Sei stood in front of a lounging Zelmen Clock, weathering the dangerous glare directed at him by the red-eyed vampire. His concern over Zelmen's reaction had not been miss-placed. Most of the room looked like a scorch mark as a testament to just how displeased Zelmen was with Sei's request. The only reason that Zelmen had stopped at all and Sei had not been forced to retaliate was because Azmaria had come in and screamed for Zelmen to stop before he burnt down the mansion. Sei had been rather surprised when he had complied.

Now the two vampires were in a stalemate while Azmaria stood off to the side, trying not to shake from head to foot. It was her who finally broke the tense silence.

"U-um... Sei-san... Uh... What brought you here today?" She asked, immediately kicking herself for asking 'today' and not 'tonight'.

Zelmen came precariously close to making another attempt at lighting Sei on fire with his Eye Ignite. Instead, he held it back.

"I came to talk to you Hendrics-san." Sei replied without taking his eyes off of the currently volatile Zelmen.

"Eh? About what?"

"Mimiko-san. She is currently on life support and will remain so for the rest of her life if things remain as they are. Her options are to either be turned into a full vampire – which would mean giving up a great deal – or to be healed by you."

"I already told you – the answer is 'no'." Zelmen interrupted sharply, angerly.

Azmaria glanced over at him in surprise, then her gentle face set into determined lines and she turned her attention back to Sei.

"Please come with me." She said politely and started leading Sei out of the room.

They both found Zelmen – near enraged – suddenly blocking their path.

"Don't you dare defy me." He told a frightened Azmaria.

She swallowed her fear and said as calmly as she could (though her voice still trembled), "All my life people have been vying to control me and keep my powers for there own reasons... I would rather that you were not among those people in my life."

Sei was surprised – and inwardly relieved – when he saw the rage leave Zelmen, though the red-head did not relax his stance, nor move. He also still looked very displease.

"I'm not trying to control you Azmaria..." Zelmen stared at her upturned face for several long moments before adding, "The amount of healing that the Compromiser needs right now will put you in a coma. That's why I told him 'no'."

"It's still not your choice to make." She told him, feeling calmer.

Zelmen's temper flared again and he slammed the side of his fist – literally – into the wall, snapping at her as he did so, "I'm your guardian – it is my choice!"

"'Guardian'?" Sei asked, the question also floating through Azmaria's startled mind.

Zelmen's temper died as quickly as it had flared and he muttered a curse in his native Polish as he extracted his fist from the wall, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Sei and Azmaria were both thoroughly confused, though the former hide it very well. Zelmen was not acting like himself at all and that by itself was alarming.

"That's not important right now!" Zelmen finally snapped, then pointed a finger at Azmaria, "You're not going!"

Azmaria's face set and she insisted that she was going. Zelmen's temper reared up again, then promptly died when Azmaria turned pleading eyes on him and said, "Please. She's like me."

"A dhampire? They're others-"

"No." Azmaria interrupted, calling her wings out as her light flooded the room, "She's like me. I can feel her pain Zelmen. We all can. I didn't know it's source, but it's her pain. In here." She held both of her hands over her heart, "All of us are connected to each other in a way I have no words for... And right now I am the only one – besides Mimiko-san – who's powers are active. I have to help her."

"...Fine." Zelmen finally said, looking away, "Do as you wish." He turned a glare on Sei, "If she doesn't wake up I'm holding you personally responsible."

Sei nodded and said, "I understand."

Zelmen couldn't actually do any real harm to Sei directly (Sei was to old and powerful), but they both knew that he could make Sei's life very difficult in other ways. With those parting words Sei took Azmaria to see Mimiko in the hospital.

As soon as they were out of hearing range Zelmen fell down to his hands and knees and gasped and panted for breath. It was a common misnomer that vampires don't breath when, in fact, they do; they're lungs are just more efficient at it, so they don't need to breath nearly as much. Her power should have harmed him, instead it did something else to him. Zelmen collapsed onto his side and shook. Her power coursed through him like liquid light, life... And something else that he couldn't name right then.

His body was on overload and he needed to vent. It was only when the mute girl came in that he remembered it was her turn to feed him. Zelmen pulled himself upright as she watched, concerned. He marched over to her and wanted it to be Azmaria.