[blood drive: season 1, episode 5]
‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

"Aaliyah, are you sure it's a good idea for you to be around blood right now?" Serena asked as she stood in line for the blood drive that Whitechapel Highschool was holding. "You being a vampire and all?" she added.

        Aaliyah blinked, looking at the bags of blood all around the small classroom, "I'm fine," she said unconvincingly, clutching a box of cookies to her chest. "Totally, totally fine."

        "Sounds like she's lying," Benny said from the other side of the fledging.

        Serena peered around her best friend to glance at the spellcaster, "Why are you in line if you're not even giving blood?" she asked him.

        "Yeah, why aren't you rushing to donate!" Ethan said, pointing an accusatory finger at Benny.

        "They can lift your entire genetic code from one drop!" Benny exclaimed. "But what if someone cloned me? No way and I-" his voice trailed off. Benny appeared to be looking at one of the nurses that was drawing blood from the students.

        Serena gagged, "Oh my god," she scoffed. "Stop staring at her! You're probably making her uncomfortable!"

        "Yeah, creepy much?" Aaliyah added through a mouthful of her cookies, looking anywhere but the blood bags that were filling up on the table.

        Benny didn't listen to either of the girls. "On second thought. I could stand to lose a pint or two if you know what I mean." Ethan just shook his head. "Come on!" Benny exclaimed. "Unless, of course, you're too chicken," he said, beginning to mock the movements that a chicken would make and clucking at him.

        "I'm not a chicken!" Ethan said defensively. "I'm a hawk, with huge talons and laser eyes." He began to look at the needle that the nurse was holding, and his knees gave in. He had to clutch the wall to keep himself from fainting. "I just, have to talk to Sarah!" he said, looking at the other fledging who had just entered the room.

        "Okay," Benny said simply. "More nurse time for me than!"

        Serena groaned, "Could you be any grosser?" she asked him.

        Benny rolled his eyes at her, "Grosser isn't a word, nice try, Serena."

        "No, I'm pretty sure it is," Aaliyah added, her mouth still full of the cookies that she was eating.

        Benny wasn't able to respond as Serena started to talk again, "Is that who I think it is?" she asked, pointing to one of the volunteers that had just walked into the room. She had long blonde hair that was pulled into a high ponytail. It would be easier to identify the person if they weren't wearing a lab coat.

        "Who?" Aaliyah questioned.

        "I think that's Erica!"

---

        Serena was right. Apparently, Erica had signed up to be a student volunteer at the blood drive. Serena knew that could only end badly, as did Sarah, which is why they both approached her, trying to figure out her plan. "What a coincidence? A blood drive takes place at White Chapel and you just happen to show up?" Serena asked as she stood next to Sarah.

        "Yeah, a student volunteer, that is devious!" Sarah added. "Hmm, kind of clever," she said, holding her empty bag of chips.

        "I know right," Erica said smiling. "So when are you gonna take a sip? The sooner we get past this whole awkward phase of our friendship, the better," she said to Sarah.

        "How peer pressure?" Serena said crossing her arms, as Sarah responded.

        "I don't eat humans. Sorry if that's awkward for you!"

        Erica held up one of the ends of a blood bag and Sarah's eyes grew wide, shoving her hand into the chip bag. Unfortunately for her, she had already eaten them all. Sarah huffed, storming off to grab another bag of chips.

        Serena narrowed her eyes at Erica, "I'm keeping my eyes on you, vampy. If you try something like that on Aaliyah, I'll scream you into next week," she threatened.

        "Vampy?" she responded, raising her eyebrow.

        "Yeah well you call me Shrieky, I'll call you Vampy," Serena responded shrugging, walking back over to Aaliyah, who was saving her spot in line.

        Aaliyah smiled once she saw her friend approach her. "Oh thank god," she breathed. "Now that your back, I can go raid that vending machine!" she exclaimed.

        "What happened to your cookies?" Serena asked her.

