I slowly opened my eyes feeling weak and dizzy. The room was dark and lit by the neon lights outside the window.
Where was I? The shapes I could see were not the same as my small apartment. The mattress I was on shifted at my feet. I looked in the direction of the movement. A dark figure was sitting there.
It was him.
I sat up quickly. I felt vulnerable and confused.
"Don't..." he reached out to stop me, but he stopped himself when he saw me flinch. I was afraid of him and it was obvious. "Don't move. You need to rest." he finished. Not even making eye contact. His expression seemed sad, no, maybe shameful. There was a pinch in my arm. I was hooked up to an IV bag.
"Where am I?"
This was most definitely not a hospital.
"A hotel. I made sure they wouldn't find us."
"Find you." I corrected him.
"Look. I'm sorry. I didn't want anyone to get into my mess." he looked down at his hands.
I removed the bandaging on my wrist. His teeth marks were deep, and the area was bruised and sore. "Are you the one who did all this?" I pointed at the bandages.
He nodded.
"I really didn't want to use you like that. Not again an-"
"It's fine" I cut him off. I don't like sappy apologies. His body language was enough. I could tell he didn't mean to take it that far. "I'm the one that decided to feed you." I whispered. "I just. I thought I was going to die." I looked into his dark eyes. The pink lights from outside highlighting his cheekbone and sharp jawline.
"You almost did." he stared back at me. "You were out cold for a couple days. I couldn't bring you to a hospital and risk them being there."
"Right." We both stayed silent for a moment. He then moved to sit closer to me. And reached over behind me. His face inches from mine. I could feel my cheeks heating up. I didn't want him to see that my face was red. I tried to not think about it. Hoping I would calm down a bit.
He sat upright showing that he had fresh bandages and disinfectants behind me on the bed frame.
"It's time to change them..." he waited for permission to tend to my wound. I nodded.
He delicately took care of the bite. This surprised me since I only knew pain when he used to touch me. I also saw him fight once. He was terrifying, calculating every movement from his opponent. I winced a little from the burning sensation of the cream he applied. But the coolness of his fingertips eased the pain a little. His eyes shot up at me in concern, but he quickly looked back down, stopping himself from showing me his feelings.
Maybe he thought I wouldn't notice.
"Why didn't you just leave me behind?" I asked.
"Is it so wrong to try to fix my mistake?" he said focused on wrapping the bite.
"But that's what you do. You feed, heal and move on."
"We made a deal I wouldn't bite you." he said sharply. I guess I struck a nerve.
We both were silent again. He finished up the bandages and was going to get up. I grabbed his hand to stop him.
"That time... Long ago...Why did you set me free?"
His expression was hard to read. I couldn't really tell what was going on in his mind.
"Why wouldn't I?" I was about to reply when he surprised me and continued. "Is it because I'm a vampire? A monster?" he grabbed my neck. His grip tight enough that I could feel my own pulse against his thumb. I gasped, surprised by his sudden movement.
"If I'm like that in your eyes then I should just kill you right now, right?" his face was close enough to mine that I could see his fangs starting to show. "Just drink you until there is nothing left."
I tried to remove his hand from my throat, but he was too strong.
"Or maybe you think I'm keeping you alive because I like to play with my food?" he moved my head exposing my neck. He froze. I knew he could see the scars he had left. His mark forever a part of me.
He let go of me roughly and stood up to walk to the window. The neon light on his face showing me he had tears threatening to fall down his cheeks. Something about being what he was seemed to frustrate him, clearly, he didn't like being seen as a threat. Then a shimmer caught my eye. On his neck there was a scar I had never noticed before. The shape of it was all too familiar to me. His behavior then made complete sense.
That scar could only mean one thing.
He wasn't a pure blood.
He used to be human.
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