Irrisistable: Chap. 8 Agitate

It's been a little while since I added new work and that's because it's summer so that means summer classes and vacations but I'm going to try my hardest to keep writing for you who still read Irrist.

The man’s dry voice still echoed in my head. The sucking noise picked back up until there was complete silence. I pushed my side into the tree bark until I couldn’t push any further. I dug my nails into the dirt to remind myself that this was real.

                When the sucking noise stopped, I tried to be as silent as the forest had become, but I couldn’t stop trembling. The dark figure stood up and the light from the moon caught him for a brief second before he lazily stumbled out of it.

                “Are you okay?” The man asked, his voice still husky, but I didn’t say anything. The adrenaline had died down since the vampire attacked me, leaving the gashes on my back to burn like an open flame. I closed my eyes and pushed harder into the bark to concentrate on something else, but it didn’t seem to be working. Black spots dotted my vision in an already black surrounding.

                “I’m not going to hurt you.” The man’s voice was starting to clear up and not be as scary, but I still didn’t want to trust him. I had to find Triston, but I was starting to lose feeling. I leaned my head onto the tree’s rough bark. The man slowly approached me and I flinched away from him.

“Go away,” I breathed while blinking to focus my eyes.

                “You’re hurt,” the man said, his voice seeming sincere. He was right, but I wasn’t about to trust anyone except Triston. My mouth ran dry like a sponge was placed on my tongue followed by shivers that ran along my skin. I felt like screaming from the pain.

                “Triston,” I mumbled, hoping that he would find me.

                “No, my name’s Gauge,” Gauge replied. I shook my head and groaned from the headache and dizziness that followed.

                “I have…to find…” I started, but my stomach lurched into a dry heave. I pulled myself on all fours and heaved up air.

                “Jesus…” Gauge whispered. I could feel his eyes on my back, but the heaving wouldn’t stop. Finally, my stomach conjured something up except it smelled like metal.

                “I’ve got to get you out of here,” Gauge said, walking cautiously towards me. He lightly pulled on my arm, but I swatted him away.

                “Don’t touch me!” I screamed through gasps.

                “Woman, you need help now!” Gauge yelled back. He grabbed my arm with an unbreakable grip and stood me up. I took a large breath between heaves, curled my fingers and threw a punch. My fist connected with the man’s nose.

                “S**t!” Gauge yelled. He let go of me and I fell on the ground, side first. I screamed out with pain. Tears welled up and spilled over. I heard a loud commotion of yelling and hissing, but as much as I tried, I couldn’t focus on anything.

                Someone was repeating my name, but I lashed out at anything that touched me. I dug my fingers into the ground and tried to breathe. I gasped until I collapsed.

 

 

               

                Hot. It was hot. Then it burned. I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t open my eyes! I started to panic and tried to touch my back, but something was holding my arms down. A sharp point moved along the perimeter of the gashes in my back. My own scream brought me to consciousness. I pried my eyes open and looked wildly at a bunch of blurred images.

                “Stop!” It was a woman’s voice, but I really wasn’t sure. “Stop her!” I clawed at the material around me. I jerked loose of whatever held me back and fell onto wood flooring.

                “Mona!” A man yelled, but I ignored it. I had to get the fire off of my back. I desperately tried to stand up, but the world tilted and I went with it. I tried to look around, but it was so blurry that everything looked like dull dark colors instead of shapes.

                “Help me!” The man yelled again and hands pushed me down onto the floor, belly first. I could feel the fire eating away my flesh and I cried out. I started shaking and tried to free myself, but hands grabbed my legs.

                A woman started humming and whispering. Fingers brushed my hair down and ran along both sides of my back, down to my hamstrings. I closed and opened my eyes. The world looked like shaking colors that started to swirl and mix.

The woman started singing in a strange language. A hand pressed down hard on my head and I closed my eyes.

 

 

I woke up with sweat drenching my skin. I was lying on my stomach with the sun shining on my back. I opened my eyes a little.

“Good afternoon, sunshine,” a woman said. I jumped and looked at her. She was a middle aged black woman with blue eyes and wearing a knowing smile, sitting in a wooden chair with a ten inch book. She was lean and wore a loose yellow cotton dress.

My back ached from my movement, but I tried to ignore it. Where am I?

“Who are you?” I asked quickly, swinging around so that my back was to the wall. I gasped from the aching pain that coursed down into every crevice of my body. I was in a small room with empty glass jars sitting on various wooden shelves. I quickly noted the open door at the far side of the room.

“Lay back down before the poison reactivates,” the woman said, raising an eyebrow. I had never heard anything like her accent before. I looked at her unsurely. “Your friends are here waiting for you to get well, but you aren’t going to get well by sitting like that.”

