Chapter 14
An entire week passes.
Granted, it’s an entire week of being with Michael alone, but it just doesn’t seem fair. As much as I feel for Michael, and he truly was romantic all the time, I can’t help but worry for Vincent.
For all his arrogance, eccentricity, sarcasm and complete inability to take anything seriously, I miss him. I’m genuinely concerned about him, so in a way, I can’t truly enjoy my time with Michael. Michael and I had left out an important detail, and for all we knew, Vincent could be in serious danger because of that.
Michael is beating himself up about it too. Even when we go out, I can tell his mind was somewhere else. We both feel guilt over Vincent, I suppose. While we’re together having a good time, we’d condemned our friend to an unknown fate. And I just can’t get Vincent’s expression out of my mind. He’d felt betrayed and hurt. He’d looked at us in complete disappointment, like we were mere children.
I guess for Michael it’s even worse. It’s one thing for me, I haven’t known Vincent for anywhere near as long as Michael has. Besides, I suppose Vincent expected more from Michael; he is over 500 years old, after all. On top of that, he has all these gifts that were given to him for being a servant of nature…
And that’s when the ugly thought hits me. I don’t even want to consider it, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t enter my head. Did Michael purposely leave out the details of my mother’s disappearance from Vincent to have a secret only he shared with me? Did he want to be the hero to help me and prevent Vincent from doing so? It’s torture thinking about this. I have no way of stopping myself, though. Eventually, I have to ask him. I just don’t know how to go about doing so. But if we’re to be strictly honest with one another, I should have no worries or concerns.
So I just come out and ask one morning after a sleepless night.
“That’s what’s been on your mind this entire time?” Michael asks, slightly taken aback by the question. “That would be a really terrible thing for anyone to do, especially to a friend. Vincenzo is my oldest friend, my brother. If I did that to him, I truly would be scum. To answer your question, no, I wasn’t hoping for alone time with you at the expense of Vincenzo’s life. You do mean a lot to me, but I won’t trade your life for his, or his for yours. I can’t put either of you in that position. I’m afraid it was my incompetence that got us into this situation.”
He adjusts himself in his chair and cracks his neck. He exhales deeply before continuing.
“I have to be honest,” he says. “Your mother’s disappearance was on my mind, but I had a lot going on. I had already started getting information on her abduction, but then everything sort of accelerated on us. It became an issue of time, and somewhere along the line, it slipped my mind. It’s not that you don’t mean a lot to me, it’s just that I was thinking of the entire world here. There would be no world for your mother to come back to if we didn’t save it.”
“So, you think she’s alive?” I inquire curiously as I notice Michael is tripping himself up. “Did you think she could be a keeper since I’m one? Did you know this all along?”
“Not even Vincent could know if she was or is a keeper,” Michael answers with confusion on his face. “Vincent can do much with a person’s mind, but being a keeper is more of a physical status. You’d have to physically have the keeper in front of you. In all honesty, the idea that she might have been a keeper had entered my mind. But I wasn’t going to lead you on just a hunch or suspicion. It would have been unfair.”
“How so? Why would it have been unfair for you to tell me what you were thinking?”
“Because if she’s a keeper, or was a keeper,” Michael begins slowly, “there’s a good chance she’s alive. But I don’t want you to get your hopes up; you’ve suffered enough.”
“My mother could be alive? But why wouldn’t she come back? She would’ve come to see me!”
“I’m just saying what I think,” Michael states clearly. “You want to know what’s on my mind at all times? I can do that, but can you handle it? Vincenzo and I have seen a lot of things; we have unique perspectives. You might not want to know what we’re thinking. Sometimes it’s best to leave things a mystery, if only for your sanity. I’m not saying to stay ignorant forever of the world around you. I’m just suggesting that perhaps you could go slower. Learn at a pace you can handle. If you learn too much too fast, it might be too much to take in at once. That’s why I kept your status as a keeper from you. I wanted to slowly work you up to that discovery. Vincenzo and I have different ways of doing things, and I still maintain that he threw you into the deep end of the swimming pool at much too early an age. You’ve had so much to deal with; I couldn’t agree with his choice. And I would caution you, if you ask Vincenzo to always tell you what’s on his mind, he will. And he won’t sugarcoat things, as he always likes to point out. Sometimes, even Vincenzo himself needs to be led into things slowly. He doesn’t know I’m doing it, but he can be very passionate about things, and sometimes, I have to give him information one piece at a time.”
“You’re saying you’re able to manipulate Vincent?”
