Annotation:Takes place amidst the events of BH 2x09 when Aidan made the decision to take Henry home to Josh after Suren had taken her pound of flesh. POV what if things didn´t turn out so disastrous. Goes aloof of the episode´s storyline. Aidan, Henry, Original character as a first-person narrator.
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. All characters belong to Muse Entertainment, Syfy and the writers. I´m only writing for fun and make no money with it.
Boston, late November
The morning was cold and I had started my work in the pharmacy of the Suffolk County Hospital half an hour ago. My boss had handed me over the lists of orders for the wards and I went through the shelves of the large storage room with the pharmaceuticals. My hands went for the packages, counting the pills and checking them for the ordered amount, before I put them on the large table that moved on wheels.
There were a couple of order lists to work through this morning and so I barely greeted my colleague with a short smile and a mumbled "...morning, Ann!" before I went on with the stuff. The orders had to be ready at 1 pm when the storekeeper would come to deliver the boxes to the wards.
Outside in the long hall of the hospital´s pharmacy I waved over to my colleagues who went into the lock to the sterile room where infusions for the newborn were prepared.
"See you later! The clean up is late today. I´ll tell the cleaning service...the room has to be ready at 8 am...looks like they have send some new staff, who doesn´t know by now..." she said and the door fell shut behind her, sealing her in into the sterile unit.
"Guess they have to hurry up with the preparations...and I should care for mine!" I mumbled when I looked down on the bundle of orders. Always the same with Fridays...orders before the weekend cuz the general pharmacy was closed but for the sterile unit. The wards needed their stuff for the whole weekend shifts.
"Where can I get this?" I directed to the list where a ward had ordered some stuff I didn´t find in the shelves. The pharmacist looked down; "Oh, that you´ll find over there in the other storage! Don´t know how it ended up on this list, but what for?! Get it there and we´ll deliver it together with the rest. Obviously a nurse who mixed it up with the order for the SB*ward" (*Severe Burns ward) He directed over to the building beside the block in which the pharmacy was. It was built directly connected to the large main building of the Suffolk.
"Be right back..." I gave back and grabbed for my coat, throwing it over and left the building. I went across the courtyard with the large tree and even on this hour two nurses were sitting on a bench, enjoying their pause with steaming cups of coffee in their hands. I shook my head and pushed the glass door open, glad to be back in the warmth of a hall.
I turned my steps to the large storage room which kept the infusion materials, all room´s stuff like bed covers, blankets, bandaging material and those sterilized bed sheets the nurse from the SB had ordered. There were a few nurses in the room who went for fresh stuff fro their patients as it was time to change the beds.
"I saw one of the nurses and went to ask her for my stuff.
"In which shelf will I find the aluminum covered bed sheets?"
"You´re new in here?" she smiled at me.
"In here! Yes! Never been in here before! I work over there...in the pharmacy."
"Pharmacist?"
"No..." I smiled, "Pharmacist´s assistance...Makes less money, but a good job!"
"Mine too! Okay, you´ll find it in the shelves to the right...at the wall!"
"Okay...thanks..." I turned on my heels and went over to the right side of the room. Deep in my thoughts for the next thing I had to work on, I went over and suddenly a pair of strong hands grabbed for my shoulders, stopping me dead in my tracks. I lifted my face and found myself almost face to face with a male nurse.
"Sorry...I was in a hurry..." I mumbled an excuse and wanted to go for the shelf.
"What do you need?" he directed to the shelf, following me over right on my heels.
"Uhm, a SB nurse ordered those aluminum covered bed sheets. Normally should be ordered in a separate list but anyway it ended up on mine." I shrugged my shoulders and tried to grab for a whole bundle of the sheets but the board was high and before I could search for a step to reach it, he reached over my head and handed me over a bundle.
"That will do?" he asked and smiled slightly.
"Oh thank you!" Either by coincidence or did he look on my list, he had handled me exactly the number of packages I needed.
"You´re welcome!" his smile grew large and he helped me to put the bundle on my arms. "may I ask you for your name? I didn´t see you in here before...are you new in the Suffolk...?" he asked but his voice was calm and not invasive. Just interest behind it for a coworker.
"I´m here since last month. Working in the pharmacy..."
"Oh, that´s it! Pill´s department! Guess we won´t meet so often in here then...I´m working on this ward...gonna need to go for some stuff on my own."
