Bloody Memory

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Okay, maybe this chapter is a bit messy and clumsy ^^

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Chapter Five

Jamie still panted from his previous running-like-crazy-man stuff. He felt his body shuddered when he recalled his sight of fangs-bared Scarlet.
“…Not human…” he murmured in slight fear and disbelief.
Emily sat close to her son, stroked his hair gently, and asked softly, “Are you sure you all right, honey?”
Jamie gazed at his mother and nodded faintly. “I’m fine…”
“I thought I heard you mumbling something…”
Jamie turned his eyes back to his lap and shook his head, “It’s just your imagination, Mom.”
“I see then… would you want to get something? Drinking? Want some milk or juice?”
“No, Mom, I’m fine, really. I’m just worried about Scarlet…”
Emily sighed and hugged him. “I know, dear. Mommy’s worried too.”
Frank looked at his wife and son, and then sighed heavily. “Well, all we can do is just waiting here until Captain Wilkins and the others come back. Hopefully, they make it in time, otherwise Scarlet will—”
“Frank!” Emily cut her husband off. “Don’t say anything bad like that!”
“I know, I know, darling. Let’s hope they’re just fine and still in one piece…”
“Frank!”
Her husband only shrugged weakly.

***

Arthur’s mind went blank when he and his team; save Sarah which was left behind to keep guard at the Ainsworths; found Scarlet who was laid out unconscious right on the middle of his own bloody puddle at the school yard. He saw the crowd of people began to gather and swiftly dismissed them. He quickly gestured to the others to stay in guard and search for the enemy, while he dashed to check on the vampire’s pulse.
He let out relief breaths when he sensed the pulse, even faintly. He took Kayura and locked on its safety lock before he pocketed it. It was quite big gun, and he found some difficulties to fit it inside his trousers’ pocket.
After that he checked furthermore for another wound on Scarlet’s body. He only found one bloody, fresh-opened wound on his right shoulder. The wound just kept bleeding, making his coat soaked further with blood. Arthur frowned and grimly concluded that the wound might be caused by venomous-sharp weapon. Most likely anti coagulant venom, considering his rapidly bleeding wound.
I have to give him some blood transfusions within minutes or else he will be gone …forever.
Arthur then tried his best to wrap the wound using ragged cloth he got by tearing his shirt. He still wore a T-shirt inside it; so he tore again some other clothes to tighten his wrapping. Fortunately, the wound seemed to be closed due to the tight clothes wrapping it; and began to stop bleeding.
Sighed heavily, he noticed Allan got closer. His bulky subordinate reported to him, “There’s no sign of enemy, Sir. All’s clear.”
“Fine. Let’s get out of here. I’m worried about him.” He nudged the young vampire.
Tyler walked closer to his both comrades. “Is he okay? He looked like bloody-screwed mess, man.”
“Yeah,” Allan agreed. “I’ve called the ambulance, Sir. They will come in—”
“No need for ambulances. Send them back.” Arthur snapped.
His subordinates stared at him confusedly.
“Just call the blood bank or hospital and ask them if they sold blood ampoules. Tell them to bring five to seven ampoules of fresh blood. What he needs most is blood transfusion. And a lot of blood is needed.”
“But, Sir, it will be dangerous for him if—” Allan retorted confusedly.
“He will be all right after blood transfusion. Now hurry you two! Bring the blood immediately or he will surely die for his blood loss!” Arthur yelled in frustration. He could feel Scarlet’s breath getting slower and slower.
“Ye-yes, Sir.” They almost jumped on their feet hearing his harsh command. Not long after that, Tyler shouted back to his commander asking about Scarlet’s blood type while hanging his call via cell phone.
“Anything will be fine. His blood type isn’t important; just bring the blood immediately.” He already lifted Scarlet’s body with his arms; surprised knowing how light-weighted he was. Probably because of his blood loss, he thought grimly.
“But, Sir, it’s the most important fact. Without knowing his blood type, we can’t—”
“I know that. But right now, we’re not dealing with human.”
Both his subordinates gazed at him with strange look.
“Just bring the blood quickly. Time is running up. I’ll explain later. Tell them to deliver the blood to Ainsworth’s house. Money isn’t the problem at all.”
Tyler nodded and finished his call after telling them about their confirmation. He ran after his comrades who had walked several steps ahead and said seriously, “Cap’n, you owe us an explanation, you know that?”
Arthur only shrugged nonchalantly. He glanced at the young vampire’s feature and frowned. “Allan, lend me your jacket.”
“For what?”
“Covering him.” He nudged the body lying on his arms gently.
Allan took off his jacket and laid it covering Scarlet’s body.
“Cover his face too.”
The bulky cop raised one brow questioningly, but did it after all.
“Hey, Cap’n, all of these make me more confused. Just tell us the truth.”
“I will. When we’re home.” He silently dismissed them and hurried towards the Ainsworth’s residence.

