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Gwen couldn't sleep that night. She tried, but the darkness that happened after she closed her eyes never lulled her. The brunette carefully rose and reached for the drawer next to her. She took out a small notebook from it and opened it; it was her funeral notebook.

She turned on the dim table lamp and opened the book. She remembered that she had been planning and re-planning her own funeral when she was bedridden in the hospital. The hymns, the things to be put inside of her coffin… things like that. Some of the pages were blotted with dried blood and her throat burned as she saw those marks.

Suddenly, she felt queasy. She quickly closed the book and put it away, however she wasn't quick enough to reach the bathroom and ended up coughing out blood midway.

Oh, no… she groaned, closing her mouth with her hand. Please, stop…

Reine woke up to a groaning voice. She rose and found Gwen was already kneeling on the floor, her back hunched over. Her hands were covering her mouth, blood seeping through the gap between her fingers. Reine leapt from her bed, "Gwen!" she cried out.

"I-I'm fine…" Gwen managed to say in between coughs.

"Don't give me that kind of crap!"

Reine hauled her sister to her back skillfully, ignoring the blood that began to smear her skin. "We're going to the clinic," she told her.

"Reine…"

"No buts, Gwen."

The pinkette had just reached for the doorknob when the door opened on its own. No, someone was opening it and it was none other than Allen. "Good evening, ladies," he greeted with a smirk. "A free ride to the clinic?"

"No way in hell," Reine replied, taking a step back. "How could I entrust my blood-covered sister to a blood-sucking vampire?!"

"Are you fast enough to ensure she's alive when you reach the clinic?" Allen asked. "Obviously, I have a better odds at that."

Reine gritted her teeth. "That's—"

"I'll take her," a voice joined in. It was the blond wolf whisperer.

"Won't you feed her to your wolves friends?!"

"Wolves don't actually eat humans, dumbass," Neil retorted. "Besides, they have preys aplenty in the forest."

"Why are you here then if not because of her blood?"

Neil rolled his eyes. "Is this the time to discuss that?!"

"Why don't we do this?" Allen suggested. "The Animal Idol can take Gwen on his back and I'll take you on mine… you should be thankful, you know?"

Reine sat with arms crossed to keep as much heat as she could. Gwen was treated in the next room; she wanted to stay there but the doctor prohibited her. Allen and Neil stayed, too, sitting across her. Both men were watching her without her realizing it (if she did, she chose to simply ignore them).

"Her heartbeat is getting stronger," Allen told her. "Can start to hear that now."

"Why did you tell me that?"

"My, my, ever so harsh," Allen said with a mock hurt expression. "It would lessen your worry, yes?"

"Why are you being so kind?" Reine asked harshly. "I wouldn't normally associate the word 'vampire' with 'kindness'."

Allen chuckled. "I was a human too, you know?" he replied. "I must say, although the venom that replaced my blood made my skin colder than yours, doesn't mean I'm less hot than I've ever been," he ended with a playful wink, but Reine didn't react at all.

"Doesn't answer my question."

"You're one curious human," Allen remarked. "Although, I guess, most humans are…"

"So once you stop being human, you stop being curious, too?" Reine asked. "Because that's what I get from what you said."

"Not exactly," Allen told her. "But after living for centuries you realize that thanks to human's mortality, there's a pattern to… almost everything."

The redhead rose. "That being said, I must admit it's hard not to notice your sister's blood-stained scent, so I have to excuse myself."

Reine barely said anything when Allen just disappeared from her sight. Reine knew now, however, that he didn't teleport or do some space-time manipulation; it's just his superhuman speed made him to look as if he disappeared.

In any case, that left her only with the wolf whisperer who had not spoken a word ever since they came. Reine looked at him with puzzlement.

"Why do you stay?"

"I'm not finished," Neil replied quite abruptly. Uncharacteristically, he offered more words when he realized Reine was obviously confused. "The blood sucker's objective was to get your sister here in time and be saved… but that's not mine."

Reine held her breath. "Then, what's yours?" she asked with a low voice. "Why… are you even here, then?"

