Tempest

Chapter 1

Three Days Ago

William

I knocked at the door, drowning on infinite desperation. There was no answer, and panic began to twist my gut.

It was possible that Blair had simply gone out with one of her countless flings, recklessly drinking through the night as she often did, but my heart told loudly me otherwise.

My instincts told me that my friend was in trouble. I knocked again, this time louder. "She just went out. That's all there is to it." I comforted myself in vain. But I knew better. I knew Blair. Something was wrong.

I could not help but be concerned by Blair. That girl had brought light to my murky and meaningless life. She had shown me that even a poisonous being as me could find his path. Everything that I was and life itself, I owed it to her. To that girl with a past entwined with her future. Not even a father's love could be compare to the profound sentiments that irrevocably attached me to her.

I had been calling her since the day before, and she had showed no sign of life. She always answered, or at least returned the calls. This was not the case tonight.

She wasn't at the lab. That was the first place where I searched for her. Judging by the reserves of blood left, I could clearly see that she hadn't been there for at least three days. That fact only added to my worries.

"Don't panic." I told myself. My voice had an edge to it; "Maybe she just had enough in the house." That was highly improbable. "Fuck." The more thought I put into it, the more my frustration grew.

I was not able to hold my anxiety anymore, and with all the weight of my body, I pushed the door in a foolish effort of breaking it open. The pain that seized my left shoulder and spine reminded me excruciatingly that the doors where specially designed so they were impossible to force open.

I wished I had remembered earlier the emergency entrance through the garage. I clumsily ran off the porch to the garage door. In a corner I saw the keypad in which to enter the password. I made a mental effort to remember it. "4,6,6,1." The garage door opened, recognizing the password.

I rushed inside and saw that Blair's cars were there. I walked some steps with a bit of hope, but then I noticed her bike was gone. My heart was once again strangled by desperation, until I saw it parked just behind the cars.

This just reaffirmed my theory of her being home. Inside all the curtains of the house were shut. Something was terribly wrong.

The house was in shadows but I could see the silhouettes of the furniture, thanks to the light that struggled to enter trough the curtains.

I searched for her in the darkness while screaming her name. I was about to give up, when I saw a bit of light coming from a window of the living room. My instincts ran me there.

There she was.

My heart skipped a beat. Blair was laying on the floor, pale to a sick point, a rash covered most of her delicate skin, her lips were painfully dried and she was sweating with fever.

I immediately understood why she didn't answer my calls. She was unconscious. She seemed so defenseless, that was impossible to believe she actually was five times stronger than any regular human.

"Shit, shit." I cursed.

I closed the curtain to hide her from the light. I kneeled besides her and searched for her pulse. It definitely did not sound good. Her pulse, usually almost three times faster than a regular human, had dropped to almost normal.

Without losing any more time, I ran to her room. In the closet I found the cold box where she stored an emergency dose of blood. I ran back to her as fast as I could, and put the box beside her.

I took Blair's right hand and put her thumb in the dactyl reader. The box swung open instantly. I turned her around, her back laid against the floor, and her neck exposed.

I took one syringe pistol, already charged and stabbed it in her neck, where the vein that lead directly to the heart was.

While the shiny crimson liquid so familiar to me entered her body, she shuddered in pain and a devastated cry escaped her lips. With every second, her fever lowered, her lips healed and her skin returned to its cinnamon color.

Blair

A familiar smell woke me up. "Coffee."

I opened my eyes, confused. How exactly had I ended up in the sofa? I sat down and tried to remember.

It had been almost two days since I took a dose. Will had been calling all those days but I had not answered.

I knew his point of view on this theme. I knew what he would think if he knew I had stoop the treatment and there was no way I could fool him. My body had slowly started to deteriorate. Second by second I had started to lose the touch on my extremities. It was like trying to move on a rollercoaster that is in motion.

My throat was dry, I had lost my appetite and between vomits and diarrhea my stomach was completely empty. I was at a point that I couldn't tolerate sun light. Even opening my eyes was a challenging task.

My last memory was that I was closing the curtains of the house to protect myself from the sun rays. I went to the living room and....that was it...blank. 

I heard Will's footsteps coming from the kitchen. His relieved smile was quickly replaced by a scowl. "I can't believe how reckless you are."

"Will..." I tried to explain but he ignored me.

"I can't believe you are capable of doing such a thing." he went on.

"Will..." I tried again.

"Tell me. How long has it been? Probably..." he was now yelling.

"William!" I yelled and he finally fell silent.

"Why?" he asked calmly with deep concern.

I looked away. I didn't like the answer to that question.

"Why, Blair? Tell me."

I sighed. "You know the answer to that question.

"If you keep doing this you will finally succeed on killing yourself."

"I wish it was that easy, Will." I looked away again, to hide my pain.

"I cannot believe you actually wish to die." he said with his eyes full of sadness.

"How long has it been?" he asked again.

"Two days." I confessed.

"Fuck," he cursed. "Your dependence is dangerously growing. Before you could be up to five days without a dose. You were not at one hundred percent, but at least you could take sunlight." Will reminded me.

I clenched my fists with all my strength. "I hate this." I stood, unable to contain my frustration. "I hate this dependence. I hate not being able to walk freely," I opened my, now bleeding, fists. "I hate the stupid blood."

Will hugged me protectively. He knew I hated pity so he didn't talk he just hugged me, to let me know I was not alone. He pulled back. "You want some coffee?" I tried to smile. "You know it is my second dependence." I joked.

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