It was strange -sleeping. It was exhausting -quite literally- finding a schedule after not sleeping for the most part of a century. It was irritating too. After so long of not needing sleep, of seeing every minute of the day, it was infuriating to feel so weak and to sleep such precious time away. To be human again was not a wanted experience. She felt disgusted with her very body.
The sharp scratch on her arm didn't stir a reaction as she sat there, Chelsea drawing more blood. The vampire who she'd learned had been keeping watch on her for the entire time she was unconscious patted her knee lightly. "You'll be back to being one of us soon enough, don't worry;" her words brought a little comfort, but until then, she knew every second could mean death for her. A human, regardless of being one of them beforehand, in a castle of vampires who thirsted for her apparently abnormally sweet blood? Yes, that could spell major complications.
She moistened her lips slowly before speaking, grimacing as she did; it still ached to talk. "I know, but I don't fancy my odds at the moment being literally surrounded by people who want to eat me." She mused with an air of sarcasm and the woman at her side gave a soft tilt of her full lips. "No, I suppose the odds are not in your favour. However, I suppose you'll be pleased to know you're being returned to your room tonight, then." She gave her a smile, meant to be comforting, did nothing to dispel her worry. Returned to the room she had shared with Alec before this whole mess?
It hadn't been hard to notice the simmering fury in the dark haired boys eyes as he sat at her bedside for the last two nights since she awoke. Fire had been churning in the dark red depths of his eyes, his mouth set in a permanent hard line as he spoke with her, just seemingly barely able to keep his temper, one she knew to be great, in check. Had she been immortal it wouldn't have worried her some, but now, fragile and mortal? It worried, and for the first time in years, scared her.
She gave a hum under her breath. "I suppose that means the IV can come out then?" She gave a soft hiss as the tube in question was gently pulled from her arm, making her wince as pain spiked up her arm, a warm cloth pressing there to stop the small trickle of blood from going down her arm. Chelsea gave a soft sound under her breath, patting her knee once more. "It sure can. Now, want to tell me what seems to be worrying you?"
As perceptive as always. Worrying her fleshy bottom lip with her now not venomous, razor sharp teeth, she looked at the woman who'd been her caregiver the last few days. "It's silly," she muttered before shaking her head. Alec would never hurt her. Get angry, yell at her perhaps, but he would never physically lay a hand on her. What a stupid thing to think. Of course he wouldn't. It was the one thing he'd sworn never to ever do after he learnt what her father had done, and if there was something the vampire did, it was that he kept his word wherever possible.
Chelsea raised a brow before giving an elegant shrug of her shoulders. "Perhaps, but things are different now, Olivia. You're different. What might have seemed silly to you before you were human once more now aren't, perhaps? Tell me, and we can talk it through." She pushed lightly, giving her a small smile. She couldn't stop her words then. "I know Alec is angry with me, and I'm being released back to our room tonight." She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. "What if he gets too angry with me and loses his thirst because he's so infuriated?" More words rushed out. "I know he said he would never hurt me, but I know firsthand how tempers, fury and devastation can be heightened for vampires."
The dark haired woman listened patiently to her words before she nodded. "It isn't a silly fear, Olivia; our emotions are heightened. He could grip your arm to make a point, and where before it wouldn't have hurt you, or even been an issue, now he could shatter your arm. It's understandable, and Alec knows this. He's currently talking with Master Aro about when you'll be changed back, and he's pressing the point to wait a little as we don't know what the dagger did to you." An ice cold hand gripped her own as tightly as possible given her fragility. "But you will be one of us once more soon, so don't worry. His anger will fade over time, but it will take time."
Her words brought little comfort, but she just nodded, letting her finish her tests. A biopsy had been done earlier, the aesthesia beginning to wear off, the small patch of skin that had been taken dully throbbing. She would be coming back tomorrow for an echocardiogram. When she had stated the vampire could clearly hear her now beating heart, the woman merely shrugged, bringing a small smile to her face. Forever a loophole.
Footsteps, just faint, told her that her time in the infirmary was up. Chelsea heard them too, gently pulling her to her feet, turning her around just in time to face the double doors as they opened, Alec coming in. He just looked at her before extending a hand, speaking to the woman who stood behind her, her hands on her shoulders. "What time do you want her back tomorrow?"