“My friends?” I tested. The woman put the book down and got up. She calmly walked toward me. I flinched from her and tried to look threatening. The woman looked at me, still calm, and raised her hands.

“The vampire mayor is your friend, is he not?” The woman asked. By the look of her eyes, she already knew the answer.

“Where am I?” I demanded. I gripped the bottom of my shirt and looked down. “Where are my clothes?” I screamed. I was now wearing a white, cotton nightgown. My heart sped up which made me feel woozy with a new rush of pain from my back. I swallowed back the urge to throw up. 

“Mona?” I looked and Triston stood there next to some guy. I wanted to run into Triston’s arms, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Triston had a wary expression on his face and he looked over at the woman who was still watching me. The man with Triston watched me curiously with grey eyes. He had shaggy black hair and had the same wild look that the blonde headed girl had.

“Lay back down, girl,” the woman said.

“Where am I?” I demanded and looked at Triston. “Where are my clothes?” I was practically hysterical. The weight of everything that had happened to me was like a ton of bricks crashing down. I quickly remembered the gashes and the man that rescued me.

“Is she for real or is it just another episode?” The man asked, looking at the woman. The woman didn’t avert her gaze.

“She is fully conscious,” the woman said and Triston immediately looked relieved. I backed up until my back hit the wall.

“Of course I’m conscious!” I screamed and everyone jumped.

“You’re safe, Mona. Dibia is healing you,” Triston said, taking cautious steps toward me. Spots started to form in my vision and I slacked against the headboard. Triston was in front of me before I realized he had moved.

I grabbed onto his arms and closed my eyes.

“What’s happening?” Triston demanded. I opened my eyes up to see the woman throw her hands in the air. Triston gently pulled me onto my side.

“The poison is being reactivated by her nervous heart. Calm her heart down or you will see her in a box soon enough,” Dibia replied. “Get out!” Dibia yelled at the strange man. She ushered him out of the door and closed it behind her. Triston turned to me.

“What happened back there Mona?” Triston asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed. He looked defeated. I thought about that night and told Triston about it to the best of my recollection, leaving out the part about the vampire that tried to rape me. He was quiet for a while and then he spoke.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you,” Triston said, looking down at a loose string. I was about to speak, but Triston interrupted me.

“Those…scratches in your back contain some type of substance that is…” Triston trailed off and started looking at his hands. I frowned and slowly slid my hand into his. Triston didn’t look up, but simply gripped my hand tightly.

“Dibia says she’s never seen anything like it before and thinks that we should take you to my home… If I were to take you there, even if you survived the trip, I don’t know if I’ve been replaced and if I have been, then they’ll take you to… I don’t know what will happen,” Triston said, his voice getting weaker until finally he looked up at me.

“Then we won’t go,” I replied. The corn of Triston’s mouth twitched and he looked back down at our hands. His thumb circled over my knuckles, sending shivers along my skin.

“Then you’ll die unless by a miracle Dibia conjures up something from her voodoo book.” I bit my lip.

“Why are you blaming yourself for this when you’re the one who was set on fire?” I asked. Triston turned his hand over so that mine was on top, revealing his wrist. There was a nasty, but healing white scab over his wrist.

“Because I’m the one who aggravated your blood,” Triston said apathetically. I furrowed my eyebrows.

“What-?” I started, but Triston cut in.

“You were dying from the bites that the trackers gave you. The trackers being the guards that protect buildings like the one we were in… I tried everything to get you to regain consciousness, but you were slowly dying from blood loss. So the only thing I knew to do was to give you some of my blood to compensate for the blood that you lost,” Triston explained, looking everywhere but at me. I started remembering that day as if it were so long ago that I had completely forgotten it. “Your body didn’t agree with my blood so it started attacking it like a virus which is a normal effect, but I was worried that it was too late.

“When I found a safe place, we must have been there for an hour until finally my blood and your blood fused together. I didn’t think that later on you would go through hell and back. By doing what I did, I aggravated your blood which takes a few days to kick back in motion and level out… Those scratches are killing you, but what I did is making the process a little faster.” Triston ran his hand over his face while still clinging onto my hand. My breath caught in my throat from what he said.

“And I already know that one of Theo’s b******s attacked you. I didn’t need Gauge’s side of the story to figure that out. I can see it on your face as well as the new bite marks,” Triston said, looking back up at me. His stare was so desperate that I couldn’t look away.

                “You were right. You should go home,” Triston replied before I could say anything. He lightly placed my hand down on the bed and stood up. I tried to call him back, but he closed the door behind him. Leaving me alone.