Page 76 of Envious Of Fire
“Your brother,” says Kyle, quiet and cold, “and all of those random weirdos back at his lair in the desert … they don’t have to end lives to sustain their own.”
“You are so adorable,” Drake murmurs softly, as if through a dream. “Your virtuousness. The noble tone of voice. It’s very ‘knight in shining armor’, if not too innocent and idealistic. Are you here to save these college kids from the big bad vampire?”
Kyle turns his head. “What if I’m here to saveyou?”
Drake’s amused smile falters.
Just then, a groan from the student on the floor next to the closet door. He stirs, lifts his heavy head, squints through a pair of cockeyed glasses. “Are … Are you God …?”
Drake stares down at him, shrugs. “Something like that.”
The guy nods sleepily, drops his head back to the floor.
Drake starts the final vial and lets loose the tourniquet. “It would’ve been fun to crash here, spend some more time with them, pretend to be a college kid until tomorrow night … but seeing as Lazandthe morning sun are so impatient …” Drake peers back at Kyle. “Want to help speed things up? I can teach you how to draw blood. You can do Alex’s.”
“No,” says Kyle, sickened.
Drake puts his free hand on Federico’s forehead, then puts his fingers to the guy’s neck, as if checking his pulse. “Most of us don’t kill anymore. We can’t, not nowadays, between all the modern technological advances and cameras and phones … it’s all trickier. I think it’s why Laz harbors so much resentment for the world. My family used to be free to feast as they pleased in the streets. Now they all have to deal with paranormal-obsessed nerds with HD cameras, vlogs … and organized witches with seriously insidious ways of killing us … not to mention the nerds ofourkind who pretend to run a vampire government complete with tons of stupid laws none of us follow. Lord Darkadian …? Who put him in power? Did you vote for him? I sure didn’t.”
“It’s Markadian.”
Drake squints at him. “Really? You sure? Darkadian sounds so much cooler. Nah, I’m gonna keep calling him Darkadian.” He pops the last vial into his bag, detaches his equipment from Federico. “Alright, who’s next? Any volunteers? Oh, Alex raised his hand, Alex totally almost kinda just raised his hand.” Drake brings his backpack to one of the students on the bed, starts prepping to draw more blood.
“You’ve let Lazarus run your life,” says Kyle. “I see how it eats at you. How much longer are you gonna let this happen? You can just be a college kid. You can hang out with these guys more than once. Be an actual friend to them and meet up in the commons. Commiserate over professors you hate, write papers at the last minute, spend hours in the library trying not to laugh at your friend making funny faces at you across the table …”
Drake smiles wistfully as he taps for a vein. “You paint such a sweet picture.”
“Are you gonna be a slave to your brother forever?”
Drake stops. “I’ll admit, this hero role you’re playing is kinda low-key hot,” he says. “I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone fight so hard for me since the days Laz and I were just two little boys getting into trouble together. Mom scolding us. Laz sticking up for me … of course, his name wasn’t Lazarus back then. The point is, you don’t really know me, you don’t know what you’re fighting against, and if you stuck around for a few days, you’d realize I’m not as unhappy as you think. None of us are, in fact. Not even this dude-bro I’m sucking blood out of without his written consent. The human body is a total marvel. It easily replaces the blood we take in a matter of weeks. No harm, no foul. Everyone’s happy.”
“Does that include the terrified guy Salazo keeps as a pet?” Kyle leans in close, putting his face in front of Drake’s. “You can rationalize this all you want. What you guys do is wrong.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think my brother was trying to set us up. He knows I’m lonely … and you’re totally my type.” He draws close. Before Kyle can flinch away, Drake plants a kiss right on his lips. “Stick around, hot stuff. See how we live before you judge us so quickly. Laz can hear every single word we’ve been saying, by the way.” He winks. “Another ten or fifteen minutes, we’ll be outta this stuffy dorm. I’m skipping Maya. She needs her blood, on account of her big morning exam and all.See? I have a heart.” He resumes the blood drawing and hums a tune, leaving Kyle more confused than before, heart racing loudly.
18.
I Am Not Such a Villain.
—·—
Tristan sits on a chair in an unused office room, one door, no windows, every fluorescent light on and bright, obliterating any chance of a shadow or deception, all other furniture gone.
Save for one other chair on which Brock sits—with his wrists chained, and ankles bolted to the floor.
Do you understand where you are?Tristan is smiling. Voice is gentle. No aggression. No malice. No reason in the world for Brock to feel attacked, instigated, or alarmed. Everything calm.
Brock only stares ahead at Tristan, wordless, eerily still.
Same as he has been for the past two hours.
Shall we try blinking again? Like this. He demonstrates.One blink for yes, two for no.Should we try once again? I will ask plainly.Do you understand where you are?
A bead of drool seeps slowly from Brock’s lower lip, starts to dangle, stretches like spider silk, sticks to his chest.
He is still naked. And partly bloody.
It wasn’t an easy task to clean him up. Brock is heavy, and despite reassurances from Tristan that he would stay asleep, no one had the courage to assist him in moving the body. Also, lots of effort had to be taken in cleaning up the halls of the clinic after the catastrophe. Raya was utterly inconsolable. The two nurses whose lives were lost were especially tricky to handle. What was supposed to be a quiet endeavor done in secret has now exploded into an unimaginable nightmare.