“No, no,” Michael states defensively. “I would never say that. I believe manipulation has a very ugly stigma attached to it. It has its own place, especially in the work we do. It can help to avoid combat and bloodshed. As a matter of fact, I compliment Vincenzo all the time on his ability to manipulate our enemies. I suppose he’s manipulated me hundreds of times. All I was saying was, sometimes I know what Vincenzo will do with a certain set of information. So I work with that, but I never lie to him. For example, Vincenzo loves conspiracies. It’s one of his things. He thinks a lot of things that have happened in history have been products of conspiracies.”
“Vincent is a conspiracy theorist? That’s almost unbelievable.”
“Yes, I can imagine why it would seem more than a little out of place,” Michael admits with a smile beginning to form on his face. “We’re constantly getting into arguments over them. One of the most reoccurring is about the U.S.S. Eldridge.”
“Wait, the one about the disappearing ship in Philadelphia?” I ask with a laugh. “What? Does he think that a huge ship like that was able to go invisible or time travel?”
Michael smiles at me.
“Yes well, we’ve been at the center of a lot them before. Several conspiracies have revolved around us, actually,” he says with a slight smirk. “Stranger things have happened throughout history. The U.S.S. Eldridge is a special one for him, I guess…I don’t think the government had the technology at the time, but he disagrees. The problem is that the government has had contact with some supers, and through that contact, they have been able to duplicate the supernatural abilities of some supers. It’s a bit troublesome, because the government doesn’t care about the balance.”
“The government knows about supers?” I ask incredulously.
“About some of us,” Michael says, looking troubled. “I’ve managed to rescue several supers from government facilities. The tribe is tasked with this type of rescue as a high priority, so the information the governments around the world can get is minimal. Still, they know there is more out there than just humanity. Although some governments have classified supers as extraterrestrials, if you can believe that.”
“That, I can believe,” I say as I review all of his statements. “But wait a second; you guys were actually involved in some conspiracies? Like what?”
“Well, it’s not really something to brag about,” Michael says with a slight blush. “We were a couple of hell raisers, I guess. When technology was coming out, we were really fascinated by it. I think our first one was—”
Michael’s voice is cut off by an opening and a quick slamming of the front door. He stands up and gets in front of me without me even being able to track his movement. I peek around his body. There’s a man with messed up hair and he’s doubled over on the floor.
“Vincenzo!” Michael screams as he runs to
ward the figure.
Michael grabs Vincent’s body and picks him up. I’m finally able to see Vincent’s face and his perfect features are swollen and bleeding. How could this happen?
“Clear the table,” Michael orders as he brings Vincent toward the kitchen. He unbuttons Vincent’s shirt and I wince as I see the wounds. Acidic burns litter his body, and shards of what seem like glass are sticking out all over Vincent’s torso. “What is this? Why hasn’t your healing kicked in?”
“Hey there Mikey,” Vincent says with a weak smile. Blood spurts from his mouth freely. “I didn’t think we’d ever have our roles reversed. It’s a huge difference being the one cradled in your arms little brother…I don’t think I like it.”
“Now is not the time for jokes, you fool,” Michael growls in frustration. “What happened to you?”
“Klein,” Vincent coughs as he chokes on his own blood. “I’m afraid it’s like you said, Mikey…my arrogance would be my downfall. He’s been experimenting on fledgling vampires. He’s been planning on killing me for a while, it would seem. He calls it Hela. A bit dramatic, don’t you think? It’s the first real weapon against vampire kind. Klein convinced the council that they needed to create this for me. That they needed a weapon for protection for when I would eventually try to overthrow the council…they didn’t listen to a word I said.”
“I could have told you that. Bite down,” Michael says as he places his left hand inside Vincent’s mouth. He begins pulling the pieces of glass out of Vincent’s body with his right hand, letting it drop on the floor near him. Vincent struggles weakly against Michael’s grip in pain. I can’t help but weep as I see Vincent’s eyes well up with water as well. “Be at ease, my brother. Let me be the one to save you this time. Bite down as hard as you can. Forget about the pain.”
“I think I saw your mother,” Vincent screams as he moves his head away from Michael’s hand violently. “If I die, let her know this. She has become younger I think…but think I might be hallucinating right now. I don’t really know much. She didn’t come back because she couldn’t explain her youthful appearance. Klein has her completely convinced only he can protect her.”
I gasp at the news. Michael nods and places his hand back inside Vincent’s mouth. But Vincent doesn’t bite down. His eyes are rolling towards the back of his head. Michael slaps him awake.