"My name is Margie. Margie Smith..." I answered his question from before. Normally it was none of his business but he had helped me and so I decided to tell him my name.
"Margie!" he smiled. "That´s a short for Margaret, isn´t it?"
"Yeap! Normally it is, but I simply prefer Margie as Margaret is so formal and is my legally registered name." I gave back his smile. "I have seen you a couple of times during pause in the garden outside, together with one of your colleagues..."
"Josh. He works the ward next to mine. We often work the same shifts...Nice guy."
I looked onto his nurse badge.
Aidan Waite
His smile was intriguing and it gave me some calmness back at this hectically started morning. An old word came to my mind; A smile can make your day!
The same moment I saw some concern on his face. It was slipping over his fast so fast it might have escaped me. For sure he was concerned about a patient in a difficult condition, I thought. I smiled at him and directed to the door;
"Thank you for your help, Aidan. I should go over...pretty much work to do..." I excused myself and he opened the door for me.
"Might see you any time, probably..." Aidan gave back and I left the room.
I finished my work at late afternoon and it was growing dark outside. I was deep in my thoughts when I went down the street in an attempt to reach a grocery shop nearby. It was around the corner and I had to pass the entrance of a club. The door was open and a man came by. He seemed to be in a hurry and I recognized him.
It was Aidan Waite. He had talked with two young women and they shook her heads no. I saw some disappointment on his face but he seemed to ward it off fast. When he saw me he came up to me with some fast steps.
"Hi, Aidan! How ya` doing?" I greeted him casually. His face had an expression of deep concern and I dared to ask what it was.
He hesitated a moment before he sighed. His left hand moved up and he wiped through his dark hair.
"Sorrow..."
"Guess so! What is it?"
"My friend...isn´t well..." he gave back.
"Josh?" I asked when I remembered the name he had given me in the morning.
"Nope. Not him. Another one..." he mumbled, obviously deeply stuck in his thoughts. Maybe I caught him on the wrong foot, I thought. Should see I´ll make my own things working before... I didn´t want to be too invasive. For sure he was tired from the shift and his friend was waiting for him. We might talk later, any time when he was at work and making his pause.
"I...hm...I´ll better go on now..." I gave back with a smile. I turned over but his hand grabbed for my arm.
"You...I´m sorry, Margie...but maybe..uhm, I don´t want to keep you off from something..."
"I´m not in a hurry. Work is over and I´m simply on my way home, just wanted to get something to eat for me." There was a questioning expression in his face. If he was out for some time to share with me he should not beat about the bush, I thought with an inner smile.
"What´s up?" I asked. I would find out now for what he was about to do.
But the way he answered, the sound of his voice, gave me the indication that it was something serious, not the usual way a guy goes for a woman. I kept my face calm, eager to know with what he would come up now. For sure he wasn´t up for some cheap way to chat me up... His face was all concern instead.
"Would need some...uhm...some help for my friend...as he...he sins´t well at all..."
A suspect was growing in me. Did he think I could get him some...stuff from the pharmacy? Couldn´t be true! A nurse going for...drugs! He would risk his job if this would become apparent!
"Sorry, can´t help you!" I gave back. I was no way risking mine for a junkie and obviously his friend was in need of a shot! Oh my goodness! I had experience enough handling junkies in my long pharmacy career.
He seemed to read it in my face when he gave back directly: "Not what you´re thinking about, Margie! Goodness! No!" he breathed deeply and shook his head no.
"Then tell me what it is until we waste any time here talking any criminal things! I won´t be involved in any as I have to take care for me on my own! I have to work for my incoming on my own! Just to make this a clear thing, Aidan!"
He got an expression of guilt on his face.
"I´m so sorry, Margie! So sorry! I should have done a better start. Should have thought over you might get a wrong impression by what I was talking about..." he sighed and looked into my eyes. He looked so sad. I decided to make a step back and try to listen to him.
"Sorry...didn´t intend it, Aidan! So what is it what makes you...concerned?" Should give him the possibility to explain himself to me.
For a long moment he seemed to think over his next words before he went on after another sigh.
"The thing is...my friend isn´t well at all and I would need some help with him. Josh is not at home and he can´t help me cuz it´s his shift..."
"Oh, I get it...but...I´m no nurse! I work in the hospital´s pharmacy and I have only the medical knowledge I´ve gotten along the way of my work in pharmacies..." I explained in an attempt not to rise wrong expectations in my abilities in Aidan.
