SR: Bring Me the Horizon - Medicine
fourteen.
Marina.
"Pay no mind to her, she's acting like a child," Lance rolled his eyes and grabbed the glass, taking a sip for himself.
I sat in the chair, looking out the window. I watched as Eryn stood there with her hands in her pockets and had a grave expression on her face. She looked off in the distance at something I couldn't see and started heading towards it. I sighed, wondering why Eryn was so intent on only animal blood.
"Why doesn't she want to?" I asked, averting my gaze from the window and staring at the men in front of me.
Lance stood up and walked towards the window. He sipped the glass. "She's afraid of herself."
"Or maybe it's because she doesn't want to scare you off," Chris's voice boomed, causing me to flinch a bit.
Scare me off?
"It's Eryn. She's afraid of losing herself again," Lance sighed, "Sybil, her sire, was a very restrained woman and she passed that onto Eryn. Sybil struggled with her control as well. It only makes sense for Eryn to be the same, but not every vampire can survive only on animal blood."
"I'm sure you aren't helping her, Marina. Especially given what you are," Chris leaned back on his chair casually, "Eryn feels as if she can barely handle human blood. Mer blood is on a completely different level. Think of it as a recovering drug addict is in front of the thing they were addicted to every day."
"Was Eryn previously addicted to mermaid blood?" I asked, looking at Chris intently.
His face was one of stone. Not one ounce of him gave me any indication if she was or not. "I'm sure your people have vampire horror stories."
I nodded, remembering all those stories that were told to us as children. They were meant to keep us in the sea, but for Neri, she still went on land. She wasn't afraid of anything. She wanted to see what the rest of the world had to offer. I wanted to do the same for her.
"Enough of that. Eryn wouldn't come here unless she needed something, was is it?" Lance whirled around and sat on the chair Eryn was sitting on. He crossed his leg over the other and waited for me to speak.
I suddenly remembered why we were here in the first place. Seeing everything was such a surprise to me that I forgot the original intention of why we were here. I felt ashamed for forgetting about my friends even for a moment. "My friends, two mermaids, were taken from Eryn's apartment earlier."
"Two mermaids!? You're telling me Eryn was around all of you?" Chris folded his arms and cast me a glare. He was not someone I wanted to receive a glare from. The intensity made me turn my head away.
"Chris!" Lance snapped, "leave her alone. She doesn't understand."
Chris took a long deep breath before speaking again. "Your friends were taken?"
I nodded, afraid to speak. These two vampires made me nervous, but not in a way that I feared they would hurt me. Weirdly enough, they seemed wary of me.
Lance tilted his head for a bit. "Hmm, they're most likely alive. No vampire would leave a mermaid alive, much less than take them somewhere and then feed on them. If they were taken, that means there's someone who wants to keep them alive. Chances are it's someone in power that knew about the mermaids in town. They'll make a big deal about it rather than feed on them and discard them." He lifted his head and snapped his fingers, "Sweetie, can you please check if we got any emails about some sort of underground party or celebration?"
Chris wordlessly signed into his computer and typed away, leaving Lance and me to talk.
"So, if you don't mind me asking, what are you to Eryn?" Lance looked at me for a moment. There was an impish grin on his face and I blushed, hating how this was making me jumpy.
I hesitated in my answer. I had no idea what to say. Oh, yes Eryn and I are a thing? Were we even a thing?
"We are uh—"
"I'll save you the embarrassment," Chris interrupted, "I found exactly what you were asking for. The quaestor is hosting a party at the end of the week. I wouldn't be surprised if that woman had something to do with this."
"Why, who's that?" I asked, raising a brow.
"She's in charge of Seattle. Let's say she has very... eccentric tastes," Lance scowled, "Accept the invitation and we can go and see."
"Eryn also turned one of my friends," I blurted, feeling obligated to tell these two. They gave a certain aura to them that I felt like everything would be okay. Maybe that's why Eryn had them as family. I could see there was a lot of history between them all. I wanted to know more. "She's at Eryn's apartment and Eryn wanted her here. I don't know if that would make it better but..."
