Blood & Juniper

"What do we do now?" Ash croaks. She stares hard at the black shining gate sealing us in, "What's going to happen in this cage?"

I set Ashlen on her feet and shuffle over to the crossing poles, touching the cool metal. It's either silver all the way through or silver coated. I'm not going to be able to bend these bars. No one is getting in or out.

I crane my neck back examining the tremendous structure and swallow. Blood is already clogging the air, it will only get worse.

"You know what you asked earlier, about a bloodbath?" I glance back at her pressing my lips together, she looks like she's about to be sick, "There are two days a year that are just that… And we happen to be here during one of them."

Ash twitches, her lips go thin and chalky. She looks around congregation in terror and puzzlement. The gravity of the situation fully dawns on her, "This is a lions den… And we're the lions."

She understands. Any minute this cage will become a feeding frenzy of horror and bloodshed. Ash and I are going to get s.u.c.k.e.d into it whether we want it or not. Temptation of that magnitude is virtually impossible to resist.

She runs over to the cage and attempts to pry the bars apart. When that doesn't work she tries to lift the entire gate. She thunders and yells a slew of curses among less intelligible things at it, slamming her hands into the enclosure. Some individuals back away from her melt down while a few whisper to each other, staring shamelessly.

"Ash, stop. It's got silver in it. You can't break it," I inform her in monotone. I am so tired of being screwed over by circ.u.mstance.

She panics, "We have to get out of here! There has to be some opening or weak point in this stupid cage! Somewhere we can squeeze through."

A weak point, an opening? Doubtful, it's meant to keep humans trapped like rats.

"Come on, Sam. Let's go around the perimeter. Maybe we'll find something," she insists, pulling at my hand with urgency.

I shake my head with a sigh, "It's no use. There's no getting out of here."

To think this damn cage is the thing that will ruin us, ruin me. I've gone a decent amount of time without taking a life. If I taste death again, I'll probably be hooked, addicted to killing like I used to. I don't want to go back to that.

I've failed. I made one too many mistakes, I was too careless. Now we're both going to pay for it.

"No, don't give up! You're resourceful. Let's find a way," she pleads, squeezing both of my hands, "Please, don't give up yet,"

Her eyes sparkle with determination as she stares up at me. She truly has a lot of faith in me. Why? My actions always backfire. I should have told Betsy to beat it, should have asked Nancy about the large crowd. Should have, should have, should have.

I shouldn't have told Ash to gun for the exit. That was much too risky. Something a lot worse than two drunken morons pulling her in the cage could have taken place. It's becoming apparent I'm incompetent at pulling off the a simplest of tasks.

I shrug and stare up at the caged ceiling, "What do you think my tally will be at the end of the night, hmm? I think at least three, maybe eight if I really lose it."

She stares at me in confusion then scowls when she catches on, "Zero! We're not going to kill anyone. Stop being a defeatist."

"Just preparing for the reality. I hate to admit this, Ash," I survey the owner to each pulse mocking nearby, "This many heartbeats being cracked open at once is going to send me over the edge. You won't be able to keep it together, either."

I frown. I can't prevent the murder but I need to stay rational enough to protect her at the very least. Perhaps, we should go back to those two idiots. They just want to exploit her their amus.e.m.e.nt but it could be safer in a group. This is a nightmare.

She grabs me by the shoulders, her eyes narrow showing resolve, "If you can't get us out then I will. You always pick me up at my lowest. Don't worry, I'll find a way out for us."

She's no quitter, has a lot of spirit. I do admire that about her.

"There was some mechanism that sent this gate down. I wonder if it's close by, an emergency exit?" She thinks out loud, leaning into the gate to try to locate something magically useful.

An emergency exit, that's funny. This cage violates so many codes. I stare up at the corners of near the top, a little battered and worn with time. They don't maintain the thing at all, one of these days it may fall apart while they're lowering it.

The bars are a slightly warped up there, that's an unattractive gap near the top… 'Wait, that's a really big gap!'

