When Larten opened his eyes he gave a small start as he realized he was not in his coffin or outside in the small cave on the edge of town deep in the forest. No, he was in a darkened room on a comfortable bed in obviously feminine surroundings. He tried to sit up but felt electric shooting pain from his lower right side. He laid back down. It was all coming back to him now as he stared at the ceiling. Tracking Murlough, keeping an eye on two females who were prime targets, saving one, the fight, being wounded and near death's door, the help he received on a kitchen floor, and whose bed he was currently laying on. He rubbed his face and scratched his scar. He didn't know how long he had been asleep but it felt like it had been days. He couldn't see any light from the curtains. They had been perfectly placed.

Larten slowly sat up this time grimacing at the twinges of pain. He saw his clothes on the floor. His shirt was completely ruined, covered in crusty, dried blood. His jacket would have to be replaced, too. Also his trousers it seemed. They were dirty and ripped in places, but thank the gods, his cloak was fine.

Larten eased himself to stand up and walk into the bathroom. There were cosmetics, a couple of overly-sweet smelling candles, overly-sweet smelling hand soap; Larten scrunched his nose at the smells. To his vampire senses they took some adjusting to.

After relieving himself he walked back into the room and saw a glass of water by the bed. He grabbed it and gulped it down. He hadn't realized how thirsty and hungry he was. He was hungry for a strong meal. He didn't need any blood. That had been taken care of. His forehead creased in thought. The woman...what had been her name? Erin. Yes. And the woman's younger sister, Brigid. He knew Murlough wanted them thinking he would receive parts of their gifts. Larten didn't know what these specific gifts were but he would be finding out shortly. Somehow the woman, Erin (he reminded himsef), had known he was a vampire, trusted him enough to offer her blood, and knew his name. Oh, and let him sleep in her room.

It actually was really a stroke of luck that he even came across the wo-Erin, came across Erin at the show those months ago. He could see under her make-up the three small precise cuts on her cheek. She was Murlough's first chosen victim. The chain of events grew from there.

The event Larten particularly had pent up frustration over was that Murlough had almost killed the woman, Erin, and thus taken a piece of her soul and a part of her abilities. Larten growled in his head. He didn't like losing and that included losing victims of the insane vampaneze. He had not expected the two victims in the other town over, but he was determined to end the matter, through the luck of the gods, quickly. Murlough's mind had twisted from the vampaneze belief and reason of draining a victim of their blood to thinking the more he took, the stronger he would become, until he was immortal and like unto a god. He was gluttonous and completely insane with no worry of covering his crimes once they grew largely noticeable. Murlough would drain a whole village if he wanted to. If only the vampanze took care of such matters!

He took a deep breath to calm himself. He had saved her just in time. Murlough had given him the dip but when he had felt something spark inside his head, an electric current of some sort, he followed it and that was when he was able to stage a surprise attack on the mad vampaneze forcing him to retreat. He saw she wasn't dead but close to it. She needed help or she would die there and Larten didn't like losing to anyone in any way. And from there the story continues.

Larten walked over to the drapes and standing to the side along the wall opened the edge of one to see outside.

It was night. Well into the middle of the night he noted as the moon was very high in the sky. He let the drape slip off his finger and wondered what he should do. Erin had told him to knock if he needed anything. But he didn't know whether to do that or simply put his stained clothes back on and exit on his own.

He decided to dress and open the door at least to peek out.

Dressing caused his wound to hurt immensely but he did his best to ignore it. It didn't work particularly well.

Larten tried to make himself presentable adjusting here and there by looking into the thin full length mirror on the wall. Unfortunately, in the current state of his clothing, this was as good as it was going to get.

Taking one last look and gathering his poise, he walked to the door and opened it.

There was a sudden scream and a thump down the stairs. The scream caused Larten to jump in terrible surprise as he saw the younger sister, Brigid, tumble down to the middle of the staircase.

"Ow, my tailbone!" She yelled out.

Larten was immediately at her side not sure of what to do. Brigid didn't know what to do either and they both stared at each other awkward surprise.

"Brigid?! Brigid, what happened? What'd you-"

Erin appeared quickly at the foot of the stairs and immediately took in the awkward situation.

"You're up!" Erin said breaking the tension; she had known he was up and confused and everything that was coming next would only deepen his confusion. Near-future flashes were very helpful.

"No, I'm fine. Please, don't bother yourselves." Brigid said irritated.

Larten came to his senses and immediately helped the young girl up in one gesture.

"Whoo...that made me woozy." Brigid fluttered her eyes before turning them to look up into Larten's face. She laughed and smiled. "Oh my God, Erin, you should've seen it! I'm just, like, walking up to my room and suddenly your bedroom door opens and he's just, like, standing there and I totally freaked! I'd almost forgotten we had you here. You've been asleep for two and a half days. Erin would come in and check on you like clockwork making sure you were breathing and checking your vitals or whatever. By the way, how are you feeling? Are you hungry?" Brigid rattled off before taking a breath and waiting expectantly for an answer.

Larten blinked, opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He had a bewildered look on his face.

Erin took pity. Brigid, even at 17 years-old, was still way too much sometimes and she could easily see Larten was overwhelmed.

"I'm glad to see you're awake. Brigid, go into the laundry room and grab the clothes. I'm going to check his wound real quick."

