It was two in the morning and yet I could not find sleep. I looked down at the man by my side, his face specifically. I reached my hand down to trace the long scar that ran from his left temple to the right side of his jaw. That scar reminded me of so many things, mainly the things he has, and does, give up for me. I sigh thinking back to the night I had found him.
I had been walking down a shady side street looking for my next meal. It was about midnight so there were enough drunks out that I could take my share from several of them and they would never be the wiser. I was waiting out in a back ally by a popular nightclub waiting for some one to stumble out, so drunk that they didn't know who they were. I had been examining the cracks in the box in front of me when I heard the door slam open. I had expected to see some high or drunk person stumbling out but instead I saw a man about my age, 20, being shoved out the door by a local gang. The leader was yelling something indistinguishable, he was drunk as were the five others with him. I looked at the man on the ground. I had seen him before; I had known him in my human life. I silently cursed myself for forgetting parts of my human life. Then I clicked; he had been one of my classmates in high school. His name was Tyler something or other, I couldn't remember. As I tuned back into the real world I was in time to see the drunken leader take a swipe at Tyler with an ugly looking switchblade. The man dragged it across Tyler's' face leaving a nasty gash, it was going to scar. The man yelled one more indistinguishable thing before he and his goons kicked the prone body on the ground several times in the head and ribs, leaving him unconscious.
I had had enough. I quietly took out the two goons in the back of the pack, snapping their necks. The sound of their bodies falling drew the attention of the other four gang members. Once it had gotten threw their drunken minds that two of their friends had been killed they went wild. The leader and one of the goons had been on the other side of Tyler's body and had stepped on it in the process of trying to get to me. I easily eliminated them and then drank my fill. I left their bodies there for someone to find once daybreaks. I looked up to find that the remaining two gang members had run off
Vampires were creatures that humans knew about. We lived on the outskirts of towns and were treated fairly well as long as we watched what we ate and didn't kill innocent humans. Every week the authorities would send out a list of known criminals that they wanted either caught or dead and if we came across them we were allowed to kill them. These people, if they deserved to be called that, were on the list. The authorities knew which vampire had killed because of the fang size. We all had different sizes of our teeth and the police had the measurements on file so they could compare them to the size of the holes in someone's neck.
I picked up Tyler's body and ran back to my house right outside of town. Once I made it to my room I set him on my bed and went to go get the First Aid kit that I kept for God knows why, but I was glad I had it. When I walked back into the room he was stirring, moaning in his sleep like state. I sat next to him and cleaned the gash on his face. It was definitely going to scar. I shook my head sadly; he was a handsome man that didn't need this scar running across his face. I ran my hands threw his hair searching for more cuts that could be hidden. All I found was a large bump from hitting his head on the ground. As I was doing this he stirred and opened his eyes. He looked up at me with questioning eyes as he brought his hand up to touch the bandage over his face. He tried to sit up but groaned and fell back onto the bed, his arms wrapped tightly around his ribs. He fainted again. I gently pried his arms away from his torso and slipped off his shirt. I winced when I saw the deep black and blue bruises that were already formed on his skin. I ran my hands over his ribs and felt one on them protruding dangerously. I looked back at his face to see that his eyes were open again. I bit my lip and said, "Hey, Tyler. How have you been?"
"Better, defiantly better than this Sara. What have you been up to since High School? Can't have done much in the two years since then." He said, struggling to breath without it hurting.
"I've been up to enough since then. Now one of the damned as you humans like to call us." I replied looking at the wall behind him. "You have a broken rib that I need to set. Can I do that real quick?" I asked, finally looking back down at his face.
"Have fun." He replied before his hands grabbed fists full of the bedding. I placed both hands on the rib before muttering a quick apology and pushing down. I felt the rib go back into place as I heard several choice words from his mouth.
I quickly wrapped his ribs and asked if that was any better. All I got in reply was grunt.
"Hold on I'm going to go get some ice. I'll be right back" I threw over my shoulder as I was walking out the door towards my kitchen. I grabbed a plastic bag and dumped some of the ice from the freezer in it and wrapped it in a towel. As I reentered my room I looked up to find that Tyler had maneuvered his way into a sitting position, his arms wrapped carefully around his ribs. How he had done that and gotten his legs under him into crisscross applesauce, as my kindergarten teacher liked to call it, was beyond me. He looked up when he heard me enter the room. I handed him the ice and watched as he gently placed it on his bruised chest.
I watched him as he watched me. We sat like that until he asked my why I had been in the ally at that time of night. I was reluctant to tell him that I was looking for a mean but when I did he seemed to understand.
"My sister was recently turned. That's how she gets her food too." He had looked sad as he said this, I didn't blame him. Having someone you love turned hurts. I remember when my best friend told me that he had been turned, it was sophomore year. He was killed five months later.
