Chapter 8
Late That Night...
(1:45 a.m. that night and dream sequence)
She just froze in horror and sorrow at what she was seeing. The five vampire spirits were hovering over Kurama again, draining his blood and beating him more. 'KURAMA, WAKE UP!' Sapphire yelled and ran at the leader, but she went through them and landed on the hard concrete floor of the hospital. A couple drops of Kurama's blood dripped onto her face and when she looked up...he was lying limply on the floor, his face pale and drained of blood. She swore under her breath as she saw the vampires licking their claws and fangs of her love's blood. Suddenly, the leader's wife opens the door and smiled evilly. 'Good work, now on to our next target...NOW!' she ordered and the five vampires disappeared into the night. The wife walked to Kurama and looked down at him, lightly running her fingers through his hair. 'Poor Kurama, if had chosen me you wouldn't have ended up this way,' she whispered, removing her hood. Sapphire saw the eyes and gasped at who the woman was. 'NO, NOT YOU!' she yelled as the woman took Kurama in her arms and walked out the door. 'NO, KURAMA, COME BACK!' she called out again, feeling herself wake up again. (End of dream phase)

Sapphire woke up with a scream and felt more tears stream down her heated face. Once she heard the snoring of Yusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei she knew that they came back and fallen asleep. "Sorry everyone, but I have to leave for a while," she whispered, tiptoeing over her friends, opened the door and left. Outside, she spread her wings and flew off to the hospital, following the scent of blood and moving fast! About an hour later, she flew up to Kurama's window and looked in. He was sleeping, but tossing and turning in pain and nightmares and she almost unlatched the window when she saw the six vampires walk in the door. 'Oh no, another vision coming true. What's happening to me?' Sapphire wondered, but shut out her thoughts and pulled out her flute. Trying not to make any sound, she played the song of her people again (the ocarina music from the Escaflowne movie).

Just as she thought, time stopped for the vampires! She quietly unlatched the window and flew inside. She tenderly picked up Kurama, and put away the flute. After that, she ran out the door and down the stairs to the main lobby but stopped at what she smelled. In the main lobby of the hospital, all the nurses, visitors, doctors, and patients lay sprawled on the floor dead. Large pools of blood wet the floor and dripped off the walls, many of the people lying at odd angles. She wanted to gag at the smell of freshly spilled blood, but hesitated for the flute spell wasn't going to last much longer. She extended her wings again and lunged at the doors and she burst through the glass! Brushing the glass shards from Kurama and herself, she flew back to Kuwabara's without stopping to gasp for breath.

When she opened the door to Kuwabara's house, she woke up the others and laid Kurama on her sleeping bag. "Sapphire...do you what time...," Yusuke was interrupted when she saw Kurama in lying on her sleeping bag. "Why did you bring him here?" She ignored his question as she unwrapped the bandage on Kurama's forehead and gently placing a wet cloth on his forehead. Then, she sat down with her friends and explained what happened.

"I woke up from another nightmare and couldn't sleep again. In my nightmare, I saw those vampires kill Kurama in the hospital and the leader's wife seemed to know him. After she said a few words to herself, she took him and left. So I flew to the hospital and stopped them from killing him." Kittara looked at her strangely, blurting out: "How might I ask?" Sapphire heard her question, but ignored her stare and continued. "The song I play on my flute makes the vampires paralyzed for a short time, so that's what I did to save Kurama. But when I got to the lobby, I smelled blood and knew that they had killed all the staff, visitors and patients." She was finished when she heard Kurama stir from sleep and groan in pain again. Keiko got up and got a damp cloth to put on his forehead. Sapphire unwrapped the bandages and placed the cloth on his forehead, stroking his face as he calmed down and fell asleep again. "Sorry I woke you all up, you all get sleep now," Sapphire assured them and the boys went back to bed. "I'll keep watch with you tonight," Keiko volunteered and sat on Kurama's right side and talked softly to Sapphire as they watched over him.

(3 hours and ten minutes later/ 4:55 a.m.)
Keiko had fallen asleep on the floor, but Sapphire stayed awake and watched Kurama sleep. 'I'm glad you're safe now Kurama, now we can be together again,' she thought to herself, leaning down to lay beside him and gently wrapped her arms around him. Before sleep consumed her, she kissed him and caressed his cheek again, then put her hand on his shoulder and finally let sleep take her again. About a half hour after she fell asleep, Kurama came to consciousness for the first time since his attack and looked down at her and smiled. He pulled her closer to him, holding her like she was a child. Lightly kissing her forehead, he stroked her back for a while then slept again, feeling the pain increase but he ignored it. 'Thank you for saving me Sapphire, you mean the world to me too,' he whispered in his mind, sighing happily. 'I...love you.' ************************************* Author: Awwww...true romance, don't you all think? Glad to see more reviewers and fans of this story, I'll be back with more soon.