Dark Attraction

Chapter nineteen - hurt/comfort

The bath was full and Gage had sprinkled some salts or something in it. Something that made it smell like the beach, like sunshine and fresh towels. He undressed me with gentle hands, and insisted on wiping the blood off me with a soft face cloth before assisting me into the water. The vampire blood had healed my bones, although my ribs still ached where they'd been broken, and my arms were covered in bruises. I guess with the small amount of blood I'd had, it had taken care of the worst injuries but not healed everything.

I could still taste the blood on my tongue and I wasn't sure I liked that.

As I sank into the water my thoughts turned to new pain. There were grazes and cuts up my back and everywhere the hot water touched, stung. I hissed and Gage froze, gripping my arms.

"What is it?"

"Just... the water on my cuts, it will be fine," I said. I sank into the water quicker, to get it over with, and closed my eyes.

Gage's hand was in my hair, very gently petting me, and that helped. It took my mind off the intense stinging just as it died out.
"That's it," he said, softly. I'd never heard him this soft, seen him this gentle. He must have been really worried about me.

"How did you know?" I asked, finally.

"I could feel your fear. I thought you were dying," he said. He didn't meet my eyes. "Uh, it's going to be a bit worse now too, you've tasted my blood, the link will be stronger."

I leaned my head against his hand. "Thank you."

He shook his head, met my eyes. He looked near tears. "No. I should have got there sooner."

"This isn't your fault." I caught hold of his wrist and gently brought it to my mouth, kissing the spot he'd bitten open for me to feed. Then turned it over to kiss the inside of his wrist as well. "You are my hero and you have nothing to be sorry for."

He huffed, still looking annoyed, but softened when I kissed his hand again.

He ruffled my hair with his other hand and I winced, there was a bump there, a bruise he'd found.

"Okay, I'm gonna get you some painkillers," he said. "Just, don't slip under the water or something."

"No danger of that," I said. "My heart's still kinda racing."

He tugged his hand free of my hold and went to open the cabinet behind the mirror, shook out some pills and brought them to me with a glass of water. "Take these."

I did as he said, gulping the water down and coughing a little in my haste. "Thanks."

He knelt beside the tub and picked up a facecloth, gently starting to wash my skin, wiping at the bits of grit and dried blood from the various scrapes I still had. "I could give you more of my blood," he said, when I winced again. "It would heal all the rest of it."

I shook my head slowly. "No, I don't... I'm glad for the bit I had, that fixed the worst, but these are just cuts and bruises. I can heal those on my own just fine."

"Don't like seeing you in pain," he grumbled.

He turned his head and kissed me, so gently, like he was afraid I'd wince away from him. I nuzzled my cheek on his, trying to reassure him.

"I'm all right."

He sat back and resumed cleaning me, picking up my left arm to wash it carefully. "Who were those guys anyway?"

"Uh," I swallowed, feeling guilty. "Brother of a girl I hooked up with a while back. I guess she was more cut up about it being a one night thing than I expected."

"Far out," he said. I wondered at his use of slang, and tried to remember if he'd told me how long ago he'd been turned, but the thought faded, it wasn't important just then. "I mean, you're a really good lay, but... calling in a hit like that?"

I chuckled at his praise and then shrugged my shoulders. "I dunno if she even knew they were doing it. I guess she told him about me, maybe said she was sad, but I dunno. I find it hard to imagine she told him to beat me up."

"Nice girl, is she?"

"I ..." I swallowed. What did I really know about Mackenzie except that she was cute and down to play around with me? "Ugh, honestly? I have no idea. I haven't exactly made a habit of getting to know everything about someone before I fuck them"

Gage's eyes met mine and there was something hard in them. "And you're mine now."

"Yeah." I reached the hand he wasn't washing up to touch the silver chain with his family crest on it. Had he been jealous? Even just talking about someone from the past? "I'm yours. All yours. You saved me."

"Well, they won't bother you again." He kissed my fingertips and motioned for me to sit forward so he could wash my back. I complied easily, although it occurred to me I had no idea how badly he had hurt Austin and his friends.

"Um," I said, slowly. "Are... are the police going to come find me and ask about some murders on campus?"

Gage squeezed my bicep briefly. "No, they were all still breathing when we left. They're banged up, they'll need some time in hospital, but they'll live and they'll know not to mess with you ever again." His voice was cold, detached, and I knew with certainty that if they ever tried anything again, Gage really would kill them. I found that it was reassuring, if a little frightening at the same time.

Sort of like being with someone who was in the mafia, or having a really big, trained attack dog. I knew that Gage would never hurt me, I knew that right in my soul, but if someone else hurt me, there'd be no holding him back.

I probably shouldn't find that as hot as I did but eh, I was dating a vampire. I'd promised myself to a vampire, and I didn't want to change that at all.

"There was talk, a few weeks ago," I said, slowly. "Of people being attacked, waking up with neck wounds. Was that you?"

Gage snorted. "No. When I feed off someone I clean them up and make them forget. If it was a vampire, it was someone careless, maybe someone new to town or someone trying to get attention."

That wasn't super reassuring. I hadn't heard of any recent attacks, but then I hadn't been paying attention to the news or campus gossip at all.

"Are there a lot of vampires around?"

"Not really. We're kinda territorial. I'm the only one in this part of town, unless someone new's trying to move in. Maybe I ought to take a look around..."

"Not tonight though," I said, quickly.

"Not tonight."

Gage washed my hair, gently so that the scrape didn't sting too much, and helped me out of the bath, wrapped me in a giant towel and rubbed me dry. I probably could have done that myself, but I was enjoying being taken care of. It soothed my nerves, and made me feel well, loved. Special.

He brought me a soft pair of sweatpants and an oversized T-shirt to put on, sat me down on the couch and brought a tray of snacks - some fruit, some potato chips, candy, chocolate bars and popcorn.

"I didn't know what you like, so I just ordered in a bunch of options from the grocery store. You can tell me which are your favorites and I'll get more of them," he said, when I looked wide-eyed at the buffet he'd set out.

"This is... amazing?" I said, confused. He sat down beside me, slipped his arm around me.

"What do you want to watch?" Gage clicked the TV on. "Big dumb action movie, or do you want to avoid seeing people get punched in the face?"

I considered, licking my lips. "Maybe something where aliens get punched in the face?"

"Done." Gage grinned, kissed my temple and found a sci-fi action movie for us. I helped myself to the snacks, finding myself quite hungry now that I'd relaxed. About half an hour into the movie I started to yawn, so I snuggled against Gage's chest and let my eyes drift shut.