Doe's POV:

I tried not to writhe against the sting, my fingers bending and nails stabbing into the pillow I was burying my face into.

"Sorry," Erik's still timid voice croaked out that word for the fourth time since he brought me in here.

He'd carried me to what felt like the complete opposite side of the building and into a room that resembled, well, one you'd find in an actual hospital.

I didn't even know they had that sort of thing here since they did the actual checkups all in one large central room.

After lying me down face-first onto the elevated bed-type thing, he got right to work, starting with taking my shirt and sending it off to get the blood out of it.

I wanted that shirt back and made sure he knew that.

Shredded or not, it was better than the thin gowns they would have given me as a replacement.

If they would even give me a replacement.

The whip somehow never came in enough contact with my bra to have that be an issue, so I just laid in that while he did his thing.

My hopes that he was somewhat good at his job ended up getting the answer that they wanted.

The bloodied rags he used to stop my bleeding still sat on the raised metal tray he kept next to the wheeled chair he was currently leaning forward on as he worked on me.

Which hurt like a bitch and was nearly the tipping point of my consciousness running from me, but I held to it as tight as I could.

Terrified of Xander or not, I didn't want to be unconscious in front of him while he did this.

Lucky for me, it didn't take too long and was quickly replaced with washcloths warmed with hot water that he used to carefully clean the surrounding area that needed it.

It gave me enough time to ease my breathing and racing heart until he moved on to the disinfecting part.

All in all, though, his movements were assured even through his still obvious nerves, and he never accidentally did something that left my wounds biting harder unless it was unavoidable.

Like this.

Whatever he was putting on me right now was the complete opposite of those warm towels and felt like acid on my back.

I laid my head on its side, catching his concentrated expression in the corner of my eye.

"Don't you have some lidocaine or bupivacaine," I pulled the first two numbing agents I could think of from hearing them from Nico, "something with a 'caine' in it?"

He paused, a brow raising as he turned to me, "How do you know about all that?"

"This isn't my first time dealing with morons who didn't realize who I belonged to," I spoke bluntly.

After that little show, I felt like I had every right to.

"So I can see," He gulped, most likely alluding to the previous scars on my back, "But no, they don't keep anything like that around here. This place is just thrown together with the most basic and simple-to-understand supplies for those who don't have a hint of knowledge when it comes to medicinal practice."

By the edge of annoyance in his voice, I concluded that he wasn't one of those.

And I knew this job was one of the more lesser-viewed ones. One that practically any vampire could get with no experience.

"I'm almost done with this, though, five more seconds tops."

The warning was enough for me to bury my head into the pillow to muffle any noise that managed to squeeze out.

And he was right, five seconds later and I heard his chair roll back.

I lifted my head again as he sighed out a quiet, "okay," looking my back over.

Honestly, I was expecting more of a rushed and panicked job on his part, full of some sort of repeated pleading and apologizing that would have only succeeded in making my headache worse.

And pissing me off more.

But no, he looked serious about what he was doing, another thing that made me think of Nico.

Nico still held more of a poise and confident disposition whenever he worked on me that was unmatched.

A younger version of him then.

Erik did seem a bit younger than my vampire.

He looked satisfied with his work, kicking back against the floor to roll his chair to the backside of the room.

I only noticed the bag as soon as he reached down into it.

It must have been his, if the embroidered E on it told me anything.

He rolled back now holding a small cylindrical container filled with a light blue substance.

"What's that?"

He situated himself to where he was before, twisting open the lid.

"Y'know how vampire saliva seels wounds?"

I nodded, watching him dip his fingers into it.

"It's like that. I came up with a replica."

I hesitated for a second at his words, feeling it fall away almost as soon as it arrived.

This guy knew better than to try something he wasn't sure about with me.

He knew the stakes and was already shaken about it.

The salve or whatever it was felt cold to the touch, but didn't sting like the disinfectant as he gently traced it around one of the gashes.

The feeling was... odd, and somewhat familiar being a replica of how most of my bite wounds were sealed.

It wasn't a comfortable feeling by any means, like an extreme itch that you couldn't touch as my skin felt as if it was getting pulled back together.

"'came up with'," I repeated his words back to him, "So what, you're like an actual doctor?"

Talking and listening was a good distraction for me from the sensation, and he didn't seem to care that I was speaking so openly to him.

His voluntary and active participation in the conversation was far more favorable to the condescending tone I was so used to hearing from other vampires.

I thought that I would consider such a thing off-putting, but it didn't at all feel like he was forcing himself to do it.

My immediate thought was that he was just trying to get on my good side in hopes that whatever I supposedly told Xander would be in his favor, but even that didn't feel entirely true.

On levels of screwed, he was probably down to an 8 out of 10 at this point. Where his buddy was sitting at a nice 15 out of 10.

The concentrated look didn't falter, nor did his movements as he answered.

"Yes. Probably one of the only ones here. The reason I even got this room to myself was because I'm registered as a professional. I was just trying to get some more hands-on experience before taking a job at the human hospital in town. The vampire they had there quit a few years ago and the lord requested a new one."

Oh. So he's literally Nico's replacement...

"I didn't realize what a shit show this is and how carelessly they threw around shifts. As well as you guys."

They gave the actual doctor a night watch shift.

This place sucks.