The blond wolf whisperer looked up and their eyes met, magenta to green. Even with only one eye, Reine could not deny the intensity that came from his eyes. Perhaps it was really true when people said: eyes were the windows to one's soul.

"Are you alright?" he finally broke the silence, emphasizing the word 'you' so that he answered her question with no ambiguity.

That feeling came back again to her—the clenching of her chest. Reine put her hand above it and her eyes felt hot with threats from her own tears. "She had everything planned out… her funeral."

"She asked me for some inputs, but I didn't want to give her—I mean, who the hell said 'oh you should wear this dress inside the coffin'?!" Reine growled. "That was just… ridiculous, but she thought I was being uncooperative. She was kinda mad at me, but in the end she did it all by herself… planning her damn funeral."

Neil rose from his seat and moved to sit next to her. He left enough space for their skins to barely touch. "She knew because in the end, it would stick in your head not hers."

"So… you think I should've helped her out?"

"Wouldn't blame you either way."

"I don't want her to die…" Reine finally admitted, her voice barely a whisper. "…does that make me selfish?"

Gwen opened her eyes, groaning as she felt how stiff her body was. She saw the IV line; it was red. She looked at the other side of her bed. Reine was there, sleeping using her arms as her pillow on the edge of her bed. It was not a new sight at all—especially after Reine donating her blood again—except for one thing: she had a magenta coat on her as a makeshift blanket.

Whether Reine accepted it (very unlikely), or Neil left it after she slept (more likely), the fact was that Neil had most probably stayed with her sister until late… and Reine didn't push him away like many others who had tried in vain.

A moment later, the room became considerably darker. Gwen turned to the window, only to find that Allen was there, blocking the light with his back. He was sitting on the windowsill, his body leaning forward with a smirk gracing his porcelain-looking face. "Good morning, Guinevere Elizabeth," he greeted with his husky voice, keeping it low so as not to wake Reine up. "Good to see your green eyes again."

"The sun…" she murmured. "…won't it be too much?"

Allen chuckled. "Long gone were the days we were burned by the sun thanks to Darwinism and sunblock. Well, I might still end up with some burns, but nothing big."

"Still… draw the blind."

"Are you not afraid I'm going to attack you in the dark?"

"Are you that petty?"

He chuckled again and did as asked. He walked over to the bed, ending on the opposite side from Reine. "My, my, even on the brink of death you don't stop being kind."

Gwen looked into Allen's deep blue eyes. "Why…?"

"You sure you wanna know?" Allen asked teasingly. The brunette nodded nevertheless, so he agreed. "I wasn't the kind who fed exclusively on jerks. I mean, when you're hungry you can't be too picky, right?"

Gwen cringed. How could he talk about that kind of stuff easily?!

Allen noticed her discomfort, but they already passed the point of return. "I fed on those lucky enough to cross their paths with mine when I was starving. All of them muttered curses or swore revenge before they were dried to death… but many times I found afterwards that these people were what society classified as 'good'—do you see now, Guinevere Elizabeth?"

Gwen saw the look on his eyes. There was no remorse, but something akin to disgust. "Death brings out the true nature of mortals. My kind was believed to be the evil one… and I wouldn't say it was completely untrue or unfounded, but I think humans were the arrogant ones to have that holier-than-thou attitude."

"…it's not true," she protested meekly.

His features softened. "I realized that," he agreed. "I have to admit that, even with my long life, I still have a lot to learn."

"You are… humbler than I thought."

Her comment caught him off guard, although he didn't let it show and managed to keep up his performance. "I have more surprises… better ones," he winked playfully.

"So… why are you here?"

Allen held his breath, although the action went unnoticed by Gwen since it was so subtle. He knew he actually had no reason to be there for her; in fact, he had a reason not to be there for her. Last night was fine, since she was unconscious and Reine wouldn't be likely to tell her that he was there… but why was he watching over her now?

No, no, he knew why. Inwardly, deep inside his theoretically frozen heart, he knew why, but of course he couldn't tell her. His head hurt by merely thinking about doing it, telling her.

"Just sleep, Guinevere Elizabeth…"

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

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