Defending The Storage (4)

Aurik stood behind his opponent and slightly to the side as he silently celebrated his successful attack. Darrel now had a large cut on the left side of his torso that was constantly spewing blood, although not as intensely as his missing hand.

Aurik felt proud of himself, of the fact that he could actually hold his own in a fight. He was sure that the looming threat of death was giving him the motivation he needed to do so but he could also recognize that that wouldn't be enough to for just any random person in his position to come out victorious.

"Ugh! Dammit!" Darrel grunted as he ripped his hand put from the refrigerator and stumbled backwards slightly. Even though he was heavily injured, Darrel knew he couldn't take his eyes off his opponent in a fight to the death so he forced his body to move through the pain as he turned to look at Aurik.

The young Vampire was standing strong, with his sword held firmly in his grasp and a resolute fire burning in his eyes. Darrel wasn't one to talk during in a fight but he needed some time to recover his wounds so he asked a question that he knew might get Aurik talking.

"Why haven't you used any abilities? Surely you could've won by now if you had."

Aurik shrugged. "I don't have any."

"What?" Darrel was at a loss for words, how could there be a Vampire without any abilities?

"Yeah, I don't have any of the clans abilities, it's pretty rare apparently. Who knows, maybe I'm just a late bloomer or something? I've only been a Vampire for about a week so maybe the abil-"

"A week!?" Darrel shouted in surprise. "You were turned only a week ago!?"

Aurik didn't understand why this Therian was so surprised to find a newly created Vampire but he nodded in the affirmative with a confused expression on his face.

'I'm losing to a week old Vampire? One that doesn't have any abilities? Am I truly that weak?' The anger within Darrel began to bubble up once again and he found himself walking forward despite his grievous wounds.

Aurik prepared himself once again and watched as his opponent approached. He had already done well using a counter attacking strategy and saw no reason to go on the offensive when his opponent was both angry and injured, which made him likely to make mistakes.

He lifted his sword slightly and took a similar stance to before, with his body sideways and his sword arm facing forward. Darrel seamed to recognize the stance and hesitated for a moment but ultimately convinced himself that as long as he didn't fall for it there no need to be concerned.

The two were moments away from clashing when something heavy slammed into Aurik's lower back and launch him into the air and across the room. He landed on the staircase that he and Reggie used before and was about three steps up as he lay on his stomach with his head closest to the bottom step.

A large chunk of flesh was missing from his body and a massive amount of blood was pouring out of the wound. His entire lower body was unresponsive and his strength was quickly being siphoned away due to blood loss.

Standing in front of Darrel was the older gentlemen, who now held a piece of flesh in his hand that included a piece of Aurik's spine. The blood soaked flesh was quickly dropped to the ground and with a flick of the wrist the man's hand was free of the red liquid.

"Why did you do that?" Darrel asked, his voice filled mostly with fear and respect but with an undertone of anger.

"He would have killed you." The old man replied with certainty.

Darrel squeezed his fist tightly and looked down in shame. He knew that if this man said it was so then he truly had no chance of winning. He walked across the room and picked up his severed hand, placing it against the stump it was once attached to and holding it in place.

"You should be happy that I stepped in, or you would have ended up like Selina."

Hearing the old man's words, Darrel scanned his eyes across the room and found the woman's body slumped against the metal door with a hole in her chest. "What about her killer?"

The old man gestured to a pool of blood and viscera on the floor about 10 meters away (30ft). "Taken care of."

The old man looked around and saw that his people were already finished with their task so he placed two fingers in his mouth and let out a loud whistle, attracting everyone's attention.

"It's time to go! We can't afford to wait for reinforcements to arrive!" With the old man, and Darrel following closely behind, turned to walk out the door.

As the Therians made their exit, a certain Vampire was fighting for his life on the metal staircase. Aurik's vision was starting to darken and he could literally feel his life slipping away.

'Blood... If I can get some blood then...' Aurik's eyes were fixed on the enormous amounts of blood that covered the floor. During the past week he had come to learn that a Vampire's healing was greatly boosted if they drank some blood, it's what allowed his hand to heal overnight when he should have taken 3 or four days to heal completely.

He reached his hand forward, desperately trying to drag himself down the steps, but found that he barely had the strength to even close his hand, let alone pull his entire body.

Aurik's desperation was palpable and his will to live even more so. 'Blood. Blood. Blood.' He chanted inside his mind like it was some kind of mantra, his intentions focused on just a single thing.

The pool of blood, almost as though it were responding to his will, began to pool closer towards the stairs. 'Blood. Blood. BLOOD!' The crimson liquid began to run up the steps, defying gravity as though Aurik's will was the only thing that mattered.

The blood continued up the steps until it reached his outstretched hand and began to pool below it. Aurik allowed his hand to fall and immediately felt as though he were drinking blood, despite it being nowhere near his mouth. 

The invigorating feeling of consumption was enough to make Aurik feel at ease, knowing that his chances of survival were far greater now. As his desperation subsided, and so did the last of his strength, causing his eyes to close and his consciousness to fade.