Eyes of Scarlet (Dolan Twins)

II

The vampire snarls at him and before Ethan knows it, she is moving, her mouth bloody and he does the only thing he thinks of in that moment, he ducks. She has leapt, her straight hair moving with the motion, but her shoes are hindering it a bit. She is to the side with unnatural speed and grace. Ethan may or not be screaming at this point, he can't tell any more.

Ethan lands hard on the grass, and rolls, dropping the phone. For a split second his eyes go to the left and he sees Grayson has collapsed on the ground of the light fallen leaves, the bite mark a clear, evident thing. He is shaking, his back arched slightly, his eyes closed shut, and Ethan knows exactly what that means.

"One bite, that's all it takes. Once the venom is into the system, it is only a matter of time."

They are so fucked.

A snarl pieces the air and he grasps at the nearest object, a fallen rake, stumbling upwards.

What the hell is he going to do with a rake?

He twists it in his hand, so the wooden side is up, and when she comes at him suddenly, he swings.

Now, Ethan would never hit a girl, but he definitely would a crazed blood sucking one. He hits her on the side of the head with a sickening wack and it moves her hair as she goes down. He freezes like a pillar of salt. Her scarlet eyes blink up at him and she flashes her fangs, and Ethan realizes just how dead he is about to be.

"What's going on out there?"

There is sudden light that fills the dry grass of the backyard. Someone has opened the back door, and the noise of the party fills his ears. Ethan has been screaming like a madman, and people inside have heard.

Her eyes go a bit wide and she leaps up with one swift move, and looks at Ethan with a blank expression, and turns, running out through the side gate.

Ethan gasps as Aaron, a friend of theirs, walks out, a confused look on his face. Emma is behind him, asking, "Is Grayson okay?" The light has brightened up the dark like some kind of savior.

Ethan snaps his head to his twin lying on the ground, and he knows he has to be fast.

They will call.

It doesn't matter who it is. It doesn't matter if it is your mother or father, or sister or brother, or child or spouse. It doesn't matter if they are your friend or lover. Everyone knows the rules. If bitten, you call imminently, for the safety of everyone.

They will see that Grayson has been bitten and they will call, and he will be taken away from Ethan, and sent to a Coldtown. Once you go into a Coldtown, you never come out. Ethan doesn't even know if they do quarantine procedures anymore, to try to wait through it.

He doesn't hesitate. On shaking legs, he rushes to Grayson, and even though he weighs more than him and is bigger, Ethan somehow manages to get a hold of his body, and pulls him up off the ground. They both nearly fall.

"E?" Grayson whispers disoriented, eyes blinking open, and Ethan is trying to hold him in a way that they won't see the blood staining his neck and at the same time move quickly. This is difficult, to say the least.

"You're okay," Ethan says and using all the strength he can possibly manage, he is part way to the gate, Gray leaning heavily against him. He doesn't know how much blood she has taken. It doesn't matter, anyway. The damage has been done. He's infected.