My Blood on Your Lips, Your Money in My Bra

I looked over at Nathan, my face the usual unfeeling mask I always wore. My eyes were glowing with their natural amethyst light, for I no longer cared who saw. At the rate the vampires and werewolves in this city were going, none of us were going to remain underground for much longer.

"Thank you for the ride, Nathan. And thank you for letting me know about this." I really was thankful for Nathan's giving us a ride to Kyrianna's house. We hadn't had to ask, nor had we needed to wait. He had been waiting outside my apartment building when Eli and I had walked out, eyes serious and fixed on the door. He didn't have many injuries, only a few cuts and bruises, but it was clear that everything happening with the various races in town was bothering him. None of us were meant to be noticed by the human race, yet here we had vampires attacking people in the middle of the night, werewolves killing anyone they wanted, races participating in wars that couldn't possibly be kept secret...

"No problem," the vampire replied, offering me a weak smile. "Be careful, all right? I'd come with you, but I shouldn't get involved in a conflict that isn't mine."

I nodded. "I understand. But if any of us need help afterward, would y-"

"Of course," he interrupted, his smile a bit stronger now. "I'll be waiting for you at my house."

"Thank you," I said again, though it didn't feel like that was enough. Words were never enough under these circumstances.

"You're welcome. But you should hurry."

I glanced at Kyrianna's house, seeing random shadows moving about inside and hearing the occasional crash or shout. Kyrianna and her family were still fighting, but...for how much longer?

Without another word to Nathan, I slid out of the car, Eli exiting the back alongside me. We closed our doors and immediately started toward the house, knowing that no plans could be made and that there were no words worth saying at this point.

As I opened the front door, my tight-fitting white top brushed the wounds on my back, sending a shiver down my spine. Blood from the wounds on my neck and the uncleaned wounds on my back had already soaked through the fabric, staining it red. I didn't care, though. The shirt was bound to get bloody, anyway.

A crash sounded to my right the moment I stepped over the threshold. I started in the direction of the sound and quickly found a vampire sprawled on the overturned couch in the living room, his eyes stone gray and his body void of any life. I turned to look in the direction he'd flown from just in time to catch a fist to the face. I hit the couch beside the ashen vampire, landing close enough to learn that his throat had been ripped open, possibly by a pair of fangs much like his own.

I quickly got to my feet when I saw a man moving toward me, pale and blonde and vaguely familiar from my time in Terrence's home. One look at his eyes told me that he was under necromantic control and too weak to fight it.

"Stop!" I shouted to whoever was controlling the undead male, having to duck to avoid a punch. "It's just me! Elyria!" The vampire swung again, then stopped where he was.

"Elyria?" a faint voice asked. It was Kyrianna, though it took me a moment to figure that out. It was just too quiet and solemn to belong to one so naturally bright and happy...

"Yes, it's-" That was all I managed to get out. A heavy weight hit my back, and I fell to the floor, the collision knocking the wind out of me. A set of fangs pierced the side of my neck and I cried out, trying to knock the apparent vampire off of me. His fangs tore through my flesh twice, moving in quick, frantic jerks, before I could even move him. After receiving a few more of these wounds, I managed to get to my feet. I wondered why Kyrianna hadn't helped me, but I received my answer the moment I was free from the vampire. Her possessed male was busy warding off the three vampires that were attempting to reach her, and he didn't appear to be doing too well. He wasn't going to hold out for much longer.

Just as I stood to help her, my own opponent reminded me of his presence with a swift kick to the back. I fell to my knees, but quickly recovered, spinning to face him before he could manage anymore of his little sneak attacks. I vaguely wondered where Eli had gone as I lunged at the vampire.

I swung at him, but he caught my fist like it was nothing, just as Terrence always had. He flung me across the room in another Terrence-esque move, and my collision with the wall sent several picture frames to the floor. The glass fronts of the frames shattered, glass tinkling to the floor all around me as I stood.

The vampire had his hand around my throat before I could move any further, lifting me up and slamming my back into the wall again. A picture frame that had hung on during my previous collision finally gave way, and the sound of shattering glass once again met my ears. Slowly, the vampire slid me upward, my feet moving farther and farther away from the floor.

"Elyria," he said with a wicked, fangy grin. "We thought you'd never come." It took me only a moment to recognize the vampire. It was James, one of Terrence's closest companions. He'd always wanted a taste of my blood, probably my body as well, but Terrence had never allowed it. I clutched his wrist and glared down at the pleased look in his gray-blue eyes. Without Terrence around to stop him, who knew what he was willing to do to me?

I reached out and roughly grabbed a handful of the male's shaggy, dark brown hair, hoping to make his hold on my throat loosen a little. I couldn't breathe at all, and that would heavily interfere with my focus if I tried to possess him. Luckily, it worked, if only the slightest bit for a split second. I was able to take a half-assed gulp of air, and then, my eyes began to glow more strongly.

