Bite Shift

80

Alex was in his office, his door cracked open. I slowly pushed it open to see his back in his chair. He wasn't moving; I think he was just staring off. I hoped he was thinking about good things and reliving what he had been through.

"Alex?"

He turned in his chair to face me. "Kate. How did it go?"

"I am not sure, yet. She didn't scream or anything but she said she needs time."

"Understandable. Is she very angry with me?" He seemed genuinely worried. Was there more there or was I reading too far into it?

"She could never be angry with you. But she did ask how you knew about us." It was the first time I had referred to vampires as us. "About vampires. I didn't tell her. It wasn't mine to tell. She may ask you."

He nodded.

"Are you okay?" I asked, realizing I hadn't asked him upstairs.

"I am," he answered. He didn't seem happy about it. "I shouldn't be. Why am I?"

I wasn't sure I knew what he was asking. Was he asking why I had healed him or how? Or, was he asking something bigger like why had God let him live? I didn't know. I had never asked him about his beliefs.

"I don't know what you mean."

"How am I not dead? I don't remember everything but I know I was dying. I felt it, the fading away, the cold. And, then a tugging on the inside; something pulling at me. Then, I wasn't fading anymore and I saw you. How?"

"I healed you. I don't know how. I think it was Sorin or Sorin and I together or maybe it was just me. I don't know." It was truth, again.

He thought about it. "Why me? Why not her?"

That's what he wanted to know; why was he healthy and strong while Monica laid in the ICU.

"You were closer to death. I had no choice. Once she saw it, she wouldn't have let me touch her. I think she would have rather died."

I looked in his eyes and watched him understand how bad it had been. I think he was trying to picture it in his head. A new question formed in his gaze. "Did you think of turning me?"

I guess this is the night for hard questions.

He, like Monica, deserved the truth. "Rhys did."

"Why didn't you," he pushed.

"You wouldn't have wanted that."

I waited; waited to see if I had been right. I would have let him die. When I chose, I hadn't known I use my powers to save him. I had made the choice, for him, and wagered his life. Had I been right?

"I wouldn't Kate. I don't."

I let out a breath, found the edge of the desk and rest back onto it. "So, you aren't mad at me?"

"Why would I be?"

"I don't know," I said. "I feel like I've let a lot of people down."

"I am not one of them, I can assure you."

"I am happy to hear that. Did you still want some of my blood?"

He smiled, shyly. "Is it terrible of me to ask that from you after everything you've done for me?"

I shook my head, stood and dropped the wrap to the desktop. "Not at all. I want to help you; help anyone who would want this cure."

We walked together to the back of the office and the lab supplies. He set up, just as he had before and continued talking. "I do think your blood holds a key, to what I don't know, but to something. It is different, it acts differently. The new ability, the healing, is interesting too."

"How about setting someone on fire with my mind?" As soon as I said it, I wished I hadn't. He froze just as he was about to slide the butterfly needle into my vein.

"What?" He sounded less shocked or horrified and more curious than I expected.

"Will, the man that hurt you....." I had started, I might as well finish. "I set him on fire with my power. I mean, it was also a mix of Sorin's and mine, but it was my thought that started the blaze. When he was trying to put it out, it was my thought that kept it going."

He went back to drawing my blood. I let him focus and come to terms what I was telling him. He filled tubes and I didn't bother to count. When he was done, he put a band-aid over the site. I smiled at it. It was a habit, I knew, and I was happy he was still treating me like a person.

I returned to his desk to get my wrap. I was placing it around my shoulders when I heard him from the back. "You said 'anyone who would want the cure'. Do you? Have you changed your mind?"

Boy, nothing slips past him.

"I don't know, Alex, I really don't. I guess we will cross that bridge when we have to."