“We will save her,” Michael growls furiously. He is extremely feral right now. I notice that although still in his human form, Michael’s canine teeth have become extremely pronounced. “But you must wake up! We will save your kind! But we need you, their elder, alive and there to lead the fight!”
Vincent laughs until it turns into a wheezing cough. He nods at Michael several times as if trying to psych himself up. He bites down on Michael’s hand and nods once more. Michael continues tending to Vincent’s wounds. The vampire writhes in pure agony with each piece of glass that is removed.
It’s a long and arduous procedure. It’s something I don’t think I’ll ever forget. But after it’s done, Michael wraps Vincent’s wounds up and places him gently on the sofa. Vincent’s face is pale. He seems to be dying.
“I’ll go find herbs that I know will work on him,” Michael instructs me. I’m in too much of a panic to say a word. “I need you to watch over him. It’ll take some time to gather the herbs. And as much as I hate it, I must go to a blood bank. He needs to feed. His healing factor isn’t kicking in at all. It’s like it’s been completely neutralized. He’s dying…keep him awake; don’t let him close his eyes.”
I can’t even nod. The strongest vampire in the world is dying on my sofa. Michael leaves in such a hurry he doesn’t even bother to close the door behind him. I gather myself and close the door, then rush to Vincent’s side.
“Hi there, Goldilocks,” he says with a weak smile as his trembling hand reaches for my hair. I grab his hand and help it on its way. “That’s awful sweet of you. I guess I don’t look much like Prince Charming right now, do I?”
He coughs weakly and winces in pain. I grab his hand and kiss it. He just can’t leave me, not now, not ever.
“It was my fault,” Vincent continues. “I let the stupid babies hit me, thinking Klein was an arrogant prick. Turns out, the joke’s on me. I’m the arrogant idiot. And now…as I lay dying, I can’t help but think about how I leave this world behind. If I were to die now, Klein would have them completely deceived. This Hela poison will destroy the entire species. It’s like introducing an atomic bomb to cavemen. Vampires are harmful enough to one another as it is, we don’t need…don’t need…to make it any easier for them to hurt one another. It’s just not right.”
I notice the life flow slowly away from Vincent’s eyes. I shake his hand vigorously.
“Hey, I heard that you like conspiracies?” I say meekly, desperately trying to restore his attention. “I love conspiracies. I heard one of your favorites is the Philadelphia Experiment. Is that right? I don’t know much about it, but I’ve read about it. Why do you like it so much? Why do you think the government succeeded?”
He only looks at me and tries to make a smile. He isn’t even strong enough to manage that. He swallows before speaking.
“It would appear that you and Michael have been gossiping behind my back like a couple of old hens…how very impolite.”
“Vincent, you can’t die,” I say in a trembling voice. “You’re supposed to be the badass vampire. The oldest one, remember? Everyone is just a child compared to you!”
“It would appear I’ve become senile in my old age. I dropped…my guard. I’m not kicking the bucket yet, but if I do, take care of Michael, okay? You both, you both take care of one another. Don’t let Klein win…he’s trying to destroy the world. And with this new weapon…he could. It makes any vampire capable of killing any other vampire, regardless of age and experience. It neutralizes the battlefield…it’s a genocidal equalizer. He’ll have my entire kind under his boot, and you don’t want to see what a vampire army can do. They’ll destroy the slayers, the tribe, everything. Klein doesn’t respect the balance…he’ll suck all of humanity dry. The world will die.”
I feel my body shake nervously. The tears are pouring out of my eyes uncontrollably. I’m that scared little child in my mother’s kitchen again. I’m completely helpless. Klein would take another person I cared about and I can’t do a thing to stop him.
“You can’t leave me,” I plead with Vincent. “And we aren’t a duo. This stopped being the Vincent and Michael show the minute you two pulled me into your lives. You said you loved me! Do you really? Or are you really just a lying, manipulative bloodsucker?!”
“I am in love with you,” Vincent says with a weak smile as his eyes browse my face.
“Then prove it, you rotten bastard,” I demand angrily. “Prove to me that you’re not being controlled by my stupid keeper mojo. Prove to me that you actually love me for me. Stay here with me. Don’t let Klein win. Don’t leave me!”
“It’s easy to scream when you don’t have mortal injuries,” he replies softly as he continues to look me over. “Tone down the volume, Goldilocks; you’re killing me here.”
