Chapter 28

-Noah's POV-

It was one of the most heartbreaking things I had ever seen, Aldrich held his dying son in his arms, tears streaming down his face. He buried Sawyer's face in his chest. I felt like I was intruding, I had been feeling that for the past ten minutes. I had been feeling out of place for the last month, uncomfortable in my skin.

Crow looked up to me, tears also ran down his face. He stood and held my hand, walking the two of us backwards until we were against the wall. He looked back into the graveyard for a moment, before turning back around and focusing his attention on Sawyer and Aldrich.

I wished that I could've focused on Crow the entire time. But Aldrich mumbled, "I'm sorry, it'll be over soon." Then, whilst running a hand through Sawyer's hair, he bent down, and bit Sawyer's neck. That would be the best place, the quickest place, one of the most painful places.

Sawyer gave a strained scream, as though he tried to hold himself back, but he couldn't. The noise shattered my heart. Sawyer was an innocent boy, he was young, and he didn't deserve anything like this pain. It was incredibly wrong.

I couldn't stand it. I had to leave. I hurried past Crow and moved back into the graveyard. I didn't want to leave Crow by himself, well, he wasn't by himself. But I didn't want to leave Crow's side. The two of us had been startled, surrounded, and would've been dead if Aldrich wasn't there. None of us would've stood a chance if Sawyer hadn't sacrificed himself.

I moved straight towards Haven and checked her head, making sure that she didn't have a concussion. I checked her breathing, and her arms. Nothing seemed like it was broken, I picked her up gently, and headed towards the other exit. I had to focus on something else, something which wasn't the screams, the blood, and the pain which lingered in the air. I stepped over the dust piles and clothes which used to be people. People with lives and emotions which were just harshly taken away.

I knew that my plan was a stupid one. But taking Haven tot he hospital was my first idea, and the one which I stuck with. I could've gone to Crow's house, but then we were likely to get caught. I was aware of someone following me, but the familiar scent of incense caused me to relax.

Crow caught up to me in the hospital parking lot. "Here," he said, putting an arm around my shoulder. "Get her on her feet and help me put her arm around my shoulder."

I saw his logic, so I did as he said without uttering a single word. It would be less suspicious if there were two people carrying the unconscious girl. I didn't know who her parents were, but I was sure that this kind of situation would get us in their bad books.

The three of us went through the automatic door and to the desk, "Hello miss, our friend here fell down and she's not woken up. We're very concerned," Crow told the lady behind the desk in a sickly sweet tone, like one Bertrand used. "We checked most of her vitals, she's breathing fine, and doesn't seem to have a concussion."

"Poor dear," the lady said. "Okay, could I just ask you a few questions, before I ask you to wait over there? A doctor should be around shortly." She flashed a smile. That told me that we would be here for hours.

"Of course," Crow said with a nod. "Her name is Haven Skyfield, she's a student, she lives with her parents, and this is her address." He took Haven's phone, which had some cracks on it, and pulled out a small card from between her phone case and the phone itself, with her emergency details written in bold print. "Her blood type is O-negative, and she's not allergic to any medication."

The receptionist looked stunned. Her eyes moved in between Haven and Crow in a way which I didn't appreciate. I didn't think I was the jealous kind of person, but it seemed I had been proven wrong.

Haven was given a hospital bed, because she still hadn't woken up yet. THere was no way she could comfortably sit in a chair. We were in a room with about five other beds. Even with our curtains drawn, I felt like we didn't have any kind of privacy.

"How is he?" I asked quietly. "After that?" I didn't want to actually say what I meant. I wondered where on earth they went, probably Aldrich's home, but that might not be the case. I was left in the middle of an alley, I was sure Aldrich would show more curtesy with his son than me.

"He's about the same as what he should be," Crow answered after taking a large breath in. "There is really now ay for anyone to tell if this'll work or not. We just have to wait and hope for the best. His heart hasn't stopped, that I know of, which is a good sign."

I nodded and took some deep breaths of my own. That was good news, about as good news as I could get at the moment. "Okay, good." My eyes kept trailing to Haven, but more specifically, her hair. She had dark red hair, which almost made everything feel like torture. Why were we still here? There were so many scents in the air, so much light hitting my eyes, so many noises assaulting my ears.

