Serum

-Eighteen-

Conner’s voice broke through my fever dreams. A hand brushed away a stray strand of hair that was stuck to my forehead. Instinct took over and I jerked, swiftly lunging away to a safe distance, knocking the hand away. The movements proved too much, especially for someone who hadn’t moved in a while, and I ended up on the floor, gasping as new muscle tissue stretched painfully in my chest. I groaned quietly, holding my ribs, and looked in the direction I had come from. No one was there. Gentle hands helped move me into an upright position, startling me, but the smell Conner’s smooth, sweet scent forced me to calm down.

“Oh, be careful…” I wheezed as the muscles around the right side of my ribcage stretched painfully. Every movement felt like shards of glass were being stabbed into my side. Conner murmured an agreement and slowly helped me back to my makeshift bed. Apparently, he had made out a sleeping area for me in one shadowy corner of the church. I could smell the strong scent of vampire sweat, which I realized must have been my own new smell in super saturation. I stunk, even to myself, which was saying something.

“How long have I been like this?” I gestured weakly at the crumpled blankets as I gingerly sat back down.

“About a week or so.” Conner replied. When he finally came around into my view to sit beside me, I sucked in a loud breath. Conner looked half dead. His eyes especially caught my attention, they were sunken with dark circles under them. Conner refused to meet my gaze, and as he settled rather stiffly himself, I noticed numerous healing bite-marks on his wrists and arms. Vampire bite marks.

“Did I do that?!” I cried, anguished. Had I been bleeding him dry without even realizing? Conner looked surprised, then hid his arms from my view.

“No, I did it. I force-fed you to keep you alive, then hunted when I could. It’s just been much more difficult than I could have imagined.” Conner explained, looking at the ground.

“Conner you look like death! Why did you do that for me? YOU could have died, and then I would have never been able to get over that! Why didn’t you snag some blood from Lana or something?” I was nearly hysterical. If I had enough strength, I would have been up and pacing already, but I was so exhausted...

“Didn’t Lana tell you?” Conner finally met my eyes, gaze steady, but with a haunted look. “Vampire blood, especially that of a powerful vampire, is the most nourishing of all. It’s just considered an abomination to hunt and drink from one of your own kind. But if the blood is given willingly, or in dire need…” It struck me how much Conner was willing to sacrifice on my behalf. I let myself lean slowly towards him, and gently touched his arm.

“I don’t understand why you would be so willing to risk your life for me at all. I’ve never done anything to deserve it. But I do promise you this, I will make this up to you one day if it is ever in my power to do so.” I quietly assured him. Warmth and gratitude flooded across the unprotected link between our minds. I winced, my mind could hardly take its own thoughts in hand, but the feeling was so strong that for a moment, I felt like I was standing in full sunlight with my arms thrown out, just soaking it all in, just like when I was human. The link broke as Conner moved away.

“I need to hunt.” Conner said wearily. “Badly, or else our situations might be reversed. And I really don’t think that you can hunt right now. I’ll take extra so that you can feed a little off of me. It shouldn’t take too much more and you’ll be back on your own two feet. You got lucky this time, the bullet missed your heart and lungs, or else we might have had a lot more problems to deal with.” As Conner heaved himself to his feet, the muscles showed up in tight relief under his now very thin skin. Being too sore and stiff to stand up quickly, I merely watched Conner make his way towards the door.

“Be careful.” I whispered as he left, Conner paused at the door, an ear turned in my direction. I had the distinct feeling he had heard me.

While I waited for Conner to return, I slept. Memory threaded through my mind like spider’s silk in between short naps. I heard the thunder-rush of a heartbeat, growing louder and louder, and when a hand shook my shoulder, I jumped.

“The man with the gun!” I exclaimed as I sat up as quickly as possible. Conner stood in front of me, looking much healthier than before. Even the hollows around his eyes had filled out, though there was still slight bruising beneath them. His expression was merely sad for a moment, then puzzled.

“Do I detect a question in there somewhere? It’s practically zinging across the link.” Conner asked.

“Yes! I heard a smack when he landed. It sounded like a snap, like.. bone broke on the pavement. I remember. What I’m getting at is: did you kill him?” I questioned him urgently. Conner’s face hardened, but he grimly shook his head.

“No. I didn’t kill him, but I gave him something to remember us by. And he no longer owns a gun.” He answered ominously.

“Good.” I relaxed and laid back. “I was so worried you might have killed him.” Sleep wrapped its warm arms around me and tried to take me back.

“Wait, before you go back to sleep, drink a little. You need it much more than sleep right now.” With that Conner bit into his own left wrist, his arm held at an awkward angle, then moved his wrist towards my lips. “I’m afraid I’m not as fancy as Lana, I don’t usually keep pitchers and glasses in my house.” He shrugged almost apologetically. The smell of blood was tantalizing, but the healing bites running up his arm made sure I took only my three heartbeats worth. I gently wrapped my hand over the wound to stop the slow blood flow, wondering if he’d let me hold onto him until I fell asleep.

“You could have taken more, I hunted enough to feed you much more than that.” Conner told me. I shook my head.

“Trust me, you look like you need it more than I do.” I joked quietly, and leaned back. I was looking at him as I fell softly into a dreamless slumber.