ISFNE Chapter 5

Allison POV

I'd make a mistake. Why had I thought I could hack it in the city? It had been forever since I'd eaten a decent meal and I was without shelter. The nights were freezing and I knew I was definitely sick. I coughed into my sweatshirt sleeve for what felt like the millionth time and what escaped went up in puffs of vapor; I needed somewhere warmer than the airlocks I'd been able to camp in. I'd lost track of the days again and to top it all off for tonight, it was starting to sleet. I was quickly soaked to the bone and shivering up a storm. Everything was closed as I stumble down the small street of shops, my steps becoming more and more uneven, each move a struggle my shivering was so intense. I finally turned down a street to shield the worst of the wind and tried to control my trembling limbs. I'd been out in the weather for hours and needed to start scrounging for a place I could rest. I was so tired…so so tired. I started to feel warmer and my shivering subsided. And suddenly all went black.

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I woke hazily and found myself on a couch with an older lady hovering over me with a bowl in hand and a blanket over her arm. I weakly fumbled to sit up and she quickly came to my aid. "Oh dear, I'm so glad you're awake, I was worried I was going to have to call the hospital seeing as you passed out on my doorstep," she said gently as she quickly unfurled the blanket and laid it over my shoulders. I didn't even feel it.

"I…what…where-" I tried before breaking into a fit of coughs.

"There there, you're just fine. Probably a cold. Now, eat some soup and warm up, I will be right back." She said setting the bowl she held on a small coffee table in front of me and disappearing down a hallway opposite me. Everything seemed to be happening in a weird sensory slow motion so I could barely process what I was seeing and hearing. I was in a bookstore? I was lying on a couch. The counter was opposite me with a hallway behind it that turn a corner, I had no idea to where. But everywhere there were books. Shelves and shelves of them. That seemed to be the only thing I could process. I think I blacked out for a moment or two but woke as I fell into another fit of coughs and felt a wave of nausea hit me as it had at the airport but I fought both. Why couldn't I feel the blanket? Was this a dream? Everything was so hazy. Just then I heard a door open and close from down the hallway behind the counter.

"Grams! I'm back!" I heard a voice call down the hallway followed by footsteps. A man came around the corner. He was older than I with unruly dark hair and thickly framed glasses. He was tall, though not as tall as Eric, with a lanky build to him and was dressed in a raincoat though he was mostly hidden by the counter. His gaze met mine and narrowed instantly, "Who are you?"

Eric POV

I needed to research. It had been two weeks since returning to the mansion and I felt like I'd been going around in circles. I'd heard nothing about Xavier's following though had scouts everywhere in search of them. And I'd been working on how to get Faith into a limbo through our connection for what felt like forever. Maybe some review would do me well.

I went for the records in the library, unlocked the shelf, and searched out the reference book I needed. Vladimir and Mina. I'd read it many times, most without much thought of what information it truly contained. I'd read every account, it was my duty as Dracula to know about my predecessors and their brides. These records served as history books of sorts and were carefully logged and guarded by each Dracula so that brides could be better understood as a concept. Draculas and their brides were a truly intriguing history, incredibly intertwined with many historical events, but even after centuries, shared brides were still somewhat unknown territory and millennials were practically mythical. In truth, it was my duty to log about my own new bride, one that I'd been shirking for months. I grabbed the book I'd come for and upon withdrawing my hand my fingers brushed the short book on the end of the shelf. Eric and Elizabeth. I let my free hand caress the spine and my breath hitched in my throat, memories flooding into my thoughts at the mere sight of her name. I thought to take it down and revisit it but I dropped my hand. Not today; not now. I closed the shelf up and retreated to the library desk with the log Vladimir had kept of his dealing with his bride. Maybe another look would garner some answers. Mina was all I had to reference.

Simon POV

I'd had to grab the groceries Grams had forgotten for this week's meals but I didn't mind. I pulled up to the back parking lot by the apartment entrance per usual and fumbled with one hand for my keys, dropping my student ID in a puddle in the process. I groaned as I balanced the grocery bag to grab it and finally got my keys out, letting myself into the apartment and finding it seemingly empty. I put down my keys and the grocery bag deciding to check the store; she must have gotten caught up restocking or something. I descended the staircase to the back of the store. "Grams! I'm back!" I called out as the door closed behind me. I walked down the hallway to check the store and found myself staring into an unfamiliar face laying on the couch in the sitting area. She was a bedraggled thing, hair stringy and hanging around her shoulders, bangs plastered to her face, and the sweatshirt and jeans she was wearing completely soaked and giving no hint as to what kind of form lay beneath them, a thin blanket draped over her shoulders. I was instantly wary; one could never be too careful when in the city. "Who are you?" I asked brusquely.