"Eryn sired a mermaid?" Chris's eyes widened and he shot to his seat, "She needs human blood. There's no way she's going to be able to—"
"Chris!" Lance snapped at him, giving him a look that only they could understand, "We'll send someone to bring her here. The basement, I presume?"
I nodded, contemplating if this was the best thing for Ally. Being in a house of vampires? She would be scared, or worried...
No, she wouldn't, instead, she would be one of them, I thought.
I narrowed my eyes for a second, trying to understand what they were explaining. "Please tell me what you two are worried about. Maybe I could better understand Eryn."
"Sweetie, is Eryn someone you want to understand? Eryn is... gentle. She tries to seem like everything is under control, but it's not. It never is, not the way she handles it," Lance put his hand on my knee supportively, "it's hard enough with you being around her. She's afraid to even drink human blood, do you understand what you're doing to her?"
"You're killing her from the inside out. It can go one of two ways, either she loses control and kills everyone she loves or she just suffers until she finally breaks. It all leads to the same outcome," Chris cut in, heading to the door, "come let's go find her. We could also talk her into having dinner. I think it's best if you two stay here for the night. There's no safer place than here."
I agreed and stood up to follow Chris out. Lance grasped my arm for a moment and tapped the seat. I sat down and looked at him. "What's up?"
"Marina, I want you to know what you're getting yourself involved in. I don't know if this is something you two are pursuing, but if you are there are some things you should know that Eryn probably hasn't told you," Lance's gaze was the same one someone would give you if you recently lost a family member.
"I want to be here for her as much as she is for me. She didn't have to help me with any of this. She turned my friend just because I wanted her to live. I don't know how a sire bond works, but I'm sure that's no easy decision to turn someone. The first night I met Eryn, she was already saving me. I've seen her lose control and told me to stab her with a syringe just so she wouldn't hurt me. I made her breakfast and she ate it, even when knowing she would get sick," I seized Lance's hands and met his golden eyes, "I want to be here."
Lance smiled as tears began to prick his eyes. They weren't clear. Instead, they were bloody red. He wiped them away quickly. "It's nice to hear someone feels that way about her. Eryn has never really let anyone close to her. As you can see, she tends to keep us at arm's length, but with you... It's fascinating really."
"How did she meet you guys?"
"Eryn and I met first. I'm Sybil's sire sibling. Our sire found me worse for wear fleeing from a horrible man and decided to take me. She showed me that there was more to the world than being someone's tool," Lance smiled softly, his eyes twinkling with remembrance.
I nodded. "So how'd you meet Eryn?"
"Oh! Yes sorry," Lance looked at me sheepishly, "Sybil told me about a girl she picked up from London. When I first met Eryn, she didn't talk much. When she turned, she had injuries that needed to heal over. Sybil taught her most of everything she knew, but I refined her skills. Sybil was a brute and one who didn't like to mingle with society too much. Eryn was preferring isolation as well, but I showed her that she still could be a part of society. I taught her not to stay too long in places and to move around a lot. It gave her a new vigor on life. Immortality didn't have to be so monotone," Lance chuckled, "Eryn was excited to be a vampire. She got to be who she was and had the power to stop anyone who tried to stifle it."
Eryn was much more toned down about being a vampire now than compared to what Lance described. "Why isn't she like that now? Why does she only sustain herself on animal blood? Can she even do that?"
"Okay calm down verbal diarrhea. Some of those questions I shouldn't tell you. Eryn has to be willing to tell you on her own," Lance shook his head and grinned, "I'm glad that you care though."
I blushed, feeling like I let myself out a bit more than I thought.
"Eryn had trouble with mermaid blood. She stopped, of course, but she's afraid of feeling from the source. Animal blood, however, can only support her for so long," Lance sighed, "I don't want you to feel pressured about that. We'll have dinner and we'll see."
"Dinner?"
"Yes, you'll get to meet the rest of the clan."
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