The Soldier's Hostage

Chapter Nineteen

Arthur called Sable over to check me out now that I was conscious. She gave me a full check up, much more thorough than I thought was strictly necessary. Yet, Arthur looked on with a stern gaze and waited for Sable to finish her check.

She finally straightened and turned to Arthur, rattling off all sorts of medical jargon that only half made sense to me. What I did gather was that I was on bed rest and brain rest until further notice. Sable set down, on no uncertain terms, that I wasn't to be doing anything strenuous. She shot Arthur a look that invited no argument. "That means no heavy housework, no exercise, don't let him strain his eyes with mass quantities of TV, no mental math, and try to keep the multitasking to a minimum."

I opened my mouth but Sable cut me off. "No. Take it easy. I know usually you take care of him but now he takes care of you. Until further notice." She shot Arthur a look that made him nod once.

And just to avoid any more talk on the matter, Sable stalked towards the door. I watched Arthur watch her leave, then he was turning a pensive look on me. He abruptly sighed and headed towards the kitchen. "What would you like to eat?"

And that was the main question for the next three days. It was like Arthur couldn't come up with anything other than feeding me to take care of me. I couldn't help but appreciate it though. Never before had a Vampire taken any sort of interest in me beyond using me up and throwing me away.

But Arthur was different. When he got lost after he had fed me, I gently made a few suggestions. It was hard remembering to ask and not beg but I managed. He also picked up a few other things to ask me about when my friends came to visit me after they had heard the news and inquired about my needs. I assured them all I was fine, but I got the feeling they didn't believe me.

Jake and Isaac had been over earlier, and they had stayed a little too long. I had stifled a breath of relief when Arthur noticed I was getting tired and got snappy. I realized what he was doing immediately. He was purposely turning the atmosphere uncomfortable without ever directly confronting me or Isaac and Jake.

My friends had shot me an uncomfortable look and carefully excused themselves, unable to bear the heavy air for much longer. Arthur shook his head with a sigh as the door closed behind them and he went for the kitchen. He opened up the cabinets and looked over the contents. "What would you like to eat?"

I twisted to throw one arm over the back of the couch and rest my chin on the back cushion. "I want sushi." I was surprised when he pulled down the rice and started measuring some out into a pot. "Ah, I actually figured we could order it from someplace. Making it ourselves is harder than it looks."

Arthur shrugged. "I think I can figure it out."

I rolled off the couch and staggered over to the table to sit and watch. Arthur shot me a look but he didn't say anything. I just propped my chin on my hand and followed him around the kitchen with my eyes. It wasn't long before he had the seaweed filled and was ready to roll it up. I could already see he had too much in the seaweed.

I grinned as Arthur struggled to roll up the sushi without it breaking. He hissed when it came out too full and wouldn't close all the way. "I told you it was harder than it looked."

Arthur shot me a look at the teasing. "I'm about to just put it in a bowl. Eat it that way." He glanced towards the door when we heard a knock and jerked his head at it. "Get that will you? I'm going to give this one more try."

I chuckled and slid out of my seat, going to see who was at the door. I opened up and smiled at the petite dark skinned woman on the other side. She stared at me for a moment, startled.