"Ash! How do you feel about heights?"

Her head flips around at my sudden enthusiasm and follows my eyes to a warped space we have a chance of fitting through. Silver lining, it's pretty close by.

"Ha! You're brilliant!" she praises with apparent optimism, "What are we waiting for? Let's climb!"

We hustle over to the area below the hole. The cage creaks as Ashlen wastes no time scaling the gate. Her boots slip around a bit before the gripping onto the rods. I hop on the gate after her, staying close just in case she happens to fall.

There's murmuring in the crowd below. They gawk and wonder what we're up to.

"Are you guys insane?" Someone yells. Yeah, I suppose we are a little insane. I don't think your average mortal could scale this thing, I'm sure they are counting on us tumbling off the side.

Ashlen laughs from above, "I feel like a badass spy! I can't believe we're actually climbing this thing! Are your fingers sore?"

Yes, actually, this isn't the easiest climb. It must be the silver. Doesn't matter, I almost want to laugh along with her, we are actually getting out! It's a Christmas miracle!... In October.

The music takes a distinct dip and my stomach drops with it.

"Hurry!" I shout, "They're about to go ham down there."

Ash picks up the pace, her soles rub with each step. We're really high up now. She's brave and pretty coordinated for a new turn to boot.

She's almost to the gap, it's all down to the wire. The announcer clicks back onto the intercom to send her final message of doom. I warn Ash, "Hold your breath, she's giving them the go ahead."

"Welcome, to the beginning of the end. The time has come," the husky woman proudly declares. A deafening rally erupts from below, some of those are cheering for their own death, a cruel fate, "Say hello to the afterlife and a grand farewell. Life is short… so let us *Feast*!"

Ashlen is pulling herself through the tight space as the signal is given. A cataclysmic tsunami of blood nearly knocks the both of us off the gate.

The drumming escalates from 'light storm' to 'heavy rain'. A thousand fists are mercilessly pounding at the door of my resolve, threatening to bust it down. The scent alone bludgeons from every angle, holding my breath does next to nothing. A sea of red, an ocean of warmth. I can feel the heat reaching from here.

My hands strain, shaking as they grip into the bars. I squeeze so hard it begins to cut into my skin. My head is drowning in the fragrance, the heat.

The screaming, the panic, the chaos, the erratic beating stomping its way through my ears. I shudder through my teeth as it all smacks my frontal lobe.

Clear as a bell I hear numerous pairs of fangs sinking into flesh. The *flow*, it pooling like magma. Why am I up here? What, exactly, I am trying to accomplish?

'Sa-am,' I'm pointlessly hanging in the air whilst a hallucinatory temptress sings my name, 'Come drink, come play, come *kill*.'

I plainly comprehend one thing, if I let go I can have it all. I can almost remember what that kind of power feels like. Taste it, feel it running down my throat. The very last beat of a heart. Nothing compares to that taste.

'Just let go. They're dead anyway. Give into the hunger. You're foolish to drag it out, it's inescapable. You'll give in at some point.'

My grip begins to loosen on the supports. Free fall, I'll free fall into heaven and unleash hell.

I release one hand. Now for the other…

My free hand is clasped tight in another. I meet eyes with two brilliant sunflowers peering at me from the other side of the cage.

Ashlen has her forehead pressed against the metal posts. Her arm is stretched through the opening, clutching my hand in her's, she's trembling. The other holding her up is shaking furiously, it's not straining because of the weight… Not a physical weight, anyhow.

How does she do it, how does she have this kind of restraint? Those glowing yellow eyes jab though the gate, holding my attention. She barely has it together, but she's hanging on. Impressive as always.

I think about her and only her as I pull myself through the narrow gap. It's snug, I nearly get stuck trying to get to the other side. Ashlen is so tiny. Well, kind of, some of her is not tiny… It's certainly not a bad thing.