“No, I’m not killing you,” I correct tenaciously. “I’m not the one that did this to you. Klein did. And you’re letting him win. Think about how smug you can be after you destroy Klein’s little plan. Think about how much booze you’ll be downing in celebration. You’ll destroy the Coronam. You’ll make Isabella and me very proud! Stay with me, stay for love. Stay for Michael. Stay for me! You’re so willing to let go! I demand of you, Vincenzo! Now wake up, damn it!”
“It’s possible that I’m just not used to pain,” Vincent says as he slowly moves his head around to examine his body. “I can’t move. It burns all over. I haven’t felt pain…in a very long time. I‘ll stay with you as long as I can. But I make no promises.”
“Then you’re nothing but a coward,” I say in protest. “Michael will be back here soon; don’t you care about us anymore?”
<
br /> Vincent takes a deep breath and sighs. I feel his hand tighten around my own. He uses his other hand to prop himself up against the corner of the sofa.
“Stay for you, then?” Vincent muses softly. “I’m not one for promises; I don’t have the stomach for it. Then you have to keep them, of course. But I’ll hang around a little longer. So, you have my word. I promise to you to never leave your side, lest death claim either of us.”
“Must you be so dark?!”
“Like I said, I don’t have the stomach for promises,” he explains as he continues to struggle. “If I happen to die suddenly, it would be out of my control. Regardless, tell me all about how you two spent your time together. Did the pup do anything productive? My lord, I can’t even feel my legs.”
“Stop being such a baby,” I scold him harshly. “All you have to do is stay awake. How did you make it here anyway if you were hurt so badly?”
“I flew,” he explains softly as he shakes himself awake. “It took all my strength…you seem to have forgotten our talks. When you turn into a vampire, everything is enhanced. That includes pain. When you get to where I was in life, you feel invincible. I really haven’t felt pain in centuries, maybe more. It’s all a bit hazy and I’m woozy right now. That rat bastard Klein though…if I do live, I will have to take his head. Did the Hela work on Michael? Was he in pain from touching it?”
“I don’t know,” I admit frankly. “I was too busy worrying about you. It was gory; I wasn’t ready for it. Besides, I don’t think Michael would’ve noticed; he was way too focused.”
Vincent nods as he continues to try to move his limbs with little success. He grunts in frustration and curses under his breath.
“Your mother,” he begins after failing to move. “She’s a real looker. She’s the source of your pretty face, I take it? I mean, your father is good-looking I guess, but I’m not into guys.”
He laughs before the pain causes him to stop. He again curses under his breath at his failings. As much as I want Vincent to tell me everything about my mother, I can’t think of anything other than Vincent’s wellbeing.
“She looked even younger than you,” he continues. “I suppose that’s why she couldn’t come back to face your father. I was able to read her mind; it’s easier for me to do with my own kind. I can do so from quite a distance. That’s probably why Klein wants me dead. All of my abilities work better against my fellow vampires…she couldn’t stand the idea of charming your dad. And Klein has her convinced she isn’t worth spit.”
“You kind of told me that earlier,” I say as I notice he’s losing consciousness. “Focus on me, Vincent. I need you to stay awake.”
“Well sorry if I’m hallucinating here,” Vincent says wryly. My sharp remark at least stirs him a little. “Damn you’re one mean nurse. I need TLC here, woman. Tender, loving care. Where did you get your nursing license from?”
“You’re screaming and complaining,” I notice aloud. “That’s good. Must mean you have plenty of strength then. So stop complaining like some sort of baby and buck up. Or keep complaining if that’s what it takes to keep you awake. I doubt Michael will take more than an hour.”
“An hour?!” he protests again. “What kind of service is this? I’m afraid I’m going to have to see your manager.”
“Can you be serious for once?”
“Can you be ugly? No? It’s not in your nature,” he says softly as he begins to stare at me again. I feel like he’s undressing me with his eyes…I blush in response. “I took care of the town. And your father’s dream? To have a baby girl…it broke my heart, but I did as you asked. It was for the best. He won’t have money problems either, I gave him some of the patents Michael and I hold. He’s not even moving either. It would appear he was always himself.”
I lift up Vincent’s head as I notice he is limping sideways, almost falling off my sofa.
“Thanks for that,” he says. “What a sad state of affairs this has turned out to be. We’re worse off than I thought originally, by the way. There’s a huge, I mean completely obscene reward for our collective heads. Except yours, of course. He wants you alive. It destroyed your mother to know about your troubles.”
