Bloodline

~ Chapter 14 ~

A/N: Here you go, you lovely people. This was written pretty quickly and so it is unedited and raw, but I really enjoyed writing it. Please, if you enjoyed reading it, leave a comment and vote, it means a lot to me. 

Be great, be good, be kind.  Chloe <3

Gideon flashed back to the house, stopping in the living room, where the fire still roared in the fireplace. He placed Mia gently on the large sofa, making a quick job of discarding of her heavy coat and boots. He scanned her body for all the injuries, cursing under his breath when his eyes landed on the torn skin on her neck. And with that came the guilt, crashing onto him like an anchor comes down on the shore – hard and deep.

Shaking off the feeling, he tried to distract himself by tending to her wounds, grabbing a first aid kit and cleaning everything from the dried blood and dirt. He was slowly making his way up to her neck when the girl started to stir and Gideon froze in place as he watched her slowly fluttering her eyes open.

"Gideon?" her voice was very weak, and he swallowed the lump forming in his throat as guilt enveloped him.

"Hey," he whispered softly, shuffling his crouched-self closer to her. He tentatively reached his hand to her face, his finger catching a strand of hair and pushing it behind her ear. She reached up with her own hand and grasped his, nestling her cheek into the palm. She didn't know why, but the touch relaxed her and she relished the feeling of his cool hand against her skin. Closing her eyes on a deep sigh, her body slumped into the sofa knowing that she was alright – Gideon kept her safe. "Mia, I..." he looked at the tiny girl, guilt pushing yet again at the surface, but he couldn't utter the words of apology. "Do you want to take a bath? Or just go to bed. Do you want to eat something maybe? Anything baby, just tell me what you need."

Her brows scrunched up in confusion – why did he sound so apologetic? He wasn't the one that attacked her; in fact he was the one that got her out of there alive. She opened her eyes tiredly and stared at him when she finally realised what was eating at him.

"Gideon, no; don't do that to yourself," she pushed away from the sofa and inched closer to him, "You were injured and you needed the blood. I am not mad at you – you didn't mean to hurt me, I know that."

"But I did. I should've controlled myself; you were hurt already and I made it worse. You could've died! You almost died in my arms!" the tears gathered on his lower lashes without him even realizing. He was breathing hard, his eyes closed in some attempt to keep calm, but he couldn't, knowing that he was partly the cause that Mia was so weak now. She had lost a lot of blood, and the sensitive thing to do would be to get her to a hospital where she could get some blood transfusions and get checked out, but he couldn't let her go. Alone. Without him.

"Look at me," Mia found some strength to project some confidence and power into her words. Gideon opened his eyes and looked at her uncertainly. "I didn't die. You didn't kill me. If anything, I should thank you for getting me out of there. I should be thankful that even with nine vampires out to get you, you still managed to get us both safe. You put a hell of a fight and got injured, so don't apologize for drinking my blood. I'm just glad you're okay." She finished on a long exhale, her body quickly giving up the little energy she still had. Damn, she did actually lose a lot of blood.

"Mia..."

"No. If I could just take a bath, that'd be great now."

"Ok. Yes sure." She knew this would get him distracted for the time being and she wanted nothing more than to get into clean clothes and get into bed. She stood up on her shaky legs, but they gave out almost immediately. "Let me carry you to your room and run the bath."