Children of the Damned
The next day Arya didn't have to go into the hospital until two in the afternoon so after a very long nap she spent the last hour before she ventured to work with her temporary house guests. Sitting in the living room herself, Erin, Jane, and Darcy felt the layer of awkwardness in the air. The silence could be cut with a knife. That was until Erin cleared her throat.
"So... vampires. Crazy right!?" She said much too enthusiastically. Jane cracked a smile at her younger sister, Erin always knew how to make her sisters smile. Even in the most unfavorable of situations.
"What's the plan?" Arya asked then took a sip of her very large cup of coffee.
"I thought you didn't want to get involved." Jane said and Arya sighed.
"I didn't say that."
"You did when mom and dad died." Jane snapped and Arya nearly jumped out of her seat in anger. Each of them dealt with their parent's deaths in their own way. Erin cooked and cleaned and took care of everyone. Jane took up the family business. While Arya avoided the topic of her parent's terrible death altogether. Jane was right, in a way, she didn't want to get involved.
"I just want to know the plan. That's all." Arya explained trying not to allow her anger out.
She understood why Jane was so upset with her, but she didn't agree. Arya didn't want anything to do with the family business. And she had every right to deny any part of it. And if Jane and Erin wanted to get involved, they also had every right to do so. Arya felt like she was being pulled in different directions. To follow her families legacy and fight the beings she was taught her entire life to hate. Or to live a normal and somewhat unproblematic life without the supernatural. And while she knew nearly everything about the history of the perils with the vampires of Mystic Falls, she still never wished to put that knowledge to work.
"Find blood sucker, kill blood sucker." Darcy said with a grin on her face.
"Simple." Jane said and Erin looked to her sister with worry on her face.
Erin wasn't a fighter but she did help Jane with her hunts. Ever since their parent's death Jane went on a vampire killing frenzy. Frantically searching for the vampire that killed her parents. But she never found them. They were always one step ahead. Erin on the other hand never hunted, but she did aid in other ways. She was a history teacher after all and her favorite subject to study was that of Mystic Falls and the connections to the super natural. Specifically vampires.
"We tracked it to-" Erin started but Arya held a hand up.
"No details. Just text me when the bastard is dead. My ER is filling up." Arya said standing up and grabbing her purse. "And the blood bags, they are being stolen again. Look into that too will ya?" She asked and Jane looked to Darcy.
"Got it! Have a good day at work!" Darcy said cheerfully and Arya smiled to her then made her way to the door.
Arya drove her blue Ford Focus to work like she did every day. And just like most days she drove in silence. But unlike most days, her mind was plagued with thoughts of vampires. Why had they returned? And why would they be steeling blood bags when they have obviously been attacking people? Why not just ravage the town like they did a year ago? Arya grit her teeth as she considered the swirling thoughts in her head. She wanted to help, but at the same time she didn't. Part of her wanted to find the vampire that was killing the people in her home town and finish them herself. But another part of her, the hurt part, the part of her that lost her parents, the part of her that was terrified of vampires, that part was telling her to stay away from the fight. But regardless of what she wanted or didn't want, she needed to go to work and the help save the people that could be saved. That she knew for certain.
Arya's afternoon at the trauma went as normal. Thankfully no more animal attacks came in so it was pretty slow. A broken bone here, a fall there. Nothing out of the ordinary. That was until the hour grew late and the sun went down. Arya was filling out some discharge paperwork for a patient at the nurses station when her phone rang. She saw it was Erin so she walked to the empty hallway around the corner and answered it.
"Hello?" Arya said.
"You need to get down here right now!" Erin screamed into the phone.
"What? Where? What happened?" Arya said now panicked.
"It's Darcy, she's been attacked. Get to the high school right now! She's bleeding out!" Erin said then hung up the phone.
Arya's hands shook.
"This can't be happening." She whispered to herself.
She stuffed her phone into her scrub's pocket and told Stephen she had to go due to a family emergency. Arya never left work early for any reason so he let her go without a fuss. She ran to her car and jumped in. She sped down the road until she reached the high school parking lot, white knuckling the steering wheel the entire way. When she arrived she dialed Erin's number. It rang but she didn't pick up. In a panic she also dialed Jane and Darcy's but nothing. She jumped out of the car and sprinted to the school. As she was running through the parking lot with her medical bag slung over her shoulder she heard a loud scream.
