6. In sickness and in health

''Miss? Miss!''

Who are you?

''Miss, can you hear me?''

Who's calling me?

''Miss! Wake up!''

No, let me rest. Just for a little bit more…

''Miss! Herman, we need to call an ambulance.''

Something heavy pressed into her shoulder, moving her and then there was pressure on her chest. Just a bit more…

Then something clicked in Kate's mind and all the memories came back in a rush. They kept hanging on a pair of inhuman silver eyes. Her heart rate slowly picked up and she felt adrenaline being pumped into her veins. Her body was still in shock and Kate tried to calm it while laying still. She strained her hearing to check what was going on around her.

''One, two, three, four.'' She heard a voice mumble and every time a number was accompanied by pressure on her chest.

Wait.

''One, two, three, four.''

Were they doing CPR on her?

''One, two, three, four.''

What the hell?

She wasn't dead!

Kate strained her muscles and felt her fingers twitch. Her eyes slowly opened.

A woman with brown hair and a strong square face looked at her. After a moment she let out a relieved laugh. ''It worked! I successfully applied CPR to someone!''

Yeah, really a big success if you couldn't even tell that I was not dead. I just fainted.

''How are you, sweety?'' She asked and helped Kate sit up.

The raven woman just rubbed the back of her head. Damn, she must have hit in on the pavement when she passed out if the lump was anything to go by. ''I'm okay.'' She replied.

The brown haired woman felt her forehead and tsk-ed. ''You're cold, dear.''

Footsteps.

Kate's head snapped up, prepared for something, anything amiss, her body taut but it was only a middle aged man with red hair and a beard. ''I just called the ambulance. They should be here soon.'' He spoke in a gruff voice.

''That won't be necessary anymore, dear. Look, she's alive!'' The woman spoke.

Who are these people?

The man's dark eyes passed over Kate, taking in her condition. He let out a sigh. ''Damnation woman! How many times do I have to tell you that can't let me keep doing all these useless things! Now how did she wake up?''

''I applied CPR to her!'' The woman beamed and glomped her husband. ''And it worked! Look, Herman, it worked!''

While they weren't paying attention to her Kate once again began to pack her fallen groceries.

She quickly glanced up and saw that the sky was still dark, so she couldn't have been out here for long.

Reaching out for her last apple, someone squatted down in front of her and grabbed her wrist.

In a reflex Kate twisted in the grip and broke her arm free. She looked up with wide eyes and recoiled like some abused animal.

With the bags now in her arms and the last apple forgotten Kate turned around and ran, not stopping until she was safely inside her own apartment. Her legs burned and her throat felt like sandpaper. Her heart pounded wildly as she slid down her door to the floor and broke down. For the first time in seven years Kate cried.

He had been foolish.

He had been so frustrated at himself for not paying attention in the mall and letting her bump into him that he had let her see his face. True, he had thought for a slight moment that she had been ready for his true identity but she was not. And now he had hurt her.

Absentmindedly rubbing over his bloody knuckles from where his fist had hit the wall in a fit of rage he thought about the fact that something was off with the girl. She smelled slightly different. Was she becoming sick?

He scoffed. She already was sick. Taking one or two days off after just being fired from the hospital before going back to work was definitely not good for your health. She needed the time to properly recover or she would be constantly ill. Right now she had a fever kicking in. He had noticed she was sick when he touched her hand. Sighing he waited until the fever was high enough so that the girl could write off seeing him as a hallucination.

But she would probably still be freaked out by him showing up. He frowned slightly and pursed his lips together, looking at the building across the light pole he was on, peering into the apartment and listening in.

Alone with his thoughts they entered the dark and silent night.

He had enough of this.

In just two hours the girl had not only managed to give herself a massive headache because of her crying, but it had also upset her stomach. Not to mention her fever was rising dangerously high.

At the moment she was lying on her stomach on the cold tiles of the bathroom floor.

He looked down at her shivering and wracked body soundlessly. She had not noticed him enter the bathroom.

