Author's note: I have several vampire stories in me, and this is the second one to go on Lit. The vampire mythology is different for this one than "Cruelest of Intentions".
"Blood or Love" will go up in chapters. It's not a stroke piece. I hope you enjoy it anyway. Feedback and votes are appreciated, as always.
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Kim wished she could get a wooden stake through the heart of the asshole who'd turned her husband into a vampire, and ruined their lives. At least we're together despite it all, she thought, walking through the back door of their home. But how much longer now that the formula that held his blood thirst in check for the last year was starting to fail?
"What's the report?" Kim asked Benson, who was sitting at the kitchen table, munching on celery and doing her homework. Jack's younger sister took turns staying with him while Kim worked and slept.
Benson looked up and dropped her pen. "Same thing. It's been what, two weeks now? Maybe he should see a doctor."
"You know that can't happen." Kim opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of iced tea. She mentally noted that the blood supply in the fridge was still full, a good thing.
When she turned back to Benson, the other woman's big brown eyes were shining, and her face was tight with concern. "But, you've seen what this is doing to him. He can hardly keep anything down. He's hot, then cold. He complains of electrical zaps in his brain."
"I don't think they'll know how to treat a vampire," Kim said. "But if this lead works out, we may have help for him very soon." She paused to take a long drink of the cold tea, then said, "You've been making him drink gallons of water, right? That should help flush the toxins out."
Benson sighed. "Of course."
Kim set her tea down and ran both hands through her blonde hair, its pixie-cut accentuating her fine, delicate features. "I know you had a date tonight, and you've already sat with him today, but could you please come back tonight around nine?"
Benson shrugged and began collecting her books and papers up from the table. "Tonight? Yeah, I guess so. I can have Matt meet me here instead. Why? What's going on?"
"I'm going to talk to someone who worked with Dr. Campbell, but wasn't at the lab the day the League attacked." Kim leaned against the table. "My friend, Charli, set up a conference call with him tonight at nine. She helped me find him in the first place. His name is Dr. Kitcher. I have a really good feeling about him."
"Oh, that's good news," Benson adjusted the purse strap on her shoulder. "Hope he works out better than the last two leads." She gave a toss of her light brown hair that sent it skimming around her shoulders. "Well, I'll be here before nine then. Later, Kim."
Kim shut the door behind Benson and collapsed at the kitchen table. She was so tired. It had been ten months since they found out that the organization of vampires, known only as the League, killed Dr. Campbell and destroyed his lab along with all the known antidote. Since then, all she'd done was work and try to find someone else who could help Jack. Now they were down to the wire, and it seemed like she could actually hope again.
The antidote was the only solution for vampirism they knew of, but it only worked temporarily - a year was the most any vampire had stayed humanly conscious in Dr. Campbell's research. Jack was coming up on a year now, and it seemed he was starting to revert.
She knew if they didn't find another source soon, he wasn't going to make it. Or else, she thought, Benson and I aren't gonna make it.
She sipped her iced tea and thought about how so much had changed after Jack took the injection. He'd lost his taste for blood, thank God, yet his body still seemed to require tiny amounts of it. Once a day, she mixed a tube of it into soups and drinks, since he could tolerate some liquids.
But two weeks ago, when the regression started, he had insomnia around the clock. If he could doze off at all, it was fitful tossing and turning because of his nausea and pains. Last week, he'd started asking for more blood, but she only increased the amount by a little. She was truly alarmed by his sudden cravings. She figured they had six weeks to find more antidote. But she knew six weeks was being generous.
She reached for a cup, filled it with hot water and dunked a tea bag in it. Then she walked into the living room where Jack had sprawled out on the couch.
Some of his soft, dark hair, which had grown shaggy, was plastered down around his face. Other pieces were standing up. The long, sinewy body, that she missed holding against her in bed, was covered in blankets. She knew those covers might be tossed aside any minute when the hot flashes took over again.
She carefully sat beside him on the couch and rubbed an exposed shoulder. "Here, baby, have some chamomile tea. It will help you feel better."
He turned his head and looked at her. She noted how his usually snapping, dark eyes were bleary and red. His face was paler than normal, and a slight sheen covered his skin.
He raised up slowly. "Thanks, Kim." Jack's normally strong, confident voice was hoarse, soft. He sipped from the cup, clacking it back down on the saucer as his hands shook. "So, Benny has babysitting duty again tonight?"
She didn't miss the shame in his voice.
"Yeah. But it'll be more than just Benson. She wants you to meet the new guy she's dating. She thinks he's someone who can help."
He took another sip, but she saw the look that crossed his features. "Benson's seeing someone? Nobody told me."
"She just met him last week. She knows how you are when she brings dates around."
"And she's told him about me?" He set the cup down on the table a little too forcefully. "This is just making things more complicated."
"Don't get upset. We're running out of time and options here, Jack. We can't afford to pass on any prospective lead. We just want you better."
Jack leaned back against his pillow again, shut his eyes, and inhaled.
Kim's hands smoothed gently across his arm. "I promised you I'd find more antidote, and I intend to keep that promise." She reached down and smoothed a sweaty strand of hair out of his eyes. "Tell me, on a scale of one to ten, how human do you still feel?"
He sighed. "I don't know. Maybe an eight? I'm too sick to feel much at all, though."
"When he gave you the injection last year, Dr. Campbell told us this sickness is temporary, and you'll be fine again for a while." She gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
Jack shrugged his shoulders. "He also said some of his subjects quickly degenerated into full-on vampirism."
"I don't think that will happen with you. You're strong mentally. We still have time to get the cure."
"I hope so, else you'll have to stake me."
She recoiled. "Don't joke about it."
"Who's joking?" he said, his voice glum. "If we don't get the treatment in about four more weeks, someone will have to do it. I'll be too far gone."
"Hopefully you'll have the injection sooner than that." She nestled on the couch against him. His arm curled around her, holding her against his cold, trembling body. He felt fragile to her, and that was not something she was used to. She looked up into his pained eyes. "Can you tell if any of your vampire power is getting stronger?"
He rubbed his fingertips through her short hair, tracing patterns on her scalp that made her tickle inside.
