How to Train Your Vampire

I really wanted control of my hands again. It wasn’t even about trying to escape from the situation, it was that my arms hurt from being stuck behind me for so long. My shoulders were on fire.

The men were discussing what to do with me. They knew I could tell them more, but I could be incredibly stubborn. Not only that, I cared very deeply for Scarlet. I would not sell her out to some men so easily.

There was a quiet agreement between the two and then they turned to me.

I swallowed. I could tell when I was in danger. And they knew it to 

I took a deep breath as one came around behind me, the younger of the two. 

The older one stood before me, legs spread and arms folded and asked.

"Where is she?"

To be honest I didn't know.

"Is she alone?"

I remained silent.

I saw the older man nod behind me and then my fingers were being touched.

"How many are there?" He asked again.

I grit my teeth and then my finger started to stretch, then hurt.

There was a loud crack and I couldn't help but scream as the pain blinded me for a second.

When the worst of it had passed I was left gasping. That hurt and it wasn’t like I’d never broken a bone before.

The man waited for me to glare at him before he repeated his question. “How many are—”

But he didn’t finish as a familiar blur landed on him. He staggered backward with a startled cry.

“Scar,” I yanked on my restraints but it was no use. These men were experienced and there was no way for me to pull free with my willpower alone. Part of me wanted to try to smash the chair but my finger was already in immense pain and I didn’t want to break anything else.

I was forced to sit there and watch as Scarlet wrestled, even bit the man, just to rear back hissing as the taste of garlic must have burned her.

She took a good punch to the chest which sent her backward to the floor. The man grabbed a wooden spear from the wall and lifted it.

Hands grabbed mine behind me and I looked back as best as I could.

“Lee?” I asked.

“Hold still,” she ordered. I felt her tugging on the binds.

The man lunged for Scarlet who dodged lithely and landed on her feet. She spat on the floor and wiped the remnants of blood from her mouth.

The binds started to loosen and with a pull I freed them, tried to stand just to fall, taking Lee and the chair with me. My ankles were still secured there. I took a breath. Everything hurt. Now I could see where my finger was twisted and bent back at an awkward angle.

The second man grabbed Lee off of me and put his foot on my back, just to get tackled back down by Sierra. They fell with a painful sound I hoped came from the man.

The man with the spear took another jab at Scarlet but she again dodged and then arms wrapped around her from behind.

A woman I hadn’t seen before braced her still and the man made the final jab.

I screamed and dragged myself forward, pulling the chair with me.

The man frowned and looked down at me.

Blood dripped down the spear-handle to his hands.

And then Elias swung the pipe to hit him square in the head with an almost comedic clang. I kicked at the chair.

Scarlet freed herself from the woman’s grasp, revealing a rapidly expanding red stain on the woman’s jacket.

Still, the spear came with Scarlet so any hope I had that the hunter had missed was dashed.

I looked down and finally Lee descended onto my remaining binds to free me.

Within a moment I had pulled away and rushed to Scarlet’s side where she was struggling to free the spear from her.

Her breathing was ragged as she gave it a good pull, but it stuck in.

“Wait,” I told her, “should we remove this?” I gingerly put a hand on the long shaft.

She nodded and gave it another tug.

Elias dropped the steel pipe with a deafening clatter and looked at the scene before us.

There was blood, lots of it. The man Elias had clubbed was bleeding from a head wound, Scarlet’s blood was dripping freely and the woman that had held Scarlet was also bleeding from a wound in her side. It seemed Scarlet had been kebab’d all the way through.

At least my friends were all safe so far. Sierra was a bit scraped up but otherwise fine as she unraveled herself.

I took a breath. My hand was still on the shaft.

“Hang- hang on,” Elias managed. 

He came up behind Scarlet and messed with something about the spear on her other side. With a couple loud cracks he yanked off two little fin pieces that were preventing us from pulling it out.

“Are you sure this should come out?” I asked Scarlet.

She nodded. “Poison,” she managed through clenched teeth.

“But you’ll bleed more,”I explained.

She shook her head and started to pull the spear out on her own.

It schlicked as it came, bringing more and more blood and tiny bits of flesh with it.  I was relieved that it was only a few small bits rather than an organ or two, but still I held her hand as she did so.

It sounded gross. And when the tip finally cleared her side she let out a rattling breath.

And then she collapsed against me.