"Are you okay?" Crow asked. He rested a hand on my knee. We were both sitting in uncomfortable blue chairs beside the bed. "Noah?" His voice felt like it was far away.

"Yeah," I answered and swallowed a lump in my throat. "I'm just overwhelmed. I'm not used to anything like this." I hadn't been to a hospital in ages. It irritated me so much, I didn't understand why. I could understand being overwhelmed, but I didn't understand why simply being here made my skin crawl.

I had almost forgotten about what happened a few days ago. The longer I sat there, the more my nose began to burn with the scents of chemicals. The more memories began to resurface. My mind had tried to forget everything to do with the hospital, but it had also been very distracted by being ambushed, and our date.

Remembering our date helped my shoulders relax. I lent into Crow, who put an arm around my shoulder. He rubbed my arm soothingly. "You know, we don't need to stay here? Haven'll be alright."

I shook my head. "I can handle this," I told him stubbornly. "She doesn't have anyone else here." I took a deep breath through my mouth, in an attempt to avoid smelling any more of the horrific chemicals or blood.

"I don't think we'll be much missed," Crow said hesitantly. "She's where she needs to be. I don't want to scare her." He didn't elaborate, but he didn't need to. He was scared about what would happen when she woke up to see him. She had just been held captive by a vampire and used as bait. And if she spent any time with Bertrand, that was enough to traumatise her. I couldn't imagine what she might think.

"I don't think she'd hate you," I muttered. "She might be angry for a while, and hurt, but I don't think she could ever hate you."

Crow sighed and slumped back in his own seat. "I don't think so. She's going to hate me for keeping this from her, for getting her into trouble, for not being the Crow that she knows and loves. I've killed people." His voice broke.

I patted his other hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Crow, this is Haven we're talking about. She's the sweetest person ever, and she's your best friend. It doesn't change who you have been the past few years. It doesn't change how good of a friend you've been."

Crow didn't move or say anything, but I knew my words had caused something to click into place within his mind.

We stayed there for a few moments before a nurse came in. She took Haven's blood pressure and some blood for tests. I had to leave the room for that, but it was easy enough to explain that I grew faint at the sight of blood. I just waited outside until the nurse left. Then, a man strode through the hallway. He wore a black leather jacket and black jeans. He didn't hesitate as he entered the room, and pulled black a blue curtain.

"Well, now you can leave," the man said sternly. "Thank you for getting her here, but I can take care of it." His voice wasn't at all polite. It was more of a demand. He stood by Haven's bed, staring directly at Crow.

I must've looked immensely creepy, peering inside around the doorframe. But I didn't want to get involved until I really needed to.

"Are you sure? What if they need more information?" Crow asked in a nervous tone, I wasn't sure what made him nervous though. True, the man was tall and intimidating, but Crow was definitely stronger than him. I wondered who he was, but my best bet was that this man was Haven's father.

"Then they'll call you." The man grabbed Crow's arm and escorted him roughly outside. Crow played along, keeping up the appearance of a new adult who couldn't hold himself against a man who was at least six foot two, and hadn't missed an arm day in his life. "Get out."

Crow hesitated, but he stood from his seat and stalked out of the room with one final look towards Haven. As he reached me, he rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "Fathers," he muttered.

I chuckled and shook my head, gesturing for him to follow me to the main area of the hospital. The smell of sub-par food filled my senses instead of the blood and other chemicals in the hospital. "I couldn't say anything, honestly. I tend not to judge parents." I felt like I said the wrong thing, but it was true. I didn't like to think much of other's parenting techniques. I tended to ignore parents whenever I could. It was probably the immature option, but I didn't at all pretend to be mature.

"Yeah, I wouldn't know much either." Crow shrugged. "Well, parents differ from person to person, doesn't matter much about gender. But I don't think either of my mam's took the paternal role."

I nodded my head in thought. "I can see that." We exited the hospital, the noises of machines and people becoming muffled. I took a deep breath, the smell of the flowers and trees becoming overpowering. It seemed that no matter where I went, it would be overwhelming.

I held Crow's hand as we walked down the street. There was hardly anyone around, save for the cars which drove by. I didn't know where we were going, and I didn't really care.

"Do you think it's over?" Crow asked after a moment of silence.

"Hm?" I asked, I wasn't sure if I had heard him correctly. Or maybe I was hoping that I had misheard.

