Eternal Rest

Elainia stood in the kitchen staring at the aftermath of eating and sighed. Empty glasses were everywhere, and plates where just left. Half eaten pizza sat on them. The guys had been in a hurry when Zacky had gotten that phone call. She glanced over at Adele and saw that her friend was staring at the mess in disbelief. Together they silently went to work on cleaning up the mess. They were both exhausted by the time that they were back upstairs in Adele’s room. Elainia had taken in her computer and had taken out the internet card that she had bought and was loading her new music onto her new laptop. She sat there watching as it ripped CD after CD; Adele watched her and finally couldn’t take the silence anymore.

“What’s eating at you ‘Nia?”

“It’s nothing really.”

“’Nia, I know you better than that. The look on your face says it all.”

“How could I live with her and not know that she was a vampire? I mean my god, she seemed so normal to me. She was my best friend. She was so nice.”

“You said so yourself, you really didn’t know her. Think about it how often was she there?”

“Not very. Look Adele this is just too much. I mean why the hell would he want to kill me? It was evident that he hadn’t known Alyx was my roommate the way he was staring at the picture of her.”

“Hey I didn’t know that vampires could even get their picture taken.” Adele muttered under her breath.

“We can walk in the sun, eat, go to church, garlic doesn’t bother us, and obviously crosses don’t either.” Jimmy said walking pulling his cross out from underneath his shirt.

“How is it you guys all have tattoos? Aren’t you self healing?” Adele asked. Elainia rolled her eyes.

“I have no idea how it is we can have tattoo’s and be self healing, one would think the body would reject the ink, but it doesn’t.” Jimmy sat down on the chair across the room.

“So what was so important you all had to blow out of here?” Elainia asked as she closed her laptop and placed Lead Sails Paper Anchor into the case that was sitting beside her.

“A line on where Alyx hid her supply. It wasn’t at your apartment.”

“So did you find it?”

“Yeah we did. She had a nest with a few other vampires that had mortal roommates as well. We talked to the two and discovered that Alyx was protecting you like they’re protecting their mortals.”

“Protecting me from what? I would think I would know if I was in danger.” Elainia yelled and grabbing her things stormed across the hall and slammed her door shut behind her. She set everything down on the king sized bed that she didn’t think she would be able to sleep in that night, grabbed some clothes out of a bag and opened the bathroom door. Well at least she tried to. She banged on the door and screamed in frustration when there was no answer. She walked out of her room barefoot and slammed her fist on his door. Again no answer, she slammed his door open and he wasn’t in his room. The bathroom door was open, and he wasn’t in the bathroom. Storming downstairs with a string of curses coming out of her mouth she searched until she found him in the basement. He was working out and she stopped dead in her tracks. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and he was sweating. Suddenly she wasn’t so mad at him anymore. Shaking her head she slammed her fist on the wall and he looked up as he put the weights back in place. He sat up and looked at her waiting for her to say something.

“Can I help you?”

“We share that damned bathroom, unlock my side’s door so I can use the bathroom. I need a shower!”

“Why didn’t you just go unlock it yourself?”

“I only opened your door to see if you were in your room, I don’t walk into people’s rooms. That would be invasion of privacy. So you can do it.”

“After I get my shower sure.”

“Son of a bitch ever heard of ladies first or did your mom not teach you any manners?” She didn’t realize what she had said until it was too late and he had her pinned against the wall in a heartbeat, before what she said could register. He looked at her his eyes never leaving hers. He was half tempted to prove that he didn’t have any manners, but before he could do something he would regret he spoke harshly.

“Don’t ever mention my mother again.”

“I… I’m so…so…sorry, I didn’t think. I shouldn’t have…” He backed off and she turned and ran to her room slamming and locking it behind her. She threw herself down on the bed and cried. She heard the shower start and she also heard it stop ten minutes later. She heard a soft click as her bathroom door was unlocked. She laid her head on a pillow and pretended to be asleep when she heard the door open. She heard him say her name questionably, but she ignored it. The door closed softly when he saw that she was asleep. She hoped that whatever this was it would be over and she could find a place to live on her own soon. Getting up she grabbed her pajamas that she had bought that day and pulled them on. She crawled back into bed and this time she really did fall asleep. Two hours later she woke up screaming. She felt like she was dying. The scar on her left side felt like it was on fire. She ran to the bathroom and started rubbing cold water on it. It didn’t help. Brian was there a second later when she collapsed on the floor in pain.

