Blood or Love Ch. 09

"Benny, it's me!"

Chamey burst into the room. He shut the door behind him and grabbed hold of her, crushing her in a smothering bear hug.

"You're okay," he panted into her hair as though he'd just sprinted across town.

He was sweaty and gross. And why was he holding onto her like that?

"Ew!" She pushed him away.

He sniffed the air. "Whew, you really went to town with the No Vamp, didn't you?" He smiled. "That's good, though."

"Chamey, you idiot... you scared the hell outta me! I thought you were Jack!"

His head drooped. "Oh man. I'm sorry."

She took a deep breath and placed a hand over her racing heart, willing it to calm down. She'd been so certain it was Jack's hand in the door. It could have been. Then what?

She couldn't dwell on it at the moment because Chamey wouldn't shut up.

"Sorry, so sorry, Benny." He kept giving her those sad puppy-dog eyes. "I swear I thought I'd get back before dark. Ran all the way as fast as I could."

"Yeah? Good for you."

"Benny --"

"I'm in one piece, okay? Just shut up for a minute."

He glanced at the clock on the nightstand, made a zipping motion across his smiling mouth, and gave her a thumbs-up.

She rolled her eyes and turned away from him. Clearly he was an idiot. But he'd come back to her, so that counted for something.

She took a deep breath and released it as she glanced at him. He was still trying to catch his breath on the bed. A part of her couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the guy. He definitely wasn't her type, but she couldn't dislike him either.

This damn heat's frying my brain, she thought, pulling a strand of damp hair from her neck. She was used to Texas heat, but this little motel room was a hot box of death.

She stomped over to the beige cinder-block wall near the dresser, turned, and leaned her back against it. She looked from Chamey's face to the ugly grey door. Staring at it, she felt helplessness closing in even more.

Really, what makes me any safer now? Chamey is as useless as I am, and Jack doesn't need anyone to open this locked door for him. If he comes back, he'll rip it off its hinges. He can smash through the window. God, he could just plow through the wall.

She placed a hand to her chest and focused on her breathing for a moment. Surely Chamey was as scared as she was. If he wasn't scared, then he was even more stupid than she thought.

Sure enough, he didn't look particularly worried. And yet, seeing him look so calm made her feel a little better. At least she wasn't alone anymore. Her racing heart began to slow a bit.

Chamey picked up a large shopping bag from the floor. In her earlier panic, she hadn't even noticed him carry it in.

"What's that?"

Chamey sat back on the bed and hugged the bag to his chest with a smile. "My minute's up already?"

"Damn you, what's in the freakin' bag?"

He recoiled from the look she shot him and quickly pulled a large box from the bag. He tore it open. Eyes shining, he held up his prize -a black, arrow-like contraption. "Super cool, huh?" He fell back on the bed and ran his hands all over it.

She wrinkled her brow. "What is that, a crossbow? Um, isn't that kinda small?"

He shrugged. "Doesn't need to be big. All it needs to do is shoot a bolt into Jack."

She gasped. "You're going to shoot Jack with that?"

He stopped caressing the crossbow and sat up. "What'd you think I was gonna do with it?"

"But he... You're just gonna stake him?"

Try to stake him, is the operative word here. In every scenario running through her head, she'd have to vote Jack as the most likely to survive. By a long-shot.

"Nah. That would be a last resort. Only if I have to, to protect you and Kim. My plan is, when Kim gets back with the antidote, I'll dip the end of the bolts into it. When we find him, I'll shoot the antidote into him from a safe distance. No problem."

"No problem," she said, mocking. She had to admit though, it sounded like a good plan, better than anything she'd come up with, which was nothing. Only thing was, in her experience good plans always seemed to go wrong.

"But what if you miss?"

Chamey squinted at her out of one eye. "Oh ye of little faith. I practiced all the time back home. I'm an expert marksman."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Anyway, we gotta find Jack first. And we can't even do that 'til Kim gets back. Have you heard from her?

Chamey's look bothered her. He set the crossbow down on the bed. "No, I was hoping you had."

"Shit." She rubbed a hand down her hot cheek. She wished she could get more air, but she didn't dare open the door again.

Chamey went back to messing with his new toy. He began to hum -- an annoying sound. Really, how could he seem so calm when she felt ready to faint into the disgusting carpet? Silently, because she had nothing better to do, she watched him set up for some practice shots.