        "I ate them," Aaliyah said simply. "And there is no way in hell I'm drinking that liquid substance of death, so I am gonna go beat up that vending machine until it produces something useful that I can eat that isn't," she gestured towards the bin full of blood bags. "That. Have fun waiting though, and keep an eye on Erica."

        "Yeah, why am I always stuck with the worst jobs, like watching Erica," Serena grumbled turning back towards the place where she saw Erica last. "Crap!" she exclaimed, quietly. "Ethan have you seen-" she started, turning towards the boy who was next to her. But as soon as she started talking, Ethan fell over, collapsing to the ground.

        Serena opened her mouth, "Uhhh," she sounded. "What happened to him?"

        "Fainted," Benny said simply.

        "Oh."

---

        Serena was still waiting in line about an hour later. Aaliyah hadn't returned from her snack break and Ethan was healing from his fall onto the ground. There was a small buzz in her pocket and she pulled out her flip phone. "Yes?" she asked.

        'Serena, Benny just hung up on me!' Ethan exclaimed through the speaker on the phone.

        "What does that have to do with me?" she responded. "Plus he's getting his blood drawn. He can't stay on call for that. Like, what if you faint again?"

        'Ha, ha,' Ethan said dryly. 'I can't faint if I don't see the needle, Se-re-nuh,' he added emphasizing every syllable in her name.

        Serena scowled, although she knew he couldn't see her do that. "Okay, I'm gonna hang up on you now just because you said my name like that-" she started but Ethan objected.

        'No, no, no, no,' he said quickly. 'Please don't hang up.'

        Serena could hear his desperation through the phone. She rolled her eyes, "Fine," she said exhaling slowly. "What do you need?"

        'Your help, hopefully,' Ethan said through the phone. 'Well, yours and Benny's but he's occupied at the moment so I will tell him everything once he isn't busy flirting with the nurse.'

        "Which is totally disgusting by the way," Serena added shaking her head.

        'Stop changing the subject just because you don't want to help,' Ethan said quickly.

        "I wasn't!" Serena responded immediately. "And I would love to help, only because I really don't want to give blood. Not because I like helping you guys, because I don't. I just want to get out of drawing blood and out of my stupid 'watch Erica job.'"

        Ethan sighed, 'Would you want to watch someone else?' he asked.

        Serena blinked, thinking about her response. "Fine, who is it?"

---

        It was Rory. Serena switched from watching one blonde vampire to watching another. "Why did you get a cookie?" Serena asked instantly, frowning at the treat in Benny's hand.

        "Because I got my blood drawn and you didn't," he retorted, crossing his arms.

        "The only reason I didn't was because I agreed to help you two idiots," Serena said.

        "You were practically begging me to give you something to do so you didn't have to draw blood," Ethan corrected her.

        Benny began to chuckle, "Aww, is wittle Serena scared of giving blood," he said in a baby voice.

        Serena's eyes darkened. "Shut up, shut up," she grumbled. "And you," she pointed at Ethan. "Don't tell anyone that, ever, okay? Now, what's the plan again?"

        "Well we put a tracker in Rory's backpack and we are gonna follow him around," Ethan said simply.

        "And where is he now?" Serena asked looking down at the tablet that Ethan was holding. There was a small green dot very close to the three of them.

        "Right around the corner," Benny responded, popping another piece of cookie into his mouth. "He's talking to Erica right now."

        Serena took a deep breath in, 'Great,' she thought as Benny and Ethan peeked around the corner to watch the two vampires discuss whatever they were talking about. 'I took this job to get away from Erica. Why can't I get rid of her stupid, blonde presence in my life!'

        "Duh-duh-duh-duh, surveillance music," Benny sang as they turned back to Serena. "Dun-dun-dun-duh, spying on you!"

        Serena blinked, "Wow you sing?" she asked, feigning surprise.

