I couldn’t sleep properly that night. My mind kept going back and forth on my choices. I just… It seemed impossible to make a choice. Everyone’s words of encouragement really didn’t help. They told me to be selfish, but how could I change my ways so suddenly? I’ve lived my entire life selflessly, and that’s not about to change any time soon, to be honest.

My body was just as stiff as my mind was. Continuously tossing and turning in bed, even as the night darkened. The simplest of noises made me cautious. And the quietest of knocks finally got my attention and caused me to get out of bed.

It was incredibly dark outside, yet a full moon caused a ray of reflected light to burst into my room. I didn’t turn on the lights because of it. I didn’t expect to find someone on the other side, to be honest, for I thought I was hearing things.

But what I saw was something I’d never forget.

Damien was leaning against the other door, his head lowered immensely. He looked incredibly flimsy and tenuous.

“Damien?” I asked while letting my eyes focus.

“So… Soph…” he took a step towards me and his entire body landed on me. It was as if his head weighed tons and his entire body turned into a rag doll.

“Damien!” I yelled.

“Shh…” he sighed. “…Help…”

I pulled him into my room carefully, trying not to put too much pressure onto him. I had never seen him like this… or anything like it as a matter of fact. He’s always been so strong and confident. Seeing him like this, it even broke my own heart. I lifted him, barely because I was weak, onto my bed.

“I need to turn on the light,” I told him. “I need to see what happened to you.”

“No!” he grabbed my hand quickly. It was a tight grip at first, but softened due to his lack of energy. “No… Don’t…”

“Damien, I can’t help if I don’t know what happened to you.”

He nodded his head. I was turning on the light either way though. I had no intention of just listening to him because he was embarrassed or worried. Leaning over to the desk table, I flicked on the switch. But what I saw caused me to take a step back.

Damien had a flesh wound on his body, one that caused his entire shirt to be drenched in blood. His face was extremely dirty. His hair was tangled in every which direction.

“Oh my God! What the heck happened to you?!” I exclaimed.

“Mission…” he mouthed.

I rushed into the bathroom and started the bathtub. After a while, I drenched all the towels I had. Rummaging through some of my clothes, I found oversized sweatpants and shirt. Under my sink was a first aid kit, with bandages and medicine. Everything I needed, I grabbed and brought out into my bedroom.

At this point, Damien was half awake and half whatever else kind of situation he was in. His eyes continued to stay focused on me. Over and over, I patted his head down with a small, damp towel, trying to wipe away any dried blood and mud so I could see if there were any scrapes on his face. Luckily, there wasn’t a single injury on his head. It woke him up slightly, enough to grin as my hands proceeded to his shirt. I needed to treat his wound and change his clothes so he didn’t get infected.

Button by button, I went down his torso. “Never thought we’d be in this kind of situation,” he smirked.

“Wow, even in the brink of death,” I pushed aside the bloody shirt, enough to pull it off of his entire body and arms, “you joke around with me.”

I took hold of a fresh towel, wiping away every inch of his chest, stomach, arms, neck and hands. His muscles contracted with every move. His chest moved with every breath he took. His stomach was hard due to his abs, but what ruined the trail was a gaping line. It was no longer releasing a lot of blood. I applied as much pressure as I could, to try to stop the bleeding all together.

“Like what you see, Soph?”

“Damien, honestly,” I sighed. “As much as you might enjoy this, I am not. I am panicking. I am about to start screaming actually. I don’t like blood. You know that.” I said all of that in one breath.

“Yet here you are,” Damien looked away from me and at his own stomach.

“Tending to the wound of my best friend.”

I opened the kit and took out a bottle of antiseptic. Taking a clean towel, I poured a bit on his wound. Damien tried not screaming in pain. He literally bit his tongue.

“Okay, this might sting a bit,” I was frightened. My mindset was not calm at all. A lot of thoughts were going through my head. What if I hurt him even more? Or what if I don’t help at all?

“You…” he grunted. “You could’ve told me that earlier.”

“Sorry!” I told him. “Sorry sorry sorry!”

I pressed the towel against his stomach, keeping it there for at least a minute. After, I found a cotton pad and replaced the towel with that. Then, I made him sit up a bit, so I could properly tighten the wrap I secured the cotton pad with. As he lay back down, he grabbed a hold of my hand.

“Thanks…” he was getting sleepy.

I continued to pat his head with a cold towel. “You’re welcome. Now go to sleep.”

“No,” He tried his best to keep his eyes open.

“Right now is not the time to be hardheaded.”

“I’ll sleep, under one condition.”

“Name it.”