I balance myself on the lip of the gap and pull her into my arms. Oranges, sweet oranges. I can forget about everything else. I have her, she's safe and I'm not killing anyone.

I take in that delicious citrus flower smell. I bury my face into her hair, it calms me. *Calms* me through all this blood. Amazing.

We're hovering two stories above the ground with a war raging below. It's a disaster, but it could be worse. It's slightly better than bad, because she's here and she brings out the best in me, like magic. I don't deserve that but I'll take it for now.

How I wish she could be mine, that I could offer her something in return, but I'll certainly soil it.

I want to touch her skin again and absorb every part of her. She's so lovely and pure in every sense of the word. I can't even be honorable enough to keep my grubby mitts off her. I'm such a bastard.

What a time to think about this. It is a good distraction, though. I'm about to bust up, this is complete insanity. I suppress it, laughing will unravel into madness. I can't afford that, not here, not now.

Ashlen's hands are digging at my c.h.e.s.t, nails are ripping through my shirt under my jacket. Her claws sting as they pierce through the flesh drawing blood. She's not attacking me or trying to scramble back through the cage, that's more than I hoped for.

"We're…" I try to say through gritted teeth, my voice is hoarse, dry. I clench my jaw, swallow the rust forming in my mouth and try again, "We're going to drop. Brace-"

I take another empty gulp, unable to finish my sentence. It's too tough to think, spilled blood is jamming up my good sense. It's looming and seeping into my sanity like a plagued mist.

I can hear a high pitched woman wailing and screaming, it's clear as shattering glass. A torturous music. My demon craves it but I want to get far away as possible. We need to get down before Ash and I dive back into the cage opening.

I take in Ashlen's scent again like some kind of stabilizer and pick her up so she's secure in my arms. She's very stiff while clinging to me, she hasn't said a word.

I look down to check that it's clear and extend one foot like walking off the face of a cliff.

We're falling and the smell is just getting thicker, worse.

Those cries, it's as if we're plunging into the deepest nethers of hell. Hell sure smells wonderful.

I lead into the marble as we land on the main floor, crouching into it to lessen the impact. I'd roll if I wasn't holding Ash, landing flat is fairly harsh. Not too bad, landing poorly has the potential to mess up a vampire, but reflexes make it a rare thing. Like how cats 'always' land on their feet, always as in most of the time.

I straighten but am nearly knocked onto my a.s.s. This smell… My feet dance around, the room is spinning. It's horrible, horribly good. There's too much going on, everything is moving and alive. Hungry, I can't think.

My head is pounding, throbbing with a million pulses. Endless squalling and wailing. Those are real, tangible, dreadful… Delectable, irresistible… Sounds.

I don't see it, I feel it, sense it cut through and disrupt the space. A hand shoots out from between the bars of the cage, groping around helplessly. That pulse is skyrocketing, shooting like streamers through his veins. That heart is going to blow up like a firework on the fourth of July, that or my head will.

Ashlen springs out of my arms and latches onto the wrist of that very arm. The powerful perfume bursts like rip fruit when she bites down.

"Don't-" I try, but that's all I manage.

That's good, that's absolutely amazing. Hot blood is washing that dry emptiness away, tastes like sheer terror. I find myself knelt to that same arm biting in.

Fear, now *that's* a flavor, he's got a lot of it to spare. It's filling my nostrils, inside my brain. My senses are reeling, pistons firing on overdrive!

The tendons in the arm are struggling against my grip. I seize it with a snarl, drinking it in ferociously. So much melting in my mouth, the flesh against my teeth is soft as marshmallows, that pulse is kicking at my own heart. 'Submit, I will overpower you.'

Power, it's coursing through, heating up my bones. I forget how cold I am until I'm feeding. A man is howling in my ear through the gate. Yes! Scream louder, more blood, faster! All of it.

Ashlen is ravenous, pulling at the vein in his wrist making it stir. She's an incredible force, irresistible… mine. She's practically existing just under the surface of my skin. More, I need more of her.