While Vincent continues to complain, I notice he seems less likely to lose consciousness while he’s griping. It seemed that the more Vincent had to whine about, the more lucid and more awake he becomes. Normally, I’d make a joke or two at his expense because of this. But for now, I’m more than content to let him talk about my mother and father. As long as he’s alive to tell me about it all later, that’s all that’s important.
“Of course you realize that this complicates matters even more now,” Vincent continues ranting. “Once again, everything falls apart. We’re forced to move faster just because some jackass wants us to get ashed. Well, I’ll ash him before he has the chance. I’m telling you, we have a good thing going here. And you know what’s the worst part of all of this? No matter what we do, that Hela venom will never disappear now. There’s no way we can undo the damage Klein has done. I almost wish Cain was real at this point. Maybe he’d know what to do.”
“Why do you insist on being so cynical? Why can’t Cain be real? Maybe he will care enough to not let his kind die?”
“Cain would be the first vampire,” he explains softly, his eyes widening. “He would be the father of our race. That’s quite an achievement. I doubt he would care to help his species now. Look at how far they’ve fallen. Age and experience used to mean something. Now, all you need is this Hela junk and you can bring any vampire, no matter how old or powerful, to his knees. He’s also managed to destroy his own agenda because he’s an idiot. If he wanted to become more powerful through the use of keepers, why would he introduce something that could allow anyone to kill him?”
“Maybe he’s made himself immune to it?” I suggest politely. “You know, you might be able to do that. Expose yourself to a poison long enough, gain immunity over time? What do you think?”
“It’s possible,” Vincent conjectures with a wide frown. “But this is a poison that affects vampires…you’d think there would be a supernatural component to it. I don’t know if there’s a scientific process to it; if there is, we might be able to reverse the effects by making an antidote. We could administer that antidote to the entire vampire kingdom…”
“There you go, stop being so negative,” I reassure him. “Tell me about whatever you want to talk about. But just stay positive, and stay awake.”
“Awake and positive?” Vincent muses to himself. “You suggested I kept complaining to keep myself awake, correct? Well, let’s talk about Cain then.”
“Cain? I thought you hated the very idea of him?”
“Oh, but I do,” he says. Perhaps the hallucinations haven’t stopped just yet. “But see, that’s the trick. I’ll try to be upbeat and happy by thinking Cain will swoop in and save his people, but then I’ll also be making myself sick when I realize I’m talking about a fairy tale.”
“Whatever works, I guess. You really think in a weird way, though…”
“After a couple lifetimes, you realize your little idiosyncrasies,” he points out. “There’s a lot of loneliness to eternity. After a while, you start talking to yourself a lot, and, well, you get to know yourself. Anyhow, Cain…he was introduced in the Book of Genesis; he’s literally the brother of Abel.”
“I remember, you mentioned it earlier. But are you serious? That’s…pretty crazy.”
“Yeah, I know,” Vincent says with his signature smirk. “That’s why I hate the story so much. There’s only so much I can believe. Anyhow, like I was trying to say, so Cain supposedly kills his brother, Abel, right? And then God himself speaks to him. The motive behind Abel’s murder has varied with every passing decade, but when God confronts him, he supposedly asks Cain ‘where is your brother?’ And Cain, being a badass bad boy, says ‘I don’t know, what am I, my brother’s keeper?’ Then the Bible goes on to talk about God’s wrath. Actually, do you have a Bib
le? Read it yourself, and read it to me if you would, please. It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, I have a Bible,” I answer awkwardly. Kind of strange request for a vampire to make. “Won’t the cross and book burn you or something?”
“This is exactly the type of stereotyping I’m sick and tired of,” Vincent exclaims in frustration. “Would you do me a favor and grab the book? I’m dying here, might as well do my last rites if I need them.”
“Oh would you quit the drama already?” I ask as I get up and go to my bedroom. I call down to him from upstairs. “Don’t fall asleep on me!”
“How could I? This couch is extremely uncomfortable!”
“It’s a sofa,” I say playfully as I come back downstairs and find Vincent awake.
“What’s the difference?” he asks me seriously. “Can you tell me the difference between a couch and a sofa? Does anyone even know the difference? Even the inventors of the thing, do they know the difference?”
“My word, are you always this whiny?” I say as I open up my Bible next to him. “What am I reading, exactly? Do you know?”
“Yeah, it’s Genesis,” he says, showing his knowledge of scripture. “It’s Genesis, it starts at 4:9. I remember the gist, but could you read the exact wording?”