He took the phone book out of the nightstand, scratched a circle into the cover with his knife, and set it up against both pillows and his backpack. Then he stood by the motel door and shot across the room. He hit his mark.

It impressed her, though she wasn't about to let on. But still, shooting an inanimate object was easy. Shooting vampires -not so much.

"Just be careful with that thing. My luck you'll shoot one of us instead of Jack."

He began practicing a quick-draw. "Nah, I'm all about safety." After a while, he turned to her and cleared his throat. "You, um, want me to reinforce your No Vamp?"

"What?"

"I can re-apply it for you, in case you missed a spot."

She shot him her most scorching look. "You know what? No, I don't need you to do that." He shrank back, his shoulders drooped. She gave a sigh. "Actually, I used it all."

"I see." He pursed his thin lips and rubbed his chin. "Unfortunately, I lost what was left of my can too. It fell out of my pocket when I was running, somewhere between here and the sporting goods store."

"Whatever. NoVamp's useless anyway. I barely even smell it anymore."

She watched him sniff the air for a moment before she moved closer to him and held out her hand. "I need a weapon too. Give me the stake."

"The stake? You mean the one Jack made?" He pulled it out of his pocket and examined the tip. "It could be sharper." He grabbed his knife from the nightstand.

"Let me do it." She took the knife and the stake, then sat down on the bed next to him.

It took a moment but she felt his stare on her. That's when she realized what she'd done. She jumped up from the bed and scurried over to the dresser. She took a seat there.

He stared at her, his brown eyes shining as he patted the bed. "You can sit by me if you want. Unlike Jack, I don't bite."

Was that supposed to be a joke? Sorry if I don't feel like laughing. She looked down and began to drag the knife blade across the tip of the wooden stake. She'd never done that before. Her hand shook at first, then she got the hang of it. "No thanks, I'm good here."

"Just don't cut yourself."

"Oh, I'm all about safety," she said, mocking him again.

She didn't believe for one second the stake would do her any good in an encounter with Jack. Somehow, it still gave her a small sense of security. She worked on the task, grateful to have something to do. Chamey was even quiet for a while, and she found herself looking up to see what he was doing.

He practiced passing the crossbow from one hand to the other, and when he stretched out his arm, her eyes fell onto the red, angry-looking puncture wounds on his wrist.

How had she missed that before?

Chamey had told them on the phone what happened, but she didn't look him over too closely when they got to the motel. For one thing, she wasn't ready to see how far gone Jack was.

Something softened in her heart. She threw the knife in one of her bags, put the stake down on the dresser, and stood up. "So, does that hurt?"

"What?" He followed her gaze down to his wrist. "Oh, this? Nah, not really."

Trying to sound tough. He had to be. The wound looked awful. "You should let me take care of that," she heard herself say. "I can clean it for you."

There was a long enough silence and staring from him that she began to regret the offer.

"You'd do that for me?"

She shrugged. "The stake's as sharp as it's gonna get, and this would give me something else to do. Besides, you don't want that to get infected, do you? Then your hand would fall off. Yuck."

"Well..."

What was that look she saw in his eyes? Uh-oh.

She'd seen guys get that look with her before. Like they were reading more into things than she meant. God, you'd think I'd offered to blow him. As if I would.

"I'm just going to clean it and bandage it for you... not kiss it."

"Of course." He jumped up from the bed. "Anything you wanna do to it is fine by me."

She grabbed her other bag from the dresser. She hadn't had a lot of time to pack, so she'd just thrown in a little of everything, including some first-aid supplies.

Chamey was still on the bed. She marched over, grabbed his hand, and pulled him into the small bathroom. She pushed him down onto the yellow toilet seat lid and set his hand on the edge of the sink to take a better look at his wrist. She thought he'd talk non-stop, but he stayed quiet as she gently cleaned and bandaged it.

Jack did this... my brother did this, kept going through her head. She took a deep breath and puffed it out.

"Great job," Chamey said when she finished. "You're amazing, Benny."

"It's nothing." She found herself staring down at Chamey's pale hands. They were nice hands.

She felt him looking at her face, and she could hear him breathing. So annoying.

"I think you need stitches," she said. "Or else that's gonna leave a nasty scar."

"Really? Cool. My first vampire bite scar. I have other scars. You wanna see 'em?"

She shook her head and started throwing things back into her bag, but stopped when she saw his goofy smile out of the corner of her eye. She started smiling too, and it turned to giggles. Crazy giggles.

