Blood or Love Ch. 05

"Oh, I have some of those right here in my bag," Chamey said immediately, then laughed sarcastically. "Of course, you know I'm just kidding. You already looked through my stuff."

"I'm sorry about that."

Chamey waved a hand at him. "Just playin', I understand why you did it, though it is kinda creepy. Anyway, I don't think the chains are necessary, I think you can make it til morning. Just three more hours, right? Nothing's wrong, nothing happened. Nothing will."

* * *

The scrawny little thing wasn't going to stand in his way. If he didn't know more desirable game--and plenty of it--was just outside that door, he would have taken this one. But he could wait. A shrill, voice filled with desperation set his ears on edge, made him jerk his head back, blink, and he opened his eyes to find Chamey's big and staring back at him.

Jack was on his feet, a foot away from the door. Chamey was up against that door, his back pressed against it, his hand over Jack's which was around the doorknob.

The redness, the thing in the fog that had been calling him and propelling him to leave the room and just go take a walk--a walk can't hurt anything, can it?--began to drift out of his mind. The sharp aroma of Chamey's fear and adrenaline was thick in his nose.

The boy's rapid pulse jumped at the side of his skinny neck; his heart pounded. "No, Jack, don't leave! You can't leave the room."

"What was I...?" He let go of the doorknob, brushing Chamey's hand off his, and took a step back. "I wasn't going anywhere," he said quickly, defensively.

"That's not what it looked like to me. You got this blanked out look, then a weirder look, then you just got up and headed for the door. At least you went slowly. Kinda like a zombie. I put myself between you and the door and you tossed me aside, but I went right back and started screaming in your face."

Too horrified to say anything, Jack turned and headed into the bathroom. Chamey was right at his heels, but turned back when the phone rang on the nightstand. Jack heard the conversation. It was the front desk clerk, asking if everything was okay because another guest heard screaming. Chamey assured her everything was fine and they would keep the noise down.

Jack splashed water on his face and walked back out into the room. "I'm going to drink more of the blood I brought and lay down on the bed for a while, try to get some rest."

"It's useless man, you're not gonna sleep at night."

"I know, but maybe I can relax a bit. I need to be less keyed up. You can help me." Jack pointed to his head. "In here, in my mind--I don't want to drift off. I don't want to scare you, but the change is getting more persistent. I'm not even conscious of it until I wake up from it." He settled back on the bed. "And don't freak out when I say this, but it's also getting harder to care about it."

"No freaking," Chamey said in a high voice. "Yet."

"This is getting too dangerous. We better trade beds even though yours is full of crumbled pizza toppings." He rolled his eyes and managed a smile.

"Sure, whatever you say." Chamey gathered up his things from his bed and dumped them onto Jack's bed. Jack tossed the empty pizza box onto the dresser, then sat down on Chamey's bed, put a pillow behind his head, and crossed his legs in front of him. "Just keep yourself between me and the door, and keep your weapons handy." He reached down and tossed the NoVamp from the night stand at Chamey, who caught it in one hand.

"I'm on it. In fact, I can put this stuff to good use right now." As Jack watched, Chamey jumped up and sprayed NoVamp all over the window and the door.

Jack started to gag as the vapors drifted his way. He threw a hand over his nose, rubbed his face, and coughed several times as the acrid stench stung his eyes, nose, lungs. He had to put the pillow over his face for a few minutes until the mist dried down a bit. He was becoming much more sensitive to the NoVamp. That was good in a way, but then no so good...

Chamey turned to him, a satisfied look on his face. "You're not getting out of this room til morning, Fangs."

Jack took a long drink of water from a bottle on the night stand to help his stinging throat. He tried to speak, but it came out a hoarse whisper. Another drink, then he cleared his throat a few times, and finally said softly, Why don't you tell me about Chamey now?"

Chamey seemed hesitant to talk for once. "Eh, I'm not as entertaining as you."

"Come on, I've told you all about me. It's your turn. Tell me about your family."

"Well, okay." Chamey sighed, blew air out of his pursed lips. "My Mom and Dad are divorced, that happened when I was twelve. I didn't see him for five years, and then Mom let him back in, but he still only comes around once in a while. Mom spends a lot of time on the couch passed out from drinking."

"Sorry, it--"

"Sounds like a sob story, doesn't it? It's not. I know a lot of people have it much worse off. Anyway, I just graduated high school in May, and am hoping to make a living off Vamped Out and the other websites. Not doing too bad so far."

"College?"

"Maybe sometime. My grades weren't that good."

"You seem like a smart kid to me."

"I just couldn't sit still in class. They wanted Mom to get me on medication, and I took it for a while, but then she stopped giving it to me. I had a reaction, or so she said. But the truth was, she was getting my prescriptions filled and taking them herself. Anyway, I hate school, why would I wanna go anymore?"

"College is different. You'd probably like it."

"Well, maybe sometime, but for now, I don't need it to do what I want to do. Vampires."

"So...what got you interested in vampires?"

"I got into vampires a little before Mom and Dad split, started the website, opened up a whole new world."

"Why? I mean, why vampires and not sports or music or video games, or whatever?"

"Oh, I like that stuff too. But with vampires it's a personal thing."

Jack had begun to figure as much already. Chamey had made vampires his personal mission. He didn't want to ask why, but it was the next question out of his mouth. "Did vampires...hurt someone you know?"

Chamey flipped his brown hair out of his eyes with a puff of breath and looked up at Jack through deep brown eyes. "Yeah. They hurt someone."

"Who?" Jack heard himself asking.

"My sister."