***

Sarah was the one who opened the front door for them. She yelped slightly looking to the young bodyguard’s worsen and bloody limb; and quickly stepped aside to let her comrades in. Arthur tilted his head, gesturing at his pocket. Sarah found Kayura and quickly removed it from his pocket; she put it on her own bag, saving it for later; in case, Scarlet asking about his missing gun.
Jamie and his parents were shocked too. Especially the human boy, who felt slight guilty by leaving his protector behind; earned him such bloody wound like that.
“He’ll be fine.” Arthur smiled faintly, reassured Jamie.
“Why don’t you take him to the hospital?” Sarah blurted out, worried.
“He doesn’t need to. Besides he hates hospitals and wards and clinics.”
“That’s nonsense! He hates it or not, he must be taken to the hospital. Otherwise his wound will—”
“He’ll be fine. His wound’s already closed. What he needs most is blood transfusion.” Arthur cut off her words tiredly. He scrutinized Scarlet’s pale face and ragged, faintly breaths, and frowned. “Tyler, when will the blood ampoules come?”
“They said they will be arrived at 10 minutes.”
“…Ten minutes, too late for him. He can’t wait that long.” Arthur muttered more to himself. He then turned his eyes to Allan and asked, “Allan, lend me your jack knife. Sterilize it first using fire on the stoves or match, whatever, then give it to me.”
Allan frowned at his commander. “What do you want with that thing?”
“Just do my request, please. And hurry.”
Allan did what he asked for. He took out his jack knife from his pocket and gestured Tyler to lend him his gas match. He sterilized the knife for some minutes and gave it to Arthur.
“Just …be careful, will you? The edge is very sharp. I sharpen it almost every day.”
Arthur only nodded and positioned the knife across his left wrist’s vein. Sarah suspiciously watched him and asked slowly, “Arthur Wilkins, what the hell are you do—AAH!”
Sarah screamed in shock seeing Arthur sliced his own vein. The others also gasped in shock, even Emily screamed, terrified. Fresh blood spluttered out from the slit flowing slowly down his wrist. Arthur caught his blood’s rivulets with his right point finger and, with little efforts, applied it at Scarlet’s pale lips.
Tilting and gripping his chin steadily, he then shoved open the young vampire’s mouth using his left point finger and slightly felt his fangs which started to grow longer, reacting to the blood he had been applied before.
Good, he thought, feeling relieved. At least, he’s responding, although unconsciously.
He parted Scarlet’s lips open, revealing his fangs clearly; successfully making the others shocked and almost yelped in unison. Holding his upper and lower gums and fangs apart, he poured down his flowing blood from the slit wound through his throat.
The reaction was immediate. Scarlet jerked up, his eyes flew opened; his crimson irises grew redder and darker. He quickly grabbed Arthur’s wrist and sucked the blood with ferocious hunger. He drank greedily, sinking his fangs deeply through the older man’s wrist. The other occupants only watched in shock and fear at the scene.

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‘Hey, what are you doing here in the middle of the forest at this time? It’s not the time to play around, especially for human brat like you?’

‘What’s the hell with that mocking tone?! Who are you any ways? Startling me and suddenly calling me a brat! Looking at your appearance, you are absolutely, unmistakably YOUNGER than me, you strange brat!’

‘Ha ha pardon me for my rudeness toward your person, old brother! You know, I don’t usually meet someone, say any human, while I’m hanging out here.’

‘I am not your old brother!! Geez… By the way, you say ‘human’ like you’re not one…’

‘Why, I am not! I am a Symbion vampire.’

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Arthur winced and restrained his own pain, he murmured, “Easy, Scarlet. A little more and you will surely kill me on spot.”
Ignoring his warning, Scarlet kept sucking on Arthur’s blood. His ignorance made Arthur groaned both in pain and sudden anger.

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‘Hey, what’s your name, human brat? Mine is Vermillion. Not my real one, though, you know, our people have strange habit for letting outsider knowing only our code names. Well, Vermillion is my code name.’

‘Don’t call me human brat again, you twig! Geez, I don’t believe my unluckiness, meeting a strange creature like you on this place whatsoever… A vampire even! Should I have scared of you instead of annoyed?’

‘It’s your choice for being scared or annoyed by me. I didn’t even have any purpose to scare nor annoy you. That’s why I ask your name, so I can call you by your proper name.’

‘Humph. The name’s Arthur Wilkins.’

“Well, nice to meet you, Arthur.’

