-Riley-
It was pouring rain that Sunday night as I was returning from my weekend trip to my friend's house in the neighboring city. It was dark, and the weather was so terrible I'd decided to stay away from the highways and use the smaller roads instead. I was going maybe thirty miles per hour because I couldn't see past the headlights. I didn't really trust my driving skills.
The massive old forest around me seemed somehow threatening as the wind did its best to bring it all down, and I began to fear I'd made a mistake by choosing this road. If these trees fell right when I was passing them by... They were massive. They were unbelievably massive. My tiny Toyota wouldn't stand a chance.
I still had about half an hour left to go according to my navigator, but since I wasn't driving anywhere near the speed limits, it had to be at least an hour. Oh lord, what if someone was driving twice as fast as I was? They wouldn't see me until it was too late.
With that new fear unlocked, I tried to pick up my speed a little. I squeezed the steering wheel like it would somehow help me drive more safely. I'd never drive in a weather like this ever again, that was for sure.
Half an hour later, things got worse when the sky suddenly flashed angrily.
"Please... Let me get home..." I murmured, so close to parking the car somewhere safe to wait for this weather to pass.
I was way too tense. I jumped every time I heard a loud grumble above me. The road kept curving left and right, limiting my already limited vision. I had to slow down again, and I soon learned it was the best damn decision I'd ever made.
The road took another turn to the right. I saw movement behind the trees, and suddenly there was a person standing in front of my car. I hit the brakes as hard as I could, but I still hit him. Not hard, but enough to push the man over. I hurried out to see the man trying to get up, groaning in pain and holding his side.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't see you! Are you h–" I stopped to stare in horror at the gory mess in front of my car.
This man was not just hurt, he was torn apart. His white, shredded shirt and dark jeans were covered in blood. He had deep cuts and bruises all over him. His face was pale and his lips blue from the blood loss and cold. His breathing was nothing but painful whimpers. He was weak, barely alive.
"Please..." the man gasped, barely staying conscious as he leaned heavily against my car as he tried to get up. "Help me..."
I snapped out of my horror and hurried to his aid. With a racing heart, I quickly helped him get into the backseat of my car, where he collapsed, his eyes closed. This man was in desperate need of medical attention. His cuts were still bleeding, but the worst had to be his stomach. The way he kept pressing it made me fear for the worst.
Without wasting another second, I hurried back behind the steering wheel and continued driving, keeping the speed as fast as I dared. We were close to the city already. Just fifteen minutes, maybe less. The first street signs appeared in the distance only a minute later.
"I'll take you to the hospital. Don't worry, you'll make it," I told the man lying almost lifelessly in my backseat. His heavy breathing was filled with pain, and quiet whimpers escaped his mouth.
"No... No, no, no... No hospital... They'll come for me..."
What...?
"You're badly injured," I said, my voice high-pitched.
"No... No hospital..." he begged me, his voice shivering. "They'll come... They'll know..."
"I have to," I told him.
"No... Take me... Take me to..." he trailed off, and I feared he'd passed out. I glanced at him again. He was still awake. Barely.
"Where?" I asked, and he gave me an address. I had to make him repeat it twice before I could make sense of his mumbled words.
He didn't have much long left. As I typed the address into my navigator, I wasn't sure what to do. He begged and pleaded for me not to take him to the hospital. And then he passed out, just before the city lights came to my view.
"What am I supposed to do...?" I whispered, nearly crying.
He needed a hospital. He was in desperate need of help, but the way he begged... He was scared of the hospital. Whoever had attacked him – it was not an animal, that was for sure – would come for him. But he'd be safe in the hospital, right?
"Fudge!" I hissed and decided to follow my navigator.
The place it was taking us was much closer than the hospital. I soon found we were heading toward the older part of the city with small apartment buildings and old wooden houses. Nearly in panic, I scanned the buildings, trying to find the right one in the heavy rain while also trying to stay on the road.
And there it was! Finally! I saw a gray building with three floors up ahead. I took a short look at the man in my backseat, nearly freaking out because of how dead he looked. I should've taken him to a hospital!
"Fuck!" I mumbled to myself as I pulled over next to the building.
The bottom floor had small shops, all of them closed by now, except for a 24/7 laundromat in the corner. There were only a few lights on in the apartments above. Where was I supposed to take him?! He only gave me the number of the building!
I rushed out to open the backseat door. He looked so dead... He wasn't even breathing anymore. His skin was so pale it had turned almost blue.
He was dead. He was already dead.
After the first shock, I suddenly felt completely numb. My ears started ringing, the sound of it becoming so loud I couldn't hear the rain behind it. Like I was about to faint. I had a dead person in my car, and the hospital was miles away.
My hands shaking, I leaned closer to the young man. He was breathtakingly beautiful even with his long hair soaked and face covered in blood and dirt, his clothes torn and bloodied.
