Doe's POV:

The high I felt seeing her broken down into a scared little mess got overtaken quite quickly after she was gone from our view.

Especially after I turned to him after confirming for myself that she was no longer close.

I took a single step away from the wall and closer to the beast of a vampire he had become for me.

He too stared down the hallway, nose twitching as he triple checked with every ability that he had

The conclusion must have come to him because, after a few seconds, his rigid stance released little by little

The way he breathed was calmer but still wary nonetheless as he came down from the rage, that hint of anguish still showing in his cat-like eyes.

He still hadn't healed himself.

My heart pumped heavy in my ears, processing everything that I just witnessed and what his actions meant to me.

My mind was still too scrambled to even figure out where to start that I just moved instead.

We needed to get out of this hallway before anything else.

My feet worked without a second thought, breaking into the fastest speed-walk I could.

His eyes shifted the slightest bit as I did, grabbing his hand and nearly dragging him behind me.

I didn't stop until we were in our room, hearing him kick the door behind us before dragging him to the bed and making him sit on the edge of it.

He opened his mouth, stringing together a few broken sounds as the roundness finally returned to his pupils.

I don't think I could talk yet either.

It was so much and such a strange, raw combination now that what he had taken care of was her, that I didn't know how to process it all.

Getting rid of her with a threat that seemed extremely important to her and keeping me at the center of it, calling her out for everything she'd done to him.

Taking an undeniably fatal hit for me without a second thought.

All mixed with a new kind of worry for him, that feeling sinking deeper as I sat on my knees behind him, the wounds as prominent as ever.

The skin surrounding each one was red and angry, and the shirt slick with blood stuck to his entire back.

My hands shakily rose.

I didn't know what to do, I didn't know where to start.

I wanted to offer something, anything as some sort of recompense for what he had just done for me, but what do you do for a vampire with this level of a wound who wasn't healing?

His breath staggered as I placed my hands under the bottom cut, feeling the now cold blood against my skin.

I didn't know what I was trying to attempt, all I knew is that somehow my touch has succeeded in reigning back that vicious part of him before.

It was the only solution I could think of and even then I wasn't completely convinced that it was a good one.

I didn't know how to express all of this in a proper way, which made my classic default of angry annoyance fall through instead.

Not something I was proud of, but the relieved tears in my eyes had to have made up for something.

"Why aren't you healing?" The quiet, almost pleading words heald every emotion mentioned prior. A sniffle even managed to break through towards the end.

The sound caused his head to turn despite how horrible it must have felt, eyes widening at the wetness now on my cheeks.

This was the first time he'd ever seen them spill.

Because this time I felt no reason to hide them.

They were for him. For the appreciation of what he'd done as well as the safety he had finally assured me of.

For the appreciation of the assurance that she was something that I no longer had to worry about.

It was a day I never thought would come.

After another couple of haggard breaths, he had calmed enough to speak.

"I was preoccupied," The words came out just as ragged, "And I'm out of practice."

Out of practice?!

I knew most of their advanced abilities were a conscious effort, but I also knew that their instincts prioritized their survival above everything else.

To me, that meant that his own health would have come first.

And although the amount of blood he's lost wasn't detrimental to a being who didn't run out, it was still going to show itself as exhaustion.

"Xander you need to-"

With a quick swipe of his arm, another painful movement on his part, I quickly found myself face up on his lap.

My arms wrapped themselves around his neck in some sort of strange instinct, surely getting the blood on my hands all over him.

I don't think he cared.

Not when his forehead fell to my shoulder, one arm around mine and the other on my hip, both holding me tight to him.

From the feel of it, his claws had now disappeared as well.

I didn't dispute the sudden position change, instead, I found myself favoring it at this moment.

Being close to the one who had just given me everything I could possibly hope for.

Even after all I've been though, I was well aware of the position I kept.

I don't think there was another pet that could say the same, nor have come anywhere close to experiencing what I just did.

Never had a Master willing do to something like that to aid in the forgiveness he wanted to earn.

"That was close," He breathed, shaking his head "That was too damn close."

There was residual anger left in his quiet words, this time focusing more on himself.

Which was absolutely uncalled for.

"Xander..."

His next words were downright pitiful, ridden with worry and something close to regret.

"That would have killed you. If I had been even a second late to realize what was happening she would have..," His words died for a few moments, swallowing hard, "I don't know If I could have possibly healed you in time, of if Nico could have done anything before you-"

I didn't cut him off intentionally, his words just stopped as I rose a hand into his hair, surely trailing his blood there as well.

I just wanted to hold him like he's held me, and although ceasing his meaningless rambling was on my mind, it wasn't my intention with that movement.

The muscle in his arms tightened, securing his hold on me as if something was going to come take me away.