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“ENOUGH!” He shouted and pulled away from the vampire, jerking away his bloodied wrist.
Scarlet stunned in surprise. He stared at Arthur blankly, gaping; his fangs were clearly visible peeking behind his now crimson lips. Thin line of blood was running down his jaw from the corner of his mouth; the rivulets trickling down from his chin. For some moments, he kept his eyes on Arthur; who now panting because of his blood loss, supported by Sarah; and then mumbled his apology. He kept staring blankly at Arthur’s direction.

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‘You know, my little brother has just barely born! Oh, he is so SWEET, with those sparkling crimson eyes and cute little mouth, and little nose, and-and—’

‘Yeah, yeah, whatever; just give me a proper hint to get the hell out of this forest.’

‘…Meanie. Very well, I’ll show you a way out.’

‘…What’s your little brother’s name again? I didn’t hear it clearly then…’

‘Tee hee. His code name is Scarlet.’

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“…The blood ampoules will come in less than ten minutes. You can feed on them until you’re satisfied.” Arthur smiled weakly. “It’s just first-aid-blood any way.”
Scarlet jerked back his attention toward the older man, nodded and looked down at his lap. Arthur then turned his attention to his subordinates and the Ainsworths.
He spoke in simple tone, “As you have seen before, Scarlet isn’t human. He is a vampire, Symbion vampire for exactly. I will explain to all of you later about that. Right now, all you have to know is the facts that he won’t threaten us, and another fact that our enemy might have employed the same being to track us down. THAT will be a big problem; but we will discuss it, later. We have another problem on the moment.”
Arthur glanced at Jamie. He smiled and asked softly, “But you’ve known the fact that Scarlet is a vampire, haven’t you, Jamie?”
The human boy slightly startled and nodded slowly. He threw a look at his bodyguard, who eyeing him with unreadable stare. Jamie snapped his eyes back at Arthur and mumbled, “I knew when he told me to run. He bared his fangs in purpose, because I said I didn’t want to leave him there alone, with such gravely wound.”
The detective smiled warmly. “That proved everything.”
He looked back at the young vampire. Scarlet had had his eyes back to his lap. Tracing the blood from his chin, he licked and sucked the drop from his finger. He savored the taste of fresh blood with such longing motion; almost lovingly. Arthur watched him in amusement while Sarah bandaged his wounded wrist; her eyes glanced at the young vampire suspiciously.
“You’re sucking like a starving peasant. Long time since your last fresh meal, do you?”
Scarlet nodded again, keeping his silence. It made Arthur wondering whether he had already and fully conscious or not. Suddenly he spoke; his voice sounded soft and hushed.
“…I saw your memory.”
Arthur’s eyes widened. Is he mentioning about …that memory?
“…Which one?”
“When you were lost on the forest, you were still a teenager brat…”
He exhaled in relief. So it isn’t that memory… but another one, and still regarding that person…
“Oh, that one…”
Scarlet still looked intently at his lap.
“You met him, didn’t you?”
Arthur went silent for a moment before simply replied, “Yes, I did.”
“…Was it true?”
“What was true?”
“His …remark. The one which stated that he was …my …older brother…”
Arthur frowned; pondering his answer. “…What if it were true?”
The crimson-haired vampire gazed back at him; looking bloody wounded and scarred deep inside. He shook his head slowly in restrained pain and disbelief; while he turned his eyes back on his lap. Mumbling almost incoherently some phrases like ‘Oh God’ and ‘no’, Scarlet let his face buried on his palms, sobbing in silence.
Arthur stared at him, gawked, and suddenly felt deep guilt and sadness started flowing through his vein. Several years ago, when the tragedy had barely happened, he had to make himself accustomed with this sight. And he couldn’t; he just …couldn’t.
There he was; the cold-and-tough-looking young vampire, with maturity and calm, composed feature usually radiated from his person; now clearly cracked down and sobbed silently, mourning over his tragic and sinful past. It was always unbearable to see him like this, in this chaotic condition. Arthur began to think that his decision to give him first aid help with his own blood was unmistakably wrong.
Regaining his composure, Arthur patted Scarlet’s shoulder slightly and said softly, “You need to clean yourself. When the blood supply arrives, I will immediately tell you, so you can feed and recover yourself.”
Scarlet nodded faintly. Trudging, he walked away through the hall towards the bathroom.
When he disappeared from the living room, every pair of eyes looked at Arthur Wilkins, demanding explanations about situation that had barely happened. Sitting heavily on the sofa, Arthur exhaled almost loudly. He watched around his spot, suddenly felt aware about their attention toward his person.
“I know all of you wanting some explanations. Then I will tell you everything I know…”
His words abruptly cut off when they heard knocking from the front door. They halted and Tyler went to meet the upcoming guest. After a while, he went back inside, bringing a mid-large box within his arms, and simply stated, “The bloods are coming.”
Arthur gestured him to put the box of ampoules onto the table in the center of the room. “I will tell him that his meal has come, later. For now on, let him alone.”
The detective then explained about Symbion vampire and the circumstances around Scarlet, off course without telling all the details and sensitive spots; successfully gaining all interests toward his story.

