Part of Them

Part 26

The more layers he unraveled, the deeper the red on the tainted bandages became. I gulped. They seemed to be semi-wet.

When what was left of the bandages was only a thin layer of bloodied fabric, Alerus hesitated.

He glanced up, only to meet my horrified eyes, and motioned for one of the boys to come over.

Almost immediately, Grimm was at his side, smiled apologetically at me and covered my eyes with his big hand.

Confused and very unhappy about this, I threw my head back a bit and bit into his hand as hard as I could, just to make the boundaries clear. But to my surprise, Grimm didn't seem to mind it one bit. He actually laughed, as if he found it funny that I had just created two small holes in his hand with my fangs.

"That's actually a pretty good idea, you little smarty pants," he chuckled and pressed the bleeding wound onto my now closed shut lips. "Drink, this will help you heal faster."

But suddenly my attention shifted from Grimm to what Alerus was doing. Grimm was back to covering my eyes, only now with his other hand, but I could still feel what was happening.

I felt cold air nipping at my stomach. It felt like stepping out of a warm shower into the cold bathroom.

I started to shiver immediately, but not because of the coolness of the air, but because I knew what it meant. The bandage had been lifted and my wound was out there for everyone to see. Even though the scratches on my stomach weren't the worst injuries I have suffered from before, they were still part of a story that I never wanted to tell anybody.

Sharply drawn in breaths could be heard from around me.

Was it really that bad?

Silence fell upon the room. Nobody moved, nor dared to make a noise.

Half a minute later, I felt Grimm's hands slide off my face and when I was able to see again, I saw them fall to his sides idly.

I didn't dare to look at the wound. No matter what state it was in, the boys were always exaggerating.

Looking up, I caught short glimpses of everybody's faces. While everyone looked pretty shocked, I found that Rayi's face was the worst of all. His eyes were wide open as he stared horrified at my stomach. His shaking had stopped and his hands, which were previously balled into fists, had unclenched themselves so that they were now hanging down limply at his sides.

Even though his body language told me that he was calm, his eyes were telling a completely different story.

He looked like he had never seen anything worse in his life before.

While watching him with confused eyes, I noticed that his gaze had shifted from my wound to the boys, and a look of realization struck his face. It seemed as though he had only now understood a riddle somebody gave him years ago.

He left the room abruptly.

I heard his fast paced footsteps fade down the flights of stairs within a matter of seconds.

He's such a weird fellow, this Rayi...

Hearing somebody clear their throat and only now realizing that Rosen had rolled to the side and was now standing on the other side of the bed, I looked up into Alerus' eyes.

His face was quite expressionless as his locked-on-my-wound gaze broke free and stared deep into my eyes.

Moments later, he got up from his crouched down position, walked over to the sink and picked up a clean white bowl. He turned the tap on and filled it with water.

Placing the now full bowl on the counter, he opened one of the cabinets, fumbled with something in it and took out some cotton balls.

He then proceeded to collect a small bottle from the cabinet next to it and carried everything back to my bed.

Gulping down a big lump that had formed in my throat, I watched him crouch back down next to me as he placed the bottle, probably some disinfectant, on the wooden tiled floor next to him.

He dipped a cotton ball into the water he was holding and started to clean my wound.

"You should better accept Grimm's offer, y'know?" He muttered, concentrated on the task before him. "This is very serious. It's badly infected and who knows how your body will handle it," he continued, his eyes not leaving my injured stomach.

Slightly wincing every time Alerus touched my wound, I realized only now that the painkillers have probably worn off at this point.

I let out a small sigh.

I ruined my chances of ever getting out of here, didn't I?

From this point onwards, life was going to be pure hell here.

"Drink," spoke a voice to my left as I felt a now warm hand press itself back against my lips.

Muttering an offended "No way" under my breath, I lifted my hand up to push his wounded hand away from my head, only for it to be caught by his other hand.

"C'mon, hurry up before it heals," he spoke in a demanding tone.

When I didn't react, Rosen went back to restricting me by holding down my legs and both of my hands with his own hands.

Grimm let out an amused chuckle. "See? He understands."

Pinching my nose so that I couldn't breathe through it anymore, he pressed his wound onto my slightly open lips and waited.

The restrictions weren't really necessary at this point. Alerus was tending to an open wound, only a fool would start thrashing around widely while somebody was poking around in their flesh.

But I was still determined not to let that blood run into my mouth and held my breath for about a minute. The wound had probably sealed itself now completely, there was nothing to worry about now.

Or so I thought.

"Oh, sorry. My mistake. This wouldn't be nearly enough now, would it?" he spoke as he took his hand back and fumbled around in his pant's pocket.

When he took out a small pocket knife, my eyes grew to saucers.

No, he wouldn't, would he?

But I watched with a horrified expression as my suspicions were confirmed.

"No, no, don't do that," I whispered, shocked.

But it was too late, he had already pulled his sleeve up and cut into the vital vein. Even though a fully grown vampire wouldn't die from something as "harmless" as this, it was still a disgusting thing to do.

Blood was flowing out of the wound like crazy and without hesitation, he thrusted his wrist onto my now parted lips.

"This is only for your best," he muttered to himself under his breath.

I started to choke with all the blood flowing down my throat and he lifted his fingers from my nose to use the hand to hold my head in place.

"Now tell me, where have you gotten this wound from?"