“Brian picked her up and carried her into his room. Laying her on his bed he noticed Johnny and Jimmy had walked in. He looked to the older vampire for directions on what to do next. Jimmy instructed him to get a cold towel and lay it over her side. He then went to drag Matt out of bed. When the other man was in the room as well he shooed Brian and Johnny out and with Matt’s help began to examine the knife wound better than they had the night that it had happened.

“This is bad Matt.”

“Very, the blade that pierced her side was more than likely a cursed blade.”

“Where the hell would a servant get that kind of blade though?”

“An elder”

“Is there any way to save her?”

“I would have to call my parents.” Matt said. He hadn’t talked to them in almost three hundred years. Well except when they had gotten phones and called him with their number. Other than that It had been a while. Since he had left home and he and Jimmy had moved back to Southern California where the two of them had been born. They had ended up buying the houses that they now lived in and there was plenty of land around them that people seemed to not care who lived here. No one tried to find out either, as long as the taxes got paid and someone was living in the house the government didn’t care. Matt walked to the phone in the room and picked it up. He dialed the all to familiar number and waited for them a servant to pick up the phone.

“Sanders Manor this is the maid, how can I help you.”

“Esaria, its Matt, are my parents there?”

“Your mother is currently out, give me a moment and I will find your father.” Esaria carried the cordless phone with her as she headed toward her masters study. She had been with the family ever since Matt could remember. She had been his nanny when he was little and his parents needed to leave him with someone. He wasn’t there so she checked the library, and sure enough he was there. “Mister Sanders, your son wishes to speak with you.” Esaria said and handed him the phone.

“Matt, how are you son?”

“I don’t have time for small talk dad, what do you know about cursed blades?”

“Where you injured?”

“No”

“Is it Jimmy?”

“Dad, look I don’t know how much time this person has, she was stabbed two nights ago. It was Marius.”

“MARIUS!!”

“He’s dead now, but one of his idiot turns stabbed her in the side.”

“So she’s mortal.”

“Yes”

“Did it bleed much?”

“No, but it’s already scared. It’s about two inches long and it’s got a slight pink tint to it.”

“I should have time to get there. If I leave today. I’d have to look at it son.”

“Fine.” Matt gave his father directions and told him that he would have to be buzzed in. Once he hung up the phone he looked at Jimmy.

“Your parents are coming, this is bad isn’t it?”

“Yeah Jimmy it is. Look we can stay here with her for at least three more days, but then we have shows. We can’t just stop working altogether. And since Adele is her friend we need to protect her more than anything now. She doesn’t leave the grounds without an escort. And we don’t leave her…” he said tilting his head in Elainia’s direction, “alone either. Someone has to be here at all times, in case something happens. My parents should be here by tomorrow, if not late this morning. Seeing as it’s going on almost one AM. They may not wait to travel tomorrow night.”

“Alright let’s get the guys and let them know what’s going on.” When Matt walked out into the hall he ran into Adele.

“Is she okay?” He looked at her and instead of closing the door he pushed it back open and let her walk in. Then he walked down to where Johnny and Zack stood with Brian at the end of the hall. After a few moments all five guys walked up the stairs that were hidden by a tapestry that Zack’s mom had made him.

Adele sat staring at her friend as she lay unconscious and she felt like crying. Walking through the bathroom and into Elainia’s room she grabbed the laptop that they had gotten that day and she plugged it in so that the battery wouldn’t die and opened up media player. She double clicked on songs and it started playing everything that Elainia had put on the laptop earlier that day. She smiled sadly at her friend.