“Sleep by my side,” he beamed a smirk at me.

“Damien…”

“Nothing wrong with that, right? We did it when we were younger.”

“Yeah, when there were like twenty other kids in the room,” I told him.

“Come on,” he yawned. “It’ll be just like the old times.”

“I refuse to sleep on a bloody bed.”

Which was true. More than half of the bed was covered in dirt or blood or a combination of the two. If he wants to play it by his rules, fine. I’ll listen to him for now. I walked back into my bathroom and pulled out extra sheets and pillows. Quickly, I placed them onto the foot of my bed, creating an area of soft bedding. Damien stood up as I finished placing the last blanket. He slowly staggered over to my side. I caught him as he fell forward, helping him lay back down. After I realized that my own pajamas were covered in blood, I got changed swiftly.

Damien grinned as I reentered my room. “I refuse to sleep until you’re next to me, Soph.”

“Damien,” I sighed as I turned off the lights. “You are a .”

“Nah,” he laughed. I tiptoed to the makeshift bed. Damien had his arm out, for me to lie on. “I’m just utilizing my time with you.”

I placed my head on his arm, expecting him to fall asleep soon after. But he pulled me in, extremely close. So close, as a matter of fact, that my head fit perfectly under his chin. His own heartbeat was in sync with mine. The warmth of his body was enough to make me feel comfortable.

Was this part of his plan?

Overtime, I drifted off into a deep sleep. I don’t recall exactly when I did, just that I was calm and at ease. The next thing I knew, I woke up in his arms. The sun interrupted my sleep, but not his. I lifted my head to see if I could wiggle my way out of his arms. But he had a really strong hold on me, so that seemed impossible. I tried moving inch by inch, so he wouldn’t wake up.

“Trying to escape, eh?” I heard his voice.

“You’re awake?”

“Yes, Soph. If I’m talking to you like this, I am awake.”

“Then, mind letting me go?”

“Only if you do me another favor,” he whispered.

“What else, sir?” I rolled my eyes.

“Help me change my bandages.”

“Only if you do something for me in return,” I negotiated.

“Okay, deal.”

“Tell me what happened to you.”

That’s when he finally let me go. I squirmed my way to breathe and I looked at him. When we were younger, I always woke up to him looking at me with his hazel eyes. It never meant much to me before, but this time it was different. His hard, cold hunter exterior was finally shedding, and the boy in front of me was the same as I’d always known. He was returning to his old ways.

“I took a solo mission,” he looked away from me. “It was meant for my team and I, but I insisted that I could take it by myself. It was a surveillance project to the Lee Palace, to see what they could possible gain from the attack made on you a week ago. It was an emotional mission for me, so I was off my game a bit.”

“A bit? A bit is you getting this hurt?” I asked him.

“Okay, I was really unfocused. I’d never done something as stupid as what I did. We are trained at headquarters to be able to control our feelings and basically turn them on and off for missions. Once feelings are added to the equation, the entire mission is doomed to fail. I… I am usually so focused on my objective that nothing can stop me. But… knowing that those stupid vampires were sent to eliminate you, that just brought the entire feel of the mission to a different level.”

“I shouldn’t matter on missions, Damien.”

“Soph, wouldn’t you be angry if someone tried to kill me? Or your family? And you were given the chance to inquire, study, and possibly attack them. Would you accept that offer?”

I didn’t hesitate for a second. Once my family is involved, a different side of me appeared. “Okay, I see what you mean.” No one would ever dare hurt my family.

“I left for the mission right after we found out about your cancer. The King issued the assignment specifically for my team and put it at the top of our priority list. You are that important in our eyes. I hid the task itself from my team, because I know they would try to hold me back. So, I left,” he continued. “I got to their palace by nightfall. So I staked out right outside of their kingdom, in one of the homes. One by one, I saw the royalties enter and leave their palace gates at night, probably to feed on civilians or prisoners. Every time I saw one… I wanted to attack them. I wanted to make them suffer. It was completely and utterly foolish of them to think that you were unprotected and would die that night. After a day of that, I decided to make my move. So I crept into the kingdom itself at nightfall the following day. I planned on capturing another vampire from their palace and using them as a prisoner for more information.”

“But…?” I asked.

“But I was stupid and wasn’t focused. The one I had chosen was perfect. He was the head of the head, right hand man of the family, and he was extremely clever. Long fight short, I ended up getting slashed just as much as he was. I knew it was only a matter of time before the entire palace of vampires woke and attacked me. So, I got out of there as fast as I could. I traveled all the way back here, not talking to anyone else, thinking I’d be able to treat my own wound and get on with other missions. But… I lost too much blood and started becoming lightheaded. That’s when I reached your room. And here we are.”

