The Donor House: Darian: Rescuing a Vampire

[k_a_webb]

They’d know exactly how Sullivan was going to react to finding her on the floor. Except for the fire. It had meant Darian needed to move fast, otherwise they’d both end up dead, and he didn’t want to be dead. He’d only taken the job because he was the youngest child, so he needed to prove himself to his creator. There was just one problem. Seeing Sullivan’s face, the utter devastation that he’d been unable to hide when he saw her, he didn’t know if he wanted to go back to his creator with the girl. As he’d never met Sullivan he hadn’t expected to be bothered by his feelings, but he was, which was why he was standing in the garden of the burning house, staring down at the girl, and thinking about what he should do.

Darian knew he needed to get her somewhere safe. It was impossible not to remember how sensitive all of his senses had been when he first woke as a vampire. Slowly he’d got used to it, but he knew he has better senses than any human and standing there was making his nose itch because of the scents that surrounded him. His only problem, besides knowing that his creator would view what he was doing as a betrayal, was working out where to take her. The only places he knew where the ones his creator had showed him.

Shaking his head Darian tried his hardest to think. Maybe somewhere he’d been when he was human would be useful, but he couldn’t work out where. His parents didn’t even know what had happened to him, he’d seen the missing persons report and knew they’d probably guessed that something vampiric had happened to him, so going anywhere near home would probably be a mistake. At the same time it was really tempting, because at least then they’d know what had happened to him.

Once again Darian looked down at the girl who was in the process of becoming a vampire. Sullivan had loved her. Darian didn’t know why Sullivan had loved her, but it was enough to know that she had been loved for him to wonder why they’d turned her into a vampire. Was it to hurt Sullivan more, when he realised he’d left behind the girl he loved when she was in the process of going through one of the most difficult changes of her life. Was it so that their shared creator could turn the girl against Sullivan? Darian knew he had found himself in the middle of something he really didn’t want to be in the middle of.

It was possible that one of Darian’s creator’s other vampires was out there watching him, waiting for him to make the wrong decision so they could kill him and take the girl. Even with the heat of the fire he shivered, not wanting to die again just when he’d got used to being a vampire, but he knew he couldn’t take her to their creator. That would destroy Sullivan and the girl, which wasn’t something he wanted to be a part of. Shaking his head again, wishing he had some other option, he picked up the girl, who was lighter than he expected, and carried her away from the house, away from the fire, and away from the dangers of their creator.

“What am I doing?” Darian muttered to himself, thinking once more about possible hiding places for the both of them.

Before Darian had become a vampire he’d heard about the donor house. One of his friends had been thinking about applying to become a donor, because their family had been having money problems. He’d looked at the website too, wondering why people chose to become donors for vampires, and he still wasn’t sure, but he knew that it was somewhere safe he could take the girl. It was possible that was where Sullivan had gone too. He glanced down at the girl again. The donor house was miles away, so they wouldn’t be able to go for a couple of days at least, which meant he still had to find a hiding place for the two of them.

She’d also need to feed. The first few days were the hardest and Darian could remember the boy he’d almost killed because he’d been so hungry. Although it was very different to any other hunger he’d felt, in a way that was almost impossible to describe. He was thankful someone had managed to stop him, but he knew it hadn’t been their creator. It had been a vampire he’d never met before, would probably never meet again, and knowing that made him even more certain he wasn’t going to take the girl anywhere near their creator. Glancing down at her again he wished he’d been told her name.

First Darian needed to find shelter. Everything else would have to wait, but that didn’t stop his brain from coming up with all the problems his badly thought out plan would be affected by. Including Sullivan. How was he going to explain what had happened without looking like the bad guy? In part he was the bad guy, at least until he realised that he couldn’t do what he’d been instructed to do. He was still too human to be able to hurt someone who cared as much about someone as Sullivan had. Maybe it was best that he found out before he got more entangled with the vampires and had a chance to get away, because they would want to change him. They would want him to get rid of the part of him that cared about other humans in order to be the best vampire he could.

Wishing he’d never become a vampire wasn’t going to help. It had happened, so Darian needed to deal with it as best he could, and look after the girl who’d also been changed against her will. He kept walking, trying to think of anywhere they would be safe during the day, but it wasn’t an easy job. Every minute that passed was bringing the dawn closer, his creator would probably soon work out that something had gone wrong, and before either of those things happened he had to get her somewhere safe. Finally he decided his best option was probably to find a house that looked empty and borrow it for the night. Staying in the area wasn’t an option, so they would be moving on as soon as the sun set. Hopefully.

As Darian tried to find somewhere he was always aware of what he’ d just done. Turning against his creator, a vampire who had no qualms about hurting people to get what he wanted, was quite possibly the most stupid thing he’d done. Apart from walking the streets at night and assuming he was safe because he’d never seen a vampire in the area. Just because the vampires of the donor house were in public view at all times didn’t mean that all of the vampires were. Why else would there be hidden auctions? He just felt like he had no other options, especially as he had someone he needed to look after.

Darian could have just taken her to his creator. He could have just walked away. There had been other choices he could have made, but none of them would have been the right choice, and he wasn’t certain that, considering the circumstances, that there had been a right choice. All he could do was make the best choice for him, for the newly made vampires, and for Sullivan. Of course there had been a possibility that Sullivan had know that the girl had been turned and was attempting to kill her for some reason. To save her from having to deal with becoming a vampire, maybe.

A house that looked empty was close by. Unlike all the other houses there was no car in the drive and that was pretty much the only thing he could do on. It was too late for lights, although there had been a couple of houses that did still have lit windows. Having read too many books about unexpected quests Darian had taught himself how to pick locks. Even he’d thought it was a little strange to be preparing for a quest that might never happen, but it had become a useful skill that he was happy he’d taken the time to learn. Gently he put the girl down on the patio, opened the door, and then picked her up again.

Carefully Darian stepped into the house, knowing it was possible it was inhabited, and found himself in the kitchen. There were no signs that anyone was living there, but some people did keep their kitchen spotlessly clean. He placed the girl on one of the chairs before starting to make his way into the lounge.

“Who’s there?” a male voice boomed, as a light came on, and for a few moments all Darian could do was stand there blinking.

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.