AU Donor House: Kestrel: Rescuing Harrison

[k_a_webb]

Written for a random number prompt.

Kestrel wrapped an arm around the human she’d found and used all her strength to keep him upright. Moving at the same time was hard, but she kept going, knowing that his only chance of survival was the donor house. She wasn’t sure exactly what had happened to him. One moment she’d been walking down the street, thinking about maybe checking out the donor house, and the next she heard someone moaning in pain, which was a sound she’d never been able to ignore. He, whoever he was, had been just about sitting up, with bite marks in his neck, so there was every chance he might wake up a vampire.

Doing her best to ignore the memories of the night that had happened to her Kestrel took in a deep breath. Part of her wanted to yell for help. She was meant to be in a town that was safer for vampires that any other, but that didn’t mean there weren’t people around who would happily stab a stake into her back when they saw her with a bleeding, unconscious, human. With that in mind she kept walking, doing her best to seem as normal as possible, even though that wasn’t easy. Thankfully there didn’t appear to be anyone around.

“Who are you?” a weak male voice asked, almost making her jump.

“I’m Kestrel,” she replied, looking at the man who had been unconscious. “Who are you?”

“Harrison. Where are we going?”

“The donor house.”

“Okay…”

As Harrison attempted to walk a few steps with her Kestrel couldn’t help smiling. “It’s not far, I promise, and I’m sure that they’ll help you.”

“Why are you helping me?”

“I don’t believe in feeding from humans who don’t offer, I don’t believe in taking so much blood the donor is unlikely to survive, and I don’t believe in leaving someone who has been treated that way to deal with that alone.”

“I guess I should thank you, then.”

“Don’t thank me until I get you there alive.”

“Will I survive?”

“It’s possible. You’re walking and talking, so that’s a step in the right direction.”

“Just.”

“Just is better than nothing, Harrison.”

“True.”

“How about you focus on walking, rather than talking. The sooner we get to the donor house the more likely you are to survive the attack.”

Harrison nodded. “Talk to me.”

For a longer than she wanted to be Kestrel was silent, trying to work out what she should say. “I’ve been thinking about going to the donor house ever since it first opened. One of the owners, Lewis, sent me a letter about it, because he thought it was the sort of place that would work for me, but it’s been decades since I last saw him.” She sighed. “The relationship we had didn’t end well. I did the stupid thing and fell in love with him. He didn’t feel the same way, so I acted childishly and left him behind, never thinking I’d hear from him again. Then I got a letter.”

***

Who should be the first person they meet when they enter the donor house?

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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No typos found.

I really like this story; it has good tension and rapport from the beginning.

I suggest John to meet them; he's got a level head in a crisis.

A more sadistic approach would be Caleb, who's likely to have a panic attack from his own unfortunate experiences.