ʏᴇʟʟᴏᴡ ∆ ᴄᴀᴇsᴀʀ ᴢᴇᴘᴘᴇʟɪ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ ∆

∆sɪxᴛᴇᴇɴ∆

I jolted awake when I heard a loud slam and startled voices. Still clouded with sleep, I moved the blankets to the side and sat up. I heard shouting and quickly became more aware, jumping to my feet and racing to my door. I swung it open and heard the voices a little more clearly.

“Jojo! What the hell happened?” That was Caesar’s voice. Wait, had Joseph not come home earlier? It was well past midnight now, I knew that much. I quickly left my room, following the sounds of the voices as I raced down the hall. When I came to the top of the stairs, I looked down over the edge and saw Joseph leaning against Caesar. His face was twisted in pain and there was a little bit of blood on the floor below him. I gasped in surprise and raced down the stairs.

“Joseph!” I exclaimed, making both men turn their heads towards me. I ran to him and stopped, scanning my eyes over his trembling form. I could see many slashes and such across his skin, and he had a gash on his forehead. “Oh my god. What happened to you?”

“I’m fine,” He grunted.

“You obviously aren’t!” I yelled at him. “You’re bleeding everywhere! I’ll get some bandages!”

“Nina’s already gone to get them,” Caesar said, before I could spin around and go anywhere. Caesar led Joseph to the couch and eased him onto the fabric. The brunette hissed in pain, wincing as he squeezed his eyes shut.

“I got your gelato,” Joseph said, weakly grinning as he held up a small bag. The room fell into silence.

“You’re a complete idiot!” I exclaimed, bursting into laughter. “You’re bleeding and in pain and the first thing you say to me is that?”

“Actually I said I was fine first,” He said, making me shake my head. My hair fell in front of my face, brushing along the top of my bare shoulders. I pushed the h/c strands away and looked towards the door.

“Where is Nina?” I mumbled.

“I’ll go look,” Caesar said, standing up from where he’d been crouched before leaving in search of the brunette maid.

“So, care to explain?” I asked, turning to face my younger cousin.

“Two words,” He said, leaning his head back as he held up two of his fingers. “Vampires. Suck.”

“Wait, you got attacked by vampires?” I asked in shock. “Joseph!”

“It’s nothing!” He defended. “Trust me, tootsie, I’ve gotten a lot worse than this done to me. I’ll be fine. Nothing a few bandaids can’t cover.”

“You’re going to need more than bandaids,” I said, taking his arm. “These are at least four inches deep. You’re going to need stitches.”

“Do you know how to do that?” He asked, snarkily raising his eyebrow.

“I do, actually,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him. “I went to med school.”

“If you went to med school, why the hell are you a shitty reporter?” Joseph asked in surprise, furrowing his eyebrows at me.

“Because I dropped out,” I stated, sitting back on my haunches as I waited for Caesar and/or Nina to return. “When he was little, Daniel got real sick with pneumonia, with the flu on top of it. I had to drop out of college and start work to help pay for the bills to get him medicine.”

“Why didn’t you ever go back?” I heard Caesar say as he returned, a first aid kit in hand. I stood up and took it from him as he handed it to me.

“Didn’t have the money or the time,” I replied simply, as Caesar struck a match and tossed it into the fireplace. Soon after, the room was illuminated more and allowed me to see clearly.