“You’re going to get through this. I know you are. You’re tough, you can get through anything. Remember in fifth grade when my brother was picking on you because you had to have braces, you beat the hell out of him. He never called you metal mouth again. And then there was the time Lawrence decided to tell everyone that you put out on your first date. You found out that he was telling everyone how easy you were, even though you hadn’t put out? I remember you walking up to him in the hallway and slamming your fist into his face. You got suspended for a week. Then two months later when you were dating Aaron, remember how you got pissed because he walked up to Lawrence and said ‘dude if she put out for you then why the hell was it, I took her virginity. You thought it was funny in the end, but you still ended up dumping him because he cheated on you, and two weeks later your parents kicked you out. This is just one more of those times, you can’t die on me, you’re like a sister to me. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Adele finally quit rambling and lay her head on the side of the bed and she was soon asleep. She woke up the next morning when she heard voices in the hallway. Her head snapped up and she watched as someone who looked like he could pass as Matt’s twin walked in the room. She was shocked when he called the man dad. The man that Matt called dad, glanced in her direction but he didn’t make her leave.

“Where’s the wound?”

“Left side” Matt told his father. His dad tilted his head sideways toward Adele. Adele got the message and without turning off the music she left the room just as Waking the Fallen began to play. It was a short song but it was Elainia’s favorite. Matt ignored the music and leaned over the wound with his father.

“Shit, get your mother.” Matt left the room and got her. She was in the hall with Jimmy being introduced to the guys and Adele. She turned and walked in and a moment later kicked her son out of the room as well. Matt looked at Jimmy and they both knew that this was serious. Brian had left and gone downstairs. He couldn’t watch the way Matt’s mom had looked at him so lovingly. He hadn’t had a mother to even look at him since he was thirteen. But he could still remember her scent. Twenty minutes after going down stairs and picking up his guitar and just fooling around Matt walked in.

“There’s only one way to save her.”

“Turn her?”

“Yeah”

“Great, and we can’t do that without her permission, you saw how she was when she found out what Alyx was.”

“I know but Brian it’s the only way. Look I’m sorry about your sister, but are you going to let an innocent girl die?”

“Why is this suddenly on me?”

“She was Alyx’s roommate. Do it for your sister Brian.” Brian stood up and set his guitar down on the table. He walked slowly up the stairs, and carefully avoided contact with Matt’s mom and dad. He walked into the room he hadn’t been able to sleep in last night and looked at pale almost lifeless form of his sisters friend. She was awake.

“Elainia” he heard a barely audible ‘hmm?’ come from where she lay. He walked over.

“I have to ask you something.” He watched as her green eyes found his brown ones and he saw the fear in them.

“Syn…” she breathed out. He shook his head, she would probably never call him Brian. “…I don’t want to die.”

“I know, look I can…” he stopped and took a breath. And the words ‘for Alyx’ echoed through his head. “I can save you but there is only one way to do that.”

“How…”

“By turning you.” He saw the reaction in her eyes. She didn’t want that anymore than he wanted to do it.

“NO” she gasped in horror. She was scared.

“Look I’m turning you even if you don’t want me too.” She couldn’t stop him and she knew it. “All you have to do is swallow a little bit of blood, it doesn’t taste so bad.” Brian told her. He pulled a pocket knife out of his pants pocket and pressed down on his palm hard enough to make a deep enough slice that he could let a few drops be released before it healed. As he placed his hand to her lips she kept her lips pressed together. However when the side of his hand brushed across her lips she gasped in surprise at the almost electrical spark that that small touch had generated and even though it had caught him off guard as well he was able to get her to swallow two drops of his blood. He pulled back immediately and watched as his palm heeled.

Sitting there he watched her eyes and noticed that she was trying not to cry. She hadn’t wanted this. But he couldn’t let an innocent woman die. He looked up as Matt and his dad walked in. Brian stood up and let Matt’s dad take over from there. Walking out into the hall he turned and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. Adele was there pulling leftovers out of the fridge. Shrugging he grabbed a glass and one of the bags of blood they had left in the fridge in the walk in pantry. He looked at the bag, and then the glass. Sighing he threw the glass against the wall and ripped the bag open with his teeth and drank the blood. Somehow he managed not to get any blood on him. He drank two more bags and then walked back into the kitchen. Adele watched him and raised an eyebrow when he slammed the fridge open and pulled out a beer.