"My god..." I whispered, the tears finally coming down my face.
I touched his cheek, but immediately pulled away because of how cold his skin was.
"Please..." I murmured and touched him again. "Please, wake up..."
And he did! Oh my god, he did! I was suddenly filled with adrenaline when he opened his eyes, and I hurried to help him out of the car. He was barely conscious but moving. I had no time to give a thought to anything else but helping him.
"There..." he mumbled, pointing at one of the doors in front of us: the laundromat.
I didn't stop to ask him why he thought the tiny laundromat was a better option than the hospital. I was in such a deep panic I couldn't even understand how unbelievably weird it was. He wanted to go there, so I took him there.
There was no one inside when we burst through the door, the man hanging off my shoulders.
"Help..." the man muttered with his final breaths. "Mike...!"
"Mike!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "Help!"
Three long seconds later, a tall man rushed out the door at the back. He stopped to stare at us and the trail of blood we were leaving behind, but he quickly gathered his composure and hurried to my aid.
"What happened?" he asked hastily as we ran through the door he'd just emerged from.
"He was attacked! That's all I know," I explained as we continued our way down a short hallway, past two doors and entering the last one at the very back.
We were suddenly standing in a hospital room.
Oh, thank the lord, I was just dreaming. That explained a lot. I never had dreams like this, but okay.
"Here!" Mike said and helped me get the injured man on one of the beds by the wall. "Stay with me, man," he muttered.
Mike quickly got rid of the torn shirt, and I stepped back in horror, gagging at the most horrific sights I'd ever witnessed, pressing my hand over my mouth. The young man's stomach was completely slashed open, but the edges were completely black, like his flesh was dying. Black lines grew out of it, spreading through his chest like veins.
"God..." I whispered behind my hand.
"How long has it been?" Mike asked the man, but he only shook his head a little. "Long? Fuck."
"What is that...?" I asked, shaking, but Mike didn't reply to me as he hurried to find something in his fridge.
No matter how nightmarish the massive wound was, I couldn't take my eyes off the man who trembled and squirmed in pain. His shivering voice as he gasped for air was unbearably hard to hear. His blue eyes landed on me. He looked so scared...
I forced myself to keep it together, and stepped next to his bed, trying not to look at his stomach. I took his hand in mine, hoping he'd find it comforting.
"You'll be fine," I told him, trying to sound reassuring.
"How bad..." he asked, and tried to look down at his body, but I stopped him.
"You'll be fine," I repeated, holding my hand on his cheek to make sure he didn't look.
Mike returned to us, holding a massive syringe with red liquid in it.
"This is going to hurt," he said when he brought the thick needle to his neck, then turned to me. "You might want to step back."
"I'll stay here," I said.
"All right..." Mike muttered and jammed the needle into the man's skin.
I'd expected an immediate reaction from the blue-eyed man, but he was still staring at me. The needle scared him even more, for some reason. I gave him a soothing smile as I watched Mike slowly push the liquid into him. But nothing happened.
"What is that?"
"Antidote. He's got dead man's blood in his system. That's why he can't heal. It will hurt like hell, though. He might rip your arm off."
None of that made any sense, but when did dreams make any sense?
"This may be too late..." Mike continued. "If it's been longer than three hours since he drank it..."
I nodded and turned my attention to the man's neck. I was sure I saw faint, red lines spreading through his body, closing in on the black ones. And when the first red met the closest black, the blue-eyed man trembled, letting out another groan of pain.
"You have to fight it," Mike said as the man's trembling turned into violent tremors.
I couldn't hold his hand any longer. I was forced to step back when he suddenly screeched in agony, hurting my ears. The antidote had reached the dead man's blood. It really hurt. He couldn't hold still even for a second, and his loud screams and cries tore my eardrums and broke my heart. I wanted to hold him so badly... I wanted to let him know everything would be all right.
He suddenly arched his back off the bed, his head bent so far back I could almost feel the pain in mine. As he let out another shrilling scream, big, long, pearl-white fangs grew out of his mouth, and his eyes turned crimson red.
A vampire.
That, too, explained a lot, but did I care? No. I just stood next to his bed, watching him fight for his life, feeling helpless, unable to do a single thing to ease his pain. I'd never witnessed anything as heartbreaking and horrible in my entire life. I had never felt so useless in my entire life. All we could do was wait, and I couldn't stand it.
"Is there anything you can do to help with the pain?" I asked.
"No... The antidote is burning like acid in his veins. It dissolves the bad blood. There are no painkillers strong enough to help."
"There has to be something we can do!" I said, trying to reach for the man's hand again, but he accidentally shoved me away in his agony. I turned back to Mike. "Please, there has to be something we can do."
He shook his head slowly, looking just as miserable as I felt.
