The Winter Story part Two
Vicki sat staring at two men trying to figure out why they were all together in a motel room. She cleared her throat a couple of times before asking, "What happened?"
Mike and Henry started talking at the same time, then Henry stopped and gestured for Mike to continue. Mike asked Vicki, "What do you remember?"
She paused taking time to think before saying, "Henry's leaving Toronto. I needed to spend some time with him before he left. So I asked him to drive us up to the cabin and got snowed in."
She glanced at Henry and he lifted his chin to indicate agreement and that she should keep talking.
"After it quit snowing and the drive was plowed, I cleaned up the cabin and packed the car while Henry slept. I took the maul and ax he left by the door around back to put them in the storage bin and let the heavy lid drop back in place.
As I was heading back to the door, I heard some cracking and looked up to see a dragon claw of ice coming at me." She demanded again, "What happened?"
This time Mike pointed to Henry, "Your turn."
Henry's face clouded over with sorrow, "I found you buried under the ice and snow that had slid off the roof."
Shaking, she said, "That's not all."
Henry moved his head from side to side, "No, that's not all. The injuries were fatal. To stop the dying process, I fed you my blood and brought you here to wait for Mike. He offered me his blood so that I could feed you again. You're vampire."
The silver flashes coming from Vicki's eyes pinned Henry and Mike to the floor as she growled deep in her throat.
Henry rushed to Vicki and held her tight as he ordered Mike to leave.
Mike protested, "Why?"
The growls coming from deep within Vicki's throat became snarls and Mike saw the points of fangs in Vicki's mouth.
Henry held Vicki back as she struggled to reach Mike, "She's an angry, hungry young vampire looking for prey. If you don't want to be dinner, get out of here."
Mike picked up his coat, headed for the door and nodded as Henry said, "I'll call when it's safe."
Henry's eyes turned coal black as his vampire gifts overpowered his child demanding that she obey him without question. Vicki snarled then quit struggling in his arms.
"Good. You can feed or I can end your life." Henry dropped some of his hold on Vicki and added, "The choice is yours."
"That's it? Die or exist as a vampire. Why?"
"I couldn't stand by and watch you leave me."
"I could've lived. You didn't have to do this to me."
"I've seen enough injuries in five hundred years to know fatal when I see it. You were half frozen, with a head bleed, your chest was crushed and the sack around the heart was filling with blood. You would have lived only for a few more minutes. If I fed you blood, I'd have enough time to drive us to where the phone worked. As soon as I could, I called Mike and he came. He could no more let you die than I could. We gave you a choice you didn't otherwise have."
"I need to talk to Mike."
Speaking slowly with power he said, "Your vampire will attack him. He can't afford to lose any more blood. It was necessary for me to take more than is safe before feeding you the last time. You need to hunt."
"I don't want to kill anyone."
"I won't let you kill."
Henry and Vicki stood behind the restaurant that was next to the motel and waited. When one of the cooks came out for a quick break, he took control of the cook's mind. Then motioned for Vicki to come closer, "Watch what I do, the next time you'll do the biting." Henry held the cook's wrist up to his lips as his eyes turned black and fangs dropped down. He bit into the wrist with a quick downward thrust and opened a vein. Vicki heard the blood rushing threw the cook's vessels and smelled it in the air. Her fangs dropped down and she reached for the wrist. Henry pulled back his fangs from the wound and stepped back offering the bleeding wrist to her. The first taste stuck in the back of her throat, but the vampire's demand for more kept her from gagging.
When Henry said, "Enough," she stopped feeding and licked the wound as instructed. He placed a hand on either side of the cook's head, making eye contact willing the him to remember stabbing himself with a two tine fork just before taking his break. The cook looked down at the two pricks and shook his wrist muttering about being more careful next time. He didn't see the two vampires standing in the shadows.
***
Back in their room she asked, "That's all there is to it?"
"Pretty much."
"What about the sex?"
"Unless you want it to be, sex isn't a part of feeding."
"Crap! Another myth blown."
Henry couldn't help but laugh as he said, "I remember the first time you said that to me. We'd just started working together."
Vicki pulled up her sleeves, "I'm never going to forget our first case."
Henry held her arms and traced both marks with his thumbs. "Being what we are doesn't have to be dark just because we live in the night and need blood to live."
"Why can't we live on bagged blood?"
"Preservatives that extend shelf life, keeps the blood from being useful to us."
Feeling the soothing touch of Henry's thumbs on her arms, Vicki relaxed. She slowly pulled her arms out of Henry's hands and said, "Call Mike."
