The Nocturnals

Chapter Five: We All Fall Down

"Give me your jacket," Eliora commands.

Josh looks at her with a defensive stare, "Dude! It's my only one!"

"Dude," she mocks, "I'm like totally bleeding to death here! Don't be a wimp, give me your jacket, now!"

He huffs, "I'm not giving up my jacket."

"Fine, you asshole. Then give me that jacket over there," she points at her jacket she threw off earlier in a frustrated manner.

He grabs it, wrapping it around her leg. A yelp escapes her lips as he puts pressure on her bleeding leg. He ties it tight, a small bit of blood seeping through. She squeezes his hand hard from the pain, screaming out, the gash at least five inches long. Her teeth gnash down on her lower lip. Josh grimaces from her grip as she looks towards the sky, glancing away from her wound.

"Here, I'll bring you over to the couch," he wraps his arms under her back and legs, pulling her up as she grimaces at the uncomfortable squeeze on her shin from the jacket. He walks over to the gazebo and lays her down. She arches her back in discomfort and makes a squeak from the pain shooting through her leg. Josh grabs a pillow, shoving it under her left leg.

She looks up at him as he furrows his brows in a concerned fashion, "I have to talk to you about something... We can't stay here tonight."

"I knew that. You can never stay in one place at night. I've learned the hard way," his eyes turn dark. Eliora studies his face with uncertainty of what that statement means.

Eliora shakes her head, "Everyone hides out in the city. The vampires go where everyone is..."

Josh raises his eyebrows as if he knew that already, "Well, yeah, but what does that mean for this place?"

"It means that they never come here. They don't expect someone to be living here, but tonight, all this blood is going to attract them. If we come back, I'm sure we'll find the intruders drained dry," a shiver courses though her as she sighs.

Josh studies her with a calm face, "So then, where will we go?" Eliora glances up at him, shrugging at the same time. Josh scratches his head, then rubs his temples, "I guess, I know a safe place to go. It's near to where I was being- I mean- where you found me," he tears away his gaze at the podium behind Eliora.

Her eyes narrow with suspicion at this, but they soon hide the expression, "Fine, as long as I hold all the weaponry."

"What?! You can't even walk, let alone shoot a gun!" Josh stands up from the pool lounger. Her foot slides over the edge of the couch as she begins to stand. Despite the pain that shot through her, she stands, tall and confident.

She gives him a smirk mixed with a grimace, "What was that you said?"

"What makes you think I'll let you carry all the weapons?"

A laugh escapes her lips as she reaches down and grabs her heavy bag, "Because they aren't yours to use," she begins to walk down the gazebo steps, the leg of her pants slipping back down to her jacket and staying there, the jacket still drenched with blood, "Oh, and thanks for being a good boy and giving me back my bow and arrows."

His mouth drops down in shock, "What makes you think I'll show you the safe place?"

"Because I have all these supplies and won't share unless you show me the place to go," Eliora looks back at him. He smirks, "What's so funny?"

"You know I could kill you in a second if I wanted to," Josh wears a smug face.

In one moment, Eliora pulls out a gun, cocks it, and aims it at Josh, "Says the one without a gun." Despite the pain, she climbs up the stairs of the gazebo, getting closer to Josh with a calm face, "Killing you wouldn't be a waste of anything. In fact, it would get you off my back. Have you thought once that you might be dead weight for me? You know the mercy I've shown you and this is how you repay me?"

"Dude, I said 'If I wanted to,'" Josh puts his hands in his pockets, "For instance," Josh ducks, suddenly very close to Eliora and grabs the gun from the bottom, resting his feet on her chest and pouncing off to turn the gun around at her. She falls to the ground and gasps.

Her eyes widen and a pain in her chest errupts, gasping she says, "How did you do that?" He grabs the gun by the nose, handing it to her and helping her up with the other hand.

"I don't lie. I could kill you if I wanted to."