Fear and Blood

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Rome parked Ly's car as close as she could to the old bell tower and ran into the campus. There was no way she could know for sure, but she hoped she hadn't mistaken the sound she had heard over the phone. She didn't even want to think about what would happen if she turned out to be wrong.

Her heart almost stopped when she reached the tower. The old wooden door was open, swinging in the slight breeze, but that wasn't all. As she approached she saw that the door handle was smeared with something dark, something that made her stomach turn. Blood.

Without stopping to think, Rome pushed the door open and went inside. The room was dark, the only light coming from far above where the bell still hung. Heading over to the rickety staircase, she looked up towards the roof, trying to catch a glimpse of her friend, but seeing nothing through the gloom. She starting up the stairs, taking them two at a time and ignoring the ominous creek of the ancient wood. Now that she knew it was there she could see droplets of blood on the steps and streaks where bloody fingers had attempted to steady him on his assent.

Fear for him was making it hard to breath and the more blood she saw the more her head would spin. She was worried she would pass out before she even reached the top, but the thoughts running through her head, of Ly sitting alone in a pool of his own blood, was enough to keep her moving.

When she finally reached the top, breathing hard and covered in sweat, the first thing she saw was the large, ornately carved bell, a streak of blood on the coper drawing her eye. She took another step forward and her shoe touched something small and silver that rolled away into the dark. Taking a deep breath she moved around the bell.

Ly sat with his back against the stone wall of the tower, his left hand pressed to his right shoulder. The shirt he was wearing was torn and bloody and he looked like he was in a great deal of pain. He hadn't noticed her appearance.

“Ly!” Rome cried as she ran to him and dropped to her knees. “Ly! What happened to you?!”

“Rome?” Ly rasped, opening one eye to look at her. His eyes were bloodshot and he clutched at his shoulder as if talking caused immense pain. “What are you...doing here? How...did...did you find me?”

Rome didn't answer. Swallowing hard, she pulled his left hand away from the wound. He tried to fight her but he was too weak. Dark blood oozed out of the bullet wound adding to his already saturated shirt. Ly groaned in pain and tried to push Rome away.

“Get...out of here,” he said, returning his hand to his shoulder to hide the wound from her sight. As much pain as he was in, as much as his cravings were threatening to consume him, he didn't want her to be afraid.

The red-head closed her eyes and took a deep breath before shaking her head. “No,” she whispered, trying to rip his shirt to give her a better view of the wound. “You're losing to much blood. If we don't do something you'll...” She couldn't finish her sentence.

“There's...nothing you can do,” Ly hissed, shifting slightly away from her. His world exploded in pain and he was unable to see straight for a few seconds. “Why do you have to make...everything so...difficult?”

Ly' eyes were sliding in and out of focus as he tried to watch what Rome was doing, unable to fight her off. She ripped open his already ruined shirt, folder over a section that wasn't already drenched in blood and held it to his shoulder. Ly gritted his teeth against the pain.

“Please,” he hard Rome's voice, but his eyes were closed and he couldn't look at her. “Please, tell me what happened tonight. How did you get...?”

There was no reason not to tell her. “I went to Matthew Scott's house,” Ly said slowly, keeping his eyes closed so he wouldn't have to see the look of horror on the young woman's face. “I wanted to...kill him for...for what he did to...my brother...and get his teeth back. I wanted revenge so badly it was all I could think about. When I got there he...he was already dead. Another vampire had gotten...to him first. Then that stupid girl came in...she...she shot me.”