"What...hm what had been the worst case you ever handled as a patient in a pharmacy?" he brought out. I wondered somewhat about his question, not sure where it was leading to.
"Hm..." I thought over. "Hm, a guy who had stumbled over a step nearby. He had fallen right into the glass shield of a door and it gave in...He got cuts all over. As it was directly beside the pharmacy some peeps brought him in. Poor guy was covered in cuts and his own blood...we did some first aid until the rescue came for him..."
"Hm! Hard stuff, I guess..." he gave back,
"Naa...worse for him but I´m a woman and as being a woman you can´t lose consciousness on the toilet on five days each month at the sight of blood!" I laughed out and he fell in with a smile.
"Good point, Margie!"
Poor Aidan seemed to relax a bit by now that he had expressed his sorrows to me even when I still didn´t know what exactly he wished from me. So I decided to take up where we had left.
"So what is it I might do for you..." I cleared my throat; "more exactly...for your friend...?"
"I beg you for a favor, Margie...not sure if you can do this for me...My friend is sick and I need a helping hand with caring for him this evening. Normally my colleague will do but he had to change shift into a double shift...so he´s not at hand as usually..." Aidan looked me into the eyes, his brown eyes were a plea I almost couldn´t resist.
I thought over for a moment.
I had some time and it would not take the whole night until we would be done with his friend. So no problem to get him some helping hand. As he had asked me for what had been my worst case in my pharmaceutical career I expected any more severe case of sickness. Just to be safe I asked in return; "He´s seriously sick as you asked me for my grade of experience...?"
Aidan nodded.
"Okay, guess I won´t poke right on my feet with handling a sick man..." I smiled, having no clue what I was going into. But worse than the man who had crashed into a glass door it couldn´t become. Poor guy had been a mess so to say.
"As you´re a nurse I guess you´ll have everything at home we might need for your friend...?" I asked, just to be safe.
"Of course, Margie! No prob! I would be very thankful when you would come with me. It´s not all too far from here where I´m living..." Aidan directed into the direction left to where I had intended to go for my shopping. The grocery could wait until later as it was open all hours.
I nodded and a smile of relief was running over his face. We turned over and went down the streets until we came in front of a house whose door was set upstairs.
"Here we are?" I asked.
"Yeap! Please come in..." he invited me in, directing to the door upstairs. The house was made of bricks and to the right side there seemed to be a slim alley to the backyard. I looked up and saw a number painted above the frame of the door which was of glass and green wood.
3638
Mayford as far as I had seen when we had turned over into the street before.
I climbed up the stairs and he opened the door for me. I stepped in, glad for the warmth that filled the short hall and then it opened to a large living room. All looked clean and normal; couch, coffee table, chairs, framed windows, one with a bench shaped windowsill.
"Nice looking home you have..." I uttered while he led me over to another staircase that was leading upwards. "Up here?" I asked.
"Yes. Upstairs, along the hall, to the right...I´ll show you, Margie..." Aidan climbed up the stairs in front of me, leading me the way to go...
"Henry...uhm...Henry...he doesn´t look...so well..." Aidan´s voice had gotten a warning timbre under it. What was about his friend? I had seen some skin diseases as psoriasis or eczema before and I expected something like this when he mentioned that his friend wouldn´t look...well.
"No problem, Aidan...I´m used to skin..."
Aidan opened the door for me, suddenly being directly behind me. He seemed to almost have crashed into me in his concern.
diseases... I wanted to add, but...
the word died dry in my mouth when I walked into the room. I gasped with shock, my hand going up to my mouth in a reflex. Aidan telling me that his friend wasn´t all too well was worse than any understatement.
Henry...if this was his name, looked at me.
"Wha...what shall...I. Do...wi...with...this..." he pressed out.
I closed my eyes for a moment, feeling how my heart was beating wildly at the sight of what was in front of me. An intensive smell of...iron was hovering in the warm air of the room, piercing in my nose as with needles.
Henry doesn´t look so well! Doesn´t look well! That was...it was...
I opened my eyes again, hesitating to step nearer because all I might have expected...this was worse. Worse than anything one could expect to find in...a bedroom of a house. Hospital; yes! Severe burns intensive care unit; yes! But not a bedroom! NOT!