***

Scarlet felt boneless; sore and weak; sad and miserable.
Knowing the fact that Vermillion wasn’t only his master, his tutor, but also his older brother, he recalled his burden of guilt and sorrow, his …sin by killing him. Why Vermillion didn’t tell him about this fact while they were getting along together for years? Why he had to be dead in first moment just to tell him that he was his older brother, through someone else’s memory?!
He almost howled out loud, crying and wailing, regretting his deed. Even if it was unintentionally; he was under control of The Evil Stream back there; it didn’t change the fact that he had bathed on his own sibling’s blood. Oh, how he madly wanted to be able to kill himself. But he couldn’t; he wasn’t allowed to do such thing. Symbion vampires naturally couldn’t bring death toward themselves.
He almost hoped that Opal’s assault truly making him dead, instead of only suffering such a gravely blood loss.
“…Vermillion…”
He sobbed and then gazed at the toilet mirror; his own reflection looked back at him. The memory of Vermillion’s death flowed through his mind vividly, rapidly, almost choking him, suffocating him. He cried silently, cursing the fact that he was still living until now.
Why? Why must I survive? Why me? Why?
Oh dear God, how many times I wish I could replace him dying at that moment? Vermillion, I don’t deserve to live… a person like me don’t deserve to atone, to receive any salvation. I’m so much a sinner; my hands have shed too much innocent bloods, aside us born as vampires… Vermillion, why it must be you who died on the first place? Why you and not me? Vermillion, my beloved older brother…

-- What are you doing right there, crying like some pathetic person? --

Scarlet jerked up, felt slightly hearing his sibling’s mocking voice. Inside his own head, for sure.
Off course he would say things like that. Those kinds of remarks are uniquely his; such impassive, cold, stern, yet concerned words he usually spoke of.

-- You know that. Then why are you still regretting and blaming yourself about what had happened before? As if you’re truly meant it… silly, that wasn’t your fault any way. Not your fault. End case. --

Scarlet slammed the mirror with his bare knuckle, shattering it. Blood trickled down his hands as his arms went limply aside his body. As he licked away his own blood from his wounded knuckle, his eyes went dimly; losing their own gleams.

***

Arthur barely finished his explanation when the sound of shattering glass was heard from the bathroom Scarlet had been walking into. He turned his head towards the corridor, frowned deeply, and shook his head slowly.
“I better see how he’s doing right now.” Not waiting for any reply, he stood up and walked towards the bathroom. Stopping in front of its door, he slowly knocked the door.
“Scarlet? Are you okay in there? What’s that broken-glass-like sound?”
No answers from inside. He started getting worried.
“Scarlet?”
He tried to open the knob; but it was locked from the inside. He knocked again, louder this time. He began to feel frustrated.
“Dammit, Scarlet! Open the door!”
Another loud knocking and that vampire brat doesn’t come outside nor answer. Shit! He thought erratically; both angry and terrified. He was fully aware about Scarlet’s suicidal tendency, though Symbions weren’t allowed to kill themselves.
Suicide is one of the gravest sins in their culture. Even though so, he already experienced it by himself; feeling painfully stuffed by watching some gory scenes where the young vampire tried to attempt suicide repeatedly in his own desperately sorrow…
He went to knock again loudly, when the door abruptly opened; revealing a very cold-faced and impassive Scarlet. Arthur stared at him, almost wincing in pain when he looked deep into his crimson eyes. They had dimmed, leaving almost blank and void crimson irises.
He noticed the bandages around his right knuckle; they were still tainted with fresh bloody tint, indicating that it was a new wound. He then looked over Scarlet’s shoulder; only for finding the shattering glass of one previously toilet mirror on the toilet floor. He frowned at the sight.
“…I’m sorry to make you worry.” He retorted plainly.
Arthur studied the young vampire a little before pulled back and simply stated, “It is okay. Just …don’t make any ruckus again, will you?”
He shifted uncomfortably and slowly murmured, “I… I want to say sorry to you about earlier…”
Scarlet blinked once, then twice. His expression remained impassive when he replied, “No need to. That wasn’t yours.”
He walked pass the older man back to the living room. Arthur just sighed heavily and following him with sudden heavy burden remaining inside his own mind.

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See? Very, very messy...
It's flip here and there...

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