The woman gave a gentle squeeze of her shoulders before pushing her towards the dark haired boy. "Twelve noon, not a moment later." She told him. Olivia merely stared at him. The thin set of his lips, the way his eyes pierced her own as she looked at him -definitely angry. It made her heart judder, something she was sure Chelsea heard for her hands gave another gentle squeeze before they released her, and a cold hand pressed against her lower back, steering her out of the infirmary and towards the familiar corridor that housed the elite guard quarters.
It wasn't hard to miss the stares that lingered on her human features as they walked along the corridor. A vampire who became human once more was a once in an existence event, she was sure of it. She doubted many had even heard of cursed blades before one impaled itself in her chest -the mere thought of the ghastly weapon made her cringe, and he saw, raising a brow in question as they turned a corner. "What are you thinking of?"
She moistened her lips before speaking just as they came to the door that she recognised oh so fondly, the sight of it now instilling a sense of dread in her. "About the blade that did this," she murmured. He merely opened the door, guiding her inside. Her stomach clenched in nerves. She didn't fear him, but oh, did she fear the temper that she knew was steadily rising to a boiling point in the angelic boy behind her, his hands steering her to the chair. The room hadn't changed much, save for the sheets now being a deep dark blue instead of the black they had been.
It hadn't been a moment before he started. "I remember you promising not to do something reckless and stupid, Olivia," she stilled in her seat as he walked in front of her, and despite being not the tallest, those words made him seem a thousand times taller than she was, that was for sure. He seemed gigantic to her as she sat, still as a mouse, on the chaise.
He continued. "I remember you saying you would stay put, not put yourself in danger. Do you know how it felt to have them toss you into the cage beside myself?" Remaining silent was obviously the wrong answer for he all but roared at her, his anger well evident. "DO YOU?" His words came like a thunderstorm at her, shaking her as she sat on the chaise. He continued. "Do you know how I felt to see you get impaled on a cursed blade, to cradle you in my arms and you be completely lifeless? To see you collapse unlike immortals do and you be comatose for the last decade and a half? No, you don't! You don't!"
Her whole entire body began to tremble as he continued, droplets of salty water coursing down her cheeks within minutes -she couldn't help it. To hear the pain in his voice, the complete and utter anguish as he described, lashed out, about how miserable his life had been because of her stubbornness to go against what she'd promised him, it broke her heart. He seemed to realise her tears for his words trailed off, his dark red eyes coming down to her level as he crouched before her.
An ice cold hand touched her flushed cheek, wiping the tears from her cheeks despite the fact they still streamed down her reddened cheeks. "I spent the last decade and a half in absolute torment," his words drove the daggers through her heart again and again, her chest hurting with the emotional pain she felt. "But having you in front of me now, alive, conscious, I will never be angry at you again, not after today, regardless of your mortality. I won't ever leave how we last speak being that of anger, for that agonised me for what felt like eternity, and I never want to do that again."
The tears streamed thick and fast, an ugly lump rising up her throat as she collapsed forward, his arms encircling her as she buried herself into the embrace. "I'm so sorry," the apology, however small, tumbled from her lips over and over again as she wept in his arms, her tears soaking his uniform. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," she wasn't sure how many times she said the words over and over again in total.
They remained that way for hours, she was sure of it. Shivers wracked her body a little. Pressed to a literal ice block with fragile human warmth. More likely to be appealing for him than to her. He seemed to sense it also, for he gracefully uncurled his limbs up off the ground, her weary form encased in his ice cold arms. To her surprise, he didn't release her, merely moved closer to the dying fire, reaching out with one hand to stoke the flames into a roaring inferno once more with a wrought iron poker. The warmth of the fire helped dull the feel of his cold skin coming through his uniform. Her eyes drooped as she curled tighter into him. His words stung, but they were true. Her foolish actions had deprived them of fifteen years, what would have been fifteen happy years. Her mind and heart hurt to think what could have been in that time, but she knew from the way he held her tight despite the repulsion of her human form, he was all too willing to make up for all that lost time between them.