My previous anger did bleed through into my words, becoming a soft sternness through the tightness in my throat from the tears.

"Don't you dare berate yourself after that, Xander. You did everything right. Better than I could've hoped for, and I can't even begin to express to you how much that means to me."

His breath caught, head pressing harder against me.

"But I'll start with a thank you," I began again, lightly rubbing my fingers against his scalp.

I don't know how I've never noticed how soft his hair was.

"Thank you for taking the hit, thank you for keeping your promise to keep her away, and thank you for ending things with her and making sure that she'll stay away."

I felt his chest concave while I pulled myself closer, dropping my other hand down his back until I found the dampened cloth.

"But right now, I need you to heal yourself. If you need blood or something for it then just take mine."

Even if that was all I could offer him in aid right now, I wanted him to take it.

He was always gentle with it anyway...

He shook his head, slumping down against me.

"No need for that, I just need to focus. You being here like this helps."

Oh...

I let the room fall into silence at that, continuing my gentle touches.

Through the quiet, I could hear the sickening squirming sound of flesh, muscle, and skin all pulling themselves back together.

I tried not to let the noise affect me outwardly, instead shamelessly wiped my tears away against his shirt.

Two minutes passed before the relaxation in his body felt real, his head lifting and back straightening, causing my arms to fall into my lap.

He carefully rolled his shoulders back as if checking to make sure he had done it right.

"Better?" I asked.

"Yeah," he sighed, the softness in his eyes as he looked at me now being drastically different from before.

The hand he had on my hip left to lift one of my hands, inspecting the stain of red.

"We should uh," He cleared his throat, "We should get cleaned up."

I nodded an agreement, though wasn't quite ready to move from this position.

He'd just secured my safety, and I knew that was supposed to leave tomorrow.

I kind of wanted to bask in all of that beside him while I could before I left.

But he was right.

He aided me as I slid off of him and onto my feet.

I walked behind him to the bathroom, wanting to see what his back looked like.

Other than the blood everywhere, it looked a lot better.

The gashes were completely gone, four pink-ish stripes taking their place against his pale skin.

I knew Xander planned to take an entire shower, meanwhile, all I really had to do was wash my hands.

Pausing in front of the sink for a moment, I turned towards him.

"Do I get to know what the secret is? The one that she was so afraid of?" I questioned.

He paused right as he grabbed the bottom of his shirt, breathing out a small laugh.

"I'll tell you later today. After we finally eat. It actually plays into what I was going to tell you about Lady Bronwyn."

From the sound of it, Xander was the only one outside of her family that knew about it.

Half of me didn't want it to lose its power if it were to spread.

"You've kept it to yourself for this long and you're gonna tell me so easily?"

"If anyone deserves to have dirt on her, it's you." He commented, lifting his shirt and peeling the back of it off.

Well... yeah.

Realistically who was I going to tell anyway?

Satisfied, I turned my head back and flipped on the faucet, keeping an eye on him through the mirror as the entirety of that nicely built torso I only saw on rare occasions came into view.

He crumpled it up in such a way that the soiled part got covered by the dry before tossing it into the trash.

There was a complete layer of dark red against what I could see of the skin on his back.

My hands were basically on autopilot under the warm water as he unwittingly managed to keep my attention.

The slight indentation of the muscle on his back looked as good as new.

I looked away just long enough to find the soap. He was stepping in to let the water warm up anyway.

He looked over his shoulder at me in a single moment of hesitation before he worked at his belt.

I kept my head down, straining my eyes to not make my looking too obvious. 

I wasn't quite sure why I was so insistent on looking in the first place, it was just an urge I had no reason to dispute.

Stepping out of the pants once they fell down to his ankles, he reached in to test the water in just his boxers.

The uncharacteristic want for him to turn around in me caught me off guard, my heart thumping an extra hard beat.

It was enough to take me away from it, and back down at my now thoroughly clean hands.

I should probably get my arms too though, right? Just in case.

Yeah.

I got right to it, glancing back at the mirror right as he stepped in with his boxers still on.

The marble that encased the shower went up to about his hips before it transitioned to glass, so I guess that made sense.

Everything else was covered from my view, his remaining clothes getting tossed through the small space between the top of the shower door and the roof, landing right on top of his pants.

Both of his hands lifted to smooth his hair as he stepped into the spray of water.

The last thing I could clearly see was the red wash away from his hair and skin before the glass fogged.

I couldn't tell what my deep sigh stemmed from, switching off the water.

All of today's events... I needed time to process it fully.

I wanted to catch my breath now that it felt like I actually could.

But I tomorrow brought something that I knew I couldn't just avoid, so I guess that was just going to have to wait a few more days.

Wiping my hands on the small towel hanging on the wall, I spared one last glance at the mirror.

His shower better be quick.