The bloody mass fell to the ground with a thud. The arrow point rolled a few centimeters away from it. Daniel brought a hand up to cover his mouth. He didn't know which was worse; the sight of Teresa's upper arm with a chunk of flesh missing, or the said chunk of flesh lying on the ground.
As his eyes wandered to the bloody mass on the floor, he noticed thick silver liquid pouring out of the arrow point. It was hollow, Daniel realized. He swallowed, but nauseating aftertaste remained in his mouth.
Teresa stumbled. It seemed as though she was losing her balance. She tottered backwards, but luckily the doorframe was there to prevent her from falling. She managed to stagger into the house, struggling to remain standing. Very soon, the gravity won, and Teresa found herself on her knees. A stream of blood was flowing slowly down her injured arm.
The laughter escaped the lips of the vampire in black, making Daniel turn his eyes away from Teresa. A savage roar followed when Ana flew towards the demon. She jumped on his back, encompassing him with her arms like a baby primate would grab on to its mother. Only, Ana's grip was anything but gentle. She gripped the vampire, using her nails as claws. One of her hands was thrown over his face, while the other rested on his clavicle.
In an attempt to free himself from her grasp, the vampire grabbed her wrists and started pulling them apart. Her nails were ripping his skin, leaving deep marks behind. He struggled to shake her off, but Ana's superhuman strength wouldn't let him get rid of her as he planned.
It all lasted about a minute, although to Daniel it seemed as though the time was flowing much slower. And then everything stopped when the vampire got shot in the stomach with an arrow. He looked at Teresa, noticing the crossbow in her lethargic hands.
"Rip it out," she strained herself to say.
Daniel's eyes returned to the demon in black who still twitched in Ana's grip. Blood was oozing down his face in four thin streams, and tips of Ana's fingers were stained by blood as well. However, she wouldn't let go.
"Rip out the arrow," Teresa repeated. The strength was leaving her body, and she was no longer able to kneel. She lowered to the ground, her legs bent under her body, her good arm supporting the injured one in her lap.
For another moment or two, Daniel observed, not understanding how Ana could do what Teresa asked in her current position, and then it hit him: Teresa wasn't talking to her. She was addressing him.
"Rip it out! Now!" Ana's voice made him focus.
Pushing all other thoughts aside, he approached the vampire and grabbed the arrow shaft sticking out of his stomach. He gave it a strong pull and the arrow was in his hand. But it wasn't whole; its point was missing.
The vampire screamed like a deadly wounded beast. Ana's grip must have weakened, because he managed to shake her off and, jumping over the porch fence, ran to the forest.
Ana stood there, her hands stained by blood, flipping her gaze from the dark woods to the illuminated cabin, undecisive.
"Stop him," Teresa whispered.
Ana flipped her gaze three more times before rushing to the cabin where she knelt beside injured Teresa.
Daniel followed, timidly. "Will she..."
...die? That was the question he wanted to ask, but somehow, he wasn't able to let the word roll over his tongue.
"Catch him," Teresa said to Ana. Her voice sounded very frail, and her face was revealing just how much effort she had to muster to speak.
"I'm not leaving you here all alone and defenseless." Ana leaned over her to get a better look at the wound on her arm. Then she lifted her gaze to Daniel and sent him to get a clean towel from the bathroom.
He did what he was told with great haste. He gave Ana a pale green towel which she pressed against Teresa's wound instantly.
Teresa groaned, but still managed to utter, "Don't waste your time here with me. Go, catch him while he's weakened."
Ana gazed into her eyes. "Teresa, stop with the nonsenses. You know very well that I shall not do that. Not while you're in this state. We have to leave this place before someone else comes looking for us."
Teresa groaned once more and closed her eyes. The palm of the wounded arm slid from her lap.
"It's spreading, isn't it?" Ana's words sounded more like a statement than a question, while the towel she held pressed against the wound grew redder and redder.
"I can't even feel my arm anymore," Teresa whispered, her statement drawing horizontal lines on Ana's forehead.
"What's wrong with her?" Daniel asked, not having high hopes in getting an answer.
"The compound from the arrow is spreading through her body."
