Blood of the Past

Marcos had run off after he realized what happened. I hadn’t seen him in days, but did it matter? He gave me the answer I needed.

However, the leader of them showed up multiple times, and every time was uglier than the first. I never told him I knew their weakness. No, that was for my benefit. I was going to formulate a plan. But I did act clueless, enough to the point that he would slap me until my nose bled. I could see the temptation in his eyes every time. He desired a taste, but he never caved.

And when he didn’t get the reaction he wanted from me, he would revert back to his monstrous instincts, the one that put him below the scum of the earth. All he knew was control. He got satisfaction from it, but I had to take that away.

The first few times he assaulted me, he took too much pleasure in it because of the pain in my eyes. So, I stripped that away from him. I laid there, emotionless, and he didn’t enjoy it. And after a week, the assault came to an end.

My stomach grumbled as I sat on the bed, knees to my chest. I couldn’t bring them that close, however. My bump was growing faster by the day, now that I had entered the second trimester for sure. I was showing, and there was no doubt the vampire’s knew I was pregnant. And they certainly knew it wasn’t one of theirs. Vampires couldn’t procreate through sex. Sex was simply just a guilt pleasure.

The door opened and closed, and I placed my hands on the edge of the bed, facing the wall opposite of the door. I didn’t want him to see my face. Not now.

“I brought first aid,” he said. This wasn’t the leader. No. This...was Marcos.

I immediately leaped from the bed and threw my entire body around him. It was strange, but I missed the kindness. No, he wasn’t kind. He was just like them. Right?

A chuckle rippled through his chest as he wrapped his arms around me. “Whoa, I suppose you missed me.” He walked to the bed, setting me back on it.

But then I did something I hadn’t seen coming. I punched him. “Fuck you, for leaving me here alone with him.” I pulled back, dropping my eyes to the bed. It was easy to show that I hadn’t felt a thing, but to not actually feel it was a lot harder.

Marcos sighed. “I know. I was being selfish, and I’m sorry.”

By now, all my wounds had scabbed over. He purposely waited until there was no hint of blood. But my scent still lingered among the sheets.

Without permission, Marcos grabbed my ankle and pulled my leg towards him. He removed the cloth I had tied there. He grimaced before grabbing some things from his trusted first aid. “That is most certainly infected.”

“What can you do about it? I’m not exactly getting decent treatment here. This was my best option. At least I didn’t bleed out.”

He gave me a look telling me to shut up. He cleaned the wound first, which hurt like a bitch. I almost ripped his head off. After that, he dried it and put neosporin on it, before wrapping gauze around my leg. “That should keep it clean until it scabs back over.”

Before I could even catch my breath, he grabbed my hand and moved my thumb into position. Tears escaped my eyes as he wrapped it up and kept it in place.

But he caught me off guard when he used his thumb to clean the dry blood from my nose and lip. He grabbed the sheet behind me and wrapped it around my shoulders. “You need to rest.”

“That’s easier said than done. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m the fucking victim here.” I sniffled, wiping away tears.

He didn’t say another word about it. He was off hiding from me while his leader raped me. He was nothing more than a coward.

Shivers ran up my spine and I laid down on the bed, exhausted. Noah could have made everything better had he still been alive. I missed him so much.

“I never wanted this war,” Marcos started, “and I know you think that it’s part of our reckless behavior to crave destruction and misery. But I never wanted this. I didn’t even want them to kidnap a werewolf. I protested, but there’s only so much protesting a vampire can do before his kind wants to kill him. They’d say I was no good. And if I was dead, what use would I be?

“They were going to kidnap you regardless, whether I was dead or this… So I kept my mouth shut so I could try to help you. It’s the least I can do to prove that I don’t want this.” He sat back, shaking his head just a little. “I have no reason to be here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have no family. No purpose. I mean, explain to me, Brianne, why am I expected to hate your kind when I wasn’t even born a vampire? None of us were. You were born this way. You were born a werewolf.” He leaned forward, looking at my stomach. “And your baby will be born the same way.”

I pulled the sheets closed to hide my stomach. “So what exactly is your point?”

Our eyes met. “My point is that we initiated this war, yet we aren’t even purebred. We are the villains. I refuse to stand for it, so you know what I’m going to do about it, Brianne?” He put some more space between us. “I am going to find a way to end this war. I’m going to save the werewolves.”

Part of me wanted to believe him, but the major part of me told me it wasn’t right to trust him. Vampires liked to play with their food before the meal. I wasn’t going to fall victim to yet another trap.

“You do that, Marcos. Meanwhile, I’ll be here, growing a whole person inside of me.” I closed my eyes, making him think I was on his side. “I’m nothing more than a pawn for the werewolves, so I shall take no part in this war. This war killed my husband, but I’m not about to let it take my baby, too.”