The girl made to answer me but suddenly erupted into a fit of coughs. "I'm…Alli-Allison, who'r you?" she tried to respond, her words slurring together.

Great, there was a drunk girl in the bookstore. I huffed in annoyance, this was not how I wanted to spend my evening. I turned and called out again, "Grams! Where are you?" I heard a thunk and the sound of ceramic shattering and turned back to the girl. A bowl of soup lay spilt all over the floor, the bowl in pieces, and the girl slumped on the couch shivering violently the blanket sliding off her shoulders and mostly on the floor.

I heard the apartment door shut and Grandma coming down the stairs. "Simon I can explain-" but I barely heard what she was saying I was so focused on the girl.

She, Allison apparently, was trying to sit up and whimpered as the blanket slid further from her. She was acting very strangely; I was starting to recognize it – symptoms, but what of?

I walked over to the girl to grab her blanket studying her carefully. Her lips had a bluish tinge to them, she was shivering, she definitely didn't smell like booze…and then I grabbed her wrist to check her pulse and all was made clear. I quickly scooped her up off the couch to carry her up the stairs and realized just how cold she was and worryingly light. She tried weakly to twist out of my grasp but gave up with a whimper as I shushed her gently as I could, "Hey, you're okay, you're going to be just fine, just let me help you." She tensed in my arms and I knew she would lash out at being carried if she had any strength.

Independent type, I thought to myself. "Grams! She's got hypothermia, make sure my bed is made up!" I yelled up.

"It is," she called down worriedly, "I just put fresh sheets on the other day."

Grams held open the door at the top and disappeared into the living area as I started toward my old bedroom. "Grab blankets!" I called out to her over my shoulder. The girl was drifting in and out of a hazy consciousness and was unconsciously clinging to me now for warmth. I quickly headed to the bedroom to set her down and almost bumping into Grams who was holding two thin blankets as I exited to go for my first aid kit. "Try to get her warm," I said putting my hands on her shoulders to slip past her as I went back out. I found it quickly, shucked my raincoat and boots and ran back with the thermometer in hand. Grams was in the room covering Allison with another thin blanket and informed me that the electric blanket was broken. I thanked her and sat down on the edge of the bed to take the girl's temperature. 85 degrees Fahrenheit, that was something I could handle. Grandma, after asking a couple dozen times if I had a handle on the situation finally left me to deal with my "patient" of sorts. So I got to work. Her clothes, which were still damp had to go. I sat her up against the headboard still mostly unconscious, knowing I should limit her motion, and moved to peel the wet sweatshirt off of her but she weakly protested pushing me away with a whimper. "Hey," I tried to coax her, knowing the state she was in left her unable to process much. "You need to get warm, alright? I need you to let me help you, do you understand? Will you let me help you?" I asked with as much calm and evenness as I could muster. She looked around in confusion, still obviously not processing what was going on. "Allison," I tried to get her attention. She turned and seemed to look through me rather than at me, "Allison," I tried again. Startling violet eyes locked with mine momentarily "Who-who's that?" she responded blearily before she drifted back into unconsciousness.

She didn't recognize her name. Either her hypothermia was more serious than I'd previously thought or she hadn't given me her real name before. I filed that away under "to consider later" and got back to the task at hand, gently peeling off both her sweatshirt and the t-shirt underneath it, both which were damp and cold.

"No…" she protested weakly and I shushed her as reassuringly as I could, "You're not going to warm up if you leave these on, okay?"

I removed her jeans next and quickly took off my sweater and pulled it over her head and threaded her arms through the sleeves, knowing it was already warm and dry. The button down I was left in would suffice for now. She was still shivering something awful. I had trouble finding her pulse but when I did it was too slow and faint. I had a last resort that I probably should have led with but was determined to save. I'd wait thirty minutes and check her temp again. I used those minutes to straighten the room as much as I could, put her sopping clothes into the dryer, and to run back out to my car for my laptop that I'd, by some godsend, left there instead of in my apartment. I double checked my diagnosis and looked at recovery tips. I'd been right, of course. I heard the dryer buzzer ring, so I went and grabbed her clothes, folding them up and putting them on the dresser as I waited for her thermometer reading. 88 degrees. Better but not enough.

I went down the hall to let Grams know about the girl's track of recovery saying that she could probably be in a right state of mind tomorrow morning if all went well. She thanked me and went to bed. What had possessed her to take the girl inside rather than call 911 was beyond me, but thankfully I knew what I was doing.