Erin and Brigid passed each other on the stairs. "Here, come with me." She motioned for Larten to follow her back into her room. She was wearing dark denim jeans with the cuffs rolled up a touch and a fitted spring-green t-shirt. Her hair was down with a black headband keeping most of her hair out of her face.

She flipped the light on and told him to lay back down on the bed.

Larten stiffened with confusion. "What?"

"Lay back down so I can palpate the area around your wound. I just want to feel how it's healing and check for any possible abnormalities." Erin replied matter-of-factly. "Go. Lay down." She motioned her arm and gave him an encouraging push in the right direction.

"I can assure you I am fine and it is not necessary for you to do so." He sputtered.

"No, it is necessary. I can do it while you're standing up if you insist but it's not the same. It would be better without your jacket and cloak on, too; but if you insist on standing, I'll make do."

She went to move his jacket aside and lift up his bloody shirt and as her fingers touched his flesh he gave a jerk jumping out of her reach. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Lay down. I really do need to see the area around the wound. Remove your cloak, jacket, and shirt, please. I'm a nurse, I've seen everything."

Larten acquiesced with as much dignity as he could muster, removing the garments she had specified, then sat on edge of the bed. Erin helped him to ease back slowly to lay down. Immediately Erin's fingers palpated the area around the wound. Larten grimaced and clenched his eyes shut in pain. He tried to keep his breathing normal.

"Okay, you can sit up." Erin supported his upper shoulders and slowly helped him into a sitting position. "I don't feel anything abnormal and I checked your abdominal sounds earlier this evening. It'll just be a while before you're in tip-top shape again. Do you need something for the pain?"

Larten gave her a wide-eyed look of horror, not even hearing her question. She had seen him shirtless and asleep! "What do you mean you checked-"

Larten's question was drowned out from the noise of Brigid pounding up the stairs. She came into the room holding a stack of clothes.

"Want to see your new wardrobe?!" She asked beaming. Her long hair was up in a disheveled ponytail and she was wearing a large t-shirt that engulfed her lithe frame and yoga pant crapris. No matter what Brigid wore, Stella Maxwell could eat her heart out.

Larten blushed furiously. He was still sitting entirely shirtless in front of both women. Why was his cloak so far away, why?!

"So we have white, red, and black with red pin-striped dress shirts. Apparently your favorite color is red so I did my best. And here are some pants, a black pair and a red pair. Don't worry, we've already washed them. We didn't want to get you a new jacket because those are harder to fit and really you have to try multiple ones on because every brand fits differently so we can go do that whenever you want to." Brigid rattled off as she walked towards Larten sitting on the bed and holding a shirt under his chin.

"Erin, what do you think? They should definitely fit him." Brigid's eyes met Larten's. Brigid had no sense of personal space.

She stood back up and tossed the shirts into his lap and the trousers next to him.

"They'll be a bit loose on you but hopefully not too baggy. We just wanted to make sure they would fit. Those pants should fit, too. They're roughly the same cut as your trousers."

Larten stared at the shirts in his lap and pants next to him. What was happening? This was all getting to be way too much.

"You don't like them?" Brigid asked quietly, sad disappointment in her voice.

Without even thinking about it, he stood up and gave a slight bow.

"I do like them and I thank you for your generosity."

"Great! And stop bowing. We're friends and it's irritating that you keep doing it."

Erin walked in from the bathroom. "I laid out some fresh towels so you can take a shower." She looked at him pointedly. Larten blushed. He had not had the chance to bathe in a few days.

"I don't know if all the scented stuff bothers your vampire...senses? I'm sure you know what I mean; I set aside unscented body wash and shampoo so I hope that will help. And while you do that, I'll make you something to eat. Anything in particular you'd like?"

"Is this vampire supper time? What do-"

"Brigid, you're overwhelming him. You can pelt him with questions later."

Larten cleared his throat. "I am not overwhelmed at all." He said more for his own comfort than theirs. "Your hospitality is above and beyond and I am deeply grateful for it." He started to bow.

"Hey! What'd I just tell you?" Brigid said clapping her hands at him like he was a dog who had gotten into the trash.

Larten stopped and raised his head straight. He turned to look at Erin. She looked like she was trying not to laugh.

"What would you like to eat?" Erin had her fingers covering her lips as she asked him trying to hide her amusement. "We still have some ingredients for breakfast foods, I can grill some steak, make stew, chicken, pasta...anything sounding good yet?"

All of it sounded good to him. He hoped they couldn't hear his stomach rumbling.

Larten cleared his throat. "If it is no trouble I would prefer-"

"Stew. Got it." Erin said, snapping her fingers. "We'll leave you be and just come downstairs when you're done." Erin scooped up his blood-crusted shirt, jacket, and pants. "I'm going to toss these. We can get you a new jacket whenever you like. Do you want your cloak laundered?" She looked up at him bundling his clothes in her arms.

Larten went to open his mouth. He was beginning to feel very exposed.

"I'll be careful. I know how important it is to you. I'm not going to wash it like you're thinking. I'm more just going to let it breathe and gently iron it to get out the wrinkles. Okay? Come downstairs when you're ready." Erin said exiting the room. "Let's go, Brigid."

The door shut. He looked at the clothes on the bed. He looked back to the door. He peeked into the bathroom seeing towels and the shower. He looked back to the door. He noticed there was some sort of small package rolled inside the black pair of trouser pants: it was a 3-pack of men's boxer shorts.

He felt a wave of embarrassment flood his whole body.

Yes. It was true. He was quite overwhelmed.