"Oh...my God! What...what had happened to him?" I choked. Suddenly I felt Aidan´s hands in my back, softly directing me...or was it a soft push?...forward towards the bed. His mouth was at my ear and he whispered: " I thought you might handle that, Margie! You told me so!" His voice was vibrating in my ears, my head, made it...swimming...anywhere between the rug and the ceiling. I was fighting to regain my composure as this was far beyond of anything I ever thought it could become true. Maybe Aidan felt me wavering for a moment because his hands were at my hips, supporting me. Being in my back I could feel his presence as if it was the only thing that kept me from faltering and falling.
Nurse. He´s a nurse. Nothing more and nothing less and I had made a promise. What have I done?
I gasped deeply and squared my shoulders, took another deep breath and looked at Henry, feeling myself somewhat more steady now even when my heart was racing. I tried to calm myself down by a scientific point of view, tried to calm my nervousness by covering it with a feeling of pity. My eyes went over the man in the bed...
As far as I could say there was no single part of skin left over on him. If his whole body´s condition was the same as what was visible. His face was skinless, all muscles and tendons lying bare to the eyes as if in a terrible caricature of an anatomic study. Darkened clots of blood were sticking on the surface and his head and chest were covered in blood that was glistening in the light of the lamp which was hanging from the ceiling.
I heard him gasping and the gasp turned into a hiss that escaped his lips when he tried to move his head. His eyes closed when he seemed to double over in pain.
When I tried to relax a bit I could focus my brain on what I once had learned in a first aid education.
"What happened to him?" I forced the question on Aidan, not being certain if I should be angry beyond imagination for the fact that he had put this poor man...his friend...in a bedroom instead of a hospital.
"He was..." the following word came out as an almost inaudible whisper, "was...skinned...alive..." Aidan added, his voice faltering, trailing away.
"Kay...so..." I directed to Henry, "no...more skin...allover his body, am I right? We´ll have to get him to the hospital. We can´t handle this! He´ll die, Aidan!" I almost barked at him and I was shocked by my own trembling and overly nervous voice.
I had always thought myself to be a person who won´t be shocked so easily by anything, especially when it came to medical stuff or forensics. And now I felt how I grew angrily. Angry because an experienced nurse denied to accept the facts obviously!
"We won´t Margie!" Aidan´s hands were on my temples suddenly and he looked into my eyes. His voice had become adjuratory, convincing. When I saw his eyes, there was a dark shade on them, just for a moment and then it was gone.
"We won´t do that!" Aidan repeated and his hands went down to my shoulders. "He´ll become better soon, Margie. Henry needs to feed and..."
"He won´t be able to. Look at him, Aidan! Only any transfusion would do, intravenous feeding...we have to stabilize him, you´ll have to set up an IV for him!" I brought out, reminding what I once had read about the therapy for severe burn patients. It´s not necessary that a burn patient produces 9liters of urine per day. Liquid substitution therapy, no hyper infusion... I had read about anywhere in a book and we had to get this man into a hospital.
When Henry opened his eyes again they had become...black. I stared at them in astonishment because I had a hint of cerulean seen on them before. Strange enough. Either his pupils were extremely widened or... My mind could find no other reason than dilated pupils.
"Aidan, we have to...!" I tried to protest and when I turned to him, his eyes had become black too!
I gasped and Aidan bent down to me, fixing my eyes, his voice was vibrating in my ears; "You have come to help him...You won´t be afraid. Margie! I beg you...Henry needs you...needs your help!" He fixed my eyes, his hands comforting my shoulders to calm me down.
"I have a rather scientific education, Aidan! But he needs a doctor!" my voice lowered down to a whisper.
"He doesn´t need a doctor! He needs...you!" Aidan whispered in my ear. His breath brushed over my ear and temple, made the hairs in my neck stand on ends. I felt heat running down my back.
"Me? What? What are you talking about, as I..."
"Sshhh. you can help...trust me!" Aidan turned me around so I could see Henry again who stared at me, having...I couldn´t name it anything else...a hungry glare in his eyes. For sure he had to be on the edge of unconsciousness in his state. I tried to bring that to Aidan.
"Aidan...he must have almost unbearable pain!" I whispered.
"Don´t worry, I shot him a high dosage of morphine! He won´t do anything...to hurt you, Margie!"
Won´t do...? Anything. To. Hurt. Me...? Hurt...me...?
