Path of the Vampire forum

Just as Rhett suspected. Jess had become one of the kids' that didn't get to change their circumstances and became a sad part of everything he fought against. Kid's could change their destiny and fate if they wanted to and worked hard to. Anyone could. It just took ambition and the need or want to change that.

"Sure, man. No cops." Rhett agrees, but if things went south, he'd have to involve someone. Rhett didn't want to risk losing everything he worked hard for. Especially if Jesse died. Maybe he could come up with some story about how he didn't even really know the guy. He was outside his building. Or even tried to break in and-no. Rhett had no big dogs. ****. He was putting a lot on the line for Jesse-but that's what they were like back in the day. And Rhett owed Jesse; he was pretty sure Jesse got him out of a bind last. So, Rhett was paying it forward back to Jesse.

Rhett doesn't say anything about stitching Jesse up. Not until they are right outside his flat and Rhett's fumbling for the flat keys like an idiot. How hard was it to open a damn door that you've opened up for the better part of five years now? Rhett kicks the door open and helps haul Jesse in. When the door is closed, he chooses to speak then. "Look. I'm going to be honest with you, Jesse. I've worked some pretty amazing things before-but this? This is surgeon stuff. Way past my pay grade." There it was. Rhett was being honest because he didn't know what he could do. "But, I'll do my best." Rhett adds in as he pulls him down a narrow hallway, to number '3' on the door. "Here we go." Rhett said as he put another key in this door and swung it open. "The couch is over here." Rhett nudged his head to the couch, even though he doubted Jesse was paying attention. "Come on." Rhett drops the guy to the couch and goes to look for something-anything to help Jesse out.

Jesse was following him, which, Rhett shouldn't have been surprised. He listened to what Jesse was saying all while searching through cabinets for the things he would need. Rhett stopped and looked at Jesse, then chuckled. A nervous chuckle at that.

When he looked at Jesse and the shape he was in, there was that feeling again. The nervousness and the need to keep distance between the two of them. Wasn't that crazy? No, Rhett decided it wasn't all that crazy. Not when the guy had half his guts missing. "I don't have a blood bank in here, man." Rhett started out slowly as he tugged out a small medical kit that he got for free from some fundraising event they did at work a couple years back. There probably wasn't anything of use in there, but it was the best he could do. "Like I said, we should have gone to the hospital." Rhett muttered as he dug through the bag, Rhett's normal state coming back to the surface, only because he wasn't looking at Jesse.

"I've only got band-aids. And gauze, lots of-" Rhett looked up at Jesse and there it was again. The underlying feeling of apprehension. "Screw this. If you want my help, you better start spilling, man. This **** isn't right. And it's definitely not normal." Rhett closed the cabinet door and then leaned an elbow against it, narrowed eyes glued on Jesse. "So, if you need something from me, I'm going to need the truth from you."

Vampire.

Rhett runs a hand through his hair and exhales loudly as he leaves the hand on his head. Sure, he's heard of the myths and the claims of them running around the city. People disappearing and not being seen again. People not knowing how they got from point A to point B. Complains of lethargy and soreness to the neck. But it's not something he's ever put much thought in to. People would rather believe the illogical because it sounds cooler, than the logical. It's just what he's noticed with people in general. Chest pain has to be a heart attack, but is mostly acid reflux or better known as heartburn. Blood loss must mean something drastic and fatal, when it could just be a few things off with someone's blood count and eating right or taking a pill for a short time would sort things out.

But this is Jesse. And Rhett knows Jesse isn't that sort of person. At least not the Jesse he knew back in the day. Add in with the fact that Rhett knows Jess is absolutely right-that he should be dead; there really isn't room for argument with what Jesse claims to be true.

The hand goes to the wall and Rhett just takes it in for a couple seconds. He puts all the things in his other hand down, because there isn't any need to use them. Not if Jesse is a vampire. Or something close to it. He sure wasn't human, that was for damn sure. "How much do you need? I mean, that looks like you need a lot, man." Rhett shrugged. If it was his time to go, Rhett knew your number was up. No amount of modern miracles was going to prevent that. Medicine just prolonged the inevitable, but it still felt good helping people live longer. Maybe one day there would be a cure for cancer and other nasty things. Probably not in his lifetime, but he still held hope for it.

"Not sure how it all works, but the human body can lose two pints alright, three, start to get a little woozy with some other affects. I can give you some; about that much. If it helps." Rhett crossed his arms at his chest, once he vocalized the desire to help Jesse. "So what do we do?" If Rhett was ever fed off of, he sure didn't remember it or how it went down. "Slit a wrist or something?" The nervous laugh returned with that last question.

Rhett stood there, waiting for Jesse to take the offered arm he gave him, watching Jesse. He wasn't sure what to make of this yet-not sure if he completely believed the guy. It stood against everything Rhett believed in. Yet, here Jesse was, alive (was he alive? What were vampires considered, if he was a real vampire?), even if half his guts were hanging out.

Only, Jesse didn't take the arm Rhett was willing to give him. Instead the guy more or less reeled towards him with a determined agenda and bit him. In the neck. Jesse was biting him in the ******* neck and it hurt. Now, Rhett could withstand his fair share of pain, but this-this wasn't something he ever felt before. It burned and it felt like his neck was going to be ripped open in half. So Rhett did the first thing that came to his mind. A natural reaction based off instinct. He tried to shove Jesse off him. "Geddoff, man." Rhett snarled as he gave another shove, but this one wasn't as powerful as the last one. He wasn't feeling quite like himself. He was feeling lightheaded. Drained even. And shoving a determined Jesse off him wasn't as easy as Rhett thought it would be.

"I said, stop!" Rhett barked out before a hand went to his throat and scratched at it. "I don't feel-" Rhett kept scratching at his throat as his eyes closed. He just needed to close them for a second. Just to rest. They were getting heavy too. Rhett wasn't sure how it would feel to lose a few pints of blood when he offered it to Jesse, but he didn't think it would feel like this. "Jesse. STOP." Rhett said as he leaned backwards from the guy. Or maybe he was falling backwards, either way he felt like he was about to hit the ground as his knees buckled from his weight.

To Rhett, when he starts to go down, he's going down. He doesn't feel Jesse actually helping break the descent to the bathroom floor, all he knows is he's going down. Rule of gravity. He does feel the bathroom floor on his back, only because it's firm and hard. And cheap. Linoleum cheap. Every apartment in the building probably had the same linoleum and probably the same layout. All of it cheap, but meant to turn a decent profit to the owner's pocket.

He groans and tries to roll over to his side, but he doesn't physically go anywhere. He's just too weak and too tired. Rhett doesn't want to be on the shitty floor. He hadn't even mopped it in weeks because the guy never had time. He barely had time to wolf down food most the time before going to work, because that's just who Rhett is. He works a lot, is 'home' a little and sleeps even less.

"Uhhhn." Rhett mumbles, though he isn't sure what was said to him or what was asked. He hears ringing in his ears and that's what he focuses on. He focuses on that because if he stays focused, like he learned in his classes, people tend to turn around. Motivation, maybe. No one is sure on it, but there are a couple theories on it.

"Shhhhh."The ringing gets louder and he tries to tell it to quiet down. Has he ever heard that sound before? He isn't sure. He doesn't remember ever hearing it. Does that mean he's dying? Well, ****. He didn't even put a POA on all the money he's saved up. All his hard work for nothing. Life can be a ***** like that sometimes.