Stabbed

Here I am bleeding out on to the pretty redbricks of the High Street, when a familiar face looms into view above me. It's pale, almost luminous, and framed by very sleek black hair. Her lips are dark, and her eyes glitter.

Questions spool through my mind in quick succession, but none of them get snagged on my tongue.

Is it bad? Am I going to die? How long have you had a face?

I don't have to ask who she is, of course. I'd recognise her anywhere. It's so rare that characters arrive in my head so fully formed, with such clear features.

She really does have clear features, too. Like porcelain.

She's not in her scrubs right now. I wonder if I'm going to make her late for work.

She's wadding up some kind of material and holding it against the wound. It hurts, quite a lot actually, but it's a relief to have someone helping me, even if it's a... Well.

"You might be lucky," she is saying, "It looks like your jacket was thick enough to take the worst of it... I can't guarantee that the knife didn't hit any organs though..." Her eyes are glittering more than ever and her teeth are lengthening.

"Why don't you just leave me here. Ring an ambulance and go?" I press hard against the pad of fabric. "See, I'm keeping the pressure on it. I've seen enough movies. Go on. You need to go. Before..."

She's going to lose it any moment. Maybe it's already too late. The way that smile is blooming over her face like that, those white, white teeth...
"You wouldn't," I tell her, but lacking any conviction. "You can't. I didn't write you that way."

"Shhhhhh," she hisses, and there's nothing soothing about it.

Since when have any of my characters done what I wanted them to do? I'm a goner.

The wail of the siren and the wash of blue light bring a wave of relief. My toothy rescuer has already melted away.

I'm loaded into the vehicle by more people without faces. I'm almost used to it now. It maybe it's the hole in my side taking up all my concern. Faceless they may be, but they are efficient to a fault. Where are they taking me? Any chance they will take me home? My real home, I mean. There's a hospital not far from there.

My heart sinks. I realise where they must be taking me. I think I'd rather have taken my chances with the vampire.