"Trixie?" The look on Chamey's face, the hard feeling in the room between them, and Jack felt a sting of nausea in his gut. "Is she..."

"No, she's not okay. She's dead."

Jack felt the air leave his lungs along with anything remotely comforting he could say to that. All he could offer was, "I'm sorry."

"She was just a tiny thing when--" Chamey took a deep breath and released it slowly.

"Hey, you don't have to talk about it."

"Yeah, I do. I want to tell you about it, Jack. Want you to understand where I'm coming from. See I feel this connection with you..." He was mumbling now, his eyelids fluttering with damp lashes, but another breath or two and he seemed to get it more under control. By then, Jack was blinking hard himself.

Chamey went on, "This happened when I was eleven. We had a small apartment in a bad area of Dallas. Trixie and I used to sleep in the same room. We'd still hear Mom and Dad fighting and shouting and noise from the neighbors, but I'd turn on some music and read to her. She was eight, and she liked that Dr. Suess stuff, you know, Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham?" Chamey wiped a hand across his right eye.

"Anyway, a little past midnight and she'd been asleep a while, but I couldn't sleep. I got up to use the bathroom. Our apartment was finally quiet, well as much as it gets, and dark. I was just coming back to our room when I heard glass break and I heard Trixie scream.

"I...I ran in and flipped on the light and saw someone on top of her. This woman, blonde, stringy hair, skinny...smelly. The stench of her hit me right away. Like rotten meat. At first I thought it was some lady strung out on drugs who'd broken in the window. There was glass on the floor, on the bed. I yelled at her to get off my sister, and the woman turned. Her eyes weren't like a human's eyes. What I mean is, I couldn't see anybody in there, just glaring blue and hunger. She hissed and her mouth curved up in a weird, freaky grin, and there was blood running down her face. That's when I realized it was Trixie's blood..."

Chamey stopped and pushed his face into the crook of his elbow. When he looked back up, his eyes were red, puffy. His voice shook through trembling lips as he continued. "Trixie raised her head and looked around the vampire. Trixie looked right at me. Her eyes went right into mine, and she was screaming at the top of her lungs, 'Help me, Chamey! Help me, brother! Save me!' She just kept yelling that, but it was like I was frozen right where I stood in the doorway.

"My Mom must have heard us because she ran in, and in the back of my mind I was thinking where's Dad? and I knew he must have left for the night. That thing on my sister smiled back at us and I saw the bloody fangs.

"I rushed at that bitch. I yelled and ran at her, slammed into her, but she backhanded me. Just one hand is all it took, like she was waving away a fly, but it launched me across the room, all the way back into Mom, and we both fell in the hallway. By the time I got to my feet, that monster was gone. My sister was gone too, just...blood in the bed. I looked in the bed, under it, Trixie was gone. That vampire took my sister out the window with her. Took her. She was gone. The-the police found the body..."

Chamey broke down now, and Jack was at his side instantly, holding onto him, hugging him to himself as tight as he dared.

"I couldn't help her," Chamey said between gasps.

"What you did was really brave, Chamey. You were just a little kid, lucky you didn't get taken too, and your Mom, and...shh, shh, it's okay."

God, but it wasn't okay. How could it be? Jack's heart, his mind felt like it was breaking, trying to contain all those emotions rushing through him now for the kid, along with all the hatred for what he himself was becoming.

Chamey relaxed into his arms, crying now. Hot tears smelling of minerals flowed into Jack's white t-shirt, soaking the front of it. When Chamey wiped the last of the tears away, Jack settled him back onto the bed and stroked away a lock of hair that had stuck to his cheek. "I'm sorry," Jack whispered as Chamey looked up at him.

"I'm okay," Chamey said through clenched teeth. The boy's brown eyes narrowed into dark slits. "You feel like an ice cube, though." He suddenly pushed at Jack and shrieked at the top of his lungs. "Get off me!"

Jack was up and backing away quickly. Chamey flew off the bed and lunged for the bathroom, then slammed the door behind him. Jack heard sniffling, toilet paper ripping, nose blowing, water splashing.

A few minutes later, Chamey stuck his head out. His face was was pink, his eyes watery. "You gotta stay in here all night with me, understand, Jack? And you gotta be at that appointment in the morning. You have to, Jack. I'll die before I let you get out of here."

"Nobody's going to die," Jack said calmly, more than ever determined that that would be the truth. Chamey closed the bathroom door again, and Jack stared at the empty cup on the nighstand, and licked his lips, trying not to dwell on how much more he wanted. Is that all you think about now, Jack? Your own belly? He felt deep down disgust for himself. Thinking about blood at a time like this, when Chamey...

But blood was almost all he could think about. Not now, when that boy in there needs me...I'm a monster to him. God, don't let me actually become one in front of his eyes. But the caring was less and the hunger was growing.

One vial a day had always been plenty, and now, it just felt like one bite of an entire meal. He needed to talk to Kim; she'd get his mind elsewhere. He wondered if she had her phone on.

He picked up his cell phone and caressed the speed dial number for her, but was surprised by the jangle of the phone on the night stand. Jack answered it shakily.

Front desk, another complaint. He was sorry and there would be no more noise. He'd just slammed the phone down when Chamey walked back in the room.

"Still no answer at home?" Chamey asked. He took in Jack's frustrated face. Jack grabbed up his bag and began to search through it for another vial but as the seconds passed, it became more and more reminiscent of the way Chamey had searched through his own bag earlier, for weapons he knew were supposed to be there. No. No way this could be happening.

"What's the matter?" Chamey asked him.

Jack looked up at him through anger, fear, and disbelief. "It's the blood," he said. "There's no more blood. I'm completely out."