He could've easily looked away before I got a hold of him, but my grip on his hair must've been more distracting than I'd expected. His eyes narrowed, but I knew I had him. I felt his consciousness, strong like Terrence's, Brandon's, and a few of the other vampires I'd dealt with, butting heads with mine, twisting around a part of my very soul and trying to force it out. His attempts were all in vain, however, for it would take far more mental strength on his part to force a necromancer like me out of his head. He released me quickly, and I slid back down the wall and on to my feet. The wounds on my back stung a bit, but I didn't mind. Such dull pain meant nothing to me at the moment.

I glanced away from James and began to survey the room even as I made the vampire back away from me. He stopped when there was nearly four feet between us, just as I'd commanded him to. Then, suddenly, I sent him in the direction of the vampires attacking Kyrianna. She was still standing her ground, but it was obvious that she needed help. And where the hell had Eli gone?

James attacked a vampire from behind before he was noticed, ripping through his throat with his fangs, then deepening the wounds with his fingers. The vampire fell to the floor mere seconds later, eyes the usual empty gray and head barely hanging on to his neck. The remaining two vampires immediately noticed James, though only one went toward him. The other was in the process of finishing off Kyrianna's toy.

Even as I forced James to attack his new opponent, I could feel his mind continuing to rebel against my control. It was becoming increasingly annoying, nearly to the point of throwing off my focus and, in turn, my entire hold of the male, but I held on. I wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer, I knew, but if I could just get these last two vampires out of my way...

Just as James' fangs entered his enemy's throat, I was knocked to the floor once again. My consciousness was jarred just as much as my body, resulting in the rapid loosening of my hold on James. With what little control I had left, I made the vampire tear of the head from his opponent's neck. Getting rid of one vampire was better than getting rid of none, after all. I revoked my consciousness afterward, and James turned his attention to Kyrianna as her own protector fell.

I turned to see that I hadn't even been attacked. Eli had been shoved into me by one of the two vampires he was fighting with. I half hoped that it had been done on purpose, because if I had just lost James thanks to a freaking accident...

I got to my feet as quickly as I could and started toward Kyrianna without even thinking about it. James and the other remaining vampire were converging on her now, so I had to do something quickly.

I did the only thing I could think of to stop James as he reached for the girl, even though it was probably a really foolish thing to do. I mean, what good did jumping onto a guy's back ever really do? It usually just got you hurt even worse than if you would've just stood there.

To my amazement, however, I sent James to the floor. Kyrianna scrambled backward as the other vampire tripped over James and me. This was working out much, much better than I'd expected.

James knocked me off of him with one quick jerk, then proceeded to climb on top of me and embed his fangs in my wide-open throat. I cried out when he jerked them sideways, further damaging the side of my neck Eli had bitten not even an hour earlier. The scent of my blood filled the room rapidly, stronger now, drawing the attention of the other vampire. He was on me in an instant, ravaging the uninjured side of my throat. I screamed at the overload of sensation in my neck, impulsively trying to shove the two males off of me. It was obvious that I wasn't strong enough, however, especially trying to one-arm each vampire.

"Elyria!" I heard Eli scream after a moment. I didn't know quite what he was shouting about until I felt a sharp pain in my right wrist, then my left. I swore I screamed louder than any person possibly could have at that point. I'd been fed from by four vampires at once before, even six on one special Christmas evening, but they hadn't been doing what these vampires were doing. They hadn't been trying to kill me.

I heard footsteps. A crash. Another crash. Shouts. Eli's voice, Kyrianna's voice, the voices of unfamiliar vampires. But then, I couldn't hear much anymore. I couldn't see. My body was going numb, the pain in my wrists and neck just a dull tingle.

I was dying. I knew it.

But suddenly, my vision returned, my hearing, my feeling. I gasped as everything seemed twice as loud, twice as vivid, the pain twice as deep. I could almost taste the vampires' satisfaction at my blood's flavor. I could feel it, too, as if their satisfaction was my own.

I screamed.

Everything went black again, but only for a moment. When my senses returned, no longer heightened, I heard the sounds of fierce battle all around me. It sounded like there were entire vampire armies in the room, but when I looked, I saw only nine bloodsuckers that were still on their feet. Eli was one of them.

I watched in wonder as the male tore through vampires like they were nothing. His fangs dug into any flesh he could reach, his fists lashing out to keep anyone from getting close enough to stop him. There were no longer any vampires pinning me down, and I knew just from the few seconds I spent watching Eli that he was who I had to thank for my freedom. He was the reason I was still alive.

I stood, though my eyes remained locked on the battle. Eli was literally covered in blood. It was spattered across his face and clothes, his hair and his hands. A female vampire, the only one present, managed to land a powerful blow to his cheek, knocking him back a step. The shriek when he fell on her was both chilling and oddly beautiful.

With her out of the way, Eli was able to turn his attention to the four vampires that remained. To my dismay, James was not one of them. He had fled, I was sure, like the coward he was. By the time Eli was finished, however, James would be several men short and a much easier target for a later date. If he decided to pull anything else like this, anyway. I wouldn't allow anyone else I cared about, no matter how little or how deeply, to be at all effected by the stupid things I did.

