Undead Paladin Chapter 9: Decent

“Blood, blood! I need blood!” Francine shrieked at the top of her lungs, “Please, hurry, hurry.”

“Its coming my dear,” Ronald replied as he eyed the tube stuck in his wrist, “Its coming, please calm down.”

“Look at me dammit!” Francine screamed, “Look at me.”

Indeed it was a sight Ronald wasn't surprised to see. The women before him looked terrible; her eyes had bags under them and they were bloodshot from the Red Bull she chugged down earlier to get her through the day with energy. She was disgustingly pale and starting to turn yellow, her breathing was heavy and labouring; she was slumped over a chair she had plopped in without thought. All this was the signs of anaemia, and he had to act fast to get his blood into her before she went blood crazy and bite him.

“I see you my dear,” Ronald replied simply, “Please Francine, I don't want to go though...”

“Just shut up and get me the blood!” she exclaimed with what energy she could muster. She began to cry at this point.

“Here,” Ronald held a plastic baggy loaded with his blood in it, “All the iron you can use.”

While he removed himself from the rig he watched Francine, greedily bite into the bag and start drinking the precious red liquid that was inside. He slumped into a nearby chair and breathed a little when she was done. He watched her walked into the fridge, fiddle around with a few items and approached him with a juice box and a pre-packaged sandwich.

“It isn't that I don't appreciate what you've done for me,” she merely said as she handed him the snack.

“I know, I know,” Ronald mechanically replied as he stabbed the juice box with the pre-sharpened straw.

***

“Lilith must be bringing food,” Francine exclaimed as she and Leana waited feverishly while looming over the fangbanger* that they coned into being strapped to a table to draw nourishment from.

“We have food here,” Leana replied simply, “Course, we could use more.”

When the elevator coming down finally stopped the door predictably slide open. Out from the elevator emerged Lilith, that boy Watts, and a third unknown woman. The three approached Francine and Leana, Lilith in the lead and the unknown female at the tail. The women eyed the unknown with hunger in their eyes while they awaited the draining of the current man whom was laying wearily in a dentist chair.

“Oh, ladies,” Lilith spoke to them as she approached, “Nice to see you there, and I see you've found a surrogate... lovely.” Lilith turned her attention further down the corridor past the room they were in.

“When will she be hooked up...” Leana tried to asked, only to be quickly cut with a stern “she's not food... oh eat up and we will talk when you're not blood-crazy.”

“Blood crazy?” the woman following asked in an odd tone.

“That you just saw Amanda,” Lilith replied quickly, “they were thinking of eating you, and they would have if not that poor bloke they likely lured here under promise of sex with a vamp... some things don't change.” Their voices trailed off down the corridor.

“W-what?” the man in the dentist chair struggled as he heard the callous voice of Lilith vibrating into the room. Francine held him down as Leana grabbed the bag with the blood in it and cut the tubes from the bag to his arm.

“Why don't you be thankful that we aren't ravaging your neck and making you an abomination, or just outright killing you?” Francine growled angrily as Leana handed her the bag. The two women bit into the bag and both fought over who got the most of the blood that was in the bag. The man watched over as he struggled to stay awake.

When they were done they turned to the fellow in the dentist chair and started to unstrap him. Once they were done Leana watched him over as he struggled to his feet while Francine briefly walked out of the room. The two eyed each other uneasily before Francine returned with a glass of orange juice and a ham sandwich.

“Here, eat this to get some of your strength back,” Francine requested as the man struggled for the straw.

“You have been such a good sport darling,” Leana spoke, “now, eat up and return to your room. We are feeling much, much better now.”

***

“What would you rather they do Amanda?” Lilith found herself in a heated argument as she tightly gripped Amanda's arm so she wouldn't race to that room with the two female vampires, “Would you sooner have them break into people's houses and eat them as they sleep? Cuz I've known some that do that... some stop bothering with a little thing called morality when they start to feel blood-crazy.”

“My god, to be in the same room as amoral monsters, the armies of the beast...” Amanda tried to retort, only for a piece of horrifying logic to set in; that she was one of them. Her eyes filled with horror as she looked Lilith in the eyes. “I... am I to become that? Such beasts and monsters?” She looked like she was to cry.

“Depends,” Lilith replied unfazed, “When was the last time you've drank blood?”

“Uh...” Amanda found herself going back to the events of two days ago when she had attacked and bit a farmer's dog out near one of the many family farms and rural villages in central Ontario. Her eyes sank into her feet, as the horror of what she is becoming was flowing over her in stronger waves.

“Have you ever drink blood before?” Lilith asked with an undertone of urgency.

“It was... two nights ago...” Amanda started to cry, “I'm a monster.”

“There isn't the body of some traveller out there, is there?” Lilith asked in a callous tone that is completely uncalled for.

“I found a farm... and...” She began to cry uncontrollably.

“And what Ms...” Watts cut her off with a stern look and a quick hush. He gently turned Amanda to face him and craned himself so that he was staring into her eyes. “What went at the farm?” Watts asked in his quick-tongued manner, “We got you, we ain't turning you to nobody.”

“Well, there were these dogs... they went at me and...” Amanda stuttered as she spoke. Watts cut her off with a quick “You ate a dog?”

Amanda nodded. Watts hugged her while Lilith rolled her eyes and snarled “A dog? You had me for a second, I thought you might have killed someone. Jezz.

“At any rate,” Lilith went on, her voice less cold this time, “the anaemia takes time... about four days to a week, depends on the person, at which point you will be craving blood. So, if you can avoid becoming severely anaemic you will keep your sanity.”

*Fangbanger in the True Blood sense of the term.

No comments:

Post a Comment