Carry Me Home Tonight

I had watched as Kenzie ran. I was too winded from her nearly draining to the point of desiccating to give chase right away. When I knew she wasn’t coming back, I went after her. I lost her scent in the woods, not that far from the camp. I began to listen for a panicked human heartbeat, but I wasn’t having luck. For being a great tracker, I was struggling to track Kenzie.
I walked around, trying to find any sign of her. I was in the woods for about twenty minutes when I heard her voice. It was faint but it was promising.

“Alex,” I heard her clear as day. She had to be ways away, screaming as loud as she could.

Then the breeze blew in. I could smell the iron taste of blood. Her blood. I snapped into full blown hunter mode and started to follow the scent.

I ran as fast as I could, trying to find the source of the blood. It was getting dark fast, and I knew if Kenzie had hurt herself, she might be in very bad shape. I needed to find her. If she died by mistake, she could go into transition. I can’t let that happen.

I finally found the source of the blood. Kenzie was resting against a redwood tree. Her arms were folded into her body. She looked too still. I moved her arms and I found out why.

A fallen branch had pierced through her hand. She was bleeding out slowly. I had to get that stick out so my blood could fix her hand before she died and started transition.

“Kenzie,” I shook her, trying to wake her up, “Come wake up.”

“Alex,” she groaned. I kissed her forehead and she felt feverish. She was already fighting an infection. I had to move fast.

“I’m here,” I murmured as I got ready to rip the stick out of her hand, “I have to get the stick out. It’s going to hurt a lot. Just stay with me, okay.”

I pulled the stick out quickly and threw it away from us. I quickly bit my hand and gave it to her. She refused to drink from me, and if she didn’t start soon, her heart was going to stop.

“Mackenzie, you have to drink,” I urged her, “You don’t have much time. Your heart will stop in two minutes if you don’t drink. I can’t lose you. I’m scared right now. I’m scared that I’m going to lose you. You have to drink.”

Kenzie drank a little bit at first. When she had enough to save her life, I pulled my hand out of her mouth. I took off my shirt and ripped a strip out it and tied it tightly around her hand, trying to stop the blood loss so she can keep her hand and her life.

Kenzie passed out and I had no choice but to carry her back to the camp. I ran as fast as I could, not worrying about keeping Kenzie as still as possible. I just needed to get to camp to call Jack for help. He knew what to do better than I did.
---
“How is she,” I asked Jack as he came out of the tent.

“She’ll live,” he smiled lightly, “She’s on a morphine and anti-biotic drip. She’ll be groggy for a while. The best part is that she’ll have full function in her hand in a couple weeks. You are so damn lucky she’s strong.”

“We were attacked by a rogue vamp,” I told him, “She nearly killed me. I have no idea why I chased after her when she nearly drained me.”

“It’s the emotional imprint,” Jack explained, “You feel something that you did before, but since your emotions aren’t all back yet, you’ll act on an impulse. She’s lucky you did. Or we’d be telling her to finish her transition.”

“No,” I said suddenly, “She cannot go through transition. She won’t be able to handle being a vampire.”

“See,” Jack smirked, “I just proved a point. Before you had hit the switch, you reacted the same way when she asked about being turned.”
---
I called the camping trip short, and took Kenzie back to the studio house. Tay about flipped shit and fried my brain until Jack explained everything. I was allowed to stay in her room with her, but I was not allowed to leave her side. Tay didn’t want Kenzie going into a panic if I wasn’t there.

So I sat on the floor, right next to her bed. I held her hand the entire time. Tay would bring me water bottles filled with blood from some rodent she had managed to trap outside the house. I never complained about it not being bigger game, I was just relieved to have some blood to help me get through this.

The blood had left her system already, but she was still fighting the infection in her hand. She was out in the woods alone for two hours with the stick in her hand. But she was getting better, and that was all that mattered.

“Hm,” I heard Kenzie groan as she rubbed her face with her free hand. I released her other hand and moved to sit on the bed, “Alex?”

“Hey,” I put on a smile for her. It was fake, but I needed to do something to help her know she was safe.

“Where are we,” she asked groggily.

“Back at the house,” I told her, “I cut the trip short so Jack and I could treat your infection. You’re going to be fine.”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured as she rubbed her face more, “I was greedy. I nearly killed you.”

“You can’t kill a vampire from draining their blood,” I told her, “You could have force me into desiccating, but not death.”

“I was so scared,” she whimpered, “I thought I was going to die in the woods.”

“I wasn’t going to let that happen,” I told her, “I wouldn’t be able to survive without you. I tracked you down and gave you more blood to help stop you from bleeding out.”

“Thank you,” she smiled faintly, “For saving my life. Twice.”

“It was a pleasure,” I told her.

“When do you have to go back to Timonium,” she asked.

“The flight’s in two days,” I told her, “I got you your ticket and I have most of your things packed to take back with us. Do you want me to take you up to yours and Tay’s to get the rest of your things?”

“I’ll ship them to you guys,” Tay said as she walked in, “How are you feeling, Kenzie?”

“Better than dead,” she replied, “I owe Alex for the rescue.”

“No,” I told her, “I owe you more for what I had done to you in the last five. Saving you is the first of many things I have to do to make things right.”

Notes

If I were to turn her, it would be way more dramatic. Just saying. And I feel like a feels-enducing monster now, and I kind of like it.