Out of nowhere, a fifth vampire appeared, leaping from the stairs to Eli's back. A punch Eli had been aiming at the vampire closest to him missed horribly as he staggered, barely managing to remain upright in his crazed state. He reached back and yanked the vampire off of his back without a second thought, however, flinging him across the room as if he was no more than a child's doll. He hit the wall and fell to the floor, though he regained his footing in an instant and headed immediately for Eli. He never made it, though. I got in his way.

One look into my eyes and I had him. His own eyes went dull, and I could barely feel his consciousness struggling within him. Clearly, he was no Terrence, and for this, I was grateful. It would make things much easier.

With one vague thought, I had the weak-willed male sprinting toward one of the two vampires still fighting with Eli. He didn't even notice the approach of my chilly little doll, making it almost too easy for the weak man to grab him. He twisted the vampire's head off just as Eli had when killing Derrick, effectively ending the male's struggle against Eli. Eli handled the other man quite well, snapping his spine neatly in two and tearing his throat open for good measure. I relinquished the control I had over my puppet when Eli turned to him. His death was just as quick as those of the others.

The two of us stood still once everything had settled. The dead were scattered about the room, their blood painting the boring walls a much more interesting color. Eli's eyes finally met mine, and I saw that he was himself now. He was just my calm, cold, occasionally cruel Eli.

I turned at the sound of a soft sob, finding Kyrianna on the floor where I'd last spotted her. There was a woman in her arms now, a necromancer with the same pink eyes as her. But they were dull, their bright, ethereal glow dimmed by a harsh death. Blood dripped from the corner of her pale lips, creating a crimson streak across her silvery skin. There was a gaping hole in her stomach, and I could see that some of her organs had slid out. They laid upon the floor at Kyrianna's knees in a pool of the woman's own blood.

I glanced at Eli, a single question clear in my eyes. Her father?

He shook his head solemnly, his eyes dropping to the blood-spattered floor. Gone.

I looked at Kyrianna again, watching for only a moment as she cried and rocked back and forth with her dead mother in her arms, then I walked silently past Eli. As quietly as possible, I made my way up the stairs, where I suspected Eli had been when I'd lost sight of him.

The second floor wasn't nearly as bad as the first, but it still wasn't pretty. There were a couple of dead vampires in the hallway, another three in the bathroom. I didn't even want to know how many there were in the rest of these rooms. I walked into what I guessed was Kyrianna's parents' room, stopping dead in the doorway.

Her father was there, sprawled on the bed. His eyes were like mine, maybe a bit lighter of a purple, but they had been darkened by his passing. He had the same black hair as Kyrianna and her mother, and beneath the blood coating his face, I could tell that he had Kyrianna's nose. His ravaged neck reminded me only of myself, however.

I turned from the gruesome scene and started back down the stairs, guilt consuming me more and more with each step. I may not have caused Kyrianna's death, but I might as well have.

When I reached the first floor, I found Eli watching Kyrianna. Neither of them had moved.

I glanced up at Eli as I passed him, but looked away quickly. My attention was now solely on Kyrianna, where it belonged right now.

Quietly, I stopped before her, gazing down at her with sad amethyst eyes. It took me almost a minute to gather the strength to speak.

"I'm sorry, Kyrianna," I whispered. Unable to think of anything else to say, I dropped my gaze and waited. She was bound to lash out at me at any moment, bound to shout and scream and blame me for everything. Maybe she would even hit me, too. I deserved it.

But all she did was look at me. With pain in her eyes and fresh tears streaming down her cheeks, she looked at me. Then, slowly, her eyes never leaving mine, she moved her mother gingerly from her lap and spread her arms out to me. Blood was smeared across her pale flesh, her clothes were stained with the very same crimson, but that didn't stop me. I kneeled at her side and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her to me like a sister, a friend, a lover. Even as she returned the embrace, she buried her face in my bare shoulder and began to sob harder than before.

I pet the girl's head for a moment, hoping to comfort her somehow, then my eyes found Eli's once more. "Can you make this all go away?"

He nodded slowly, understanding in his eyes. We needed to get rid of the evidence before too many humans, if any, noticed our presence and, as a result, our entire existence. "I'll do what I can."

"What about my parents?" Kyrianna croaked from where her head had slid down to my chest. She was still crying, but her sobs were few and far between.

"We can't leave them here, Kyrianna," I whispered to her, smoothing her hair once again.

"What am I going to do?" she asked while looking up at me, her teary pink eyes now showing a hint of worry.

I kissed her forehead and turned my gaze to Eli. "Let's just worry about getting you out of here first, all right?" She nodded slowly, and we both stood. Kyrianna looked down at her mother, lying dead on the bloody floor.

That's how we stood for a moment, silent and solemn. But then, I gently took her hand in mine, and together, we headed toward the door. Together, we headed toward the terrifying uncertainty of the future.