What the hell's wrong with me? Nothing's funny at a time like this.

Chamey was laughing too. It filled the cramped room. He had a cute laugh.

She looked into his warm, dark brown eyes and the thought rolled through her mind that he might not survive the night. That went for her and Kim too. That sobered her up.

She cleared her throat. "You know what you said earlier when Kim was here, about Jack. Was that some kind of cheesy pep-talk, or do you really think there's hope for him?"

Chamey's smile faded. He gazed down at his bandaged wrist. "Don't you?"

"Yeah, I wanna think there's still a chance..."

Chamey jumped up from the toilet seat. "I think there's hope. You know why?" He took a small step toward her.

She stuck a hand out to his chest, which stopped him. "No idea."

He smiled softly. "Because of you and Kim."

She let that register for a moment, but doubt quickly settled back in. She wanted to think love conquered all -would love to be as optimistic as Chamey sounded, but she just wasn't sure.

Chamey took another step her way. Only then did she realize her hand was still on his chest. She could feel his heart beating like crazy against her palm.

She was aware of just how tiny the room was. The bathroom door stood open behind her. She could take another step back and be out of the room. She didn't move.

He smiled big and held up his bandaged wrist. "Thanks, Benny. You're an awesome person, just like Jack."

"I said, it was nothing," she mumbled. She turned and exited the room fast.

He closed the door behind her. "Nature calls," he said, his voice muffled through the door.

She stumbled over to the dresser, sat down, and wiped sweat from her upper lip. Where the hell was Kim? She pulled her phone from the pocket of her capris to try her again. Just as she put it up to her face, it rang.

Her heart leaped. "Kim!"

"Everything okay, Benson?" Kim's voice was sweet to hear.

"I guess. You on your way?"

"Be there in minutes."

"Hurry."

"Chamey with you?"

"Yeah. He's got this stupid crossbow thing that he thinks he can shoot into Jack." She sighed. "I don't suppose you have the antidote in a dart form or something?"

Kim's voice startled her with its enthusiasm. "Dr. Kitcher's assistant, Dr. Rhodes --I mean, Ron, he was so helpful. He brought me a case with syringes, and get this -- two vials of antidote!"

"Really? How long will our descendents have to pay for that?"

Kim actually giggled, a sound Benson hadn't heard in ages. Kim went on talking, and she sounded excited...hopeful. It was giving Benson hope too. Maybe this could end well after all. They just had to find Jack. That was the bad part.

She watched Chamey come out of the bathroom. He grabbed up the crossbow and leaped around the room, practicing more quick-draws.

"Just hurry," she whispered into the phone.

A few minutes later, there was a pounding on the door.

Chamey ran to the door and pointed the crossbow at it. "Identify yourself!"

"It's me," said Kim's voice.

Benson pushed him away from the door. "You idiot. Put that stupid thing down." She threw the door open. She couldn't remember ever being so glad to see her sister-in-law. Kim walked into the room and Benson threw her arms around her.

Kim hugged her back, then pulled away and sniffed the air. "Wow, you must've used a lot of NoVamp."

Benson looked down. "Yeah, I used all of it."

Kim stopped, as if taking in the fact that they were completely out of vampire repellant. Then she moved to the closest bed, set down a small grey case and flipped it open to reveal two tiny vials of faint green serum --the precious antidote, along with two syringes.

"Wow," was all Benson could say.

The admiration was clear in Chamey's voice too. "You got the goods. Way to go, Mrs. Jack Roberts."

Kim smiled a tired but satisfied smile. "It's thanks to Ron. He was a miracle-worker, getting me all this. He was so concerned, like he would have come and helped us if he could." She picked up a vial of the antidote and began filling a syringe.

Benson's mind whirled as she watched Kim. It was almost like the news was too good for her brain to process.

"It can be injected into him. Or..." A hesitant look crossed Kim's face. "There's another way too."

Benson watched in disbelief as Kim stuck the needle into her upper arm and pushed the plunger. "Kim, what the hell are you doing?"

"Wild," Chamey said. "I get it. If he drinks you, he'll be cured."

Benson fought to keep her voice calm. "But, what's that shit gonna do to you?"

"Nothing, Ron assured me. I have to prepare for the fact that Jack may attack me."