Of course she hadn't heard because he hadn't made any sound. He had always been a silent creature. Even when he had been alive. People often would tell him he had the gift of sneaking up to people.

But then again, he wasn't like normal people anymore, now was he?

His inner thoughts were disturbed as the woman flew up and leaned over the toilet bowl to hurl again.

It was a pitiful sight to behold.

Sighing he crossed the bathroom, leaned down by the girl and gently pulled her hair out of her face. Her black bangs were soaked with sweat and he brushed them back.

The girl was so out of it, she still didn't know someone was here with her, even though he was touching her, hands rubbing soothing circles on her back. She dry heaved a few times and leaned her head on the toilet seat. A pained whimper echoed in the pristine white room.

He let her hair go and flushed the toilet. Making his way over to the sink he grabbed a fresh washcloth, before wetting it and taking it back to her.

Pulling up the dark wild tresses he placed the cold washcloth in her neck.

She made an approving noise and her eyes drifted up lazily. She was finally seeing him, but at the same time not really seeing him. Her green eyes were glazed over with a fever induced high.

''You…'' She muttered.

He chose not to respond. And there was no reaction expected from him because she had already rested her head on the toilet again. One hand drifted under her hair and grabbed the washcloth.

He was just in time to pull away her bangs before she slapped it onto her forehead. A few drops slid down her cheeks as gravity pulled the water in the soaked material down.

She was shivering again and he noticed her sleeping attire was also soaked in sweat.

Cursing under his breath he stood up and walked to her bedroom.

Finding some new pajama's was proving to be quite a task as he found out they were hidden behind lots of clothing, all the way in the back on a random shelf. He tossed them over his shoulder onto the bed and went to fetch some underwear, which he did and if one looked closely one would see some speckles of red on his pale cheekbones.

She'd better be putting these on herself, because I refuse to help with this.

Rummaging through another drawer he froze as he heard the human throw up again. He snatched up the elastic hair tie he had been looking for and strode back to the bathroom.

He sat back down by her side and carefully slid the hair in a loose ponytail. ''We'll just have to wait until your stomach settles.'' He said more to himself then the human.

They waited for about two more hours before Kate finally stopped dry heaving, any food and sour bile long gone from her stomach by this point.

He helped her stand up. ''Hold onto me.'' He ordered and she did as she was told. Tentatively she took hold of his arm and with slow steps they made it to the shower. He helped her out of the long silk dress she wore to sleep in and busied himself with turning on the faucets as she pulled off her undergarments.

He forced the blush down as he adjusted the temperature settings. She does not have an adequate body! He denied to himself.

Finally getting the right temperature he turned to the girl, making sure not to look at her. Or even anywhere near her.

''Shower yourself.'' He ordered awkwardly.

Silence reigned in which he could actually feel the human's eyes scrutinizing him before soft footsteps echoed as she silently padded into the shower.

He heard her gasp softly as the water touched her over-sensitive skin and pinched the bridge of his nose. Why was he doing this again? Oh yeah, wanting to get inside her head. Suddenly it all seemed a bad idea to him. Why was he helping her? Why did he look after her? Why was he even interacting her?

His eyebrows pulled down in a frown again, something he did often these days. Something that has started the moment he met the girl.

Damnation, why not just leave right now and never come back? Now that sounded like a good idea. But he knew he couldn't. He couldn't leave his 'project' alone when he hadn't gotten his results yet. Yes, she was nothing more than that. A project. Something new to focus on. Nothing more.

So lost in his thoughts he didn't notice the water being turned off and the shower curtain being pulled aside. Only when a soft voice muttered did he snap back into reality.

''Towel.''

He looked over his shoulder at her, which was a bad move. The human was still naked and dripping water all over the floor. ''Towel.'' She repeated. She sounded very tired.

He then noticed the towel was out of her reach and she would have to reach around him to get it.

