked.
Isaac could take no more, “Zac!! Why the hell are you asking all this stuff?!” He turned to Kirk, “And WHY are you answering?! Do you want him to kill Taylor?!”
Kirk furrowed his brow and looked at Isaac, “Zac couldn’t kill Taylor. I probably couldn’t kill Taylor.” He looked thoughtful for a moment, “I’m pretty sure Beatriz or Sonya probably could kill Taylor…” he said, rubbing his chin.
“Now why would we want to kill Taylor?” Sonya asked, watching the three step back into the room.
“’Cause he’s MEAN!” Camille spouted.
Sonya brushed off the comment with a wave of her hand, “Tish tosh—he’s not mean. So he got a little territorial. Get used to it, he’s male.” She said, leaning back in her chair and pulling her hair out of the knot it was in at the back of her head and allowing it’s blonde tendrils to fall about her shoulders.
“Hey—” Kirk started, “we’re not the only ones that get like that. I seem to remember someone being the same way about a certain little blonde rockstar.” He said, glaring at Camille.
“True, true.” Sonya conceded. “Still, in my experience, guys don’t like to share sometimes and they don’t make a secret of it. I guess girls are just sneakier. I mean, I didn’t see Camille drinking from him in front of any of us, you know? So, it wasn’t an issue.”
“Well, if she had,” Kirk stated, someone would have made her stop—so there was method to her madness. At least from what I hear.”
“Stop talking about me like I’m not here.” Camille said, snuggling up closer to Melanie. “Besides Kirk, you shouldn’t believe everything you hear. And you didn’t see him—he like, growled at me.” She said, the anger in her voice turning to hurt.
Isaac and Zac sat together on one end of the couch, listening to the strange talk around them.
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Beatriz looked at Taylor for a moment, her dark eyes searching his face. He managed to look back, though it wasn’t easy. Finally, she spoke, “Are you trying to turn her?” she asked, tilting her head towards the girl on the bed.
Taylor wrinkled up his face, “No, why would I do that?”
Beatriz turned her attention back on him, “I don’t know, why would you?” she asked, her hand going to her hip.
Taylor snorted, then looked over at Jill. She was still in the bed, still watching him. His eyes picked up the tiny movements in her body; the beat of the heart making a pulse in her neck, the flow of blood through the veins in her writst, her lips parted to let in oxygen as she breathed. But, he could only see it because of what he was—Zac or Isaac may have thought her dead, her eyes frozen in time upon the face of her killer. “Well,” he said, “the longer you keep me from going to her, the more likely it is that I’ll need to turn her.”
“Just because Death is about to claim a life does not mean you can save it. If we did that, there would be more vampires than humans. And that is not acceptable.” She said coldly.
He narrowed his eyes at her, “So, I’m just supposed to sit here and watch her die because you don’t want me to go over there and finish what I started? It’s not her fault Camille grabbed her.”
“No, it’s not.” She said, “But sometimes, these things happen. Humans are killed all the time and very seldom is it by vampires, Taylor. It’s part of life.”
Taylor raised one eyebrow, “This is not some random thing! She didn’t get struck by lightening or some terminal disease.” Now he was beginning to realize what he’d done. “I did it, alright? Let me fix it. I’ll take her home and she’ll forget and it’ll be done, alright?” He looked at the girl again, the red stain on the white sheets growing bigger by the moment. Turning back to Beatriz, his eyes shining, he pleaded with her, “Please.” He moved closer to the woman’s immovable form, placing his fingers in her hair, his eyes closer to her’s, “Please.” He said softly.
“Taylor, this is not a game. You’ve killed a man. You’ve allowed humans to know what you are. You’ve taken the blood of other vampires. Do not toy with this girl’s life. I cannot allow one as young as you to sire another.”
“I don’t want that!” he cried, looking again at Jill. “She was just there and Camille said since it’d been a month, it’d be ok! I was just feeding from her, I wasn’t trying to turn her or whatever. I don’t even know how to do that! I don’t wanna know how to do it!”
Beatriz just looked at him for a moment, then she sighed, “Go to her, do what you can.” She said.
Now Taylor was scared, “You do it—I don’t know if I know what to do now.” He said, hearing the girl’s breathing become more shallow and labored. Her skin had become extremely pale and her lips were losing their red colour and turning a gray he’d seen in his own mirror not that long ago.
Beatriz put her hand on his shoulder, “I have slowed her heart, you can do it.” she said softly.
Taylor shut his eyes for a moment and found himself praying as he stepped over to the bed. Leaning down, he listened for a moment before he sat down on the bed next to her. Gently, he pulled her body into his arms, cradling her there and looking into the eyes that hadn’t left his since he’d left her there. She wanted nothing more than to put her arms around his neck, but she found she was too weak to move them. Slowly, he raised her up closer to his face, brushing his lips over hers. When he pulled back and opened his eyes, he saw hers looking back at him, the usually vibrant green now turned a bit dull. But on her mouth, a smile. Again, he pulled her to him, but this time, he placed his mouth over the two wounds in her neck, running his tongue over them, lapping up the blood there, but also coating them with the miraculous saliva that would heal them up nearly as quickly as he’d put them there. It took longer than usual, but that was to be expected with her body in its weakened state and the slowing down of its functions by Beatriz. Indeed, her heartbeat was more like his own than that of either of his brothers at that moment. When he was certain no more blood was oozing out of her, he allowed her to lay back on the bed again. He lay beside her with her neck in the crook of his elbow, gently pushing her sweaty hair off her forehead. With a touch of his lips to each of her eyelids, finally she allowed her eyes to close and end the magnetic pull his face had for her. He stared at her for a moment longer, making sure she was still alive, and then carefully, he pulled his arm out from under her and stood back up, pulling the sheet over her nude body.