“Side by side in horribly made bed,” I smiled.

“I’m’ with you, though, nonetheless,” he reached out to pat me on the head. “So my unfocused mind was good for something at least. I don’t think I’d be able to do this with you in any other situation.”

“Your wound,” I sat up and pulled back the blankets. It seemed as though his wound stopped bleeding over all. “Your wound is not a blessing, okay.”

“I’ll view it as one.”

I reached over my bed and took a hold of the handle of the first aid kit. Pulling that down to my lap, I rummaged through for another clan wrap. Damien sat up fully as I prepared everything.

“Would you like to do the honors?” he eyed his shirt.

I knew exactly what he meant, and I knew he was enjoying this. “Why don’t you handle it, seems like you are able to know that you got a good night’s rest.”

“But I’m still so weak!” he cried out. “I lost too much blood last night, fighting for you.”

I rolled my eyes once more, while I ed his shirt once more. This was a shirt I stole from my Father. I only kept it because it was incredibly soft and a dark color. My hands trailed down his chest, to his abs, as I unwrapped his entire wound.

The entry had completely dried up, so I just changed the wrappings, without applying more medicine, and gave him his shirt back.

“There, happy?” I asked him.

“I am,” he grinned.

“Hey!” I yelled as I got up to place everything back in their normal spots. “Keep your head on the mission.”

“I know,” a sigh was released.  “I know. It was my fault. I shouldn’t let my feelings get the best of me. Just as long as you are alive, I’m… happy.”

“Stop focusing on me! Your job should be first priority!” I exclaimed from my bathroom. After returning everything, I tottered back into my room, realizing just how dirty and icky my bedsheets were.

“I was just worried, okay,” he announced. “I… I had a mixture of emotions that mission.”

“And have you controlled those emotions now?”

“No,” he stood up swiftly. Damien refused to put his shirt back on, so his arms absorbed the sunlight that entered my room. He was not weak in any way. “They’re stronger than ever.”

“Damien…”

“What Soph? You can’t honestly say that you don’t feel something after last night,” he pleaded.

“I only stayed by your side so you’d sleep, okay.”

“No you didn’t. You and I both know you wanted to be in my arms. Weren’t you comfortable? Did you not feel safe?”

“Damien, this is not the time or the place to talk about this,” I begged.

“You’re confusing me Soph. Am I meaningless to you?”

“You mean a lot to me, Damien!”

“How much? Am I number one? Or not?”

“Damien! Can we just… can’t we just go a day without arguing?”

“Soph, I need to know.”

I walked closer to him but he took a step back. “Please. This… this is not something we should talk about right now.”

“Then when? When will I find out? When it’s too late? In one month when you become a vampire? Or in one month when you die right before my eyes?” His eyes screamed nothing but sadness and regret.

“I don’t even know what I’m going to do,” I told him. “I am just going at it day by day. I’ve been thinking about each option and I’m really taking both into consideration.”

“Okay,” he sighed. “Just answer my question. What am I to you?”

“My best friend.”

“Nothing more?”

I kept my mouth shut. Don’t say another word. You can’t imply something that is false, and you can’t break his heart right now. I couldn’t possibly be the reason for him to slip into the vampire hunter insanity phase that the Princes always talk about.

“Is that it, Soph? Just a friend?” he inched closer and closer to me.

I closed my eyes, imagining myself in another place. Damien. Please. Don’t do this. I didn’t want to be in that room anymore. I woke up happy and content, all of my worries and panic melted away as I slept. But now… now that confusing returned. Why couldn’t the two of us just go a day without fighting? Please. Damien. Listen to me. One day, some day, we will talk about this. But that day is not now.

I felt a push press me against the ground. My eyes instantly opened, the only thing in my view was my floor and a part of the wall. Damien was on top of me in another second. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t move. Why couldn’t I move my own body?

What was going on?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OH HEEEY SECOND CHAPTER IN A DAY :D this is a good chapter for me. it's a good lead in. i told you guys. epicness. hhee~ i'm getting sleepy so i'm going to stop here for tonight. But I hope you guys like it. 

I felt like Damien disappeared into the background the last few chapters, so i decided to bring him back. Like what I did though? His overconfidence and a bunch little slurs here and there. ahahhahaa. he's a really interesting person. 

and oh no!I wonder what happened in the last couple of paragraphs?! You guys should tell me what you think. (;

FEEEEDBACK PLEAAAAAAAAASE. i haven't been getting a lot of that lately ;w;