Page 14 of Hot Blooded

“Sir, you need medical attention,” she said in her no-nonsense, professional voice. “I’m going to call for an ambulance, okay?” She didn’t wait for approval, picking her phone back up.

“No,” the man said hoarsely.

Drugs, Tessa figured. It could have been anything from psychosis to severe dehydration, but in her experience, it was usually drugs—and in this guy’s case, his pulse, respiration, and pupil dilation all indicated amphetamine use. Overdoses could be hard to convince to seek medical attention, out of fear of criminal charges. Tessa had pretty fucking strong feelings about the criminalization of addiction, but regardless, she had to get him medical help. The legal issues could be dealt with later. Life and death weren’t so negotiable.

She started dialing, but only managed to get the first digit before the phone was snatched out of her hands.

“Hey,” she said gently, using her de-escalating Nurse Voice. “That’s my phone. I need you to give it back to me.” She reached for it, but he jerked it out of her reach, his movements twitchy, almost inhumanly fast. He stared at her, his eyes like black holes.

Trying to keep him calm, Tessa said even more gently, “Will you let me help you?”

He continued to stare at her. “Who are you?” he rasped in a dazed tone.

“My name’s Tessa. I’m a nurse. I’m going to help you, okay? But you have to give me my phone.” She reached for it, gently, cautiously.

A vicious, inhuman snarl of outrage tore through the night, coming from a few blocks away. Tessa startled, looking in the direction of the sound. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just as she turned back to the stranger, he lunged at her.

In emergencies, Tessa had always found that the fear-center in her brain seemed to shut off. When she’d been an ICU nurse, she’d always been praised for how coolly and efficiently she responded to coding patients, belligerent patients, violent patients, and the equally aggressive, belligerent family members of patients. She’d never quite thought she deserved the praise because it wasn’t like she was struggling through her own emotional turbulence to do what needed to be done. She just felt… nothing. She acted on autopilot.

The same thing happened to her as the stranger tackled her to the ground. Stupidly, her first thought was for her borscht. Her foot hit the container as she went over backwards, sending the contents exploding across the sidewalk. She felt a moment of outraged despair for her ruined lunch before the detached fearlessness took over. She reacted with a numb calm, taking in the situation as if she were watching it happen to someone else from far away.

The stranger’s emaciated body crouched over hers, arms wrapping around her and hoisting her upwards. He was shockingly strong, which solidified Tessa’s confidence that stimulants of some kind had contributed to his current condition. With snarling grunts, he began dragging her into the dark of the parking ramp. With an unflustered, pragmatic sense of survival, Tessa thought mildly to herself, Welp. Can’t let him get me in there.

She tried to scream, but a big hand quickly covered her mouth, the skin shockingly cold. She bit at it, sinking her teeth into dirty, salty-tasting flesh. Her attacker hissed in pain, but kept his freezing hand firmly clamped over her face. She kicked at his shins and thrashed against his hold, doing everything in her power to delay what seemed to be inevitable. The mouth of the parking ramp was getting closer, the sharp edge of darkness waiting like a knife.

That terrifying snarl sounded again, so much closer now, and a dark shadow passed beneath the dull, yellowy lights of the parking garage. It moved so swiftly, Tessa barely registered its presence before it was on top of them.

Suddenly, she was free. She hit the pavement hard, pain jolting up her spine. Above her, two dark silhouettes were locked in a violent struggle. Tessa scrambled back from them, praying they’d keep each other occupied long enough for her to get away.

But then they broke apart. One of them, the leaner of the two, hissed like an enraged cat as he disappeared back into the darkness of the parking garage. The remaining figure spun to face Tessa. The lights were at his back, shadowing his face in darkness. She had an impression of broad shoulders and strong arms—enough to know he was dangerous. Tessa struggled to get her feet beneath her.

“Are you okay?”

She froze. That voice—

“Tessa?” The stranger drew nearer and the light shifted over his face until he was no longer a stranger. He crouched in front of her, his pale face taut with worry.

“Amos?”

“Are you alright?” Amos repeated, reaching for her. Tessa was unresisting as he pulled her to her feet. His hands slid to her shoulders, bracing her as he looked her over. “Did he bite you?”

“Bite me? No,” she answered faintly. Realization dawned suddenly. “Wait. That was a vampire?”

“Not quite. Let’s get off the street.”

She let Amos walk her to a diner a few blocks over. She’d eaten there once before and been unimpressed, but with her soup splattered all over the sidewalk, it’d have to do. Taking a booth as far from the diner counter as possible, they sat in relative silence until after the sole waitress on duty had taken their orders. A BLT for Tessa, nothing for Amos.

“You’re sure you’re alright?” Amos asked after the waitress had walked away.

“I’m fine. What did you mean, that guy was ‘not quite’ a vampire?”

In the fluorescent lighting of the diner, Amos’s blood-red irises looked especially unnatural. When he spoke, the tips of his fangs were much more noticeable than in the cozy lighting of his home. His pallor, his rigid posture, his watchfulness—all of it screamed predator in a way that she hadn’t fully appreciated before.

“He was a thrall,” Amos said. “A sort of half-turned vampire. Only very old, very powerful vampires can make them—and it’s never done on accident. It’s not an ethical practice. Thralls are little more than slaves to their sires.”

“That’s horrible,” Tessa said, brow furrowing. “Can something be done to… help them?”

“There are only two choices for a thrall to escape their enslavement. Find a vampire who will turn them fully, or…die.”

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