He grabbed it for her and handed it over, to which she in turn gave a small smile. She shook her head like a wild dog and sent water droplets flying everywhere. Most of it landed on him.

Her face split in a grin and she began toweling herself off.

He gave an undignified huff and left the bathroom, in search for some aspirins.

Finally finding the medicine in one of her cabinets he walked back to see the human standing before the sink, staring at her own reflection. Well, not so much as standing, she was more like swaying and her knuckles were white from where she gripped the sink. ''I look horrible.'' He heard her mutter to herself.

''Yes, you do.'' He responded in a clear voice, signaling his return. She looked at him with cloudy green eyes through the mirror and pouted.

Striding over he handed her the aspirins and a glass of water. ''Take these.''

She stared at the white little pill with blank eyes. ''What is this?''

''Aspirins. Now swallow them.''

She popped the pill in her mouth and took a huge gulp of water.

Rummaging through the drawers of her cabinet he could feel the heath radiating from the girl. She had gone from cold to warm because of the fever. A little frustrated sound escaped him as he could not find what he was looking for.

''Why are you going through my cabinets? I keep my rubber ducks in there you know.''

Pausing with his searching he turned his head slightly and raised one eyebrow. ''Excuse me?''

Judging by her red face that was not what she wanted to say. ''Rubber ducks for in bath.'' She muttered softly and then said. ''What are you looking for?''

Slowly straightening he answered. ''A hairbrush.''

She looked like she wanted to ask more questions so he cut her off. ''Stop asking questions.''

Her eyes narrowed to slits as she stepped closer to him. She peered up at him intensely before opening one of her drawers and flipping something into his hand.

He stared down at the object. ''This is body lotion.'' He remarked dryly.

She scrambled again through her drawers and pulled out a black hairbrush.

He realized she had begun to sway some more during their conversation and grabbed her firmly by the upper arm. ''Come.''

With some incoherent sputtering she slowly followed, stumbling slightly when they left the bathroom.

He flicked out the lights and tried to think of anything else besides the chills going down his spine as she panted on his neck from where she leaned on him. That breath on his neck did not feel good!

Finally getting her seated on the edge of her bed he also sat down and began brushing out her hair.

He heard her let out a sigh and she relaxed a little. So she liked it when people tended to her hair?

He snorted softly and moved behind her to comb everything back.

The girl shot him a weary glance over her shoulder and then settled for looking in front of her. The tenseness in her body was back. It was obvious she didn't like him at her back.

He braided her hair swiftly and tied the end with the hair tie. He ushered her under her sheets and covered her.

Just as he turned around to leave a weak grip surrounded his wrist. Looking down at it he saw a small hand and glanced up to see piercing green eyes. ''Why?'' Her voice sounded a bit hoarse and drowsy. Well, who wouldn't sound hoarse after so much vomiting?

''Why what?'' He decided to humor her.

''Why are you helping me? Why did you save me?''

Silence reigned.

''Who are you? What are you? Are you human?''

''No.''

''Then what are you?''

Silence.

''A demon?''

No response.

''An angel?''

A scoff. ''Hardly.''

''Then what are you? You have smooth pale skin, eyes like jewels, a habit of showing up undetected and your body is cold.''

So she had been paying attention to everything that has happened to her. Was she able to connect the dots?

She suddenly leaned up to him, like she was going to tell a big secret. ''Are you a ghost?'' She whispered.

The corners of his lips pulled up in the hint of a smirk. ''You're hallucinating and delusional at the moment. Go to sleep.''

''Ok, but don't scare the crap out of me in the morning.'' She mumbled as she turned to her side. Within a few minutes he heard her breathing even out and finally allowed himself to relax. Don't' worry, she won't remember a thing in the morning. He tried to collect himself.

He opened her window again and disappeared into the night. What a strange woman she is.

Can you believe I actually got the idea for this story from the pv Ascendead Master by Versailles? And that Kamijo is my example for how a vampire should look?
What are your opinions on how vampires should look?

R&R is appreciated~