"Do you think Bertrand's dead? That the vampire community is safe from him?" He repeated, going into further detail. He glanced at me and slowed down. "Sawyer's going to be okay. He gave his life to save us, and nobody would know about his good deed."

"The noble vampire people would know," I pointed out. "Along with us. I don't think he'd appreciate it if people found out he was a self-sacrificing main character. I didn't know he had the capabilities to do that." It felt wrong to admit it. "He was honestly..." I didn't know how to finish my sentence.

I didn't need to. Crow nodded his head and led me to a bench. I didn't know why we were sitting, but I didn't know why we were doing a lot of things. It was a Sunday, we had school tomorrow. We had today free, and we did something this morning that nobody else would've ever had to do the day before school.

"Are there more vampires?" I whispered. "How do you know who is one and who isn't?" I didn't previously care much for this conversation. I didn't really want to think that anyone I passed in the streets could be a blood-thirsty murderer.

"Oh, yeah." Crow nodded. "There are more, but they don't tend to mess with anyone. It's rare that humans get turned into vampires. It's generally frowned upon. There is no real punishment for it though."

I listened intently, but another question kept tugging at my brain. "How do you know all this?" I asked. I didn't think that Crow had any guidance in his vampirism journey, so I was a tad suspicious.

Crow bit his lip and looked away. "I've talked to people. Sometimes, you just can't help but run into vampires." He gave a weak laugh. "This one vampire thought that he was doing me a service by helping out and giving me all the information you could possibly know about vampires." He then looked around, as though this vampire could potentially be listening in. "To be honest, he's terrifying and a vampire fanatic."

I snorted. "Bet that was a good break for him then?" I couldn't understand how someone could like vampires that much.

Crow nodded vigorously. "He sought out vampirism. That's enough to tell you how crazy he is."

I scrunched up my nose and nodded my head. "Yeah," I agreed easily. "But where's he now?" I wanted to know where I should be avoiding for the rest of my life.

"His name is Murdoch, and he honestly hangs around everywhere. He likes getting all the gossip and pulling strings behind the scenes." He shifted uncomfortably. "I really wouldn't be surprised if Bertrand had been working with him or the other way around. Neither of them give off friendly vibes."

I raised an eyebrow. "And yet you let him talk your ear off about vampirism and laws?" I didn't blame Crow, that sounded like a good deal to me, as someone who knows nothing about the new world which I've been thrust into. I would hate to break any vampiric laws which I had zero clue about, resulting in a stake being shoved through my heart.

"He was convincing. He is honestly Dracula." He waved his free hand around in exaggeration."He's got the widow's peak, the evil glint in his eyes, the smooth British accent, the sociopathic-ness." That escalated quickly. "You could convince me that Dracula was based off him."

I shrugged. "Hey, maybe he was? You don't know unless you asked how old he is. Even then, how do you know he's telling the truth?" I was now convinced that this man was Dracula, and I hoped that I wouldn't be able to ever get proof, because I wouldn't ever meet him in my life.

"True. But it's a bit of an odd question to ask a vampire. 'Hey, uh, you Dracula?'" He put on a fake chavvy accent, playing the part wonderfully. Then his phone began to ring. He paused for a moment before actually realising that it was his phone. It was in his hand in a flash. "Hey Mother."

I tried not to eavesdrop, but it was difficult with Violet's voice being so loud through the phone. She wasn't happy about how we weren't there, and that we had been gone for at least four hours. Crow had to explain to her why we were at the hospital, which led to another rant about how he should've called her sooner. She said that she was coming to pick us up, which reminded me that I should still be recovering from my sickness from a few days ago. I had convinced them that I was feeling better, but they were still walking on eggshells around me.

Crow sighed fondly as he hung up the phone. He glanced at me, no doubt asking if I'd heard that entire conversation. "I know, I should've texted them." He put his phone back in his pocket and began to look up and down the road. "We're in big trouble."

Hello lovelies!

Sorry for the poor grammar/spelling in this chapter. My Microsoft subscription ran out, and I'm generally pretty bad at both spelling and grammar :D

The question of the chapter is; who's your favourite character so far?

I really adore Crow not going to lie. He's one of the characters which I consider to be a slight self-insert. I always prefer those kinds of characters to be honest, but that's me being extremely biased.