Chapter 7 #4
Dead weight slammed into my body, tweaking my overextended arm even more and knocking the air out of my lungs.
The attacker’s head sank to the grass beside my own.
After a moment of panic, my feet scrambled beneath me again, and I pushed against the body on top of me that pinned my throbbing arm at an unnatural angle.
After a hard push, it came off — with some help.
“Fenton,” Virgil’s stern voice warned from a few feet away.
Fenton?
He was here. The vampire who had attacked me snarled and snapped beside me, all the muscles in his body frozen. His futile attacks were aimed at Fenton now, who stood over him, looking angrier than I’d ever seen him.
“Fenton, back away,” Virgil demanded. “Don’t—!”
I recoiled as Fenton did exactly what Virgil was telling him not to do. He drove a stake straight into the vampire’s heart. Virgil helped me off the ground, muttering angry complaints, and I clutched onto him, not for my own stability, but to keep him from Fenton.
“You had him immobilized! You didn’t need to kill him!” Virgil shouted. He, too, was angrier than I’d ever seen.
“I shouldn’t have killed the motherfucker who was going after Fallon?” Fenton yelled back, making a disgusted noise and looking at me in disbelief.
“I could have questioned him!” Virgil’s frustration boiled over. He moved fast and got a firm hold around Fenton’s lankier body, locking his hands together across Fenton’s chest to hold my friend in place. Fenton, of course, was hissing and clawing like a pissed-off cat.
“Motherfucker, let me go! I’ll do the same to you!”
“Stop!” I wasn’t sure which of them I was aiming it at, but Fenton didn’t stop fighting.
“Fallon!” Virgil said, “Get the stake!”
He gestured with his chin to the pile of ash between us. It no longer resembled a human body, and two wooden stakes were right there in the middle of the gray. I hesitated.
“I’ll take him to the station,” Virgil clarified, which sent Fenton’s limbs scrambling even harder.
Virgil had over a hundred years on him, though.
With the upper hand, he was stronger. “We’ll get his fang impressions, and I’ll talk to my superiors.
We’ll get him into the rehab system, just like you wanted. Just get a stake in him.”
I didn’t move. Sweat tickled the back of my neck. I couldn’t lose Fenton like this. I needed him. I had no doubt he’d killed humans. I’d seen him kill one myself. If they got a set of his fangs, they’d be able to put him away for years, decades maybe. I might not ever see him again.
“The system,” I began, my voice too weak to even be heard over Fenton’s ongoing stream of curses and threats. I spoke louder, “The system isn’t so easy for everyone to fit into, Virgil. He can’t…he’s a vampire.”
Even Fenton stopped moving. His mouth fell open in shock that twisted up into glee.
“I’m a vampire, Fallon.” Virgil’s voice was a thin layer of ice, threatening to break.
“When you want to be.”
The sharp sting of betrayal flashed in Virgil’s eyes. Even Fenton winced at that one. I’d crossed a line, said the wrong thing, and as much as it was a punch to my own gut to realize it, Virgil’s pain was even greater. Shit.
It was only a few seconds that passed, but they were uncomfortably long and silent. Virgil pushed Fenton away, and he repositioned to my side, smug off my protection. I held Virgil’s bitter, heartbroken gaze, forced myself to feel it. What had I done?
Fenton’s hands went to his belly as cruel laughter spilled from his mouth. “Ouch, buddy. Looks like your girl—oof!”
I punched Fenton in the jaw to stop his childish gloating, but the smile didn’t leave his mouth when he snapped to look at me.
“Do you need a ride home, Fallon?” The ice had cracked, and Virgil’s voice was a deep, freezing lake. The kindness of his offer was a bite to my wounded conscience.
I shook my head. “I’ll…I’ll get a ride. Thank you. I’m sorry.” I’m so sorry. I wanted to grovel and throw myself at his feet to beg forgiveness. The tension was thick, and finally I had to avert my gaze. What the hell had I done? Fenton…
But it wasn’t his fault. I only had myself to blame.
“Make sure she gets home safe,” Virgil said with a stern finger pointed at Fenton, before he softened for me. “Text me when you’re there, at least.” His black leather shoes met his paved path once more, and the crisp steps stopped briefly until his front door closed gently behind him.
I looked up at Fenton. I was alive now because of him, but I couldn’t be grateful for that, especially with how he was looking at me, like I’d chosen him, like whatever had transpired was some grand act of love.
“Don’t.” Emotion shook my lips, and I couldn’t hold it back any longer. Tears spilled from my eyes, hot and bitter.
Fenton bent down, never taking his eyes off me, to pick my bag off the ground.
He tucked it under his arm. He at least tried to control the happiness that was spilling from him like a fountain.
He took me into his arms, lifting me out of the grass and holding me against him, halfway like a bride, halfway like a child, and in my exhausted defeat, I let him.
“Let’s get you home,” he said, and on the way to wherever he was headed, he added with restrained quiet, “You look gorgeous tonight.”