The room seemed to tilt. Benson's stomach rolled as she watched Chamey flex his arm repeatedly, pumping up his veins. "In that case, we all need to inject some," he said. "We don't know who he might go for."

"Exactly." Kim handed him the syringe, which was still two-thirds of the way full.

He shot the green junk into himself, then turned to Benson.

She backed away, heart pounding. "No, don't come near me with that needle."

"Come on, Benny," he said. "It isn't doing anything bad to us. If you're too scared, I'll inject it for you."

She thought she was gonna be sick right there. She put a hand on her stomach as she sank back onto the dresser, shoving an empty pizza box out of her way. Chamey was still holding the needle out.

She looked over at Kim and saw her filling another syringe with the faint green antidote. Had it really come to this? Injecting themselves with this mad-scientist goo because her brother wanted to chow down on them?

Apparently so. She had to get over the needle-thing and just do it. This wasn't the time to let her past haunt her. "Oh, hell. Give it to me. I can do it myself. Not like I haven't done it a hundred times before."

But when Chamey handed her the syringe, she could only stare down at it, trembling. She looked up to find Kim watching her. "On second thought, you do it for me, Kim."

"Of course." Kim took the used syringe from Benson and handed it to Chamey. "Use that for your crossbow," she told him. Then she moved to Benson's side with the fresh needle.

When Kim removed the needle from her arm, Benson turned to the mirror and waited.

Nothing weird was happening -she didn't feel or look any different. She brushed a damp clump of hair from her sweaty forehead. I sure look like hell though. But who really cares? I could die somewhere in Savannah tonight. All three of us could. She glanced at Chamey, looking for that smile of his to reassure her, but he was busy talking into a voice-recorder.

He must have felt her looking at him, because he put the recorder down on the bed and smiled at her. "Don't worry, Benny. I won't let anything happen to you."

For some reason, she believed him. Not that he could actually save her from her vampire brother, but that he was willing to try.

She slid off the dresser and went into the bathroom. She splashed the funky-smelling water on her face and even forced herself to take a few sips. God, how could we forget to bring bottled water?

She wiped her face on a rough towel, then went out and stood against the wall near the bathroom door. "So where do you guys think he is?"

"Could be anywhere now that it's dark," Chamey said. "Prowling the streets or hanging out in a seedy bar. Maybe on a boat on the Savannah River, slaughtering its occupants."

"On a boat?" Kim said.

Something in her voice made Benson look up. Her sister-in-law's cute pixie face was drawn tight. Her eyes glittered. "Maybe on his way to see old friends?"

"Remember," Chamey said, "even if it's come to that, it's not Jack. It's the parasite."

Kim just stared back at him, her face emotionless.

"I don't believe he's gone." Chamey's voice was firm. "It's like I can feel it --he's not far away."

A cold chill trickled down Benson's arms despite the stifling room. She wanted to believe her brother was still in his right mind too. If only she could find him, talk to him.... she was sure she could bring him back, at least long enough to get the antidote in him.

"Well," she said, "we have a lot of ground to cover between here and the river, if that's even where he went. I mean, damn, I don't wanna go out there, but what else are we supposed to do?"

Kim and Chamey didn't answer. Someone had knocked on the door.

It came again, a slow, sharp rapping sound.

Benson froze against the wall. Her heart thudded in her chest.

The knock came again. Louder.

"D-did one of you order a pizza?" Chamey managed to say, his voice strangely high. "Maybe a large with everything?"

Benson's leg muscles loosened just enough that she could begin a slow backward retreat for the bathroom. One small, halting step at a time.

Coward.

Yeah, so what? She ignored the guilt and kept moving. Her instinct to run was overwhelming. She didn't have to see him or hear his voice. She just knew her brother was on the other side of the door.

A nightmare seemed to play out in front of her.

Kim, syringe in hand, walked to the door. She looked through the peephole, then glanced over her shoulder at Chamey. "Nobody," she mouthed, but the look on her face said she didn't believe it.

"Kim," Benson hissed at her. "Get away from the door!"

Instead, Kim reached down and took the doorknob in her hand.

Before she could turn it, Chamey was there. He put out an arm out and moved Kim toward the dresser. He wrapped his hand around the doorknob. The crossbow in his other hand was shaking.

"I've got that creepy feeling, don't you guys?"

She was creeped out all right. That was putting it mildly. She had reached the bathroom door now. No exit in there, not even a small window to squeeze through.