We talked until about four in the morning, learning everything about each other. His words began to slur and that's when I realized that I had kept him up to long. I told him to get some sleep but before I left the room I asked what he had done to get that gang to gang up on him.
He sleepily replied, "I danced with the wrong girl."
I smiled as I watched his eyes fluttered closed. I chuckled quietly as I smiled and thought 'That's something only you would do Tyler.' On impulse I bent down and kissed his temple before walking to the den to sleep on the couch.
The next morning I was woken by soft foot falls that stopped next to my head on the couch. I heard him let out a breath as his hand traced the contours of my face. I smiled and opened my eyes to see his face looking down at me, a small smile playing on his lips. I sat up and asked how he was feeling. He smiled and said thank you for last night. I just smiled and told him it was no problem and asked him if he wanted breakfast. He seemed shocked that I still ate human food but I reassured him that I could but I just didn't sustain me as well as blood did.
He stayed with me for a week and we became closer than I ever thought possible. At school we had never said a word to each other. He was popular and I was an outcast. I was surprised that we got along so well. By the end of the week were both reluctant to let each other go. He did something that I never thought he would do because it required him to completely bare himself to me; he asked if he could become my blood slave.
I was glad that I had accepted his offer. After that day we had become best friends. He gladly let me take my fill of his blood every two weeks. I smiled when I remembered earlier that night. He had been so happy when he asked me if I wanted dinner yet. I had asked him why he was so happy and all he said was that it had been a good day.
After I fed it normally made him sleepy, so sleepy in fact that he normally fell to sleep then and there, almost before I finished licking the remainders of his blood off of my lips. That led to dinners every two weeks in my room, on my bed. I normally lie down and cuddle into his sleeping form a few minutes later but tonight I had stayed up for an unknown reason. I looked down at him again to see his eyes open and looking up at me sleepily.
"Go to sleep Sara, its late." He mumbled as he pulled me down next to him.
"I'm not tired." I replied feeling guilty for somehow waking him.
"Why?" he was fully awake now.
"I was thinking about the night we met and the events that led up to this." I smiled at him as I traced his scar, a habit of mine.
"Well for one I'm glad that you found me. If not then we would never have met and I would never have found out how great and loving you are." He smiled as he caught my hand and pressed a kiss to my knuckles.
"Even though I'm one of the damned?" I asked, reaching out my fingers to brush against the two marks on his neck, evidence of my dinner.
"Even though you seem to think your one of the damned." This time he smiled and kissed my cheek.
I sighed and looked out the window that gave off a beautiful view of the moon. My fingers had gone back to his neck and were gently rubbing against the fang marks that I had made. He brought his hand to my face, his thumb stroking my cheek.
"I won't let you feel guilty for feeding off of me. I know that look. I asked for it, remember?" he asked.
"Vividly."
"I asked for this because I didn't want to leave you. You know that. I asked for this because I wanted to help you, like you helped me. I asked for this because you didn't deserve to be changed. I asked for this because I love you," he said while staring at me intently. "I love you Sara, you know that."
"I can't help but feel guilty. You know that." I cringed as I looked at his neck, the scars from other feedings could be faintly seen.
"I know you feel guilty but you shouldn't. We both benefit from this. You get dinner from a willing donor every two weeks." I cringed as I heard this.
"I know but…" I tried to interrupt him.
"I wasn't done talking. You get dinner and I get a wonderful fiancée. Despite what you think, I get the better end of the deal." I finally looked at him. He had risen to half sitting position, his arm supporting him. "You know I love you and that I would do anything to help you. You know that." he stressed.
"I know I know that." I smiled faintly as he bent his head down to kiss me softly.
"Promise me that you won't keep feeling guilty." He stared at me, his face completely serious.
"I…I." I faltered.
"Do it, promise me." he implored.
"I promise." I finally whispered.
"Thank you." He gently set his forehead on mine. "Now go to bed. We can talk more in the morning." He smiled faintly. I tilted my head until I could reach his lips and brushed mine against his. I lay down with my back to his chest, his arm wrapped around me. I felt something push in between my shoulder blades and turned over to see that he had forgotten to take off his tie. I pushed myself even farther back and noticed that he hadn't even changed out of his work clothes. I giggled faintly when I saw the look on his face when he realized that he was still in his work attire.
"I'll be right back." He told me as he got up. He heard him walk down the hall to his room that he normally slept in. He only slept in my room after I had one of my dinners. It was against our morals to do anything until we were married but we did allow ourselves to sleep in the same bed, properly clothed, on nights that I fed on account that we were both to tired to get up and go anywhere.
When he crawled back into bed he was in a t-shirt and basketball shorts. He wrapped his arm around me again. I smiled as I felt his muscles ripple under his shirt; I was glad that he had healed with no side affects except for the scar on his face. I head him whisper "I love you." before we both fell into a peaceful sleep.
AN. I hope you all liked this. If you would like to review I would love it. Hope you have a great day!
---detective889