My mind tried to make sense of his suggestion. Hurt me?! The only rational explanation was to think of Henry going to hurt me in his state of excruciating pain probably, not being able to control himself when the pain would drive him mad. Just in case of... It was the only thing that made any sense to me. Either I didn´t come to any other conclusion or my mind denied to think of another possibility due to the strangely effects I had seen as eyes turning black and stuff...
"It´s all okay, Margie. You aren´t afraid of Henry! He is..." Aidan seemed to take to reasons which had to be logical for me, being a pharmacist´s assistance, when he went on; "Henry is nothing but a patient for you, a special patient! There´s no reason to be afraid of Henry, anyway..."
His voice was vibrating in my ears and my head. I felt a wave of security washing over me,calming me down. For a moment I was thankful that I wasn´t all alone with Henry...with such a severely hurt patient.
Henry looked at me and his lips opened and he let out a gasp before he tried to say anything.
"Mar...Margie...!" I heard him calling me by my name, his voice low and weak. It sounded more like a plea than an order, the less a demand. He begged for me...
...to come to his side.
His head sank down into the pillows again by sheer weakness. The air was a cloud of iron that even I could smell despite not being anything like a dog or anything else being able to catch the scent of blood.
The gown he was wearing was soaked with blood that poured from his...skinless...body. In fact his whole body was one open wound! He impossibly would survive...
No human being could survive the loss of 100 percent of skin... Skinning or flaying was a punishment that was sentenced on people in the past and almost every convict died when the executioner had peeled down half of the skin.
For a moment I couldn´t understand how...and WHY...he was still alive now.
I felt Aidan´s hands gliding from my shoulders when I made myself moving over to Henry. Despite the fact that Aidan now was a couple of steps behind me, it felt like he still was directly in my back. I shook my head and tried to sound reasonable when I ended up at the large bed.
Influence.
What influence?
I shook off the thought and bent down to poor Henry.
"I´ll try to help you anyway, together with Aidan. I think...I think we shall bed you on something less sticking..." First Aid education. Cover a burn patient with a metallic rescue foil! In principle Henry was a severe burns patient due to his complete loss of skin. I turned around to face Aidan who had come to the bed too.
"Gonna need to lay him on a rescue foil! Guess you should have it, at least in the first aid box in your car! It´s this car of yours...down in the courtyard...?!"
"I have stuff up here!" Aidan gave back and went to the wall where he had put down a large bag.
I was standing at the bedside when Henry extended his hand with much effort, reaching out for me. He moaned under his breath.
"Wait...wait a second, Henry!" I pressed out.
Hastily I put on a pair of gloves from a box nearby. Just in time before his bloodied fingers closed around my wrist. The touch sent a shiver down my spine before I won back controls. He had to be in unbearable pain. His breath came in short gasps, hard and fast.
"Don´t do that...you´re gonna hurt yourself..." I said in a soothing voice. Every move must hurt like hell, I thought full of pity. I wanted to put his hand back onto the bed carefully but his hand closed around my wrist with unexpected strength.
Unexpected for the state he was in.
"Uhm..." I gasped.
"Co...me...come to...Me!" he gasped and his voice was...it was... His eyes were fixed on mine and when I looked into them they turned black. Completely black. It was strange. The pupils were normally black and the blackness spread from it to the lids and the corners of his eyes like a liquid that was poured out, building up a pool...
Never ever I had seen anything like this on...on any being.
All what came to my mind...all I ever had seen this on were...
...demons and...
but Henry was of flesh and blood, physical. No demon...ghost.
...and vampires.
My mind cringed, fighting down weird ideas in an act of rational self-defense. Vampires weren´t real, were products out of novels, TV shows, movies, the legends. There were no such things as vampires out there.
I wasn´t...out there! I was in here. Together...surrounded by...at the very side of...
NO! I won´t go mad now! I had always stated that I wouldn´t shrug back from anything as long as I could look at it rationally. And I had to look at it rationally by now. I won´t allow myself to drift off into fantasies right now. I was a woman and Henry was a man who was seriously hurt, deadly hurt in the common sense of medicine! Nothing else.
To this I clung and it felt entirely safe and normal and rational. For a moment the world seemed to have itself reset back into reality. Thank God! I thought. I had passed test! Good to know.
The next moment I found myself on the bed, being pulled down into a sitting position at his side. Okay, he may need some comfort, someone at his side in his worse than imagine condition. For a moment I became aware that my jeans got stained with blood that must have covered the bed sheet. Naturally as he was literally bleeding to death if there was any blood left to him. I would have to wash it afterwards. Won´t matter anyway.
