Take Courage, My Heart

Chapter Fourteen

I found myself waking up tucked in Leander's bed again. Passing out and waking up in different places was starting to become a bad habit that I didn't like.

Darkness had fallen outside. The lights of the city were shining through the window and with my heart pounding in my chest I looked at them. Uneasiness had settled in my chest, something akin to nausea twisting my gut. I had come to associate the emotion with waking up after a nightmare, but I couldn't remember seeing anything in my sleep. No frightening memory or twisted concoction of my brain came to mind so I did my best to make the weird feelings dissipate.

I brought my knees up to my chest and took a couple of deep breaths, looking out the window and letting my eyes focus and unfocus on the lights. I was completely unfocused, the view outside a blur of yellow, red, and blue lights, when the sound of the front door opening snapped me out of it. It was just a soft turn of the keys, followed by an equally soft click of the door as it shut. My heart turned to stone until a whisper came and I realized it was just Leander and Ezra.

While the sound of their voices reached me, exactly what they were saying wasn't distinguishable. It was like someone was talking underneath a blanket while white noise was playing on speakers. The world sounds were too loud.

A door opened and closed and its proximity made me realize it was Ezra, going to the room he shared with Kei, which was adjacent to the one I was in.

I bit my lower lip, suddenly feeling so out of place it made my skin crawl. Leander had saved me and given up his room to me. He had given me a place to stay and go through my turn. He offered to train me and had taken up my offer to help them go after Vincent. And I had taken over his bed.

Slowly, I got up and out of it. It took me a moment of contemplation to open the door, knowing that once I did he would know that I was awake. I hadn't heard another door open after the one next to this room had closed, so Leander should still be in the main living area. I let out a decisive breath, opened the door, got out, and closed it, all while ignoring the gaze that I could feel on me.

When I turned around to look down at the main floor, Leander was staring at me. All the lights were off, and the room was only illuminated by the light coming through the windows. Leander was standing by the fridge, leaning against the counter and holding a labelless wine bottle.

He didn't utter a word as I descended the stairs and walked toward him, but his eyes never left me. I waddled all the way to the counter opposite him and jumped up, the warmth of sleep still clinging to my bones despite the coldness of the marble countertop.

"Why aren't you asleep?" Leander eventually asked, turning to the cabinets behind him while doing so.

"I was. Passed out after Kei showed me the computer room," I replied. He clicked his tongue and turned back around with a wine glass in his empty hand.

"He should have known better than to bring you in there when you are so young," Leander said. I watched him open the wine bottle and the pungent smell of blood made my upper jaw ache.

"You can go to sleep if you want... since I am well-rested and your bed is empty," I said with a smile and leaned back on my hands.

"If that's all you came down here to tell me then I suggest you take your sweet, little ass back upstairs and go to sleep."

He said that while filling up the glass with blood and without looking at me and the more words that left his mouth the more I felt the need to shut him up. 

"Well, look who is being a brat right now," I hummed at last when he brought the glass up to his lips and started drinking. He didn't tip the glass back down, but his lips did pull back in a small smile at my comment.