The Blood Bank

Chapter 18 - House On Fire

Liam has me back in Block Four before five seconds have gone by and literally drops me in the donor lounge. I look up at him from the floor, a hideous insult on the edge of my tongue, but I hold back; compulsion compulsion compulsion. I get up and go to sit on the nearest sofa next to Hayley. Liam takes a seat on the other side of her and pulls her into a rather disrespectful embrace. Hayley whimpers as he sinks his teeth into her neck and he takes long drags of her life-force. After a few seconds, he’s finished feeding and he licks the wound to close it before flitting from the room. Hayley still appears to be in a haze after he leaves so I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder which seems to awaken her somewhat from her trance.

“You okay, Hayley?” She turns towards me and smiles.

“It’s okay, I’m fine, Mina, really.” I nod and glance over at the fridge; there’s rules of etiquette around here that means we should support each other through feeding times.

“Right, I’ll go get you some food and stuff, you alright waiting here?” She nods lazily and rests her head on the back of the sofa, seemingly falling asleep. “Hayley, Hayley, don’t go to sleep yet, honey, you have to eat something remember?” She makes a small noise in agreement and I go over to the fridge to see what’s available. The mini kitchen is way overdue on a restock, normally the vamps are pretty good at keeping up stocks but with an impending meeting, the donor nutrition seems to have gone way down the priority list. I find some slightly stale cereal craftily hidden under some dish towels above the top cupboards and fortunately some semi-skimmed milk to accompany it. Someone’s done the dishes at last so I grab a bowl and pour in some questionably crunchy cereal, followed by the milk. I take a spoon from the drying cutlery and dab the cereal on the milk’s surface to make it slightly moister. Hayley seems genuinely fast asleep when I get back over to her so I wake her gently, being careful not to spill the cereal, and hold out a spoon of the stuff. After a couple of minutes of slowly spoon-feeding her in her drowsy state, she takes the bowl and spoon from my hands and begins to feed herself.

“Thanks, Mina, he took a lot that time…”

“No worries, we all have each other’s backs here…” She smiles at me and takes in the last couple of spoons before handing me the bowl. I go to put it in the sink and wander back to find that her eyelids are drooping again, time for a recovery nap…or hibernate. “Right, let’s get you to your bed, you can rest safely there, okay?” Hayley nods slightly and I lift her arm around my shoulder to begin the short but heavy trek over to her room down the hall. I’m just reaching for the door handle to her room when she starts to slip from my grasp, but suddenly Stanley is there and he picks her up into his arms with apparent discomfort.

“Open the door, Mina.” I look up at him with surprise; that has to be the first time he’s called me by my real name; he does look exceedingly tired, he genuinely has dark circles under his eyes. I open the door and watch Stanley saunter past, stumbling a little over his own feet; something’s not right, but I daren’t say anything that might set him off. Vampires can be pretty temperamental. He lays Hayley on her bed and haphazardly throws some of the duvet over her before retreating towards where I stand. “I’d find something useful to do, Mina, Covas is a bit stressed at the moment organising this meeting; he may end up killing you by accident.” I hear genuine concern in his voice and I look up at him quizzically. “What.”

“Nothing, it’s just…I’m…a bit stressed myself…I don’t know how to relax…” He seems to have shown concern for me so far so I decided to confide in him.

“I’m not a fucking shrink, Mina, we’re all a bit on edge right now…go paint or something…” His misogynist attitude is beginning to piss me off.

“Right, because that’s what women do when they get bored…”

“As far as I can see, Mina, all you ladies do is bitch and gossip; at least painting is productive.”