Bitten

Chapter 3. He Who Shakes the Earth

A white ceiling glared down at the young boy as he blinked in an attempt to help his eyes adjust. Confusion was thorough as he tried to remember how he got here - and where he was, which was soon answered by the too loud voice of whom he presumed to be a Nurse telling him he was safe and at Stonebridge Hospital.

Why was he in the hospital?

Levi groaned aloud as he felt the memories assault him - it was Mrs. Marland, dead Mrs. Marland, talking in some foreign language to him. How did Levi know she was dead? Perhaps she wasn't, he truly hoped that she wasn't, but he couldn't fight the sinking feeling that he knew she was truly dead.

Somehow.

His eyes moved to the corner of the room where his black bag stood, the papers on a Hellhound - a supernatural creature with a connection to the deaths of fellow supernaturals - were poking through as if daring him to glance at them once more. To consider them as the truth.

"You feeling okay, Levi?" he heard a voice inquire, and he snapped his head around to see the worried face of sweet yet fierce Rosie looking down at him, "you gave us quite the scare. Katherine's off attacking some vending machine for a mars bar, but she was worried too."

Levi nodded, admiring the way that the sunlight that came through the window landed on Rosie's face - highlighting her cheekbones that were impossibly high, and then his eyes travelled down, to her plump lips and-

"Lev, are you listening?" Rosie questioned, her expectant expression telling him she'd just asked him something.

He shook himself out of his stupor, and looked at her guiltily, "no, sorry, what did you say?"

She smiled, before telling him, "I was wondering if you knew what you were saying, before you passed out. Katherine thinks it was Aztec but," Rosie glanced around the room, making sure nobody else was listening before adding, "was it anything to do with the hunters? Were you trying to tell me something, about a werewolf or something you had seen?"

Levi shook his head, gulping when he saw the predatory gleam in Rosie's eyes that she gained whenever somebody mentioned werewolves. Rosie was one of their best hunters and, after a werewolf slashed her older sister's face and killed her Aunt a couple of years back, she had been relentlessly calling for their blood.

Maybe she would call for his blood too now.

The thought made bile rise in the back of his throat. All he could see was Rosie, staring down at him with disgust about to thrust one of her knives through his chest and end his monstrous life. Suddenly, Rosie shook him from his thoughts - looking all the more concerned and asking if he wanted her to go and get the Nurse.

"No, no Nurses," Levi told her with a forced smile, ignoring the way he could feel his sweat building on his forehead. His overwhelming nerves had felt as if they had lit a fire of fear within him. A literal fire. He was far too hot.

"If you're sure."

Her brown eyes were so close to his own, like layers of chocolate swirls merged with one another, gazing at him with such concern, and several strands of charcoal black hair falling forwards to frame her face. Cautiously, he moved his hand forward to brush the strand out of her face, letting his fingers trace upon her silky smooth skin, and then linger there.

He watched as her eyes flittered towards his lips, and felt his heart soar. Maybe if he moved in, she would let him kiss her - let him show how much he cared for her. Always.