Is there anything on earth that can top this unquantifiable ecstasy? I'm unstoppable, on top of Everest as the snow melts under an apocalyptic sun.

Rising, rising to God's level. I'll crush anything in my path, everything! Ascending, higher, MORE!

The arm is ripped away, s.u.c.k.e.d through the gate like he dropped through a trapdoor. The man's blood curdling cries slip into an abyss, swallowing him into all chaotic cacophony at the center of the cage.

If my grip was firm on his arm, it might have been severed. I would have liked to keep that arm.

Someone just stole my claim right out from under my nose and wasted no time dragging it away! I'm going to hunt down and kill that son of a bitch, both of them!

I'm on the gate tearing at it. Damn metal should be shredded to pieces. Wasn't I on the other side a moment ago? A fuzzy memory. The edges of the angular poles are slicing into my fingers. Violence, I'm starved for it.

Rage, it's bubbling over. There are countless horrified little humans running around in there that I could be chewing on. Tearing them apart!

I remember, I came from above, I'm getting back in there. I prepare to dart up the side of the gate.

Ha-ha! I'm going to take one life, and then another, and then another. Yes, on and on in infinite nirvana…

'*No*! This isn't right!'

I back away from the cage, disgusted and horrified. I feel sick to my stomach as my feral half writhes like a snake in my gut. It's scrambling my brain in a blender set to turbo, riled and savage.

I'm not this way anymore. I won't. I must leave. *We*, we have to leave!

I flip around, the fragrance of crimson assaulting in a whirl of air. 'Easy. Careful, Sam.'

I spy Ashlen at my feet, lapping up the spilled blood from the ground, autopilot, zombified. Damn. I'm so sorry, Ash.

I call to her, my voice seems disembodied or drunk, "Ash."

I have no idea how I'm the slightest bit coherent through all of this. Doesn't matter, I won't question it. Just take it and get the hell out.

She doesn't respond still l.i.c.k.i.n.g at the fear infused puddle.

I reach for her arm to pull her upright. My vision is swimming in red, pulsating. 'Gently, be gentle.'

When I touch her she hisses, leaping to her feet on the defensive. She looks feral and a little frightened but most of all severely dazed. Very hungry. There's an animal behind her glowing eyes, mapping out the cage at my back, it's battling for dominance.

"Exit. We exit," my speech is clunky and harsh through my teeth. I don't mean to but I'm growling it out.

Her teeth are sharp and grinding together. She's scenting the air, searching for a way into the cage. Those yellow irises blaze wild. She tilts her head back to view the gap we got through. I can tell she's planning to climb right back inside the cage we just escape from. That escape feels like it happened ages ago.

I grab her wrist. Her eyes are dangerous, scalding me, there's a throaty growl rising from her curled lips. I command her with some imagined authority, "Leaving."

There's blood smeared all over the bottom half of her face, is there blood on mine? Irrelevant. I pull her away, walking in a direction that isn't here. She's not fighting me, good. I don't know what would happen if she decided to fight me on this.

We're zooming through the crowd, leaving the hellscape dancefloor far behind. It's like I'm floating through it, it's not actually real, all just a bad dream.

The dotting of persistent pulses are fading into the backdrop. Ashlen occasionally hesitates or jerks in another direction but I continue dragging us forward. I'll apologize later.

It's a blur of pale faces as we dash onward. What are they thinking, are they watching us? Don't know, don't care.

The cage cries out like a scorned lover I've abandoned, upsetting is an understatement. I'm holding on to that smattering of rationality. 'Don't go back, don't look back.'

The exit! Is this the real thing? I'm pressing forward with blinders, I don't stop for anything. The only thing I care about is Ashlen's hand in mine and moving forward until I can't anymore. Through the door, winding up the dark staircase, through the small garden and beyond.

The air is chilly and crisp. The club noises are disappearing. Running, I'm running until I can't hear those screams anymore. Until the smell completely dissipates. Though, at this distance, it's probably all in my head.