"If he makes it through this, fresh blood will help him recover. He just needs to get through this."
"I have blood," I said stupidly.
I was willing to give him all the blood I had if it helped with his pain. I couldn't stand being unable to help, not with his scared eyes on me, silently begging me to stop the pain. I felt horrible. There was nothing I could do, but I still felt like I was just letting it happen.
I couldn't even hold his hand...
"I'm sorry I can't help you," I whispered in tears.
All I could do was watch and whisper soothing things as the seconds passed, each of them taking too long. There seemed to be no end to his agony. Every time he quieted down for a brief moment, I thought it was over, but then another wave of pain devastated his already weak body.
"You can do it," I whispered, standing as close to him as I could. "It will stop. You just have to hold on a little bit longer. It's over soon. I promise."
He had to make it. I refused to let him die this horrible, torturous death. No one deserved to die like this. Especially not this man.
When this wave passed, he fell limp on the bed, and his scared eyes found mine again. I took the opportunity to touch his hand, to give him a little bit of comfort until the next wave would hit. He was heaving and shivering, his pained voice weak.
"It's over soon," I told him.
I thought I was lying to his face, but little by little, the vampire calmed down after what felt like hours. I still held his hand, his fingers feeling warmer now. He lay on the bed without moving, his exhausted eyes still on me.
I smiled at him and brushed his wet hair back. Maybe he was in a desperate need for comfort and warmth since he leaned his head against my hand, his eyes falling shut.
"You'll be fine," I said. "The poison is..."
I trailed off and glanced at his stomach. His veins had turned pale red now, and the black flesh was almost gone.
"The antidote seems to be working," I told him, then turned to Mike, who was cleaning the wounds from dirt.
"It is... But..." he shook his head.
"What?" I asked, and the vampire turned to look at him.
"There's a lot of damage," Mike said, pointing at the massive gash. "You're going to have a long journey to recovery ahead of you, my friend."
"Still alive..." the vampire muttered in a raspy voice.
"That's what matters, yes," Mike agreed, letting out a weary sigh. "Who attacked you?"
"You know..."
"I see..."
"Who?" I asked.
I needed to know who could do such a horrible thing to such a beautiful man. I didn't care that it had nothing to do with me. Those sick people needed to be punished for what they had done. How could anyone cause so much pain to any other living creature?
I didn't get a reply. But I would.
I turned to watch the vampire. His pain seemed easier to bear, but he was still shivering, and only after a short moment, he tensed up again, his breathing turning harder. I carefully sat down on his bed, still keeping my hand on his cheek to give him all the comfort I could. I nearly cried when his body trembled harder and he looked up at me, again begging for my help as the pain was returning.
"It will be over soon," I promised. "You'll be fine soon."
"It will take a while before all the poison is completely gone. Once it's gone, you can eat," Mike told the vampire, but I wasn't sure if he was listening.
"You'll feel better soon," I repeated soothingly, caressing his cold skin. "You'll just have to make it through this. Then you can have all the blood you want, and you'll feel better."
For a long time, I just sat there, whispering to the vampire. I wasn't sure if he was conscious even half of the time, but eventually, he fell asleep or passed out. Even after that, I stayed with him, brushing his hair with my fingers.
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," Mike asked me.
"I'm Riley," I muttered, not taking my eyes off the vampire. "I was driving home when he suddenly appeared in front of my car."
"So you... weren't with him when he was attacked?"
"No... I've never even met him before," I told him.
I hardly noticed the stupefied silence in the room, nor the fact that Mike was staring at me. When I did, I turned to ask him what was wrong.
"You... But you know about us, right?"
"You? No?"
"Us. Supernaturals."
"Supernaturals?" I repeated.
"I mean... He's a vampire, and I'm a werewolf," Mike spoke, suddenly very wary of me.
"Oh, no. I had no idea," I told him and turned to look at the vampire again. Now the silence was noticeable, so I turned back to Mike. "But this is just a dream, so it's fine."
He opened and closed his mouth, staring at me with a shocked frown on his face. "I mean. No?"
"No?"
"No, this is not a dream," Mike said slowly.
"Oh."
I stared at him. He stared at me. Both very, very confused.
"I don't usually have dreams like this," I said.
"This isn't a dream," he spoke quietly in an apologetic voice. "Monsters are real. And you just saved one."
"Oh," I said because I suddenly forgot how words worked.
"Um... Do you want a cup of coffee or something? I do have whiskey, too."
"Both," I said.
"Both?"
"Yeah. Both sounds good," I said, and turned to look at the vampire again.
"Okay... Just... try not to freak out," he said as he backed out of the room.
"I'll try," I promised.
"Good. Sirius needs to rest, so..."
"Is that his name?" I asked, and he nodded. "Sirius..." I repeated as I watched the sleeping vampire.
To be honest, I didn't feel like freaking out at all.