The noise was deafening as he returned from patrol with Jane. Immortals ran down hallways, the noise and commotion louder as he drew closer to the infirmary. He frowned, Jane mirroring him. His dead heart clenched. Had she awakened? No; that was impossible. Of course she hadn't awakened, but as they came closer, a thumping of a human heart could be heard inside. Perhaps the secretary had taken ill? That wasn't possible either. It was close to midnight, he and Jane having just handed off to Santiago and Afton for them to do their twelve hours patrol around the city perimeter.
He didn't miss the two tall men stood outside either, coming up to them with his twin. Jane spoke first. "What is this commotion about?" She inquired and Felix gave a wide grin, staring at him in particular. "Titch woke up eventually."
Titch? The name rang in his head for a moment before his eyes widened, Jane having came to the same conclusion as he just a second later as she turned to speak to him, but he was gone. He had already pushed through the doors, darting under the arms of the two vampires who easily dwarfed himself, and he moved inside the grey walled room, pushing past the two lower guard members who stood inside on guard, no doubt to keep other vampires out, although he couldn't fathom why.
Then he saw her.
She looked so frail, once pale skin now flush with blood and warmth -he could feel it from here. Her once red eyes were the deepest yet darkest blue eyes he's seen, and they were frantic and panicked, her chest heaving up and down as she seemingly fought for breath. He found himself rooted to the floor, Laurentia, Arcadius's mate for nearly two millennia being the first to notice him. She alerted Aro, his sire turning around from where he stood at the seemingly human girls bedside.
Alec couldn't bring himself to care, taking an unsteady step forward. The words slipped from his mouth before he could stop them. "Am I hallucinating?" The words sounded so silly.
Those dark blue eyes moved to him, widening a little, tears seemingly beginning to accumulate in them. How was this possible? How was she human? This shouldn't have been possible. It brought him a sense of relief he'd never felt before, never thought he would experience, but it also repulsed him. She was human; it wasn't a secret he hated them.
Yet while he hated their very species, the look in the blue eyes, eyes he'd never thought he'd see again, regardless of their colour, he couldn't help himself moving forward until he found himself at her bedside, a place he had sat or stood at many a time -too many to count. Tears trickled down her flushed cheeks, her hands scrabbling for the thin grey sheets as she fought to push herself up to be near him. A gentle hand from Chelsea pushed her back. "Easy, Olivia, just breathe in and out."
He still couldn't believe his eyes. "How is this possible?" He heard the words whispered from his lips. Was this what it was like to have an out of body experience? The shock of this whole scene was making him as close to being faint as vampires could get, he mused.
His sire placed a hand on his shoulder. "We don't know, my dear. It confounds us all. Chelsea here alerted me as soon as she saw, approximately an hour ago while you were on patrol with your sister. Perhaps you could calm Olivia down some, now she knows you're here? She's rather panicked, understandably so."
The rasping breaths caught his attention, and so did the bluish tinge to her pale lips. She was suffocating still after an hour? He often forgot humans were such fragile things, and while her current body form repulsed him, she certainly did not. It wasn't hard to know that not enough air would mean permanent death for her. He took a seat immediately on the bed beside her, pulling off his gloves. "You need to calm yourself." he told her quietly, her eyes wide as her chest heaved. Only those around the bed would hear him, his voice too low for those around the walls of the room to hear, but just loud enough for her to. "I will answer every question you ask of me, but you need to relax your breathing. If you keep breathing this way, you could kill yourself, permanently. We don't know what the dagger did to you."
His words were what she seemed to focus on, for half an hour later, while she looked exhausted, amusing so for someone who had seemingly slept for years, her breathing was better, and she was allowing the flimsy human mask contraption to do its job. The mahogany haired woman, the only one who ranked higher than himself and his sister, along with Olivia, returned with another human looking contraption attached to a thin mental needle. She set to work, placing it in the crook of the human girls arm, the fresh smell of blood making his thirst flare, albeit slightly. As a human, she must have been as close to a singer as she got for the smell of her blood sent flames awash down his throat. Her eyes, however her face twitched in discomfort at the no doubt sharp scratch sensation he'd heard it was like as the needle was pushed into her arm, never left his face as he sat beside her.
Oh, how the relief he felt, and the inner conflict at the disgust he felt for her being human, nothing overshadowed the anger he still felt. However, that would wait until she was out of this room, and back where she belonged as an immortal by his side. Hopefully, it wouldn't be long until that became the case once more.
The master he so idolised gave him clarity within another hour. "Chelsea, my dear, perform all the tests you can to determine how this has happened." He placed a hand on his shoulder. "Alec, when you can leave Miss Felton, come see me immediately. We have much to discuss."
