Chapter 6

I turned the stove down to low, flipping over the bacon and sausage. I was in the hotel still, letting Onyx sleep off his momentary suicidal-ness. I plopped the bacon and sausage onto the paper plate. I strolled to the fridge and poured a glass of orange juice. This hotel was loaded… I took my meal to table and sat down to eat it. I was done promptly and glanced over at the window's drawn curtains. The sunlight still turned the fabric beat red, telling me it was still close to noon. I stood and stretched, my head still pounding from all that had happened… As I walked over to the bed, I stopped and stared at the sleeping form of my blood guardian. He looked so peaceful lying there, above the covers, his face still streaked with dirt and his own blood. I sighed, think of how easy it would be to take us out now…a human against a hunter! Ha!

I shook my head, clearing it of all unwanted thoughts and crawled up next to Onyx and curled into a ball. My head would not stop pounding so I closed my eyes…just for a moment…

The next thing I knew, I was alone, the bed around my balled up form empty…I jerked up, cussing under my breath. Where is he? I leaped to my feet desperately, scanning the hotel room hopelessly. He had left…the light of the window showed me it was around midnight. I strode to the door and twisted the door knob, but it twisted from the other side and I leaped backwards, ready for the worst. I visibly relaxed as Onyx stepped into the room holding two bags. He tossed the lighter one at me and I caught it by reflex. It had CLOTHES in it! I have never been given new clothes before….

I must have been looking at it funny, because Onyx doubled over with laughter. "What?" I complained, then I remembered my anger at his random disappearance, "Well, you sure seem lively today! Where did you go? I was worried sick!" I glared at him to show I was serious.

He frowned, then cracked a grin, "Well, obviously, I was shopping... and since when to you worry about me?"

"Since a psychotic-bat-vampire-hunter tried to kill us both!" I shook my head at his even wider grin, "Or does that not constitute as a reasonable worry?"

He sighed, shaking his head at my tone, "Well, I know now not to leave you alone to check into hotels! You are like a danger magnet! Inviting him INTO YOUR ROOM." He scoffed and then ducked as I playfully swung the bag at him in mock anger.

"Are these for me?" I barely paused to see him nod, "Fine, I am going to try them on." I stalked off to the bathroom and turned around, sticking my tongue at him before slamming to door. "The nerve of him…" I muttered pulling out a bra. I tossed it on the floor and tried on the pants. They fit perfectly. I stared at my reflection as I slipped on a shirt he bought me. The logo on the shirt read: nur für Sie, or 'only for you'. I stared at the black fabric with the silver lettering and the dark blue jeans…he even got new shoes for me! I slipped them on with the socks I had found in the bag and stared at the black and white skull pattern…wow, if I had these clothes at Rint's house, I so would have worn them….I shook my head and stepped out of the bathroom, swinging the door closed behind me. He was laying on the bed, his face covered with his hands, an air of abandon around him.

I cleared me throat and he jerked alert, looking over at me curiously. "Nice." He grinned and nodded at my apparel.

I stopped breathing for a moment as it finally dawned on me. I strode over to his side, placing my hand on his. He flinched slightly, confirming my fears. "Onyx…please stop punishing yourself." He just stared at me, the helpless sorrow finally breaking their bounds in his eyes.

"I should never have taken your blood, Thyme. I broke every rule and put your life in danger. For that I will never forgive myself…" He looked away. He would not meet my eyes.

I opened and closed my mouth a few times before I could find the right words to say. "I am sorry." He looked up swiftly, an objection written all over him. I gently squeezed his hand. "Please don't. I was wrong to force myself on you, but it would have been even more wrong of me to let you die, knowing I could save you. So don't you DARE go and blame yourself. We have to find Zuki, Onyx. And we must stop this Asuka character and Librie from wiping out the royals and taking over the vampires." I paused, my eyes locked onto his. "So come on. Let us go."

He blinked a few times, the sadness fading and being replaced with respect and determination. "Ok then, to America we go!" I laughed and ran to grab the rest of the stuff me got me, a pink shirk that said 'I Love Vampires' in English and another pair of jeans along with some sandals, and stuffed it all into my sack with my old shoes, just in case. We looked at all the blood and then at each other as we were about to step into the night.

"What about this?" I laughed, motioning.

"They can get over it. Come on!"

He grabbed my hand and we sprinted down the steps with me trailing behind. He tossed the key inside on the desk of the hotel and we headed out. He stopped for a moment and pulled out two dull brown cloaks from his own bag, handing me one. Once we had slipped them on, we stepped across the street and walked into the airport.

I looked around, the lights were dimmed to better suit the homeless that slept on the benches, so I could not see very well. I only saw the desks. This told me the vampire blood I had consumed was wearing off. The airline attendant just looked at us dully, her eyes tired.

"Where to?" She droned. Taking my bag and shaking it. She shuffled through it but just gave it back, as though it contained nothing important. I mentally noted that she ignored Onyx's bag.

"Direct flight to New York for two, please," Onyx pulled out two leather booklets that said 'Passport' on them. Man, he thought of everything…

The attendant flipped them open, and wrote down a few things. "Taking your girlfriend on a trip, Mr. Tussel?"

"Yes." I almost gagged at this. He just grinned at me.

"Ok, please go to gate C6, this is the last flight tonight. 1:30 am is a weird time to fly…" She shrugged, handing us our passes and passports.

We arrived in New York at 8:15 am. My head was pounding from the flight, having never experienced one before. As we stepped from the plane, I had to catch myself on Onyx, the swirling in my head finally fading. I gasped at the amount of people I saw as we entered the airport. Onyx grinned down at me clutching his shoulder and laughed at my horror when I saw the roads and sidewalks COVERED with people. A few kids with skin color I had never seen passed by, entrancing me with the way the sun danced on their dark tones. They laughed at my gaze.

"Waat's the matta babe, neva seen a brother before?" One of them mocked, cause me to bristle.

"As a matter of a fact, I HAVE NOT," I growled after them, causing the quieter one of the group to glance back at me, a curious look on his face before he ran to catch up with the rest of the men.

"Come on, Thyme. We have to get to my apartment." I glanced at him incredulously. "What? So I made a few calls, ok?" He smirked at my glare before grabbing me by the hand and forcing me to not clutch him, though I stayed close.

This was going to be a long day.