“Well, you mentioned the brother’s keeper part quite colorfully,” I say as I skim my copy. “‘And he said, what hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain—”
“Yeah, Cain cries about it,” Vincent says interrupting my reading. “This is the most interesting part here, keep it going, but skip to…15.”
“All right…” I say as I see Vincent place his hand over his forehead. For some reason, I get the distinct impression that I’m reading a child a bedtime story. “‘And the Lord said unto him, therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And—”
“That’s enough,” Vincent says with a childish smile. “Do you get it? The mark?”
“Yeah, I suppose,” I answer as I close the book and put it on the coffee table. “God cursed Cain; he was forced to leave his family.”
“No, no, no,” Vincent replies with a shake of his head. “The mark is the curse. Remember what you read. ‘The voice of thy brother’s blood.’ The earth was opened to receive Abel’s blood from Cain’s hand. The land would no longer help Cain, ‘a fugitive thou shalt be.’ All that jazz; it’s describing a vampire. I can definitely see the conspiracy behind it, even though I don’t believe he’s real. I can see why people would think he is. It’s all there, in those few sentences.”
“You’re saying that the mark that God gave Cain was vampirism?” I asked cautiously. “That the earth wouldn’t help Cain anymore because of the blood from Abel that was on Cain’s hand?”
“Exactly,” he says with a smile. “The earth wouldn’t help him. This could have easily been mistranslated; I read the original Greek translation. The earth could have actually harmed Cain, which would explain why vampires die in sunlight, unless they get around it somehow. The blood that was on Cain’s hand, that was all he had left. If Cain couldn’t get anything else from the earth to eat, that would have included livestock. He would have only the curse and blood left.”
“That’s…eerily convincing,” I say as I look at all the details. “And why wouldn’t you believe this? You said he would be about what, three thousand years old? Are you that naïve to think he wasn’t able to hide from you?”
“I’m naïve?” he says in puzzlement. “I might be wrong, I’ve said that before. I’m just saying it doesn’t make sense.”
“They did measure time differently back then,” I point out. “Maybe it’s like the mistranslations you mentioned. Maybe he’s much older than that.”
“It’s a possibility,” Vincent answers cautiously. “If he’s real, I’d be a little surprised. But, I’ve seen some crazy things, so I suppose it wouldn’t be such a stretch.”
I move his hair away from his face. He turns to touch my wrist with his face. “You smell nice,” he says with a soft laugh. “It makes me wonder if it’s those keeper pheromones or just a combination of perfume and body wash.”
Before I can even answer, the front door swings open and it’s Michael with an armful of different items. His expression shows surprise at our closeness.
“Vincenzo, I thought you were dying?” Michael stammers as he exchanges looks between Vincent and me.
“It would appear I made myself out to be sicker than I was,” Vincent says with a smile. “And you could say that Izzy helped me pull through the ether of death, as it were.”
“You didn’t feed on her did you?!” Michael asks in shock. Vincent shakes his head and sighs in frustration as Michael walks forward and tosses a blood bag on Vincent’s chest.
“You’re an idiot,” Vincent claims as he turns to look at me. “Would you please help me here? I’m an invalid.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Michael says as he removes the bandages around Vincent’s wounds. “I just didn’t know if you could help yourself at your stage. I literally saw your spirit leaving your body.”
“No,” Vincent says with a grunt as he begins drinking from the bag I place near his mouth. “I was kept awake by Izzy’s incessant prattling. After that, all we had to do was wait for you to come through. And you did. At least, I hope you did, ‘cause this hurts like hell.”
“The poison seems to have lessened the effect of blood to rejuvenate you as well,” Michael notes as he begins crushing herbs over Vincent’s wounds. “What on earth is going on?!”
“We’re going to have to see if this does the trick,” Vincent says as he finishes the blood bag and hands it back to me. I’m more than grossed out at this point. “If this works, we have to keep whatever you dressed my wounds with on us at all times. And then, if we can, we have to see if we can figure out the secret behind the poison. See if it’s something science can combat.”
“But for now, just rest,” I advise softly as I wipe away Vincent’s sweat from his brow. “Michael and I are going to take real good care of you.”
“Hey… Elizabeth,” Vincent says softly. It’s the first time he’s ever called me by my name after meeting me originally back at Jack’s place. “I am truly indebted to you. Thank you.”
I mouth you’re welcome before I notice Vincent close his eyes. I look at Michael and he nods at me.
For now, Vincent’s life rests on the herbs Michael has gathered.