The Love of Blood - Part 1

The Love of Blood


         The bell rang not a second too early, and was immediately followed by a shuffle of people trying to get out of study hall and out of school as quickly as possible. I snatched my notebook off the desk and followed the other seniors out. Having already packed my bag, I avoided the congested locker room and was out the door where I met with Julie. She was leaning against the building, and pushed off, coming over to walk next to me.
         “So did you watch Heroes last night?” I asked her eagerly.
         She looked to me with an eyebrow raised and a small smile. “Umm, Bella, we’ve already had this discussion.”
         I smacked myself mentally. “Oh, that’s right. You watch what? 24?” I rolled my eyes playfully. “Come on, skip it next Monday. 24’s got nothing on Heroes.”
         “Yeah, well the problem with 24 is that once you’re hooked, you can’t skip a single episode, ‘cause then you lose the entire plot.”
         “Search it on Youtube,” I suggested.
         “I tried. Those assholes keep taking it down, because it’s ‘copyrighted’,” she said doing quotation signs with her fingers.
         “Well, you could tape it.”
         Julie shrugged. “I’ll think about it.”
         “Trust me,” I said, feigning extreme seriousness, “One hour of Heroes will change your life.”
         Julie laughed. “Bella, you have a problem.”
         She suddenly nudged me with her elbow and leaned her head close. “Hey, check it out. That weird guy is there again.
         I looked up out of the corner of my eye and made out his figure in the same unbranded, little black car parked across the street. The windows were tinted slightly, and he wasn’t looking at us, but he was wearing sunglasses, so I couldn’t be sure.
         “I wonder if his kid goes to our school or something,” Julie whispered.
         “He doesn’t seem like the family type to me,” I whispered back.
He seemed more like a corporate kind of guy. Maybe a lawyer…or a hit-man….
      “Besides,” I continued, “he’s right outside the school zone, just sitting there. Almost every day. Doesn’t that disturb you a little?”
    Julie snickered. “Good point. But, that guy is totally gorgeous. It’s weird that he’s hanging around a high school. He should be dating a supermodel or something.”
    “Or two,” I added jokingly.
    “Yeah. I could see that.”



         As soon as we made it to Julie’s house, we kicked off our shoes by the door. I unpacked in the living room and started my homework while Julie raided the kitchen, and returned with two glasses of milk and a plate heaped with Oreos.
By four O’clock the Oreos were gone and I was only half-way through my packet on Rome. For the first time in my life I hated Italy.
         “You know, the paper on this is due Thursday. Damn Romans. Would it have killed them to make the reign of their empire a little shorter?”
         Julie snorted. “I feel your pain. Our history class had to do that paper last week.”
         “What’d you get?”
         “B+.”
         “Not bad.”
         She laughed. “Not bad? Actually that’s excellent compared to the effort I put into it.”
         I laughed with her. “Nice.”
         “Tell me about it.”
         “Hey, you still eating healthy crap at your house?”
         I groaned. “Don’t remind me. If it wasn’t for the vending machines at school I would die. I think we’re having spinach and lean turkey tonight. Do you know how nasty lean turkey is with no flavoring?”
         “I don’t think I want to know. Hey, you can stay over for dinner. My mom’s making general tsao’s chicken. And garlic bread because they go so well together,” she finished sarcastically.
         “I really don’t care. Julie, you’re a life saver. I’m gonna go call my mom now.”

*****

         “See ya tomorrow.”
         “Yeah. And thanks for dinner. I owe you.”
         Julie smiled. “No problem. Bye.”
         “Bye.”
         Julie closed the door and I turned to walk home, when I saw something that froze me in mid-step. The unbranded, black car was sitting across the street, a block up. It was too dark to tell if the man was in it or not. I swallowed as droplets of fear pinpricked their way up my spine.
         What if he was….no, he couldn’t be. This was just pure coincidence I reasoned with myself. Pure coincidence. But even as I gained back some of my confidence and gingerly made my way down the front steps, I couldn’t help but think that I should have taken Julie’s dad’s offer on a ride home. But I would look stupid if I went back now. And this was probably all nothing. Probably…well, I could probably run if he got out of the car. What was I thinking? This was stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
And yet, as I strode steadily across the street, careful not to look at the car, my heart felt as if it was trying to break free of my rib cage and fly in fear. I could hear nothing but its pulsing fury and the throb of blood in my neck.
      Eyes straight, walk fast. I chanted to myself. Eyes straight, walk fast.
      Eyes straight - No, I quickly glanced out of the corner of my eye and back, but not quickly enough to miss the blur of a tall silhouette now standing by the car.
    My heart lept in my throat. No! I spun around and slammed into a body that grabbed me in a vice grip. There were no footsteps….I screamed, but the cold hand that clamped over my mouth muffled it. I struggled, as a strong, icy scent that burned like hellfire filled my nostrils and then there was nothing.