Before I could wonder where from Henry had taken the strength to pull me down on the bed´s edge, his eyes fixed mine and I felt wavering when I had the strange feeling to get sucked down into the depth of these eyes. It wasn´t uncomfortable, only strange. Strangely calming...
I didn´t feel any fear. Why should I? He was sick and...
I couldn´t get myself away from looking into his eyes which looked like dark pools full of depth, surrounded by his terrible ruined face. Clots of blood were on and at the sides of his head and being so near to him I could see every tissue line, every tendon and every single muscle fiber. God in heaven! Who ever had done this to him had done this in cruel perfection. I felt the urge to rise for his own sake but his hand kept me pinned down to the edge. Okay...
I felt entirely calm now beside him, Obviously I got used to his sight for good reason. Aidan would be back with the foil in a moment and...
Henry opened his ruined lips and I could see teeth that were stained with blood that must have run into his mouth when he had been lying on the bed, I thought.
The next moment the world seemed to... I didn´t know to what it seemed to...turn?
I found myself staring at his teeth, watching the canines grew longer. It was so strange and in the same moment it seemed to need him so much effort that he groaned deeply. Oh my goodness! I should have been frightened at the sight of it but all I could hear and feel were his painful groans.
"He...help me! Please! Mar...gie...!" he choked; "...won´t...won´t hurt you! Trust me!...He...lp!" he groaned and obviously he tried to swallow down some blood. His canines...his...fangs were covering in blood that a rest of his saliva had smeared on them when he tried to lick his lips in a reflex. "Wo...won´t hurt...you!" he repeated with a hoarse voice and then his other hand came up to my temple and I shuddered when his finger weakly stroked my cheekbone.
I should have been in fear but all I could feel was pity with him.
My wrist was pulled to his lips and I felt the sharp tips of his fangs scratching over the sensitive skin around the pulse point. They pressed down onto my skin and the pressure grew harder. I felt myself start to tremble, afraid of the moment when they would break through my skin, biting into the pulse veins. His breath was brushing over my wrist and it was...warm. Too warm for even a human, the more for a...
Vampire!
He was in a fever! His black eyes were glistening and before I could think about it further on I heard a definite "NO" from the other side of the room.
The teeth scratched over my skin, the sensation disappeared when he seemed to lift his head to look over to Aidan for a mere second before he bent down again and pushed up the sleeve of my shirt. His teeth softly moved over my arm until they touched the overly sensitive skin in the crook of my arm. It felt almost...caressing. He looked into my eyes and then his teeth broke through my skin.
I gasped with surprise, feeling a stitching pain and then his bloody lips closed around my arm. There was warmth beneath his lips and it felt as it was moist and warm. Blood. His lips started to suck weakly and in between I felt the somewhat rough tip of his tongue that moved back and forth. The pain subsided fast and made place for a strange sensation.
Henry hung to my arm, licking and sucking at it and I felt the pull of the blood in my arm. It didn´t hurt and anytime before I had never fantasized about how it would be when one was sucking on your blood. My heart was beating faster, either by the loss of blood or by excitement. I didn´t know. Henry was sucking at my arm and it grew more urgently. He took him much effort and he had to be exhausted beyond imagination. For a moment I thought if he would know when he would have to stop or rather...if he would be able to stop once he got started.
A wave of fear washed over me for a mere second and I looked over to Aidan, my eyes searching for him and for some help. For any affirmation that he would make sure that Henry would not...drain me to the point of death. My eyes fixed onto Aidan and he smiled.
I saw his lips moving and I heard his voice.
"He won´t hurt you nor do you any harm, Margie!"
I heard myself pressing out; "Will he know when he has to stop...? Please!" My voice sounded strange in my ears and like from far away. Obviously the loss of blood seemed to affect my receptiveness and there was fog under the window. Fog? How could it? The curtains were closed and it was dark outside.
Henry´s finger clung to my neck and I shuddered, expecting him to change from the crook of my arm to my...throat, what would hurt much more and become more dangerous because in the jugular vein the blood was running faster and to a larger amount. I felt my head being pulled down and stiffened with slight fear.
