I again don't know how long I was out, but I eventually came back to consciousness and the first thing I became aware of was the fact that my father was still next to me. I managed to crack an eye open this time and saw that he was sitting down on an armchair next to the bed and he was reading a book while holding my hand.
The next thing I became aware of was the fact that I had an IV line that had two ports in it. Seeing this made me gasp and I start to hyperventilate and this made my father squeeze my hand and say calmly
"It's ok Sapphirine, just breathe normally for me till you wake up more and I can explain everything." I look at him in panic and he brings his other hand, after putting the book down, to rest it gently on my right shoulder which helps to give me comfort.
I close my eyes to take a breath and then slightly relax back into the pillow. I feel him relax a bit too and when I open my eyes again I see that he is looking at me with nothing but concern for me and so I ask
"What happened? Why the IV?" My voice was little more than a dry croak and he reaches to the bedside table for a glass of water with a straw in it and he tells me to take a sip first and so I do, once it was back on the bedside table he says gently
"You were a bit more malnourished, over stressed and more sleep deprived than you implied. Your body couldn't handle it anymore and so needed to shut down for a little bit. I am amazed you lasted as long as you have like that so as soon as I got you in this room and you sensed you were fully safe as well as not able to sense anyone else but me you slipped into a near coma because of everything.
You have been asleep for 4 days and I had to make sure that you didn't get malnourished again or dehydrated either when you didn't wake when I came to get you for dinner that first day so that is what the IV line is for as it is giving you both saline, more of the mixture I made for you on the plane and I did have to give you a bag each of human blood as well as my own just to cover anything that we may not know about and I have simply been waiting for you to wake. You gave me quite the scare."
His sad tone at the end made me reply
"I am sorry dad, I didn't mean to scare you. I just am so used to having to survive and doing everything for everyone else that I guess I just never knew how badly I'd been forgetting my own needs. I wish I could say it will never happen again, but I can't really promise that as it is something that I can't really control." Tears start to prick my eyes and I look away from him in shame, but this makes his hands move so that one was on my forehead and the other on my cheek while he crouches down so that we were eye level and he says firmly but filled with love and understanding
"Hey, stop beating yourself up over things. You have been living the best possible way you knew how and no one can get angry at you for that, least of all me as it helped you live long enough for me to find you again. Now that you are here I can help you learn better ways to cope while making sure you are not forgetting yourself, you just need to trust me enough to let me in."
His words broke the dam and for the first time since he was forced to leave me I cried. Before this I had to be strong or else I would have died a long time ago, but now being with the only man I have ever known as my father I knew that in moments when it was just us two I don't have to be strong. I have always known that he is and will be the only person I can ever fully trust to be vulnerable like this around.
He carefully wraps his arms around me as best as he could, but he lets his feelings wash over me and I feel that he doesn't pity me like I thought he would and like even Richard gave me those pitying glaces and I would catch him feeling it too. It would make me shudder and why I would work hard to make it look like I was above what happened to me while I was secretly dying inside without anyone to talk to or trust to be fully myself around that wouldn't judge me for it and now being back in my father's arms I feel that and it was such a relief that I hugged him back harder and I hear that my father lets out a soft grunt and I pull away with a gasp and exclaim
YOU ARE READING
Love in a Strange Place: A Vampire Witch's Journey to find where she belongs
VampireSapphirine is a Vampire witch hybrid that lost her whole family, was found and adopted by a very old vampire and yet he was forced to leave her to. Years later she is reunited with her adopted father and together they navigate the ups and downs of f...