"Anyway," he rolled back a few inches, finished with his application, "How's that feel?"

I focused on the odd sensation that was slowly but surely fading away.

The pain was still obvious on my back, but it was a lot duller compared to the slicing sting It was a few minutes ago.

"Better," I settled with.

His head inclined, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.

"Good," His words were quiet, pushing himself a few more feet back before he stood.

The nervousness in his eyes promptly returned now that he was finished, though I only saw it for a moment until he turned towards the sink, setting the container back into his bag and washing his hands.

I dared to move, getting my hands under me and lifting my upper half.

My preparatory tension was unneeded, the alleviating breath I let out at that realization allowing me to sit up with nothing but that dull soreness.

That... stuff worked better than I imagined it would.

Okay. 7 out of 10.

I used the pillow to cover my bare stomach before he finished and turned over to one of the cabinets close by.

"I'll keep you here tonight and check up on you in the morning. Try not to lay on your back if you can," he suggested.

My eyes widened, both a his words and as I turned and saw that what he had grabbed was a blanket.

Well... that was certainly better than that cage, and not even close to what I was expecting him to say.

His steps grew warier as he drew closer to me and I took the blanket from him.

"I'll bring back your shirt with you tomorrow as well. Is there anything else you need until then?" he asked, grabbing the metal tray piled with my bloodied rags.

I just shook my head.

The only thing that popped into my head was water to ease my raw throat, but the sink was close enough.

He stepped backward, "Right, get some sleep then."

With that, he left, closing the door behind him.

I felt myself physically sag as soon as he was gone, holding the pillow closer.

There was a rush of something now that he was gone, but It wasn't something I had the want nor the current function to figure out.

Half of which felt like my adrenaline finally extinguishing.

I quickly learned didn't have the energy to get up and shut off the lights, nor get the water I wanted.

I just fell back onto my side on this stiff mattress, favoring holding the pillow instead of laying on it, and tossing the blanket over my entirety.

Sleep took me a lot quicker than I wanted to admit.

~~~

Erik returning in the morning was what I woke up to.

He brought some food with him for me that actually had some nutritional value, but after checking my back and applying a different cream, he gave me back my shirt and left again. He told me that he'd come to do my actual 'check-up' after getting everyone else's done.

I fell back asleep after eating, waking up again to him entering.

He had the same careful precision and handling as he did the same monotonous tasks they did last year.

I barely even felt the needle during the blood sample, and it felt nice not being pushed around by the other girls and harshly grabbed by the vampires working.

It was well into the afternoon by the time he sent me back.

Well, it wasn't him, he got called away midway through escorting me and some random vampire had to finish the job.

He lead me down the corridor easy enough and back into the room with all of the cages.

He didn't even touch me until the time came for me to get into the cage.

The second the door was open A hard hand on my shoulder pushed me down and into it with a loud clang as my knees hit it first.

I leered at him as he shut the door and stormed away.

What is with the power struggles all of these vampires seem to have?

I kept my gaze on him until he disappeared from my view, the red hair in my periphery snapping me back.

I turned to face her, seeing the same look on her face that she had the last time I saw her.

That horror and regret.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Her concerned question came rather quickly as I situated myself.

No... I didn't want her to feel guilty about that.

We were even now.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a couple of lashes so I'll be okay."

That and the care of a doctor afterward.

Her worry flashed into complete fear for a short second, melting deeper into guilt.

"Can I see?" She asked.

Her question caught me off guard, but I eventually agreed.

I didn't want any pity or sympathy, but I might have just been more awkward or cause her more distress if I declined.

The wounds weren't nearly as gory as they were last night due to whatever was in that salve, so maybe she'll think it just wasn't that bad.

"It was an old whip, so it didn't hurt as bad," I said to try to ease her. Really I was just repeating something I heard Layla once say, "The newer ones always hurt the most."

She was quiet for a long moment.

"Why did you do it?" Her words were just a whisper.

I turned my head, seeing that her emotion hadn't changed.

There was no harm in telling her, right?

No, she had to know.

Know that my action was completely of my own choice and that she didn't owe me anything because of it.

Even though my thoughts were confident, my words didn't radiate that same energy.

I'd usually react harshly to people who show me sympathy like this and that's not how I wanted to talk to her.

"I don't know. I guess I still felt guilty about what had happened with Xander and so I..." My words faded. I wasn't sure how to finish.

"What happened to me wasn't nearly as bad as what happened to you." She countered.

I wouldn't go that far.

She was still new when it happened to her and obviously bothered by something else before Nico got her.

Not only was the action terrifying in its own right, but the mental toll that must have put on her as well.

I know Xander could be scary when he wanted to be, and although I didn't hear the words he said to her, so I could only imagine what he said.

And I just sat there.

I probably could have put a stop to it, but I didn't budge.

What I went through wasn't great either, but it could have been a whole lot worse.

I shrugged, trying to play it off.

"I swear it wasn't that bad. I'm probably more used to this sort of thing than you are so," geez I really don't know how to comfort people "Just don't think about it too much. I'm okay, I promise."

I gave her the warmest smile I could, hoping it would help her accept my words.

It took her a little bit, but eventually, she surrendered.

"Thank you."

I relaxed at the closure her words held, whether she knew it or not.

Xander better be getting his own with his brother here soon.

"You're welcome,"