***
Mike knocked and opened the door saying, "Is it safe?"
Vicki said, "No, but come in anyway."
He came into the room and closed the door. Henry was standing looking out the window and Vicki was in the center of the room. Mike ran his hand threw his hair and said, "God, I hate what's happening."
Vicki reached out and pushed the displaced curl back off his forehead, "Me too."
Henry turned back to study both of them, "Talk to him, Vicki. Then, when you're ready, if you want, I'll end it."
Vicki opened her eyes wide at his words then realized she could see better than she had in years. She knew by listening that Mike's heart was beating twice as fast and Henry's beat in a slower counter rhythm.
"I'm too furious for words. Both of you daring to make decisions about my life. I'm standing here wanting to beat the crap out of you, but I won't. At least not today." She turned to Henry and said, "Give us an hour."
Henry's eyes darkened as he used the will of the vampire to warn them both to be very careful as went out into the night to find his own prey.
***
Vicki pointed to a chair in the far corner of the room and she moved back against the wall to keep as much space between them as possible.
Vicki asked Mike, "Shouldn't you be working?"
Mike gave a little boy shrug and looked at a spot on the ceiling and said, "Not any more. I haven't liked the job much since you left. In the last few months I've seen and heard more than I ever wanted to know existed. I can't go on coloring inside the lines the way the Crowleys of the world want."
Vicki's eyes filled with tears as her heart filled with self incrimination, "I knew it! I've ruined your life."
Mike stood and started toward her and she held up her hand, "Stay back, Mike. I'm not in control of the thing yet."
"You didn't ruin my life and neither did Henry. I had choices of my own all along the way."
"When Henry and went to the cabin, I hoped I could make up my mind between the two of you." She stopped speaking and her eyes changed between gray-green and silver.
Mike waited a minute before asking, "And?"
Vicki ran into the bathroom, slammed and locked the door. She turned on the shower. The steaming hot water warmed her cool skin and drowned the sound of her tears.
Henry came back to the room finding Mike pacing back and forth mumbling about women. He heard the shower running and Vicki sobbing.
"I take it that things didn't go well."
Mike stopped pacing, pointed to the bathroom door and said, "Who knows with her."
Henry sat in the chair Mike had been using earlier and said, "We'll just have to wait."
Vicki turned off the water, heard the two men whispering and said to herself, "Get a grip Nelson. Some women can't find one person to love them and you've got two. You know who you want to be with, so go out there and tell them."
The bathroom door opened as both men watched. Vicki came out dressed with her hair wrapped in a towel. She took a deep breath and said to Henry, "If I ask you, will you end my life?"
Henry squared his shoulders and said, "I will."
Vicki nodded approval, "Good." Then she looked at Mike and asked, "Can you keep what's happened to me a secret for the rest of your life?"
Mike said, "Yes."
She held out her arms so that the marks left by Norman were visible to both men, "I hate what's happened and I don't want to be vampire."
Henry's reached out to grab her throat as she dodged and batted his hand away, "Not yet. I'll tell you when."
Silver eyes looked into coal black eyes as she added, "Teach me everything. Kill me if I ask it of you, but please, whatever happens, don't ever leave me."
Mike picked up his coat and tried to sneak out of the room. Vicki's first use of vampire power was to order Mike to freeze. She moved to stand in his face and said, "Not so fast. We're in this together, the three of us."
Mike shook off Vicki's control and said, "I'm not on the dinner menu and I'm not playing Renfield to either of you."
Vicki moved around Mike and leaned her back against the door, "I'm not asking for dinner or a slave."
Henry cleared his throat and both Mike and Vicki looked at him. He laughed and sat down on the bed. "It's amazing how soon children grow up and start demanding to have things there own way. But this time I have to admit the child has the right of it. The three of us make a good team. Vicki, it will take a very long time for me to teach you everything you need to know about living in the night and both of us will benefit from having a good friend that lives by day."
Vicki smiled in understanding, "I'm very slow when it comes to learning new skills."
Mike said, "How do I fit into this great plan?"
Speaking at the same time Vicki said, "Lover." And Henry said, "Friend."
Then Henry continued, "You're not a Renfield eating bugs, doing his master's bidding and begging to be turned vampire. Mike, your our trusted friend that keeps us safe from harm."
Vicki let out a sigh of relief, "Up at the cabin I finally figured what I needed and wanted." Laughing she held out a hand to Mike, then the other to Henry. "I need, I want, I love both of you."