Arya turned just as she was about to yank the back doors of the school open when she heard the scream. Rushing from the side entrance to the school was Jane, Erin, and Darcy slung over a man's shoulder. He was mid height and had shaggy brown hair, he wore tinted glasses. Odd for how dark it was outside. Arya ran over to them as they approached Darcy's van. Erin pulled the doors open and the man put Darcy inside.
"Everyone in the van! Now!" Jane shouted as she shot her hand gun behind her. Arya turned to the direction Jane was firing and saw what she was shooting at. A tall slender woman in all black with long dark hair and piercing eyes walked toward them with blood smeared on her face and neck.
"Holy shit!" Arya screamed as she hopped into the van beside Darcy.
"Let's go tomb raider!" The man shouted as Jane jumped in the driver's seat.
Darcy groaned as the van sped off. The woman stopped in the middle of the school parking lot just staring at them. She didn't pursue them. She just watched.
"Why isn't she following us?" Erin asked the man and he shrugged.
"Let's worry about that later. How is Darc?" Jane asked looking over her shoulder as she swerved between lanes. Arya had her full attention on Darcy. She tried her best to block out the image in her head of the vampire who had attacked her friend.
"Not fatal. But she's bleeding pretty bad." Arya said removing the cloth that was pressed to the side of Darcy's neck, revealing the bite mark, then replacing it with a clean bandage.
"Can you patch her up at the house?" The man asked looking concerned. He removed his glasses and rubbed his temples. That's when Arya recognized him.
"I can. Tony?" Arya said and Tony looked up at her. His eyes looked tired and his body looked worn. Like he hadn't slept in weeks.
"Do I look that bad, kid? Damn." He said and Arya furrowed her brows. She never did get used to his humor.
The van came to a halt in front of the Foster family home and everyone jumped out. Tony and Arya helped Darcy walk to the front door and practically carried her to the downstairs bathroom so Arya could properly treat her. After about an hour of cleaning and dressing the wound and getting Darcy up to her bedroom to rest Arya flopped down on the sofa and let herself feel everything she had just experienced for the first time during the entire ordeal. It had been a very long time since she encountered a vampire. And this was the first time since her parents that someone she cared for had been attacked. Her emotions ravaged her so much that she began to cry. Tony walked into the room and sat in a chair opposite her. He looked rough, like he had seen things in his life that he shouldn't. Arya had seen him around town here and there but she hadn't spoken to him since her parent's funeral. Tony was a Mystic Falls High School science teacher, with vampire hunting as a side gig. He often worked with Jane, Erin, and Darcy when they managed to track one down that was messing with the people in the town.
Arya felt guilty, she had known Tony for most of her life. He had been her teacher at one point. She admired him. How he was able to connect with his students and also make them excited to learn. And when Erin began working at the school they had seen a lot more of one another. But after her parent's died, she closed herself off from most people in her life. She allowed Erin in, and sometimes the people she worked with at the hospital. But that was only because she saw them often.
"She okay?" Tony asked now looking at Arya.
"Yeah, she's fine. Physically that is." Arya replied and Tony sighed. "How about you, are you okay?" She asked now concerned for him.
"Pepper wants me to stop. The hunt that is. But I can't."
"You've been keeping it from her. Secrets ware down on the soul."
"Ever since Nat... I just have to. You know?" Tony said with sadness in his eyes. Ever more now that he thought about Natasha.
Natasha was Tony's adopted sister. She was a teacher at the school too, she taught mathematics to freshmen. But it wasn't her passion, she was a spit fire and she loved martial arts and self defense. So much so she started teaching self defense a few times a week in the school gym to the students who wanted to learn how to defend themselves. She had hoped it would help at least a little bit if they encountered the supernatural. She had no idea it would be no match against a vampire.
"I get it. But it's better that she's gone. Better for everyone."
"Maybe." Tony said and a look of confusion crossed Arya's face. Natasha wasn't dead, but she wasn't alive either. She chose to become a vampire. And although she never hurt anyone, she still could. Arya thought Tony understood that. In Arya's opinion, vampires were dangerous. Plain and simple. There was no saving them. They were children of the damned, that's what Jane called them. They couldn't be helped. At least, not according to the Foster family.
"Well, I am exhausted. And from the looks of it, so are you. You can crash here if you want. I'm off tomorrow so I'll be around if you need me." Arya said before standing up and heading to her bedroom.
As she made her way down the hall she felt a chill run down her spine. She stopped moving just as she placed her hand on her doorknob. She saw a quick movement from the corner of her eye and her heart raced. Everyone else was in their rooms. She turned her head and gasped as a woman's dark eyes bore into her. But before she could scream or fight she was knocked out completely unconscious.