        "Yes, and I'm fantastic," Benny responded smiling.

        "Did your mother tell you that?" Serena deadpanned.

        "You two, knock it off," Ethan scolded them.

        Benny rolled his eyes, "What? He's just doing her laundry."

        "Looks like it, but why was he showing her that model spaceship?" Ethan asked.

        "Ah gee, I don't know. How many times has he brought toys over to your place?" Benny replied sarcastically.

        Ethan thought about it for a second, "You're right."

        "Mm-hmm," Benny sounded.

        "Anyways, clinic's closing. I think our work here is done," Ethan said finally.

        Serena huffed, "So you guys just dragged me out of there to have one lousy conversation and be done with it? Wow, maybe I should've gotten my blood drawn anyway."

        Benny ignored her, "You want to come over and play Robo Zombie? I used a cheat code to unlock a new brain grade!"

        "Uhhh," Ethan started.

        "But we can still monitor his GPS signal from there," Benny said, desperately trying to convince his friend to play the video game with him. Serena honestly didn't care what they were gonna do because she was definitely not gonna join them in their video game session.

        "Deal we've earned it!" Ethan said happily, as Benny shoved the tracker tablet into his backpack.

        Serena clicked her tongue, turning on her heel quickly. "Well, you guys have fun with your zombie-geek-brain game or whatever, and call me if there are any updates. And yes! That is me giving you permission to call me. Don't abuse that privilege or I will block you faster than you can shoot one of those zombies in a video game," she finished before Benny or Ethan could open their mouths.

---

        Serena didn't expect her phone to ring so fast, especially not thirty minutes after she had left the school? "Yes?" she asked walking quickly to her house.

        'Serena, I'm gonna need you to turn around and run back to the school, right now!' Benny screamed through the phone, his words were all jumbled together and it sounded as if he was running through a tornado. 'Rory and Erica are in the blood truck and we need to go, right now!'

        "Benny, why does it sound like you are speaking to me through an air duct right now?" Serena asked.

        'No time for talking Serena! Just get to the school right now. Run! Run!' Benny said quickly before hanging up on the banshee.

        "Yes Serena, thank you for all the help you've given us Serena," she mumbled to herself. "Oh please Serena, take time out of your busy schedule to help us, Serena. It's not that hard to say that, now is it?" she asked herself as she began to spirit back to the high school.

        It only took Serena seven minutes to run back to the school, granted she wasn't really that far on her walk home. But when she got there, it was too late, the truck had already left. She ran up to Benny, Ethan, and Sarah who were all huddled by the dumpster. "Right now, we have vampire nurses to deal with!" Serena heard Sarah exclaim.

        Serena blinked, "The nurses, are vampires?" she asked, looking from Ethan to Sarah. They nodded. "Oh, of course, vampires run a blood drive! Why wouldn't they!" she exclaimed loudly throwing her hands into the air.

        "Wait. Where's Rory and Erica?" Benny asked.

        "We figured out they were planning to rob the blood truck," Ethan explained.

        "Okay, okay," Benny said, nodding knowingly, pulling the tablet out of his bag. "Rory's on the move, and fast. He's either flying or-"

        "He's on that truck!" Ethan finished. "And Erica's probably still with him," he reasoned.

        Sarah's eyes widened, "They're in danger," she started. "Vampires are like super territorial."

        "We gotta grab our gear and go after them, fast," Ethan stated.

        "Okay, guess I will save Vampy today," Serena said sighing as she began to run again.

---

        The four of them ended up in an abandoned warehouse, Serena clutched a water gun full of some type of holy water to her chest. She was hoping that she wouldn't have to use her banshee powers, but who knew how strong these vampires were gonna be. She had only ever dealt with fledglings and Rory and Erica. She was a little scared of these vampire nurses.

        "I'm so tired of playing it safe," the younger nurse complained, strolling up to the back of the blood truck. "Why can't we have a little fun with these two?"