I went back into the room and found Allison in a shivering, fitful sleep. I quietly changed into some pajama pants and took off my button down. I sat down on the edge of the bed again and sat her up again, gently tugging off the girl's new sweater which she again protested weakly. I ignored her though, knowing that skin-to-skin contact was guaranteed to warm her up fastest. I'd left her in her underthings as to not invade her privacy more than I already had but knew that there wasn't much room for privacy when her health was such a concern. I moved her more toward the center of the bed and slid in next to her bracing myself for the chill of her body against mine. She was so cold and thin but I was grateful that as I pressed up to her she unconsciously relaxed into me, instinctively wanting to warm herself. Slowly our body heat and chill began to balance and her shivering slowly subsided allowing her to eventually fall into a peaceful sleep. I on the other hand, exhausted as I was from the stress of the past hour or so and the day in general, fidgeted trying to get comfortable without waking her up or letting my hand placement get too friendly. I eventually gave up and let my one arm curl under my pillow while the other draped across her torso and finally fell asleep with about a million questions for the morning.

Eric POV

I sat at the library desk and huffed in frustration. Nothing was clicking. I read the book cover to cover with nothing new to glean. But somehow I knew there was something I was missing. There was a huge piece of the whole puzzle with Faith and her escape that I wasn't factoring in. Something that changed everything. What it was though I had no clue. I was wracking my memory for anything but it was difficult to pinpoint anything. I could remember anything when I immersed myself in an exact memory but I had no idea where to start which made it all a blur. And then I realized what my answer was. I pushed my chair back and slid open the drawer of the desk. The tawny, leather-bound book was just where I'd left it. I remembered having it made as soon as I caught a tinge of her aura, the excitement I'd felt, the fact that I'd asked for a larger journal to be made instead of compiling pages as they came in the hopes that things would go differently.

Differently indeed…I thought wryly. I gently took it out, set it on the desktop and shut the drawer. I absent-mindedly flipped through the pages, all of which were eager to be filled by me. But where to start was another question. When I got her here? When I first saw her in that crowded school commons? When I'd first caught her scent?

I sat and pondered this for a while and then taking a pen, I flipped to the first page and began to write.

From the moment I found Faith I knew she was going to give me trouble, though I vastly underestimated just how much. That was my first mistake. Though I quickly found out she was a shared mate, making her more powerful, and after a tumultuous half year discovered she is likely even more, namely a millennial mate, what I have come to realize as I look back now is it is not this power she has most at her disposal. Faith's power, at this point, is much simpler than I would have guessed; it lies completely in expectations and that she adheres to none of them. In every moment, I have made judgments as to what she can handle, what she can accomplish, or what she will do, and she has destroyed each and every one of them leaving me constantly surprised. Underestimating Faith is the thing I find myself continually paying the price for and is a mistake I hope to not make again, though I am surely bound to do so. It has resulted in broken communication, an incomplete bond, and unspeakable pain for both my bride and myself. As I write this, I have no idea where she is and haven't for some time now. She does not want to be found, but find her I must, for her well-being and my own.

This, of course, is only my preface for the events that are to follow, how I have wronged my love and how underestimating her has plagued our relationship, for it is my duty to record what has passed between us, one that I have put off until this moment. I hope to discover some clarity by recording these things as I hope to impart some as well to those who will succeed me. And I hope, no, I almost pray that after I've recorded what has passed there will be much to record in the future, when we are reunited, that will not be full of brokenness and pain. For now, here is our history, as lived and remembered by me, Eric Sebastian Krev.

I sat back in the chair and reread my preface, letting the ink dry completely before turning to the next blank page and carefully writing out the title.

Eric and Faith.

A/N: Hi readers, so sorry for the insanely long and unplanned hiatus. A lot of things came up and I finally got around to getting back on fanfic at one point only to find all the files I'd stored here had expired; some of which were rough outlines of future chapters which I'm now going to have to recreate and then write chapters from simultaneously. So I'm really sorry. I mean, I never promised consistency because I'd never be able to deliver, but this was much longer than I ever meant it to be. I've got a lot personal stuff going on to deal with. So, again, I'm incredibly sorry. Thanks for still sticking around though I'm sure I drive you guys a little insane. Also, moment of mourning for the files I lost. I'm still kinda really upset about that. Oh well, what's done is done. I was going to put this up a while ago but then realized it needed a lot of tweaking which I've labored over the past couple of months and then I figured since I've been gone so long I needed to at least get the next chapters in the works. So there is my nebulous promise of future chapters, some of which are already written. Also, on a different note completely, yay for new characters! Lots of love -allisonfreedman