"Sshhh...ea...sy...won´t...hurt you..." he gasped under the sucking. He lifted his lips from my arm and there was less blood on my arm as expected. The pulse in the veins was hammering in my arm´s crook down to my wrist and my fingers. When Henry looked at me his lips were wet with my blood and it ran down in the corners of his mouth, dripping from his chin. He gave a sound like sucking on a straw and I saw his Adam´s apple jump when he tried to swallow with effort. Henry moaned deeply and the moan turned into a deep groan. Obviously he was in pain and he licked his lips, his hand came up and he wanted to wipe over his chin with the tips of his fingers in an attempt to clean his chin in a reflex. His fingers touched his chin and his eyes closed and he brought out a halfway suppressed scream. His hand fell down in a gesture of helplessness and the fingers of his other hand were digging into my shoulder painfully when he clung to me.
"Oh God..." I gasped and I turned around a bit, my hands going for his shoulders to give him some support. I didn´t care now if my touch might hurt additionally and his tortured face was torn in pain when any movement of his bare muscles must hurt like hell if he tried to stabilize himself.
"Lay down...lay down, Henry!" I urged him and carefully supported his back, hopefully fast enough that he could stand it. The blood was dripping down my arm and he sank back, my hands holding him until he groaned with clenched teeth. His eyes closed and his mouth opened with a scream.
I felt weak, the room was wavering around me and my head felt like it was drifting anywhere above my shoulders, obviously not connected to the rest of my body any longer. Now I moaned myself when I tried to rise from the bed when Henry finally was lying on the sheets.
"Hopefully...that...has helped...at least..." I moaned when I stumbled in an attempt to get up and away from the bed. My heart was beating fast with the loss of blood and my knees were trembling. Obviously I had lost more blood as I had expected. Sitting on the bed I only felt the strange sensation that had swept over me, almost feeling like a sexual sensation, but not the effects of volume loss. Anything between three quarters of a liter and one liter, I thought. I moaned and my hand grabbed for a hold. The thing next to me was the large headboard and I reached out for it when the room became foggy around me. I was almost tipping over and in an attempt to prevent me from falling onto poor Henry I turned on my heels, my fingers grabbing for the wooden frame but anyway I missed it. The headboard, the pillows and Henry´s bloodied head were shooting upwards and I moaned..
The world turned black.
When I managed it to open my eyes to narrow slits I saw paint over me. It was white and slowly I became aware that it had to be the ceiling of the room at which I was looking. I moaned a bit and turned my face to the side. A blanket was spread over me and I found myself lying on the small couch that I had seen when I first entered the bedroom. My hand moved up to my head and it was covered with a thin layer of cold sweat. Slowly I reminded what had happened.
A vampire had fed from me and the loss of blood took its toll on my system, my circulation was down, suffering from volume loss now and I felt weak and dizzy. My mouth was dry and on a small table beside my couch I saw a glass with water. I fumbled for it and managed it to drink from it, holding it with shaking fingers. It almost slipped from my fingers when I put it back on the little side table when I had emptied it.
Somebody came near to me, crouched down beside the couch and a hand softly closed around my wrist, a thumb lying on my pulse point. I moaned again and heard Aidan´s voice;
"I´m sorry, Margie...It´ll be better soon..."
"Goodness...I´m so dizzy...I...what...what the heck happened...?" I brought out and I turned my head to the wall when I felt that anything was stinging in my right arm. I watched closer. I slim tube was running from a needle in my arm up to a bag of clear liquid that hung from the wall. "What...?"
"I picked you up from the rug. I´m sorry, Margie! You...you fainted after Henry had been...feeding from you...I have hung you an IV with Ringer, you´ll feel better soon..." Aidan stroked over my temple with his hand and I felt the difference to Henry´s temperature.
Henry.
"Henry...how...how is he? I mean...I donated blood..." I licked my lips; "...more correctly...he has...uhm...sucked my blood...or fed...on me!? Guess seemed to be a bit much...for me. At least he should be any better now!" I tried to smile but it didn´t work at all.
Slowly I turned my head to look over to the large bed. Henry was lying on a metallic foil and covered with another one. The heaters were cranked up and he seemed to sleep now, a bag of blood was connected to his arm and his body looked less wet with blood than before but he was still far from it that skin had grown back.
"He will heal, Margie, thanks to your blood! I´m so thankfully for your help...now sleep...relax and try to sleep again. I´ll watch over both of you..." Aidan pulled the blanket up to my chin and his hand was lying on my forehead, soft and heavy.
I closed my eyes again and let me fall asleep without effort thanks to my own weakness.
The End