"Silver and mercury, right?" Daniel remembered, at which Ana just nodded. "That stuff kills vampires?" he asked next.
Ana looked at him before answering, "No, but it weakens us. And a weak vampire is a vulnerable vampire."
"So, she won't die?" Daniel had no idea why that realization came with a sense of relief.
"She won't," Ana confirmed. "But she will need time to recover, and that is something we don't have in the current situation."
She gazed into Teresa's face. Her eyes remained closed, the pain in her grimace revealing her inner struggle.
"Isn't there something that could speed up healing of her wounds?" Daniel wanted to know. Again he remembered the vampire movies he used to watch. In all of them, the vampire would get stronger after drinking blood, and he knew that in the next room there was a fridge full of the red liquid.
Ana let her gaze meet his. In her eyes flashed amber, just for a moment, but there was no answer.
Daniel stood up and headed to the fridge himself. He opened the door and said, "Wouldn't this help?"
Ana's eyes followed, but she remined silent.
"It wouldn't," Teresa replied in a weak voice.
Daniel's eyebrows furrowed. He still held the fridge door open. He cast his glance at the plastic bags full of blood, thinking how the movies were wrong in so many aspects, even the regeneration through blood, and then Ana said something that froze him, "Only fresh blood driven by heartbeats carries enough liveliness."
"Shit," Daniel mumbled. He did not like the words Ana had just spoken, not one bit. He let the refrigerator door close, and he strolled to the window. Even those few steps seemed to be too much. He leaned his palms on the window sill, his vision went blurry, and a headache knocked once again. "Shit," he repeated.
His mind invoked the images of his friends in their final moments. It was then that he got a chance to see the true nature of the two women who, for some reason, saved his life.
"He is different," Ana had said then.
Yes, I am different, he thought. I'm still alive, but not for long.
"Can't she drink some animal's blood?" Daniel asked, suddenly appreciating being alive a whole lot more.
"It wouldn't do any good," Ana replied. "Animal blood isn't compatible. Perhaps blood of a primate would be of use, but have you ever seen apes in these woods?"
Daniel shook his head. He started gulping for air. "I'm a goner..." he mumbled as he ran his fingers through his dark hair. "Shit!"
At that point Teresa surprised him. "I won't drink from you," she said. She used the edge of the coffee table as a support to lift herself up and move over to the armchair. She sank into it, with her eyes closed, she looked as if life completely left her body.
Ana got up from the floor and sat on the coffee table, opposite Teresa. "That would be your best chance," she whispered.
Daniel recalled how a few days earlier, Teresa rooted for sending him to the other world, along with his friends, and tonight Ana was the one who considered him suitable to be a scapegoat.
"I'll be fine," Teresa said in a hushed tone. "My body just needs some time to eliminate the poison."
"There is no time!" Ana leaned towards her. "Do you think the vampire who visited us this night will take the time to heal? I bet he ripped out the arrow point with his bare hands, and is already hunting for a victim whose blood will strengthen him. You don't need much, and it wouldn't kill him."
When she said the word him, she pointed at Daniel. His heart began to pound. Did he hear it correctly?
"Hold on! I'd stay alive? How is that possible?" His eyebrows knitted as he gave it some thought, and then he realized that 'being alive' is a term with multiple meanings when it comes to vampires. Therefore, he asked, "If she... drinks from me, will I become a vampire?"
"No," Ana replied. "It doesn't work that way. In this case, you would be some sort of a blood donor, nothing more."
"I won't drink from him," Teresa muttered.
Ana looked at Daniel. Her eyes were light blue, not a hint of amber, but sadness dwelled within.
"Are you sure the vampire is coming back?" Dainiel asked.
"No doubt about it."
"And Teresa won't recover fast enough without..." He tried to remember the word Ana used earlier, but he failed to recollect it. Instead, he finished the sentence his way. "...without alive blood?"
"Not fast enough."
Daniel swallowed to get rid of the lump inn his throat. He took a deep breath, mustering the courage to make the decision. "In that case," he said, "bring the transfusion kit. Let's patch up Teresa."
Thank you for reading.
So, Daniel decided to help Teresa. What could go wrong, right?
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