        "You know the rules," the older nurse expressed. "We have to take them to the council."

        The younger girl scoffed, "The council? They don't need to know. It's not like these two noobs would put up much of a fight anyway."

        "Maybe they won't," Sarah said walking out of the shadows revealing herself to the two vampires.

        "But we will," Ethan added, as the other three joined Sarah in the light.

        "You!" the younger nurse exclaimed, staring at Ethan.

        Ethan chuckled, "Yeah, that's right. Us," he said, holding up his water gun.

        "Yeah, and me!" Benny added. "Me too, I'm- I'm Benny. We met earlier. I'm the one who didn't pass out."

        Serena slapped him in the side of the arm, "Stop flirting," she hissed.

        Benny frowned, "I wasn't-" he started but Ethan cut him off.

        "Benny, Serena. Get to Rory and Erica," he instructed. "Sarah and I will hold them off."

        "Uh, what do I do with this water gun then?" Serena asked awkwardly, she noticed the silence that she created. "You know what, I'll just keep it, it's fine," she said scurrying off into the front of the truck where Benny was. "So how do we do this?" she asked, sitting on the passenger's side of the van.

        "Well, lucky for you Serena, one of us here is an advance expert with elec-" he started pulling out two of the wires from the control panel and touching them together. "AHHH," he moaned, as electricity pumped through his veins.

        Serena blinked, "You were saying?" she asked looking around the van for a way to get Erica and Rory out of the van. She closed her eyes, trying to rack her brain for some type of solution. "Okay, okay. I have an idea," she said looking behind her. "This is glass right?"

        Benny looked up to where she was pointing. "The window? I think so, yeah," he said, shaking his hand from the pain of the current. "Why do you ask?"

        Serena took a deep breath in, "I think-" she started, a  little unsure of her plan. "I think I can break it with my voice."

        Benny looked alarmed. "Or you could break every single window in this entire warehouse. Do you think that's a good idea, Serena?"

        "Well unless you could try and magic us out of here, it's the only idea we have," she said sighing.

        Benny sighed, "Okay, go for it," he said, plugging his ears.

        Serena took a deep breath in, and closed her eyes, letting her voice ring throughout the van. She heard a small crunch of glass behind her and she opened her eyes. The glass door behind them had shattered, Erica and Rory looked back at Serena, who was stunned that her plan had worked. Benny took his hand off of his ears and stared at Serena. "It worked," he stated. "You did it."

        Serena smiled as the two blonde vampires climbed up into the front of the truck. "I did it, and I only broke one window. That's never happened before. Usually, I would break all of the glass in a five feet radius," she said as she hopped out of the truck. "I did it," she repeated.

        "Did you just save me?" Erica asked giggling. "You totally just saved me."

        "Against my will, but yes, I saved you," Serena said, crossing her arms.

        Erica's eyes sparkled, "Unwillingly huh?" she asked. "I think you're lying, and that you wanted to save me."

        "I'm not, I was dragged to this, and I didn't want to do it," Serena argued.

        "I think I'm growing on you," Erica continued, walking out of the warehouse next to Serena.

        Serena scowled, "You're wrong. I still don't like you," she insisted.

        "Sure you don't Shrieky, sure you don't."

And we were in screaming colors,
and I remember thinking ♕

Grace talks ig: SERENA AND ERICA, MY BELOVEDS <3. They are falling for each other, trust me y'all they are in love because I said so. And I am the author, after all, so what I say, goes. Also, I cut out the Rory and Erica kiss, because fuck that, my girl Erica is a lesbian so she will not be kissing him! Anyways, I will try to correct the spelling and grammar mistakes as quickly as I can, but sometimes I hate reading over my own writing because I just want to publish it right away. So, it will be done at some point. And here are my obligatory thanks, because this story now has over 2k reads for some reason? OMGGG THANKS BAESSSS, anyways vote and comment if you liked this chapter. BYEEE <3