He then gave a dazzling smile, almost giddy that she was back. "Rest up, Olivia, my dear. I look forward to seeing you when Chelsea determines you're well enough to leave the infirmary." He turned, and snapped his fingers at the two large guards that were part of the lower guard, both of them accompanying him out the room.
A hand, trembling and warm, gripped his own. It was strange. Having not been used to having to restrain his strength to a human level to not harm her before, it perplexed him now. Her voice was raspy, having been unused for so long. "You," her voice wheezed before she managed to catch another breath. "Seem to be repulsed by me."
Of course she would be so perceptive, even in such a frail and fragile state. "Not you," he corrected. Her brows furrowed slowly and he continued. "Just your lack of immortality. You know of my aversion to humans. Seeing you now, as one, I'm..." his words trailed off as he found a word. She did for him. "Conflicted," she rasped quietly.
He nodded. "Yes, I feel conflicted." And angry, but he'd save that for later.
She looked at the mahogany haired woman who was currently, albeit amusedly, playing doctor. "How long until I can go back?" She whispered and the immortal gave a sigh. "I have extensive tests to run, Olivia. You've been out for a very long time."
Blue eyes moved between them and he answered the unspoken question. He had, after all, counted each and every day as a reminder of his suffering. "Fifteen years, five months and sixteen days," he answered quietly and she gave a shuddering breath before she spoke, her heart increasing in its pace before she gripped his hand tighter. "That was my age when Geoffrey turned me."
Chelsea seemed to process this information before she nodded, beginning to walk back to the small office in the corner of the room. "I will relay that to the masters. In the meantime, rest. Try to see if you can sleep as your body will begin to attempt to repair itself while you do."
The hand that held his tightened harder -had he been human it would have broken bones. Blue eyes became frantic. "No," she uttered, chest rising in rapid speed again as she wheezed, her panic returning. "I don't want to go back to darkness," her voice became frantic. "What if I never wake up?"
Her fear, so toxic and understandable, was the one thing that made him forget the disgust he felt towards the mortal body she was in. His hand slipped under her back, gently, or as gently as he could. She gave a soft grunt -was she in pain? That question melted away when her head nestled into the crook of his neck. Her scent flooded him, once so perfect, now making him thirst with how positively warm she was. He pushed the notion away however. He was, of course, over a millennia old. He could control his thirst, not resort to basic instincts like a vulnerable newborn.
Soft, warm breaths fanned his cold skin as the mask came astray slightly as she hung against his chest, her arms too weak to hang around his neck. He could hear the murmurings of his sister and the two males that he'd pushed past outside as they no doubt took in her new face, from what they could see at least, over his shoulder. She trembled. "Don't leave me, please," the whispered plea against his neck and the sheer thought that he had her once more, conscious, in his arms, was enough to agree. A hand found her lower back one more and pressed flush again it as lightly as he could. "I won't," the words came from him before he could stop them. "I won't, I promise."
She seemed to slip into sleep with ease after that, her eyelashes fluttering against her cheeks and his skin as she became limp in his arms, but he didn't put her down, almost afraid she would disappear. How couldn't he feel that way? He was still waiting for someone to come up to him and tell him it was a mere fabrication of his own mind, having finally broken and became immortally insane after all this time. It was intoxicating, as was her scent. She gave a soft sigh against him, a stuttering wheeze leaving her lips. Enough was enough then. He lowered her back down, fixing the mask back to her face. She merely gave another soft sigh, although the stuttering wheeze didn't follow this time.
Chelsea, having been silent in her approach, put some tape over where the tube went into the soft mortal flesh of the woman he'd thought he lost before him. She was silent for a moment before looking at him. "How do you feel," she asked gently and he remained quiet for a moment. How did he feel? It was a mixture of such a heady collection of emotions. He spoke after finding his answer. "Elated she's going to be okay, repulsed at her human form, although not her in general." The scowl appeared on his face before he could stop it. "And I feel infuriated with her still. Her foolish actions robbed us of time, Chelsea. How am I meant to let that go?"
The woman nodded as she took in his admission. "All perfectly justifiable. Wait until she's stronger before you tell her this, however, I can't have you undoing the progress it's going to take to get her out of here in the next few days. And wait until you're alone. You still have an audience." She murmured and he nodded, still able to hear the discussion of the trio outside the door. He looked back at her as she drifted away, then back to the impossibly human girl in front of him, her full lashes flush against her pale yet flushed cheeks as she slept, an impossibility for the last seven decades for her. He picked up her hand once more. Yes, his anger could wait, but oh, she would hear it from him.