Curse Of Darkness By Steven Gilby - Chapter Eight

We both ran as fast as we could to Vincent's place where we nearly busted down the door just to open it.
By now Razz's clothes were soaked in a mass amount of blood. I didn't think someone could bleed that much from a small knife like that. But then again, I'd never cut myself worse than a paper cut all my life.
"Vat in ze hell do you sink you are doink?!"
"We need blood," Robert yelled.
"We do not have any here at the moment, and we are thirty minutes away from the nearest blood depository."
"Then what do you propose we do, Magnus?"
He shrugged and walked away. I don't blame him. This is my problem, maybe ours, but I'm the one who stabbed Razz, not Robert. Her face was losing its color.
We hadn't pulled the knife out for fear of even more blood loss even faster than with the knife in, but we didn't really have time for that anymore. I pulled the knife out of her back. It made a small gooey sound and more blood came out. At this point I did the only thing I could think of. I put the blade to my wrist and sliced as deep as I could. Ouch! It hurt really bad, but if this saves Razz then I could overlook the pain.
Blood ran thick from my wrist as I put it up to her mouth. She grabbed my arm as hard as she could, but it wasn't all that hard.
She drank my blood and healed the wound. She had still lost a lot of blood and we needed to get her somewhere to get blood.
"Where's Mick's Meats at?" I screamed.
"About five minutes driving from here." Vincent said that as he came out of the basement. He was calm. I noticed that about him whenever I saw him. Every time we met he seemed to be so mellow, so laid back. It didn't seem natural.
Me and Robert picked up Razz and carried her to Vincent's blue four-door Chevy truck. It was a really nice blue, too. Darker than sky blue, but lighter than regular blue. I'm not really a car person so I don't think I could tell you the year and model or make or whatever you say after you say "That's a Chevy 'blank'" ya know?
Me and Robert sat in the bed with Razz laying in-between us. Vincent drove, of course, while Magnus and Eddie stayed back at the house. Magnus would have come but he thought Eddie might need some help with the tests he was going to run while we were gone.
Vincent told us to hold on as the truck rumbled and sped down the road.
In less than two minutes I could see Mick's butcher shop. Vincent came to a screeching halt in front of the place and me and Robert carried Razz inside as fast as we could.
"Mick!" I yelled.
"G'day, mate. What's this now," he took a look at what, or rather who we were bringing in, "Razz? I'll get the stuff, mate!"
Mick went back to get the stuff he used on me before to use on Razz now. I knew how this worked so I didn't bother staying to watch him pump her with blood. Robert had stayed in that room only a few seconds longer than I before following me out. He followed me outside where Vincent was waiting at the door.
"Hey," he said, I ignored him, "Hey! Don't walk away when I'm talking to you. Its because of you we're in this predicament."
Vincent saw where this was going and said he was going to go check on how Mick was doing with Razz.
"What do you want me to say, huh? You want me to say what I did? I know what the fuck I did, ok! I stabbed Razz. I stabbed her right in the back because for some reason she wouldn't let me kill you. Now why is that, I wonder?"
He got angry and paced in a circle one time before saying anything. "I swear if anything happens to my sister I will kill you where you stand, got it?"
Sister?! That's about as shocking as a surprise kick in the balls without the pain. She's related to him?! I decided to wait until we got back to Eddie's to talk about this. I wonder when we were actually going back to Eddie's place.
Cars seemed to endlessly drive by, that smog smell gets really nasty after a while, but I didn't want to go back inside.
"Your sister?!"
"What? She didn't tell you after you died?"
"No. What little I can remember is that you were at that house with the werewolf that killed me the night I died. I thought you had something to do with James' death so me and Razz looked into it."
He looked at me with a somewhat surprised look. "They sent Razz to look into James' murder?"
I looked at him like he was stupid. How could he not know it was Razz?
"Who the hell did you think it was, Robert?"
"Well, like you said, it was night. I couldn't see who was chasing after me. What I was wondering was why you were with a hunter."
"What's a hunter?"
"You need to be schooled on our little world before you just jump in with the big dogs and think you can fight."
Big dogs, huh? If I'm dealing with the big dogs I better be on my guard. I still don't know what kind of shit I've been dealing with since I died.
"A hunter is a vampire or werewolf who hunts their own kind and the other. Humans are rogues, werewolves and vampires are hunters."
"So Razz is…" A hunter? I don't know why I couldn't finish the sentence. She has her reasons for doing it. I mean there's "the balance" or whatever kind of bullshit she fed me.
"Apparently!"
"So what about the balance?"
"What?" He didn't know what I was talking about. After a few moments he smiled big. "The balance is a load of crap that Razz says to humans. I don't think she has had the chance to tell you why she does it."
I did wonder why, but I wasn't going to ask him for the answer. I still wanted to kill him, although the feeling had dissipated a little since I ended up stabbing Razz instead. But still, the feeling to ask him was strong.
"I can tell you want to ask me. But I can also tell that you do not want me to tell you," He turned around and started to walk away, "Very well, then. Ask Razz."
He's getting away you dumass , I thought. It was my body against itself. The other side had a very convincing argument. But what about Razz? Razz will be fine! You've waited how long to kill him and now you won't because of Razz ? It's more complicated than that, OK? OH GOD, WOULD THEY JUST SHUT UP!?
"'Ey, mate," I jumped. I didn't even hear him come outside. He laughed a little at me. "Don't be so jumpy, mate. It's Razz. She's all better now if you want to see her. She's asking for ya if that helps any."
I nodded and without words I walked inside to see Razz. I stopped about six feet from where she was. She was sitting in an old wooden chair with fabric and padding for a semi-comfortable seat; it was the same chair I was put in when I needed blood. Her head was down so her hair covered most of her face; there was that link of visible face down the middle where her hair was parted. The smell of blood and butchered meat and coolness in the air hit hard after smelling smog and feeling the warmth outside.
Vincent was standing by Razz almost like a body guard. Mick was by the door. His size almost made him good enough to be a bouncer. I never really noticed him before. Last time I was here I could barely stay awake and after I was all better I just walked out without really looking at him. I was concentrated on the door. I got a good look at him this time. Short beard, blue eyes, dark tan. Large build, but like I said, not big enough to be a bouncer. His shirt fit loosely over his body. Maybe he shops at a big and tall store. Can't get clothes that big at any Wal-Mart I've been to.
Razz looked up at me, her face had color again. I smiled and walked closer to her.
"Hey, Mick." Vincent whispered.
Mick didn't bother following his lead. He almost yelled out "Yeah, mate?"
"Let me show you my truck. I think you'd like it."
This time he followed his lead. "Yeah, mate. Right behind ya."
I knelt down in front of Razz and looked into her eyes and she looked into mine. Gateway to the soul. Those words were never truer.