*****


         I woke groggily to an endless darkness that would have frightened me if my mind had been in its right state. I rolled over in my bed-wait, my bed? Panic fluttered in my chest. Where was I? This wasn’t home. I struggled to lift my leaden eyelids and my vision cleared to two dark, large eyes watching me.
         “Ah, you’re awake.”
I screamed and tried to fling myself back, only hitting the sofa.
         “No wait, Bella calm down!”
         “No! Get away from me!”
         I tried to hit him, but he grabbed my wrists as if they were twigs and held me still. I tried to curl into a ball.
         “Don’t hurt me.” My voice cracked.
         “I won’t,” he said firmly.
         My eyes flew open in surprise. I was expecting pain. My racing heart slowly calmed. There was something about his voice that I trusted, that made me stop struggling. I blinked away tears and gasped when I remembered who he was and what had happened.
         It was the man who owned the black car. He abducted me. But strangely enough, his handsome face was concerned as he looked down at me.
         “Bella, are you okay?”
         I winced as the grip on my wrists didn’t let up. His eyes widened, and he quickly let me go.
         “Sorry.”
         “Why did you kidnap me?” I blurted, sitting up.
         He looked sheepish. “Ah, that.”
         “Uh, yeah, that!” I confirmed incredulously.
         He pulled himself off the floor to sit next to me on the couch and sighed.
         “First of all, I apologize about how that happened earlier. And I suggest that you get comfortable, because the story why you’re here is going to take a while.”
         He kidnapped me to tell me a story?
         And then it hit me. I was supposed to be home!
         “Hey wait, what time is it?”
         “It’s Wednesday morning. 4 O’clock.”
         I sat up, shocked. “What?!?! I was gone for that long? I can’t stay here, you have to take me home!”
I sprang up towards the door, and as though someone hit me in the head with a bat, a painful, red blur burst in my brain, and the man caught me in his arms as I collapsed.
“I don’t think you want to do that. You’re still too disoriented from the spell I put on you.”
         “A spell? What are you-? But that’s imposs…whatever. I don’t give a crap,” I said weakly. Just give me an Advil and let me go home.”
         “Bella, I kidnapped you,” he said softly. “Why would I just let you go?”
         “Good point, bastard…” I mumbled.
         I was expecting a backhand to the face or something for saying that, but he simply lifted my limp body and carried me back to couch. I could barely move my limbs as he gently placed me down and covered me with a warm blanket.
         “You can’t do this. I can’t stay here,” I managed to hiss lightly. “My family…”
         My voice trailed off as he placed a soft pillow behind my head. My eyelids had fallen shut like iron gates, but not before I saw him walk away to another part of the house. A moment later he tapped my shoulder and I cracked an eye open to look at him. I had heard no footsteps.
         “Why don’t you make sound when you walk?” I asked faintly.
         He ignored my question and held out a tall glass filled with a carbonated, light-blue liquid. “Here, drink this. It’ll help you sleep.”
          I tried to reach out and take it, but I had trouble moving. Seeing that, he helped me sit up and raised the glass to my lips so I could drink. My nose crinkled by reflex at the smell. It didn’t smell unpleasant, it actually smelled sweet; just…strange. As for the taste, I couldn’t describe it even if I had been in my right mind. I mean, I was too tired and in too much pain to worry about poison. I would have taken anything if I knew it would get rid of my torturous headache. I managed to down the fizzy drink, and the man gently lowered me back down so I could sleep. Already, I could feel the pain disappearing.
         “Sleep well, Bella.” He dimmed the lamp and turned to leave.
         “Hey wait,” I called softly.
         He looked back at me. “Yes?”
“What’s your name?”
         “Icarus Wolfe.”
         “Icarus,” I repeated. “What are you? Greek?”
         I could barely make out his face, but I could see the glint of a sharp tooth, and a small smile on his lips.
         “You wouldn’t believe what I am.”