Page 30 of Our Little Monster
On the other end of the room, I found a janitor's closet. I moved to the small closet where I found a long contractor’s broom with thick bristles.
I grabbed it and the few half-empty bottles of forgotten cleaners from whatever this place had been before it fell into ruin.
I used the broom to brush the chunks of what was left of his head over to the window right next to him. With a satisfied sigh, I moved over to the blood stains and soaked them in cleaner while they were still wet to hopefully prevent them from leaving to much of a stain behind.
Let’s be real, blood always stains.
I took the large bristled brush and began scrubbing the best I could. So focused on cleaning was I that I didn’t hear anyone come up here.
I heard a whistle and instantly looked up, about to shank the man with the broom stick lost in my delirium. I aimed it at him like a weapon.
“Whoa,” he said, his hands up, and I realized it was Nox.
I stumbled but then braced myself against the broom stick, using it like a cane for leverage.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I demanded, and then Bastian and Thorne emerged from the shadows of the entrance. Both bloody.
I grabbed for my stake, trying to take a few steps backwards, but I faltered, unable to keep my balance.
Nox caught his hand on my hip to hold me upright, and my pulse quickened. I was far too close to a monster who loved blood.
“Let go of me!” I protested, shoving out of his hold, grounding my feet to the floor, and he backed away with his hands up. Blood now covered the one he had touched me with.
“Serina, we’re not going to hurt you. You’re bleeding, and you can barely stand,” Bastian called out from behind Nox as he moved toward me.
“As if I’d believe you,” I spat, taking another careful step back, and Bastian tossed two bloody heads at my feet. “For fuck’s sake, I just cleaned in here,” I growled, and Nox rolled his eyes.
“Look,” Bastian said, nodding toward the heads at my feet.
I used my boot to make the faces look in my direction. It was the guys that got away earlier.
“Why?” I murmured, letting my gaze fall over each of them. Though I was sure my cover could have already been blown with them knowing my true name.
“We’re trying to help you,” Thorne spoke up for the first time next to his brothers.
“You're not answering my question… Why would three Vampires want to help a hunter kill their own kind? What is your motive, because the whole ‘better world’ thing sounds like a load of shit to me,” I snapped, swaying on my feet. I could feel my body starting to grow heavy from the blood loss. I wouldn’t last much longer upright, if at all.
I needed to stop the bleeding. I wobbled over to the wall so I would have something to lean against and slid down to the ground. I didn’t wait for their response before I cut them off with my own.
“You really want to help? Get my bleeding to stop so I can get back to my motorcycle,” I said, shucking my shirt over my head. I gasped, air hitching in my chest as the world spun off its axis.
I caught my breath, leaving my top half in only my bra.
Nox’s eyes flared like he’d never seen a woman half naked before, and I shot him a lopsided grin through the pain.
Bastian and Thorne rushed me, both examining all my injuries. Bastian worked on my thigh where I was cut open from the glass while Thorne worked on my side. His fingers were so gentle, his touch barely hurt.
I looked over at his soft, kind features. I hated the benevolence behind his gaze. Was this what Thorne was good at? Working the people they wanted on their side with his kind-natured façade?
Or was this who he truly was? Were Vampires even capable of feeling such things with their undead hearts?
I looked away as they packed my wounds, and I grinded my teeth, holding back my screams. Well, tried to. Darkness clouded my vision.
"Stay with us," a voice implored; I didn’t know whose it was. But the sound broke through the fog of pain for a moment.
They wrapped up my wounds using strips of their shirts, and both of them were only wearing undershirts now. Tight tanks that showed off their lean, muscled figures.
Fuck, I had lost too much blood to be admiring Vampires’ physiques. I gave myself a mental shake and did my best not to scream through the pain of them dressing my wounds, knowing I had failed a few times.
