Affirmed

Jury

I'd seen a lot in my short time as a vampire, but this time I thought I'd lost it. Luke was motionless save for a tilt of the head. I groaned as I propped myself up against the cabinet.

"You're bad at this," Luke observed.

I scowled painfully, "I've heard."

I laid back against the metal and closed my eyes. I heard the cracks in my skull begin to reknit themselves and hoped Luke would go away when it finished. 

"I'm not going anywhere," Luke chuckled.

I opened them again and gave him a disappointed look. "How are you here?"

"Because you're here," he shrugged. "I'm part of you now."

I heard movement and flinched, falling back onto the floor. A sniff identified a fly buzzing in another room.

Luke scoffed. "Damn, she messed you up."

I decided to stay on the floor until I healed more. "What was she? Hand of the Raven. Second-Generation. You know anything about that?"

Luke scowled. "I thought I learned everything about vampires from Saul's tomes. I never heard of any Hand of the Raven." Then he straightened and frowned at me. "And it doesn't matter. What kind of Regent runs from a fight?"

"The kind that wants to live," I tried barking at him but immediately grabbed at my ribs.

"How is living going?" Luke's asked with false concern. "I see isolation and barely feeding has done wonders."

"Screw you," I snarled. "You dragged me into this."

"I made you leave a club with a stranger?" Luke tapped his chin like he was trying to remember it all.

"I didn't want to be vampire," I insisted. "I didn't even want to be Regent."

This time Luke laughed. "Nah, that's bullshit."

He dropped from the counter and sat beside me. "If you didn't want to be Regent, why go through with it? As much as you claim to hate being vampire, you didn't hate me."

I tried to shrug. "So what?"

"How do you feel about being a vampire? Truly."

My heart hardened. "It doesn't matter."

"It's the first time you felt free," he continued. "The ultimate expression of how you've felt-the strongest person in a room."

I hesitated. "When I woke up, I killed people."

"So what?"

I stared at him with disbelief. He snorted. "Don't do that."

I blinked. "Don't do what?"

"Treat me like a villain. Remind me how much blood you spilled."

My next breath was shaky but it wasn't from my wounds, "I was told it was necessary."

Luke snorted again. "Then why do you punish yourself? If you'd like, I can suggest something harsher than a hot bath."

My nose wrinkled. "You're a monster."

"You're doing it again, Charlie. I've asked you not to."